2. Warn

MARCELLO

It was implicating enough that I even left the tree that I was supposed to be stationed at. Then it was even worse that it was because I was out trying to befriend a freaking vampire. That was something I could not admit to my brother, even in a million years to come.

"Where did you go?" He repeated, clearly growing impatient.

"Um..." I cleared my throat, thinking of an appropriate lie. "I needed to stretch my legs so I went for a little walk."

He raised a brow at me, not buying my lie. "Since when do you ever need to stretch your legs when you're here?"

"I don't know, Bran." I shrugged. "I was bored too, so..."

"You were bored?"

"Yes."

"And you quit looking out without calling for backup?" Bran was beginning to raise his voice.

"It's not that serious, okay?" I rolled my eyes. "Besides, we've not had any intruders for months now. Nobody would dare trespass our land, they've learnt from the brutal examples we've set with the ones that have tried it in the past."

"And you think there's no longer people that want to intrude?" Bran took a step closer to me and I swallowed. "This should be the last time you do this. If you cannot remain here, ask for a replacement before you leave. Clear?"

"Yes." I sighed in relief when he stepped away from me.

"Ryan is about two hundred meters down." He informed me. "Call for him if you notice anything suspicious."

"Alr—"

Before I could even finish that word, he had taken off, running in his wolf form. I exhaled and jumped on one of the tree's branches. I did not want to imagine how he would react if he were to find out that I had seen a vampire and even tried to befriend her.

One thing was for sure, I had to warn her to stop showing up at the river. One of these days, it would not be me manning this side of the border and the result of any other wolf finding her there would be detrimental.

So I had to let her know somehow the following day.

*******

VALERIA

Today marked the third year since I ran away from home. And even though that was the last place that I wanted to be at, I still woke up with a heavy heart. That place was where all the memories of my parents were and I was no longer allowed to step foot there.

It was after a while that I realized that I was not only down about not being near my parents' memories, I was also not yet over the fact that I was wrongly accused of something that I did not do by my own cousin.

I sighed and shook the thought out of my head as I exited my old tent. The night was beautiful with the moon's silver rays and it put a small smile on my face. Usually, at this time, I would have lit a fire to roast some meat but food was the least of my thoughts at that moment. All I wanted to do was go to the river and sink in it.

I had settled in this place just a month ago and that river was already my favorite part of the area. It was surely going to keep me longer than I planned to stay before I moved to another location.

Since I became rogue, I did not stay in one place for too long. I preferred to move and make the best of my freewill. But now that I had grown a funny attachment to that river, I was beginning to think of staying longer than usual. The only thing that was now going to change my mind was the fact that someone had found me here. A stubborn male pest that did not let me breathe.

As I strolled down the path to the river, I could only hope that he was not going to show up again. But it seemed like that was useless as, out of nowhere, he appeared out of the woods with lightening speed and stood before me, panting with wide eyes as if he was about to announce an emergency.

I scowled at him, not fancying looking at his face.

"You need to leave me alone." I pushed him aside and continued on the path, mumbling how I wished he would just disappear and cease to exist.

"No, no." I heard his footsteps behind me, he was chasing after me. "You need to listen to me."

"I do not need to hear you say anything." I responded, still walking. "I just need you to let me be, okay?"

"Okay, maybe I'll do that if you just stop and let me speak?" He blocked my path again and I was looking up at him with a deep frown.

"What exactly do you want?"

"Look, you cannot go to the river again." He said to me and my frown went even deeper. What did he even mean by that? "You can't go there, you're not supposed to be in that territory."

"Says who?" I countered. "And how do you even know that I have been going to the river, huh?"

At that, he paused and swallowed, looking at me like I had not just asked him a question. "Look, that's not what's important right now. I just cannot let you go there, okay?"

"And I'm just supposed to agree without any tangible reason?" I scoffed. "Just leave me—"

"That is werewolf territory!" He snapped at me, flaring his arms in the air. "Should one of them catch you there, you'd be done for! You hear me? Done. For."

I looked in his eyes for any sign of deception, but I found none. He looked genuine and really concerned. But I still could not just blindly trust someone that I barely knew.

"How do you know that that's werewolf territory?" I asked him, squinting. Then it hit me, he could only know unless... "You're one of them..."

I stepped back slowly, pointing at him as I repeated, "you're one of them."

Now, looking at him triggered memories that I had been doing my best to suppress for years now. But I just could not help it any longer, being face to face with a wolf had everything flooding into my brain, and I wanted to scream my lungs out.

Blood. It was blood that I saw. My parents' blood, spilled on the wooden floor around their heads. I saw their lifeless eyes and still bodies, and wounded faces. I saw my eleven year old self crying and screaming for them to wake up and look at me again, to call me their baby again. But that did not happen, it never happened. And I saw the people that had done that to them, their smug faces and crooked smirks, their hands stained with the blood of my parents, and the set of tattoos on one of their forearms.

I closed my eyes and held my head, needing everything to stop and go away. I needed that gory sight out of my mind.

"Hey... are you—"

"Don't touch me!" I did not even realize when I snapped at him, creating even more distance between us as I stepped back farther. "Don't come near me. Don't touch me. Don't even look at me."

"What—"

"Stay away from me." I continued to move away from him. "Far away from me."

"And then I ran away, towards my tent. I ran with a kind of speed that I did not even know I could muster until then. I ran until I was safe inside my tent, shut out from anything else. I sat down and buried my head between my knees, rocking back and forth with my eyes shut tight.

Those scenes were still lingering in my head, over and over again, until that was all I was able to think of. My parents, their blood, the people that killed them.

That night, I cried until it hurt to even produce any kind of sound. I cried until I drifted to sleep.