Hey!
Another chapter! Just want to say that I am very thankful for the support and sweet comments! They brighten my day! I hope you enjoy - by the way, I've been curious: WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER???
~Lissa
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I watched as the familiar woman twirled in a circle, laughing. Her hazel eyes brightened as she spun on her toes, her white dress flowing around her. Next to her, there was an ugly wreckage in the middle of the street - shattered windows, crushed doors, destroyed bumper, and laying upside down. A few feet away was the large truck where an intoxicated man sat, unconscious. Blood trickled down his forehead onto his shirt; the drops sounded similar to those of the beer leaking out of the bottle in his lap. Slowly, I approached the woman who I recognized as my mother. She ran her fingers through her dark hair, before elegantly holding her hand out - and her hand was grabbed. My father appeared in front of her and twirled her in a circle, a smile on his face. His red hair was beginning to turn grey, probably from the amount of stress I constantly put on them.
"Mom? Dad?" I croaked, nearing them.
My mother laughed again and the two of them started walking away down the street, holding hands. "Mom!" I shouted, chasing after them. "Dad! Wait, I'm here! I'm right here! Please!" My mother's laughter filled my ears again as my father nudged her side, whispering something into her ear. "I'm here! Look at me! Just look at me!"
I was screaming at the top of my lungs, desperately seeking their attention. They didn't glance at me; in fact, it was almost as if I was invisible. I watched with watering eyes as they disappeared into a white light, one that nearly blinded me. My mother's laughter rang through my ears while my father's smiles haunted me in the back of my mind.
Releasing a cry, I turned around, surprised to find paramedics and police officers gathered around the wreckage. Confusion overwhelmed me; they hadn't been there before. I watched as two paramedics helped the truck driver out, carefully. The police officers were closing off the road, forcing oncoming traffic to turn around. Several paramedics were crouched around the familiar battered sedan, struggling to help the people inside. Hesitantly, I approached the car, listening to the sirens around me. A paramedic shook his head with sad eyes, before pulling his arm out of the vehicle. I crouched down, peering into the car - and found myself staring at my parents. Motionless. Bloody. Dead. I choked back a sob and covered my mouth with my hand, nearly toppling backwards onto my butt.
My eyes flickered towards the girl in the backseat, her chest slowly rising, then falling. A paramedic on the other side was attempting to reach her. Her auburn hair was stained with blood, which was barely visible. She was pale, too pale. And, she reeked of booze after her parents were forced to pick her up at the police station; she had been caught drinking at a lame party. This girl was me, the same girl that miraculously survived the accident. The girl who didn't die, but fought for her life in the hospital for three months. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I watched the doors be ripped off the car. I couldn't look at this anymore; I turned away, closing my eyes to fight back some tears.
But, when I opened them, I found myself staring at me in the hospital. I was laying in the uncomfortable bed, several needles in my skin. Tubes were tangled and some were connected to beeping machines. I looked hideous; I looked broken. Bruises and scrapes covered my skin - I barely looked alive. My brother, Ethan, was seated at the end of the bed, gripping my ankle. He was blinking frantically, his lips pinched together. He looked exhausted with dark circles underneath his eyes. "It's time for you to wake up now, Little Bird. Wake up - please. You're all I have left. . ."
My chest tightened at his nickname for me. For years, he had called me that, despite my hatred for nicknames. Apparently, to him, I ate like a bird - I didn't eat much. I approached him and placed my hand on his shoulder, hoping he would've turned and looked at me. But, he didn't; he couldn't feel me. A quiet sob came from him as his shoulders hunched forward. "Em, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but t-things have changed. I'm here for you, okay? I'll always be here."
"I hear you," I whispered, before biting my bottom lip. And, as the beeping suddenly increased, creating a wavering line on the screen near me, I was sucked away from the hospital and found myself staring at a blue sky.
I was freezing with my skin prickling; goose bumps danced on my skin. I coughed and water spurted from my mouth, rolling down my face. Slowly, I sat forward, flinching at the pain in my thigh. Was I shot? I was drenched with my wet hair sticking to my face and the splashing of water caught my attention. I whipped my head around, seeing a large, beautiful waterfall. Did I fall down a waterfall? And, survived? I took a glance around, wondering how I was out of the water. Did I float to shore? Or, was I pulled out? Though, I didn't see anybody near me.
Hesitantly, I stumbled to my feet, moaning at the pain in my body. My neck still ached from flipping over my head when I tumbled down the slope. A cool breeze smacked me and I shivered, moving off the rocks. I rubbed my upper arms, squinting through the surrounding trees. Something felt off - something wasn't right. With my teeth chattering, I started into the trees, listening to my surroundings. I continued limping through the trees, taking some breaks for the sake of my injured leg. Turned out, the bullet grazed my skin, thankfully not remaining inside my thigh. I prayed the bleeding eventually stopped, though with as much movement as I was going, it wasn't going to anytime soon. Limping, I thought about Ryker - was he alright? Could he find me with his mark?
Was everybody okay?
The sudden attack by the humans startled all us. I assumed they trailed Brody and Laura back from McDonalds. But, I still was in shock; I could've died. I guess it hadn't sunk in yet on how dangerous my life had become since I met Ryker.
I exhaled loudly and moved away a few strands of my wet hair from my face. I walked and walked - or limped - until my feet began to ache and the sun started settling down behind the hills. A part of me was worried since Ryker hadn't found me yet. I came to a stop and glanced around, wondering where to sleep. The ground wasn't safe - I knew venomous snakes and bears came out during the night from my brother's stories. I squinted up, seeing a large branch of the nearest oak tree. It wasn't too high nor too low. It was going to have to do for the night, but it was going to be hell getting up there.
I grabbed onto the bark and swung myself up onto the first branch, wincing. Shakily, I hopped onto the next branch, followed by the one I was going to settle on for the night. With a moan of pain, I dangled my legs on either side of the branch for better balance. I took a deep breath and prayed Ryker was going to find me soon. Keeping my hand placed over my shoulder, I closed my eyes and relaxed. My brother appeared in my head - I hadn't seen or spoke to him since Daniel attacked at the motel. He couldn't still be angry about his Alpha's death, could he? How did that leave his pack? Daniel's Beta was dead, along with himself - did that mean Ethan was the new Alpha? There were so many unanswered questions that had concern twisting in my chest. My life had gotten complicated.
I groaned, allowing my head to rest back against the trunk of the tree. I wanted Ryker next to me; it was already starting to hurt without him near me. He wasn't kidding about the mate-pull being strong. I was feeling the need to be around him and to be honest, it was frustrating that he wasn't by me. I wanted to rip my hair out because I couldn't feel him. But, the mystery question was, was if he wanted me around him? Not because of the mate-pull, but because he wanted me to be?
All of a sudden, a twig snapped.
At first, I didn't know what happened.
I was seated in the tree, encased in the sounds of tweeting birds, buzzing insects, and splashing water from the nearby river. Next thing I knew, I was plummeting to the ground, nailing every branch on the way down. There were multiple times that I had fallen from trees after escaping Daniel's torment - one of the main reasons was I always dozed off from lack of sleep. And, it was always painful when I landed because the wind was knocked right out of me, leaving me gasping for air. After catching my breath, my usual routine was mentally smacking myself in the head for being so careless, then shaking it off. But, this time, it was different. When I pummeled to the ground, the same warning feeling overwhelmed me. Stunned, I started gasping for air, holding back a yelp from the pain in my back.
I forced myself to move my arms and legs, slowly rolling on the dirt. Nothing was broken, but there was throbbing in my upper arm. Wincing, I looked at my arm, surprised to see a large, bleeding gash. The wound was fresh and possibly deep enough for stitches. Gently, I touched the edge of it and instantly, hissed in pain. Thinking I cut myself on a branch when I was falling, I reminded myself to keep taking deep breaths. But, everything came crashing down when another twig snapped nearby, followed by whispering. No, I thought, eyes widening. They found me. Desperately, I tried stumbling to my feet, but when I reached a squatting position, I only fell back to the ground.
Suddenly, an arrow whistled passed me, nailing the trunk of the tree. Adrenaline shot through me and without a second thought, I clambered to my feet. I didn't have a choice; I needed to run. Ignoring the pain in my body, I took off through the trees. My thigh was screaming, begging me to stop, but I couldn't. I tripped over a fallen branch and with a cry, quickly stumbled back to my feet. I heard more voices and desperately, tried running faster. I was being chased; I was the prey while they were the predators. I was pleading in my head for Ryker to leap out somewhere to save me, considering I was absolutely helpless at the moment.
I was injured without any weapons, leaving me vulnerable.
Another arrow zoomed past my head and I ducked, tears streaming down my cheeks. I was going to die; this was how I was going to go. Then, a burning pain came in my uninjured leg when an arrow grazed my skin. Without much choice, I fell to the ground, landing in a heap on the dirt. I clawed at the leaves around me, crying as I tried getting to my feet. I heard their claps of excitement and pride as they approached me, laughing. They were going to kill me - I wasn't going to see Ryker again. Powerless, I rolled onto my back and looked up at them, feeling my heart skip a beat when I noticed four of them gathering in a circle around me.
Three of them were men while the last was a cocky woman with an ugly scar on her face. She carried a bow and I knew she was the one who shot at me. She smirked at me, tilting her head to one side. "We've got ourselves a young one - she'll be perfect." Before I could speak, one of the men were kneeling down beside me and yanking my head to one side, revealing Ryker's mark on my neck.
"She's been marked," he said, his voice deep. "We can't use her."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Joseph, do you see her mate anywhere?" She gestured around towards the trees and I watched Joseph hesitate, keeping his hand locked in my tangled hair. "Exactly, so we're taking her back with us."
Joseph shook his head. "I don't know - I-I don't recognize the scent or mark, Linda. If she belongs to an Alpha, we'll be in trouble for sure."
Hoping to save myself, I blurted, "I have a mate! He's - "
I was interrupted by Linda stepping forward, slapping me across the cheek. I gritted my teeth together and stared into her narrowed, dark eyes. She exchanged looks with the other three men, before hooking a finger at Joseph. "She's coming with us." There was a long moment of silence, before Joseph nodded his head. My eyes widened in fear and I opened my mouth to plead, but I didn't have time because his fist was already connecting with my face, knocking me out.
* * *
"Time for you to wake up, Cupcake!" a voice shouted, followed by icy water being poured on me. Startled, I gasped and my eyes snapped open when a chill ran down my spine. Shivering, I looked up, just in time to see the bulky back of a man stomping out of the room. Where am I? I thought, frowning. Glancing around, I realized I was in a small, cramped room with dim lights provided by torches on the stone walls. Shackles and splatters of blood decorated the dusty floors; there was a small pool of my own blood from my injuries.
I noticed two people curled into balls, seated in opposite corners. One was a guy with dirty, blond hair, his eyes squeezed shut in fear. He was trembling, his tan skin covered with scrapes and bruises. As for the other person, it was a young girl, no older than fifteen. Her black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and her hazel eyes were staring down at her clammy hands. I moved into an upright position with a grunt of pain and her eyes flickered my direction. "You shouldn't have woke up."
"What? Why?" I blurted, confused. "Where are we?"
"Hell," the guy answered, shaking his head. "She's right - you shouldn't have woken up." He looked at me, fear evident on his face. Then, the door burst open, revealing a large man with a smirk on his face. His eyes flashed gold, informing me that he was a werewolf. Werewolves captured me? Frozen, I watched as his eyes traveled among the three of us, before stopping directly on me. I cursed in my head and found myself holding back tears when he came stomping towards me. I opened my mouth to speak, but I was stopped by him grabbing my hair and yanking me to my feet.
"You're next," he growled, leading me towards the door. I fought against him, desperately slapping at his chest and attempting to pull away from him. But, he was too strong - it was his werewolf strength and tolerance to pain. I was lead outside where I was faced with a large crowd of people, or more specifically werewolves, gathered in their human forms. I recognized Linda among them, grinning in excitement. It was dark, probably around midnight with the moon lingering above. Eyes flickered my direction and people started hooting, pumping their fists in the air. I gulped loudly, feeling my chest tighten. The crowd parted, allowing the man to push me through. He shoved me into the small circle where I found myself being stared at, being judged. Everybody looked excited; everybody appeared to be having fun. Next thing I knew, the man was slapping a silver knife in my hand.
"Good luck, Cupcake."
I watched as he disappeared into the crowd of people, quietly. What the hell? I thought, examining the knife in my hand. What is happening? The hollers and claps of people echoed in my ears as I rotated in a slow circle, staring at their faces. Linda stood there, her taunting grin sending chills down my spine. Suddenly, the people started howling, pointing their noses up towards the sky. I bit my bottom lip, seeing smiles stretch onto their faces when the people in front of me started parting. I stumbled a step backwards, bracing myself. A black wolf emerged into the circle, snapping his teeth. He was the size of me with sharp teeth and claws twice as long as my nails. I glanced down at the knife in my hand - I was supposed to fight against a werewolf? Shaking my head, I looked into the werewolf's golden eyes, pleadingly.
He snarled and people clapped, before chanting, "Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" Tears were streaming down my cheeks; I never knew this happened among werewolves. I tightened my grip on the knife as the black wolf crouched down, slobber dripping from his teeth. Then, within seconds, he was launching at me.
:: May or may not start a book on this pack ::