Blood Ties

39

"Erin!" Cole laughed and began throwing, catching up to her at a swift pace.

Out of nowhere, a hand shielded Erisa's eyes and Cole's laugh swivelled around her like a howl.

Erisa smacked his hand away, a smile nearly pulling at her lips and a laugh dared slip out of her throat.

"You're a cheat!" Erisa huffed.

Cole laughed again, the sound bleeding with life and lust and knocked down the last standing clown. It was his for the taking.

"You almost had me, beautiful," Cole smirked and scanned Erisa up and down, eyes narrowing at her. "But I wasn't about to let you win." 

The worker gestured to the lineup of teddy bears for Cole to choose from and he pointed at the one closest to the ceiling.

The teddy bear was tossed Cole's way and he immediately passed it to Erisa, snickering at her.

"I won you a toy, happy?" Cole taunted and brushed his face so close to hers she could smell his minted breath.

Erisa scanned the huge teddy bear and grabbed its paw, slapping it across Cole's arm. "Ecstatic."

The Alpha looked satisfied with that and took Erisa off into the madness and mayhem of rides and games.

The roller coaster was a hell of a ride, sending rippling thrills up and down Erisa's body as they tossed and turn. She found herself lost in the carnival maze, more so in the labyrinth of her never-ending thoughts that circled her with no end. Cole found her before she found the exit.

Cole kept Erisa on her toes, in a way of excitement that would sway any girl and perhaps that was his motive.

She couldn't lose herself in him the way he persuaded others. He was a means to an end.

The cherry on top was Cole leading Erisa by the wrist to the merry-go-round. The lights circled the area in a golden halo and rotating horses spun round and round.

Cole hopped on first, not skipping a beat and turned backwards on the horse, facing Erisa who hooked her leg over and clasped the handles.

They stared at each other for a passing minute, a gravely stare down that neither looked away from. 

"What happened here?" Cole asked, reaching over and clasping Erisa's wrist, the pad of his fingers brushing against her inner skin. "I know you lied to me back at the bar."

His voice took her back.

Erisa didn't want this, not an ounce of it, not an ounce of her true self revealed to this piece of filth in front of her. She couldn't allow it, it was bad enough that he had the touch of her skin in his hold forever, it was worse enough he even had the chance to be around her and view her as a conquest. Erisa couldn't possibly confide in him.

He barely deserved the right to live.

Erisa's sleeve slipped past her wrist and over her hands, hiding the shakiness. "I tried to hurt myself."

Erisa didn't know why she spoke such honesty to someone so brutal. She figured it to be her final goodbye to Cole. Hand him the slightest bit of her true existence to him like a secret, and he would know nothing more.

He would think this is Erin speaking to him, the girl Cole had grown fond, infatuated with as she painted a constant reminder of the lover he killed.

Pale skin, icy eyes and black hair. That was all Erin and Erisa had in common, and Cole would never know the hunter, he would never get the chance.

"I would have never thought ..." Cole bemused, inching closer to Erisa like he was trying to understand her, see beneath the skin.

Erisa smiled through clenched teeth and pried, "What do you mean by that?"