“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 to miss you. Kind of pathetic looking, aren’t you?” His words hit me hard. My stomach twisted with a touch of self loathing. Hating that feeling, I growled at him.The vampire stopped in front of me and this time he smirked down at me, not even bothering to clean the blood from his lips and chin. “It’s only fitting. I give you the chance to say your last words. Go on shift.” The vampiric compulsion washed over me, causing me to growl some more. If I hadn’t already exhausted myself trying to get free of the hunters, I might have had a chance. I moved around a tree for some privacy before I knew what I was doing. While I shifted back and got dressed, I desperately tried to come up with some idea of how to convince this vampire to let me go. Perhaps, for once, being insignificant would work in my favor. I walked from around the tree and as soon as I was in front of the vampire, the compulsion lifted. “Well, you are just a pup,” he said, looking me over. I also took this time to look him over. He wasn’t very tall, maybe an inch or so taller than me. His hair was dark brown, cut short and his face was square, with sharp angles everywhere. As he looked at me with his dark, ruddy eyes, his expression was that of one looking at an insect they were trying to dissect.His clothes were also dark, but dirty and aged; not is in they were from another century or he didn’t take a bath, but dusty and moth eaten, like he’d gotten them out of a long-lost closet or something. The most off-putting thing was, he only looked like he was a year or two older than me. If what people say was true, the ones turned when still young were the craziest of all the vampires. How is it possible that this day went from bad to worse?My heart thumped hard and loud in my chest, something I knew the vampire had heard it. So I swallowed and tried to master myself. “Yeah, a pup,” I said, my voice coming out breathy as if I’d just ran fifty miles. “And one that wants no trouble with your kind.”A small smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. “As if what we wanted ever mattered.” He began circling around me like a shark about to strike its prey. “I’m still going to kill you,” he said when he was behind me. His voice in my ear made me jump, and I spun around to face him. With a chilling, bloody grin, he added, “But I will make it quick.”“You don’t have to do that,” I said after a quick spike of panic. “I won’t cause you trouble.”“And I’m to believe that. Why?”“Well… because…” I stalled, trying to think of a reason that would convince him. After a second, I decided the truth was my best bet. “Because you saved my life. Why would I cause trouble for my rescuer?”A single eyebrow lifted slowly as he stared me down. “Save you? Rescuer? Can you be that naïve? I didn’t save you. I was merely hungry and hunters make for an easy meal.”Again, I swallowed. “Well, whatever reasons you had, the truth is you saved me and the least I could do is not cause you trouble.”“You expect me to believe you’d have more loyalty to me than to your alpha? I don’t think so. I know your kind very well.”“My alpha?” I couldn’t help it; I laughed. “My alpha doesn’t even know I exist. I’m an omega. Even if he took the time to listen to me, which I doubt cause not even my family does that, he wouldn’t care. No one cares what I have to say.”The vampire scoffed. “Don’t lie to me, wolf. I detest liars.”“I’m not. Can’t vampires hear heart beats? What does mine tell you?”“It’s racing quite quickly.” “Well, yeah, but that’s because I’m smart and afraid of you.” That got me a little smile, but it vanished as soon as it appeared. “Perhaps you are right,” he said with a shrug that almost made him seem like a normal teen. “Yet I can’t take that risk. Your kind has betrayed me once already.” He took a step towards me as soon as the words left his mouth and my death shone in his eyes.I backed up and held out my hand. “Wait, please. I swear I won’t tell anyone I ran into you.”“Nothing you will say can change my mind,” he said, still walking towards me.“Please, I… I can’t die like this.”The vampire halted for a moment. “Like this?”Guilt and shame swelled up inside me. “Like… this… invisible, unimportant, insignificant.” I lowered my arms and hugged myself. “No one would notice or remember me. I can’t die like that. So yeah, I swear. I won’t tell the alpha about you. Never. If need be, I’ll swear on the memories of my parents that I won’t breath a word to him.”The vampire was silent for a long moment, not moving in the slightest. “Alright, I will spare your life, little wolf.”I stared at him in shock and elation. That worked? He was going to let me live!“But,” he said, freezing my elation and I stared at him. “I have a condition.”“A condition? What kind of condition?” What kind of condition could he want from me, a nobody?“Yes,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pants pockets as his eyes held on to mine. “Since I’m putting myself at risk, I demand you compensate me.”“How?” What the hell was he going on about? Did he miss the part where I told him I was totally unimportant?“I want you to work for me.” “What? Work for you?” I didn’t like the sound of that. Also, it was one thing to not tell the alpha about the vampire I ran into, but to work for one? That was a whole other thing in of itself. That would definitely get me into trouble if he found out.“Yes, work for me,” he said, then took out a hand of his pocket and looked as long nails that still had some dried blood on them. “However, I am more than willing to just kill you if that’s a problem.” He looked up and flashed his fangs at me. “Uh… what is it you want me to do?” I asked, feeling like I was going to regret this.“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
I stared at my notes from science class as if it was an old ancient tablet with a language engraved on it that none ever spoke or knew about today. How is it possible that none of this not make sense? I wrote all of it. Myself. Today. Yet, as I continued to stare at them, they made no more sense than they had when I first tried to study this evening. Sighing, I set them aside. Perhaps my handwriting or note taking wasn’t the issue. My mind hadn’t stopped racing since I’d gotten home. It upset me Shaun seemed to have forgotten about me after school, but I couldn’t shake the feeling as if I was being stupid. Shaun didn’t owe me anything. In fact, until a couple of days ago, we didn’t even talk to each other and the kiss? Well, perhaps that was just what Shaun did. Go around and kiss girls. The thought made my stomach twist. That didn’t seem like Shaun. He wasn’t your typical cocky alpha that liked to play with girls like that. With another sigh, I leaned against my headboard and stare
I sighed and looked around us. It seemed I had no choice and if I was honest; I wasn’t feeling particularly loyal to my decision to stop working with Alec. “You’re the boss,” I said as I got in and closed the door. As soon as I was inside and the door closed, Alec nodded to the driver. Wordlessly, he began driving. Silence hung over us like a shroud of dread. I never gone to the principal’s office, but I was betting it was a lot like this.My nervousness spiked up when I realized we were heading straight into vampire territory. “Oh, we’re going into…” I started, then looked over at Alec. “Uhm, are you sure this is safe? Will I need some kind of protection?”Alec looked at me, confused. “Protection?”“Yeah, like, do you need to put your scent on me or something to keep the other vampires from attacking me?”“Put my scent on you?” He repeated with disgust. “This is not a cat/dog scenario. Werewolves aren’t big dogs and we’re not cats. We do not rub off our scent on others.” His tone now