April---------------------------------------------->
Chapter 11
(Elsie’s P.O.V)
I didn’t need much just my book bag filled with some clothes and a few other things. Even though April said to wait, I couldn’t. There was no way I could stay there. Unlike the other times that I needed to leave, it never hurt. My wolf didn’t want to leave.
You’re running away.
I didn’t care though; it was the best thing to do. There was no one who knew what I was going through. I have to protect myself, because who would. Owen’s image popped into my head. With nothing but a quick image my body felt warmth that wasn’t there and my heart thudded in my chest. I wanted to stop thinking about him. When he said my name that one time I noticed the last thing I felt was fear. If anything it made me want to completely give into him not with this persona I was playing, but Elsie. I shook my head again; that part of me seemed to be dead with the rest of my pack members.
She never left I assure you.
I couldn’t help the small smile that came to my face. Maybe just maybe. The bus was taking its good time to get here. It was two towns from where everyone was, and the only one at this time at night to get into the city. It was hard to leave when Brian and Grace wanted to make sure I was okay and didn’t want to leave my side, but I managed to get them to go to school. When Matt and Megan left I took off.
In the woods that were behind me, I heard a twig snap and jumped out of the bench ready to shift. I looked around and tried to see what it was and saw nothing. Maybe, all this was nothing, but my body never relaxed. The light by the bench was flickering. My heart raced and my eyes turned immediately locking in on glowing blue eyes. The figure came forward revealing the black wolf. Owen. The black wolf contoured into its human. There in front of me was Owen in his naked glory. Sweat dripped in every dip and groove of his body. His muscles and ripped abs that went lower into a defined V. My eyes didn’t dare to even look at him even lower. His breathing was harsh and he cocked his head looking at me with his crazed eyes that seemed as if they had a circle of grey outlining his irises. I stepped back and almost tripped over my own feet when he sprinted forward and grabbed me around the waist flushing my body with his. “Mate” I was once again met with that word that I had no clue what it meant, but my wolf was excited and a little torn.
His breath washed over me and I couldn’t control myself. My knees went to mush and he had to hold me up. I could feel myself getting swept into his eyes and nothing mattered at that time. He sniffed the air, and his eyes darkened quickly to black and he went to the meeting place between my neck and collar bone and sniffed and licked me there. My head rolled to the back and my hands immediately found his hair and encouraged him to go further. The body heat he was emanating made me dizzy with lust. His mouth pressed to my neck and nibbled on it. I tried to contain the moans trying to escape from my lips, but he stopped and held my head in his hands looking ever so tender into my eyes. He brought his leg in the middle of mine, and I shuddered. He attacked my lips demanding entry and I didn’t let him until he bit my lower lip making me open up. I wanted him. My lower body started to rub against his thigh and he tore away from my lips, and gave me a heart stopping smile. He brought me to the bench and lowered me down. He brought his lips to the same spot as earlier. I had that feeling like earlier and wanted to give myself to him all of me, but I wanted to also to protect him.
Not just from others, but from yourself. I could hear the hurt in my wolf’s voice. She also understood. He would only get hurt from us.
He is ours and always will be ours. She said with conviction. Owen was ours.
“Owen” I whispered into his ear and stopped him from going any further. I took his face with my hands and looked at his now blue eyes. My eyes flooded with tears.
“What’s wrong?” I could see the worry in his head as he started to wipe away the tears. It broke my heart even more.
“I can’t do this” I saw him curl in some more and his eyes that shone with hurt. I wanted to take away the words. His shoulders tensed and grabbed me by my waist and pulled me to him.
“Your mine” I gasped at his tone and the emotions in his eyes. I actually felt like I was his and that terrified me. If I stayed any longer it would be bad, so I tore away from him. I could hear the bus coming. I took my book bag and tried to go to the bus, when arms wrapped around me tightly trying to not let go.
“I won’t let you go Lana” I felt broken. Why was he calling me Lana? Didn’t he know who I was? I turned and saw that he really thought I was Lana. It hurt. My anger ignited and I brought back my hand and punched him right in the jaw. He moved back and shook his head. I didn’t even looked at him, and got on the bus.
“Everything alright, Miss” I ignored the bus driver and went to the back and looked at the window. He punched everything in sight and ran his hands through his hair. He looked at the bus, and then shifted back into his wolf. A howl ripped through the sky and it made me feel even worse. I settled in the back and buried my face into my hands.
As the lights of the city shined from outside of the bus, I couldn’t get excited like the other times before. My mind and everything else went with the boy who I didn’t even know what to call him. I felt like I was torn in two.
~*~*~*~Later
When the bus stopped, I grabbed my bag and headed to April’s. The sun was down where it almost met the ground making the sky mixed with orange, red, purple, and blue. Skyscrapers and building’s lights took over and neon signs filled in. I quickly made my way to the subway that would take me to her place. On the subway, I had a bad feeling in my gut. Quickly, I looked around and saw nothing.
I got out and made my way up the stairs. When I passed the little coffee shop near her house, I peek over to see that it was actually an open mic night. The place was packed, I turned my head and saw blond haired woman slightly turn her face. I stopped immediately, while the woman gave a slight smile and started to run away. It couldn’t be her, but those faint scars are hard to miss.
My body started moving, but I was still in shock. I followed until she quickly turned left into an alleyway. Nothing. There was nothing there. In the back of me I heard small pants of breath and looked behind me.
“Lana, hey I saw you at the coffee shop and then all of sudden you took off.” I turned to see one of April’s neighbor’s son Clay. He had his hands on his knees, then stood up to his six foot tall frame and let his lanky arms swing at his sides. His dreads were long enough to put in a ponytail, but he had a few strands against his light mocha skin. Light green eyes looked at me along with some new piercings that weren’t there before. “Long time no see. You could never stay away from April. What’s the damage this time?”
“Clay, did you see the person I was chasing.” I looked up at him with a sense of urgency.
“You weren’t chasing anyone though rather you started to run and then stopped here. Which I can’t say is weird for you.” He laughed and then wrapped an arm around me giving me a side hug. I gave him a little hit to the side, but I thought for sure she was there.
“You never answered my questions. What’s the damage this time? I’m sure it is a good one. My little Lana has always been a little devil.” I sighed and started to walk away from him and got out of the alley.
“I’m not little; you’re younger than I am. No one asked you to hit puberty and shoot up like that.” I took one last look behind me. “Plus there is no damage to deal with. Maybe, I just wanted to see April.”
“Yeah it looks like that. Nice book bag. It’s actually filled with more stuff than usual this time.” He was always the kid I couldn’t get rid of. Clay was an observer and he saw through me more than I wanted him to.
“I’m going now, you could go back to open mic. Are you going to perform tonight?” I looked at his face and him running a hand over it. He could actually sing, but had terrible stage fright.
“Lana, I’m not going over this with you.” I gave him a tired smile, thankful for it being night time so he couldn’t see my face. “I’m going with you. I haven’t seen ma in a few days.”
We walked the block until we turned the corner where there the street was littered with police cars, and an ambulance. My body went cold, and Clay had to grab me before I fainted. They were at our apartment complex. He hurriedly pushed us through the people who lived here until he saw his mother.
When she saw Clay, she ran and pulled him into her arms and hugged him close to her body then hit him. “Where were you?” She was a short and stout woman with warm hazel eyes that pulled you in. Her gaze went around her son and unto me. Her hand cups her mouth and then tears hit her cheek. She pushes her son away and quickly hugs me hard something that I never had the experience of experiencing. My eyes quickly turned to Clay. He shrugs and starts to look around. “Mom, where is April?”
She buried her face into my chest, and then popped her head out to look at me. Her eyes were full of sorrow. My body turned rigid. I tried to ask her again, but her head turned to the door. No. I ran up the stairs and tried to get through the yellow tape. “Hey, you’re not allowed here.” An officer said as he grabbed my waist to pull me back.
“I need to see her.” My eyes were blurred and I tore away from him and went into the apartment. It felt cold. Everything was in the right spot. I turned and the smell of blood filled my nose. My eyes darted to where the smell came from. I gasped and fell down immediately to the ground screaming. Her head was snapped with claw marks around her throat and her legs twisted. Her red hair was inked with blood with her green eyes still open. I felt bile come up through my throat, but nothing came. I was pulled back and was brought down the stairs. Clay pulled me into a hug and I fell into his arms. My screams were getting silent, and I couldn’t stay there anymore. I broke away from the hug.
“You’re going to leave just like that Lana.” He yelled to me and following me out of the crowd of people. His eyes were mixed with emotions that I couldn’t handle at the moment. He didn’t understand. That was not a regular murder. This had to be done, by a wolf.
“It’s my entire fault.” I croaked out and didn’t get far and threw up everything in my stomach. The smell of her blood was still in my nose. His hand rubbed my back.
“Look, it’s not your fault. Come with me and ma to a hotel. We will figure everything out. Plus, the police are already on the case.” My mind was going a mile a minute and everything seemed to be dizzy, but one thing that rang true through it all. I’m dangerous.
“No” I stood up on my feet and wobbled a little bit. I turned to Clay who know stood by his mom and their eyes both looked toward mine. I couldn’t protect her. Everyone died who was around me. My parents risked their lives to save me, and now I couldn’t protect the only parent I had other than my own. Pulling my straps of my book bag tighter around my arms, I step away from them.
“Look dear, you know that whenever you need a place to go to we will be here.” She took a step towards me and took the strand of hair out of my face.
“Ma, you’re gonna let her go like that.” His tone was angry, and I get it. I would be mad at me too.
“I’m letting her go not because I think she is doing the right thing, but she needs to learn how to handle this and all we can do is be there for her.” Tears threatened to fall, but I couldn’t cry anymore. Clay surprised me and pulled me into a bear hug and kissed my forehead. “Just be safe, Lanny” My face scrunched up at the weird nickname.
I turned away from the scene, and walked the almost empty streets. All I could think about the way her body laid. There was no sense of direction to where I was headed, but I ended up in the same alleyway I was in earlier where I thought I saw Jessica. I slumped down and brought my knees to my chest and slowly started to rock back and forth. April found me in an alleyway when I was little and gave me clothes, and a blanket. She was a constant in my life since I was six.
The night air turned cold and I buried more into my jacket. My dreams headed toward the guy with broad shoulders and short cut blonde hair with bright blue eyes that were circled by a color of grey. He took me away from everything and we were on a couch. My head on his legs and him slowly bringing his face and lightly kissing me on the lips. It wasn’t enough and I grabbed him to pull his lips back onto mine. His smile took my breath away and I couldn’t help myself, but smile back. He would ask me if I was ready and we would get up to head to the back yard of the house where people were all around and I heard a voice. It was a voice that I hadn’t heard in a while. I brought my eyes to his blue eyes and pecked him then went to the voice.
“Lana”
“Lana is that you?” I snapped out of my dream and looked to see Marcus. What was he doing here? He came near me and pulled me into his arms and carried me out of the alleyway and to a familiar big truck. He pushed me into the back seat. I looked to see Brian in the driver’s seat. How did they…?
“Brian. Marcus. What?” I looked to them.
“Why did you run off Lana? Marcus and I were looking for you all day. I should have known you would try to go back to Mrs. Adam’s place” I winced when he said her name. No one noticed though. I retracted farther into the back and laid my head against the window. Then I thought better of it.
“Where are we going?” I ask while trying to get up and push Marcus back out so I could exit the car. Marcus’s hands grabbed my wrists and threw my hands back. It was a lot of force with the push and I landed hard on my back with my head hitting the back window.
“It’s cool Lana, we are going home. I’m sure Ms. Adam’s is cool with it. No I’m sure she is. Stop struggling and stay still.” Brian says in a low and dark voice that I never heard from him. Marcus pushed the seat in front of me to lock it in and got in. He shut the door behind him and I felt trapped. Brian started the truck and we were going home, back to Stratford Hills.
~*~*~*~Later, Stratford Hills
“Marcus, you’re lucky I am working with you, but don’t think that after this I would hesitate to kill you.”
“You’ll be lucky if you’re alive after this. Ava will love a little play thing after her turn.”
“Not if I kill her first” Movement rocked the truck and I opened my eyes to Marcus grabbing at Brian’s throat. I shot up and both looked toward me. Marcus reluctantly took his hands off of Brian’s neck and Brian straightened his shirt then turned toward me.
“Get any good sleep Lana” I looked at him with wide eyes. The truck was stopped and I noticed the driveway and the Robinson’s house in the distance. Brian and Marcus both got out of the car and then Brian got me from the back seat. His touch made me feel sick to my stomach. He carried me princess style until we got to the door. Grace ran into my side giving me a hug. Brian laid me down on the couch. Grace was talking and asking questions all at once until Brian patted her shoulder and she looked at him. His eyes were dark and hard. She quickly left my side and went up the stairs.
“Lana, I hope you know that Marcus and I were just playing around. You should go upstairs and sleep it off.” I took a glance back before heading upstairs and Brian was still looking at me with this weird smile on his face. While going upstairs, I wanted to ask Grace when Marcus and Brian started to hang out, about Ava, and everything that happened. With everything that happened today, I was tired.
Author's Note: Well, I hope your minds are blown, okay maybe not, but anyway. I would love to hear comments about what your thinking of for the chapters ahead. I know I'm not a daily updater, but please bear with me. You all are great and thanks.~Liv