“Alright!”
Walking forward, an unexplainable need to turn around knocked on her head. She suppressed it and kept walking, but finally gave in. She stopped and turned her head around only to see Lucas gazing at her from afar. She couldn’t explain it, but somehow she felt attracted to him. Her heartbeat picked up speed and her cheeks blushed at the attention he was giving her. It had been a long time since she’d felt this way for someone and that was when her life took a spin for the worse. No, she couldn’t afford to fall for someone again – especially not with a stranger like him.
She startled awake when a hand grabbed her by the shoulder.
“Are you okay?” Garth asked with a worried look in his eyes.
“I-I’m alright,” she stuttered. She looked back in Lucas’ direction, but he was gone. She thought it must have been her hallucination again. This was getting serious. If she kept prolonging her visit from the doctor’s clinic, it might get worse.
Garth caressed her on the back. “Let’s get something to eat.”
They walked ahead and Anna remained awkwardly quiet as if her brain was occupied with so many thoughts that she estranged herself from the conversation.
He got it – she was tired. “I think you have to take a rest and go home for a bit. Take that necessary sleep.”
“No, I’m okay,” she quickly said.
“Anna, it’s an order…” he said, smiling.
Though he was trying to be cute, she didn’t fancy him as much as she’d found Lucas irresistibly attractive at the second look. She forced an oppressed laugh.
“Thanks, buddy!”
Chapter Eight
Fated to Meet
Walking alone didn’t scare her as much as walking along with a stranger. The street was quiet and not hint of danger could be felt in the atmosphere. Anna didn’t usually walk home from work. Her car broke down yesterday so she was forced to catch a bus. She’d been on duty for three days straight and had not come home since then. She missed Samantha though sometimes she was a pain in the ass. Her mom was on a mission trip for old people initiated by their local church.
As soon as she pushed the gate open and stepped into the front yard, she sensed something wasn’t right. The lights were off and the silence felt weird. Usually, Samantha would throw a party whenever Anna was away for a few days, but tonight was a different scenario. Immediately, she rushed to the entrance door and pushed it open. The door hanged in an angle; the upper hinge was broken off, causing it to slant forward.
She turned on the lights. Her eyes grew wide open and her mouth hung loosely at what she’d seen. She covered her mouth with both of her hands as her knees gave way, causing her to drop down on the floor. The interior of the house was in complete ruin. The windows were shattered, the furniture was torn into pieces and the walls were bombarded with holes.
She took a deep breath and pulled herself up. She couldn’t afford to be weak. What was the point of her training if she would let her emotion cloud her thinking? She needed to stay strong. She had to. As she had come to accept the situation, she hurried to Samantha’s bedroom. Her stomach churned. It was worse than the living room. Almost everything in the room was annihilated, except for the mattress. But the walls and windows, oh dear, they were powdered down.
Anna felt as though her head was going to explode, her face looked so distressed to the extent that she didn’t know whether to cry out or yell her frustration out. Tears began oozing out of her eyes. She felt hopeless, but more so useless because she had failed to protect the most important people in her life. She thrived to be good at her profession and help those who needed justice, but how come she had failed to protect her own family?
Just as when she felt herself dozing off, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She ignored it but soon realized that she could use it to call her sister. Samantha must have escaped and gone somewhere safe. She stood up and called out her sister’s name, but her voice only echoed across the house without response. She pulled her phone from her pocket and the screen lit up.
Garth texted her. “Hey, are you home yet?”
She ignored it and dialed Samantha’s contact number. “Come on, pick it up…” she muttered, her hands were shaking. Samantha’s phone was ringing, but she wasn’t picking it up until the call ended. Anna redialed it again and prayed that this time her sister would pick it up.
After a couple of trials, she had lost hope. Samantha wasn’t answering her calls.
“Where are you, Sam?” she said, tears flowing down her cheeks. Down to nothing, she thought of some ways to find her location and one of them was this tracking app on her phone that was connected to Samantha’s iPhone. Quickly, she clicked on the app and connected it to her sister’s phone to track down her location. Thank goodness Samantha’s phone’s mobile data was turned on. Anna’s hope sprung up, brightening her mood. Clicking the red tear-drop symbol that pointed the location, she was surprised to find out Samantha was in Louisville. It was like six to seven-hour drive from here.
“Shit!” she mumbled, biting her lips. “How am I supposed to get there with my car broken?” She clenched her phone, edging to throw it against the wall. “Calm down, Anna, and think straight.” She closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled, a great way to clear her mind and devise a plan to get to Louisville in this time of the night.
Half an hour had passed by, but she still had no idea of what to do. She had a mental block. She grabbed the telephone and dialed 911 for help. She should have thought of that a while ago. The phone started ringing. And then someone picked it up, but when she was about to speak an unfamiliar voice interrupted her from behind.
“Who are you?” she asked demandingly, raising her voice.
“I’m Detective Lucas.” He showed her his fake badge and quickly put it back into his leather coat. “Put the phone down. Help is on the way.”
Anna glared at him, not trusting him. Not even a bit. She didn’t recognize him among the detectives around the district. She heard the police receptionist on the line demanding her to speak up. “This is Chief Anna Johnson and I need a back-up,” she said, and then recited the physical address before dropping the phone down.
Looking at the damage done to the property, he couldn’t imagine how Vincent had managed to escape. It took him the whole day to track his scent down and it led him to this place. Had he arrived earlier than she had he would have had the time to look through things and search for something that could help him find Vincent. So now he had to pretend to be someone he was not. But would it work though?
Anna was smarter than he thought.
“Who are you again?” she asked, scrutinizing him with a doubtful look on her face.
“Detective Lucas Stanford.” He reached out his hand, “And you are?”
A sharp look was enough to decline his offer of a handshake. “Who sent you here?”
He took quite some time to reply. To tell the truth, he didn’t know what to say, but he suddenly remembered the guy she was with earlier. He recalled his name tag. “Constable Garth sent me here and I believe he’s an acquaintance of yours.”
“You’re lying,” she accused without caution. “Who are you?!” She pulled her gun and pointed it at him. “You were the guy I bumped into this morning so it’s impossible that you know Garth,” she yelled, threatening to pull the trigger.
A look of great irritation had registered across his face. “You know what? You should be thankful that I’m helping you guys out. I hate humans, but because I hate dark shadows, even more, I’ve chosen to take your side,” he said, losing his patience because he knew he only had limited time before the police arrived; he could hear their sirens from kilometers away.
“You’re sick! Get out of my house or else I’ll shoot you dead.”
“Pull the trigger and see if I care,” he said, daring her to step out of her comfort zone and taste the beauty of killing. He saw so much potential in her and he thought she could be of so much help for the mission; not onl
y she was pretty but more so she was bold and courageous – someone he was looking for.
She took a step back as he advanced toward her. “I’m warning you, don’t move!”
But Lucas kept on walking, completely disregarding her words.
Her hands trembled. Left with no choice, she pulled the trigger and shot him on the shoulder. Her eyes clenched shut. She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t take to look at a person bleeding to death.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Anna gasped for air as her eyes bulged out in disbelief. He was standing right in front of her as if nothing happened. There was a hole in his coat’s shoulder where the bullet pierced through, but not a drop of blood oozed out of him. “Who… Who are you?” she dared to ask.
“It’s not important who I am or what I am. What matters is that we’re on the same side, fighting the same battle–”
“I-I don’t understand.”
Lucas heard the siren approaching closer than he’d expected. And to his disadvantage, some of the police officers were not real humans. They must have sensed his presence. This wasn’t good. They had to run if they wanted the sun to rise on them the next day. “I’ll explain everything later, but we have to go now. You’re not safe here. They’ll kill you.”
Fear overshadowed her. “But–”
“Thank me later.” He grabbed her by the hand as they ran outside. He jumped on the driver seat and ordered Anna to hop onto the front passenger seat to lead the way. What surprised was that she took command from someone she barely knew. As they took off, the police cars stopped at her house.
Chapter Nine
Hide and Seek
Vincent’s eyes opened. He couldn’t see anything but white stuff all around him. Covered with clouds of fog, the forest vanished and turned into a sky. He looked around, trying to examine the place, but he couldn’t see anything but a bed of cloud. He sniffed the air to get a feel of where he was, but all that he’d smelled was fog.
In an attempt to stand up, he leaned on his arm and pushed himself up, only to remember that he’d been shot. He yelled in excruciating pain and his voice echoed across the forest. He bit his lips and clenched his jaw. The blood oozed out and ran down his forearm; the bullet had not been removed. He touched the wound and to his surprise, it was bandaged. A sense of relief had calmed him down.
He stared blankly at the space, trying to make sense of who could’ve possibly helped him. The last thing he remembered was that he was running away from a dark shadow and then he collapsed on the ground. After that, he couldn’t remember anything except when he called out Samantha’s name.
“That’s right,” he said, having a sudden epiphany. “It must’ve been her. But why did she help me?”
It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense. All that was apparent right now was that he was at risk. If the bullet was not removed within 24 hours, he would be in huge trouble. The poison was rapidly spreading across his body and in a matter of hours it would soon reach his brain and damage his vital organs.
Vincent felt warm rays on his back. Turning around, he saw the sun rising in the east. And the fog slowly disappeared, retrieving into the ground. A sigh of relief had escaped out of his lips. At last, he could now see the way. As he walked forward, his ears had picked up a screeching sound. Agitation rattled his nerves. If that was a dark shadow, there was no way he could fight it. His wound drained his strength.
“Hey!”
He recognized the voice. Quickly, he turned around and saw Samantha walking in his direction, holding something in her hands.
“Don’t try to escape because you can’t.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“We’re trapped.”
He still couldn’t get it.
Samantha looked much better now than yesterday. Her eyes were no longer swollen and her face looked a little brighter. “I crashed the car last night.”
“What car?”
“The one I’ve stolen from an old lady,” she turned sideways and sighed. “The one I’ve used to save your ass.”
Vincent blushed. “I… I’m sorry! I should’ve been more careful.” He stooped down and stared at the ground.
“Tell me, what are you exactly?”
He was startled at her question. He feared that if she found out she would run away and leave him to die. She was her last resource to live. Without her, he doubted he would make it the next day. The bullet had to be removed and she was the only one who could help him.
“I’m a half-human and half wolf,” he said honestly, knowing that deceit could spoil his chance of making her stay.
She said nothing and stood still, untamed at his confession. Deep inside her, she wanted to run away and leave him behind, but somehow it felt wrong; leaving someone behind in this kind of condition didn’t feel right, and she was uncertain why when she had all the reasons to hate him to death. Mellissa just died. Her house was ravaged into an inhabitable state. And it was all because of him. So now, what more reasons did she need?
But her heart was objecting – because without him she would have been dead by now.
***
“I can’t track her down. Her phone is dead,” Anna said, holding the phone up to get a signal.
Lucas sniffed the air and listened to the surrounding. Vincent and Samantha couldn’t be far from here. He could sense Vincent’s aura somewhere, but it was very faint. It was like Anna’s phone’s signal, it kept turning off and on. “Keep walking, they couldn’t be far from here.”
Anna glared at him with annoyance. She hated being bossed around. It was her job to boss people around her. She followed behind and swallowed her pride. If not only because of Samantha, she would never go with this guy, especially after knowing who he really was. She kept glancing at her phone in the hopes that some kind of miracle would happen.
They had been walking for hours and her strength had drained. Her vision blurred and her stomach ached. She hadn’t eaten since last night or even drunk water. Not even a drop. Her throat was really dry. Unable to walk any further, she leaned on a tree and took a moment to rest.
Lucas kept walking, heedless of her plight.
“Hey,” she called out weakly.
But he kept walking. He was so occupied at finding Vincent that he’d forgotten all about Anna.
“Hey, wait!” she yelled out.
He stopped and turned around. “Are you alright?”
“Do I look alright?” she asked with a sarcastic tone in her voice.
He walked back and stood next to her. Being around her felt so comforting, and looking into her eyes couldn’t be any better. Though he kept suppressing his emotion for her, he couldn’t deny the fact that Anna had captured him more than she could ever comprehend. From that day he’d first glanced at her, he knew she was the one he’d been looking for. But a lycan could never unite with a human. And that was the reason why Vincent was an orphan; his human father had been assassinated and his lycan mother was sentenced to a death penalty. Had not his mother begged Lucas to look after him, Vincent wouldn’t have been alive.
“Are we there yet?” she asked. Gazing at him made her realize that he did not look so bad; he was actually a good-looking guy with tall height, broad shoulders, and a lean body. His chiseled nose and sculpted jaw gave him a piercing but gentle look.
“I think we’re close. I could feel that they’re not far from here.” He turned his eyes to her and their gaze locked. An inevitable attraction kindled.
She looked away quickly and fixed her gaze on the ground. “We need to hurry up. It’s getting darker. My sister must be starving.”
“And so are you.”
“I’m okay.”
He took a cracker from his coat’s pocket and reached it out to her. “Here, it’s not much but it should give you some energy.”
Anna looked so tempted to take it but swallowed her pride. She didn’t want to owe him anything. “It’s yours. You should eat it.”
; “I’ve eaten a whole wild boar the other day and I’m still full,” he said, slightly scaring her.
She cringed at what he’d said. Her stomach made that crumbling sound and she was forced to take the cracker, which put a smile on Lucas’ face. He felt that he’d finally earned her trust. In a matter of seconds, she’d finished the cracker.
He reached out his hand for her to take. “Let’s go?”
She tapped it away. “I could go alone.”
“She’s so stubborn,” he said, smiling.
***
The night came. But they still had not found them. Vincent’s aura had finally disappeared, which gave Lucas a bad feeling that something must have happened to him. Walking into the unknown forest scared Anna, but she swallowed her fear and pulled herself together.
“Samantha,” she started calling, her voice echoed across the forest.
Lucas tried to connect with Vincent, but he couldn’t sense him. His mind was absent and he couldn’t hear his thoughts. “No, it can’t be,” he murmured anxiously. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air, focusing on Vincent’s scent. After a while, his eyes opened. He’d tracked them down.
“This way,” he said to Anna and then he took off.
She ran after him, but he was too fast for her to catch up. The leaves and vines as well the fallen trees served as obstacles that slowed her down. By the time she reached him, she was panting like a thirsty dog. Catching her breath, she looked up and saw Samantha staring at her, tears trickling down her eyes.
Over the moon, she couldn’t help but let the tears fall. “Sam.”
“Anna!” Samantha ran toward her and then embraced her so tight as to show how much she’d missed her. “I thought I was gonna die. Thank God you’re here!”
She caressed her little sister on the back, hugging her tightly. “I’m here, no one can hurt you.”
“What happened to him?” Lucas’s stern voice broke them apart, making them look at him with pity. Tears welled up in his eyes as he examined Vincent, who was lying on the ground, weak and helpless.
PRIZE: An MMA Fighter Secret Baby Romance Page 14