by Karen Ruth
“Nina!” She cried as she ran towards me. “Are you okay?” She asked frantically.
“I’m okay Amelia.” She grabbed me in a huge bear hug. “Don’t you ever worry me like that again, do you understand me. Us females have to stick together.”
All I could let out was another squeak of protest. My eyes were hazed with pain.
“Oh!” She jumped back when she saw my eyes, her hand covering her mouth. “I’m so sorry Nina!”
I waved it off with my right hand while holding my left against the injury. “It’s alright. Don’t worry about it. How is Devlon doing.”
Amelia flashed her eyes back to the door. “He is fine thanks to you. Would you like to see him?” She asked me.
“Absolutely,” I responded.
“Thank you.” I bowed my head to her.
“How about you Reed?” Amelia asked him. “I will wait out here, he needs some rest.”
Amelia simply nodded her head and held the door open for me.
“Thank you.” I blurted as I walked through the large golden door, into a room in which I have never been.
The living room was huge. It was full of gold as well as the Crimson symbol. A large golden fireplace was against the wall. The flames created wolves howling at the moon. It was an extravagant sight.
“Would you like to get a closer look?” Amelia gave me an all-knowing smile.
I flashed a quick smile back to her sheepishly. “That obvious?” I asked her.
A small chuckle erupted from her, causing her small frame to bounce. “Don’t be embarrassed Nina. It is quite a lovely fireplace. Actually, it’s one of my favorite things about this room.”
I spun in a circle to take in as much of the scenery as I could. I looked above me and sure enough, there was a chandelier that projected little beams of light from it.
“Watch this,” Amelia said into my ear.
I watched her slowly clap her hands, turning off the light. The little beams of light turned into the twinkling stars in the night sky. The wolves from the fireplace vibrant against the darkness.
“Wow.” Was all I could say as I stared in amazement.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Amelia asked me as she turned the light back on.
“More than I ever dreamed of,” I said honestly.
“It will be your room someday,” Amelia whispered in my ear.
I gave her a puzzled expression. “What do you mean?” I asked her.
“Even though Lucas and you aren’t together right now, and everything is so complicated, to say the least, I still have faith in you two,” Amelia said while walking to what I assumed was the bedroom.
I followed her actions. “Amelia I don’t see…..” I started but she cut me off by putting my face in her soft palms.
“I still have faith in you two and you should as well Nina. Never give up, especially on you two. Things will work out sooner or later. You shall see.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Thankfully, I didn’t have to contemplate for long on what to say because the next thing I knew, Amelia was opening the door to Devlon’s room.
The room itself was ginormous. The large walls were lined with a calming yellow. The bed itself had a yellow canopy and a large full moon was behind the bed against the wall. The floor was covered in a soothing white carpet that was soft to the touch. In front of the bed, on the floor, sat a crimson rug with the wolves. There was a side door that held a balcony. I peeked out of the door and noticed more guards watching outside. They were in a very protective mood right now.
“Nina?” I heard a hoarse voice break out.
My blue eyes flashed to the king-sized bed. I noticed Devlon laying on it with his right arm in a cast and sling. I walked over to is left side and grasped his unbroken hand.
“Yes, Devlon?” I asked him.
“Thank you for saving me.” I watched as his face flushed with pride. “Without you, I would be dead.”
I smiled down at him. “No need to thank me, sir, it was Lucas who saved you, not me,” I responded shaking my head.
Devlon gave a small chuckle which caused him to wince in pain.
“Careful honey, you are going to hurt yourself.” Amelia cooed down at him while kissing his forehead.
Devlon let go of my hand and tried to shoo her away.
“Lucas may have killed the man, but without you, I would have been hit by that arrow. It would have killed me.” Devlon said looking me straight in the eyes. His eyes showed that he was serious. “
You don’t know that.” I retorted to him.
“I do know that,” Devlon responded bowing his head. “I am forever in your debt.” Devlon smiled at me once again.
“Devlon, you have done so much for me already. You have taken me in when I needed help, you looked after my family, and you defended my family when you didn’t have to. There is no favor or debt that you owe me.”
“Just let me do one thing,” Devlon begged, his eyes shining.
“Very well, how about you don’t punish me later.” I proposed to him. Devlon shook his head and laughed some more.
“Oh, you bet I won’t punish you later. I wasn’t even going to do that in the first place. How about this, I won’t make you decide what I can do for you now, but if you think of anything, come find me. No matter what it is.” Devlon gave me a crooked smile.
“Sounds fair to me,” I muttered back while raising my shoulders.
“Now Nina, you need to get some rest. We all know that you are in a great deal of pain.”
Yes, sir.” I said while bowing. I started to turn away. “Oh and Devlon?” I asked him.
“Yes, dear?” He replied back.
“This is a beautiful home you have here,” I said to him. “It is quite lovely, isn’t it. I’m glad you like it.”
This was the last thing that I heard before I left the room and their place.
I walked right into Reed as soon as I left the room. My head went right into his thick muscular chest.
“Eep,” A squeak left my throat.
“Oops sorry, my bad babe.” Reed chuckled vibrating his chest.
He grabbed me gently by the shoulders and moved me away, extending his long arms. I rolled my eyes at him.
“You guys and you’re eavesdropping.’” I muttered.
“Hey, I wasn’t eavesdropping,” Reed said putting his hands in a quote formation. “I was simply getting entail.”
“The same thing,” I said sticking my tongue out at him.
“What did you two talk about?” He asked me.
“Wait, you’re telling me you didn’t just hear the conversation by pressing that big ear of yours again the door?”
“Nope, that door is as muffled as you could possibly get.”
“Then why didn’t you just listen to my thoughts?” I questioned him again.
“Because Nina, then I would have only gotten half of the story. Well, that is if you controlled that mind of yours. Sometimes it is impossible to know what you’re thinking. So many thoughts at once. You have to work on that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Please, I’m glad for that. It keeps the nosies out of my business.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Nina, what did they say?” He asked me again.
“Ugh fine. He just said that he was thankful for me saving his life and that he was forever in my debt.” Reeds eyes widened at the words.
“Don’t get your hopes up yet man, I told him that he didn’t owe me anything. Obviously, that didn’t settle with him, so we agreed that he only owes me one favor, whatever I want.”
“What did you ask for?” Reed pushed, intrigued. “I haven’t decided yet. He gave me time to think about it.” I responded.
“Nina,” Reed said as he gently placed his hands on my shoulders. “You know what you have to do,” Reed replied. A smile etching his entire face.
“Reed, I can’t do that, and you know it.”
“Yes, you can, Nina. He said that you could ask him anything and he woul
d do it. This is anything isn’t it?” I exhaled loudly and looked at the floor. I brought my head up to look into his eyes.
“Reed, we both know it’s not that simple.” I looked back down and shook my head.
“Lucas needs to get married if we hope for a better future with the pack. You saw what happened with Devlon. People want us dead, Reed. If we have it so he can’t become the King, and everyone attacks everyone for the position, we are surely doomed. You know that.” My voice responded in a quiet tone.
Reed let out a large exhale as well. “You’re right Nina. I just hate seeing this for his fact as well as yours. You guys don’t deserve this.”
“Don’t worry about me Reed. I will be fine. I always am.”
“You shouldn’t have to be.” Reed shook his head.
I looked up at him and flashed him a sad smile. “Get some rest, Reed. We are probably going to need it.” At that I continued down the hallway to my room.
As I was walking down the crimson hallway to my room, a huge object jumped on me, causing me to fall on my butt. Searing hot pain coursed through my body. The animal held me to the ground by its large paws. When I opened my eyes, I noticed who it was.
“Adelina, what do you want.” I retorted through clenched teeth.
“Don’t act like I don’t know what you did with Lucas.”
“Okay, well I’m sorry. Can you please just let me go and we can civilly talk about this? Not one that involves me pinned to the floor.”
“There isn’t anything for us to talk about. I’m going to rip your throat out from where you stand.”
“Oh, for Pete sakes, can a girl not get a break,” I muttered to her.
She brought her large snout towards my throat. Thank goodness she didn’t have a strong grip as I noticed an escape route. I quickly slid through the opening and rolled away. Ignoring the protests of my body, I transformed into my wolf. The pain hit me hard as my ribs protested to every movement I made.
“Aww, poor Nina. Can’t even fight me in her human form. How pathetic is that?”
“Pathetic?” I retorted. “I would be dumb to stay in my human form when you are already wolf decked out.”
She shook her head and closed her eyes. When she opened them back up again, she responded, “I’m going to kill you Nina. Right here, right now. Oh, and I am going to enjoy feeling your bones crack underneath my teeth.” She snarled.
Chapter 9
I did something that I haven’t done in a very long time. I turned around and began running down the long hallway. My arms pumping next to my body, helping me to move faster.
“HELP!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
As my ribs caused me so much pain, I couldn’t run anywhere near as fast as I’m used to. My eyes began to glaze over from all the pain I was putting myself through. My breath coming out labored. I was nowhere near ready for this kind of thing. Heck, I wasn’t even supposed to transform into my wolf for a few days if not weeks. Since I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, too focused on trying to escape, I came to a dead end. I looked all around me. Walls surrounded my every direction. I began to sway from the pain. My vision was barely accessible.
“Aww is Nina baby trapped? She should genuinely pay attention to where she is going. I’m so tired of everyone always talking about you. How special you are. How destined you are. For dang sake, even my people in Britain talk about you. How you and Lucas will make a great pack. Well, I am sick of it. Now is my chance to end this once and for all.” She snarled at me.
“How pathetic are you Adelina?” I growled. “Attacking someone who can barely stand? Don’t you find that sick?”
“Sick or tactical. Depends on how you look at it. I’m not dumb Nina. I know I couldn’t win in a normal fight against you. It’s called knowing your enemy’s.” She smiled.
“Oh, and besides the fact that I can barely stand, you know if I actually attacked you I would be exiled as well huh.”
“You know Nina, I’m starting to think you aren’t as dumb as I once thought. Too bad we are enemies, it wouldn’t be too bad hanging out with you.” She gave me the evilest of grins.
“Adelina, we don’t have to be enemy’s…” I started but was cut off.
“I don’t want to hear it. I’m ending you now.”
I watched through the haziness as she crouched to the ground, her muscles contracting. Just as she was about to leap at me, an object jumped over her and landed in between us.
“Adelina, what is going on?” Lucas asked angrily.
I watched as the rest of the pack came to a halt right behind her. They all had confused and angry expressions on their faces.
“She, she….” Adelina stumbled as she tried to come up with some excuse.
Lucas glanced in my direction. “Go over to the others.” He said quietly to me.
I nodded my head slowly and tried to walk but stumbled. I shook my head and tried walking again. I slowly squeezed past Lucas and Adelina. As soon as I made it past, I collapsed to the ground. The weakness of my body taking its toll on me. I screeched out in pain. Caleb ran to my body.
“Nina, are you okay?” He asked concerned.
I closed my eyes and responded, “I’m fine. I think I’m just going to lay here for a few minutes.” I gasped.
Lucas growled at Adelina. “Explain yourself.” She stumbled for a few seconds.
“NOW!” Lucas yelled causing everyone to shake.
Adelina looked back at me with death in her eyes.
“She’s a whore! She has to pay! I know what you two did out by her place. Don’t think I don’t have people here who watch out for me!” She yelled at Lucas.
“One, nothing happened and if you have people you would know that. Two, don’t you ever take that tone with me, and three, if you have a problem with something, come speak to me. I don’t want to ever see you around Nina again, do you hear me.” Lucas’s golden eyes bore into her soul.
“You’re only saying that because you love her more than me. I’m supposed to be your fiancée, not her.” She growled in my direction.
“DO YOU HERE ME!” Lucas yelled once more.
This was the last thing that I heard before everything went black.
Chapter 10
I awoke to the all too familiar room.
I opened my eyes and sighed. “How many times must one girl visit this place.”
I looked to my right and to my surprise the entire pack was there. Well, except for Adelina and Lucas. Reed laughed at my comment and most likely my facial expression.
“Talking to yourself their babe.”
“Reed, I’m tired of waking up here. This place hurts my nose.” I said as I grabbed it in disgust.
They all laughed at this remark.
“I know babe. You just gotta stop getting yourself into trouble. I knew I should have walked you back to your room.” He muttered.
I glared at him.
“What?” He asked confused.
“It wasn’t my intention to get jumped,” I explained.
I heard movement to my left. I looked over and saw a doctor walking towards me. It was a middle-aged woman who looked intelligent. She had dark short brown hair and rather large black-rimmed glasses.
“Oh, you are awake. How are you doing Nina?” She asked me with concern in her voice.
I tried to sit up to answer her. Pain etched my body once more.
“No no no. Don’t do that. You have rebroken everything that could have possibly been healed from transforming earlier. Unfortunately for this scenario, you must remain in here for two days.” She replied by holding up two fingers.
I looked her straight into the eyes and laughed. Everyone furrowed their eyebrows.
The doctor placed her hand on my knee and replied, “I’m serious Nina.”
I dropped my jaw. “What? Why? Cath didn’t even have to say in here that long and she almost died!” I freaked on her.
“Relax Nina.” The doctor huffed. “We will take gr
eat care of you. Cath got out of here because her injuries were less severe. You almost died as well.”
“What? I did not?” I asked confused looking at everyone’s facial expressions.
“Did nobody explain this to her?” The doctor looked at the men.
They all dropped their gazes.
“Werewolves these days.” She said shaking her head. “It is true Nina. You almost died. The arrow that hit you wasn’t a normal arrow. This arrow breaks off into five separate arrows that have a very fast firing rate. The speed causes great force when it hits the body. You are lucky it didn’t go through to the other side, especially for how close you were. How do you think you broke several ribs with only one arrow?” The doctor questioned me.
“I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think of it.”
“Not only that,” the doctor started, “each arrow is laced in poison. This poison slowed down your healing process. It took us a week just to wake you up.” The doctor explained.
“A week!” I yelled looking at the rest.
“You know guys, I think it’s time for us to give Nina a break,” Caleb said as he began walking out the door.
The rest started to slowly follow him.
“I’m going to kill them for not telling me,” I said to the doctor.
She laughed and gently padded my knee. “Get some rest Nina, you need it.”
She gave me a genuine smile and began leaving the room. I decided it was time to listen to the doctor for once. The sooner I get better, the sooner I can run in my wolf without causing further damages. I curled in the warm, soft, white comforter and closed my eyes. My sensitive ears picked up the happily chirping birds from outside. Before I could comprehend what was happening, I fell into a deep slumber.
The dark abyss gave light to the woods once more. It was the same spot that I saw my father a week ago. I turned around in a circle, already expecting him to be there. Sure enough, he was pressed against that same large tree.
“Nina. So nice of you to stop by once again.” He said to me.
“Why am I here?” I grumbled at him.
“You need to ask yourself that question.” He retorted back to me.
“How would I know?” I questioned him further.