by Wilde, Rhea
“You’ve never been to a big city before.”
“What?” I turned to my boyfriend.
“You’ve never been to a big city before,” he repeated.
“Why would you say that?”
“I can see it in your eyes. There isn’t a city like New York.”
“So you have been here before then?”
“I stopped by once. I never actually lived here though. I’ll admit there isn’t a place like this on Earth.”
“No, I don’t think there is.”
I was from a small town in the middle of nowhere. I had never been to a city like this. I never even considered coming here. When we finally got into the city and pulled into the rest of the traffic, I realized that we were here. The lights of Times Square were spellbinding. There were so many people walking up and down the streets. Cars were bumper to bumper and honking at one another. It was such a drastic change from what I was used to. For just a brief a moment, I was able to forget about why we were here in the first place.
We followed Irvine through the streets as he navigated through the traffic. He eventually pulled through a side road between a few of the smaller buildings. We ended up at a seedy motel that was far away from the lights that were far away from all of the life and lights I had quickly grown accustomed to. I sighed as I remembered that we were here for business and not the pleasure I had told my friend about.
I got out of the car and stretched my limbs after hours of driving. Despite his condition, the long journey didn’t seem to worsen Vaughn’s injuries. Irvine walked up to us and handed me another set of keys.
“It was a long drive,” he said. “You’re still not a hundred percent. You need all the rest you can get, Vaughn. Take some time and relax. We’ll get started early in the morning. Your room is upstairs on the second floor. I’ll be right over here. Vaughn. Ms. Everhart.”
He pointed at the room he had parked in front of then nodded to the both of us. I watched him disappear into his room then looked back at Vaughn.
“So… it looks like we have a room all to ourselves.”
I gave him a seductive smile to make it clear what I was thinking. Normally Vaughn wouldn’t need any further hints. But when I looked into his eyes, I saw something different from the desire that was usually there. Instead, there was a look of fatigue.
“Ariel, I—”
“It’s okay. Irvine’s right. You need all the rest you can get. You have a long day ahead of you. It can wait.”
We stepped into the room and quickly found our way onto the bed. He laid down while I found the familiar spot on his chest where I rested my head. He ran his fingers through my hair and softly massaged my head.
“It’s not my injuries,” he said suddenly.
“What?”
“They cleaned up my wounds as best they could. My body is recovering. I would take you right now but I need to focus on the task at hand.”
“Vaughn, you don’t have to explain it to me. I know that this isn’t a vacation…”
I trailed my fingers along the firmness of his stomach. His chest rose and fell softly as he breathed underneath me. He was slowly drifting away. I leaned in closer and wrapped my arms around him.
Both of us were wrapped in bandages and still recovering from our injuries. The room was dirty and in need of repairs. But it didn’t matter. I enjoyed my quiet moment alone with Vaughn. I didn’t know what lied ahead for any of us. What I did know is that I didn’t want to think about it any further. For now, I wanted nothing more than to simply be with him.
Chapter 8
The next day, Vaughn and I listened as Irvine further explained what his plans were. There were several smaller clans in the surrounding areas. One by one, Vaughn would explain the situation to them and urge them to join him in stopping the Nakas. The Nakas had already started murdering innocent humans. Irvine believed that they wouldn’t stop there and would move on to their own kind.
The way Irvine explained it made it seem so simple. But we all knew it wasn’t. This is what I signed-up for. This is the life I decided upon when I let myself go and fell for Vaughn. And now that we were here in New York, there was no turning back.
We waited until nightfall to make our move. Wolves are all around us. Some of them are pretending to live ordinary lives as humans. Only when the stars were out would we have a better chance of finding them in their natural state.
The sun fell and we headed toward the south of Manhattan where Irvine had tracked the first clan. Vaughn parked the car on the edge of the forest. There were acres of trees that stretched all the way to the coast. It dwarfed the small forest that Vaughn and I spent our quiet times in. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled then followed my two protectors as they wandered deeper into the forest.
There was an eerie silence that added to my anxiety. Vaughn must have felt it because he reached through the darkness and took my hand to comfort me. Together we walked just behind Irvine in search of the wolves he said were here.
“What do you know of them?” I asked.
“They’re a peaceful clan,” Irvine explained. “More peaceful than the Nakas are, anyway.”
“Peaceful… So they’re not going to attack us or anything?”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Ms. Everhart. They won’t welcome us with open arms. I don’t even think we’re allowed here. But I’m confident that they’ll see reason, one way or another.”
“You’re not going to kill any of them, are you?”
“That’s not my decision to make, Ms. Everhart.”
Irvine’s honesty wasn’t reassuring but at least it provided me some glimmer of hope that we would come out of this unscathed. Vaughn had covered the bandages on his wounds with an old t-shirt. My arm was still heavily wrapped as well. The lingering effects of the attack just last night were still apparent but there wasn’t any time to waste.
As we got deeper among the trees, the sounds of the forest seemed to grow louder. There were owls hooting as they hopped from branch to branch. Unseen beasts shuffled through the bushes ready to pounce on their prey or hide from their predators. There were howls rushing through the trees and I couldn’t tell if it belonged to an animal or the wind. I gripped Vaughn’s hand so tightly that my hand was slipping out of it from all of the sweat. I began to labor as we continued to walk through the trees.
Vaughn remained silent. I could barely make out the whites of his eyes when we passed by a beam of moonlight that managed to make its way into the forest. He had a silent and focused intensity. He didn’t say it but he was using his instincts at this moment. His heightened vision. His keen sense of smell. His amplified hearing. He was an animal that was at home in a place like this. I grew tense, hoping he would find his brethren before they found us.
There was the sound of movement in the distance. It started to grow louder and rhythmic. There was something shuffling around and then there was silence. I gripped Vaughn’s hand tighter. There was a light in front of us. We walked into it and eventually found ourselves in a forest clearing.
“Here,” Vaughn said as he stopped.
I grabbed Vaughn’s arm and wrapped myself around it. Irvine reached for the weapon on his hip. The sounds of the forest grew closer to us. I looked through the darkness between the trees and could barely make anything out. But there was something definitely there.
And then slowly, one by one, wolves started to emerge. They all looked similar. A dozen large beasts with golden brown fur. Their eyes peered into me. Their stares were so deep that I was forced to look away from them. They surrounded us and I gripped Vaughn tighter. Vaughn remained steadfast with Irvine right next to him. The two of them looked around as the wolves slowly started to circle us.
They bared their teeth. Spit dripped from their lips. Low growls seemed to indicate that we weren’t welcome. Every second was agony as I waited for something to happen.
“Peace.”
Vaughn spoke a single word. The wolves didn’t back down but it
didn’t seem to make anything worse.
“This is your territory,” he continued. “We mean no harm.”
Vaughn’s words seemed like they were falling upon deaf ears. Two wolves stepped closer to us while the rest created a perimeter. Every possible escape route was blocked. There was no way out of the clearing.
“This is not a threat,” Vaughn said. “I only ask to speak to the Alpha… You…”
Vaughn stared at the golden wolf bearing down upon him. His eyes met his and the low growl grew even louder. The other wolf let out a howl to the moon and I shuddered with fear. I gripped Vaughn’s arm tightly and closed my eyes, expecting the worst.
“If this is not a threat, then what are you doing here?”
I opened my eyes to see where the voice had come from. The wolves were gone. All of them. In their places were men, shifted from the forms I had grown afraid of just moments ago. The man who spoke was standing directly in front of him.
He had light blond hair that was cut short and close to his head. His beard was thin along his chiseled face. He was built like the rest of the men. Hard muscles all over his body that were accentuated by the moonlight. Even though he was no longer growling, he seemed no less threatening. His brown eyes still burned with a fire that only an animal would possess.
“Please,” Vaughn said. “There is no need for bloodshed.”
“Are you lost?” the man asked.
“No. We come looking for The Doras.”
“Who is we?”
“I, Shadow of The Rucai—”
“I don’t care what clan you represent. You have no business here. This territory is ours.”
“There is a threat.”
“So you admit it?”
“Yes. But not from me. The Nakas.”
There was a silence I hadn’t heard since I’d stepped into the forest. I looked forward at the man as he crossed his arms, the look on his face resentful.
“The Nakas are no threat to us,” he scoffed.
“They are,” Vaughn said to him. “They’re murdering people in the city.”
“The concerns of humans are not concerns of ours. If they wish to spread their destruction in the city then so be it.”
“They will come for you next. They will come take your territory and spread out.”
“And what makes you so sure?”
“Because there is no rhyme or reason to their destruction,” Irvine joined in. “They will not spare you when they cross you.”
The man looked at Irvine and scoffed again, rolling his eyes at the suggestion.
“I do not listen to the words of a murderer,” the man said. “And you, Shadow of The Rucai. You bring this killer of your brothers and sisters into our territory and expect us to listen to your lies?”
“The Nakas are coming. They won’t stop with the city.”
Vaughn tried to reason with them but it didn’t look like it was doing any good. There was still a look of disdain on his face. I grew more fearful that Irvine and Vaughn would have to resort to violence. But with so many of them surrounding us, I wasn’t sure if even they could hold them off.
“I have no time for this,” the man sighed. “Leave now or I will kill you.”
“You will just let the Nakas have you then?” Vaughn said.
“What would you have us do?” the man asked. “There are thousands of Nakas. We are a clan of less than fifty.”
“So you will just roll over and die?”
“Don’t question my heart!”
The man stepped closer to Vaughn and put his face to his. The two men growled at each other. I released my grip from Vaughn’s arm and took a step back. Irvine stood in front of me and I leaned in close to him.
“Go back to where you came from, Shadow,” the man said. “Leave now before you hurt yourself.”
There was a woman standing next to the man. She was blonde and beautiful. She had no shame of her body, her breasts bared to the open wind. Her tall and slim physique was something to be proud of and there wasn’t any doubt that she was the man’s Alpha.
When I looked at her, she gave me a resentful look. Her eyebrows arched and her eyes narrowed, forcing me to look away. She moved closer to her mate and slowly started to pull him away.
“Do not waste your time, my love,” she said to him in a scornful voice. “A wolf who spends his time with such human filth is not worthy of your time.”
I looked back up at her and she was still eyeballing me in a way that would make any woman shudder. The pupils of her eyes were red. They were burning fire not like anything I’d ever seen before. I was standing so close to Irvine that I was practically knocking him over.
The tension was thick. Any second one of them could snap and I would find myself in the middle of a circle of violence.
Please… Let this end… I don’t want to be here any longer.
I was pleading with someone I didn’t know with but my heart felt like it could no longer take it. And as if my prayers had been answered, the man slowly started to back away as the blonde woman tugged on his arm.
“Go,” he said. “Run away before it’s too late.”
“If you are unwilling to fight for your territory then I will take it from you,” Vaughn said to him.
“Now you threaten me?”
The man pulled his arm free from the woman and got back into Vaughn’s face. The two growled at one another and I searched for Irvine to brace myself upon him.
“You are no Alpha,” Vaughn snarled at him. “I challenge you!”
“You are not Doras! You do not have the right to challenge for leadership!”
“I’m not challenging you for your leadership. This clan is yours. I challenge you for your obedience.”
“You come into my territory with them and spit on your brethren? Now you insult my honor. I should rip out your throat where you stand!”
“If you will not listen to reason, then I will make you!”
In the blink of an eye, the two men growled at one another and shifted into wolves. Vaughn pounced upon him and the two struggled with one another on the ground.
“Vaughn!”
I cried out and reached toward him but Irvine pulled me back. I looked at him and he shook his head, silently telling me that this was Vaughn’s fight and Vaughn’s alone. I turned around and looked at all of the men as they watched the two wolves struggle with one another. The blonde woman eyed the fight with anger in her eyes and her teeth clenched.
The brown wolf struggled underneath Vaughn, who snapped at his throat. Just as Vaughn was positioning himself on top of him, the other wolf kicked him off. Vaughn quickly worked his way back to his feet and snarled back. The brown wolf charged at him. The loud sound of their teeth snapping at each other made me cringe. Every time it happened, I worried that one of them would be ripped apart.
They clawed each other. Blood sprayed onto the ground. Streaks of red appeared on their fur but neither of them relented. After everything Vaughn had already been through, I worried that his previous injuries would begin to take a toll on him. He backed away from the brown wolf, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted heavily. Vaughn stood there as the other wolf charged at him. I swallowed and feared that Vaughn would be unable to defend himself.
Just as the brown wolf leapt into the air, Vaughn shifted. Vaughn turned into a half-man, half-beast, rising up from his four feet onto two. He was now standing on his hind legs as a man. He quickly raised his arms and snatched the wolf from the sky. He grabbed him by the throat.
“You will listen to reason,” the werewolf Vaughn growled at him in a low voice.
The sound of the wolf struggling to breathe could be heard. I watched the claws beginning to pierce his skin, red starting to gush from the punctures.
“Vaughn! Let him go!”
I shouted and pleaded to him. I couldn’t take it any longer. I had already seen so much violence and I didn’t need to see anymore.
“Vaughn, please! You’ve alre
ady won! Leave him be…”
The clearing was silent except for the loud sound of Vaughn’s heavy breathing. My heart was racing as I wondered what was going through his mind. Then Vaughn turned slowly to me. I barely recognized the werewolf looking back at me, the blue emeralds in his eyes the only thing that looked familiar.
I looked at him and did my best to get him to stop. And he heard me. Vaughn released his grip from the wolf and stood back up straight. He shifted back to the human he was when he got here, his jeans and shirt now in pieces upon the ground. The wolf shifted back into the short-haired blond man. His mate helped him back up to his feet.
He was covered in wounds, lines of blood all over his body. His sweat glistened underneath the moonlight. I could see resentment in his eyes as he stared at Vaughn.
“You,” he grunted. “You disrespect our laws. You disrespect our peace and our territory. You… You are no wolf, Shadow. You do not have my respect…”
He and his mate were giving us a cold stare of death. But despite that, he sighed and continued.
“But you will have my ear. And I will listen to this rumor of the threat of the Nakas.”
“My love—”
“Silence, my queen,” he said, raising his hand to the woman standing next to him. “There is no need for further bloodshed. I promise you your appetite will be satiated.”
There was a look of scornful resentment on her face. She reluctantly bowed her head to him. She glared at me. I felt uneasy even though the worse had just passed. She then turned around and made her way back deep into the heart of the forest. The men who circled around us started to make their way through the trees and followed her.
“I am Cyrus, Alpha of The Doras. This is the territory of our pack.”
He turned around and followed the rest of his clan into the forest. I rushed up closer to Vaughn to make sure that he was all right. The wounds he had received were nothing compared to what happened last night but it still pained me to see more cuts being opened up on him.
