Cara was inching her dress up her side. She needed to get to the knife. Glaring at him she refused to answer.
“You could save him. Do you realize that? Look,” he gestured to Rafi with his pointer finger. The nail filed into a long sharp point.
Cara spotted the capsule stuck in Rafi’s shoulder.
“With every moment that passes, the pain increases,” Aldrich laughed. “The paralytic makes it impossible for him to remove the capsule that is leaking more and more of the poison into his body. I laced his with silver, regular poison won’t kill a werewolf.”
He yanked her hair again, pulling her head back as he ran his tongue over the bloody hole in her dress, and up her neck. His tongue was like wet sandpaper on her skin leaving a burning, raw trail in its wake.
Aldrich groaned a sickening sound of pleasure.
Cara finally had the skirt pulled up high enough she could reach the sheath. She unfastened the sheath and pulled the knife from the holster.
Bringing the knife up, she felt it hit something hard.
Aldrich, looked down where the knife cut through the shirt but no further. He gripped her wrist and twisted with crushing pressure. Cara screamed, holding on to the knife as long as she could. She could feel her wrist beginning to break. Her fingers filled with a tingling sensation, weakening her already precarious hold on her only weapon.
The knife fell, sticking in the dirt.
Aldrich continued to twist. “Now you remember who I am. I am king. Your master. Beg me for forgiveness,” he growled.
Never.
Cara spat in his face. “You are nothing to me.”
He roared like a feral animal. He let go of her wrist to grip her neck with both of his huge hands. “I’m everything,” he told her as he squeezed.
“Aldrich, you’ve come out of your hiding place?” It was Darian, she knew his voice.
Aldrich loosened his grip on her neck. His black eyes widened with fear. “I’ll snap her neck,” Aldrich said. “I’ll do it.” Aldrich maneuvered her so that her back was against his chest, with one arm around her neck as he began to dig in his pocket.
“He’s got a gun,” Cara cried out trying to warn Darian.
The arm around her neck tightened cutting off her air again.
“All Valor had to do was bite me and none of this would have happened,” Aldrich growled.
Darian’s golden eyes were holding hers as he came out of the shadows. He seemed to say, I’m coming for you. Don’t be afraid, without words.
“Save this innocent girl, Darian,” Aldrich yelled, that same fear apparent in his voice. “Lay down and show me you’ll let me take her home. Her father missed her so much he died, but her uncle and cousins are still waiting for her to come back.”
My father is dead?
The darkness seemed to be getting darker. Her legs were growing weak.
“She’s fading fast, Darian.”
You’re still standing by. Do something.
Cara let go of the arm around her neck. She reached back where she could feel him hiding the gun. She yanked it from his hand tossing the gun away.
Aldrich’s arm around her neck tightened for an instant and then was gone.
Cara landed on her hands and knees. She was still dizzy, still trying to get a decent breath of air as she crawled over to Rafi and pulled out the vile that protruded from his chest.
Rafi rolled over and threw up.
“No please,” Aldrich cried out. “Just kill me.”
“You put your hands on my wife and you killed Valor,” Darian’s voice was dark with no room for forgiveness. Not for Aldrich.
Cara turned back as Darian lifted Aldrich into the air and brought him down like a long stick over his knee. Aldrich screamed in agony as his back broke.
Darian dropped him to the ground.
The pack arrived coming out of the dark forest.
“He is a traitor,” Darian’s voice carried over all the snarling, and growling coming from the pack. “He dies a traitor’s death.”
“No,” Aldrich screamed.
Darian stepped back. “Rizer pack, I give him to you to exact justice.”
Strong arms wrapped around her, lifting Cara as the forest became a blur all around her. When Darian stopped, they were standing outside Aldrich Town.
Cara stiffened. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. “I know I shouldn’t have gone after Aldrich without you. I’m sorry.”
“You’re right. You should not have gone after him at all. Now I’ve broken my promise to you.”
Cara shook her head. The desperation and fear in her chest so strong she couldn’t draw in air. “I don’t care about that. Please don’t do this.”
Darian gathered her close. “Do what? Cara, what is it?”
“You’re leaving me here. You’re angry with me.”
Darian smoothed back her hair as he shook his head. “Angry yes. But, how could you think I would leave you? Cara, you are my heart. I don’t want to live, if it means I have to be without you.”
His mouth captured hers in a possessive, deep caress. “You’re mine, Cara,” he said resting his forehead against hers.
“And you’re mine,” Cara smiled through the joyful happy tears running down her face. “But, I don’t understand why we’re here. Why did you bring me back here if not to leave me?”
“You hate this wall. I thought you’d want to see it happen. I thought you’d want to tell everyone they can take it down. Tell them they have nothing to fear from the Rizer pack, as long as they don’t hunt wolves.”
Cara nodded, as she battled the emotion so strong in her chest she struggled to speak. “I will.”
She started toward the water but Darian pulled her back.
“You can’t go inside. You’re a shifter now. The poison will kill you.”
“No, Jules told me that it won’t because I haven’t shifted.”
Darian’s face hardened. “She was happy to sacrifice you and get Aldrich in the same token.”
Cara frowned as the realization of what would have happened if they’d made it to Aldrich town before Darian could stop them hit her. “I should have listened to you.”
“Call out to them,” Darian smiled.
Cara nodded and turned toward the wall. “Aldrich Town,” she yelled out cupping her hands around her mouth. “Guard on the wall,” she tried again.
“Cara?” Her uncle called her name from the guard station. “Is that you?”
“Yes,” Cara answered around the emotion that swelled in her chest. “Aldrich is dead. You’re free of him. You have to take down the wall.”
She could see him now as he leaned out of the guard tower. “The shifters, Cara. It’s too dangerous.”
“No, it isn’t. Aldrich lied to us. They were never after us. Aldrich killed members of the pack. He was hiding inside the town. He made us all serve him. Don’t you see?”
She could see the fear on her uncle’s face as he relayed the message to the townspeople gathering below him under the tower.
“Cara, there are too many of us that are afraid. We don’t know how to live outside the wall anymore. It’s safer inside.”
“No. You’re not even living inside the wall. It’s nothing but a cage. You’ll be free again. Tell them they’ll see the sun, and feel it on their face. Remind them about the waterfall, fresh water, fresh food. They can hunt and the shifters won’t come after you as long as you don’t kill the wolves.”
She watched him holding her breath as he began to relay again to the people below. Darian put his hand at the small of her back, giving her his support.
When her uncle again turned back and the look on his face was strained Cara didn’t wait for him to tell her they were still afraid.
“I was afraid too,” she called out even louder. “I thought I’d die when I left Aldrich Town. I was terrified. Since I’ve been gone, I’ve felt the wind on my face, I’ve watched the sun rise and set. I found love beyond the wall.”
She searched her mind trying to find the right thing to say.
“Look,” Darian said pointing out toward the guard tower.
Her uncle shoved a loose stone from the top of the wall.
“They’re taking it down,” Cara whispered, afraid if she said it any louder they might stop. She hugged Darian tighter. They watched all night as stone by stone the wall came down. The poisonous water was buried under the rubble by the time it was finished.
The sun rising illuminated their hopeful faces.
Darian kissed the happy tear that rolled down her face as she looked out at the people who had suffered the cage too.
It was like looking at a memory of the scared young woman she was when she’d escaped and believed she knew all there was to know about love and hate.
Cara didn’t feel hate anymore, or fear. There was nothing but happiness and safety welling up inside her as she held onto Darian.
“We’re free,” she said looking up at her husband.
“What do you mean? You were free, weeks ago.”
Cara smiled nuzzling his neck. “I thought so too but, we weren’t.”
“Cara, what are you saying?”
“You and the pack have been stuck waiting here for Aldrich. He’s gone and now-”
“Now we’ll live, love, and travel as much as you like.”
Cara waited for that feeling she’d lived with for so long to spring up and demand they run as far as their legs could carry them. But it was gone. There was nothing to run from anymore, no need to escape.
“Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.”
*****
THE END
BOOK 3: A FRIEND IN LOVE
Introduction
Yarra sat in her room, listening to the noises coming from the hall. She had been waiting for him to come. The time on her wristwatch showed that it was fifteen minutes past midnight. He was on time.
She was lying on her side, with her back facing the door. With a small creak from the un-oiled hinges, the door opened. Still, she did not turn to face her mysterious visitor. She already knew the purpose of his visit. Her ears picked up every rustle of his footsteps against the parquet floor.
Arms hugging a throw pillow, she tensed just slightly. She would not give him the pleasure of knowing what she knew. The tears started welling up in her eyes.
The fine hairs on her neck stood up. She knew that he was standing two feet away from her. It was strange how the faint smell of his cologne made her emotional. In her vision, he had been wearing a loose white shirt, skin tight jeans, and a silver choker that she had gotten him for his birthday. Yarra yearned to turn and look at him. Perhaps her vision had been wrong, but that had never happened before.
Her back facing him, she heard the smooth sound of his finger running against something metallic. ‘The gun,’ she thought to herself. The slightest of click came from the revolver. He took aim, and Yarra did not dare move. She would let her vision play out the way she wanted it to. There would be a letter on her table addressed to him. Perhaps he would read it after killing her, perhaps not. She would not know.
Chapter-1
The Present
Death is inevitable. Humans know that much, though when and how are questions they can often not answer.
Yarra could. And she had seen hers. Nothing fancy. In her vision, she was lying in bed, and the clock was a quarter past midnight. She, from a third person’s point of view, saw a man hold a gun to her back, followed by a loud explosion. All was dark afterward.
She also knew the identity of her killer. He looks suave, and cruel; a smirk present on his face as though he relished the opportunity to rid her off the face of this earth.
Presently at the moment that the vision occurred, she was on a date with him. He was not the same person that she had seen in her vision. The man in front of her was mild-mannered, intelligent, and even quirky. Yarra watched him take a scoop of ice-cream from the bowl. A dollop of vanilla fell onto his lap. She handed him a tissue to wipe at the spatter on his brown khakis.
“I’m sorry,” he says nervously, accepting her offering. “I’m just a bit nervous.”
She let out a polite laugh. His emotions were genuine. There was nothing extraordinary about the man in front of her. He was average in height and features. Pockmarked in the face, the only trait of his that transcended the sublime was his smile, warm, almost incandescent smile.
No way could he be the man in the vision. That man she saw held on to the gun as though he had been using it all his life. He was a ruthless killer. The person in front of her right now had dropped his fork twice and spoon thrice throughout their date.
“What do you have to be nervous about?” she asked him, fishing out another tissue from her purse.
He accepted it graciously. She had a point. The guy in front of her was a total babe, very much unlike the losers she had dated. At least he did not constantly talk about himself.
“It is just…, I rarely go out on dates. And…, and you are…”
He did not finish his sentence. Instead, he looked down and blushed.
Yarra reached for a scoop of ice cream they were sharing. Her heart was hammering in her chest.
How would she let him know that he would kill her one day? In a year to be exact. She couldn’t. He would have looked at her as though she were a complete lunatic!
“What are you majoring in?” she asked to distract herself from the thoughts in her head.
“Economics. You?”
“English literature with a minor in contemporary art.”
He looked at her with a smile that warmed her entire body. For a moment, Yarra forgot her future vision and enjoyed the first date she had had in years.
The café across the street from their college was packed with people coming out from their mid-morning classes. It was one of the sort of dates arranged by her friends.
They complained that she did not go out much, but what was the point of going out when you knew what was going to happen? She could not enjoy football matches because she would know who would score the winning pass.
Her visions came at irregular intermittency, but she could predict which man would make a pass at any of her girlfriends. Whenever someone came up to her with a possible setup, Yarra’s precognitive abilities were able to tell her their future together – sometimes even as far as seventy years.
Though in her vision, it showed the possibility of happy marriages, Yarra was bored. She would have known what to expect with all these men. The lure of the mystery was already lost.
When one of her friends, Sharanya, had spoken to her about Avice, Yarra listened as politely as possible. As Sharanya continued her spiel about the cute boy in her economics class, Yarra nodded, already knowing that her mental precognizant nature would shoot into a flurry of future images about her life with Avice.
Only, it did not come. As Sharanya spoke, Yarra’s mind refused to form any vision pertaining to the subject. That was the first time such a thing happened. And it was the reason that she had chosen to meet him.
The date had gone off to a great start. She watched him fumble with his food but otherwise provide wholesome conversations. It was apparent that he found her extremely attractive.
Most men would have found her sharp, discerning nature off-putting. Not Avice. He appreciated it.
They were midway throughout the date when Yarra saw something like a tattoo half-hidden beneath his shirt. The visible part of the tattoo looked like the tip of the blade of a knife which settled just above his left collarbone.
Immediately, her mind went into a future-reading frenzy. But instead of multiple images forming in her head, all she saw was one. It was Avice standing with a gun to her back and a smile on his face. She saw him pull the trigger.
She could have run away from
him, but it was too late.
At the end of the first date, she was already falling in love with Avice Selleck.
Chapter-2
One Year Ago
Aside from the vision of Avice killing her, there was nothing odd about him. He harbored no secrets from her. Or at least, she thought so.
The closer she was to a person, random visions often came to her like vivid dreams, enumerating the person’s many possibilities. It could be as mundane as their lunch for the next five days or as significant as the person they were about to marry.
But not Avice. Try as she might, nothing came to mind.
And she loved it. For the first time in her life, she was free of the ability of knowing things before they happened. But, it was the lack of information about Avice which made her unable to ascertain his future movements.
Two months into their courtship, she had met Avice’s parents. They were the run of the mill family living an hour away from their college in a quiet suburb.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, although she had seen the same tattoo imprint visible at the collar of his father’s shirt. Funnily enough, it occurred to Yarra then that she had never seen Avice naked. She had not seen him shirtless either.
Just as her hands grazed Avice’s father’s for a shake, the same vision of him killing her returned. This time, it was more vivid. He was still clothed in white with skin tight black jeans. She could see the make of the revolver this time. But, what was different was the smirk. He was not leering at her. His eyes were squinted because there were tears welling, but it was still an upward curve of his lips. It was as if he was trying hard to find a silver lining to killing her.
The Alien Surrogate (The Klaskians Series Book 1) Page 25