by Mia Rose
Declan opened his eyes and noticed that the shower was steaming onto his hot skin. He stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist. He pulled on his jeans and a t-shirt and walked into the other room when he heard someone knocking on the door.
Declan walked over and pulled it open and found Gabriel and Megan standing before him. “We need to talk,” Gabriel said, sounding more worried than Declan had ever remembered. Gabriel and Megan walked inside the apartment and sat down on the couch.
Gabriel handed Declan a piece of paper. He unfolded it and revealed a small photograph of three people standing side by side at some type of graduation. As Declan looked closer at the faces, he realized that the man standing in the middle holding the diploma was Edmund.
“What is this?” Declan asked.
“This is a picture from Edmund’s college graduation,” Gabriel explained. “And these two people,” Gabriel said, pointing at the two other figures from the photo, “these are his parents.”
“Okay?” Declan answered slowly unsure of what Gabriel was trying to say.
“You asked me to tail him after the funeral and that’s what I did. He ended up at a really freaking nice house and when I looked in the window, he was talking to some people. These are the people he was talking to.”
“That’s not possible,” Declan said, pushing the photograph back to Gabriel. “His parents both died during a hunt or something.”
“That’s what I remember you telling me too,” Gabriel said. “So, I looked into it some more. I googled the address of the house he went to, and get this —it belongs to an Edmund and Annabelle Sterling.”
“Sterling?” Declan asked. “I thought his last name was Stone?”
“Exactly,” Gabriel said. Declan stared at his friend, completely lost.
“Gabe, throw me a bone here.” Declan sighed.
“Declan, he’s been lying to us all. His name is not Edmund Stone, it’s Edmund Sterling. And his parents are not dead at all —they are very much alive and well, and living not that far away from here.”
“I don’t understand,” Declan said, “why would he lie about that?”
“I’m not sure.” Gabriel shook his head. “But when I saw him talking to his parents, it was pretty clear that he was upset about something. The conversation seemed pretty heated.”
Declan nodded, not quite sure what to do with this piece of information. He could feel the bottle sitting in his pocket and part of him wanted to tell Gabriel about it.
“Gabe,” Declan started, “he finished the cure and gave it to me yesterday.”
“What?” Gabriel’s mouth dropped wide open.
“I know. He said that with this mixture, if we take it beforehand, silver won’t even have any effect on us, at all.”
“Declan, we can’t trust him. We don’t even know what is in that thing,” Gabriel said.
Declan knew that this was a big chance he was taking, but he was so desperate to have something good for his pack. He nodded, knowing that Gabriel’s worries were not unfounded.
“I need you both to do me a favor,” Declan said slowly. “Can you go back to that house and see what else you can find? It seems our Edmund is a major fan of secrets and we do not want to be the last ones to find things out.”
Gabriel nodded. “What are you going to do?”
“Me?” Declan said, “I’m going to find Noelle.”
Noelle woke up and her vision was blurry —she blinked a few times to try to get a better look, but then she realized that her eyes had been covered by something. She could hear muffled voices somewhere around her, but she couldn’t quite understand what they were saying. Noelle heard a door slam followed by two sets of footsteps.
“I’m just saying.” Noelle recognized the voice as Edmund’s. “It wasn’t necessary to kill her.”
“She had seen too much, Edmund.” Noelle knew this to be Anne’s voice. “Can you stop being such a baby about all of this?”
“A baby? Are you serious? You just murdered your own housemaid in cold blood. And then you asked your son to help you dig her a grave in the middle of the woods.”
“You’re tiring, Edmund. Go check on your guest, it seems she has woken up from her beauty rest.”
Moments later, Noelle felt the fabric removed from her eyes and she realized it was night. “What day is it?” she asked.
“It’s Thursday.” Edmund grimaced. “You haven’t eaten or drank anything in almost two days, Noelle. Are you thirsty?”
Noelle looked at him and recognized the caring look on his face. It was the same one he had when she woke up in the hospital and they discovered she’d had amnesia. It was the same one he had when she called him to her house because she couldn’t walk. How had that man come to this point?
“Some water would be nice,” Noelle said quietly, feeling the scratchy words rising in her throat.
Edmund nodded and left the room to get her water. Noelle looked around and realized that they were no longer in the office. She realized that they were no longer in that house at all.
“Where are we?” she asked Anne.
“An old hunting cabin we used to use out in the woods,” Anne responded, dismissively. It seemed that she was in no mood to talk.
Noelle thought back to the gunshot that she’d heard and she realized that it was Anne who’d shot the maid.
“There are a few things I still do not understand,” Noelle said, not willing to let Anne go out of the room.
“What?”
“How did I get those letters wrong? I know what I read and the story does not match up,” Noelle asked.
“Well of course not, those were not from Noelise, at all. Edmund wrote those and left them as a way of explanation. He did not want anyone to know of his relationship with the hybrid and his weakness in not being able to kill her on the spot,” Anne answered, studying Noelle’s face.
“I see,” Noelle said slowly, “so, everything was a lie then.”
Anne smiled. “Do not look so disappointed, my dear. We have been waiting for you to come around for a long time. Everything would have gone much easier had you stayed committed to your life as a hunter, but alas, we can’t always get what we want, can we?”
“You still have not told me what the elixir is for? What does it do?”
“Mother?” Edmund said, walking back into the room holding a tray with water and some crackers. “What have you said to her?”
“Nothing, my dear son.” Anne stood from her chair. “I didn’t spoil your fun. I will leave you to it then.” She leaned forward and planted a tender kiss on his cheek before leaving the room.
“Edmund,” Noelle started, “why are you doing this to me? Why am I still here being held prisoner? You got my blood —you have what you need. Just let me go.”
“I wish it were that simple, Noelle,” he said sadly, “I can’t let you go. It’s for your own safety.”
“For my own safety? What part of this is for my safety? I can tell by your face that you don’t want any part in this,” Noelle hissed. “Just let me go home and we can just part ways.”
“Noelle, you don’t understand, do you? In order for any of the cures to be permanent, they will need your blood. If we ‘split ways’ as you suggest, I won’t have that anymore. And that’s not acceptable.” Edmund bit his lip on the last word.
“Edmund, please. You can’t keep me a prisoner, not forever.”
“You won’t be.” He smiled. “Soon, you’ll understand what you truly are and you will beg me to help you. And I will, under one condition.”
“And what condition is that exactly?”
“That you marry me,” Edmund said. His face was very serious and Noelle could not decide between bursting into laughter or bursting into tears.
“Why would I ever do that?”
“Don’t you see what we can accomplish together, Noelle? You represent the werewolves, and I, the hunters. Together, we can end this malicious cycle once and for all. We can save thousands
—no millions of lives.”
“You sound insane, Edmund.” Noelle laughed. “You think the werewolves are just going to listen to me because I’m a hybrid thing? Or better yet, that they are just going to decide to put decades of bloodshed and vengeance behind them? Because of what? Because you and I got married?”
“Not for that reason alone, Noelle. But because of what we can offer them,” Edmund said.
“And what is it that we can offer them?”
The door swung open and Edmund’s father appeared, his eyes wide. “Someone is on to us,” he hissed at his son.
“What?” Edmund asked, jumping from his seat. “What do you mean someone is on to us?”
“I was driving to the house to pick up some weapons. I noticed a car parked on the opposite side of the street, but I did not think anything of it. I went inside the house and collected my things and I heard a door shutting from another room. I ran in, but whoever was there had already gone. When I went back out front, the car had left.” His father was breathing hard by the end of the story and Noelle could tell from the look on his face that he was scared.
“Who do you think it was?” Edmund asked.
“I can’t be positive,” his father said. He looked over at Noelle and then leaned closer to his son’s ear, whispering quietly so Noelle could not make out what he was saying. Edmund’s face went pale and he took a step back from his father.
Whatever his father had just told him was clearly not good news. Eddie left the room leaving Edmund alone once again, with Noelle.
“Can you untie me so I can take a drink?” Noelle asked.
“No more talking,” Edmund said, walking over to her.
He stuffed a cracker into her mouth and pushed the glass to her lips, pouring the water into her mouth, making it spill down her face. She watched as he left the room once again. He was the monster she feared.
Gabriel raced down the road with Megan in the passenger seat clutching onto her seatbelt for dear life.
“That was ridiculously close,” she said as she breathed.
“I know,” Gabriel said, “clearly we need to work on a better spy plan for next time.”
“Next time?” Megan squeaked.
Gabriel looked over at her and lessened his foot on the pedal. He reached over to her thigh and squeezed it reassuringly.
“Let’s pull over here for a little while so we can make sure that he’s not tailing us,” Gabriel offered. Megan nodded in agreement with the plan.
Gabriel veered the car off to the side of the road into a little patch of grass that was hidden by the trees. They sat in the car in silence for a while until Megan started laughing.
“What is it?” Gabriel asked, looking at her sideways. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” Megan wheezed. “It’s just like, two years ago, I was freaking out because I got a C on a chemistry test and I was so certain that meant I wasn’t going to get into college, anywhere. And now, I’m sitting on the side of the road with a werewolf boyfriend, being a hunter turned werewolf myself, and we are hiding from my cousin’s crazy boyfriend’s father?”
Gabriel studied her face as she spoke, and soon, he was laughing too. “It’s pretty crazy, isn’t it?”
“Crazy does not even begin to describe it,” Megan said between giggles.
“Megan,” Gabriel said, sobering up slightly from the hilarity. “Do you believe that things happen for a reason?”
“I’m not sure about that,” Megan said. “Things are always happening as a series of consequences of previous actions. Whether or not there is necessarily a reason behind it, I don’t know.”
“I think there is a reason,” Gabriel said thoughtfully, “I definitely believe that there is a reason that I met you.”
Megan smiled at Gabriel, and she caressed his cheek tenderly. “Well, if you keep talking like that, you may just sway me into believing the same thing.”
Gabriel leaned in and kissed Megan gently. She brought her hand to the back of his neck and massaged it gently as Gabriel teased open her lips with his tongue.
“You know, Gabriel,” Megan whispered, “I never really felt like I truly belonged anywhere. Even in my own family, I mean. I know they love me and all of that, but I always kind of felt like the odd girl out, you know? Like there was a piece missing, of myself.” Gabriel looked into her eyes as she spoke and nodded his head. “I just feel for the first time, like maybe I am getting close to really finding out who I am meant to be. Does that make sense?”
“More than you know,” said Gabriel. “When I first turned, well, obviously I was freaked out, but once I got used to the idea of it, I started realizing that I wouldn’t have all these people —my dad, my coach, my supposed friends. I just felt pure relief. Like all of this weight just drifted off my shoulders because I could just be me without anyone else having to judge me or throw in their two cents.”
Megan smiled at him and she leaned in closer, bringing her lips to his again, craving that silky feeling as his hands traveled over her body. Megan felt the heat rise in her body. She had never loved a man before Gabriel, and he had awakened senses in her that she did not even know existed.
He pulled at the hem of her shirt and lifted it above her head. With one hand, he reached behind her back and unclasped her bra, letting her small and perky breasts free. He rubbed his thumb over her nipple softly and then cupped her breast and brought his mouth to it, suckling softly.
Megan breathed in quickly, closing her eyes and relishing in the pleasure. Gabriel pulled his own shirt over his head revealing his muscular, lean body. Megan leaned back in her seat and pulled down her jeans, pushing them from her ankles. Gabriel unzipped his own pants, unleashing himself fully.
Megan took his cock in her hands and massaged it up and down, admiring how hard it got when she touched it. Gabriel pressed his fingers against the sheer fabric of her panties and he could feel that she was already wet and waiting. He pushed the fabric to the side and gently massaged her clit. Megan arched her body backward.
She looked at Gabriel and said, “I want you.”
He smiled and reached over her, grabbing the lever which lowered her seat all the way. He climbed over the console and in one swift motion, he pushed himself inside of her. Gabriel rocked his hips back and forth, slowly at first. He allowed his hands to roam all over her body until he placed them firmly on her hips. He started moving his body faster and he watched as she bit her lower lip, a tell-tale sign that she was about to cum.
She ran her nails along his back and then suddenly, he felt her walls pulsing against him and he gave into it as well, allowing himself to let go. They laid together in the back seat of the car, looking out of the sunroof at the twinkling stars between the leaves of the tree.
“Hey, Gabriel,” Megan said softly, still watching the stars, “I think I’m in love with you.” She looked over at him and saw that his eyes were closed. Small, gentle breaths pushed themselves from his lips and she snuggled in closer to him and let herself drift off to sleep as well. She wondered what he might be dreaming of.
“She watched as he left the room once again the monster she feared.”
Chapter 21
The Escape
“He was beginning to think that perhaps the cure had not worked after all.”
Declan didn’t sleep at all during the night —his nerves were through the roof. He had no idea where Noelle could be and her family was frantically searching every place they could think of. He had expected to hear back from Gabriel and Megan by now, but he had not seen them return yet. To top it all off, tonight was the night of the alpha ritual and every bone in his body was telling him to postpone it.
Declan walked to the office as soon as the sun had risen and to his relief, Avril was not yet sitting there in her usual place. He sat down behind the computer and pulled up the internet browser, searching for a Jane Doe that might have shown up in hospitals, or worse, morgues. Nothing came up in his search.
He hadn
’t seen Edmund around since he’d confronted him in the lab about Noelle, but he hadn’t thought too much about it. Declan still carried the bottle of elixir that Edmund had given him. He wanted so badly to throw it out, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it on the slim chance that this actually was the cure that they had all been hoping for.
They’d lost too many pack members to silver —including Cassidy and Aria —he was not about to lose anymore. Without giving it a second thought, he pulled the bottle from his pocket and uncorked it. The potion smelled like sulfur and it made him want to throw up, but he held his breath. And in one swift motion, he guzzled down the entirety of its contents. He waited —but nothing seemed to happen. He didn’t feel any different, then again, he hadn’t known what to expect.
According to Edmund, this elixir was to prevent any damage from silver, meaning that if he were hit with silver in any way, it wouldn’t have an effect on him. He had an idea as to what he should do.
Declan searched all over the office for anything that might have been silver, but he couldn’t find anything. Just then, Avril walked in.
“Oh, wow, hey, Declan.” She laughed. “You’re in early today!”
“Yeah.” He nodded absently, still pulling open drawers manically.
“Can I help you find something?” she asked. “I may have rearranged things a bit.”
“I need something made from pure silver,” Declan said. He looked up at her and noticed that she was staring at him with wide eyes. “Don’t worry,” he said, attempting to sound reassuring. “You know what? Just forget I asked.”
Declan stood up from the chair and made his way out of the office. He didn’t turn to see Avril’s face as he left, but he could feel her eyes burning into him as he walked away.
He walked to Garett and Abigail’s apartment and knocked on the door lightly. To his surprise, they pulled the door open immediately as if they had been expecting someone. Declan saw Abigail’s face drop when she noticed it was him, and Declan realized that they must have been waiting for Noelle to come any moment.
