I didn’t know how it would turn out if I confessed. You look after your family. I do too, and my family has a hundred more members than yours. I’m sorry I lied to you. I will spend forever earning your trust back. Because not everything was a lie. What was between us wasn’t a lie. What I still feel for you now, is not a lie.
The tattoo on my back is your life’s markings and it will always protect me. I wish I could do the same for you.
Thank you for telling me where our Alpha is. I hope in due time that you will come to see that we are not evil creatures.
We were placed on this earth to only hunt those that fed off you. But the curse changed it all.
I will love you forever, Ru, even if you don’t love me. I will always watch over you.
Stay safe and know I’m always near.
Love
Wolfboy
I smiled at his signature as tears filled my eyes.
I was still so conflicted.
I’d betrayed my family by setting him free, but I would never be able to live in a world in which Collin didn’t exist.
I could never forgive myself if anything happened to him.
I fell back into my chair. I wouldn’t be able to get that book because my father had grounded me. I had no one to get it for me either. Everyone I trusted, hated me.
A headache came on and I stumbled over to my bed. It was so strong. I hadn’t had one in such a long time and the dizziness made me clasp my sheets.
The room spun as the pull came.
I was standing in a forest.
I didn’t feel like myself.
Trees surrounded me.
I looked to my left. Collin stood next to me in his wolf form. “If this goes south, please take Remi and Martin and get the hell out of here.”
“What?” I asked.
“Ru, we talked about this.”
Who the hell were Remi and Martin?
“I’m not leaving Dad,” a stubborn voice said.
“We didn’t come to fight. You will do as I say.”
He whined.
Dad?
Where I should have seen feet, I instead saw two paws with tubes all around them.
This was the Great War and I was fighting alongside Collin. I’d forgiven him.
I was a wolf. I became one to be with him.
I opened my eyes and I was back in my room.
He would find me, one day, and I would forgive him.
* * *
COLLIN
* * *
“Are you sure this was where she said he is?”
“Yeah, dead sure,” I answered.
Greg and a few others had managed to get away from the hunters. They’d found me near the edge of the forest.
I told them the truth, that Ru had set me free. They were worried about her, and a small group of wolves unknown to the hunters were watching from a distance, ready to step in if her life was in danger.
They checked in from time to time, giving me updates on how she was doing.
None of it sounded good.
She stayed in her room day in and day out.
But I was certain Huck would forgive her for what she did.
He’d see that what he was doing had to change. There would come a time where one of us would save them. Rumors would spread.
I missed Ru every day and could only hope she would forgive me.
We found the derelict structure in the Oasis.
It was where Heiko used to live as a human.
We searched this place so many times, and all along, he had been right under our feet.
A lot of us gathered at this spot tonight.
Greg and I walked in first. Ru had said that the floor would cave in and we jumped like idiots on the foundation.
It was solid.
Then it caved in under Greg.
“You okay?” I rushed to the hole and Greg laughed.
“Whoa, she really did see it all, Collin. I lost my flashlight. I can’t see a damn—” Something clattered and he cursed.
“We found it!” I yelled to the others and jumped in as I switched on my flashlight.”
The light illuminated a few feet ahead of me, and I spotted Greg.
He was grinning, standing next to one of those old oil tables.
I took out my zippo and lit the oil.
It set aflame, and the fire ran the length of the room, hitting intersections and spreading.
More wolves jumped through the hole.
We stared at Heiko’s riches that had been buried here with him. Gasps sounded around me.
Greg laughed.
He and two other wolves were part of the original group that ran with Heiko but split up when the blood moon all changed them. Greg had no idea what happened to Heiko afterward or where they lay him to rest.
Heiko trusted them. They would be the ones to explain to Heiko what had happened.
The fire finally lit a table at the end, revealing the sarcophagus.
Heiko.
We all ran toward it, stepping carefully.
We struggled to push it open. Finally, it shifted.
Inside was a beast of a man—once a prince who had given up his human existence to avenge the woman he loved.
From this act, we all got the mark. To find true love, like the one he lost when vampires attacked his village.
“Collin,” Amy said. “Touch him. We all need to link together. You will draw our strength and your link with him will wake him.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. “I’ve seen it.”
“Here goes nothing.”
I reached out and touched his body. He was cold.
One by one, every wolf touched me. At first nothing happened, and I doubted Amy.
Then I felt it. A soft hum vibrated through my body.
It grew stronger until it reached a height I didn’t think I could contain.
Something like an explosion rocked through me, and we all collapsed as the link broke.
Someone at the back laughed, then more laughter came, running through the tomb like wildfire.
“Rise, young man.” The command was issued be a deep voice.
“My king,” Greg said, as my strength slowly began to return.
“We found him, Collin. We did it.”
“How long was I asleep, Gregory?” Heiko said.
“A long time, my lord.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s the idiot whose strength needs to come back.”
Laughter rippled through my companions.
A large hand grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.
“I’ve waited a long time for you. Are you ready to fulfill your destiny?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I smiled tiredly
The king, our Alpha, smiled back.
* * *
RU
* * *
It had been three years since I betrayed my family. They’d never gotten over what I had done.
I hadn’t seen Collin again, but I believed he was still out there. My body was starting to show the signs that Collin told me about. It first came in the form of nosebleeds and now, I coughed blood from time to time.
It was a slow bettering but would take my life eventually if I didn’t take the transformation to become a werewolf. How did grandma Marie carried it for so long without any effects.
We were hunting again. My father refused to believe the rumors from the vampire hunters.
They claimed that werewolves had saved their lives during hunts, jumping into the battle and shredding the vampires to pieces.
It happened more and more.
The SHA had no idea how to handle that information. The vampire hunters believed completely that werewolves weren’t dangerous anymore.
But my father couldn’t fathom it. He wanted all of them to die, even my brother.
My sister finally fell in love again, this time with another hunter. She was trying to get a transfer to his department—witch hunting—but
it was almost impossible. But nothing was impossible for Liz.
I’d finally gained control over my sight. I mainly saw the war, and every time, I wondered where my wolf was.
I couldn’t see him or hear him.
He wasn’t among those who tried to negotiate. Of that I was certain. He was so large, I was sure he’d stand out of the crowd.
I wondered if I was at his side, but I hadn’t gotten another vision of us and our boys.
We were preparing for a hunt.
We met up with a group of vampire hunters because the SHA wanted us to learn from them.
I was scared to death. Vampires were extremely fast, and we weren’t in familiar territory—we weren’t even on American soil anymore.
My father had done everything in his power to keep Collin from finding me.
I told myself that the vampires were almost extinct. I had to believe the Great War would never happen.
The visions didn’t come during hunts. Lately, I got one or two a month. And the headaches weren’t as bad as they used to be.
“Ru, get your head in the game.”
“Yeah. Remember why we’re here.”
“I’m still a wolf hunter,” my father said.
“We don’t kill the wolves. They help us.” The leader interrupted my father.
My lips lifted, but I covered my mouth with my hand so my father couldn’t see it.
Uncle Fernus and Will still hunted with us, but Liz was busy training for her transfer.
She truly excelled at everything.
I wished Theo would appear and change Dad’s mind, but he wasn’t here. He was far away with Collin.
I sighed.
I would never see him again.
He was supernatural, not all-knowing.
Every day, I wondered about him. Wondered whether he still looked the same.
I never found another love.
Maybe the lockpass worked both ways.
I wasn’t sure if I could ever forgive Collin, but anything would be better than living with the person my father had become.
Even Liz couldn’t stand it anymore.
Being this close to a vampire coven gave me the creeps.
I could feel them watching us in the woods, and my hands trembled. The vampire hunters were good, but my family and I were used to werewolves.
Please be out there. You promised.
I kissed the necklace I had found in the book Collin left me. I still had it with me, in a safe place where my father would never find it. He’d burn it if he did.
“Ru!” my father yelled.
Three UV Nitro bullets hit the vampire as she pinned me down, almost crushing my arm.
The bullets didn’t do shit. I was in over my head.
The entire coven jumped on us. We were all going to die.
I wrestled her as she tried to feed on me.
I could think of nothing but Collin.
Her weight vanished so suddenly, for a millisecond I fought with the empty air. I pushed myself up with my good arm and looked around.
“Was that a wolf?” I shouted. The vampires and wolves were a mixed blur.
Rattling reverberated between the trees.
My heart wanted to leap, but I stamped it down where it belonged. These were Belgian wolves, not my American ones.
My dad picked up his gun and aimed when Yuri hit it out of his hand. He slammed my dad on his ass, aiming his gun at him.
“Please, Yuri.”
“I’m going to speak to Rudy. You do not belong in the hunt. If you can’t respect my rules, you can’t be here. We have an alliance with the wolves.” He emptied my father’s gun of all bullets and threw it on the ground next to him.
I looked at my father in distaste.
The rattling stopped, and the evening became quiet again.
If I could just speak to one of them, maybe he could get word to Collin. Tell him where I was.
I stood and cradled my shattered arm against my chest.
It was painful, but nothing I wasn’t used to.
“You okay?” Sandra asked and I nodded.
“Ouch.” She gestured to my arm. “That cannot be good.”
“I’ll live.” I said through clenched teeth.
“You do not feel the pain?”
“I welcome the pain. It keeps me human,” I said that last part to my father.
He got up from the ground and stalked over to his Jeep.
“Let him go. He’s no use to us.”
I huffed. “None of us are any use to you.”
“Nonsense. Rumor has it that the wolves are trying to make amends with the werewolf hunters. They keep asking for them, where they are, where they live.”
I couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with Collin.
A wolf strode out of the woods.
He was big, but not as huge as Collin. He said something in Dutch and Sandra bowed her head.
She pushed me down.
Yuri and all the other vampire hunters bowed to the wolf.
He walked toward me. My heart still beat like a hummingbird’s wings whenever they came near me.
He said something else and Sandra answered.
“Where did you get that necklace?” he asked me in English.
“It was given to me.”
“By whom?”
“None of your business,” I said.
“Ah, the famous Ru.”
Laughing, Sandra said something in Dutch.
He answered her, then turned to me.
“We’ll meet again, Ru,” he said as he left.
“You’re that Ru?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve heard that they are looking for one hunter specifically. They always ask the same question. I never thought it was you.”
“They’re looking for me?” Collin!
I beamed. I felt lighter than I had in years. He was looking for me.
I had to stay out of the hunt for a month while my arm healed.
I was no use to the vampire hunters either.
How was he going to find me now?
It was clear the wolves weren’t deranged. They must have found the Alpha.
Another month passed and I was back in the training facility. Becoming faster, stronger.
Time was ticking by and my hope of seeing Collin was dwindling.
As I approached my twenty-second birthday, a messenger came with my clearance and a letter from my father.
I wasn’t ready to read the letter from my father, not yet.
I took my clearance and left with the group I had been assigned to.
My sister finally got her transfer. She broke a few class records during the process.
Unfortunately, we could never rebuild our relationship. We greeted each other in the hallways but that was all. Some of these people didn’t even know we were sisters.
My group was set to leave and I grabbed the last Jeep.
Will was also hunting with another group. I think a part of him saw the truth behind the wolves, because he didn’t reach for the silver anymore.
Uncle Fernus had been deported with my father. They’d both lost their licenses to hunt, and if they hunted supernaturals again, they would be sentenced to death. I hoped it would never come to that.
My life was sort of over. Without my wolf or my family, I had nothing to live for.
Yuri had revealed that the wolves were now the hunters and the hunters were the bait. We arrived at our mission. People had been disappearing from this area. There was something nearby. A supernatural entity.
The leader got off the phone and I hoped it was a pack nearby.
We were sent here to do our part. To be fast food.
I still got the jitters. It didn’t matter how hard I trained, I would never be fast enough, strong enough to kill these creatures.
I kept my gun close.
It was silent. Not a cricket chirping. All signs that there was something here that shouldn’t be.
I was alone, my group nowhere to be seen.
How had I gotten lost?
I panicked. The first rule was to never be alone.
I looked around me, my mind spinning like it used to when I got a vision and then I fired.
I hit one, but another hit me so hard my head spun when I fell to the ground.
I tried not to lose my consciousness, but it was nearly impossible.
He ran toward me in a blur, and as I closed my eyes, accepting my fate, a huge wolf jumped out between the trees.
The wolf ripped the vampire to shreds.
I blacked out.
When I came to, I was lying in a bed.
It wasn’t the SHA quarters in Belgium.
Too fancy. My head was still spinning and I had to close my eyes.
When the door swished, I opened them to see Theo framed in the threshold.
Tears sprang into my eyes.
“Hello, sis.”
“Theo,” I whispered. “You saved my ass.”
He shook his head. “Vampires? Really? Are you trying to give him a heart attack?”
Was he talking about Collin? My brother sat on the edge of my bed. “He’s here?” I asked.
“He had to leave, but yeah, he was constantly next to your bed.”
“He saw me?”
“Ru, he saved your life. When the Belgian pack called claiming to have found an arrogant werewolf hunter hunting vampires, who was in possession of the necklace, we came as fast as we could. Heiko doesn’t like him being away from the main pack for long, but he had no choice to let him go this time.”
“Heiko?”
“The Alpha.”
My eyes widened. “He found him?”
“Three years ago. I was still struggling to accept everything. I’m sorry to hear about Dad.”
“Yeah. My betrayal didn’t do him good either.”
“You didn’t betray him. Collin is a good guy, Ru. He still thinks that you are mad at him, but he thinks you wearing the necklace is a good sign.”
I chuckled. “Where am I?”
“Behind enemy lines.” My brother wiggled his eyebrows and spoke in a mock-spooky voice.
I giggled. He seemed different. In a good way.
“I take it you’ve made peace with this life.”
“It’s not so bad. Once I learned the value and true meaning of it, it felt as if I belonged.”
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