FAMILY
~Kayla POV~
Antagonizing. That is the only word that can describe all that I could feel as I forced my body to stay still. No matter how much I want to open my eyes and see who is standing in front of me, to finally meet my mate, I had to become a statue. Like an artifact put up for offering, my limbs became rigid as I fought against the Wolf inside of me. She fought with tooth and claw, but I somehow managed to keep her in. Eventually the song that everyone was singing became background noise as the smell of my mate grew stronger, until that was the only thing that I could concentrate on.
My Wolf was whimpering now, but the song stopped a few moments ago meaning I could move so I took a breath. This was it. I slowly opened my eyes to see Dene was standing in front of me, with a hunger in his eyes that sent a chill down my spine. I furrowed my brows as I looked around then back at him again. This couldn't b right; Dene was my mate? I had thought that we were both over twenty which meant that we would know right away if we were mates.
My Wolf was going crazy with happiness, but I couldn't help but be perplexed. This seemed to be wrong. Dene smiled at me reassuringly.
"Wow," he said, "I never knew that this could ever happen again..."
Confused, I gave him an inquiring look, he shook his head and put his arms around me. He smelt nice, like all the best things in the world put together, but his touch did nothing to me, which confused me all the more. Isn't meeting your mate supposed to be... well, more than this...?
"I'll tell you later," he said into my ear, sending a chill down my spine, not a good one I mean.
He took my hand, no sparks, no untamed desires, and started to lead me out of the clearing. Everyone had gone quiet and was watching Dene and I quietly. There seemed to be less people in the crowd, and I couldn't spot Danny and Hana anywhere. Where could they have gone? Did they take this opportunity to get away together for a bit? If so, should I leave them be or be cross at them? Even if they had just found each other, they still had their jobs and I don't think Danny would try to get out guard duty. Not after what happened to us anyways.
"Have you seen Hana?" I asked. Dene and I were in the forest now, going towards the house. His eyes held mine, letting me see the lust he has for me.
"No, I haven't seen her since she left with one of your Wolves further into the forest."
I looked away from him, my Wolf telling me that I shouldn't be so rude to my mate. Think! I told her, he is hiding something. But she just ignored me and continued to admire the fact that we had such a powerful mate. I scoffed, we're stronger. But I was ignored once more.
"I see," I said watching the tree tops as we walked. The air had gone still, not a single bug was out to preen their wings in the moonlight. Perhaps they were waiting to see if the song would continue again?
"Kay," Dene said, taking my hand, and making me look at him in the process. "I am so glad that you are my mate."
He was looking me in the eyes, trying to show me that he was sincere. But I still am not sure. I looked away, making my hand slide out of his.
"I want to find my Wolves." I said instead, continuing my walk. He didn't miss a beat, and walked beside me.
"Then how about you come with me inside my house? I'll show you around as my pack gathers your members."
Not seeing how I could refuse this offer without offending him, I nodded my head and followed him inside. I watched him from the corner of my eye; his movements seemed too precise, too practiced. He was not very strong, I knew that, but he seemed to be planning something. My Wolf was still not listening to me, instead preferring to run scenarios in her head of what she would be doing later. I rolled my eyes as her thoughts were quite loud.
The house was quiet when we entered it, as though it was holding it's breath. When I sharpened my senses though, I could easily make out the heartbeats of each Wolf, awake or asleep, within the house. There seemed to be a number of Wolves in the basement watching over a sleeping Wolf.
"I hope that you will like it here." Dene was saying, referring to the house, as he led me up the stairs, clearly to go to his room.
I stopped walking, sensing the many Wolves ahead of us. We had basically just met, I had just discovered that he is my mate, and yet he seemed to want more from me than what I was prepared to give him. He turned to me and looked concerned.
"What's wrong?" he asked innocently enough.
Follow him already! My Wolf yelled at me, I have been away from him for so long, why do you delay me even more? He's our mate! Nothing will harm us here!
I slowly walked forward, taking his outstretched hand and smiling tentatively at him, reassured by my Wolf. Perhaps all of these things I was noticing was purely paranoia from all my time in the woods.
As soon as I had thought it, Dene pulled me in the very center of the area which the other Wolves were around, and at that moment they surged forward. I stiffened, the doors to rooms slamming open around me. Dene watched calmly as his Wolves surrounded us – me.
I glared at him, feeling betrayed, hurt and proven that my theory was right. Though the usual feeling of elatement did not come since I was now in the middle of a sprung trap. My Wolf was hurt, but she was not going to leave me alone. Instead she growled with me, creating a ripple of fear go through the crowd now surrounding me.
"Dene, what could be possibly going on?" I said sarcastically, knowing full well that I had just been ambushed. He did not smile, but looked grave.
"Kay, my mate, I am truly sorry, however, this must be done." Dene said, looking as though this pained him to say. When he looked back at me though, there was no guilt or pity, just eminent victory. "Kill her."
And with that he walked away as the Wolves surged forward again. I crouched low and readied for their attack, my Wolf and I becoming one.
~Unknown POV~
I awoke with a splitting headache, a terrible throbbing at the back of my head. I groaned as I lifted myself up, my eyes already adjusting to the darkness of this damp room. The floor was a hard cement with small rocks sticking out of it in every which way. The walls looked to be of stone and there were no windows or doors. The only light was from the cracks between the wooden ceiling above. Perhaps there was a trap door?
I could smell the mold growing between the stones as water trickled down the walls. My entire body was throbbing, much like the back of my head, and I could not sense my Wolf. It was as though he had been put asleep. I closed my eyes for a moment to try and connect with my Wolf but there was no response. Since I could not contact him, it meant that I could not shift. I'd be a normal human until whatever drug they hit me with wore out.
Footsteps ran across the ceiling every now and then, making dust fall between the boards. I was either underground or in a cellar. I heard thumping from above, as though people were being thrown around, and wondered how I got here.
Sitting cross-legged, I put my hand on the back of my head wincing when I touched the spot on my head that hurt. A robin's egg had formed there, and I was thankfully not bleeding. I sighed and thought back to what I had been doing before I blacked out. With a shiver I remembered her face, so clear in my mind.
Then I noticed that my shirt was gone, which might be another reason why I wouldn't stop shivering. I sighed as I put my head in my hands, closing my eyes. I visualized her in my mind clearly.
A loud thud came from above, followed by a yell that made my heart race.
I stood up, a shiver going down my spine as I waited, watching the ceiling above. Multiple thuds could be heard from above as though a fight was breaking out, the dust falling from the ceiling in torrents. I tried to keep the dust from my eyes but had a hard time of it, as I also wanted to see if there would be a trap door above me. Maybe they would hear me if I yelled loud enough?
I coughed as I watched for the movement of the boards, for the movement would bring me to my freedom.
I hoped that someone would fall in.
~Kayla POV~
I ducked, balling my right hand into a fist, and hit the first Wolf that came at me under their jaw. As soon as my fist made contact, I switched my focus to the Wolves coming after this one. Seeing how four Wolves in their skin were standing around me, I placed my weight on my right leg and spun, my left leg out to knock them down.
A fifth Wolf came running at me then, in their fur. I was still spinning, so I could not get up to move on time. At that moment a sixth Wolf in fur lunged at me, only to collide with the fifth midair. I sighed with relief for my luck as the Wolves in their skin around me tumbled to the floor. With a loud crack , the floorboard broke under the Wolves pressure of falling on one another. With a yip of surprise, two Wolves fell in the whole, landing with a hard thunk at the bottom.
I smiled. If I could get the lot of them down there, then I wouldn't have to worry about them getting up again after I've beat them. Pleased with this idea, I attacked again, imagining a pile of bodies building up, down, below the floor boards.
Eventually, I got down to three Wolves left. All of which had been in my training this afternoon past. I could smell their fear of me, and see it with every hesitant step that they took. I smiled sweetly at them as I got down into my fighting stance once more.
I had defeated at least thirty other Wolves, but I still had energy in me, keeping me alert of my surroundings. My adrenaline and my Wolf helped to keep my muscles form aching, giving them all the energy that they would need to keep functioning properly. Perhaps if I was in my fur, I would have gone through them faster, but I would have killed the lot of them too. This way, all that I needed to do was knock them out.
As my former pupils saw my stance, their faces visibly blanched. I smirked.
"Boo." I whispered as I lunged for them. They turned tale and ran, yelping even though they, too, were in their skins. I would have found the sight funny, if their running would not have meant that reinforcements would soon come my way.
"Looks like you can handle yourself well." A voice chuckled. I looked down to the hole in the floor. There, stood a very handsome man, who was half naked.
He has dark hair, short and slightly swept to the side as though he just woke up. His green eyes seemed to stare me down as I gazed back at him. He had an arm on the floor as though he had not a care for the world, his entire lower body, from the waist down was still in the hole. As I stared at him, his features started to look increasingly familiar...
An image of Caleb appeared in my mind and my face paled. He is the one who was at the party that night! If he met my pups, would he want to try and take them away from me or try and kill my mate to raise them with me instead? I narrowed my eyes at him, he had better not try anything. I will not allow it.
He smiled at me, getting out of the hole with ease and grace. He dusted off his pants and smiled at me, pointing to the hole over his shoulder.
"If it were not for you throwing all those Wolves in there, I would have never gotten out. Thank you." He held out his hand to me, his expression tender. "My name is Chase; it's nice to meet you, princess."
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Princess?"
He smiled, "You stand so proudly, power radiates off of you. How could you not be a princess?"
"Kayla." I said, placing my hand in his.
The world seemed to stop moving around me. All of my senses grew dull for a moment, only to sharpen around him as my gaze met his. It was as if I had not known what breathing was, until this moment, filled with his scent. Like I had not known what hearing was until I heard his heart beat in time with mine. As though I did not know what seeing was until I saw him, or what feeling was until I touched him. Everything was new, as though I had just been thrown into a different world, where you have to learn everything all over again, but centered around him.
My lips parted as a gasp had not quite been able to get past my lips. My eyes grew wide with shock. He seemed to grow more confidant, poised and satisfied by the second.
He's our mate...? My Wolf said to me, shocked, happy and angry all at once. We had been tricked, not trusting our senses enough.
He's also the father to our cubs... I said back, my face heating up at the thought. He doesn't think we've rejected him does he? I wondered, then my mind went to my pups. My demeanor darkened. I need to get to them quickly. My little ones were in much more danger than I had previously believed.
His smile grew on his face, making him extremely handsome. I tried to stop the butterflies, who had suddenly taken residence in my stomach, but to no avail. I took my hand out of his, slightly quieting the butterflies, until, that is, he smiled even bigger, making him look even more attractive. I looked away for my own sanity.
"H-how did you get here?" I asked him, wondering why I didn't see him at the ceremony, and how I had been fooled so easily.
"How do you think I did?" he said sarcastically, getting the rest of the way out of the hole and towering over me.
I glared at him best I could, but when you try and glare at someone your attracted to, it never goes right. His gaze on me hardened, his eyes going behind me, and I instantly turned around too see what the threat could be.
Dene stood in the door frame from this room to the hall, blocking the only escape, other than the windows. Dene was glaring in our direction, his eyes fixed on Chase. If looks could kill, Chase would have been shot down long ago. I growled at Dene, my Wolf and I both pissed off at him for tricking us. He still smelt like our mate, which was slightly confusing, but I knew who was our real mate. After all, only ones soul mate is able to connect with both Wolf and human halves of a Werewolf at once.
"Looks like you found each other, then." He said coldly.
"You did this to him, didn't you?" I said, appalled that he could do such a thing.
"You shouldn't make conclusions like that without all the facts." Dene said, tisking at me and waving his index finger in a 'no, no' fashion. He then put his hand down and smiled, as though he had been caught with his hand in a cookie jar by his mother. "But yes, I did."
I rolled my eyes at him, unimpressed by his act.
"Why'd you do it?" Chase said, his voice sending shivers down my spine. He was standing directly behind me, I could feel the heat of his skin on my back, through the hide I was wearing. I glared up at him, his sea green eyes meeting my brown ones for a moment, before looking back to Dene. The moment was all we needed.
Dene smiled, the look in his eyes going dark. I circled around to his right slowly, letting his eyes follow me as Chase made his way to the left. Dene was more weary of me than he is of Chase, and did not notice Chase's slow movements. It didn't take long for Chase and I to be directly across from one another, Dene in the middle, and by then, he was having trouble keeping his eyes on the two of us. Which of us would strike first?
As though a sixth sense was given to me, at that moment I knew that I had to leave to find my pups. Something was wrong, and I had to get to them. I growled, letting waves of power pour out into my aura. In an instant, both Chase and Dene were down on one knee, heads bent down in submission to me. Even though Chase was my mate, we had barely even touched, and because of that he would be just as effected by my power as any other Non-Dyer-Werewolf. I had to be careful on how I use it, unless I wanted to hurt Chase too.
I brought back in some of my power, giving them the freedom to move their heads, but they could still not get up off the floor. I growled again and saw how it affected them both; Chase seemed to have something like pride and shock in his eyes as Dene showed fear. The both of them were shaking, though by different feelings.
"Why did you try and trick me?" I asked Dene, making him shake in fear. He wouldn't say anything though. "Answer me!" I said, my urgency to get to my pups increasing by the second.
"We wanted to find out how you cured her." He said, glaring at me with malice.
"So you pretended to be my mate?" I said, astonished he would stoop so low, when he could have just asked me anytime. I may not have answered him anyways, but that didn't mean he needed to go this far.
I didn't hide my discus at his lie either, for it was a high offense against the goddess to pretend to be someone's mate. If you went against the goddess in this, you could be punished into your next life.
Dene started to laugh as though he no longer cared what happened to himself.
"Do you really think that I will be the last?" he said, "I am only the beginning. We got your parents easily enough when they had lowered their guard, and killed them. Now that we have their children here, do you really think that we would not try and do anything to finish their line?"
"Who sent you?" I growled viciously, any compassion I had for him gone the moment that he spoke of my parents as though they were weak.
"Someone, who wants your entire family dead." He spat, making me growl all the more.
Just as I was about to order him to tell me, he bit down hard on his teeth. He made a gurgling sound as a purple mist came out of his mouth. It turned red as the acid mist started to dissolve his mouth, causing it to bleed excessively as his body tried to fix the damage. His eyes bulged as he kept his mouth closed, fighting his instincts to survive.
Chase and I watched in disbelief as his body withered, his muscles spasming as they fought to live, but lacked the air to do so. Within a few moments, he lay limp on the floor. His eyes rolled up into the back of his skull.
"He's dead." I said, still disbelieving that this has happened. The waves of power I had been using, long receded back to me, when Dene had bitten his tooth – he must have had a false one.
A shiver went up my spine as I received another cold shock of awareness. My children needed me. Within a blink of the eye, I had already spun around to leave, racing back to them with all of my speed.