CHAPTER EIGHT

Chapter 8

LEO’S POV

Right before my eyes, I could see Maya lying on a stretcher. Her hands seemed to be strapped on the bed, and I could see her struggling to set herself free. However, this wasn’t beyond what I had imagined before coming here. What really stunned me, was the man standing beside her. He was putting on a white lab coat and had a syringe in his hand, about to inject Maya with some unknown substance.

My eyes suddenly caught sight of Maya’s teary eyes, and I could almost tell what she was thinking. ‘Please… save me.’ I could hear Maya’s voice in my head, or perhaps it was my imagination. Either way, this was unforgivable.

The man in the lab coat suddenly halted his actions and looked at me, “What are you doing here?! Who allowed you to enter into this pla—” before he could complete his words, I grunted and surged towards him before appearing right beside him. I was so fast that I doubted if he could see me. He jerked slightly before slowly shifted his gaze down and he saw an arm pierce right through his chest. Blood flowed from the wound, staining his shirt and painting it crimson. He suddenly coughed out blood and shifted his gaze to me, but the horror in his eyes showed that he wasn’t looking at a human, but a monster.

“You… mon… ster—” before he could complete his words, I pulled out his heart and squeezed it. He fell and died instantly. A pool of blood began to form, but I ignored that and walked towards Maya, who’s eyes was widened, and she looked at me with bewilderment. I couldn’t blame her. She was a human, and this was most likely the first time she was seeing a beast like me, a half human, half beast.

This didn’t bother me, as I was just about to loosen the strappings on arms, but I suddenly felt something cold and metallic touch the back of my head.

“Don’t… move.” I could hear a familiar voice and I paused my actions. I could tell that what was pointed at me was a gun.

“You think I’m scared of a gun?” I questioned with an intimidating voice.

“Of course not, unless it has silver bullet in it…” Jared’s voice rang out from behind me but his words made my face tighten, and my pupils dilated, “I do not really wish to use such methods against you, old friend, but I cannot have you taking my prized possession and my asset.” He claimed but this only irritated me more. However, at gunpoint, I wasn’t sure I could win, so I had to be reasonable with him.

“Unfortunately, I cannot let you have her.” I claimed before looking at Maya’s eyes, “I want her for my own personal reasons. What do you want in return?” I questioned and Jared smirked.

“Didn’t I tell you before? There is no room for compromise. She belongs to me.” He claimed but anger boiled inside me. I could barely keep my cool, but for Maya’s sake, I had to.

“Because she belongs to you, that doesn’t give you the right to conduct weird experiments on her!” He roared but Jared raised his brow with confusion written crystal clear on his face, “What experiments? Tsk, what does it matter? I own her and I’m not giving her to you.” Jared stated and I was a bit curious as to what they wanted to do other, but I could simply ask her when this was all over.

“You seem really confident in your silver bullets, but haven’t I reminded you more times than I can remember…” I closed my eyes and uttered, “…silver bullet or not, you’re only human.” With this, quickly bent and swept him off his feet. Due to the shock, he fired the gun, but it was on the bed, barely missing Maya’s leg. I instantly snatched the pistol from his hand and pointed it at him. However, lots of other guns were pointed at me.

“Whoa whoa easy there tiger… we don’t need to resort to this, right old pal?” Jared raised his hand to calm everyone down. After all, he didn’t have super regeneration, and most of his men in the warehouse didn’t have silver bullets with them, so to kill a werewolf, they’d have to shoot him multiple times from multiple directions at the same time, with the hopes that they should shred him into pieces. However, those men also had guns, claws and teeth ready to rip them apart too, so it was a deadlock.

“You wish to play the hard game right? Fine! Go ahead. Kill me, and my pack rips you all to shreds.” I threatened with my gun still pointed at Jared and my hand placed on the trigger.

“Boys… please… stand down. Let’s settle this amicably.” He pleaded and his men slowly put down their guns, but my men didn’t. I turned to Jared and the latter laughed but I could see his face breaking out with sweat and his heartbeat was so fast and loud that I could hear it.

“I want Maya now. State your price.” I growled and the latter smirked.

“So generous of you to allow me to state my price when you have me at gunpoint.” He joked before raising his hands, “Fine. I’ll hand her to you, but you’ll have to hand me five million dollars. No room for negotiation.” He requested. This wasn’t much for me, but I didn’t mind testing him.

“What if I refuse?” I asked but he shrugged.

“You can go ahead and kill me. Either way, you’ll be dead, Maya too, you’ll lose some men, and who knows, today’s event might give humanity a new opinion concerning the survival of your race.” He divulged, but my face tightened.

“Are you threatening me?” I growled, as I found those words threatening. The smile on his face didn’t change though.

“Me? Threaten you? Pfft… even I wouldn’t dare do that. I’m just stating facts.” he replied, in reality, the relationship between werewolves and humans hung on the balance, and there was a huge likelihood for that balance to be tipped if a shootout should break out right here and now. I heaved a sigh of resignation and put down the weapon in my hand.

“Fine. It’s a deal then.” I said before looking at my men, “Untie her.” Maya was untied by my men, while Jared got up and dusted his body.

“Now that you have her, what do you intend to do with her?” He asked, but I shot him a fiercesome glare.

“I believe you owe me an explanation. What were you trying to do to her?!” I growled and Jared sighed.

“Well, due to what happened between you two the other night, she has become huh… a bit of a setback to me. I just had to remove that setback so that she can keep working for me again.” he stated. I didn’t catch on at first, but the moment I did, I was filled with shock.

“What the hell are you talking about? What do you men?!” I roared and he scoffed.

“I mean that she’s pregnant, and with your babies… or should I say, pups.” he claimed and my pupils dilated, as I couldn’t believe my ears. I turned to look at Maya, who stood in place, still shaken by what was happening, and I couldn't help but stare at her belly.

"She has... my pups?" I uttered, and Jared shrugged.

"Luckily for you, my... Now deceased associate failed to inject her before your arrival, so your pups should be safe." He claimed, and I clenched my fist in anger, but there was nothing I could do anymore. On the bright side, Maya was alright, and everything was settled.

I took a deep breath and turned around. "You'll have your money in five minutes." I growled before leaving the abandoned warehouse together with my men.

"Alright. It was nice doing business with you, old friend." Jared said with a smile on his face, but I paused and turned slightly.

“This will be the last time we’ll see eye to eye. There won’t be a next time, Jared.” I threatened and left the scene.

I took off my jacket and covered Maya with it before escorting her into my car and driving her back home, with Fred and the others driving behind me. My eyes was focused on the road, but I took glances at Maya, but she clutched on my jacket and looked out the window. I had no idea what she was thinking or what she had in mind. Since that night, this was basically the first time I was meeting her. From her reaction, I could tell that she was still shaken by everything that had happened and I truly pitied her.

‘That despicable Jared…’ I grunted inside before returning my focus to the road. After thirty minutes, we reached my mansion. I parked the car in front of the magnificent building and got down before helping Maya out.

“Easy there. You’re safe now.” He consoled. Her eyes darted around, and everything seemed strange to her.

“Where… is this?” She questioned, and a small smile pleaded on my face.

“Welcome to my home. You’ll be staying here from now on.” I informed and she had a blank expression on her face at first before gradually widening her eyes.

“You… you want to hold me captive? No. I can’t stay. Let me go…” she started struggling to leave my grasp, but I didn’t let her go.

“Stop. No one is holding you captive…” I tried to convince her but she kept struggling. She suddenly escaped my grasp and ran towards the gate. My men were ready to catch her, but she suddenly fell. Before she could land, someone caught her and I held her body, but it felt limp. I turned her and realized that her eyes had lost focus, but she was still breathing and had a pulse.

‘She fainted?’ that was the first thought that occurred to me and the only reasonable thing that might’ve happened. However, deep down, I was really glad that she was okay.