I had thought that I knew what Braxton looked like when he was angry. I was wrong. I'd pissed him off several times since knowing him, but all of those times he must have just been mad. Right now, he's furious.
Braxton is barking out orders at Caden, his arms wrapped around my waist, holding me close. I'm thankful for that, as it helps to calm my nervous shaking. I keep imagining Sebastian killing people, ripping them apart. He is scary enough when he is in human form, I can't imagine how terrifying he is when he is a wolf.
"Brynlee... Brynlee!" Braxton voice jolts me out of my thoughts and I look up at him with wide eyes. "Hey, princess, it's going to be just fine, nothing bad is going to happen to you," he reassures me.
I nod but I don't feel any better. Based on the look on his face, I know Braxton can tell that his words did not help. He sighs. "I need to go take care of this."
"Don't go," I blurt, not realizing what I've said until the words are already out of my mouth.
"I have to, princess. Noah and Garrett will be here any second. I'll be back before you know it," Braxton tells me.
A second later, Noah and Garrett are standing beside us, looking more serious than ever.
"You let me know immediately if anything goes south," Braxton growls at the two and they each nod. "Don't let her out of your sight."
Braxton then turns his attention back to me. "Listen to Noah and Garrett. Please."
I nod my head a few times and Braxton looks relieved. He presses a quick kiss to my forehead before he is gone.
I stand still for a few seconds, trying to catch my breath. Noah and Garrett just stare at me, looking mildly worried.
"Are you okay, Luna?" Garrett finally asks.
"I'm fine," I murmur. "I just would rather not see Sebastian ever again."
"You wouldn't have met Sebastian in the first place if you hadn't run away," Noah comments, smiling. "That was a good escape, we didn't even realize you were gone for like ten minutes."
Garrett glares at Noah, elbowing him in the stomach.
I laugh slightly. "Thanks, I guess. I'm sorry about that. I was scared. I won't do it again."
"You're not scared anymore?" Noah asks excitedly.
"I'm not gonna lie and say that this doesn't still freak me out a little," I say. "But there are some things that scare me a lot more right now."
"That's good," Garrett comments, continuing when I raise an eyebrow. "I mean it's good that you don't plan on running again. The Alpha was pissed when we told him that we didn't know where you were."
"Understatement of the century," Noah mutters. "He nearly killed us."
My eyes widen. "He hurt you?"
Garrett shakes his head. "No. His wolf definitely wanted to, but he restrained himself. Plus, his main focus was finding you."
I stay quiet. It's just now hitting me that when I left Braxton must have been ridiculously worried. I feel really guilty all of a sudden.
"Is everything going to be okay?" I ask. "I mean like right now."
"Yeah," Garrett shrugs. "I heard it was only a few rogues and Braxton took way more wolves than necessary to take care of them."
"How did they get in?" I question.
"We do constant patrols around the borders but the territory is huge. They must have been watching us and slipped in through a crack," Noah explains.
"We'll change our patrol schedule, make sure that this doesn't happen again," Garrett adds.
A loud crash that comes out of the blue makes me scream. Suddenly, Noah and Garrett are in front of me, pushing me backwards into the wall. My heart is racing and I feel my palms sweating. I can tell that this is bad.
But I can't help myself and stand on my tip toes in order to peek over Noah's shoulder. My eyes widen at the sight in front of us and I immediately go back to hiding behind Noah and Garrett.
Standing in Braxton's living room, snarling loudly, are three wolves. They look terrifying, like they are ready to tear us to pieces. All I can think in my head is that Garrett was wrong. Everything is not going to be okay.
Before I can even blink, Garrett is gone from in front of me and it is just Noah. When I see four wolves fighting in the middle of the living room, I realize that he must have shifted into his wolf.
I've never watched werewolves fight before, but I can tell it's not going well for Garrett. Even though he is definitely holding his own, he's outnumbered. I feel horrible, and wish that I could help. I'm literally a deadweight right now. Not to mention, both Noah and Garrett are focused on protecting me. They would do so much better if I was gone and they didn't have to worry about me.
It's almost as if Noah is thinking the same thing that I am. "Brynlee," he says quietly, keeping his eyes on the fighting wolves. He doesn't turn to face me. "I need you to run. Garrett and I can take care of these wolves together. But we need to get you out of here. When I shift, I need you to just run out the front door and keep going, okay?"
I gulp. "Okay," I whisper.
A second later, Noah has transformed into a brown wolf in front of me. I almost scream, but then I remember that I'm supposed to be running away right now. I take off, running towards the front door. I can hear the wolves fighting behind me and I don't think any of the rogue wolves have gotten passed Noah and Garrett.
I throw the front door open and start to run down the dirt driveway. I have no idea where I'm supposed to go. Maybe Asher and Natalie's house? It's the only thing I can think of. That mind link thing would be real nice to have right about now.
Suddenly, I'm roughly pushed to the ground by a tremendous force. I land awkwardly on my arm and I yelp in pain. I think that I may have fractured it. I roll onto my back grasping the arm, closing my eyes tightly. Then, a loud growl has my eyes snapping open, the pain momentarily forgotten about.
A huge, dark gray wolf is standing on top of me, teeth bared a mere few inches away from my face. I can't help the scream of terror that leaves my mouth at the sight. The wolf almost looks annoyed by my yell and growls again in my face.
I reach up with my uninjured arm and try to shove the wolf off of me. To my surprise, it doesn't budge. I know that I'm no match for the wolf, but I had expected at least a little give, but nope, nothing. I might as well have been pushing against a locked steel door. I shove at him once more but the wolf just snarls at me.
I feel the tears running down my face as I continue to struggle against the wolf. A large paw comes down on my chest, pushing me roughly into the dirt. I've never felt more useless in my life. I can't help but scream the first thing that comes to mind: "Braxton!"
The wolf growls angrily, its eyes turning black. He definitely did not want me to do that.
Its canines are wrapped around my neck in an instant and I pale in fear. I close my eyes, waiting for my impending death. But it never comes. The wolf, while its teeth are literally on my neck, doesn't actually break the skin. I'm still terrified, however, knowing that one wrong move and he'll tear my throat out. So I opt for lying silently on my back, no longer fighting or screaming.
It seems like the wolf is waiting for someone. My heart is racing and all I can do is pray that it is not Sebastian. Or that someone from the pack comes and saves me.
The wolf's teeth suddenly leave my neck, but he remains on top of me. I see him sniffing the air, like he smells someone.
Before the wolf can do anything else, he's gone. Literally in a blur, he disappears from on top of me. My eyes widen and I move my arms to sit up and look around, but I hiss in pain. I roll over onto my side, trying to take all weight off of my injured arm.
I wince as I softly touch my arm and I know that there is definitely something wrong with my humerus.
I hear whimpering and snarling not far away from me so I turn my attention away from my arm. What I see is enough to make me want to vomit. A large black wolf is on top of the gray one that just had me pinned seconds ago. I had thought that the gray wolf was large, hell, it was larger than me. But the black one is even bigger, even stronger. Just the mere presence alone of the black wolf makes me want to cower in fear.
But that isn't the worst part. The worst part is watching the black wolf sink its razor sharp teeth into the gray wolf and mercilessly start ripping it to shreds. I close my eyes in fear, not wanting to see the brutality, but also because I'm silently praying that I'm not next.
~*~
Hey guys! I hope that you liked this chapter! I'll try to update again as soon as I can! I only have about a week left before I go back to college and I want to get as many chapters done as I can!
Thanks for all of the support, reads, votes, and comments! You all are the best!
- Nina