She is by the sink washing a stack of dirty dishes I plopped closer to her doubting if she could hear my footsteps. "Fiona, I can't believe you do dishes."
"A soldier in the day, and-" she said.
"You surprised me, I came to get water, I couldn't sleep and thirsty too." I cut in friendly.
"That's the packhouse for you, creepy that sleep wouldn't visit. I felt the same way when I first came here." She said dropping the sponge in her hands and beckoning her elbow to the verge and deluding her eyes.
"Where has everyone gone, I can't seem to find them?" I asked, biting my lips, this is what I had always done, when I'm trying to get an answer to something.
"They had gone to practice, maybe even, I heard the traitors' power and influence grew day by day and threatened the Alpha position, it made him worry." She said briskly returning to the plate in her hands.
"I don't understand you." I was lost in everything she had said forgetting I'm a stranger and as at that knew nothing about the traitor she likely did mention.
"I'm sorry but I can't talk about him, it's considered mutiny and I can be banished for that." I saw the plead in her eyes and decided to let her be.
Two werewolves, recognizable by the colour of their eyes, stood near the carrier with a woman and a fair-haired man.
"Get in." He commanded as my trainer, and I did but obeyed him slightly.
"Did I do something wrong? there's been some kind of mistake. I—''
The warrior cut me off, "we don't have all day, and this is not a mistake." He said through gritted teeth. "Get in the carrier."
I wanted to ask why they're making use of carriers instead of modern transport. From the small town I come from, even the outskirts use a car, have I grown used to the big world, or are they sensitive to civilization? I pondered; this pack.
He lowered his head until his nose was inches from mine, and he spat. "The Alpha ordered you to be taken to the special trainer down the hills. So don't do anything stupid and stay still until we arrive there if you need anything let me know and one more thing do not panic, now get on the couch."
He shoved me through the door and followed me inside. The warrior threw himself into the seat opposite me. I saw the disgust on his face. If he didn't want to go, he shouldn't have followed, I thought to myself. The two werewolf guards joined him and settled on either side of him.
"So we're going down the hill?" He didn't reply; he sat there looking through the window as if there were a threat lurking around.
The two guards sitting by him looked at me with indifference,
"Since the Alpha isn't around the packhouses, it's not safe for you."
"Why? I thought it was the safest." I said curiously.
"No the Alpha is the safest, Romanov will come for you, now that he's on duty."
"I have nothing with Ramanov, who is that by the way?" Sparks of curiosity, Fiona had told me earlier about the traitor, but his identity she was too scared to comment.
His face was unreadable, "pray you never find out."
The soldier ducked his head into the door. "We're ready to take off."
I scowled and slipped into the cushioned seat, then hissed in pain, barely slept for three hours. And this rickety road was going to give me nausea.
The beta warrior disappeared gliding the door behind him, and I wondered how respectful they are to their Alpha despite the traitors greener pastures offer. Maybe they believed in his rulership, with a cry and snap of the whip the horse whined and the carrier lurched forward.
I felt an icy tremble of panic, I thought just about opening the carrier door and making a run for it, where would I run to? I can't shift and four legs are better than one either I get caught by them or the merciless traitor, Ramanov, Fiona told me she cut open his uncle and fed them to the wild werewolves he had locked up in his cage, they can't shift back to their human form again.
The female beta took something out of the satchel and a sharp scent filled the carrier, neither did she speak, as if she was following orders.
"This is to conceal your scent." She said and I was in awe. I shrugged off and returned to my relaxing position.
"Are you sure, this is enough?" He said to her,
She didn't say anything. Before I heard him command. "Give her your jacket."
She hesitated before shrugging out of the black jacket and handing it to me. First the perfume and now her jacket.
"Why do I need this?" I asked.
"Just put it on." He grumbled.
She kept her face blank as I took the jacket from her, she was pained to part with it. Before I could wringle into the jacket the trainer tapped the top of the carrier, and the lady swung out of it.
"Why did she go? Where is she going?" I asked again, he pulled the door closed and we were on our way again, he didn't reply to me and I gave it a rest.
I stared at him, I've only known him as my trainer, I wanted to ask but his serious face always gave me a second thought.
"What are you called?"
"Garrett." He said with a condescending grin.
I smiled slightly, if it was based on my theory I would say, it's either– and the looks on his face made me brazen immediately.
The carrier took up speed, in the time it had taken for the beta to take off, dawn was falling and we have left the packhouse behind, leaning to the window I saw the relative movement of the trees and the twilight blur, I felt tears threatening, with a pang I wanted to go home and settle with Collins. Maybe I should have given it a second thought as he told me before.
I shifted restlessly in my seat, uncomfortable with their stares, my pale reflection and the darkness was the only thing I saw looking out the window. I tried to quash my irritation and they were still staring at me.
"I don't do tricks, you know," I said and they exchanged glances at themselves.
Garrett seemed affronted. "Why did you go to the old woman?" He asked and I remembered how he had come to rescue me.
"Were those guys by any chance–" my eyes furrowed and I remembered how those guys marched towards the tent that night, how the ground cried to their matching.
"But aren't traitors supposed to be apprehended?" I asked again, they exchanged an amused glance, and I pushed myself into my seat trying to be comfortable.
"He has powers and his forces rise every day."
"What type of powers? Is it some sort of supernatural?" I asked parting through the lamp that was lit by the guard, flickering inside the carrier, the seat was heavily cushioned black velvet. The carrier hits a bump and jolted.
"Is it safe to be travelling within his borders?" I asked, thinking I would have been safe back in the pack house instead of wasting a whole day travelling.
"This is the fastest route unless you want to be ambushed by the blood pack."
"There also are other packs aside from the Elven?"
"Yes, more packs that choose to remain subtle,"
"Scare of the outside world."
"The woods and its scent can not be traded for what the humans called civilisations, although some packs choose to follow their path in everything it doesn't still make sense," Garratt said and I could see his eyes clustering in fury.
"That explains it, why you discriminate against me, my scent is of the urban and humans right," I said lowering my gaze, and he turned his face steering through the window to know where we were.
"Alpha Andrea, has the potential to do what?" I asked Garrett, was there when Andrea dragged me from the heart of Vienna into the mountains, that night he has told him about the treaty,
"Every Alpha has special powers, Ramanov was greedy and had fed on other werewolves amplifying his powers but Andrea won't just stand and let him have his way, we believe he could bridge the diversity." He said. "I hope this answers your question." I gape at him.
"That's why you answer to him, you believe in your Alpha," I said I have lost hope in Alphas after our Alpha told me to bear whatever was inflicted on me.
"Yes, the Alpha before him and those after him are true breeds." He said and his words struck me how they had followed the traditions.
"Ambush!" shouted the men outside and all I heard were growls and screams. The carrier door flew open and crashed to the ground."Romanov's men." Garrett let out enraged as he instructed me to scramble to the other side of the seat, he was dragged out. The giant claws reached for my legs, they were enormous, unlike every werewolf I've seen. As I kicked out of him the door behind me unlocked and I nearly stumbled into another wolf. He grabbed me under his arm. I felt weightless and he pulled me roughly from the carrier. I yelled and screamed for help but everyone was mostly fighting the monsters. That is what they're Ramanov weapons. I slashed his arms with the knife Garrett motioned to me and I caught myself almost free, again I severed him the second time. His growl cursed me and I knew I had made contact, as his grip grew loose, I stumbled to my feet and ran. All around me they were fighting each other and gashes ran through my eyes, looking back I saw them approaching me, they ha
The next day kicked in like normal, for normal people, the beast's glare into my eyes before it was killed by my mate haunted me even in my sleep. And I winced, the pain in my shoulder blade had subsided compared to when Garrett was applying ointments a few hours ago."What are you doing get down here?" Said my trainer, Garrett, I plopped into the training ground and the morning sun reflected on my face, I used my hand as a shield as I walked past the archers, their efficiency was undisputed, it was different from what they had back in the packhouse. Fast, uniform and experienced as if ready for war."Good morning sir," I said and he barely looked at me as he got his hands full. A slightly worried frown knitted on my face but I looked at him, for once I saw light in what he did, how he does it with passion as he positioned the boy before him.He placed his hands on his waist and focused his hands properly on the bow."Pull out your chest, not too much, relax and release.""Archery is
Chapter nineI'd go to the woods not too deep to practice. Garrett gave me the motivation to do what I can and found it easy to adapt to his tactics since I decided to be like him, sometimes and no one catches a glimpse of me going out in the woods. Today Andrea did catch me sneaking out."What are you doing getting into the woods, you might get injured or probably kidnapped." He said coming out of the shadow as if I'm the only one that goes to the woods, what of shifters, they go to the wood to release their wolves and I've not heard of any casualties."Are you starting to care about your mate?" I said rolling my eyes and he scoffed, "What made you say that?" He questioned with little concern."Well, I don't know, maybe you are choosing your ex-girlfriend over your mate." He looked around a hint of a smile tugged at his face and came closer to me and my heart pondered as his hands fiddled under my cheek down to my neck, stupid mate bond I said to my wolf who is submitting to Andrea'
The cold breeze I felt on my body was sharp, damp and dingy, and afterwards came a warm feel of the blanket that spread on my body, and Fiona's hand wrapped into mine.I turned and tossed wincing in pain, the marbled wall of the room cornered me and I was given a herb to drink."Lucia, are you alright?" called out quickly Fiona, heaving a sigh as I tried to push myself to a seat."What happened?" I asked, the only memory I had was when I collapsed calling out to her for help on the terrace. I looked around, seeing the beads and the inscriptions on the wall. I recognised the scents of herbs and a sigh of relief escaped through my mouth. "Yes, we're in the old woman's cabin, you had collapsed." She said curtly, and I looked at her pleased."I was scared I had to call for her help," she stressed further."Hey, don't fidget, I'm thankful," I said, giving her a sharp smile."You were just unconscious earlier, your friend had done a great job, you could have given up the ghost out there."
Awkwardly I stood there gaping at him, narrowing my eyes as I looked at him, he raised a question. "Is there something wrong?" "Collins," I called the name stuttering on my feet, "what I'm I supposed to do now?" Fear crept through my spine and the sunlight erupted through the room. I brandished the necklace in my hands. I did my best to keep calm but my mind kept wandering to Collins. At some point, I realized I shouldn't have left without him that night, but I had no other option, is it that my stepmom is dead and my dad pressured him to bring me home?"He's Romanov's prisoner." He said, giving me a stream of reminders; he had told me during summer he'll come to Vienna and find me, and then we'll go sightseeing. Did something go wrong? Andrea stared at me."Help me get him out." I pinned his hands pleadingly, knowing what I'm asking of him cannot be possible, he scowled at me and I bit my lips thinking through. With a plunged sensation, I realised Andrea was walking towards me, then
Our eyes bored into each other, and I couldn't decipher what to do. She swayed her hands in the air and made contact."We have to go right now." She said, ignoring my question, dragging me and moving as quickly as the hilly. I lost all sense of how far we had gone or where we were.We walked through the woods, my leg slipping on fallen leaves that covered the ground and Claire, busy leading the way not looking back. I paced my leg to catch up with her, my breath coming out in my grasp. She didn't say a word to me as the hours went on,"Wait for me." I cried out, I fell forward and I put out my hand struggling and thrashing to break the fall. Claire never minded I had to struggle behind her, even with the doubt of its safety I still followed my enemy or was she proving herself as a good person, whatever, I shrugged it off."If you keep this way your shirt will be ruined before we even go there, and end up landing us to patrol wolves." She cautioned me, and I stayed quiet, it was more o
"Where I'm I, Collins, Claire–" I groaned in pain and the room sent echoing sounds of my voice towards me.I could feel my body lying on the cold harsh floor and the room was empty as the cold pierce through me. There stood a stool and a guard far away from where I was struggling. I craned my head around. Am I in an underground dungeon somewhere chained to a wall?Hey, hey what am I doing here, where am I?!" I shout out from my end to call his attention but he moved, my eyes trailed behind him I had laid there crumpled up unable to talk or move even an inch,My hands and legs were fastened and I didn't have the strength to try any crazy shenanigans like wriggling on the floor like a worm. The guard discussed with other guys standing with him. I craned my head again but realized I was the only one in the room. Was I being delusional? I wondered, shaking my head with my hand.A loud rumbling sound escaped my stomach and I suddenly realized I have gone several hours without eating break
He let me free from my shackles and I trotted to Collins, pushing him in for a hug, "Oh Collins," I called his name whimpering. The guard wanted to push me away from his embrace and Ramanov signalled him to let us be, as I saw some trace of humanity in him. Ramanov wasn't as heartless as I thought, that is not what mattered right now, I was delighted to meet Collins."I heard you came here with a friend, what was her name?" Collins asked."Claire, I think she's matured enough to take care of herself, that's what Ramanov told me," I whispered in his ear."Andrea's mate." He stopped us as we were leaving his cabin and I looked over my shoulder."You impress me that I want you within the walls of my cabin." He communicated intrinsically with me and my heart skipped a beat, was he truly the old woman's son? He seemed to have inherited her mind control, he smirks and continued what he was doing, it was easy to get Collins out and I was glad I did what I had to do, all thanks to Lucia, "C