Hailstorm's POV
Once I've recovered from my overdramatic episode, we were off – just grabbing three jackets and sneakers from the bags. Along the way, Lacy had ripped off some branches from the trees and well, they were our only defence.
Please, goodness gracious – let us just make it to the damn road or to the cabin.
Kira grabbed my hand, pulling me forward.
"Don't want to lose you again" she gasped, her voice nearly a breath. Our bodies were aching, our lungs having caught fire about half an hour ago. Cardio had never been any of our strong suits and I regretted that very much now. As our feet hit the ground, I felt like I was going to collapse at any moment.
But we couldn't. We had no choice. I wasn't going to live with a bunch of mythical creatures. And even if we did turn back, imagine the kind of trouble we'd end up in now.
"We should have brought water" Lacy gasped, she stopping by one of the trees, trying to catch her breath.
Kira and I also stopped, me wanting to just fall on the ground from complete exhaustion.
"Come on" Lacy said, shaking her head. She pushed herself off of the tree, grabbing Kira's hand. Kira grabbed mine just in time and we started stumbling through the trees again. The trees started thinning but I knew we were nowhere close yet.
An hour and a half of running (and we were pretty slow), would not lead us to safety. Not with the vastness of this stupid forest. Another twenty minutes and it felt as if my one lung had probably collapsed.
My hand slipped out of Kira's and I stopped.
"Hayley! Come on!" Kira tried but she was also done. Lacy turned to us, her face red and dripping with sweat.
"When... when... when does this stupid forest end!?" Lacy groaned, punching a tree with her good hand.
"Lace, you're going to hurt your hand again" Kira breathed, going to go sit on the ground.
Lacy was about to respond but then we heard something that should have given us energy but well, only brought us all to the ground with fear and tiredness.
"We're so screwed" Kira said, her face in her hands. Tears dripped off of her palm, her body lightly shaking.
"No, no we're not" I said, getting back up. I grabbed Lacy's arm and pulled her up before doing the same with Kira, "Come on"
"We can't run any further Hailstorm"
"Then we climb" I said, looking up at the tree, "They're going to look for us on the ground. Have we looked up at any stage?"
Kira slowly shook her head and then a smile appeared on Lacy's face.
"Up we get" she said, grabbing hold of one of the trees. She threw her stick down on the ground, starting to scamper up.
"Be careful!" Kira said, heading to the tree next to Lacy's. I also started to climb, thanking the heavens that I had a tree house when I was a kid and a very bothersome brother who always hid the ladder.
"How high do we have to go?" Kira asked, pushing herself up to a branch.
"Next branch and then we can stop" Lacy said, pulling herself up one final time before taking a seat on the branch. She sighed happily, looking over at us.
"Right, so we stay up here until the idiots have passed and we've recovered and then, then we'll continue" she sighed, closing her eyes and drinking in the non-running-ness.
I nodded, looking around at the scenery. It was quite beautiful up here, the breeze cooling my face. Everything was quiet and we thought that the boys weren't that close to us, up until my blood froze.
Three wolves, pitch black came sauntering through the trees – looking as if they were about to kill anything that came in their way. The front one was a tad bigger than the others but still, they were all about the size of a small car.
I looked over at Kira, she biting her lip and keeping her breathing shallow. Lacy turned her head to me, placing her pointing finger on her lips.
XXX
Liam's POV
The scent stops here
I said, looking around the trees. Stupid girls... stupid troublesome, annoying girls.
Then they should be here
Mason said, his anger vibrating through him: When I find them, I swear...
What's that?
Chris moved to something by the base of a tree, a small little card which made me smile. There, sitting by the base of a tree was the picture that brought happiness to my heart. Our baby, and her doom.
Looking up, I saw three sets of eyes staring down at us – all of them wide and glassy with tears. Mason walked towards me, looking up and growls coming from the base of his throat. On my left side stood Chris, him barking smugly.
Shift
I instructed, feeling my bones started to crack. If it was possible, the eyes grew wider, Kira quickly to cover her gaze with her hands. I grabbed the pair of shorts from my ankle, quickly putting it on. I didn't feel like climbing a tree naked.
"Come down now!" I shouted, my eyes peering at Hayley.
The girl shook her head, making my annoyance grow.
"Hey love!" Chris yelled, moving towards Kira's tree, "Mind coming down or do I have to come up?"
Mason didn't even say anything and simply started to climb Lacy's tree, the poor girl looking around for a way to escape. Kira let out a whimper which only made Chris chuckle. He started climbing and I folded my arms, still peering up at Hayley.
"If I reach you and you haven't moved, you are screwed" I snapped, finally placing my hands on the bark of the tree.
In the corner of my eye I spotted Lacy trying to climb higher, her braced arm shaking and she wincing every few seconds. But she was no match for Mason who grabbed onto her ankle before she could go onto another branch.
"No!!!" she screamed, her voice making me wince as well. There was no bravery in that scream, just pure fear. Mason pushed himself up further, his one hand still around her ankle up until he was able to grab her around the waist, pulling her towards him. She tried to push him off, stupidly I might add. If he would let her go, she'd fall.
Yet, I think she knew that and still persisted.
"Stop it!" Mason said, holding onto her tighter.
"No! Let me go!" I think Chris had also stopped climbing by now, watching the scene play on.
"If I let you go, you fall!" Mason shouted, his free hand enveloping the girl's fists.
"I don't care!" she screamed, kicking at air.
Mason sighed, rolling his eyes, "I am NOT letting you fall, got that?" he said, his voice (and I might add, he has never used this tone in his lift) warm and calming. Lacy stopped kicking and looked over at the boy, tears still streaming down her face.
"Now, don't kick or do something stupid okay? I don't want you to get hurt again"
My eyes widened, surprised at the kindness my friend showed. This wasn't Mason, definitely not Mason. They started to climb down, me looking back up at Hayley who stood gaping at Lacy. Her eyes flickered to me and she gulped, taking hold of the tree's base.
"You coming down now?" I asked, pushing myself up.
She shook her head, pulling her feet up to her body so I wouldn't grab her feet or legs. In the corner of her eye she kept glancing over at Lacy and Mason who were still moving down, Mason going at a snail's-pace to insure the girl wouldn't fall. And then, then her focus came onto Chris who had reached Kira now.
"Come on love" he said, pushing himself up.
"Stop calling me that!" she snapped, her legs holding onto the branch tightly, her body leaning away from Chris.
"If you come here, I'll stop calling you that?" Chris tried but the girl just shook her head.
"Please love, I don't want to hurt you" Kira hesitated for a second but she slowly reached out for Chris, inching towards them as if they were old flames. Once their fingertips touched, Chris grabbed her around the wrist, pulling her with some force towards him. She fell onto him, letting out a loud shriek which made Hayley wince.
"Calm down hun, I got you" Chris smiled, placing his hands on her hips which made her squirm. He moved his hands then, placing an arm around her waist like Mason had done and they started heading down, Kira clutching onto Chris's arm and her legs around his torso.
Now that only left Hayley. Who looked with worried eyes at her friends and I think, hoping that they'd run as soon as they were down.
That's not going to happen... Lacy and Mason had just made it down and he still held a strong grip around her waist. Her friends were not going anywhere. And neither was she. I started climbing again, finally making it to her branch... and got a hit on my arm.
"Hayley!" I snapped, glaring at her.
"I'll go on my own" she muttered, starting to move downwards but I grabbed her arm, "No, no – you don't deserve that" I said, pulling her towards me. She fell onto me and I took the opportunity to throw her over my shoulder, knowing that she hated that.
"Liam no" she grumbled but I paid no attention to her, starting to make my way down, "You wanted to be difficult"
"Ass" she mumbled which made me groan, "Says the one with her bum in the air"
"You put it there!" she bickered.
"You broke your promise by the way"
"You broke my trust"
"Can't break if I never had it" I shrugged.
"You did actually. At the doctor's office. You had my trust then" she mumbled.
I didn't say anything, moving down to the ground. When we landed, she tried to get down but I held onto her tightly. The only person who had minimal contact with one of us was Kira, Chris' hand around her upper arm.
"Now – listen to me" I snapped, looking at the other two girls, knowing Hayley was listening, "We are going to shift and go back to the house. If one of you even thinks about making a run for it, I will drag you back by my teeth" I snapped, looking at the girls' whose eyes widened.
"Stay right here, don't move" Mason said, letting go of Lacy who stumbled a little bit.
"See just now Killer" Chris said, following the both of us into a place where we could actually properly shift and not freak the girls out. Transforming into a wolf was lot more unnerving that turning back.
XXX
Hailstorm's POV
Once the boys were gone, I headed to the base of the tree, picking up the thing that ruined our escape plan. Stupid, stupid picture.
"Is that the baby?" Kira said, moving to where I was.
"Yeah, sorry guys – this stupid thing is the reason-"
"It's perfect" Kira sighed, taking the picture from my hand. She headed over to Lacy – who for the first time actually listened to an instruction – stayed where she was. Lacy's face morphed into a smile, "It's like a little bubble"
"It's Hailstorm's little bubble. Like a hail drop" Lacy said and the nickname was set. She looked up at me, me not too happy.
"What's wrong hun?" Kira frowned.
"I got us caught"
"You can't blame yourself. It was an accident" Lacy said, "It's the same as what I did with that stupid picnic"
"And what I did for deciding to go away the weekend" Kira said, "If we blame every little thing then we're all screwed"
"We can blame beer pong" I smiled, "It is beer pong's fault"
We all lightly laughed and then our circumstances came back to us with the return of the guys, now black wolves with frightening red eyes.
The biggest one moved to me, lightly barking and moving his back towards me. I hesitated but then he nudged me, giving an eye roll.
"You want me to climb up?" I frowned and with a nod, this stupid idea was confirmed. I sighed but listened to his instruction. Surprisingly, his fur was soft, it nice and calming. One would almost forget I was on a wolf's back. I turned my head to my friend's, they also on the backs. Lacy took hold of Mason's (think it was Mason) fur, "Do the same, think we going to run"
I was just in time, grabbing a fist full, before we were off. The wind whipped against my fast, my heartbeat raising. For one part, it felt amazing. Like a rollercoaster. On the other - more logical side, I was scared out of my mind. Next to me, I saw Lacy's one arm in the air, she waving it.
Crazy... my friend was absolutely crazy. It took them less than 30 minutes to make it to the house, whereas it had taken us nearly 2 hours to just get away.
Once we were there,Liam lowered his body, letting me slide off. The wolf's head nudged to thefront door, making me groan as I followed my other friends into our prison