9. Kiara

657 25 0
                                    


This time I was the one staggering onto the sofa.

I stared at my hands, seeing the tiny droplets of blood on them, the larger splatters on my left arm- but at the same time not seeing them at all. I raised my hands to my nose, sniffed, poked. Rusty, wet. Real. Too real.

"Brad?"

I sounded more like a mouse squeaking than a human talking, but it was a lot better than what my brain was suggesting I do, which was screaming my head off until I woke up from this nightmare.

I heard footsteps approaching and then Brad was crouching in front of me, taking both my hands in his larger ones. They weren't as big as Will's, which always swallowed mine up; his skin light brown to my darker caramel. Brad's hands were unfamiliarly pale, his face almost grey with horror. There was something else on his face, amid the horror. Shame. The look reminded me of Will's (his face twisting with the emotion) before he half staggered, half dragged himself out of here earlier.

And I hadn't followed him. Instead I was sitting here, shocked and supposedly afraid when he's the one who just lost a foot protecting me.

"-still no excuse for letting her get through since this is my house," Brad was saying, his blue eyes brimming with increasing determination that was rapidly overshadowing the shame. "I promise I'll protect you. You don't have to be afraid of anything- where are you going?"

"After Will, of course," I replied, walking away from the sofa and out of the living room.

After the woman had walked out, something even more eerie had happened. Will's body started trembling- no, more like there was a rippling the way waves move in water, violent, like something underneath his skin was trying to rip its way out. That terrifying motion and all that blood had been awful, but what really struck a nail in my heart was that look he gave me before running out. Shame. He was in pain but there'd been so much shame- he hadn't been angry at me like he ought to have, but ashamed. That he lost the fight? That I saw him that way? Maybe both.

Now he was out there somewhere, no doubt bleeding out. Alone.

I was outside when Brad caught up and tried to stop me. I shook off his grasping hand, shoved him when he tried to again.

"You don't understand," Brad said, sounding exasperated. "He's an alpha werewolf who just lost his foot. He won't want to be seen by anyone in that kind of state, least of all you."

"He's not a werewolf," I muttered, going as fast as possible down the old porch steps.

The blood was here too, on the faded wood and the ground beyond it, all the way out to the line of trees to my right. To my left was the lake and I realized Brad lived in the old house, the one I'd looked at before jumping in after my notebook. The trees had been thick at the other side, but it was a whole different degree of forest on this side. I could easily get lost if I went after Will, but then again, so could he and he was worse off since he was injured.

How is he even moving though? A normal person would've passed out from the pain.

He ran all the way into the forest. While bleeding. Let's be honest with ourselves, what kind of human being can actually pull that off, hmm, Kiara?

Will is not a werewolf.

The glowing eyes?

I imagined it.

Then you have a hell of a greater imagination than we originally thought.

I huffed, was starting towards the trees when Brad wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. Shocked by the sudden close proximity (I could feel the steady rise and fall of the bare muscle through my wet shirt), I froze, as stiff as a board.

Brad spoke calmly in my ear, voice smooth and collected. "He's a werewolf and your limited mindset may reject it, but I know a part of you has always suspected there was something else to him."

"Put me down."

"I will, as soon as you agree to let me go with you."

I was relieved at his offer, but still cautious. "Why do you want to go?"

"Because that woman- the Alpha Eater or whatever she calls herself- is coming back for him and if you go after him you'll be in the line of fire too. Besides the fact that I can also navigate the woods, if we find him, I can tend to his wounds- if he hasn't already bled to death."

I thought it over for a moment. His points were reasonable and there wasn't really any point in refusing extra help. I wasn't taking any chances with Will's life.

I nodded. "Let's go."

He set me down, held up a finger when I turned. "I need to grab a few things, I'll be back in a minute. Wait."

I started to protest but he cut me off. "I need a first aid kit."

I sighed. "Okay. Hurry."

He took of running fast and as he neared the porch, I imagined the old steps tumbling beneath him- but he just jumped over them, barely breaking stride as he rushed into the house.

I folded my arms over my chest, suddenly aware of the fact that I was cold and that I nearly died twice today. But Will couldn't die. Will couldn't be a werewolf. Will, who loved to ride his motorcycle and go to parties and always carried new shipments of books into his mom's bookstore couldn't have lost his leg. He just couldn't.

I ran a hand over my face. This couldn't be happening.

Alpha WillWhere stories live. Discover now