#Chapter 175: My Guardian Angel

Darren Aria’s scream tore through the air, and time slowed to an excruciating crawl. I saw the chief’s finger squeeze the trigger, saw the flash as the gun fired, saw the bullet begin its deadly journey toward us. Toward Aria. In that moment between life and death, my mind flew backward, tumbling through time to a memory I’d kept close to my heart for years. A memory of the first time I’d protected her—and the day I’d first known, somewhere deep in my soul, that I would do anything for this girl. The sun streamed through the broken slats of the barn roof, casting golden shafts across the dirt floor. I’d been living here for three months, trapped in my pup form after surviving the rogue attack that had nearly killed me. The wound in my side had finally healed, but the trauma had locked my shift. I couldn’t return to human form no matter how hard I tried.. But I had Aria. She’d found me half-dead by the roadside, my fur matted with blood, whimpering an