by G. Bailey
“Help!” I shout, my words quieter than I want them to be. Nothing makes sense as the wolf shakes my leg and pain causes the words to choke in my mouth. As everything starts to go black and the forest disappears, I see a grey wolf running towards me through the trees.
Its terrifying growl is the last thing I hear.
“Harper, answer your damn phone,” I mutter as her phone rings and then goes to voicemail. I look around my bedroom, settling on the glass of blood on the side table, and feeling my teeth respond. I down the drink as I wait for the stupid beep. I run my hand through my hair, not even knowing what to say. I’ve already left her ten messages.
“I don’t know where you are, but I know you didn’t come home after the party. I called Skye, who said you walked off. I’m getting worried now. Call me back,” I say and put the phone down. I first went to her foster parents this morning, and her foster mom said she moved out. I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her. Harper wouldn’t just disappear like that without saying something to me. Plus, she has nowhere to go. I walk out of my bedroom, stopping when I see my sister Belle talking to my other sister Light in the corridor. Belle is kneeling down, as Light is only eight and tiny. Both my sisters have the same colour blonde hair, like mine, and pale skin. Both very pretty and I know I will have trouble protecting Light when she is as old as Belle and has men chasing after her. Luckily for my dad and me, Belle isn’t interested in dating and turns every man down. It’s almost funny to see the same reaction from every guy.
“What was the bad dream about?” Belle asks Light.
“Wolves. A wolf bit a girl and then there was a war. A bad war, and you-” Light starts. As I step closer, she stops talking, giving me a sad little smile. I don’t know what to say to her; Belle is the best with her, out of all of us. Light isn’t my biological sister but she is a vampire, and she lives in our coven as my parents adopted her as a baby when she had no one left. The ten blue stars in a circle mark in the middle of her forehead puts her at risk.
“It’s just a dream, it's not real,” Belle tells her and then stands up. “Why don’t we go and make some of that fried chicken you like?”
“Okay,” Light replies, and they walk down the stairs. I try to ring Harper once again as I let myself out of the house and get into my SUV. I hate that I can’t be with her at night; not until I’d explained everything, and now this happens. It would freak her out to see my extended sharp teeth and glowing purple eyes. She is human, after all.
“Where are you going?” Belle asks, stopping next to my window, having run impossibly fast to the side of my Land Rover. I roll my window down, and she leans in, her long blonde hair sweeping the ledge. Her eyes, the same colour as mine, are hard to look at. She knows I’m worried.
“To find Harper. She isn’t answering her phone, and that’s not like her,” I say.
“The human,” Belle tuts. Belle hates humans, and wolves and well, everyone that isn’t her. Except for Light, who grows at a normal human rate until she turns eighteen and has made Belle fall in love with her. I want to blame Belle and tell her to be less harsh to people, but she had a bad past.
“She is my destined mate, Belle. Mine. I knew it was her when I first saw her, but I was more certain than ever yesterday, on her eighteenth birthday. What went from a slight desire, and a need to be close to her and protect her, turned to actual pain in my chest from being away from her. I will go mad if I lose her now, I can’t,” I reply.
“Okay, okay, chill…but I still think you can do better than her,” she says, and stands up as I glare at her.
“You have never met your mate. You wouldn’t be able to understand,” I tell her, and she just shakes her head at me. Belle is my sister, but there are one hundred years between us, which makes her think she knows everything. Belle doesn’t know anything about Harper because she never tried to get to know her. I haven’t even told Harper about my siblings yet because I know she would want to meet them, and they wouldn’t behave.
“One more thing. There were rogue hunters in town last night,” she says, and I groan. That’s not a good sign. If hunters were here, then a rogue would have been in town. Rogues have no control of their wolves; they are basically wild animals. It's like a vampire who doesn’t feed for three weeks – they go feral, attacking anything or anyone. I drive to where the party in the woods took place the night before, parking next to the bottles of beer and rubbish that is surrounding a deserted campfire. It takes me a few minutes to track Harper's scent, and I run fast through the woods towards where the scent is strongest. I stop when I see the blood; there’s so much blood. I can smell that’s it's not all Harper’s, that some of it belongs to a wolf. The rogue must have attacked her, but I don’t see her or her body anywhere, and I feel sick as I pull my phone out.
“Dad, I need your help. I need you to use your powers to find Harper,” I beg. My dad can track anyone, and he only needs to meet them once. My father is an exception to the rules, a turned vampire with a gift. He once worked for the vampire royal family; now, he is retired, in a way. Or retired to protect Light, as he was the one who found her on the doorsteps of the royal castle as a newborn baby.
“Harper?” he asks, knowing I would never ask him for anything unless I had no choice.
“Yes, I think she’s hurt,” I say.
“I can see her in a car, with wolves. The wolves have a bag that says the Forest pack on it,” my dad says eventually. “Be careful, the wolves won’t give her up easily,” he warns.
“Thank you,” I reply, and end the call before he can try to convince me not to go after her. I run back to my car as I search the pack on the supernaturals website, and see that it’s a large pack in Ireland.
“Seems like I’m rescuing my destined mate from some wolves,” I mutter, as I get in the car and start the engine.
“Shit, you wake her. I’m not,” a male voice says, as a bright light shines into my eyes and then disappears again. I mentally groan; my head is killing me, and the light is annoying my eyes.
“We should wake her. We’re going to be at the pack in ten minutes. She needs to be awake for that,” a woman’s voice says in reply, and a hand shakes my shoulder. I blink my eyes open, pulling my head off the side of the car door where I was leaning, and look over into a pair of bright green eyes. They belong to a woman about my age, with long golden curly hair and doll-like features. She smiles widely, making her look even more innocent, but there’s something else about her; it’s in her eyes. She looks too old in them, older than she should be. I move a little in my seat, wincing at the pain in my leg, and then everything comes back in a rush. The wolf biting me and the grey wolf I saw running towards me. I look down at my leg, which is bandaged up, then at my clothes, which are the same as what I was wearing at the party, but the leggings are rolled up.
“Careful, I wouldn’t move that leg if I was you. Until you shift, you won’t be able to heal quickly. So that’s going to be sore for a while,” the girl says, turning my attention back to her. I feel around my pockets, pulling out my phone and trying to turn it on. I need to call Colton, but the battery is flat, and the screen has cracks all over it.
“It’s flat; you’ve been out for five days. Here,” the girl says, and offers me a chocolate chip muffin in a wrapper.
“Five days?” I ask, feeling the hunger overrunning any of my common sense and I rip the muffin open. I eat it as she watches me closely, like I’m going to attempt to jump out the window of the moving car. I stop eating the food when I realise I’ve been missing five days. Five days, and Colton isn’t going to know where I’ve gone. My bracelet is still there, and I find my hand rubbing against the crystals.
“It always happens, and it's always five days. I think it’s something to with the shifter gene getting your body ready for your first shift. But no one really knows,” she tells me.
“Shift?” I ask her, my voice sounding croaky.
“Let’s just get the fucking awkward part out of the way
, shall we? We are wolf shifters. You were bitten by a rogue we were hunting, and you’re going to shift tonight,” the man driving the car says, and I look over at him. He has wavy blond hair that falls to his ears, and his green eyes meet mine through the car mirror.
“Please ignore my twin. Erik is an insensitive idiot,” the woman says, and hands me a bottle of water from her bag. I take it with a nod, as I try to process what he just said. Wolf shifter. They must be joking.
“Anyway, I’m Gold Maystone, but most people call me G.” She offers me a hand, and I look at her wearily before shaking my head, and her hand drops.
“Are you joking or trying to make me look stupid? Wolf shifters?” I say, putting the water bottle in my lap after having a drink. I guess they could have poisoned it, but I don’t see why they would bother now. They’ve clearly been looking after me for some reason.
“No joke, Wolfy,” Erik says.
“Shut it,” Gold snaps, and then smiles at me.
“I know this is a lot to take in and believe what I’m telling you, but it’s true. Wolf shifters are one of many kinds, and it only takes one bite,” she explains, and pulls her white cardigan off.
“I was bitten when I was seventeen, three hundred years ago. A rogue took me, bit me, and then tried to make me his mate. Erik saved me but got bit himself doing so.” She says and shows me a bite mark on her upper arm before pulling her cardigan back on. The bite mark is large and looks deep, a whiter colour than the rest of her pale skin, but it’s clear what it is.
“This is all crazy.” I lean back and remember how the wolf looked at me; how it seemed to get mad when I got my phone out. Colton isn’t going to believe this when I tell him.
“Did you just say three hundred?” I ask her, and she nods, her blonde hair bouncing in front of her eyes. “So, you're immortal?”
“You are too. I mean, we can still be killed, but other than that, we live for a long time,” she replies, and I don’t know how to process that or believe it. Everything she is saying feels like a haze.
“And you hunt rogues? You want me to believe that?” I ask her sarcastically, but she doesn’t seem to pick up on it.
“Why wouldn’t you?” she asks.
“No offence, but you look like a Barbie doll and as innocent as a kitten,” I say flatly, and Erik laughs loudly. I watch as Gold whacks him on the arm, and he still keeps laughing.
“Looks can be deceiving.” She winks, clearly not offended and has likely heard that one before.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask her carefully, after looking out the window at the trees we are driving through.
“To your new pack. Well, our pack,” she says brightly.
“Where exactly is that?” I ask her first because there are so many questions for that reply.
“It’s just outside a town called Lunaton. Which is in central Ireland,” she says.
“You took me to Ireland?” I ask her, and she nods her head. Ireland is far away from Stratford-upon-Avon, where I was living. It's also so far away from Colton.
“Yes. We are the only Irish pack, and even though Gold and I aren’t Irish, most the pack is,” Erik answers.
“Pack?” I ask Gold instead of Erik. That guy is strange.
“The name of a big group of wolves that live together. My family, and now yours too. Wolves need to be near others, or they start to go mad. It’s not natural for wolves not to be with others,” she explains.
“So, the rogue who bit me?” I ask. It makes more sense that the wolf might have gone a little mad, with the way he attacked me. If there were a normal person inside that wolf, then that wouldn’t have happened.
“Is dead,” Erik says before Gold can say anything, and she hits him on the arm again.
“Rogues are exiled wolves, on the run from packs and humans. Wolves never leave packs of their own choice, and if they did, it would be a terrible decision. We have a royal family who you go to and change packs if there are issues and you want to move. Shifters can’t be on their own long before their wolves end up taking over their human mind. The wolf in them literally kills them, and we hunt them down, making sure they don’t hurt anyone,” she tells me gently.
“You were too late this time. Someone did get hurt, and you’ve taken me from my life,” I say, and she frowns, resting a hand on my arm.
“Maybe some things are meant to be. You didn’t have anyone, and your foster mum had your bags packed at your home when we went there. She didn’t even want to know where you were when I got the cash out to pay her off, and she was a selfish human. You have a home now, and people who will be there for you.” She moves her hand, leaning back in her seat.
“I had someone, and he will come for me.” I frown at her confused look and look out the window again. I just have to find a way to tell Colton where I am, because I can’t believe it’s meant for me to be away from him.
No matter if this was meant to be, how am I meant to accept it without Colton?
“Welcome to the Forest pack,” Erik says as he stops the car outside a massive metal gate, which sits in the middle of an endless forest we have driven in for half an hour. I haven’t said a word; just tried to turn my phone on, and glared at both Gold and Erik the whole time. Two people are standing next to the gate on each side, looking imposing and creepy. They both stare at us and then at each other, and I watch as the one on the left walks over to the car. The man is big, with a grey jacket and jeans on, and a serious expression as he looks at us.
“The Forest pack? Couldn’t the owner or whatever think of a better name?” I ask Gold, who laughs.
“The alpha is the person who owns and runs the pack. He has three betas, and you are about to meet one. You have met my twin and me already. That’s all three,” she says, nodding at the beefy man coming over. Erik lowers the window, and the man leans in.
“New wolf?” he asks straightaway, and he looks at me with a slight frown.
“Lewis, nice to see you again. Always a pleasure and yes, the rogue turned her before we got him,” Erik replies.
“Alpha is not going to like this,” Lewis says and straightens up, waving us in as the gates open.
“Why is the alpha not going to like me being here?” I ask.
“Erm…” Gold looks away, not answering my question. That’s not worrying at all. I mentally curse and look out the window as we drive past more trees and down a dirt road. The large jeep makes some sense now. The dirt road opens up to a massive house, which looks like five houses combined. It’s made of grey stone, with massive towers on each side that cut short of the giant trees. There is a large garage built onto the far side, with ten cars parked outside. There’s a space between them, and Erik pulls the jeep into it.
“Let us do the talking and don’t be scared,” Gold says with a smile as she gets out the car. Erik doesn’t say a word, just opening his door and walking away. I get myself out the car, flinching with pain when I stand on my leg. That bloody hurts.
“Here.” Gold comes to my side of the car and puts her arm around me, letting me lean on her as we walk slowly towards the house, every step shooting pain through my leg. The house looks even more prominent when we get to the door, and Erik pushes it open. He holds the door for us, as we walk up the two steps and into the house. The inside is massive, and I have a feeling every room is like that. The room has light wooden floors, and a large staircase that curves around the wall, with a long corridor full of doors underneath it. The one wall is stripped of plaster and polished, showing off the grey stone. It’s really nice.
“This way; he’ll be in his office,” Gold says, leading me straight down the corridor in front of us.
“He never leaves the damn place,” Erik mutters, and I see Gold glare at him.
“Shouldn’t you go and see Snow and Arisa?” she snaps, and he looks away. Who are they? I don’t have time to ponder their identities as we reach the second door down, and Gold knocks three times.
A deep, seductive voice respo
nds, “Come in.”
“Let me go and explain things to him a little,” Erik suggests and Gold nods, stepping back to let Erik through. The door is left open a little, so I can hear what they say.
“What’s wrong?” the man asks.
“The rogue we followed, he bit a human just before we got there. The buggar was hard to track,” Erik says, and there’s silence in the room for a long time. I look up, and Gold places a finger against her lips.
“The turned? Is the human alive?” the man replies after the pause.
“Yes, and we brought her here. She woke up today. We were lucky; she just turned eighteen and was a foster kid. The foster parent grabbed the money before we even had a chance to explain Harper is okay. No one will miss or follow her,” Erik replies, and I look away from the door when I see Gold giving me a sympathetic look. Colton will miss me, and he will want to know where I’ve gone.
“Bring her in. We will have to sort something out,” the man says.
Gold lets me go a little and takes my hand in hers, before opening the door. I walk in, following her, and stop in my tracks when the man sitting behind the desk stands up as his blue eyes meet mine.
“Mate,” he breathes out in apparent shock.
Mate?
“What? No way…” Erik says in surprise as he moves next to us, but I can’t look away from the man in front of me. He has wavy black hair, a slight five o’clock shadow, and bright blue eyes that almost glow. When he leans on the desk, watching me as I watch him, my eyes are drawn to the way his black jumper stretches around his muscular chest and arms. I can just see the tips of his jeans, and as I look back up to his eyes, I would guess him only a little older than me.
“What’s your name?” he asks me, his words making me shiver in the warm room. He seems to know he has an effect on me, as he smirks.
“Harper Smithson. Yours?” I say, as I stand straighter and cross my arms, ignoring the pain in my leg the best I can. I see both the twins look between us, but they don’t say a word.