by Mia Rose
He went through the lease agreements taking note of who was late on the rent, and then finally when he’d had enough sitting down, he decided to get up and go for a hunt. He grabbed his jacket and opened the door to reveal a person standing right outside.
“Hello Declan,” Aria purred.
“Aria,” Declan sighed. He could honestly say that he was not in the mood now, or probably ever, to deal with her nonsense.
“Are you going to hunt now?”
“Yes, I am. Alone.” He punctuated the last word by slamming the door closed behind him.
“Oh, Sweetie,” she rubbed his arm softly, “why don’t you let me come with you? I can help you, you know.”
“Aria, I told you earlier same as I am telling you now. I do not need any help. I am the god-damn alpha!”
He’d quickly grown tired of the game she was trying to play and he had to admit that he was deeply frustrated already, mostly from the fact that he’d had no response from Noelle. He had no idea if she would show up at the woods this night, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to risk having another pack member there to witness it, either way.
“Declan, you seemed so stressed out lately. You know, there are other ways I can help you…” she trailed off, letting her eyes linger on his waistline.
“I don’t have time for this,” Declan mumbled under his breath as he pushed past her. Aria stared after him with a wicked little grin on her face.
Declan wondered what in the world she could possibly be up to, but for right now, he was more concerned with Noelle and where she might be. Including what —or who —she might be doing.
He drove to the same place and parked his car. He didn’t see Noelle’s car yet, but he was a few minutes earlier then the time he had told her. He wanted to sit for a moment and reflect over the past week without being interrupted by another person.
The minutes ticked by and there was still no sign of Noelle. An hour into waiting, he decided to give her one last call. If she didn’t answer this, he was just going to give up. I mean, he was the alpha of a pack of wolves, so, why in the world was he the one chasing a girl? A mere human girl at that.
His mind drifted over to thoughts of Noelle and the way her body fit into his, like two perfectly-crafted puzzle pieces. Only he knew very well that these were two pieces from different puzzles. They would never be able to create a holistic image together. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to remember what life was like before he’d met Noelle. He’d been happy —was that the right word? No, not really. More like he was content with the status quo of things. Nothing all that exciting happened and he had a mate. No one really questioned his role as alpha and that was pretty much that.
A rap at the window snapped his eyes open in an instant. He expected to see the ravenous black hair and icy blue eyes of Noelle, but instead, he saw Gabriel.
“Hey man,” Gabriel said, “I thought maybe I could help with the hunt tonight. I really need a distraction.”
“Me too,” Declan admitted.
He walked with Gabriel deeper into the woods where the two men transformed into their wolf forms and began to hunt, trying to each forget their own personal ghosts which haunted them.
Noelle sat on her bed, cross-legged with her eyes closed. They burned from deciphering worn out handwriting on old paper. So far, she hadn’t learned anything new, she hadn’t even gotten to a letter that talked about her lover being a damned werewolf. She started doubting if this was even the correct Noelise. Maybe that was a popular name back then.
She opened her eyes and looked at her phone. It was 11:32 pm.
Is Declan still waiting for me? she wondered to herself.
She went through her recent contacts and found his name. Her finger hovered over the icon of the little phone which would have dialed his number, but instead, she clicked it shut again and threw herself against her pillows with a loud groan.
There was a knock on the door, and her father peered inside. He was already starting to get the color back in his face and he looked so much brighter, especially compared to how he looked when he laid in the hospital bed.
“Everything okay in here?”
“Yeah, Dad,” Noelle said sitting up again, “you can come in.”
He walked into the room using his one crutch to assist with his balance, which was proof that he hadn’t totally recovered. Proof that he isn’t a werewolf, Noelle thought.
“What’s going on, baby? You seem upset.” His eyes flitted to the box that was open on her bed with the letters spilling out. “What are these?”
Noelle shrugged and said, “Just some old letters I found in the library.”
“From who?” her dad asked.
“Noelise,” she answered, “but it doesn’t look like she ever sent them to anyone. They read more like diary entries, anyway.”
“Noelise? From your nana’s story?” Noelle nodded and her dad walked to the side of her bed, lowering himself on top of the comforter.
He picked up a letter and read out loud:
Dear E.,
My heart cannot take this secret anymore and I feel we must confess ourselves already. Our love should not be something which causes anguish or embarrassment, we should not shy away from what our hearts tell us is true. We need to embrace how we feel and move forward. I wish that you were here so that we could speak freely, but still, I must continue carrying on alone. For now, at least. That is what I keep telling myself.
People would never understand if they found out the truth of what we have done. They would kill us both.
Until I can see you again…
Truly and forever yours,
Noelise
Noelle’s father finished reading and looked up at her. Noelle pulled her knees up to her chest and released a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding.
“Who is E?” he asked Noelle.
“I’m not sure yet,” Noelle confessed biting down on her lip. “In all of the letters I have read, she only references an E, but never a full name. Obviously, it was her lover, though I can’t tell when she wrote this letter.”
“Noelle, sweetie,” her father reached out his arm to her and she snuggled in for a warm hug, “why are you reading these? What are you hoping to find?”
“I don’t know,” Noelle sighed. “Anything, I guess. Any indication of who she was and what she was capable of so I can know more about what I am supposed to be doing.”
“Noelle, we may have named you after her, but you are not her. You are your own person and you get to define your own path in life. We all make mistakes, we all go down roads that turn out to lead us in the wrong direction. So, at the end of the day, we are the ones in control of our destiny and we can decide when, and if, we turn back around.” Noelle looked up at her father, her icy blue eyes brimmed with tears.
He hugged her tight and said, “I am not sure what’s going on with you lately and I hate seeing you so upset, but just know that you are not alone. You are never alone.”
Noelle looked down at her phone, it was now 11:57 pm. Maybe Declan was still there waiting for her. She didn’t have to cut him out of her life just because that’s what Noelise chose to do. She could make her own decisions; she was her own person, just like her father told her.
“Thank you, Daddy.” She kissed him on the cheek and hopped off the bed. She quickly grabbed her jacket off her chair and ran to the door.
“Where are you going?” her father called out.
“I’m making my own path!” And with that, she began rushing out the front door.
She grabbed her purse and her keys and she felt her heart pounding against her chest, as if it was demanding to be set free so that it could get to Declan first. She jumped into the car and pulled out of the driveway and sped out toward their spot in the woods.
She pulled in and saw Declan’s car still there. He waited for me, she thought, smiling to herself. She put the car in park and stumbled out, trying to race over to him. When she ran up to th
e car, she noticed that no one was in the car. She ran into the woods and to the spot where they had last met. The burnt ashes and woods had now all but disappeared and it seemed as if the world had already forgotten about Cassidy. She turned around in circle but saw him nowhere.
Where could he be? she wondered.
She heard the crumpling of leaves behind her and turned toward the sound, but saw nothing. Her heart started racing, but this time it was out of fear. The hunter in her reared her head and demanded that she hide.
She found a place behind a tree and tucked herself neatly within the branches so that she could still have a clear view of the patch in the woods. For the first time, she realized that she had left her purse in her car with all her weapons. She bit down on her lip so hard that it started bleeding.
A woman walked out from behind the trees and Noelle couldn’t quite make out any defining characteristics. The woman wore tight, blue jeans tucked neatly into black combat boots and she wore a black tank top with slashes through it, revealing her bright red lacy bra.
“Noelle,” the woman sang out, “oh, Noelle.” Noelle started shivering from her spot behind the trees.
Had she met this person before? How did she know Noelle’s name?
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” The woman laughed and turned her back toward where Noelle sat quietly in the tree. “See, Noelle. I know who you are and I know that you killed Cassidy. And that’s an unfair advantage, right? I know all these things about you, but you know nothing about me. So, I’ll introduce myself to you. My name is Aria.”
Noelle racked her brain for an Aria but nothing came up. She mentioned Cassidy so that must mean she was a werewolf.
Was this a trap? Had Declan set her up again?
She had to get back to her car to get her weapons or she wouldn’t stand a chance if this woman really was a werewolf.
“So, that’s one thing. You’re Noelle and I’m Aria. Now, I know you killed Cassidy so I’m going to let you in on a little secret —I don’t give a fuck.” The woman let out a bark of laughter. “Man, this feels so good to tell somebody! See, I pretended to love Cassidy and to be her closest friend because I so desperately wanted something that she had. So, when you killed her, well, you really did me a huge favor. If I were to have killed her —well no one would have taken to kindly to that, especially Declan.”
Noelle watched the woman pace back and forth in her place making small circles. She had to figure out a way to get out of there without making any noise. She knew with the enhanced senses that werewolves had, she would not be able to make a move. She was so scared that she thought her own heart would give her away for beating too loud, or that maybe this Aria lady would be able to smell her blood dribbling down her lips.
“But even with Cassidy out of the way, I still have one last problem before I can claim what is rightfully mine. And that problem, my small, insignificant human, is… you. You see, there’s one more thing that I know and it’s just the cherry on the fucking top. I know that you and Declan have been, oh, how should we say, inappropriately fornicating with you being a hunter. Yes, the hunter who murdered his mate no less —and him a werewolf. When he was with Cassidy, well it didn’t matter that much, obviously. I mean, she was not satisfying him and he had to find his kicks elsewhere. But it’s time for him to step up as Alpha in every way, and I’m going to make sure he does exactly that. And so, in fairness, I just want to let you know one thing.” Aria’s eyes landed right on where Noelle was sitting. “He’s mine!”
Noelle felt her breath leave her and she shuffled backward from the tree as Aria started taking steps toward her, all the while wearing a devious smile. Noelle started running as fast as she could toward her car, she had to make it or she would have no hope of surviving at all. She didn’t dare look behind her to see how close Aria might be. Her legs burned underneath her and she was certain that at any moment, they would just completely give out. She saw her car in the distance and pushed herself even harder. She got closer and closer, and finally, she made it to the driver’s door. She wrenched it open and put in the keys, turning on the ignition with a loud roar. She couldn’t see Aria anywhere, but she certainly was not waiting around to find out where she was. Noelle reversed out and pressed the gas as hard as she could, speeding toward the road which would carry her home.
She didn’t realize she was crying until she swiped her tongue across her lip and got a bittersweet taste of the salty wetness. Aria’s words played over and over in her mind like a scratched record no one bothered to remove.
“He’s mine!”
Declan and Gabriel began walking back toward their cars when they heard a woman’s voice in the distance.
“What is that?” Gabriel said, looking around trying to pinpoint the direction where the sound was coming from.
“Is it her?” Declan mumbled under his breath.
“Is it who?”
Declan glanced over at Gabriel not even sure what to say so instead he just shook his head and put his finger to his lips. They began walking slowly toward the sound. He couldn’t quite make out the words, but he knew the voice sounded familiar.
Gabriel walked near Declan, straining to hear the voice as well. Without warning, Declan took off running and Gabriel took a second to follow him. Declan was incredibly fast, even just in human form, so it wasn’t long before Gabriel lost him in the trees.
Declan pulled up to the open patch in the woods where he had asked to meet Noelle, but instead of seeing her, he saw Aria standing there laughing at something she saw in the trees. Declan strained his eyes, but he couldn’t make out what it was, not from that far away. Aria began taking steps toward it and Declan could hear whatever it was start running away.
“Aria?” Declan called out. Aria spun around and saw Declan emerge from the trees. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Funny you should ask, Declan. I am wondering the same thing about you.”
“What? You knew I was coming to hunt tonight.”
“Oh, is that what it was? Silly me, I thought perhaps you were getting into something a little —dirtier.”
“What the fuck are you even…”
“Aria?” Gabriel called out once he pushed past the trees, “what are you doing here?”
“That seems to be the question of the night!” she laughed out. She finally settled herself down and said, “I just wanted to see if you guys needed any help.”
“You know we are supposed to be laying low,” Gabriel said, glancing over at the look on Declan’s face. “But I guess since you’re here, maybe you can help us carry back the deer we killed.” Aria smiled at Gabriel and he turned around to lead her back into the thicket where they had dropped the bodies.
As she got closer to Declan, she heard him growl under his breath, “We are not done, yet.”
She looked up at him with a huge smile and said, “I was hoping you would say that.”
In the distance, Declan could hear a car driving away and he wondered, maybe not for the first time, who the hell Aria was speaking to in the woods.
“I hate worrying.”
Chapter 10
The Betrayal
“Am I coming undone?”
Declan got into the car and pulled out his cell phone. There were no missed calls and no messages. Maybe he was just being a hopeless romantic thinking that Noelle had come out there after all. Maybe Aria was just a psycho bitch on every level and was talking to herself in the woods. His head was spinning when he pulled out onto the road followed by Gabriel and Aria.
With Gabriel’s help tonight, they had been able to kill five deer which would be enough to feed the families for the next two nights at least. Declan was grateful because he really needed a night to sit down with Aria and figure out exactly what was going on with her.
They drove to the apartments and got out of their cars. Declan and Gabriel carried two deer each. They headed down to the basement and Aria carried the last one. Gabriel nodded at them
and headed back up the steps to retire for the rest of the evening… which left Aria alone with Declan.
“Aria, look, I know that you were really close with Cassidy. You were her best friend. Is that what this is about? Do you need someone to talk to?” Aria kept her eyes on him, but her face gave nothing away. Declan started feeling unsure if she’d even heard him. “Aria?”
Suddenly, she burst into tears and covered her face with her hands. “Oh, God,” she sobbed, “I just miss her so much. There were so many days when you were gone doing who knows what, especially when she was sick, and I would sit there with her and we would just talk about anything and everything. I feel like a piece of myself was lost when I lost her. Don’t you feel that way, too?”
“Yes,” Declan sighed, “I do feel that.”
Aria nodded and wiped away the tears from her face. Declan took in her honey-brown eyes and her light brown hair that she had tied back into a ponytail. For the first time, it occurred to him that Aria was actually very beautiful, in a natural, unforced sort of way. The kind of beauty that slowly reveals itself to you as you take it all in and discover new features. She wouldn’t strike you down in one moment, but she could slowly absorb you so much so, that you’d be consumed by her before even noticing.
Aria stared at him as he looked her over. He walked toward her and leaned down to her, bringing his lips within inches of hers.
He looked directly into her eyes and said softly, “Tomorrow night, you should come by my room so we can talk. I imagine there are ways that we can both help each other.”
Aria smiled and Declan closed the space between their lips with a sweet, soft kiss which suggested nothing other than a goodnight.
Noelle could not go home until she managed to get her emotions in check, which from the look on her face, was going to take a while. She reached for her phone and contemplated calling her father and then she thought about calling Declan. At the thought of him, she grew sick and rolled down her window, throwing her phone outside.