Hers (#1)

26| familiar

Uh yeah, he's managed to outsmart us for centuries, Flame huffed in her head.

Seeing that she wasn't following the gist, Santiago elaborated. "I work on producing his stupid meth-coke-hybrid drug shit. You think I would let that thing anywhere near my body? I swap it out for talcum powder anytime it's my turn for a shot. I'm a hell of an actress under pressure, plus like I told you sex is a powerful tool. One blowjob and the guard let's me arrange my own syringe in privacy. It's let me basically run my own drugging."

"So all that bullshit you spouted back at the lodge was..."

"Made up. I'm a hell of an actress and plus you have an inclination to believe me, being your mate and all."

Flame's heart clenched painfully and her chest burned. "Right," she managed to croak out in response.

"I did want to bring you here and I did drug you. But.." Santiago inched closer and used a skinny hand to caress Flame's burning mocha cheeks. "I still want to be your mate. However, I want to be a wolf more. It's better this way, for both of us now I guess. Let Stamos get the Alpha. She's all he wants. Once he's transitioned her he'll let you go. He'll let us go. Besides, wolves can't live with human mates. It's a win win situation."

Flame was silent for a moment, trying to process the absurdity of her mate's words. "You do realize," she retorted after a significant silence, "That by doing that I would be handing my Alpha over to Stamos, right?"

Santiago shrugged as if to say, what's my business? Shock etched on her face, Flame stared incredulously at her mate. "Fuck me, you really are crazy." Inching closer to the girl, she spits out, "Do you realize I have spent most of my immortality trying to escape that man? To escape this place? And now you drag me from my pack in the middle of a crisis period back to the one place I would rather forget and try and convince me to sell out my Alpha? I may be your mate," stepping back, she glares at the sodden earth. but I am not a fool. Take me to your boss. Do what you came here to do--I want to hear no more about your plan."

Santiago opened her mouth and closed it repeatedly like a drugged out poi fish, but eventually closed it. Her expression was clear--if Flame died, she would be sad about it for a while. Then she'll get over it. Being a wolf was more important.

Deep down, Flame wished she could talk to her more. She had lived long enough to understand that there was an eternal allure for humans of the dangerous and the forbidden, the evil and the dark. Why did people get paid ridiculous sums of cash to camp out in dangerous forests naked, to do life-threatening stunts or get married at first sight?

There was a clear "normal" path for everyone in life: go to school, graduate, get a job, get married, have kids and die. So anything small or large that would slight or change this trail--this cycle--of life was welcomed with opened arms.

From what little Flame knew of her, she could tell that Santiago was a gifted manipulator and as she put it: "one hell of an actress." If she got herself out of this, she could make a life for herself. A job in the media would suit her, where she would have to sell a story or a product.Unfortunately, if she got what she wanted she would transition tommorow. Fuck everything, Flame cursed in her head.

"Fine," Santiago relented after a significant pause. "Since,you'll rather die with your Alpha than live by yourself, I'll do as you wish." Her bony fingers grabbed Flame's increasingly weak arm. "To Stamos then." The effects of the drug she was attacked with beginning to rear its ugly head, Flame allowed herself to be dragged like a rag door into the buildings. She took no notice of the surroundings and kept her head low, trying to fend off the nausea. The smell was horrific and painfully familiar, the eerie silence ringing like a never ending lullaby she wished she had long forgotten. It seems the cycle has ended, Flame mused bitterly in her head. All those years, running, fighting, killing all coming back to this moment. Weak and ready to be transitioned. What a fucking joke.