Chapter Two

Her heart pounded in her chest as she sprinted down the dark alleyway. The sound of footsteps echoed behind her, growing closer with each passing moment. 

She knew that the group of men chasing her were getting nearer, she could sense their anger and agitation. 

Sweat beaded on her forehead and her breathing became ragged as she pushed herself to run faster, dodging around trash cans and ducking under low-hanging pipes. 

She had to keep moving, had to find a way out. With a burst of energy, Sarah leapt over a fallen street light pole and stumbled as she landed on the other side. 

She caught herself just in time, but the rough brick wall at her back told her that she was trapped. She was cornered, with nowhere to go. 

The men approached, they were not even fazed by all that running, they've been running for fifteen fucking minutes.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?", she asked them.

"Who we are shouldn't matter to you", the guy who she presumed to be the leader started, "you wouldn't even remember in the next minute."

"Because I'll be dead?"

"She's smart, this one", he said to the three other guys with him and they all burst out laughing.

"What I find strange though is this, why are there four of you when all you want is me?"

She could feel their shock even though they tried to hide it, it was one of her fucking gifts. 

My abilities cannot be the reason why they're here right?

"I'll suggest you stop asking questions", one of the other guys say.

"What is it you want? Why are you still blabbering when you can just kill me?", she asks again which makes them shift uneasily.

Something is not right, they don't want my life but they definitely want something with me.

"Why are you after me? Who sent you to me? Why were the four of you sent for just me? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU PEOPLE?!"

"Come with us quietly and we'll give you the answers you want".

"No, I won't. Whoever sent you must know how incapable you are since there's a whole lot of you after teeny, tiny me", she says hoping to get a reaction from them.

"Are you even sure you have the right person? You didn't really mess this up did you?", she continues with a slight tilt of her head and gets a slap for her bravery.

Damnnn! I'm going to need serious make-up to cover that tomorrow.

"Are you going to come quietly or not?"

"You'd have to kill me first before you take me away.”

"Get her", he says in his do-as-I-say-with-no-questions voice.

The first guy closes in on her, with a smirk on his face, happy to do his master's bidding. He grabs her left arm but she shakes him off and ducks as he comes at her with a swing.

Sarah was no stranger to hand-to-hand combat, but she was outnumbered and outmatched. 

She counters with a quick jab to his stomach and he doubles over. The two other guys step in.

Sarah fights with all her might, but it is only a matter of time before they get the upper hand.

The first guy grabs her behind, locking her arms in place. Another lands a brutal punch to her ribcage, causing her to gasp in pain. With each punch, she can feel herself crumbling. 

Finally, she stumbles and falls to the ground, unable to defend herself any longer. 

The men loom over her, triumphant grins on their faces. Sarah lay there, defeated, wondering what would happen next.

"For a teeny tiny thing, you sure have a lot of strength. How I'd love to feel all of that energy with you in bed", the leader taunts her.

"You don't seem like you could go on for more than a minute you fucking asshole", she says as she spits in his face. 

Another slap lands on her face.

"Let's move!"

The guy holding her lifts her up and slings her on his shoulder like she’s a fucking sack of flour. She doesn't even have it in her to fight at this point.

What is the use of having abilities that can't even be of help to me when I'm in trouble?

Suddenly, she feels it - the presence of two other people. 

They smell strange, like a mixture of the normal human smell and something else, something musky.

She knows they are coming for her, but she can't read their intentions, they're both threatening and reassuring.

The guys stop and she knows the new guys are there. 

"Put her down", one of them says.

Dammmmnnnn! Even in her disheveled state, she feels that voice in between her legs, it's hot.

"And you are?" the leader asks.

"Your fucking nemesis", the second guy says.

His voice is also hot, but not as hot as that of the first guy.

"You have five seconds to leave here or you'll have yourselves to blame" the leader says.

"Jace, how long do you think it would take to get rid of these guys?", the second guy asks the hot-voiced guy.

"Let's find out", Jace, obviously Mr. Hot-voiced guy replies.

It takes about five seconds, literally five seconds(yes, she counted), and the attackers are scattered around her. 

They're dead, she knows that, she even feels it, but she doesn't believe it.

"Did you just kill them?", she asks the hot-voiced guy.

"Well, they're no longer breathing so, I think they're dead", he replies with a nod in their direction.

"Oh God please, don't tell me I just jumped from the pan into the fire", she says with her hands clasped in front of her like she's praying.

"Darling, we just saved you from your captors, don't you think a thank you should come after that?" the other guy asks me and to Jace he says, "your girl is rude man".

 "Firstly, I wouldn't say she's rude, I'd say she's shocked", Jace replies, "secondly, she's not your fucking darling Luke". This makes Luke burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry man, I forgot she's your mate" he says with no hint of sincerity.

"Come on, we've gotta get outta here", Jace says.

"Yes, your grace", Luke replies.

"I'm in trouble", Sarah says, and the guys burst into laughter a-fucking-gain.

                   **********

Sarah stares at the two guys sitting and surveying her apartment. She tries to view her apartment through a stranger's eyes.

She doesn't make much but she couldn't bear sharing a home with someone, she valued her privacy too much.

Her home was a room apartment, she didn't have much but she was always hunting on sale websites and so far, she'd designed with some quality stuffs.

With a chess-patterned rug in the middle of her wooden floors, her small kitchen where she never left a dish unwashed, a small fridge on her cupboard.

The guys were sitting on the only couch in the house. She got the couch from a neighbor who was moving in with her rich boyfriend and sold it to her at a giveaway price.

It was almost too colorful but the comfort it gave made up for it. She had five throws all in different shapes, designs and sizes.

She loved her apartment but with the guys in it, it was looking way too small and crowded.

She subconsciously noted that this was the first time she had guys in her home asides her trainer.

Jason was sitting on the couch looking like he was the owner of the house with his legs slightly apart, right arm on the arm of the sofa and beautiful eyes.

She'd never seen eyes as beautiful as his, striking blue with gold coloured streaks in them. 

They looked at her like they could see past the brave facade she was putting on and directly into her cursed soul.

They're so beautiful.

"As good as it feels to know you think my eyes are beautiful, I think we need to have a conversation", Jason says.

Of course girl, you're the only girl in the world who would be alone with two strangers, no matter how hot, who can commit murder easily in mere seconds, think of beautiful eyes and do the thinking out loud.

Sarah blinked and focused on the guys, "maybe you guys would like to start this 'conversation' cause I sure don't know where to start from", she says, using her fingers to make quotation marks in the air.

"How about we see to your face first darling?", Lucas suggests.

"Where's your medicine box? I know you humans usually have one in your home", he continues as he stands up and looks around like the box is supposed to magically appear simply because he asked.

"I'm fine, I don't need it, I've had worse", she replies.

She can feel the increase in energy in the room at her words, they're electrifying.

"What was that?", Jason asks.

"How many times have you had to go through that?"

"We are in deeper shit than we thought we were if Sheila has had more men here that we don't know about", Lucas says to Jason.

"Wait wait wait, just wait a freaking minute! Who's Sheila and what men?", Sarah asks with obvious fear.

She can't seem to put up with the false bravery anymore, the activities of the night are beginning to take their toll on her.

"Hey hey hey", Jason says as he comes closer, "you've been doing really well until now, don't loose your shit just yet baby girl".

He wraps his arms around her the minute he gets close enough.

She doesn't know what it is about his scent , it's like nothing she'd ever smelled. A mixture of peace and comfort, with a touch of man. 

Whatever it was made her break down as she wrapped her arms around him, too exhausted to hold herself back.

She knows she is going to regret it the moment her head is clear but she'll be damned if anything stops her from having this moment.

Jason moves with her to the couch, sits and arranges her on his laps, even in her state, she can register how nice it feels.

Ten minutes later she is cried out, she lifts her head from his neck and looks around like the apartment is strange.

Lucas is seated on the chair she was with her first aid box next to him, he kicks the box to Jonas who opens it, take what he needs and begins to clean up the blood on her face.

"What? You kill and treat the injured as well?", she asks but without the bite she intended.

He just smirks, "I'm a man of many talents, baby girl".

"I'm not your baby girl".

"We'll see about that".

He takes care of her and when he's satisfied, lifts her up and places her right beside him, "now the conversation".

"I'll start by introducing us to you, I'm Lucas and he's Jason", Lucas says.

"I gathered that much".

"Jace is the Alpha and therefore king in my country, I'm his Beta and best friend".

"By Beta you mean second-in-command right?", she asks Lucas.

"Yes", he replies with a smile.

"What do I have to do with any of that?"

"Well, you're one of the most powerful people in our world, that's one of the things you have to do with any of these".

"Maybe you'll want to explain that.”

"We don't stay in the firstworld darling, we're from the otherworld".

This is a dream right? It has to be a dream.

"What is the firstworld and otherworld?"

"Your world here, is the firstworld, my world, our world, is the otherworld".

"Is it just me or does any of these sound like a joke to someone else", Sarah asks while standing.

"You're telling me there's another world out there, different from this world, and that's where you guys and obviously me come from", she says with her torso bent towards them, one hand on her waist and the other making gestures.

She straightens up and uses her left hand to shift her flailing hair away from her face while she moves around.

"This is all a setup right? Like there's a hidden camera out there and someone is going to come out and say 'boo!' and we'll all laugh about it, even though there's absolutely nothing funny about this, but I promise to laugh with you guys".

"Baby girl…"

"I'm.not.your.BABYGIRRRL! This is driving me crazy, someone please tell me this is a dream", she rants.

With pleading eyes she clasps her hands like and goes on her knees facing Lucas, "please whatever this is you guys are doing, I don't want to be a part of it".

Immediately she kneels the guys stand up and Lucas also goes on one knee with his head bent toward her, "I'm sorry, I really wish there was a better way to do this".

Jason lifts her up and with his hands on either side of her neck lifts her head so he's looking straight into her eyes, "You know it baby girl, you do. You've known for a while that you don't belong with these people, you're different from them, you're special…"

She shakes her head, "no, I'm not special, I'm cursed. Why do these things happen to me, first the fucking gifts and now this? There's nothing special about any of it".

"You have abilities that others do not, you can do things no other person can, how in the world, whatever world it is, is that not special?", Jason says in the gentlest, sweetest voice she'd ever heard.

"It's going to make sense soon baby, all of it will, I promise", something in his voice makes her really want to believe him, but she can't trust whatever that is.

"You're not safe here, you need to come with us, we can't keep you safe here, we need you to come with us", Lucas says. His voice is also really gentle, betraying the fierceness of his face.

"Not now, not until I understand what this really is".

"And we'll explain it to you, we just need you to stay calm and let us do that", Jason says.

"Alright", she says as she moves away from Jason and takes her seat, "I'm all ears".