by Viva Fox
“Elliot.” He repeated, louder this time.
“I’m Valery…” She whispered softly as she began getting up. He looked at her a moment, trying to figure out what he should do. In a month’s time, which he spent alone, he had learned to more effectively control his wolf powers, but they were still rather raw. He knew he could lose control at any moment and didn’t want to risk putting this woman in danger if she decided to get closer to him. “The day I found you…” She started.
He wanted to cut her off and prevent her from talking, but the intensity on her face stopped him. He sighed. He would listen to her and then leave. He shouldn’t be next to a human. At least not yet, they could only get hurt. “You had these wounds all over your body… but the biggest one was that gash on your side. It looked like claw marks… When I saw them, it reminded me of my fiancé.” Elliot cringed a little when he heard the word fiancé. For some reason, he felt a pang in his heart. What was this feeling? The wolf inside of him whimpered.
“A few years ago… he was killed by a wild animal… torn apart… it was gruesome…” Her voice was low and sad, conveying the hurt that she carried inside. Elliot’s whole demeanor changed. His body went rigid as he looked at her, staring with almost cruel eyes.
“Where? Where was he found?” Elliot demanded, taking a step forward. “Tell me!” He reached forward and grabbed her arm, squeezing it in his hand. His grip was powerful, hurting and bruising her delicate skin until she cried out. Her small yelp pulled him out of his trance, causing him to loosen his hold slightly, but he still didn’t let go. “Tell me. I need to know.”
“In front of Maggie’s. Corner of George and Charles.” She stammered numbly, trying not to make eye contact with this man that had suddenly turned almost violent toward her. Maybe he had been right. Maybe she would have been safer if she hadn’t been persistent to know more about him.
When Elliot heard these words, however, he pushed her away, slamming her into a nearby tree. She gasped, looking up into his face. He had this horrified expression like he had just seen a ghost.
“I… I killed him… I killed your fiancé…” He muttered, his voice feeling almost disconnected from his body. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that he had taken this woman’s love life away from her. He looked down at her fingers slowly, but there was no ring there. He tried to imagine an engagement ring and it made him sick to the stomach. He certainly had destroyed this woman’s life.
Valery couldn’t speak. She was frozen in shock. Was this man Liam’s murderer? Her whole world felt like it was turning upside down in that very moment. It didn’t seem possible. The police had tried for weeks to find the person responsible for his death, but they eventually pinned the whole thing on a wild animal. Valery had always assumed it was foul play, but after a while, she had come to accept that it really had just been some freak animal attack. But now, here was this man assuming fault for Liam’s death.
She felt angry. All of a sudden she dashed forward, hitting his chest as hard as she could, tears flowing down her cheeks. “You murderer! You killed him!” She wailed as she felt her heart break into a million pieces. Just as she was starting to heal from her loss, here was this man bringing old demons back to the surface.
Elliot looked down at her a moment, seeing the pain in her eyes. He felt sick to his stomach. All of a sudden he ran away, tears in his own eyes. If he had thought he was a monster before, he now felt like scum. Scum that could only be found at the lowest levels of hell.
Chapter 4
Valery tried to chase after him, but he was too fast. He escaped her sight within moments. Even Nala didn’t seem to know where he was. Valery leaned against a tree and began to cry, breaking down. She hadn’t expected such a turn of events. She had just wanted a nice walk home and yet, she had managed to encounter the mysterious, injured man again. Worst of all, she had learned that he had killed Liam.
She felt bile in her mouth as Nala jumped onto her lap, rubbing against her in an attempt to comfort her owner. She could tell Valery was distressed and it put her at unease. She looked up and meowed loudly as if trying to tell her it was okay.
Valery shook her head. “That bastard took Liam away!” She yelled, banging her fists against the massive oak trunk. She wanted to hit something. In her hatred, she wanted to destroy everything in her path. She prayed that she would never run into Elliot again. The mere thought of him, made her want to kill him.
Finally, Valery managed to regain enough composure to get up and stumble her way back to her home. Her mind was a fogged up mess and she didn’t really know how she should react. She felt numb. She just wanted to curl up in bed and forget about everything. A part of her wanted to disappear into the void and never see the light of day again.
With this thought in mind, she made her way home, opening the door. She didn’t bother locking it behind her. She just made her way upstairs and collapsed into the bed. She didn’t want to think or even exist at that moment. Closing her eyes, she allowed the sweet tendrils of sleep to take her over, pulling her into the recesses of rest.
***
Valery had to learn to live with the news she learned for a few days. She had gone on the hunt for her fiancé’s killer and had even notified the authorities. But he seemed to have vanished without a trace, which just proved to irritate her beyond measure. She wanted to find him and put him behind bars for what he had done, not just to Liam, but to her whole life. He had shattered it and now she wanted to destroy his.
But she couldn’t find him. No matter how hard she tried, her efforts always came back fruitless. So she started to get back on with her life. She reopened the café a few days later. She was in the kitchen, cleaning up some dishes that her employees had left behind. It was about two hours after closing time, but she didn’t want to go home. It somehow felt safer here. At least, she had all the cats to keep her company. However, Nala was the only one to actually pay her any mind, since she was the only one awake.
“What do I do girl?” She asked sitting down on the ground, holding a cup in her hand. “This Elliot killed Liam… he deserves to be in jail for the rest of his life. I feel like I am disrespecting Liam’s memory by not putting his murderer to justice…” Valery spoke out loud, realizing that her cat had no idea what she was saying. Nala in turn just looked at her, pretending to pay attention before she started to give herself a tongue bath.
Valery sighed, about to get up when she heard the front door chime. Hadn’t she locked up the building during closing time? Maybe she had forgotten. Moving into the main section of the café, she was met with a horde of cats that all rushed into the back room as if they were frightened by something. Valery got a little scared as she wondered what had spooked them.
“I’m sorry, but the café is closed…” She said without looking up, hoping it was just a confused customer who couldn’t read the hours printed on the front door.
“Oh, we know…” As Valery looked up, she saw a group of men standing there. They were all tall and buff, with mean expressions painted on their faces. Valery backed away slowly but then bumped into someone. Looking around quickly, she was horrified to find more of them standing there. She was now completely surrounded. She gulped. This wasn’t good.
“Look… I don’t know what you guys want, but if you don’t leave I will be forced to call the authorities.” Valery tried to take command of her voice, hoping to intimidate them with confidence. She scolded herself however as she heard her voice waver. There was no denying that she was scared and it was obvious that the men thought so too as there were chuckles painted all over their faces.
“Is that so?” A man stepped forward. His dirty blonde hair looked greasy and his sharp eyebrows gave him a harsh continence. “Maybe I can help you with that.” With that, he moved his arm and in came two officers. They showed Valery their badges. They looked real enough.
“How may we help you, ma’am…?” Valery, at this point, didn’t know what to do. It would appear the pol
ice were a part of this strange group. She felt trapped. Horribly trapped.
“You see… the authorities work for us, so there is no one who can help you, even if you call for assistance.” The leader answered, looking at her with a grin on his face. Valery was hating him already. Who was this man and why did he act like he was so powerful? “Let me explain something to you.” He stepped forward, his well-tailored suit hugging his body, showing off his toned physique.
“I am the leader of the wolf pack in town. In case you don’t know what that is, it is a pack of werewolves that control the town.” His voice was calm as Valery looked at him like he was crazy. Surely he was insane. Werewolves don’t exist. “What, you don’t believe me?” He mused and snapped his fingers. Not a moment too soon, all of the men turned into wolves. They snarled and growled at Valery like she was a chunk of meat they were ready to take a bite out of. She screamed in terror. What was going on? This had to be some sort of horrible nightmare. This couldn’t be real.
To her relief, the wolves turned back into humans. “I… I believe you…” She murmured, feeling that such a statement would keep her safe for the time being.
“Good. Now that you are convinced of the existence of werewolves, let me tell you something else. Elliot is also one.”
“How do you know Elliot?” She asked, blurting out. She was surprised at herself.
“Oh… I turned him.”
“What does that mean?” For some reason, she was a little more confident now as she probed this man for information on Liam’s killer.
“I turned him into a werewolf. He used to be a normal human, like you until I bit him one night. Now he is a werewolf like us. He should have joined the pack, but was too much trouble. I tried to end him but he managed to get away. I need your help finding him.” Stanton added in, taking a step forward. Before Valery could move away, he grabbed her and pulled her close to his body.
“And if you can’t help me with that… I’m sure you could satisfy me in other ways…” He mused, looking down at her pretty face. “I would love to see those blue eyes of yours begging me for mercy.” Valery felt a shudder run through her spine. She didn’t know what this man was capable of, but it was obvious that he was dangerous. He wouldn’t think twice about hurting her if he got the chance. She tried to squirm away but his grip was firm.
“So, do you know where Elliot is? I know you have been in contact with him. His stench is on you.” The man whispered in her ear softly. Valery froze for a minute, her mind had suddenly stopped working.
“I… I don’t know… I’ve been looking for him myself, but I can’t find him.” Valery answered, somehow feeling obliged to tell the truth.
“Hmm… is that so… why are you so invested in finding him, dear?” He asked in mock innocence.
“He… He killed my fiancé…”
“Ah… I see. I remember that when I turned him, he went on a rampage. I could have stopped him and kept him under control, but I was interested in finding out what he was capable of.” Valery’s eyes grew wide as she heard his words. This man could have prevented Liam’s death. Anger choked her. Maybe it wasn’t all Elliot’s fault after all.
If he had lost control because this maniac had turned him into a werewolf, then it probably wasn’t his fault. Valery was in a state of inner turmoil. On one hand she wanted to blame Elliot for actually killing Liam, but on the other it felt easier to blame this man, who had apparently turned Elliot into a monster for his own sick benefit.
“You’re sick.” Valery finally spat in his face. This man was a monster, she could already tell. She didn’t know how to judge Elliot just yet, but she did have a bit of sympathy for him now that she knew some of his back story.
“That’s not very lady-like.” The leader said as his grip on her arm tightened. All of a sudden, he pushed her forward. A few of the other men took hold of her, keeping her captive. She tried to fight against them and scream, but they held her firm. She was still trapped.
“Now, we are going to your house. If you are hiding Elliot in there, I want to know.” The man leaned down, getting close to her face. Valery suddenly feeling feisty, tried to bite him. He moved back just in time to miss her teeth. “You’re going to pay for that dear.” He smirked. “But I do like myself a mate with a fiery temper.” He grinned at her, winking.
She cringed with disgust. This man was the epitome of a creep. As they made their way out of the café, Valery wondered where Nala was. She didn’t want to call out and let the men find out about the cats. She wanted to keep them safe, even if she might never see them again.
***
After a short walk, they were at Valery’s house. “Open it.” The leader demanded, looking down at her with dull green eyes. Valery shook with fright as she reached into her pocket and unlocked the door with shaky fingers. She shuddered to think what these men would do to her. It wasn’t like she could call for help. They had the authorities under their belt and were much more powerful than she could ever hope to be.
Her one option was to try and run away, but their hands were constantly on her, so that didn’t seem like a good idea either. “Where is he?” Valery shook her head.
“I told you I don’t know! I don’t know where he is!” Valery yelled, trying to convince this man that she really had no idea where Elliot was.
“Don’t lie to me!” He growled, looking at her with fierce eyes. His lips were near her neck now, getting dangerously close. All of a sudden, she felt his lips on her neck, lingering there. Valery felt her skin crawl in disgust.
“Don’t touch me!” She yelled, trying to push him away, but he just slammed her into the wall.
“Don’t ever talk back to me!” He snarled as his face got closer and closer to her own. Feeling brave, she suddenly spat in his face. He stopped a moment before wiping himself clean.
“You simply have a death wish, don’t you?” He asked, a vicious look on his face. Valery shivered, suddenly realizing that she had just probably made the biggest mistake of her life.
Chapter 5
All of a sudden, Stanton turned into a wolf. He looked at his prey in delight. She was so fragile looking. She would be an easy kill. He grabbed her by the shirt, its fabric pinned between his teeth. Her eyes grew large as she tried to figure out how to get away from her current predicament. She understood she was looking at the face of death.
“LET GO OF ME!” She shouted desperately. Her house was deadly quiet like all the other men had disappeared. It was just Valery and Stanton now and that wasn’t a very good situation for her, as she was now at his mercy.
All of a sudden, he pushed her to the ground, pinning her down with his powerful claws. His huge body nearly crushed her. She gasped for breath as his claws started to tear at her skin, making her cry out in pain. Small droplets of blood stained the carpet underneath as he inflicted wound after wound to her body.
“Stop… please… it hurts…” But this was just the beginning. He wasn’t even close to being done with her. He would toy with her until she begged for death. He grinned, his large tongue lolling out of his mouth as he pounced on one of her legs, the weight of his body alone, enough to make her bones snap like twigs. She screamed at the top of her lungs in anguish, as he continued to torture her.
She thought she would be dead soon and accepted her fate. It wouldn’t be long before she was with Liam once more. However, before she could close her eyes and give up to her fate, she heard the sound of the front door caving in. She gathered just enough energy to crane her neck up and see who had come crashing in.
It was Elliot. She wanted to keep looking at him and figure out what was going on, but a swipe to her chest caused her to cry out in pain. It was so intense that she blacked out almost instantly.
Elliot’s anger burst through the seams as he looked down and saw the girl struggle for breath. “Stanton!” He bellowed before turning into a wolf. Unlike the last time he had turned in front of Stanton, his transformation was now rapid. There wasn�
�t as much pain associated with it now.
Stanton was a little shocked when he turned around and saw a bigger wolf than himself standing there. How had Elliot managed to get this powerful within such a short period of time? Stanton ground his teeth together. This could be bad, but he was still the alpha. Where had his pack gone?
All of a sudden, Elliot lunged forward, grabbing the smaller wolf in his mouth. He flung him to the side, destroying a lamp and a coffee table in the process. Stanton whimpered but got up quickly. He was not about to let himself be defeated by some lowly half-breed. He was a full-blooded wolf. He was practically royalty and yet here was this mutt, trying to challenge him.
He snarled and lunged forward, pinning the brown wolf to the ground. His jaw came dangerously close to Elliot’s neck, but before he could make the fatal bite, Elliot managed to push him off. He reversed their roles, digging his claws deep into his side and taking a chunk out. Stanton howled in pain as he felt a part of him leave his body.
Blood gushed from his wound and he immediately felt light headed. This didn’t bode well. He got up quickly and tried to fight back, but Elliot was a red hot mess of rage. It was too much for Stanton to handle. Putting his pride to rest, he jumped through the window and rushed into the forest. He needed to find somewhere safe for the moment, recuperate and attack with the pack. He would reprimand them for leaving him, once he found them again.