Leena's Panic

Leena watched the clock on the wall and dreaded the moment her sister got off of work. The empty pink striped suitcase lay untouched on her bed even though it had been hours since her Lacee had woken her up to pack. Yeah, she wasn’t going to pack a thing. Why would she? What was the point? Her sister was obviously having some kind of overdramatic fight with a guy she was dating. Leena wasn’t going to waste her time packing up the apartment they had just moved everything into.

At first, when her sister had seemed so panicked at the sound of a knock on the door, Leena took the situation seriously. Lacee was always overprotective and at times a bit over the top about following rules, but Lacee knew that it was mostly because Lacee didn’t want her making the same mistakes she had. Lacee had it harder growing up than she had, and she wanted Leena to have a better life than that.

Earlier was different though. Lacee had seemed more frightened than she’d ever seen her before. She didn’t know it was possible to scare her sister, the girl always had such a tough wall up. But the look on her sister’s face worried Leena. So, she’d listened and rushed into her bedroom, locking the door quickly behind her.

Lacee had ordered her to stay in there and to escape from the window if trouble came. She wasn’t sure what that was all about, but Leena wasn’t going to just desert her sister. After a few minutes, Leena very quietly unlocked her bedroom door and cracked it open. It was then that she saw that her sister wasn’t in some kind of horrible danger. Instead, she was messing around with some dude in the living room.

The guy had her sister’s hand in his and he was licking it. Like, sucking on her fingers or something. What the fuck? Leena was pissed that her sister had woken her up with such a dramatic scene, all because of some guy she was arguing with. If her sister wanted to bang the dude, she could’ve just said so and Lacee would’ve taken a walk or gone to a nearby store, but to scare Leena into locking herself in the bedroom was wrong.

And now, her sister was continuing the drama text after text and phone call after phone call.

We have to get out of town. We’re leaving today

Sure, yeah right. This was all just some over-the-top bullshit because of some random guy her sister was fighting with. She’s never seen her sister with a boyfriend, but it didn’t surprise her that her sister would put up a wall and try to leave a man behind the moment things got tough. No guy stood a chance with her sister, she was too guarded.

Nope, Leena wasn’t going to allow her sister to ruin everything they had moved her for. She was starting college here in the fall. Why would she just up and leave now? Fuming at the thought of Lacee wanting to drop it all now because of some guy, Leena kicked the suitcase off her bed and refused to pack a thing.

Instead, she got up and left the apartment. Screw what her sister said, she wasn’t going to let her sister keep running everything in her life.

As she walked out of the complex and onto the sidewalk that lined the street that led to the main part of town, Leena thought about her sister. The two resembled each other in some ways. They both had blonde hair and full lips, but their appearance was different in many ways as well. Leena had big blue round eyes and was short. Her sister was tall and had almond-shaped green eyes.

Their personalities were very opposite. Lacee was born with a chip on her shoulder and short-tempered, while Leena was often too nice for her own good and hated confrontation. Of course, their upbringings weren’t always the same, which contributed to their traits. They’d both been in foster care, but Leena was lucky and taken in by a wonderful foster mother, Nancy.

Lacee wasn’t as lucky. She was older than Leena, and it was harder to place kids her age. They were separated for a few years. Nancy tried to take them both, but she only had room for one at the time. By the time Nancy had an opening for another foster child, Lacee had been in four different homes and then a home for girls. She came to live with them, but she struggled more. The girl was angry and always in trouble.

For Leena, Nancy was like a grandmother, but the woman and Lacee didn’t have the same connection and Lacee often had to go away to behavioral camps and deep therapy counseling. Nancy tried though. She tried to break down the walls, but Lacee wouldn’t let her in. The foster mother never kicked her out though and she never mistreated her.

It wasn’t until Nancy got sick that Lacee began to calm down her troublesome ways. She stopped getting in fights and she started trying to get a future life together. The sister knew that Nancy wasn’t going to make it and Leena would need someone else to care for her. Lacee was a few weeks from eighteen when Nancy died, and she was put out on the streets when her birthday came.

Remembering how hard Lacee worked to get custody of her in those months made Leena regret leaving the apartment. Lacee may have been overprotective, but it was only because she feared losing her. Guilt-ridden, Leena turned around and headed back towards her apartment complex.

Brakes squealed as a car pulled up beside her. Before she could comprehend what was happening, a dark bag went over her head, and she was being forced into the car. It was only a matter of seconds, and she was taken. No one heard or saw a thing as the vehicle dashed away with Leena kidnapped inside.

Leena could tell that she was in the backseat of a small car by the way her legs were hitting the seat in front of her. She kicked and screamed, but someone behind her was holding her in tight with their hand over her mouth.

“Shh.” A male's voice said into her ear. “Calm down.”

This was anything but comforting and only made her cry out more.

“Can’t you knock her out already, Laran?” Another male said from the front of the car. “Just hit her upside the head or something.”

“We don’t need to hurt her,” Laran said from behind her. “We just need to get her to the barn.”

Leena wasn’t sure what the barn was, but it didn’t sound good. The mention of it caused her to scream even louder.

“Shut her up already!” The man up front yelled back at them.

“Just drive, Gideon!” Laran called out at him. “I’ve got her under control.”

Gideon cursed under his breath, but the car got quiet as the two men stopped yelling back at one another.

“Listen to me,” Laran said in her ear. “I’m not going to hurt you. We just have to take you to our Alpha to find out a few things.”

“What are you even talking about?” Leena tried to calm herself enough to talk. Maybe she could manage her way out of the situation if she could reason with him. “Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone.”

“We will let you go after we get there and ask you some questions.” He loosened his hold on her. “Now, if you promise to not scream, I’ll take this off your face. Deal?”

His voice sounded kind, but she knew that she’d be a fool to believe this man. Still, she nodded and agreed to not scream. The bag was pulled off of her head and she finally saw the face of the kidnappers. Laran, the one holding her in the back seat didn’t seem much older than her. His hair was dark brown and his eyes chocolate to match. In another circumstance, he may be handsome, but in the backseat of a getaway car, there was no attraction, only fear, and disgust as she looked him over.

“She’s just a kid,” Gideon said from up front.

Turning towards him, she saw her other kidnapper was around thirty, with a dark beard and shaggy black hair. He lit up a cigarette and took a puff.

“How old are you?” Laran asked.

“Seventeen,” Leena told him, hoping maybe her age would deter them from continuing this crime.

“Seventeen? Why the fuck would Alpha want us to bring some young girl to him?” Gideon's cigarette shook nervously in his hand. “What the hell has he got us into?”

“Who’s Alpha?” Leena questioned. “What’s he going to do?”

“You half-breeds are so strange.” Gideon looked at her through the rear-view mirror. “You act like the pack laws don’t apply to you. The human world has spoiled you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She looked at Laran. His eyes seemed kinder, and she hoped that maybe she could appeal to his kindness for her own good.

“Of course, you don’t.” Gideon blew smoke her way as he shook his head in frustration. “You mutts are so ignorant.”

“Take it easy,” Laran said. “You’re scaring her. Just take her to the Alpha and let him talk to her.”

“Why?” Leena looked into Laran’s eyes, hoping he’d feel empathy for her. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Just let me go. I don’t even know who Alpha is.”

“Shut up already.” Gideon stopped the car and turned to face her. “This is why you half-breeds get killed by Alphas, you disrespect them too much.”

“Killed?” Leena suddenly lost it and began to freak out. “He’s going to kill me!”

Panicking, she attempted to jump into the front seat and get out of the passenger side.

“Damn it, Gideon. Look what you’ve done now.” Laran yelled at the man as he grabbed ahold of her and yanked her into the backseat again.

As she was being pulled into the backseat, her leg kicked, and her foot landed right on Gideon’s face. A loud growl filled the car. She fell into Laran’s lap but was still facing Gideon as his eyes began to glow green. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and long pointy teeth began to grow from his gums.

Leena screamed so loud that it echoed inside her own ears. Her heart began to beat controllably and feel like it was sinking inside of her chest. Struggling to breathe, she grabbed Laran’s shirt and tugged at him for help.

“I can’t breathe!” She cried as tears rolled down her flushed cheeks.

“She’s having a panic attack!” Laran called out. “Damn it, Gideon! Call Rinc!”

Leena felt like she was going to die as she fought for air. She didn’t know whether it would be her heart or the monster in front of her that would take her life.