Into The Forest

Sophia did not know how she slept that night. She awoke to a knock on the door and sat up instantly.

"Come in," she called to the person, and the doors opened, letting in a girl dressed like a maid.

"Master invites you down for breakfast," the girl said.

"I will be down in a minute," Sophia responded, and the maid left.

It took quite a while for Sophia to get her bearings. She quickly found her phone and realized the battery was dead. She wasn't sure why she had forgotten it this long. But rightly, a lot happened yesterday.

She plugged her phone in to charge with a charger she found lying around and hurriedly washed and dressed.

By the time she was ready to go down for breakfast, her phone started ringing. She paused by the staircase and looked at the phone in her hand. It was Aiden. She hesitated before answering.

"Aiden," she answered.

"Where have you been all day yesterday? I was trying to reach you for so long, but your phone was off," he said, basically screaming at her. Sophia could tell he was angry.

"Aiden…" she started to say. Truthfully, she was not sure about what she should say. Could she explain the last twenty-four hours to anyone?

Her worries were useless, as Aiden did not let her speak.

"You ghosted me on my birthday after I had to call and remind you about it? Are you even interested in being in a relationship with me?" Aiden scolded.

The next second, Sophia felt the temperature in the room drop. Feeling eyes on her, she looked to her left to find Jonathan waiting by the doorway.

Sophia shivered under the intensity of his eyes. She could still hear Aiden scolding her on the phone. The sound of his voice was starting to irritate her.

"Look, I have a lot going on. You know this. Why do you act as though you don't?" Sophia asked, turning around on the stairs with her back to Jonathan, and Aiden went silent on the other end.

Sophia had always wanted to know this. Aiden was not well to do, but he was okay financially. She was always struggling with bills, and even though she preferred to take care of her own matters and never ask for help, he always expected things despite what she was going through.

"Are you saying I can't be angry?" Aiden finally spoke. But hearing what he said, Sophia was slightly pissed.

"Put away the phone." Sophia heard Jonathan's voice beside her ear and jumped, looking behind her to find that he was still standing by the doorway. She could have sworn he was actually right behind her a moment ago.

"Who was that?" Aiden asked, confirming to Sophia that she had not lost her mind. Jonathan really was behind her a moment ago.

She saw him turn around and leave.

"I will call you later," Sophia said to Aiden before ending the call. She hurried after Jonathan, following the path he had left.

She walked straight till she was in a dining room. On the table, Jonathan and a werewolf Sophia had heard them refer to as Damien.

Entering the room, she was quite nervous. The table was full of food, but their eyes threatened to pierce her skin. The pressure was so overwhelming you would have thought she was food.

"Sit," Jonathan said to her, gesturing to the chair beside him.

Sophia walked over and nervously sat.

"Eat," he instructed, and on command, Sophia picked up her cutlery and started eating.

"She seems more afraid than she was yesterday. How did you manage that?" Damien commented.

"She walked into a few cubs fighting yesterday," Jonathan answered.

As they talked, Sophia was sure they were not friends. The tension rose, making her more uncomfortable. She had thought of many scenarios in her head for leaving this place last night. But the one she disagreed with the most was telling them she wanted to leave.

But for this reason, Sophia opened her mouth and interrupted their standoff.

"Can I leave?" she asked, breaking the tension.

"It is dangerous," Jonathan answered.

"Is that a no?" Sophia asked, but they both remained silent.

"Why are you here?" Jonathan asked Damien.

"I can't let you take her to the lone forest alone, right?" Damien asked, and Jonathan's frown deepened.

"She is my mate," Jonathan said darkly.

"That is still to be confirmed," Damien countered.

"Whose mate?" Sophia asked. Fear filled her. They can't be talking about her, right? She was not stupid; a mate was exactly what she thought it was.

"Why do you seem afraid?" Jonathan asked. He could hear her heartbeat drumming away in her chest.

Damien seemed amused by this. He glanced at Jonathan as though to mock him.

"Eat fast. You will be late," Jonathan instructed Sophia.

"Late for what?" she asked, but did not get a reply. She was starting to feel irritated. They rarely answered her questions. She instantly stopped eating.

"I am done," she declared. To this, Jonathan only raised a brow and got up.

"Then, let's go," he carelessly replied and started walking away. Sophia nervously followed him, while Damien followed her.

They were just walking, but Sophia felt caged in. Jonathan in front and Damien behind, she felt as though they were guarding her or at least caging her.

They soon walked out of the mansion into the back garden but did not stop. The moment they walked deeper into the woods behind the garden, Sophia's fear peaked.

The trees got so tall and the branches spread out like umbrellas, blocking a lot of the sunlight. The farther they went, the darker it got.

"Calm down; you are only going to meet the Oracle," Damien said. They could both hear her racing heartbeat. They could tell Damien's words did not reassure her.

After a while, both of them stopped walking.

"We cannot go further than this. There is a house straight ahead. You have to go the rest of the way alone," Jonathan said.

"Why would I do that? We are in the middle of the woods. The sunlight is barely making it in!" Sophia basically scolded them. Both men were quite taken aback. They had not seen her temper since they met her.

Sophia herself was not sure where her courage came from. Maybe the fear had eaten it all away, but she did not want to obey them.

"You can't just take me places without explaining things well. What sane person just enters the forest just because you said so?" She asked, then turned around to leave.

"I am not going. Take me back," she said and started walking away, but Jonathan caught her arm, stopping her.

"Don't you want to know why we brought you away from your studio? Don't you want to know who you are?" He asked her, and she paused and looked at him as though he had two heads.

"Is that supposed to make me want to go in?" She asked him incredulously.

"Shouldn't it?" he asked.

"No! The answer is no! No sane person is that curious!" Sophia answered, and Damien broke into a fit of laughter.

Ignoring him, Jonathan stared down at Sophia.

"You have asked a lot of questions since you got here, and the only one who can give you answers is in that forest. I assure you, you want to go in there," Jonathan said to her.

Sophia held his gaze till she could no longer keep it up and had to look away.

Sophia did not want to go in there, but from the looks of it, he was surely going to force her inside. There was no getting out of this.

She took a deep breath and walked into the forest alone.