by Mia Rose
They walked down to the basement together and all eyes were on them as they entered the room. Aria’s smile was from ear to ear as if she’d just won some trophy. The chatter picked up again once they reached the front of the room.
“Okay everyone,” Declan said as the voices died down, “I decided to get us all together tonight because…”
“We,” Aria called out next to him. Declan turned around to glare at her for interrupting him while he was speaking.
“What?” Declan asked.
“We… we decided that we should all get together for meeting. You and me.” Aria smiled at the faces staring at her. “Anyways, small detail, continue.” The pack members looked shocked and all eyes were on Declan to see how he’d react.
“Right,” Declan said finally, catching Gabriel rolling his eyes, “we decided to call this meeting tonight for an important purpose. We need to come up with a way for us all to move past our recent loss. It’s been brought to my attention recently that some of you want revenge. You want to seek out those humans and take from them what they took from us.” Declan scanned the crowd to see who was nodding in agreement with this plan. “I do not think this is the best way to go. We must move forward with our lives and continue to train and better ourselves so that we might be prepared for anything else that comes our way. But we do not need to shed any more blood. Getting revenge will not bring back Cassidy, it will just be another dead person in the world. I don’t think anyone of us wants that on our conscience.”
Declan could see some heads nodding in agreement with him. He felt good about his decision because they could finally move from underneath the shadow of Cassidy’s death. They could get their lives back.
Before he could say anything else, the voice next to him called out, “No.”
Declan looked back at Aria once again and she stood up from her chair and approached the pack members.
“We cannot just accept Cassidy’s death and move on with our lives!” she yelled. “We must defend her, we must defend ourselves.” She looked around the room and stared at each person in the eyes as she spoke, “We are werewolves! We were not created to cower in the corners of these rundown apartments and try to live peacefully with the humans around us. We were made to hunt… to kill. Each one of us is dying inside, slowly, because we refuse to show our wolf to the world. Well, I say, not anymore! They stole our alpha! They stole our freedom! They continue to threaten us with silver, but we will show them that we are not afraid. We are wolves and we will not be domesticated.” She let out a loud howl and before Declan could stop it, the entire pack was howling with her.
Declan looked over at Gabriel to find him standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, with no expression at all.
“Gabe!” Declan called out. “Gabe, you’ve got to help me talk some sense into them. We can’t go out and kill those people. It will bring too much attention to us. It’s going to compromise our entire existence.”
Gabriel looked at Declan and said, “No, man. For once, I actually agree with Aria. We don’t stop until they’re dead, right?”
Gabriel took a step forward and pushed his arms back and started transforming into his wolf. His skin peeled back from his body and his bones cracked into submission. He let out a huge howl with the rest of the group and everyone started cheering.
Aria walked over to Declan and said, “Well, come on Alpha, aren’t you going to lead your pack?”
Declan’s mind was racing, he couldn’t think of anything he could do to settle them all down. It was clear that Aria was successful in riling them all up and having their beta on board was all they really needed to seal the deal.
“Alright,” Declan called out to the crowd, but they couldn’t hear him over the noise. “Alright!” he yelled even louder.
Finally, the pack settled down but everyone was too worked up to take a seat again. He could see every wolf scratching at the surface of their human form, just waiting to be let out.
“We will kill them, I promise you.” The pack let out a huge cheer, but Declan was not yet finished. “But… we are not going to, right now. We need to come up with a strategy to make sure that we have the upper hand. They do still have the silver weapons, so we need to be ready for that. We need to be able to take them by surprise this time. I’m not losing anyone else.”
Except Noelle, he thought to himself.
Declan called an end to the meeting and all of the pack members filed out. He caught snippets of conversations of how they couldn’t wait to rip out the hunters’ throats.
Gabriel walked up to Declan and put his hand on his shoulder and said, “Look, man, I know this didn’t go exactly the way that you’d hoped, but Cassidy was really loved and we deserve the chance to defend her.”
Declan looked up at his friend and saw that he was being sincere in his words.
It took him a second to respond, but finally, he said, “Gabriel, for someone who can be so smart, you’re being really fucking stupid right now.”
Gabriel took a few steps backward as if Declan had just punched him in the gut.
“Don’t you see that doing this is only going to cause more issues for us? There is no peace. She’s dead. That’s it! Nothing we do now will change that. We are knocking on the door of a war that we do not want opened, trust me on that.”
“You’re wrong, Declan. This is what everybody needs.”
“Okay then,” Declan nodded, “if that’s how you really feel… then you can lead this attack against them. I don’t want any part of it.”
“But —but you’re the alpha.”
“Yeah, I am. Which means that you have to do what I am telling you. And right now, I am telling you to come up with a battle plan.” Gabriel turned on his heel and stalked out of the room without looking back.
“One step forward, three hundred backward,” Declan said to himself.
“Do you want me to come over?” Aria purred into Declan’s ear. He almost jumped out of his chair because he hadn’t even noticed that she was still standing there, waiting for him.
“No, Aria. Not tonight, just —just go home.” Aria looked annoyed, but she didn’t argue with him for once.
She turned and walked toward the door.
Without turning around to face him, she called out, “Well, let me know if you change your mind.”
Declan sighed, relieved that he was finally, truly alone. Tonight’s meeting had not gone as planned at all. He didn’t know what to do at this point. They had crossed the point of no return —the pack wanted blood and he had to lead them to it.
The only thing he could do was try to protect Noelle. He slid his phone out from his pocket and scrolled through his recent call list. Her name appeared at the top of the list. He pressed the call button and it came as no surprise that he was sent straight to voicemail.
“Okay, Noelle,” Declan said out loud to no one, “if you don’t want to answer the phone, that’s fine. But you can’t ignore me when I show up at your door.”
Declan walked to his apartment where he powered on his laptop. He typed her name into the search bar. The first result caught his eye: Young Woman Survives Horrific Car Accident. He clicked open the link and he saw Noelle’s face staring back at him.
“I don’t necessarily know everything.”
Chapter 13
The Hunt
“You are incapable of true love.”
Declan’s mind raced as he scoured over the news story. He knew that the young woman was Noelle already, but he needed to find out more information.
As he read on, he found out that the night of the crash was the same night of their last hunt in the woods —the night Aria had shown up and was talking to “herself.” He also found out that the crash took place only ten minutes from their hunting grounds.
He didn’t want to say it out loud to himself. He needed to hear it straight from Aria’s mouth to confirm his suspicions. But deep down, he already knew the truth.
He went up to h
is room and dialed Aria’s number.
“Hello?” she answered, clearly still annoyed that he had brushed her off earlier.
“Aria!” Declan took a deep breath to control his voice. “Do you want to join me on a hunt tonight?” Declan could hear Aria’s wicked giggle on the other end and it took all his power not to throw his phone against the wall.
“You just couldn’t stay away, huh?” She laughed.
“Something like that,” he mumbled, “meet me at the hunting grounds in thirty minutes.”
“Why don’t we just drive together? I can be ready in ten minutes.”
“Because I have some errands to run afterward,” Declan said. He hung up before she could protest further.
He looked down at his arms and saw his veins pushing out from under his skin. He was infuriated with everything that had happened over the last few weeks. Tonight, he felt like something was definitely going to come to a head. Declan grabbed his keys from the kitchen table and slammed the door behind him as he walked out of his apartment. He stopped in at his office to print the address of the hospital Noelle was staying at, then he headed toward the car without looking back.
Noelle fell into a deep sleep after all the excitement with her family. The aunts and uncles and cousins all said their goodbyes and now only her mother, father, and nana remained in the room with her.
She dreamed again of being out in the woods, only this time she was alone and she didn’t feel afraid at all…
She heard footsteps approaching her, but she didn’t turn around to see who it was that was walking up to her. Hands reached around her waist and pulled her back into muscular arms. The fingers of the mysterious hands travelled all over her body, exciting every sense. She tried to turn to face him, but he pushed her head to the side and began trailing tender kisses down the side of her neck. She closed her eyes and gave into the feeling of him all around her, enveloping her. When she opened her eyes again, his fingers turned into claws and wherever he traced his nail against her skin, he left a small trail of her blood. But instead of becoming panicked, she just relaxed into him.
She opened her eyes and she was awake in the hospital room. Her father and mother were speaking in hushed whispers to each other and no one had noticed that she had woken up, so she closed her eyes and pretended to still be asleep.
“We have to tell her, Abigail. She needs to know the truth about everything —about who she is as a person.”
“No!” her mother hissed. “We are not telling her anything, do you hear me? Look at her! Look at our daughter! I can guarantee you she wasn’t out taking a joy ride. She was running from something. She probably tried to find that wolf that hurt you and she was stupid enough to do it alone.”
“Do not call her stupid ever again.” Her father’s voice sounded very serious and Noelle couldn’t help but smile a bit at him defending her, even if she had no idea what they were talking about. “She is a brave woman and she is by far one of the best hunters our family has ever seen. We cannot deny her the destiny she was born to fulfill, Abigail.”
“He’s right, Abigail.” The voice came from her nana who had been sitting in the corner, staring at the ceiling. “Noelle will remember soon enough and at that point, we do not want to be the people who withheld the truth from her, do we?”
Noelle could hear her mother stand up from her chair abruptly and mumble something under her breath about getting coffee.
Noelle decided it was time to open her eyes and face the music. She had a million questions running around in her mind and no idea where to start. One thing was certain at this point —she had something to do with wolves.
“Hello, Noelle.” Her nana smiled when Noelle sat up in her bed. “How did you sleep?” When her nana asked the question, there was a twinkle in her eye; one that made Noelle feel like maybe she’d known that she was awake the entire time.
“Pretty well, I had some interesting dreams,” Noelle admitted.
“Oh, yeah?” her father asked. “What were they about?”
Noelle felt her face get flushed as she recalled the intimate details of her latest dream, but instead of pouring out all the details to her father, she said, “It had something to do with a wolf, I think.” Noelle’s father glanced at her nana who remained expressionless.
“What?” Noelle asked. “What is it?”
“Noelle —there’s something that we need to tell you.” Her father’s eyes lit up.
“Okay,” she said slowly, now waiting for the truth.
“It may sound crazy at first, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”
“You are my dad, after all, right? Why would you lie to me about anything?”
“Exactly,” he said smiling, “the thing is, Noelle, that our family… we are, well, we are not exactly your average, everyday family.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that…”
“Hello, Sweetie!” the nurse called as she pushed open the door all the way, “it’s time to take your vitals.”
Noelle sucked in a deep breath of frustration and her father smiled softly and patted her hand reassuringly. For some reason, Noelle knew that she couldn’t ask anything while the nurse waited on her, so she just closed her eyes and waited for the nurse to finish poking and prodding at her.
“Good news, Noelle,” the nurse said, “you’ve been healing up really well, and the doctor says that you’ll probably recover even faster at home. Especially surrounded by familiar things and people. So, he’s releasing you first thing in the morning!”
“Oh, that’s great, Noelle,” her father said.
Noelle smiled even though she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about the whole situation. It was one thing to be surrounded by these people in her hospital room, but an entirely different thing to go home with them —a place which was once her home as well.
Her mother walked back into the room as the nurse left and her father shared the news. They all celebrated in their own little way —beginning by eating the hospital pudding her mother had snuck off a nearby food cart.
“It will be good to have you home, baby girl,” her dad said.
“Dad,” the word was starting to become familiar on her tongue, “what were you telling me before? About our family and stuff?” Her mother shot a side glance at her father and Noelle saw him stifle a nervous laugh.
“It’s okay, Sweetie, it can wait until tomorrow. Once your home, we can figure out everything else one step at a time.” Noelle nodded feeling her patience dwindling with every drip of the IV.
Declan drove to the woods with his windows down and he laughed at the thought of sticking his head out the window with his tongue sticking out. He turned up the radio to tried to drown out the thoughts that were invading his mind every second.
He pulled up to his usual parking area and stopped his car, pulling the keys out of the ignition. He sat in the seat and waited a few minutes before he heard the rumbling of another car engine coming down the path.
Declan got out of the car and walked a few paces toward the woods. He wasn’t entirely sure how he wanted to play this out —he could start the hunt with Aria and try to coax out the information from her with casual conversation. Or, he could just attack her from the moment she stepped out of her car. He opted for the hunt option and put on his best, fake smile.
“Aria, glad you could make it,” Declan said, walking over to her car door and pulling it open for her.
He reached out his hand and helped her get out of the car. She wore a slinky, black, tank top over black jeans which had ripped knees. Accentuated by her usual, black, combat boots. Her head spilled over her shoulders in waves and Declan felt a small urge rise inside of him, despite everything he thought he knew.
“It’s a good thing you called when you did,” Aria said slowly, clearly enjoying Declan looking her up and down. “Two minutes later and I would have had to turn you down because I was invited on another —adventure.” She bit her lip slightly on
the last word and it had the exact effect she was hoping for, at least in her mind.
Declan stepped forward closing the inches that separated them and he pressed his lips to hers, nearly making her lose her balance. Aria laughed a low, sultry laugh before she pushed him off of her.
She began to walk toward the woods and yelled out, “Are we going to hunt, or what?”
Declan couldn’t help but smile. For a moment, he had forgotten about how angry he was with Aria as he turned into his wolf form. They each ventured into the woods and began their hunt. They walked side by side in a stalking movement, keeping their eyes open for any unsuspecting deer.
“There,” Declan growled, looking straight ahead at a young doe who was sipping water from the river.
Aria let out a low growl and took off running toward the animal. Before the doe even had time to register Aria’s presence, Aria had already tackled her to the ground and slit open her throat with her claws. Aria looked up at Declan as he entered the bloody scene. She tore a piece of fresh meat from the body and offered it to him.
“Aria, no, this is not for us. This is for the families waiting at home.” Declan dragged the dead body away from her hungry teeth before she could take another bite. Aria transformed back into her human self and walked up to Declan, petting his luscious fur like she owned him.
“Come on, Declan,” she purred, “don’t you ever just —break the rules. Oh wait, of course you do,” she laughed, “I saw that with my own two eyes.”
Declan suddenly remembered the whole point of why he’d asked Aria to come on this hunt with him in the first place. He transformed into his human self and grabbed Aria by the wrists.
“Oh, feeling rough again tonight, are we?” Aria stared into his eyes and Declan had to fight off the urge to take her right then and there.
“Who were you speaking to the night you showed up during our hunt?”
“What!?” Aria asked, looking genuinely bewildered.
“Who were you speaking to, Aria? Do not make me ask again.”
