four

Natalie

I balanced the tray in my left hand as I knocked and opened Ruby’s door. I frowned at the shattered lamp by the door before poking my head inside.

“Ruby? It’s Natalie.” I closed the door behind me when I found her sitting on the floor at the back of the room, her head against the wall. “I brought something for you to eat. You must be hungry.”

She opened her eyes slowly, her cold stare making me rethink approaching her. I placed the tray on the coffee table before the sofa and sighed. Her eyes and nose were red from crying and her hair was wild and tangled. She looked a mess and my heart went out to her. The hatred in her eyes cut me deeply, but I deserved it as much as Xavier.

She had witnessed three men being ripped to shreds and now she was locked away in a room awaiting her own death. I’d want to rip some fucking limbs off myself if I was her.

Sighing, I pulled a chair closer to her, but stayed at a polite distance so she wouldn’t feel crowded. “I know you must be confused right now, and scared. I’ll answer any questions you have.”

Ruby only stared at me, her eyes dull and emotionless. This change was odd considering she had been screaming at the top of her voice less than an hour ago. The brave girl I had heard slap Xavier now looked broken and defeated, or was she just tired from screaming?

She looked toward the window at the swaying trees outside. I did the same thing, allowing her to speak on her own terms. I wasn’t confident she would speak at all. Maybe our approach had been the wrong one, trying to pry into her mind instead of speaking to her. She had witnessed something previously unimaginable to her and then I went in and stirred up her brain with my power. Too much was happening to her with little to no explanation or preparation.

Xavier certainly hadn’t made the situation better by telling her she was going to be killed.

“What were you doing to me?” I looked in her direction, but she was still staring out the window. She looked so broken, so confused. “You were inside my head.”

“I’m sorry, my alpha ordered me to.” She finally looked my way and I sighed. “Okay. Some of the things you’ve seen in the movies about werewolves are true and some are bullshit. We do live in packs. We do have an alpha. However, we don’t change only during the full moon, and silver

doesn’t hurt us. We don’t communicate telepathically, and we don’t look the way you’d expect.”

Ruby released the knees she had been holding to her chest and stretched her legs out. I took that as a sign of her slowly relaxing and starting to process what had happened.

“I’m not like Xavier and the others, though. I'm an Enchanted, a female wolf, or she-wolf if you will, who cannot and will never be able to transform. I still have exceptional hearing, speed, sight, and strength, but nothing compared to, say, Xavier. However, I have different powers of my own that no one else in the pack shares. All packs have an Enchanted, some more powerful than others. That's how I was inside your mind. I wasn't trying to hurt you, Ruby, I was trying to see if you're a threat to my people."

She scoffed at that and looked away. “I’m in a house filled with werewolves and I’m the threat?”

I smiled; she had a point. “That’s true, but humans are powerful in their own way. Humans are a danger to the supernatural world. That’s why all supernatural creatures have their own way of dealing with humans who learn of their existence."

“What others are there? You said all supernatural creatures.”

She was curious, and I was happy to tell her anything she wanted to know. At least it took her mind off the inevitable. Seeing auras was one of my gifts, and I had been drawn to hers from the moment I saw her. Pure white auras like Ruby’s were rare, very rare.

“There are witches, golems, demons, angels, gods, the whole works. They’re all real. Some live alongside humans just like us wolves, and some live in other dimensions.”

“When?”

I frowned. “When what?”

“When are your people going to kill me?”

I inhaled deeply. Even though I expected the question, it still caught me off guard. She didn't look sad or upset, she looked defeated. Somehow that was worse. “I don’t know.” She released a breath she seemed to have been holding in, and I could hear her heart rate spike. “Listen, Xavier is doing what he can right now to save you, okay?”

She arched a brow. “Xavier? He’s trying to save me?” She laughed, but it held no humor. I frowned, not sure what she was laughing at. Was she losing her mind? "Xavier trying to save me is exactly what got me into this

mess. Honestly, I don't like him and it's clear he doesn't like me either." She leaned forward. "Let me go, please. I won't tell anyone. Use your powers and wipe my memory if you must. Why can't you do that?"

"I wish it was that easy." I got up and walked toward her, but her body tensed and her heartbeat increased to a frantic pace. She was scared of me. “You don't have to be scared of me, Ruby."

She got to her feet shakily and I listened as her stomach growled. She braced herself on the wall for a moment, then pushed forward and approached me. Her aura turned so white it was almost blinding, forcing me to avoid looking directly at her.

Where her eyes had been dull a moment ago, they now filled with a mix of anger and sadness. She stopped just before me. “I don’t want to die.” “You’re not going to. Listen to me Ruby, take it easy on Xavier.

This has never happened before. It’s new to him.”

She threw her hands in the air, her brows knitting as she grew frustrated. She turned away, pacing to the window and then back toward me. “And I’m new to being abducted! I’m new to this, new to all of this! What exactly is new to him, Natalie? What? Help me to understand what he’s used to, because I’m the one trapped inside this room waiting to find out if I’m going to live to see another day.”

Silence fell between us. Our conversation wasn’t going the way I had wanted it to, and I realized I had been foolish to think it would be any different. At this point, the less she knew the better. I couldn’t explain to her why she could never be harmed in our pack. That was Xavier’s story to tell. She walked over to the bed and sat down, but I remained standing.

Only a few days ago I had thought I had made a friend, the first human I’d ever found myself drawn to. It would have been best if I had kept my distance. The moment I sat down beside her at that table in the library I had set the wheels of this disaster in motion.

This wasn’t Xavier’s fault. It was mine.

She tilted her head. “If it’s your law to kill all humans who learn about your existence, then why try and save me?"

Shit.

Seeing the look on my face, she shook her head. “Forget it.”

“You’ll get explanations soon enough. You just have to trust me,

okay?”

She arched a brow. “Trust you? Trust you? I don’t know what to make of any of this. I’m still trying to figure out if this is all some sick prank. Werewolves and supernaturals are real, and I’m going to die because I know about it? I can’t believe any of it. Trust is a two-way street, Natalie. Just leave me alone, okay?”

I understood her irritation, but I was only trying to be her friend. I’m still a wolf, with a temper just like any other wolf, and she was starting to piss me off.

“Fine. You’re not going to die, Ruby, but I can’t guarantee you’ll ever be able to leave this pack. A human hasn't knowingly come into contact with a werewolf in a long time, and never from our pack. There's so much you don't know. If you want to live, I suggest when the alpha comes to see you, you should try to be chill and not snappy. Your emotions are all over the place, and understandably so, but it’s certainly not in your best interest to piss him off.”

I turned and left, leaving her as she had asked me to. No matter how annoyed I was, I knew her attitude and anger were warranted.

As an Enchanted, I'm allowed to be around humans more than Xavier or any other wolf. As long as I have control over my powers, that is. Even so, I'd never been interested in having a human friend until I met Ruby. Although, in truth, I mistook her for a supernatural until I smelled her. Her incredible aura had made me think she was supernatural and I wanted to find out which type, but she just smelled human. Her personality had done the rest. I didn’t want any harm to come to her. I really didn’t want to lose my friend.

I came to a stop at the stairs and watched Xavier remove his shirt and jump off one of the balconies.