I stared up at the top of the hole. When did a group of fanatical hunters set up their torture shop around here? Why didn’t anyone warn me they were in town? It seemed impossible for a group this dangerous was in the area and the alpha didn’t know it. My stomach tightened. Had he warned everyone and my aunt chose not to tell me?
No.I shook my head from side to side, trying to toss away the dark thoughts. My aunt may blame my dad for getting my uncle killed and she may place that blame on me since Dad wasn’t here, but she wouldn’t put me in danger like that. And none of this mattered right now. What did was I had to get out of here before those crazy humans came by to check on their traps. My breath and heart raced as my mind thought of what they might do with me if they found me here. I stumbled back as my head grew light. Suddenly mom’s voice, or what I remember her voice to sound like, surfaced and echoed in my mind. ‘It’s okay to be scared, Robin, but never let that fear turn to panic. Panicking makes you stop thinking and start reacting. In a dangerous situation, reacting is the worst thing you can do. Keep your head and think. Thinking means you can find a solution.’I nodded as if she was next to me, taking deep breaths through my nose. My head cleared as both my heart and breathing slowed. Okay. Think Robin. Think.As much as I hated to do it, I would have to call for help. God, Aunt Lauren wouldn’t let me forget this in a long time. I took my phone out of my pocket, grimacing when I saw the cracked screen. With a sigh, I went into my contacts and called my aunt. “Lauren Nelson speaking.”“Aunt Lauren, I need your help. I’ve—” “Robin,” my aunt said with a sigh. “I don’t have time to talk to you. Declan’s ride never showed up, so he’s late for practice.”“Aunt Lauren, this is serious. I’m in a hunter’s trap. I need you to call the alpha and get some people here to help me out before the hunters come.”Silence answered her.“Aunt Lauren,” Robin said, feeling the panic try to return. Still nothing.I pulled the phone away from my ear to see she’d hung up. “No, no, no!” If any time was a time for my aunt to listen to me, now was the time. I called my aunt back and put the phone to my ear.“Robin, I told you I don’t have time. Stop insisting. It’s childish,” her aunt said when she picked up the phone.“Aunt Lauren, this is life or death,” I shouted into the phone but when I heard no reply I pulled the phone away and saw she’d hung up again and judging by the time of the call, she hadn’t even waited for me to speak.“No!” I yelled at the phone, feeling like maybe she was trying to get me killed after all. Again, I shook my head and called her back again, and this time she didn’t even pick up. I called her again, and again until it became obvious she blocked me. “Seriously?” I cried, panic seeping further into me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Who else could I call? My contacts list was very short — Aunt Lauren and the school number. I paced the tiny space of the hole’s bottom. The world seemed to shrink and grow dark when I realized there was no one. I had no friends, no mentors, no nothing! I was totally alone.If I called the emergency number and told them I fell, it would go against pack law. So all I had was myself. I wasn’t the strongest of my kind. Alright, yeah, I was one of the weakest… But I was still stronger than a human, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that I might get out of here on my own. “You got this, Robin,” I told myself, cracking my knuckles and shaking out my limbs. Summoning all the strength I had, I knelt and jumped with my arms out, reached above my head. I didn’t reach the lip of the hole, but I dug my fingers into the dirt of the wall. The tips of my fingers flared in pain as I scratched the hard earth all the way back to the bottom. With a hiss, I looked at my scratched up finger tips. I shook out my hands, feeling the tingle as they healed.“You can do this,” I told myself again, and once more tried to leap to grab on the edge. Again, I scraped my way back down to the bottom. “Come on!” With a small growl, I jumped again, and again, and each time I slid back down.So… yeah… that wouldn’t work. I needed another idea. With another deep breath, I looked around the walls of the hole. There were a few roots exposed. Some of them were pretty thick and they might support my weight, thus allowing me to climb out of here. With one more, “you can do this,” I jumped and grabbed onto a thick root. An excited laugh escaped me, as it didn’t break with my weight. I awkwardly hung there for a moment until I pulled up my feet to brace on the wall. Sweat peppered my brow as I climbed up the wall, using the root as a rope. One step, then another, I reached the end of the root that disappeared into the earth. Again, I rested my head against the wall of the hole, taking a moment to catch my breath. I did my best to ignore how my palms burned. Friction burns were a small price to pay for my life.Needing to keep moving, I looked around me for another root. There was another one above and to the right of me. It was going to be tricky, but if I could keep my footing, I should be able to get to it. Carefully, I inched my way until I was right under it. A gasp ripped through me as I slipped a little, sending a wave of hot pain through my left hand. I couldn’t hang here forever. With a growl and gritted teeth, I dug my fingers into the dirt to pull myself a little higher. Once I had a good grip, I then dug my foot into the wall, digging out a foothold for me to step into. When I had it, I stepped up and grabbed the root with my left hand. “Thank god,” I breathed and climbed up the root like I had the previous one. I continued this slow process until I was near the edge of the hole. It was so close I could reach up and touch the grass. I started digging for another handhold when the sound of moving earth alerted me that the root I was holding onto snapped. My eyes widened as I fell. I reached out, scrambling to keep myself from falling all the way back down. Pain ripped through my arm and I hit the bottom again. My breath whooshed out of me. Somehow, this fall had hurt more than the first one. I tried to prop myself up, but pain flared into my left arm. My stomach dropped when I looked at it. From wrist to elbow was a deep gash. I could see a couple of inches of bone near my wrist. Blood gushed from the wound, seeping into the muddy floor. It looked bad, but for a werewolf, this was nothing. I’d heal before I’d lost too much blood. It’d just slow me down for half an hour or so. Of course, I didn’t have a half hour or so…Above me, I heard a sound that sent ice through my veins. Brush and branches snapping as something trampled through the forest. With that much noise, it could only be one thing — The hunters. A moment later, their voices carried through the breeze confirmed it. I was out of time and couldn’t wait for my arm to heal naturally. I needed to shift into my wolf. With any luck, my claws would help me get out of this hole faster. Gritting my teeth and closing my eyes, I willed my wolf to the surface. Pain sparked over me as I shifted.Hurt, and out of time, I closed my eyes and willed my wolf to the surface. I grit my teeth to stop myself from crying out in pain. It was a painful process, made even more painful in the fact I was in a hurry. Brown fur sprouted along my arms and chest as I undressed. My fingers changed, making it more difficult to shove my clothes in my backpack. If I survived this, no way was I walking home in my birthday suit!The whimper of pain turned into a growl as I finished my shift. I heard and smelled the hunters now. It was some comfort that there weren’t only four of them and judging by how their voices carried, still some ways off. I didn’t have much time, but I could still escape before they reached the hole. With my backpack in my massive jaws, I dropped low to the ground and tensed my muscles to prepare for jumping.‘You can do this,’ I told myself before I pushed off from the bottom of the hole into a leap for the top. Claws out, I reached the top and grab onto the ground. A thrill
“Ah, the little wolf.” A hint of a smile appeared on his bloodied lips as he took a step towards me. I hunched down on all fours until my belly grazed the grass. To get away from him, I took a small step back, but in the blink of an eye, he was right behind me. I yelped, turned to face him with a growl. That hint of a smile appeared again on his face as he began walking in a circle around me, looking at me as if I was a bug that had just crash landed in his drink.“Little wolf, little wolf,” he said as he encircled me. “What to do with you?” I didn’t think he actually wanted an answer, so I did my best to stay low and keep my eyes on him. “I should kill you,” he said, but this time he sounded like he was talking more to himself. “Can’t have you running and telling your alpha about the big, bad vampire.” He clicked his tongue as he shook his head, still walking around me like a shark waiting for the perfect moment to strike. “Though, by the look of you… I don’t think anyone is going
“Uh… what is it you want me to do?” I asked, feeling like I was going to regret this. The vampire put his hand to his pants pocket, the flash of fang gone. “Simple. I want you to use you to discover who I can trust and who I can’t in my coterie.”“Right…” I said, dragging out the word. Was he serious? How exactly was I going to do that? “Uhm, despite this might put my chances of surviving this encounter to an all-time low, I can’t do that.”“You can’t?” The vampire almost sounded surprised. “No, that’s not how werewolves work, especially me. I told you I’m an omega. I barely above a human level.”The vampire stared at me, his face a blank slate. “I see,” he said and clicked his tongue. “Yeah…” I said slowly, preparing myself to run. I didn’t think I could outrun a vampire, but maybe if I was able to get back into the alpha’s territory, he wouldn’t dare trespass. “You don’t know what you are, do you?”My brow furrowed as I stared at him. “Uhm,” I started. It was stupid to argue wit
Shaun and I walked down the quiet residential road. As we walked, I kept stealing glances toward at him. Shaun Hunter was walking me home. I swear the way this day was going, not even aliens landing their flying saucer right down in front of me would surprise me. “Oh,” Shaun said, breaking the silence. “Uhm, so the school librarian told me you have their copy of Monday’s Trouble.”My brow furrowed. “Uh, yeah, I have it,” I replied, not sure why he was asking me about a book. “Cool. When you’re done with it, can you give it to me? Been wanting to read that one for a while.” Was he serious? Not only did Shaun read books, but he wanted to read that one? That was like the top tier ‘nerds only’ type of book. Okay, so perhaps today could still surprise me. I smiled at the weirdness of the day. Weirdness I survived. “Yeah, of course. I can bring it to school tomorrow. I’ve read it like a hundred times by now.” “Yeah?” He looked excited by the idea. My smile grew. “Yeah. No problem.”“Gr
Before leaving my room, I stopped to check myself in the mirror. I usually didn’t do a mirror check before heading out, but Robin said she’d bring me the book to school today and, well, I wanted to look good. The thought of Robin made my heart race with excitement and my stomach twist with guilt. I should’ve told her that we were mates by now.I knew it was wrong to keep it from her. It’s not like I have a problem with her. No, that not it at all. Robin is perfect. Dad. Dad is the problem. He can’t stand weakness and with Robin being an omega, I was afraid he’d insist I reject her.Just the idea of rejecting Robin made my soul hurt, and if I refused to obey an order from Dad… I shook my head to get rid of those kinds of thoughts. What Dad thought of Robin was a problem for another day. For now, I’d just enjoy what time I got to spend with Robin. As I left my room, I took the elevator instead of the stairs. On the way to the ground floor, I flipped through the book I’d just finished r
I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. When was following a vampire ever been a good idea? The darkness underneath the trees didn’t help settle my nerves at all. The day had been a deeply gray with bouts of rain. Oddly enough, the thought that if it did rain, the trees would keep a lot of the water off me helped settle me some. “So,” I said, drawing out the word. “What exactly am I going to be doing?”“You’ll be learning to run, little wolf,” the vampire replied. He looked nearly the exact same as when I met him yesterday. Did he have a change of clothes?“Right, could you be less vague, maybe?”“No.”I scowled at his back. “Then at least tell me where we’re going?”He glanced back at me with a look that screamed. ‘Are you an idiot?’ before answering me. “To my territory.” The tone was nothing short of condescending. “I know what your alpha is capable of, and I will not spend a minute longer near his borders than I have to.”What he was capable of? What did that mean? I tried t
I couldn’t lie to Shaun; not only because, as an alpha, he was even better at detecting lies than the average werewolf, but as sad as it was, Shaun is the closest thing to a friend I have. “I, uh…” I started as I tried to think of a way out of this that didn’t end with me being kicked out of the pack. Yes, I wanted to leave, but I didn’t want to be exiled. That was making me unwelcome in any other pack. With no better solution, I fell back on my usual tactic — lie with the truth. “I was meeting up with him.”Worry marred Shaun’s face. “Why?”“He’s hired me for a job.” And before he could ask, I quickly added, “Nothing that’s going to hurt the pack. I would never do anything to hurt us, but he has some things that he doesn’t want his people doing, so…” I shrugged.“Are you insane?” Shaun snapped, looking at me as if I was in fact insane.His expression and tone kinda hurt, so I snapped right back at him. “No, I’m unemployed in a town where no one will hire me.”He looked surprised, but
My lips met with Shaun’s and his surprise echoed through me. His lips were soft and warm. That softness and warmth echoed through me when he not only didn’t pull away from me, but kissed me back. The surprise was gone in a flash and instead turned to attraction. He most definitely liked me. Knowing that made our kiss all the sweeter. I closed my eyes and let the emotions, both his and mine, fill me and I forgot about everything. I forgot about school, my uncaring aunt, horrible cousins, and Alec the vampire. It was wonderful. Butterflies fluttered around in my stomach and my heart raced. I could stay like this forever and be happy.When the kiss ended and Shaun took a step back from me, it was all too soon. His eyes were a darker shade than before the kiss started and he gave me a smile I’d never seen before as he rubbed the back of his neck. It was a small, kind of shy smile that made him seem almost bashful. It was something I’d never seen from him. “We should get you home,” he said