Beauty and Beast Inc

Chapter 8

I got off at one of the last stops, I had no clue where. It was dark outside now, the streetlights clicking on and covering everything in a yellow glow. The snow seemed to be falling harder too but that wasn't stopping anyone from going about their business. 

I pulled the collar up on my jacket and was walking past a store window when I noticed the jacket I was wearing was the one Elias had bought me and that it smelled just like his damn cologne because we all kept our jackets in the same closet. Scowling, I walked faster making sure to keep my head down.

Stupid Elias. Stupid feelings. Stupid for accepting his offer in the hospital when I wasn't even in my right state of mind. Screw him and screw his company, I thought bitterly as I turned a corner and found myself at the entrance to a park. There weren't too many trees for strangers to hide behind, and it seemed well lit enough, so I walked in. Walking always calmed me down before, I didn't see what the harm was now.

I strolled down the path, watching my feet and trying desperately not to think about anything, when I heard the sound of crunching feet behind me. I turned my head around and saw a guy strolling casually, sipping from a coffee cup and talking on the phone. Shrugging, I kept walking and turned onto a path that angled me closer to the road when I heard another set of footsteps walking besides the guy behind me. 

My heartbeat quickening, I turned another corner and ran almost head on into another guy. He was tall and muscular, with a menacing look on his face. He had a thick black jacket on with a curious wolf insignia stitched on the collar, and when I looked around at the other guys, they did too.

"Well hello dear, are you lost?" he asked me, barring his teeth. 

I took a step back and noticed I was surrounded. "N-no I'm not."

He stepped closer to me and I shrunk down into my coat. "Are you sure? Let us help you find your way," he reached out for my arm and I yelped, pushing past him and sprinting through the park. My shoes were slippery on the icy sidewalk but I wasn't going to let that stop me as I swung past a tree and hopefully towards the road where I could get help. Pushing through some bushes I found myself stepping onto the somewhat frozen pond, and the ice started cracking under my weight. Crying out, I ran along the shore line as I heard more feet behind me and the ice crack and a few of the guys fall in. 

I leaped back onto the shore right when my boot fell into the water, and I continued running, my chest heaving from the exercise and freezing air. My breaths were coming in shallow gasps, whether because of the cold, the fact I'm not used to running, or both, I couldn't tell but I knew I had to keep moving.

Suddenly, I seemed to find myself in the middle of the park, far away from any roads or people, stuck in a clearing that was surrounded by trees. Spinning in a circle I watched as the men broke through the trees, grinning at me when they realized I was cornered. My foot hit a branch and I picked it up right when one of the men lunged towards me and I swung at his head. He collapsed on the ground and more of them advanced towards me. 

I held my branch tightly, swinging it nervously when any of them seemed to be coming too close.

"That's not going to do you any good love," the first muscular man said as he reached forward and snapped it in two.

I screamed right then, as one of the men behind me grabbed my loose scarf and pulled me down, and anther came towards me with a zip tie in his hands.

"Get the hell off her!" A voice bellowed behind me and suddenly the the guy who was holding my scarf was unconscious on the ground. 

I turned and Elias was standing there, glaring at all the men surrounding us. "Leave her alone," he hissed, looking at each one of them.