Starting Over

Chapter 25

A/N::

This is the last chapter! There will be an epilogue! Thanks everyone for reading and commenting!

Mason's POV

I knew that as soon as Lexi went to her room, she was going to be there for a few days. I didn’t need to look after her because I knew that’s what Casey and Amanda would be doing. The mothers always felt the need to look over everyone all the time.

I went out into the woods and shifted. The bullet wound made my shoulder a bit stiff, but as soon as I started changing, I knew it’d be fine. It was a lead bullet and it went through enough that Brian just needed to cut a slit in the back of my shoulder to squeeze the bullet out. The skin had been healed over by the time we had finished burning Millender’s body. The bones and joints that were damaged would take a bit longer, which is where the soreness came from. You’d be surprised just how much gets damaged when lead goes through your shoulder.

I could feel the bond to my brother strengthen once the change was complete. He was out here as a wolf too. A second after I felt the bond, it was gone. But there was no reason to panic. He was going to be stalking me now. At least it was something to get my mind away from the guilt and regret.

There was so much that I should have done, and now I had to pay the price for it.

My brother’s tracking abilities were outstanding. It made no difference if I ran now, he’d catch up. If I hid, he’d find me. I walked around and crossed my tracks over a few times. I hunkered down in some bushes and waited for him to show. He’d have to come into my striking zone to notice that I’d set him up.

That’s what I thought anyway, I should’ve known my brother wouldn’t fall for it. I had gotten lazy waiting for him. So lazy that I didn’t notice him until he leapt on top of me, only giving me a fraction of a second to turn away before his teeth sunk down into my flesh. The stiffness in my shoulder made me a fraction slower and Grayson took advantage of it.

There was only one person who could make me pay for my mistakes and shortcomings, it was my brother.

Once I finally surrendered, we both got to our paws. Wrestling was fun and lately we’ve been too busy to just enjoy ourselves.

I’d have some scrapes and bruises from the tussle, but they were worth it. He usually refrained from biting everyone but me, just like I didn’t hesitate to bite him. You can’t complain about something if you always return the favor.

I followed Grayson to the little lake we had on the property.

Casey said Lexi had passed out around here, I’ll go right, you go left. He started trotting away. Mind link me if you catch anything. Carlos reported hunters.

Great, there’s always something else to deal with. If I find a snare, I’m wrapping the poacher up in it.

Yeah, yeah.

Then we split up. I went all around my area and found nothing. Grayson linked me when I started looking on his half of the lake.