Forbidded

by Adrienne Woods

  Our gazes locked and we shared a smile.

  “I need you to be careful, Liz,” Dad said.

  I knew my father well. Like me, he seemed to be on high alert around Collin or any of Greg’s hunters.

  “Daddy, Collin wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

  “He grew up with wolves, Lizzy.”

  “And he found his place back where he belongs,” Liz argued with him.

  “I know, but I still want you to be cautious. We haven’t hunted with this team during full moon yet.”

  I narrowed my eyes, frowning.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Liz asked with a disbelieving chuckle.

  “Be careful.” He kissed her forehead.

  Her jaw tightened.

  I puzzled over what my father said as I sat down for breakfast. What was he insinuating with his full moon comment? What would bother him about hunting with them during the full moon?

  I nearly choked on my eggs when it came to me.

  Did my father think Collin was a werewolf?

  The possibility of what my father was thinking made my head spin off its axis.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and I was certain the rest of my family couldn’t either.

  Collin was coming over tonight for dinner and I had a feeling my father would be putting out our finest cutlery—the ones made of pure silver.

  Werewolves, even in their human forms, burned when they touched silver.

  Theo and I helped set the table, and I chewed on the inside of my cheek as Theo took out the silverware.

  Luckily, Liz was too preoccupied thinking about Collin to notice. She’d be pissed if she knew what we were thinking.

  My father was under the impression that Collin hadn’t merely grown up with werewolves—he thought Collin was one of them.

  We’d just finished setting the table when Liz came bouncing downstairs, looking as pretty as ever in her short summer dress and her hair down in loose curls.

  I smiled at her.

  “You’re wearing that?” She eyed my shirt and wrinkled her nose.

  “A bit of humor never hurt anyone,” I said, looking down at the writing on my shirt. Big bold letters exclaiming, BETTER WATCH OUT FOR THE FULL MOON AS I AIN’T NO PRINCESS looked back at me.

  She laughed. “We kill them, Ru, we don’t become them.”

  “It’s my way of blending in.”

  I wanted to see the look on Collin’s face when he saw the writing on my shirt.

  How would a wolf react to it? Would a wolf find it funny? Or would it incite rage or annoyance? But even Liz was annoyed at my shirt, so anger was more probable. A wolf would try to cover it up, so they’d probably try to laugh it off.

  Many people hid the truth behind their smiles.

  A few minutes later, Collin’s truck pulled up and my sister was a butterfly, fluttering around the furniture to get to her flower.

  I laughed at my stupid metaphor.

  The flower might be a delicious monster instead.

  Dad greeted him with a handshake like always, and I watched the exchange over the top of the book I was reading as I lounged on the sofa.

  I loved books, especially ones about normal teenagers with ordinary problems.

  I would never be normal. It didn’t stop me from wishing I could be one of the girls in the books I read.

  “Let’s go, missy, your fairytale characters can wait,” Theo said from the hallway.

  I huffed as I slipped my bookmark into place and went to the kitchen.

  “Ru,” Collin greeted as I sat down.

  His eyes caught my shirt and his brow furrowed. I watch his face carefully, willing his expression to give something away.

  “You want to tell me something?” he asked in a serious tone.

  Lizzy laughed. “She says it’s her way of blending in.”

  “Blending in with whom?” Collin’s lips curved.

  “Shut up, both of you,” I grumbled.

  Liz laughed as she brought the hot dishes from the oven to the middle of the table with all the other food.

  She’d slaved over the stove today to make this the best dinner Collin had ever had.

  She served my father first, then Theo grabbed his own helping.

  Collin was next.

  We looked on in anticipation.

  My father’s shotgun leaned against the wall behind him, within arm’s reach.

  A smile tugged at the corner of Collin’s lips as he noticed the silverware.

  “Love the cutlery. I hope you didn’t take it out for a normal fellow like me,” he said as he touched the pure silver spoon.

  My father grinned back.

  “Well, you want to date my daughter. I have to make sure she isn’t seeing a werewolf.”

  Liz gasped. “That’s what you’ve been thinking all this time? Daddy!” She giggled, her contagious laughter bringing a feeling of immense relief. But even knowing he wasn’t a werewolf, I still had a strange feeling about Collin.

  My father’s walls lowered a bit, and I saw he didn’t think that Collin was a threat. But I still wasn’t so sure. Collin knew my secret. Even though I’d denied it, he knew what I was hiding from my family. To me, he was still dangerous.

  * * *

  COLLIN

  * * *

  The night progressed quickly, and enjoyably.

  Liz was fantastic, but she wasn’t Ru. Getting close to Ru was like trying to get close to a wall surrounded by barbwire. Liz was the complete opposite. She pulled me in so fast I felt like I was drowning.

  Ru was quiet. Based on the book beside her, she spent her free time reading.

  But she’d shot that wolf at breakneck speed. Not even Tanner could have made that shot. And Ru let Emily take the credit for her. Why?

  Young hunters usually wanted to be recognized, but Ru wasn’t like that.

  Was that what she’d seen in her vision? Where to aim, when to pull the trigger? I needed to know. After all, Ru was the reason we’d decided to hunt with them. Ru could find Heiko, but I had a feeling she hadn’t embraced her gift.

  Why was she hiding it from her family?

  Had something happened in her past? I needed answers, and there was no way I'd get them from Liz. I couldn’t very well ask her if someone in her family was having hallucinations. Liz was smart. She would unravel Ru’s secret.

  I couldn’t do that to Ru. We needed her, but I had no idea how to make her trust me. She didn’t trust me, and neither did her father.

  “Thank you for the dinner. It was the best meal I’ve had in a long time.”

  Liz grinned. “My pleasure.” She stepped closer to me and touched her lips to mine, quickly deepening the kiss as she slipped her tongue between my lips. I tightened my arm around her, faking the desire she wanted from me. It wasn’t that she wasn’t a magnificent kisser, because she was, but I didn’t reciprocate her feelings. The feelings I thought I had for her grew weaker with every touch.

  She was a hunter, and hunters were dangerous. They couldn’t see the good in supernatural beings, only the bad.

  I pulled away from her and climbed into my truck, winking at her before I drove away.

  I blew out a breath. I needed to stop this.

  A few miles later, my phone rang.

  “And?” Greg’s voice boomed through the truck’s speakers.

  I sighed. “It’s as you expected. They don’t trust me, and if they don’t trust me, I doubt they trust the rest of us.”

  Greg was silent for a beat before he asked, “Did it work?”

  “It did. The silver didn’t burn me at all.”

  “Good, that’s good. Did you find anything from the girl?”

  “No, she’s shut as tight as a vault, but I’ll have her combination soon,” I joked.

  His laughter echoed through my truck.

  “Do you think she’s had a vision of him?”

  “I have no idea, Greg.”

  “We need to find him. I can’t do this much longer, it�
��s not right.”

  My fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “They won’t understand. They live to kill, Greg. They need to believe that we are killing the wolves. If they know the truth, they’ll kill us.”

  “If we lose you…”

  I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “You won’t. Did you get anything out of the Omega?”

  “No, he isn’t budging. He refuses to be enslaved.”

  “Idiot. It’s not what this is.”

  “The raving madness is all they know, Collin. They don’t believe the old tales. I doubt they even know that Heiko exists.”

  “Still, the madness can’t be that enticing.”

  “Believe me, it isn’t,” Greg muttered.

  “See you in a few.”

  “We have a bet going on here. What did they try to out you with?”

  I laughed. “The cutlery.” Groans and cheers rose in the background.

  “Well, I’m glad it worked.”

  “Me too. That shotgun doesn’t look like a pleasant way to die.”

  Greg laughed. “See you soon.”

  It wasn’t easy to deceive the hunters. But we needed to find Heiko. I could only help those that wanted to be helped. But Heiko could help everyone. He could link their minds together and allow me to do what I had been born to do—keep the wolves sane during the full moon.

  The truth would eventually come out. The trust would be broken, and so would Liz’s heart.

  Six

  RU

  * * *

  Collin was a constant presence over the next few nights. If he wasn’t present, he was on the phone with Liz for hours.

  I hoped my father was digging deeper, because I didn’t believe that he trusted Collin, no matter how friendly he sounded whenever Collin was around.

  But I was reassured that even if my father wasn’t suspicious, at least Theo and Will seemed to be. They asked him question after question about his life and the way he grew up. It was interesting to hear.

  I never joined in on the conversation—I tried to make myself scarce whenever Collin was around—but I always eavesdropped, trying to glean as much information as possible.

  It couldn’t be easy for him to give us all their secrets, but he answered every question without hesitation.

  What was it with this guy?

  No matter how open he was with us, my gut still told me we couldn’t trust him or his group.

  I hoped I wasn’t the only one. But it was so hard to figure out what was going on in their minds. We all had our own way of finding out the truth.

  I couldn’t be friendly with someone I didn’t trust, although Grandma Marie had always said, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

  Was that what Dad and Theo were doing?

  I hoped so.

  One night while I was eavesdropping, I had another vision.

  I clamped my hand over my mouth so I could keep my groans of pain silent, but I wasn’t sure if it was working. The headaches were getting more painful every time, and they lasted longer. Even the dizziness was becoming unmanageable.

  I prepared myself for another vision of a hunt or battle, but I found myself in the desert instead.

  I squinted against the glaring sun. I could barely make out a structure that looked like a pyramid in the distance.

  This was Egypt!

  For the first time in a vision, I moved unwillingly. Everything flashed passed me, as if I were running at a supernatural speed.

  The velocity had my mind and gut tumbling. I didn’t like this vision.

  I was tired, but I felt everything viscerally —the wind through my hair, the turmoil in my stomach. The dryness in my mind.

  I wanted to throw up, could feel my stomach heaving, and as if a switch was flipped, I came to a stop.

  I fell on all fours and my body convulsed as I vomited. My head was spinning and I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths to try and control the dizziness.

  I hated traveling at this speed. I was glad I wasn’t a supernatural being.

  When the earth finally stopped turning around me, I looked up and found myself in a forest. There was still sand on my palms and knees.

  The trees around me were so peaceful.

  Was I still in Egypt? It didn’t look like it, but every desert had oases, right?

  To my left was a large, dilapidated structure. I had no idea what it once was, but the foundation was big, and a few pillars were still standing.

  I pushed myself up onto my feet and brushed the sand off my hands and knees.

  I could feel every grain of sand pressing into my palms; the vision seemed impossibly real.

  I stepped inside the structure, a heaviness pressing hard on my chest.

  It was empty, but something lurked in the shadows. I could feel its presence—that oppressive sensation that made it hard to breathe. I felt my skin crawl.

  I knew I should leave, but I had no control over my body as it pushed forward.

  The ground collapsed beneath my feet and I tumbled into the darkness below.

  Shooting pain hit my body as I coughed. My head hit something hard and I fumbled for it as I clutched my head.

  It felt like an old metal jug.

  I threw it aside and it clattered against something.

  The sunlight that shone through the hole above me wasn’t enough to light wherever the hell I was now.

  The darkness was nearly tangible, and my eyes refused to adjust.

  The sound of a match lighting filled the night somewhere beyond my field of vision.

  Suddenly, flames ran along the room, lighting it around me and I gasped.

  Mounds of treasure surrounded me in the cavern.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Everywhere I looked were gold and gleaming objects. Jewels, jugs, chests spilling over with coins and jewelry.

  The fire continued along the ground, spreading out at intersections.

  Finally, it stopped. Some sort of altar stood across from me, a sarcophagus.

  Maybe I was still in Egypt.

  I moved closer to the altar at that same breakneck speed from earlier, jolting to a halt right in front of it. My breath came out in pants.

  Dust and sand covered the sarcophagus, and I wiped it away. One of the books I had read recently had explained that only elite or royals used sarcophagi, so whoever was entombed inside had been an important figure.

  I stared down at it gravely.

  My heart thumped fast and loud and my senses were on high alert.

  The silence was deafening, uncomfortable.

  I could feel every hair on my body standing on end.

  Something was wrong.

  Get out, get out, Ru.

  The tomb crashed open and a werewolf leaped out.

  My eyes opened and I was back in my house, my breathing coming in gasps. My heart pounded relentlessly, and I willed myself to calm down.

  Was that the Alpha?

  Was he hiding in Egypt?

  What did it mean?

  Why couldn’t these visions tell me what it meant?

  It felt as if I was losing my mind.

  No wonder Grandma Marie didn’t fight. I didn’t want to fight anymore either. I wanted the visions to stop.

  This was no way to live my life.

  I took a few deep breaths to calm my frantically beating heart.

  Goosebumps pricked on my skin. I rubbed my neck, trying to expel the tingling sensation.

  What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I seeing this shit?

  Tears streamed down my cheeks as I tried to ignore the heavy feeling in my gut.

  I was too young for this shit.

  Grandma Marie hadn’t seen this at such a young age. Why was I?

  Weeks passed while I felt trapped in my own world, obsessed about the turn my visions had taken.

  Who was inside that tomb?

  It didn’t help that I was alone in this. My family would think I was insane, and Greg would want answers I co
uldn’t give him if I told him I thought the Alpha was hiding out in Egypt.

  It even sounded outlandish to me.

  I hadn’t even known werewolves occupied Egypt. They were popular in France—it wasn’t uncommon for hunters to get lost in the catacombs because they believed a werewolf resided there.

  At least I wasn’t having horrible visions about that place.

  I got a spine-chilling, creepy feeling whenever hunters spoke about the catacombs.

  Obviously, my sister would love to test her skills there. She probably wouldn’t even get lost because she had an amazing inner compass.

  I had been so consumed in my own worries that I hadn’t noticed that my sister was surrounded in a shroud of sadness. I only realized when I found her in the kitchen, crying over a pot of spaghetti on the stove.

  Tears streaked down her cheeks and she kept sniffing and wiping her nose with her free hand.

  She glanced up as I walked into the kitchen, but she quickly looked down at the pot and continued stirring.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  She huffed. “Don’t, Ru. I don’t have time for this.”

  I played with the hem of my shirt as I puzzled over her words. “Time for what?”

  She looked back at me, slamming the spoon on the edge of the pot, then throwing it down on the counter.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “What’s wrong with me? Ru!” Her voice had that high-pitched tone it took on whenever she was upset. “What’s wrong with you? You know what Collin told me! Everyone knows what he told me.”

  Oh shit, what had happened? Had Collin told them about me?

  She glared at me. “And what the hell is going on with you? You are freaking me out. And it’s not just me. We’re all freaked out. Dad is so damn worried about you, but you act like everything is all fine and dandy. I know something is going on, because you’re my sister and I know you.”

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered, turning to leave, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the doorway, stepping around me to block my path.

  “No, you are not leaving until you tell me what is going on with you.”

  “Liz, get out of my way, please.”