Chapter 18

Sarah's heart raced as she stood at the corner of the street. It had been years since she had been in the tiny village but it hadn’t changed at all. She could see the house that she needed to go to, but her feet were rooted to the pavement.

“Now I know where Aiden gets it from,” she said to herself.

“Are you just going to stand there all day or are you coming in?”

Sarah smiled at the voice from behind her. It hadn’t changed at all, neither had the way her stomach fluttered when he was near her.

“Good to see you, Benjamin. You’re looking well.”

“As opposed to normally looking ill?” He said. “I’m guessing this isn’t a social call, is it?”

There was no denying the hope in his voice or the undying love in his eyes as he looked at her.

“Can we talk?”

“Always. You know that.”

Even after all the years apart, she couldn’t take her eyes off him or stop the memories of his strong broad shoulders carrying her up the stairs to his bedroom. Thankful he was in front of her and unable to see the colour spread across her cheeks, she followed her mate.

“I can feel the heat from your face,” he laughed as he unlocked his front door.

Sarah thumped him on the arm as she walked past him, into the cottage.

“Please don’t do that. It’s hard being around you and not taking you in my arms and as soon as you touch me…”

“I'm sorry. I didn’t think. It’s hard for me too, being near you, I mean,” she said.

She still loved him and always would but their circumstances had forced them to be apart and it still hurt, years later.

“I know. It’s okay. It doesn’t get any easier but I can handle it. What can I do for you?”

“I don’t know where to start,” Sarah sighed. “I think I’ve inadvertently ended up in some shit with one of the packs. A friend of mine is in some trouble and I offered her a place to stay. Anyway, long story short, this pack has something to do with her trouble and may or may not have found her.”

Benjamin rubbed his chin and Sarah was instantly filled with guilt at the thought of how much he looked like Aiden. She wished above all else, that things had been different between them, but it was too late to change things now. She knew that he would never forgive her for keeping Aiden from him.

“Which pack? Not mine? They wouldn’t dare do anything without me saying so.”

“Red Dawn,” she said.

“Oh, Sarah. What the fuck has your friend done to get on the wrong side of those bastards?”

“Are they bad?”

“Bad,” he scoffed. “Fucking horrendous! Everybody stays away from those idiots. They have no morals at all and wouldn’t think twice about dumping someone in the middle of the forest and telling them to run for their life. They thrive off the torture. That’s where they got their name from. Nobody dares do anything about them, either. Even I don’t get involved in their shit because I can’t be arsed with an all-out pack war. What has she done?”

“Nothing? At least, I don’t think she did anything to them directly. She’s in witness protection and whoever she was being protected from has asked them to find her. That is about as much as we know. What can I do?”

Benjamin stood and began pacing the floor with his hands behind his head, in the same way Aiden did and once again, the guilt threatened to overwhelm her. They would have been so good together, she thought as she waited for him to find his answer.

“I honestly don’t know, honey. I know what I want to do. I want to tear their Alpha apart for even thinking of going near you, but I can’t. Not without bringing up a load of old shit that we can both do without. It would be different if you agreed to live as my mate. They would have to respect you then, regardless of your wings.”

“I can’t do that, you know that as well as I do. The Circle still hasn't lifted the binding because of the situation and as for those wings, I doubt I’ll ever get those back.”

Benjamin's face was filled with pain as he looked at her. “It's all my fault. I loved those wings and I let them take them away from you. I wish I could turn back time and make it right. I was too scared to do the right thing.”

Sarah raised her hand in dismissal. He had been young, they both had and neither of them strong enough to do the right thing. “There’s no point worrying about the past, honey. What’s done is done and has taught us a lesson.”

“I learned to toughen up and stand my ground. What did you learn?”

“I learned that love is stronger than family, wings or magic. The latter two come and go but love is pure and a blessing, regardless of how the story ends,” she said. “Thanks for your time, Ben.”

“I didn’t even help you.”

“You did, honey. You always do,” she said, walking to the door.

“Sarah, wait. I have to do something, I'm sorry,” he said.

Before she even had the chance to speak, his mouth took hers as he pulled her close. Sarah's heart filled to bursting as a wave of goosebumps flooded her skin, but all too soon, it was over.

“I should go,” she said.

She didn’t wait for a reply and Ben didn’t try to stop her as she rushed out of the cottage and down the street. Rounding the corner, she leaned against the wall of a cottage and let the floodgates open.