Chapter 7

Nathan had changed back into his wolf form so he could get us out of the forest quicker.

Even as a wolf he was beautiful. He had slick, jet black fur covering his entire body.

He jerked his chin to his back, and I guessed he wanted me to get on in a similar manner that Claire got onto the other wolf. His pelt was soft to the touch, and I could feel the hard muscles under his thick coat.

Maybe all wolves are really big and I just don't know because I never met one, but I barley made it onto his back.

I clung to his thick fur as he sped up in every step. His radiating warmth gave me comfort as I comprehended I was riding on a Werewolf.

We flashed through the forest. I tried to glance behind me, but the wind forced my head down. Instead, I found myself clinging for dear life to Nathan’s coat and waited until the ride was over.

I was still squeezing his fur until we stopped. He let out a snort, and I took that as a sign that we had arrived.

I quickly hopped off, his body lowering so I could touch the ground before I slipped off. I immediately looked for Claire, but couldn’t find her.

Panicked, I asked Nathan as soon as he transformed back to human form and changed. He was wearing the same gray clothes as before, but this time I could make out the faint silhouette of the handle of a handgun tucked in the side of the waist.

“She can’t come with us, not now at least,” Nathan reiterated again, trying to get me to understand the situation I had been lodged in.

“What do you mean not yet! Of course she is, or I’m not.”

“I don’t have time for this!” He yelled in frustration as he grabbed my arm.

The second his fingers touched my arm, he jumped back like I shocked him. Staring at me for a minute, his eyes softened to look like the melted chocolate I admired before.

I'm not even sure I saw it though, because the next thing I know, he's grabbed my arm again with hardened eyes and stomped off.

What was that all about?

Nathan was so strong I had no choice but to go with him. As we walked, I still threw furious frustrations at him, only to make him tighten his grip on my arm with every word.

We walked for a long time before my arm fell asleep from his grip and I knew I had to stop before my arm fell off.

We surfaced from the woods and came to an empty parking lot with only a few cars. I quickly moved my glance to the other wolves, who had also followed Nathan and I, but there was still nobody there.

I scanned over the trees again before I caught sight of the same man who had threatened me yesterday about ‘staying away’.

“Nathan,” I breathed.

“Ghal! That’s it! Do you ever shut-up?!” He yelled in frustration.

He looked at me and followed my gaze. His body tensed as he pushed me towards one of the slick, black cars.

“Go.” He said coldly.

He didn’t have to tell me twice.

I was off and I could hear his feet slapping the concrete behind me. I didn’t have to turn around to know our pursuer was not far behind us.

I was panting as we reached the Porsche and the door unlocked as I rounded the passenger side. I turned and looked at where Nathan and our little follower was.

I wish I wouldn’t have.

I turned just in time to see Nathan pop a bullet into the man’s shoulder and he stopped running to collapse on the parking lot floor.

Nathan didn’t give another thought as to what he just did. He ran over to my side to push me into the passenger seat then hopped onto his own side and shoved his key in the ignition. It happened so quickly I didn’t know what to do about it.

There were a good fifteen minutes of speeding down the street before I was able to speak. “You shot someone.”

“Yeah? So? He would have killed us if we didn’t stop him first.”

“You could have killed a man.” I muttered, the only thing able to come to my mind.

“But I didn’t.”

“How do you know?” I asked blandly.

“Because I do. Trust me.” Was all he said.

“Trust you?! You just shot a man! What makes you think I can trust you?!” I was hysterically yelling at him now that he couldn’t suffocate my arm.

“Because you have no choice right now.”

“There’s always a choice.” I grumbled under my breath and was surprised when he snorted at my comment.

We sat in silence for another few minutes before I couldn’t stand not having answers anymore.

“Where are we going?” I asked him.

He didn’t answer, but picked up his phone and scanned through it a bit before pushing the call button, one hand laying on the steering wheel lazily.

He didn’t have to wait long before I heard a low hello from the other line. “It’s me.” Was all he had to say before explaining the previous event.

I heard a series of ‘yes sir’ before the phone clicked shut and Nathan swerved off the road and onto the highway east.

“Are you going to answer my question or not?”

“Just sit back and enjoy the ride. I know where we’re going, so don’t worry.”

Oh, yeah, just sit back and relax like someone didn’t just try to kill us, I thought to myself.

Instead of speaking, I just folded my arms across my chest and stared ahead as the road started darkening. I decided my best option was to watch the nature swinging around us.

Waving in the storm, the trees were pretty, their scarlet branches flickering against the light that fell between the small cracks in the branches. Raindrops on the windshield were like magnifying glasses, creating dollops of color.

As we drove, the trees began to press in thick and close on one side of the road, branches arching overhead. The other side was a wall of tall tremulous rocks. The road itself was starting to become steep.

Suddenly, my eye lids felt heavy. All this stress was making my tired and I felt head begin to bob as I dozed in and out.

-

I must have finally fallen asleep, because the next thing I know, we pass a sign that says ‘Welcome to Colorful Colorado’ in big bold letters on what looked like a piece of textured wood as the background.

“This is your idea of safe. Colorado. In case you haven’t noticed, this place it pretty hilly.”

“Yeah, so?” He answered with annoyance laced in his words.

“Well, first of all, you’re in a really nice car that could hardly get up there, just one storm can make the roads too dangerous to drive, and once a storm does start, it never stops. And to add to that, we will be in the middle of nowhere with nothing by trees and dirt for company. Is that the point?”

I don't know why I was being so rude and snarky, but something about this whole situation irritated the crap out of me.

“Well, I wanted to take you to where your friend will be when she’s ready, but if you insist,” he drenched each word with annoyance and sarcasm as he grabbed from under the wheel and pulled it to the left, spinning us in a rapid U-turn.

“No! I mean, Colorado’s fine.”

I sucked on my lip so I wouldn’t say something else I’d regret.

Nathan turned the car back around and peeked a few glances at me. “We decided to enroll you into school that way you can get back to a semi-normal schedule. Besides, you’re only a junior and you need to get in your education.”

I ignored Nathan's words as something dawned on me. “How long have we been driving?”

Nathan seemed annoyed with me, but answered my question anyway. “About eight hours.”

My jaw dropped. Before I could ask, Nathan jumped on my question. “When you get healed by Trysten, it takes a lot of energy, making you sleep a lot more than usual.”

I sat back to try to comprehend what is going on in my life. Just yesterday, my biggest concern was making sure I would pass Miss Kirkpatrick's class. Now, I'm with a renegade group being hunted by others like them.

I didn’t want to ask this question, but it was starting to hurt my tongue from withholding it.

“Will I ever have my normal life back?”

I could tell he heard my question by the way his shoulders tensed and looked at me, but he didn’t answer. He just turned back to the road and looked dead ahead, ignoring my question.

I didn’t try to push him; I understood the answer because I knew what the silence meant.

I could never have my life back. My school, future, home. Everything was left behind at this point.

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