Free The Devil Inside (Wolf Guard Book 1) by Roxanne Lee Page B

fierce disagreement. A rumble of displeasure in my chest enforced her
opinion. We had no time for such childish notions.
    "Could
you do something for me, Sam?"
    "Uhuh,
sure can."
    "Will
you please tell that over grown ape that I will not be going anywhere with him,
and he's severely delusional if he believes otherwise."
    Sam
let out a bellowing chuckle, it sounded like a symphony when more of that
cracking sound came from inside.
    "Girlie
you crazy, ya can tell him ya damn self."
    I
huffed into my glass and rolled my eyes. "Don’t even know why I came back
for you."
    His
chuckle was a soothing balm to my nerves."Yeah, yeah. I knew you was
comin', never had a doubt."
    We
sat in silence for several moments, each one contemplating the inevitable
change to what had quickly been turning into a crutch. A support system more unique
and varied than anything a professional could have imagined.
    "I
can't do it Sam," I whispered. "I'm just not made that way. I'd
crumble beneath him, it's the one thing me and my wolf are in complete
agreement about; we have nothing left to give."
    Sam
put a long arm over the back of the chair and I lent back to rest against that
quiet strength.
    "Dun
need ta be nuthin' righ' now. The man can wait, he been waitin' a long time
already, centuries even, ya think he can' wait no more?" His rough hand
passed a couple of times over my hair, a soothing touch I found I'd missed.
"You got lots ta give, I know, I seen it. Ya jus' lost it somewhere along
tha way, when ya done all ya need ta, you find it jus' fine."
    A
stray tear wound it's way down my cheek. A part of me wished that were true,
that Sam’s faith would be rewarded. I couldn't force the same belief, it seemed
so far away I couldn't even catch a glimpse on the horizon.
    "No
tears girlie, always works ou' in tha end. Besides I ain't leavin' ya alone
wit' him, we all comin' too." His little squeeze of my shoulders brought a
secret smile to my lips.
    "Really?
You won't leave me?"
    "No
chance, ya stuck wit' me an' them dogs fo' a good while yet."
    We
sat staring at that forest, his arm loose on my shoulders. That place had
brought such changes; a life begun again, a life shifted and now a life of the
unknown.
    "Hey,
Sam?"
    "Yeah,
girlie?"
    "What's
that damn Captains name?"
    His
deep, throaty laugh swallowed the quiet air.
    "
'Captain' get real borin' real quick, huh? His name's Carver."

Chapter 13.
    Hesitation
is a wonderful thing. It allows that breath before you leap and that moment of
clarity before chaos; that juncture between serenity and tempest.
    My
reluctant stand on the porch before the front door was an exercise in self
restraint. In forcing myself to move forward when all my feet wanted to do was
flee. It's a most peculiar sensation, knowing that a few steps through that
door would set in motion a fate I, not only wasn’t ready for but, also one that
I whole heartedly believed wasn’t something I was capable of. There was a
beautiful reasoning behind this; too empty to fulfil someone else's needs, too
much space given to retribution to be someone else's pardon. If there was one
thing that this Captain could be assured of it was that I didn't need to be
fixed. Broken was relative: am I broken if I choose to live? Am I broken if I
determine one path over another? The right Road is some other persons therapy
and I choose reparation over forgiveness.
    Sam
got impatient pretty quickly. His shove at my back was a grossly unnecessary
hint. I huffed at his grin and turned the handle leading to my downfall.
    The
scene that greeted me was completely unexpected. The living room had been
utterly demolished. The small sofa I had never sat on, the coffee table in the
corner, the bookshelf and side cabinet in pieces littered on the floor. There
were scratches spread wide and plentiful decorating the walls, and broken
floorboards leaving deep trenches leading through to the kitchen.
    "Interesting.
What happened to your cabin, Sam?"
    Sam
snorted behind me,