Something large fell from the sky and landed on a car in front of us.
I instinctively jumped away from it and found myself tumbling backwards. Sebastian pulled me forward before I fell and we bolted down another street.
Adrenaline and blood were pounding in my ears and I was only thinking about what was chasing me. Whatever it was, it wasn't human. Paws were pounding on the pavement, but it didn't sound like a wolf. The claws that scratched against the cement were too long to be canine; which made me wonder if Seb had been serious about the rabid lions.
I had no idea where I was, or where I was going, but Sebastian seemed pretty sure of himself as he navigated us through the alleyways.
A venomous snarl came from close behind me and a second didn't go by before I felt something sharp dig into my ankle.
I screamed as I was forced to fall to the ground. I hit the cement hard and my chin bashed against the floor; sending stars to dance in my eyes.
I kicked at the huge thing with fur and teeth, that didn't resemble any animal I had ever set eye on, and landed a blow at its neck. The animal snapped at me. Saliva sprayed everywhere as it shook its jaw.
All I felt was fear as it lunged forward. I rolled over so I was protecting my stomach and curled into a ball as I waited for the attack, but I never felt anything.
My eyes snapped open and I jumped to my feet when I heard a familiar growl.
Sebastian had changed and was now fighting in his wolf form. Blood had soaked the cement of the alley floor, but I couldn't tell if any of it was from the strange hybrid type animal.
Jaws snapped, growls echoed against the walls, and blood sprayed as the two rolled across the floor.
I was frozen with fear and uselessness; forced to watch.
Then I saw something move at the mouth of the alley.
"Sebastian!" I screamed as another large bulky muscular animal came bounding into the alley.
The black and gray wolf tore himself out of the enemy's clutches and ran, as fast as he could with blood soaking his fur, towards me. Once he was at me side I did the only thing I could think of. I angled myself so I was partly behind the alley dumpster and pushed.
Thankfully the damn thing was on wheels and it moved fairly easily.
I shoved it so it blocked off the other animals. I could hear their attempts to tear it out of the way and it made me sick all over.
I saw Sebastian's jeans lying on the floor and I grabbed them as Seb and I took off running down the alley.
We ran out the other side and I was completely lost.
Sebastian yipped half heartedly and I followed his lead. I was limping, but ignored it because Sebastian was way worse off than I was. I was surprised he could even walk. Blood trailed behind him.
I wasn't sure how long we ran for, but soon I was completely and totally lost.
"Seb," I whispered, because that was the loudest I could make my voice go. He seemed to understand and stopped immediately.
I was shaking, shivering, and shuddering as I kneeled down on the sidewalk. My hands were so pale I was surprised they were transparent. I could only guess what my face looked like.
I heard Sebastian panting heavier and I snapped around to face him. My head was spinning, but I saw his fur thinning out. He was trying to change back.
It took much longer than it should have. He was mostly human when he screamed.
I flinched and my stomach churned as I saw the pain in his face.
Slowly, I went over and kneeled next to him; ignoring my own pain as I bent my ankle.
He could hardly breathe when he was human. Blood was everywhere and I fought not to get sick.
"We need to take you to Nathan, or Leo, or someone." I was pleading with him.
Sebastian didn't acknowledge that I said anything. He just took his jeans out of my hands. I was crying as I watched him attempt to stand.
I stood and grabbed his arm.
"Don't." He growled.
I narrowed my eyes at him and stood dominantly over him. He didn't have enough strength to fight with me, so he let me pull him up. When Sebastian was standing he was leaning against me. I supported his weight the best I could and continued to hold onto his arm as he pulled on his pants.
"What are we going to do?" I forced myself to subside my sobs and I wiped away the proof that I had been crying.
Sebastian's jaw was so firm that I thought the vein in his neck was going to explode. He was doing that to rid himself of the pained expression that had previously been across his face. Even after all these years, if seemed, he still had the same mannerisms that his father forced upon him.
"I have to get you out of here." He was speaking through his teeth.
I shook my head, "I'm not leaving you out here. We'll both go to Nathan's."
Sebastian growled viciously and pushed me to walk ahead of him, "Turn into the second alleyway." He commanded; obviously trying to keep his dignity by being bossy even though he could barely walk.
I followed his instructions and found myself leading us towards the metro.
"Here," I pulled off my jacket and thrust it into the hand that wasn't holding onto me.
He put it on as I bought our tickets. I glanced at him through the corner of my eye as we boarded the subway and saw that the jacket had managed to block most of the blood from the mundanes eyes.
We sat near the back. Sebastian hunched in his seat and I rubbed his back in hopes of soothing an ounce of the pain that was rushing through him. By that time I had managed to forget about my own injuries.
"Who's chasing you?" I was whispering so low that a mundane wouldn't have been able to hear me even if I was speaking right into their ear.
"Nicolais." He answered; talking almost as low as I had.
I went rigid.
"He wasn't there, but those were his men." Sebastian spat out painfully; answering my unasked question.
"I can't believe they got this far into Leo's territory." I spoke; trying to keep our minds off our pain.
Sebastian's back arched and I winced as he growled.
"That isn't the only surprising thing about Leo." I couldn't tell if Sebastian was growling because he was in pain, or because of our conversation.
"What does that mean? Leo's working with Nicolais?"
Sebastian shook his head roughly, but didn't reply. His eyes were squeezed shut and his face was twisted in agony.
I didn't ask him anymore questions. I just sat with him, rubbing his back, waiting for our stop to come.
CL
We stumbled out of the metro and I instantly scanned the area for werewolves… or those things we met in the alley. I didn't see anything, but that didn't seize the tension that had taken over my entire body.
I kept my arm firmly around his waist, but as we walked I found him walking more on his own.
"I'm starting to heal." He whispered into my ear.
I wasn't sure if I believed him or not, but trusted the fact that he was now stepping without a hiss.
Then, he stopped.
I froze from my feet to my breath.
"What now?" I carefully examined the crossroads, but I didn't see anything. There were only the normal streets lights, cars parked along the curb, and vacant stores with their CLOSED signs in the windows.
I turned back to Sebastian and noticed that he was shaking from the tension he was applying to his muscles.
"We're surrounded."
Chapter Sixteen
As the words escaped his mouth I saw the shadows move. My breath froze and I stood inhumanly still as I realized just how many werewolves were around us. My arm bumped into Sebastian's and I took his hand in mine, but it gave me no comfort.
Beside me the alleyway came alive and three muscular images approached me. Their arms were easily thicker than my neck. They would be able to snap me like a toothpick.
Sebastian grew tenser with every step the men took and attempted to shield me with his hunched form. He wasn't healed enough to go another
round with those creatures. If he tried… I blinked hard; not wanting to think about it.
The light behind me flickered and I suddenly thought I was trapped in a bad horror film. I could imagine the people watching the film screaming at their televisions; telling us to run for our lives. But, like the stupid people in those movies, I was frozen.
The first figure was draped with darkness as he stepped out of the alley. His strides were long and aloof, but somehow also so deadly that it took all my will power not to scream bloody murder.
My entire body had broken out in violent shivers and hot tears of fear welled up in my eyes. I felt loose and soft; like I was a liquid that was going to fall to the ground at any minute; like in the X-Men movie where the Senator became a mutant. The only thing keeping me standing was Sebastian's hand.
My ankle was nothing more than a deep angry pulse. I could feel blood trickling down my skin.
"You're always at the wrong place at the wrong time." Caleb's blond hair became visible as he stepped out of the shadows and into the limited lighting.
Then, I dropped.
Not out of submission, but of a mixture between intense fear and relief. I fell to my knees as exhaustion and pain took over. Tears streamed down my face and mixed with blood, from my lip, and sweat.
I faintly heard movement around me, and then two strong arms wrapped around me.
Beside me Sebastian let out a strangled growl. I tensed and fought against Caleb's arms. I turned and through my tears I saw Sebastian glaring at us, more specifically Caleb. I hadn't noticed before, but his eyes were glowing yellow. His wolf was in the driver's seat of his actions. My first reaction was to go to him, but Caleb kept me firmly at his side.
"I'm not going to hurt her." Caleb spoke strongly against the unsaid assumption.
Sebastian studied the London Beta and nodded once, before turning to the men who were now approaching us.
"Ich bin hier." (I'm here) Caleb brought me back into his arms. I didn't have the energy to do anything about it. His voice was thick and deep with concern as he spoke to me in German, but his tone returned to normal as he started barking out orders to everyone else.
I distantly heard something about the hospital, Alex, and something about calling someone, but the world was spinning and nothing made sense.
Caleb sunk down beside me and sat on the cold ground. I rested my head on his chest, but that was all. He smelled of AXE cologne, the smog of the city, and the fall air. It wasn't that he smelled bad, but it wasn't familiar. I couldn't relax in his arms.
He rocked me back and forth; like Josh often did when I was hurt. That comparison only made more tears enter my eyes.
I wanted my pack.
Time had no meaning to me. I wasn't sure how long I sat there. I was only aware of the blood that dripped on my hand when I touched my ankle and the tears running down my face.
I heard a vehicle approach. There was more than one, but I didn't look. I didn't care. Caleb's arms tightened around me for a second before loosening his grasp until his left arm just hung over my back. What was happening didn't register in my mind.
Then someone touched shoulder. I flinched and pulled away.
"Elaine," My insides jumped and grew warm at the deep voice. Thick tears were covering my eyes, but through them I saw my Beta. He was kneeling down beside me. His muscles were strained and I saw the anger in the back of his eyes, but none of that really sunk in.
With a fresh wave of tears I pulled myself out of Caleb's embrace and threw my arms around Michael's neck. He held me tightly against him and kissed the crown of my head. I was safe.
Some time later I heard Nathaniel's voice in the center of the massive crowd that had gathered around us. I recognized almost all of the men. They were all part of the London pack.
"You okay?" Michael spoke into my ear so that only I would hear him.
I tried to stand, but Michael kept me where I was by placing a hand on my shoulder. Then he stretched out my leg. I winced as he cuffed the leg of my jeans and flinched visibly when I saw the fairly deep pair of teeth marks cutting into my flesh.
Michael looked up and waved someone over.
I followed my Beta's gaze and saw one of the London werewolves coming over. He had a large first aid kit in his hands. He kneeled down beside me and opened the box. When he got out the disinfections Michael ripped it out of his hands.
The red haired man glanced at me and then at Michael, uncertainly, but once Michael started working on my wounds he understood. He stood and left; smart enough to not question Michael or even talk to the Beta when he was in his mood.
My head felt like a hammer was pounding against it, but other than that I felt a little better. I was finally able to realize that we were still on the sidewalk. I silently asked why they hadn't taken us to the London pack house, but I didn't voice it. By the size of Michael's muscles I guessed that he wasn't in a good mood, so I didn't want to make the situation worse.
I watched as Michael cleaned up the blood and wrapped my ankle in tan ace bandages.
Only when he put the supplies away did I move. I pushed myself off the ground and stood on my wobbly legs. I still felt like jell-o.
"Stay close to me." Michael kept his right arm securely around my waist as we stepped through the crowd. We didn't have to say or do anything. They all just moved out of our way.
"I said I was sorry! What else is there for me to do? It's not like I planned for this to happen!" Sebastian had discarded my jacket and was now standing bare-chested with bandages wrapped around his torso. The blood that had been stuck to his skin was now washed away, so I assumed one of the London werewolves had fixed him up.
Nathan stood aggressively in front of his middle son. I could feel the rage pouring off him; and I wasn't even a full werewolf. I could hardly imagine what everyone else was feeling, but I guessed now I knew why everyone had gotten so quiet.
"You could have thought ahead." Nathan growled, "You could have met with Elaine somewhere closer to the main territory instead of making her come to the outskirts."
"Why is everything always my fault?" Sebastian yelled; aggravated.
"Everything's your fault because you're so irresponsible. If you'd listen to me none of this would happen, and neither you nor Elaine would be needing hospital attention right now." Nathaniel's muscles were growing tenser and tenser with every word that came out of his mouth. I couldn't tell if it was because he was changing, or just because he was pissed. He and Michael tended to do that when they were mad, so I wasn't exactly worried about it.
Sebastian scoffed angrily, "Yeah, because everything you do is perfect." I wanted to roll my eyes at the sarcasm, but couldn't, because I probably would have said the same thing if I were in Seb's shoes.
"Sebastian – " Nathan was losing it.
"Nathan," He didn't turn to face me, but I knew he had heard me. It was too quiet for him not to have. "Let's go."
Sebastian came right over to me. I hooked my arm through his and we both hobbled over to the parked SUV, while Michael herded Nathaniel over.
I didn't ask him how he was, but I did run my hand over his wound. He didn't flinch, but I did feel the heat from the injury coming through the mass of cloth. Seb grabbed my wrists and I snapped my eyes up so I was staring into his eyes.
His eyebrows were furrowed together and his eyes reminded me of how Gabriel got when he was seeing red; they were like pits of lava. Seb opened his mouth. I thought he was going to yell some more, but then he snapped his jaw shut. He lifted his hand up to my face and pressed his thumb against my jaw line.
I flinched as pain shot down my chin.
His hand traveled up to the vague area of where my ear was and when I felt more pain I pushed his hand away.
Seb's finger tips had some drops of blood on them. My hand snapped up to where he had pressed down, and felt some blood trickling down my cheek.
"I'm fine. Get in the car." I demanded; ignoring the fact that I had just said fine.
Sebastian didn't move at first, but then I heard Nathan's voice coming closer. Seb groaned in aggravation before pulling himself into the back of the car.
I got in the back with him and rested my head on his shoulder as another, more intense, wave of exhaustion washed over me.
CL
"Hey," I solemnly leaned against the doorframe while crossing my arms over my chest. I felt very vulnerable at that moment, and I hated that feeling. Hell, I felt more useless now than I did in that damn alleyway!
Sebastian zipped up the graying backpack and glanced over his shoulder at me, "Hey." He offered me a small grin.
I shifted uncomfortably and watched him throw the backpack over his shoulder, "Just like that?"
Seb sighed heavily and walked up so he was close enough for me to smell the coffee on his breath. "It's not like you won't ever see me again." He tapped my shoulder affectionately. His eyes were begging for me to smile.
I just shrugged unhappily.
He sighed again, "You're disappointed in me." He stated. I didn't have to say anything because he knew what I was thinking. "You know, El, my dad and I will never get along like you want us to. You can't change that."
"You guys could try harder." I suggested weakly. When I thought over what I said I grinned lightly, just because I knew it would never happen.
"I'm sick of trying." Sebastian leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. He pressed his forehead against mine as he added, "I'll email you." Then, after a second he moved around me and started towards the stairs. That's how Sebastian was. He'd always say goodbye, to me at least, but he was always leaving. His attention span was worse than a four year olds. He could never stay in the same place for too long. Personally, I thought that came from his strict childhood. He never got to be a kid when he was young, so he's decided to be a kid for the rest of his life to make up for what he didn't get.
"Hey," He stopped and glanced back at me. "How'd you know I was here, anyway?"
Howl (Howl Book 1) Page 21