The Return Home

Chapter 16

Allie's POV

The bell rang to end the school day. I walked out to my locker, where Ryder was waiting for me. "Hey!" He said, enthusiastically. "Hey!" I smiled. "You sure you're up for a small hike?" He asked. I nodded. "Ya, I'm up for it. It's been a while since I've been able to just hang out with friends." I said as we began to walk towards the opening of the forest. He looked down at his feet. "Ya, sorry about that." He said. "Hey, it's still not your fault, so quit blaming yourself!" I demanded with a smile. He chuckled. We continued to walk aimlessly through the forest, not caring too much about where we're headed. For all that I've been through in the last few days, I should be utterly terrified about being back in the woods, especially with someone that was a part of the pack that kidnapped me, but for some reason I actually feel pretty comfortable right now with Ryder. "I don't mean to bring this up, but were you able to talk to Stiles?" He asked. "It's fine, and no, he never showed up." I sighed. "Hey don't take it to heart! I know how he feels about you, and he's not doing any of this on purpose." He reassured. I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "What do you know that I dont?" I asked, suspiciously. He shrugged. "He told me when I helped him get to the hospital." He explained. "What else did he say?" I asked. He shrugged again. "He told me how he desperately wanted to find you and make sure you were safe and ok." He said. I looked down. "But if he cared as much as you say he does, why is he avoiding me then?" I asked, still confused. "It's a confusing and long story." He said.

Ryder came to a halt, grabbing my arm, forcing me to stop with him. I looked at him. He had a terrified expression on his face. "Ryder?" I asked, nervously. He was silent for a moment, as if he was listening for something. "Run!" He growled, pulling me as he began to run. Though he could definitely run faster than me, he kept at my pace. We kept running even though I wasn't sure what we were running from. I was suddenly yanked back to the ground as I heard a loud scream come from beside me. I clutched my bad arm as the pain got excruciating from being slammed to the ground. I heard whimpering beside me and I slowly looked up, gasping as I saw Ryder kneeling down, clutching his right ankle, which was being crushed by a coyote trap. Blood immediately covering his hands. "Oh God Ryder!" I winced as tried to crawl to him. "Allie, get out of here. Run! Go!" He panicked. I was finally able to get to his side. "I'm not leaving you!" I said. He slammed his eyes shut. "Please Allie! I hear people coming! Allie, I can't tell if they're dangerous or not." He cried. "I'm not leaving you to possibly die!" I growled. A growl erupted from his chest. "I'm not going to let you get hurt, because you think you need to protect me!" He shouted, in an animalistic tone. We began to hear rustling coming from the direction we were running towards. We watched as about ten people started to appear, one by one. Everyone either carried a crossbow or a gun, all but one, an older woman, who stood in front of everyone, and I had to admit she looked like an evil woman. "Who are you?" I dared to ask. "Oh mija, I'm not too sure you want to know who we are." She said, in a Spanish accent, with an evil smirk on her face. I became angry, because she acted like all of this was a game." Who are you?" I growled. "My name is Araya. We're the Calaveras. We are hunters." She said, calmly. My eyes grew wide, realizing what kind of hunters they were. Werewolf hunters. "Please. Please don't hurt him! He's innocent!" I begged. She shook her head. "No werewolf is innocent mija." She said. Tears began to weld up. "Please!" I cried. "Christophe, show them how we handle werewolves." She said. A man stepped forward, pulling out his crossbow. He took a shot, sending an arrow flying through the air towards us. Ryder yelped in pain. I turned my head towards him, seeing an arrow sticking out of the shoulder closest to me. I sat frozen, unable to move or speak, until a blistering howl echoed through the woods behind the Calaveras. Every single one of them whipped around, aiming their weapons towards the sound. Right then a figure stepped in front of us. I looked up to see Scott in full werewolf form, glancing at us before turning his full attention to the hunters. Suddenly a hand covered my mouth, and an arm wrapped around my stomach, beginning to lift and pull me away. I began squirming, trying to escape the unknown persons grasp. We stopped just after the first row of trees, and whoever was holding me sat down on the ground pulling me into their lap. I winced from the pain in my arm. "I'm sorry!" They said apologetically. I knew that voice all to well. I looked up and saw the person I felt most safe with, the person I truly loved. Stiles.