My hands shake and my face turns a cherry red. With barely contained anticipation, I purse my lips, looking up at the man mated to me. The one that was chosen to be mine.
Centimeters away, and edging closer...
His top lip brushes against my cheek as he suddenly swivels his head in response to the blare of his cell phone. Red is on his face too, spreading like wildfire. He sneaks a quick glance at me before grabbing his phone, a small pout dancing on the corner of his lips. Disappointment crackles through the air.
I curse that phone.
He fiddles with a few buttons, and then a small message is displayed on the screen. As Nico reads it, his face turns a deathly white. "It is from Jake."
"What does it say?" I ask fearfully.
He sits in complete silence for a second, staring at me. Then, after the moment is over, he says, "Took the house. We are prisoners. They are coming for you too."
Alarm overcomes my being, the shroud of doom once more descending upon me. For some reason, I can already tell that we are completely finished.
Puppy Love
My bed is soft, but not nearly as warm as I wish it to be.
I shiver underneath the thick covers, tossing and turning furiously. I struggle to get warm, yet only the cold embraces me. The desire for a certain man grows at an alarming rate, as I know that one touch from him would instantly make my body go hot with passion.
But at the same time, I am afraid of him. Sadness and a strange fear races through my mind as I recall once again his confession to me, his impassioned plea for forgiveness that strangled my heart. I wanted to rectify our misunderstanding, but he refused to listen. I could tell that he was stressed, his eyes full with pain and desolateness. He was almost desperate for me, as if I was his bread and water. Just remembering that one look from his statuesque features ashamedly brings a tiny tingle of happiness to my heart.
But what is he truly desperate for? Is it just for our mating to be fulfilled, or because he loves me for who I am?
Once I really think about it, if I was not his mate, he would not have fallen in love with me at all. In fact, I would have been dead now. I would have been given everything I asked for on that one awful night.
"I can tell you are thinking hard," a deep voice cuts through my pondering state. His words are followed by a little laugh, and the crinkle of a smile.
"Asher?" I slowly sit up, struggling against the headboard. Looking up at his grinning face, I reluctantly smile back. "What are you doing?"
"Getting you. Everyone else is in the car."
"How long has it been?"
"About three hours. It's time, Ella." His face is now deathly serious. "We cannot stay here anymore. Our lives are at stake."
"I feel so woozy..." I attempt to swing my legs off the bed, clutching Asher's shoulder for support. "Please, help me," I whisper into his shoulder, leaning on his broad form.
Without another word he sweeps me into his arms, cradling me like a baby. It feels so good... so warm. As I look up at him, I can see his concern and determination. For a minute, I see another in his place, with bright blue hair and smooth skin.
"Forgive me," I quickly apologize, slipping into the vast nothingness as my eyes slide to a close once more.
* * *
The first thing I see is Danae's face leaning over mine. Now she seems as young as a teenager, with luscious, dark hair. As I sit up, my own flaming red hair slaps against my arms. For some reason, I feel extremely nauseated.
Her large eyes search mine with great concern. "Are you okay?" she asks softly, and I grasp her arm tightly.
"I don't think so," I confess, "I think I am car sick." Being in a car like this reminds me of... that fateful journey with my parents. I haven't really been overly fond of them since then.
"What's wrong?" Asher twists in his seat, staring at me. I try to avoid looking up and seeing the whiz of cars in front of him.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” I confess, holding my stomach. His eyes carefully examine my appearance; obviously trying to decide for himself how bad of a condition I am in.
“Nico, we are going to have to park the car soon or Ella will vomit all over the seats.” Asher turns his head back to the front, leaning forward in his seat. “I don’t know where… but we need to find a safe place to either get some meds for her or to ditch the car completely.”
I spare one glance outside of my window but all I can see is miles and miles of road. There is no gas station, no store of any kind.
“Where are we going to hide?” I inquire, my voice coming out a little raspy and low.
“I’m hoping that when we reach Pack 24 they will help hide us, but if they don’t, then we will continue to travel north until we reach one of the sanctuaries,” Nico says firmly, keeping his eyes straight ahead. Even from the back I can sense his fierce determination, his desire to escape the invisible villain.
Miles and minutes pass, and with every bump I feel a new wave of nausea. Asher keeps his gaze focused on me, somehow encouraging me without words. Danae is just as tired as I am, leaning her head against the window.
CRACK!!
My head leaps up as a resounding noise fills the air. “What was that?!”I scream, searching for the source of the noise. Nico jerks the car off the road and races towards the trees on both sides of the interstate. “Hold on!” he yells, narrowing his eyes. The speed escalates from 80 mph to over 100.
CRACK!!
A gasp escapes me as I hear the same sound again. The window beside me splinters as a small metal ball is suddenly wedged inside of the thick glass. Spider webs blossom in the small area, reaching to the far corners of the window. “WATCH OUT!” Danae screams, tugging me over to her side just as it shatters, glass shards falling all around us. One hits my leg, and instantly blood starts to drip from the small wound.
We are all jerked around as he navigates us into the forest. I am thrown against the opposite seat where the glass is, Danae unable to hold me. Tears slide down my cheeks as I feel thousands of tiny pieces pierce my body. I crawl back over to her, and begin to break down as I hold her arm. There is another blur of movement and Asher is at our side, shielding us both from the waves of glass flying towards us.
“We are going to have to ditch the car!” he yells to Nico as another shot rings out. This time it hits the window that stretches across the back. “Normal bullets wouldn’t shatter windows like these,” Asher mutters to himself angrily as cracks run through the back window.
“What do we do?” I ask, mashed between Asher and Danae. Many more gunshots crackle through the air as we swerve deeper into the forest, scraping past trees and rocks.
“On the count of three, open the door,” Asher instructs me calmly.
“Why? If we do, we will be killed by the bullets!”
“Ella.” He stares into my eyes, serious as ever. “This time, you are just going to have to trust me.”
My fingers reach the handle, gripping it tightly. Tears are flowing like a waterfall from my face onto my shirt and jeans.
“1-“
“Asher, don’t! That’s what they want! They are trying to scare us into leaving the vehicle!” Nico shouts, twisting around briefly, “They know bullets can’t seriously injure us!”
“It’s safer out there than it is in here! We are all getting hurt by the glass!” The shattered pieces from the back window are falling like rain on our heads, scraping our skin. “And anyway, I don’t think those are normal, run-of-the-mill bullets,” he continued. Nico raises his head once more, eyes alert.
“2,” Asher whispers in my ear, shielding me as best he can. My hands are clammy from holding the metal handle. I hold my breath, waiting for all this to end, for it to be over. Maybe I will wake up and find out that this was all a dream.
“3!” My eyes slip to a close as I wrench the handle open. There is a blur of motion as we all fall towards the ground, and for a moment, it seems as if all this is occurring in slow motion… as if we
are just gracefully falling out a slowly-moving car.
Asher zooms out of the car, grasping both of us in his arms before we ever hit the ground and we are gone, traveling faster than the car ever did. In seconds Nico is right along beside us.
“Let me take one,” he tells Asher, holding out his arms slightly. Asher rolls his eyes, and soon I find myself in Nico’s strong arms. I almost sigh with relief as I lean back against his chest—although I hate to admit it—I have missed this so much.
Almost as much as I have missed him.
For what seems like ages we run through the forest, bullets shooting through the air. One hits a tree by us and it cracks, falling right beside us. I gasp as another drops to the ground soon after. Bullets aren’t supposed to be able to knock over trees.
Another series of trees plummeting to the ground follow a series of gunshots. “Nico!” I scream as a gigantic one blocks our path; this one was laced with quite a few shots. Nico turns quickly and we both realize that we are trapped in a circle of trees. “Who could have planned something like this?” I ask, my breath coming in short gasps.
Without answering my question, Nico leaps to the top of the tree and prepares to jump off of it.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t do that,” a deep, commanding voice erupts from behind us. Chills race through my spine as we turn to see a man standing in the center of the circle. He had beautiful golden hair, much like Wes’s, that stopped right at his shoulders.
Nico narrows his eyes. I can tell these two are not exactly friends. “And why not?” He stands firmly on the top of the tree, not backing down.
“Members of my team are stationed on every side. There is no chance of escape.” The man laughs a little, smiling brightly. “Hello, Nico. Good to see you again, though I certainly did not think I would be seeing you so soon. Why don’t you step down from the tree?”
Nico doesn’t waver.
“Did you see our newly developed bullets?” He gestures to the sky as a bunch of shots race through the air. “These are specially modified to have the ability to pierce the toughest of skins. Good thing you avoided them so far… if one hit you, it would have hurt.”
Suddenly the man notices me in his arms. “Is this the convert? She’s a pretty one.” Nico’s grip tightens around my form, holding me even closer to his warm chest. “How about you convince your boyfriend to step down before anyone gets hurt?” He asks me, a hint of contempt laced through his seductive voice.
“Maybe it would be a good idea, Nico,” I whisper into his ear, fright clearly painted onto my features, “they seem to know what they are doing.”
“I’m not going to give you up.” At these words, butterflies flutter in my stomach and a blush inches its way onto my cheek.
The man dramatically sighs. “Bring them out, Daemon.”
An imposing man with sunglasses comes out from behind one of the trees, carrying two men. He places them near the feet of his leader, emotionless.
“Say hello to Jake and Wes,” the leader smiles, pulling a dark object out of his pocket, “or I should say, tell them your goodbyes unless you get down from that tree.” Thick, blood-stained bandages are wrapped around Jake’s arm and Wes’s calf. They must have been hit by those deadly bullets.
He holds the dark object over their heads. I recognize it to be a gun.
Where is Yi? He couldn't be... dead, could he?
Nico looks down, and slowly steps to the ground. Anger is laced through his gaze as he lifts his head and glares at the man. He doesn't seem to notice that Yi is missing.
“This is your fault for trying to run,” the man says plainly, “it didn’t have to be this way.”
“You know my reasons for running,” Nico replies evenly, his eyes like lasers. The man shrugs in reply, a slight smirk dancing across his handsome features.
“I’m afraid we are going to have to bring you all in.” With a wave of his hand, several figures jump over the trees into the circle. Most of them are strong, handsome men, not one of them appearing to be over the age of forty. The rest are beautiful wolves. Their eyes flash an emerald green.
Feeling rather awkward, I stumble out of Nico’s arms and stand beside him. Scanning the row of men, I see no familiar faces. Danae and Asher are a few feet away from us, obviously trying to judge how powerful their opponent is.
“You have to let Ella have a trial,” Nico insists firmly, “or I won’t surrender.” He steps towards the leader, clearly intent on picking a fight. Immediately two tall men surround him, forbidding him from proceeding any farther.
“Why should I do that when you so blatantly broke the rules and even tried to escape going to headquarters?”
I listen to their argument for a few seconds, and then my gaze wanders. I search my surroundings for other werewolves, wondering if any more were hiding in the bushes. Maybe if I run as fast as possible, I could escape while the leader’s attention was focused. Without making any sort of noise, I inch towards the tree trunk…
…Until I spot a huge, handsome dog with silky smooth chocolate fur and a large caramel splotch on his eyes leaping over the trees. Its eyes roam the circle, then stops on me. We stare at each other for a minute, frozen. Tears spring to my eyes.
He flies my way, sprinting a mile a minute. By the time he reaches me, I’m laughing and crying at the same time.
“Scotty!” I exclaim as he rubs my hand with his soft head, just like he always did in the past. He has gotten so big now, almost as large as I am. Heads turn to watch us, but I don’t even care. “What are you doing here?” I ask him, “Where have you been?”
He barks once, staring deeply into my eyes. I wish I knew how to speak dog.
I hug him by the neck, drowning in the warmth and softness of his fur. It is so good to be with him again.
A hand touches my shoulder, and I look up to see the face of the leader, his face in a grin. “Why is he with you people?” I ask him sharply.
“Because he trusts us,” he gently says, “and so should you.”
I stand up, scanning the faces that are looking at me, crawling over my face and body. Immediately my gaze connects with Nico, noting the look of bewilderment on his features.
“I have to go with them,” I tell him calmly. His eyes grow wide.
“Why? They are going to kill you, Ella.” Distress is laced through his voice. “Don’t you realize that?”
“I have to go with Scotty,” I insist, rubbing my hand across his back.
“I can’t let you give yourself up because of a dog!”
“Well,” the leader bumps in, “I think you can and will.” The two men around Nico grab his arms fiercely. “And Ella,” he tells me in a low voice, “I’m very interested as to how you and… um… Scotty know each other. Both of you can tell me all about that later.”
He raises his voice. “As you all know, there’s a sanctuary near here that can take us back to the headquarters. Let’s get moving.”
As I glance at the members of the pack, I suddenly notice Asher and Danae’s absence. They must have escaped while the leader was talking.
“Are you ready?” the leader asks me softly, “My name is Ferrars by the way.”
“Nice to meet you,” I smile thinly, “and I have to warn you, I can’t run as fast as you guys can. That’s why Nico was carrying me here.”
“No problem.” He sends me a beautiful smile, sweeping me into his arms. However, all I can feel is the coldness of his arms and chest. For some reason I don’t trust him at all.
After a short while we reach a small clearing marked by very bright green grass. As I look up to the sky, I notice how clear and perfect it is. Wasn’t it a dark, stormy gray this morning?
Ferrars gracefully puts me down, and then navigates to a rock planted in the center of the clearing. Two strong men follow him and place their hands on the rock. With much effort they lift it, placing it slightly away from where it used to be.
“Take the prisoners first,” he commands. A slight
ly skinnier, handsome man with dark brown hair grabs my arm, roughly dragging me to where Ferrars is. “Be gentle with her, Soka,” he cautions my escort. I can feel his calculative gaze scan me as we pass him.
I gasp when I see a deep tunnel where the rock used to be, small and dark. Without realizing it, I clutch Soka’s arm tightly. “Are you scared of the dark?” he asks with a little laugh. I glare at him in response, though still sticking to him like glue as we slowly descend down a small stairway into the tunnel.
“To be a werewolf, you sure don’t act like one,” Soka comments, “you seem like a regular human, besides your green eyes of course. The master even carried you! He never does anything like that for anyone. He seems happier today than he has been in quite a while.”
Feeling like my companion is in the conversational mood, I ask, “Is he the leader of all the werewolves?”
“He’s actually the second son of the real leader, but he is next in line to the throne.”
“What about the first son? Shouldn’t he take over?”
Soka casts me a laughing glance. “You really don’t know, do you? Zayn told me that you didn’t have a clue back in the forest but I didn’t believe him until now.”
“I don’t have a clue about what?”
“The first son isn’t… suitable to be our leader. Although I have to say, he’s much better at being a leader than Ferrars is.” He snorts. “Ferrars always needs someone to chase, fight, or kill. He can’t take more than five minutes of peace.”
Silence reigns through the tunnel, the only sounds being the monotonous footsteps as the rest of the group begins to follow us. “Where are we going? What is this tunnel for?” I ask him worriedly. This tunnel seems like it goes on forever, and I’m not sure if I can take much more of this.
“Headquarters,” he says softly, “and this is what you would call a portal. The council has a ton of these scattered around the world, hidden in places called sanctuaries. They can take you wherever you wish to go. It is very useful for werewolves who are trying to escape some sort of persecution.”
Nightly Howls Page 26
