Green - a werewolf story

33. You Can't Hide

Vanessa was shaking. She couldn't control that reaction anymore than she could stop breathing. Green sat up and pulled her closer to him, asking her what was wrong.

"Have you heard about the White Wolf Pack?" Mario asked her.

Had she heard about it? Memories she'd been doing her best to suppress for the last decade rose within her like boats on the tide. Wolves with their hearts torn out, her mother beaten to death for having disobeyed handing over her oldest daughter to the high priest. Her sister's broken body after she took the plunge she thought was her only way out of the pack. Her own hands covered in blood after she made the opposite choice.

"Vanessa? What's wrong with her? What did you do to her?"

Vanessa became aware that Green was shaking her. "I'm... okay."

"You're not okay! What happened?"

"Just took a trip down memory lane," Vanessa said and shook herself free from the memories. She wasn't that girl anymore and that place was no longer her reality. She'd left all of that behind. She'd run... almost as an echo she heard the high priest's voice in her ear. "You can run, but you can't hide."

Well, he'd been wrong about that hadn't he? She'd hid successfully for ten years. They'd followed her across several oceans, but they still hadn't been able to find her.

Vanessa straightened up. It wasn't the only thing the high priest had been wrong about, she reminded herself. Despite his close connection to the goddess and his prophetic powers he'd never seen the knife in his chest until she put it there.

"Vanessa?"

Right. Time to focus. She'd have time to freak out later.

"The blue powder is wolfsbane mixed with chalk, silver nitrate and crystal meth. There is no antidote except time. Make sure they don't take more and let their bodies push the poison out."

"You've seen this before?" Mario asked.

"Yes, that pack lived... they lived close to where I grew up."

"Did they make you take that stuff?" Green asked.

Vanessa nodded and thought it best not to mention that she'd been taking it regularly for three years.

"How long did it take you to get back to normal?" Mario asked while Green cursed.

"If they only got one dose they should be alright in a month or two."

She knew Green had noticed her evasion of the question from how his hands tightened around her, but thankfully he didn't point it out. She supposed they'd have a conversation about this when they were on their own again. But Mario heaved a sigh of relief and moved over to where the two guys who had been watching Green were regaining consciousness.

"Are you alright?" Green mumbled against her hair.

"Yeah," Vanessa said.

He kissed her cheek, then almost as an afterthought, he trailed kisses to her ear and down to her neck. The kisses nearly distracted her from the fear that had settled in the pit of her stomach. Oh, who was she kidding? The fear had always been there. Discovering that her worst nightmare had followed her to the US and were doing their best to poison their surroundings had only amped it up.

Being held by Green felt comforting and the kisses let her think about something other than the horror waiting for her in that encampment, the horror she'd almost wandered straight into.

"Ah... excuse me, but your clothes have arrived."

Vanessa pulled back from Green and ignored his growl when she shook of his hands and got up to accept her clothes from Mario.