A Fox Among Wolves

Chapter Ten

Blinking open my eyes, I try to figure out what just woke me. I look over at the clock on the nightstand, seeing that it is half past three in the morning. Warm arms wrap around me, pulling me back into a hard chest. Deciding to go back to sleep, I turn around and lay my head on Braeden's bare chest. His warmth helps to calm me down, but I am unable to fall back asleep.

A scream cuts through the air, stilling the finger I had been using to trace pictures on Braeden's skin. Sitting up in bed, I feel Braeden stirring behind me but not fully waking up until a second scream rips through the air.

"What the hell?" my mate mumbles, sitting up beside me. His hair is in total disarray and his blue eyes are blinking tiredly. I climb out of the bed, slipping on a pair of my boxer briefs that had been laying on the ground from last night. Braeden follows me out of bed, slipping on his own underwear before coming to stand beside me next to our window.

"Holy shit," I whisper, watching as something chases a young hybrid down the street. The hybrid girl looks about our age and absolutely terrified. Lights turn on along our street, hybrids probably trying to see what all the screaming is about.

A creature is looming after the girl. A very familiar and horrifying figure. My breath catches in my throat when I take in its full appearance. The body and face of the creature are completely deformed. The feet and hands are human, but it has the body of a black bear, huge and looming with bloody gashes in the dark fur. The face is like the one I had seen last week in the basement of the medical clinic. It has been haunting me every time I close my eyes, something I can never forget.

"What the hell is that thing?" Braeden whispers from behind me, looking out the window at the horrid creature stalking down our street. I can't answer him, unable to talk through the fear coursing throughout my body. It feels as though I can't catch my breath, but I am unable to look away from the scene outside.

The creature continues to follow the girl, and she looks exhausted but determined to get away. She trips and falls, barely dodging a swipe of the mutated hybrid's humanoid paw. Scrambling away, she clambers to her feet and tries to run again, but it looks as if her exhaustion is catching up with her.

"We have to help her," Braeden says, turning around and walking out of our bedroom.

"What?" I say into the empty room. Turning around, I run after my mate, following him down the stairs and into the dimly lit living room. It seems as if we weren't the only ones awoken by the screams. All of our housemates are downstairs, looking out the living room window at the bear creature and the hybrid girl.

"Braeden, you can't go out there. You'll get hurt or killed by that mutant thing," I say, running over to my mate and standing in front of him. That thing may not look so bad from a distance, but I know what it is like face-to-face. It is terrifying.

"We can't just leave her out there to die, Henley," Braeden says, walking over to the door and putting on his dark blue sweatshirt. The others are staring at us from the window, but it seems like Link agrees with Braeden. He walks over to us, Quinn trailing behind, and puts on his own jacket.

"That thing is dangerous, it will kill you," I say, desperate to stop them from going outside. Quinn is nodding his head, not breaking his gaze from Link.

"Link, please, I don't want you to get hurt," Quinn says, his bottom lip trembling as he stares at his mate. Braeden and Link look determined though, our words not enough to stop them from walking over to the door.

Link has his hand on the doorknob when a loud roar cuts through the night. Link drops the knob, looking over at his sister and Lena, who are still looking out the window. Their mouths are open in shock as they stare out the window.