April
In my dreams, I run toward my wolf from across a shrubby clearing and he runs toward me. His glowing eyes are stark against the inky darkness of the forest. But we can never reach each other. Every time I think we are close, the clearing seems to stretch further and further until my legs give out. He keeps running, but never reaches me.
When I wake with a jolt, it's still pitch black. Nik's house is silent, eerily so. I creep out of bed, hardwood floors cold against my feet.
The hallway outside the bedroom is long and wide. As I pad down it, as silent as I can be, I take in the large crystal chandelier that hangs above the staircase. I listen attentively for Nik, but can't hear him anywhere.
At the bottom of the staircase, I'm not sure where to go. I turn right and eventually come to a spacious kitchen, with dark cabinets and a marble countertop. I fill a glass with water from the stainless steel tap and gulp it down greedily. When I'm done, I place my cup in the empty dishwasher. The plastic wrapping is still over the controls, like it's never been used. Strange, though I suppose Nik doesn't dirty much crockery since his meals come straight from a vein.
I shiver and back away from the kitchen, then hurry across a landing and make a left turn. Now I feel lost. How do I get back to the staircase? A door at the end of the hallway I stand in catches my eye. A shiny lock is closed over a latch.
None of the other doors are locked up.
I ease toward it, anxiety making my stomach turn. When I am at the innocuous, white, wooden door, I press my ear against it and listen.
Nothing. Nothing. Then...is that a whimper? A cry? I jerk back.
Oh god. What if he has someone locked down there, like his own personal blood bank?
I glance over my shoulder, but still the house is silent. He mustn't be here or, if he is, he is in some far flung room. Maybe one of the towers.
It takes a few wrong turns for me to finally make it back to the kitchen where I search almost frantically through the well-stocked drawers. I find a meat tenderizing hammer and a small culinary blow torch that I know is often used for dishes like Crème Brûlée and finishing off French Onion Soup.
I race back down to the locked door and flick on the torch, holding the flame to the padlock until the metal is weakened. Then I smash it open with the hammer and it clatters to the floor, broken. My hand shakes as I pull the door open and it creaks ominously. A dark, descending staircase greets me and terror claws at me. I do not want to go into this basement—it seems like a one way ticket into a bad horror movie—but I hear another soft cry and I push forward, stepping down. It's like I'm climbing into the pits of hell.
Stone walls surround the blackened space. There is nothing except a metal chair, bolted to the floor, and a bleeding, barely conscious girl strapped to it.
"Holy shit." I cover my mouth in horror. This is worse than the scariest movie I've ever seen. Her matted hair hangs in her face and there is scarcely an inch of her that is not bloody or bruised. She is tied down tightly with rope that seems to have burnt her skin.
I rush forward and drop to my knees in front of her. "Hey," my voice is wobbly. "Hey, can you hear me?"
Her eyes open and they are glowing golden. I lean back, inhaling sharply. She's a werewolf.
This is the werewolf Reed told me about, the one the vampires kidnapped. God, I didn't know she was being kept here, by Nik.
"Is your name Lark?" I ask her. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes," she rasps out. "Please...please help me. The wolfsbane..." She sobs again.
"I will. I will." My hands go to the rope, soaked in some kind of liquid, and I quickly begin untying her, though the knots are tight and take me some time to work through. I peer over my shoulder, paranoid that at any moment Nik will appear.
What was I thinking, trusting him?
Finally, after what feels like an age, she is free from her restraints. She sighs in relief and I watch with wide eyes as the red and angry burns on her skin begin to dissipate already.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here." I put my arm around her and manage to haul her up. She's an inch or so taller than me, but a good bit thinner. Still, it's difficult to get her to the base of the stairs, let alone up them. Her legs give out halfway through and I have to coax her to her feet again.
We make it into the hallway and it seems to take us forever to find the front door. Luckily, by then, she seems to have improved somehow. She still leans on me, but is steadier on her feet. The cuts on her body have begun to stitch themselves closed. I don't know how and, right now, I don't care to ask.
On the front stoop of the house, I hesitate. She needs a hospital but...can I take a werewolf to a hospital? Is that even an option?
We hobble our way down the driveway and stop on the footpath.
"This way, come on," she says, pulling me toward the dark forest at the end of the cul de sac.
"What? No!"
"Come on," she insists and we limp toward it. I'm still only in Reed's t-shirt and neither her nor I are wearing any shoes.
"This is a bad idea," I tell her. "You need a doctor."
"I need my pack. I need my mate. I can feel him, he's this way." She's stronger now and she starts almost dragging me along, into the woods. The moon is full and bright above us, lighting the way just enough that I don't trip over every branch.
Lark seems to bathe in its light, tipping her face back and letting it wash over her.
The trees around us sway in a gentle wind and I shiver closer to her body.
"They hurt you? The vampires?" I whisper as we trudge across the leaf-scattered forest floor.
"Yes," she puffs out. Her eyes are still glowing. "Fucking bloodsuckers."
"Are you...Are you ok?" I wonder, my gaze sweeping over her. The bruises have begun to fade and although she still looks covered in blood, it's mostly dry, the cuts beneath closing.
"I will be."
We continue on long enough that my feet start to really hurt. "This is silly. We're in the middle of nowhere."
She lifts her head and breathes in deeply. "They're close. The moon's nearly at its peak." Then she pulls away from my grip and I watch in a mix of horror and fascination as her body contorts. Her shoulder blades push forward, her hands grow into paws and then there is a light brown wolf standing in front of me.
It's the third time I've seen the change, but it still shocks me to my core.
She bounds off, into the trees. "Lark!" I call after her and start to run, trying to follow her. She's so fast.
I run and run, twigs and leaves crunching under my feet, and then I skid to a stop on the edge of a clearing.
Beatrice, Nik and a few other vampires stand to the left. To the right is Reed, Heath and North.
They were meeting this entire time?
Every single one of them looks shocked at Lark and I's appearance. She bounds across the clearing to Heath and in the space of a single second, changes back to human form.
"Lark!" He cries out as she collapses, naked, in his arms. He clutches her to his chest like she is the most valuable thing in the world. North is already yanking off his jacket and covering her body.
"April," both Nik and Reed say my name at the same time. I look between them, wishing I'd ignored Lark and gone in the opposite direction.
"All this over one human girl," Beatrice sighs, eyeing me curiously.
"April, I can explain all of this," Nik assures me and the smooth tone of his voice, the confidence in it...God, I almost believe him. But I'm not quite that stupid.
I walk over to Reed and stop in front of him.
"I'm sorry," I say, tears in my eyes. He reaches out and draws me against his side, into the warmth of his body. I am reluctant at first—he's still a stranger to me—but it feels so nice...
"It's alright. You're safe now," he says quietly.
And I feel it. Where Nik puts me on edge, Reed is a sigh of relief. A welcome home. The warmth of safety. I let myself sink further into his arms.
"We're done here. I have what I came for," he states strongly, an authoritative note to his voice.
"Reed, we can still negotiate a truce," Beatrice says. "It doesn't have to be war."
But Reed looks over at Lark's shaking body, where she is crying quietly into Heath's neck.
"You tortured one of mine and you expect peace?" He demands and his eyes begin to glow amber, a rumbling growl vibrating his chest beneath my palm.
"Don't act like you're so innocent, wolf Prince," Nik spits, glaring at where Reed's hand rests on my waist. "Like you haven't committed atrocities of your own."
My eyebrows draw down. What is he talking about?
"The moon is about to be at its peak. If you don't want me to tear your head from your neck, I suggest you leave," Reed warns and I pull away from him as the relief I felt in his arms is slowly replaced by fear.
"We need to go," Beatrice mutters, snagging Nik's sleeve. But he is staring straight at me.
"Don't stay here with them, April. You're not as safe as you think. They're animals." His contempt for the werewolves is more than obvious.
"If you think I'm ever trusting you again..." I shake my head, my eyes watery. "You must really think I'm stupid."
His jaw clenches, but Beatrice is pulling at him insistently. Heath and Lark contort and change into wolves. The other vampires flee, quick as a blur through the trees.
"I'll come back for you, April. You have my word," Nik says and then his eyes flick to Reed, who is simmering with fury beside me. "And if you hurt her, I will rip out the heart of every single one of your mutts before I kill you myself."
With that chilling threat, Beatrice and Nik disappear, too fast for my eyes to process.
North starts to change into a wolf as well.
When I look at Reed, his eyes are glowing amber. "April, in a moment, I'm going to turn. I need you to stay here until I come back and get you. Can you do that for me?"
"What's going on?" I ask, confused. He looks up at the sky.
"Once the moon reaches its peak, we have to turn. We don't have a choice." He looks in the direction where the vampires made a swift exit.
"You're going to go after him," I state.
"We're at our strongest on the full moon and he can't get away with everything he's done," Reed says and the muscles beneath his skin begin to ripple as his body tries to change into a wolf. He grunts, holding it back.
"Don't do it. Leave him. Please."
He looks at me like I'm insane for even suggesting it. I reach out and touch his arm, feeling as bones shift beneath his muscles. It has to be painful, to hold it back like this. "Be better than him," I say and there is a moment of acceptance on his face before he shifts into the big, black wolf of my dreams.
His shoulder comes up to my waist; he is so big. He steps toward me and his face dips to nuzzle the side of my bare leg. Then, he sprints off into the trees, in the opposite direction of Nik and the other vampires. The rest of his pack—North, Heath and Lark—follow closely behind him.
I am left alone in a dark clearing, shivering and barefooted. The adrenaline I felt when I found Lark has waned and left me dizzy. In the distance, a haunting howl rings through the air.
The wolves don't go too far; I can hear them, the pound of their paws against the Earth. They circle back and forth, running through the trees too fast for me to really see. I get the sense that Reed doesn't want to stray too far from me and it is at least somewhat comforting.
I lean back against a tree and crouch down, pulling the shirt over my knees and stretching it as far down as I can, almost to my ankles.
I don't know how much time passes—an hour, maybe—but at some point, the sound of running wolves fades. Did they leave me here? Would Reed do that? Maybe he would, after I ran from the motel room.
On shaky legs, I stand, prepared to trek back to the road myself. But then a tall figure walks out into the clearing.
Reed is fully dressed—they must have a car parked nearby. He jogs over to me and doesn't hesitate to pull me into the warmth of his body. My teeth are chattering.
"Are you ok?" He asks, running his hands up and down my arms. I nod wordlessly, studying the strong features of his face. The full lips, the square jaw, the dark and perpetually furrowed brows.
He looks at me as though he sees the universe in my eyes.
"You left so you could free Lark," he says, hope in his voice. "That's why you left the motel room and broke your promise; to help her."
Hesitation stills me. I could lie, let him believe that saving his packmate was always my intention. But...he has been so honest with me. It wouldn't feel right.
"No," I admit. "I left because...I trusted Nik, more than I trusted you. It was foolish."
The tension on his face increases as he processes my words.
"But you were right," I hurry to add. "Nik is...he's a monster. I never should have trusted him at all."
He nods and lets his hands settle on my shoulders, his thumb brushing over the bare skin of my collarbone. Then he lifts a hand and touches my forehead gently. "Your wounds are gone." He wears a sad, accepting expression. "You drank his blood."
"I..." There is no defense I can mount, no refute to offer. It's true. I still remember the taste of Nik's blood on my tongue, his finger in my mouth, in acute detail.
"It's ok." The way Reed chokes it out makes it seem like it is not, in fact, ok.
"Is Lark alright?" I ask, directing the conversation elsewhere.
Reed's lips press together in a grim line before he reluctantly allows the change in topic. "She will be. She's with Heath and she's safe. We're stronger on a full moon, so she's recovering quickly."
I'm glad; I can't stop seeing the image of her strapped to that metal chair. As I think about it more, I realize the bottom of the chair was rusted...which means it has been there for a long time. How many others have sat in that chair and been tortured in the basement of Nik's ridiculous castle?
The shivers throughout my body worsen and Reed sweeps an arm beneath my legs, picking me up and holding me against his broad chest.
"I can walk." I strain away from him.
"Let me carry you," he all but begs. "Please, April."
After a moment, I relent. He is warm and solid and the feel of his skin against mine is so pleasurable that my body pulses. I rest my cheek on his shoulder and he carries me through the trees. My eyes close and I swear it is only for a second, but when they open again he is putting me into the passenger seat of a sedan. We're on the side of a silent road, the forest stretching on either side of the asphalt.
In front of the sedan is a luxury sports car that I see Lark, Heath and North all squeeze into. They quickly speed off as Reed pulls the seatbelt across my body and straps me in. He closes the door and in the blink of an eye is in the driver's seat, starting the engine. He doesn't bother putting a seatbelt on himself and the car doesn't beep at him for it like most do these days as he pulls out onto the road.
"I'm taking you back to my pack. You'll be safe there."
"Reed, I need to go home–"
"I'm not arguing about this, April." His voice is rigid, like stone. He is unmoveable on this matter.
"People will notice I'm missing. They'll file a police report," I point out. Harper is going to freak out. I feel terrible; I don't want to scare her.
"You're not a prisoner," he says, like the thought repulses him. "I just need you...near me. Safe. If you want to call someone and tell them where you are, that you're alright, then you'll be more than welcome to do so when we get there."
I feel a bit like a prisoner, but there's not much I can do. Resigning myself to this fate and seeing no real options, other than perhaps to throw myself out of a moving car, I sink back into the seat. I am so, so tired. I only got a few hours of rest at Nik's place and this entire ordeal has taken a toll.
"How far is it?" I ask around yawn.
"Forty minutes, if we drive straight. But it'll be longer. We don't know if the vampires are following us and we have to make sure they don't find our home. We'll have to take some backroads, double back. It'll be two hours, probably." He looks over at me and takes one hand from the steering wheel, sliding it onto my bare leg. "You should sleep."
His fingers rub a pattern against my leg, sending sparks through my nervous system and making me bite back a groan. Whilst enticing, the touch is also soothing and my eyes soon close as I let Reed's comfort lull me to sleep.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm very curious: Are you Team Nik or Team Reed?
Thank you for reading. It means a lot to me.