And Lucas was on the top of the list.
“Doubt consumes conviction; therefore, don’t let your heart control your mind,” she said solemnly, gazing at him with that look as though inviting him to lay her down.
He swallowed. His face was turning red and his heart racing out of his ribcage. His manhood erected, getting choked under his tight and worn out pants. He frowned at her, pretending to be angry to hide his interest. “I’ve told you, don’t read people’s mind!”
“Is it wrong to help?”
“There’s nothing wrong with helping, but reading people’s thoughts is not helpful at all. You’re intruding other’s privacy.”
He had a point, but Ayana seemed unconvinced of his reason. She knew he was hiding something fishy. She’d known him for far too long and a glance at him could instantly reveal his deepest and darkest thought.
“It’s not my fault to be blessed with this ability. You should be thankful that I’m helping you out,” she said, raising her voice slightly.
Lucas sighed and grabbed a handful of dried twigs, throwing them into the flame to keep the fire ablaze. Keeping an eye contact with her was dangerous so he was doing everything he could to avoid her gaze. “I’m not that kind of person and you know that. The one thing I hate the most is people intruding my personal life.”
“No one intrudes your personal life. I can only read minds and look through people’s thoughts, but it serves them no harm. I’m here to help, trust me.” The sparkle in her eyes spoke of her genuine intention.
But Lucas trusted no one. “Trust cannot be given, neither can it be earned. It’s the most dangerous thing in the world because those who trust die.” He stared at the fire with a stoic look in his eyes, reminiscing his past and those mistakes he’d foolishly committed.
“If you can’t trust us, how can we trust you?”
“Don’t. Because even I don’t trust myself,” he said quietly. His countenance fell sad and a hint of resentment covered his face. He kept his gaze on the fire and walked even closer to it. He seemed very fascinated by the colors of the flame, dancing in the harmony of the wind. Blue, red, orange, yellow and green in one wave. He reached out his hand to touch it and feel the embrace of the blaze.
“Lucas!” A familiar voice put back senses into his brain. He almost touched the fire and get burned. He brought his gaze in the direction of the voice and sure enough, it was Chris, the most hot-headed person he’d ever met.
Chris, along with the rest of the pack, marched forward. His intimidating presence pushed Lucas back. He bent back up and stood firmly, keeping his eyes on Chris who seemed somewhat perplexed by the situation. From his rear vision, he saw Ayana faded into the heart of the forest. Her silvery hair and tantalizing eyes disappeared into the darkness.
“What took you so long?”
“It’s only been a couple of minutes,” one of them said.
Chris walked toward Lucas. His arrogant gaze and bossy attitude irritated him, making him want to knock him down and put him to sleep at least for once. These two never got along. Despite the comradery, the scar of the past had never fully healed. Chris wanted to be the alpha of the pack, but with his inability to protect them despite all his effort, Lucas got the position.
Chris stood right in front of Lucas and crashed a huge spider underfoot. His unfriendly gaze was enough to speak on his behalf.
“Why did you summon us here?”
Lucas locked his gaze with Chris’, letting him know who the real boss was. He had never understood why despite all his effort to reconcile with him he seemed emotionally detached to feel his eagerness to befriend him again. He suspected Chris still couldn’t let go of his defeat against his last encounter with the dark shadows where most of his troupe got killed. For sure it must have been a tragic and traumatizing event, but one should not dwell in the past and relive every minute of it in the hopes of changing what had already happened.
He shifted his gaze to the rest of the pack and walked through him, shoving him aside. He ran his gaze across them, counting each head. There were only a hundred of them, excluding the trainees. These guys were experienced hunters and some of them were assassins, paid to kill and clean the dark shadows who were sent to the outside world to spread their kind.
“None of us is oblivious to the fact that the dark shadows are out there, spreading their virus on humans to form an army against us,” he said, looking each of the members with a fervent look in his eyes. “We are very outnumbered. If we don’t make a strategic plan to save our kind, we’ll be phased out and our kind shall only exist on the pages of stupid history books. And we can’t let that happen. We have to devise a plan to defeat them.”
Chris turned his head to Lucas. A look of great doubt was evident of his distrust over his plan. “We are no match for their weapons. They’ve become wiser than they were years back. They’ve learned to use the technology to their advantage and I’m not gonna let you risk my men for your foolish plan.”
Lucas’ face turned red and his blood boiled to knock Chris down for a moment. His fangs protruded and his eyes turned black. He couldn’t bear Chris’ disregards to his authority. Out of nowhere, he heard a voice in his head.
“Get hold of yourself. Your men are watching you.” He calmed down and the color of his eyes returned back to normal.
He recognized the voice. Ayana had not left after all; she was just in the forest, hiding in the darkness, listening to their conversation. And no one even knew she was there, except him because she’d entered his thoughts. She could be a great asset against the enemy with her ability to read minds and manipulate thoughts, but being a warrior was not in her list of interest; she preferred the peace and quiet of the forest.
Lucas turned his back on Chris and faced his men. “I see that they’ve adopted the ways of humans and now using it develop weapons to eliminate us. But that does not mean we’re no match for them. Remember, we are werewolves, the strongest and toughest creature on the planet and our kind shall stand through the end of time,” he yelled, lifting their spirits up and giving that hope they’d all wanted.
The pack roared and chanted their agreement. Their loud voices deafened the ears of the forest as each flying creature flew from their nests and scattered across the sky. The birds were awakened from their slumber. They squealed as they made their escape. Possums, rats, skunks, and other small creatures crawled their way out. They were lucky, these guys weren’t hungry otherwise they would have been grilled for dinner.
Chris rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to the ground. He noticed a struggling rat biting him on the foot. It turned out he was stepping on its tail. He picked it up and his eyes turned black. He swallowed the poor thing down his throat.
Those who’d seen him felt disgusted. Rats were at the bottom of the pyramid chart for a wolf’s diet, and no one really liked them. At least Chris did not have to bother looking for his dinner; all he needed to do now was to determine the dark shadow’s weakness, something he’d been working on for a long time. But until now he still couldn’t figure out what was the catalyst to easily kill a dark shadow. Onions and garlic had lost their grip. Dark shadows nowadays had evolved to a great height. Thanks to the development of technology, they could now take human forms and be in the sunlight in the middle of the day. Their skin was no longer pale and their eyes could change colors. They mingled with humans as if their kinds shared the same bloodlines, although they really did. Dracula’s first descendants had once been humans so there was an inevitable attraction between them, unlike werewolves whose origin came from a pure breed animal.
Lucas’ face brightened up. His source of inspiration was his men and without them him being the alpha of the pack would be useless. He refocused his attention and looked into each of his men’s eyes, assuring them that there was a great hope, a bright future for them. “They might have the advantage of technology, but they lack strength. And with the evolution of their genes through modern drugs, they’ve become even wea
ker so they rely on heavy duty weapons to defend themselves against us. They know we are the purest of the pure. We are animals in the human form and our strength stands unchanged through the ages. And we’ll keep it that way.”
Vincent took the courage to cut in, though he knew doing so could incur punishment. It was an unwritten law that no one should interrupt a leader when he was speaking unless one had a strong valid reason to do so.
“Given that they’ve weakened physically, this does not take out the threat that they cannot defeat us. They have been developing weapons so sophisticated they could wipe out the entire planet. We need to match them not only with our strength but more so with our ability to develop modern weapons.”
He had a point, and Lucas could not punish him for his honesty. He could sense the sincerity in the young lad’s voice and he felt his eagerness to help. But he wasn’t so sure about such idea. Wolves weren’t domesticated creatures like dogs, so adapting to the modern world of technology would be a huge task to tackle. And he doubted time would let them so. The spread of the virus across the mainland was on the rise and the number of dark shadows was spreading rapidly. Sooner or later, they would outnumber human’s population without the humans knowing. It was very difficult to tell a real human from a dark shadow human. They shared almost the same things, ate the same meals and did the same stuff. But one crucial thing about dark shadows is that they could never look a wolf shifter in the eyes and that was how they often got caught.
Everyone turned their eyes on Vincent, glaring at him as if he knew any better. They knew he was half-human and wondered why he was even here. For them, he was lucky enough to be accepted into the pack, but they never wanted him to do anything but clean after their mess.
One of the men confronted Vincent. “Hey, human, aren’t you supposed to be in the training camp?”
Vincent kept his gaze straight at Lucas. He knew he would never let harm come near him just because he was under his umbrella. “I have finished all my training and topped the physical examination.”
“No one is asking for your credentials, human!”
Lucas just stood still and waited for Vincent’s next move.
But Vincent kept himself composed and focused all his attention on Lucas.
“Hey, say something. I’m talking to you.”
“That’s enough,” Lucas ordered. Everyone silenced and the commotion turned dry. “Vincent has a point. We must look through every possibility of how to better stop the spread of the dark shadows on the mainland. This is the least we can do. If we can’t defeat them, at least we could stop the spread of their population.”
“You could send him to the outside world since he’s still a human,” Chris cut in. He wasn’t a big fan of Vincent like the rest of the men. He viewed him as a weak and impure creature, worse than the outcasts who rebelled against them. And to see him gone would make his life feel better, or so he thought.
Lucas made no response. He’s got a point, but I’m not quite sure if this boy is ready for this kind of mission. He still hasn’t finished his full training. Being intellectually intelligent isn’t enough. He needs experience, he thought, while staring at Vincent who was petrified at Lucas’ patronizing eyes.
“He’s no baby. He’s a wolf deep inside him. I’m sure he’ll use his animal instinct to defend himself,” Chris said, getting extremely irritated at the attention Lucas was giving to Vincent.
“Right. I have made up my mind.” He paused and turned his head to the dark side of the forest where he sensed Anaya’s presence. In his mind, he asked her approval for he could not see the future. He asked for a sign and when he saw twin pink circles sparkling, which must have been her eyes, he looked straight at Vincent.
“I’m sending you alone for a mission to the outside world. Find a way to develop weapons that could kill the dark shadows instantly.”
Vincent’s eyes grew wide open. He couldn’t think straight. How on earth could he find a way to develop such weapons? It wasn’t as if he’d lived there for a long time. Oh well, he’ll do just fine. He was half-human after all.
Chapter Three
New York City
“Where the hell am I?”
Vincent took almost a month traveling across the United States to find the New York City. He’d only been here once and that was before he even discovered his real identity. It must have been almost half a century now, but it felt as though it had just been yesterday. He swept a glance across the street, turning his head to all corners, stunned at how things had changed. This city of leisure wasn’t like this before. Though it had its fair share of beauty, it wasn’t as developed and high-tech as it was today.
The tall buildings intimidated him and the bright lights blinded him, making him blink repeatedly. The crowd looked at him from head to toe as if he’d come from a different planet. His clothes were dirty and rugged. His face and whole body were a mess. Mud stains covered his shirt which he stole from a random household. His pants were ripped and barely covered anything but his manhood. There was a hole in the crotch, but he couldn’t care less. At least he had something to wear.
Standing in the middle of the pedestrian crossing while observing people walk didn’t serve to his advantage. The traffic light turned green and the cars drove passed him. As the horns started beeping, he became perplexed and he felt as though his eardrums were going to split in half from such loud noise. He covered his ears and closed his eyes. The crowd screamed and yelled at him to get out of the way, but he was too confused to know what to do. He’d been so accustomed to the way of living in the forest that he’d forgotten the civilized world he’d come from.
The crowd kept on yelling for him to get out of the way and run to the opposite side of the street where he could be much safer, but he heard nothing but the noise of the cars beeping at him. His animal instinct was kicking in as his adrenaline rush urged him to scare them away. But Lucas’ command to never show his true nature came ringing in his ears. He was left with no choice. He had to endure the pain. That was part of the package.
“Stop! Please, stop!” he yelled at them, but it was of no use. His head ached as his vision blurred. He was at the point of collapse and his weak body had become even weaker by the heat that sucked his strength. He hadn’t eaten for a week now and the temptation was at its peak. A child was enough to quench his hunger, but he was not a bloodsucker to commit such crime. Should he dare to lay a finger on humans for the sake of satisfying his appetite, the sun won’t rise on him ever again.
He felt a set of hands grab hold of him. He opened his eyes and the sunlight was so bright he could barely keep his eyes open. Sweat dripped down his forehead and his whole body was soaking wet. He stank and smelled like a dead rat, decaying in a creek. His hair was dirty and dry. The grip on his arms tightened and when he turned around, he saw two men employed in a weird looking uniform. They had guns and handcuffs on them.
He was pulled over. The police officers seized him by the arm and dragged him out of the road, but Vincent wouldn’t go without a fight. He struggled and fought his way out. He pulled his arms away and glared at them, his eyes turned black and his fangs came out. In shared panic, they stepped back and pulled their guns out. They pointed them at him.
“Don’t move!” one of the police officers ordered.
Vincent did just as what he was told. He recognized the gun and what it could do. He was here for a very important mission, and he wouldn’t just let these culprits ruin it. His kind and the human kind were under the threat of the dark shadows so he thought they should play on the same side. They fought the same battle, but only him understood its depth.
“Put your hands at the back of your head. Now!”
He sighed. “What did I put myself into?” he whispered under his breath as he slowly raised his arms up that made the police officers step back. He paused and looked at them plainly before resting his hands on the back of his head.
“Get down.”
He looked at the
m with a puzzled look on his face. He couldn’t understand why he needed to kneel down when he’d already shown his cooperation to get things done quickly.
“I said get down, you faggot!” the police officer said, completely losing himself, though deep inside him he was frightened of Vincent.
He rolled his eyes and brought his knees to the ground. The police officers rushed toward him and pushed him down, pinning him against the hot asphalted ground. The other police officer handcuffed him brutally as he was elbowed and punched on the back, head, and neck.
“Get out of the way!” one of the motorists in front shouted, beeping his horn at them.
“Shut up, you freak! We’re doing our job for your ass’ sake, so be patient, you stupid piece of crap.” The police officer, the fattest among the two, spat on the ground as he glared at the motorist. His cholesterol melted through his skin and he was soaking wet with his own sweat like a pig. Actually, he really looked like a pig.
“Let’s go. We’re causing too much traffic here,” the other police officer said.
Vincent kept quiet and suppressed his temper. Taking things too personally would jeopardize his mission and risk his whole pack and prove himself a complete failure. What he needed to do now was to learn how to act like a normal human. But by the looks of it, it might take him longer than he’d hoped.
They pulled and dragged him to the patrol car, throwing him inside without any care. Sitting in a nice and comfortable vehicle was way better than standing on the road under the heat of the sun. At least now, he could be fed with a decent meal and drink clean water.
***
Vincent sat quietly, observing his surroundings. His eyes rolled left to the right, taking notes of how humans do things. He was tied to the chair with a thick rope, his hands were still handcuffed, and his feet were also tied up. He looked like a wild boar, ready to be grilled any moment now.
PRIZE: An MMA Fighter Secret Baby Romance Page 10