The onlookers watched the fight with bated breaths, everyone in the clearing rooting for their alpha. The black wolf, which was Jonas, was severely injured, while the grey one had only a few bruises on him, and was looking as though he was getting ready to finish off the fight. Sophia watched this scenario with glee, immediately dismissing her strange experience as a pain-induced dream and mentally cheering her grandfather on, even though she felt really faint. The black wolf was beginning to panic now, and as the grey one pinned it down, and raised its hand, as though it wanted to use its claws to finish it off, the black wolf's panicked eyes darted frantically about, searching somewhere beyond the clearing. Suddenly, something the old woman had said in her trance, dream, or whatever it was, came back to Sophia, clear as day. “It doesn’t seem like it just yet, but Jonas is going to win that fight that is going on now. He has something planned that will give him the upper hand.” Soph
Sophia came to after what must have been several minutes, or even about an hour at the insistent tugging of her mother’s hands on her arms and her faint groans. They were still where they had fallen some meters away from the lair and the ongoing fight and chaos, which had died down a bit but was still ongoing. Taking a quick look at Maria, Sophia saw that her mother only looked slightly better than when they had first started running away from the clearing.“Run… you need to run away, Sophia. They’re coming for us. I won’t let them have you…” Maria said once she was certain that she had Sophia’s attention, but Sophia was not having any of it. She got up on wobbly legs and tried to pull her mother along with her, but her mother resisted. Even in her weakened form, she was much stronger than Sophia, so it was like pulling a brick wall.“Mom, I won’t leave you alone. They’ll kill you. I know they will.”“They won’t.” Maria lied, knowing very well what would happen, but she had been a disa
Michael stared at the man warily, not knowing what to make of him or if he should even believe him. Duncan looked quite sincere though, but apart from that, he looked really worried, although Michael guessed that that was because he was scared of what would happen to his fiancée. “You do know that I can tear you from limb to limb without breaking a sweat if it turns out that you’re lying, don’t you?” Michael asked him quietly, and the man nodded effusively. “I know, but I’m telling you the truth. I have nothing to gain by lying to you and everything to lose. Look, we both have something to gain here. You help me get my fiancée back, and I’ll take you straight to the person who is responsible for your family’s death.” “You keep on going on and on about me helping you to rescue your fiancée. What even makes you so sure that I can even help you?” The man averted his gaze before answering, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. “I just know. You’re a strong werewolf and you have a reputa
“I used to live down the street from you guys and was kind of friends with your older brother, Matt, as we were in the same age grade.” Duncan started, glancing away briefly when Michael’s eyes hardened a little at the mention of his older brother. “Those days were bad ones for me, and I hate to remember them, but if you’re to know what happened, I’ll need to relive them.” “I’m sorry about that. However, I’m sure reliving those days is going to be much worse for me than it is for you. I can’t remember you, though.” Michael stated somberly. To date, he still remembered his elder brother, who had been ten years old when the incident occurred, but only vaguely. They had been close, and Michael remembered his brother trying to teach him how to ride a bicycle, even though he had only been a child himself, and how they had caught frogs in the pond a few meters from their house back then. He smiled fondly at the memory but was soon brought out of his reverie when Duncan continued his story.
“Look, all this talk is just a waste of time. Let’s get going immediately. You’ll fill me in on what I need to know on the way there. There’s not a second more to be wasted.” Michael said abruptly, the rage beginning to rise within him as he pondered on all that Duncan had told him. He began to stride away as fast as he could, knowing that Duncan would follow him when the latter’s voice rang out.“Um, what about the girl?” Duncan asked hesitantly. Michael thought he could detect a faint tinge of shame in his voice. “Dammit! What even possessed you to kidnap her in the first place? Now she’s only going to cause us to waste time.” Michael yelled, kicking hard at a tree trunk and causing a sizable chunk of it to fall off the tree. He ignored Duncan’s gulp of fear at this action and took a deep breath to calm himself down before pasting a smile that he knew looked fake even without seeing it on his face. Then he headed to the shack in which Audrey was still tied.She was clearly angry and
The woods were rife with nocturnal activities, such as the sounds of little animals scurrying around, and other larger animals that Sophia steadfastly refused to think about. She could hear them pausing and continuing their movements, apparently viewing her as no serious threat as she slowly trudged through the bushes. She could not blame them either, after all, this was their time to move around, plus they were in their territory. Sophia had since lost track of time, and all that mattered to her now was getting as far away from the lair as possible, even though she did not know where on earth she was to go, or the dangers that she would meet on the way. She would have loved to think that she had put as much space as possible between herself and the lair, but the truth was that she did not know if that was the case or not. All she knew was that she had to keep going, moving, and never stop, until she keeled over, after which she would recover, stand up, and continue on her way. It wa
The night was still and quiet as Michael and Duncan drove through it. They did not meet anyone or see any other car on the way, making it seem as though they were the only ones in the whole wide world. Duncan sat on the passenger’s side, dozing and snoring with his mouth wide open. His complexion was still pale, but he looked far better than he had three days ago. In fact, three days ago, after Duncan had used the spell on Audrey to make her forget about the encounter in the bush and the fact that Duncan had kidnapped her, Michael had been fairly certain that the man was going to die on him.Totally exhausted, Michael pulled over to the side of the road, intending to take some time to rest, even if it was ten minutes. As soon as he pulled over though, Duncan came awake slowly and glanced around in a panic. Michael stared at him with raised eyebrows.“What? Why… where are we? Are we safe?” Duncan asked, wiping the remaining traces of sleep from his eyes as he looked around them, but th
Sophia woke up after what must have been hours, to the sound of her mother crying, and sat up with the speed of sunlight, regretting the swift motion when her head began to pound viciously and her vision swam. She paused for a bit to get herself back and then looked around her. It was already daylight, which meant that she had been out for hours. She was alone with her mother, who was still crying profusely and was sitting beside her, but could not do anything more, because of how tightly she was bound with chains.“Oh, thank God, Sophia. I thought that you were dead.” Maria whispered tearfully when her daughter finally focused on her.Sophia was silently studying her mother’s face, rage welling deep within her at the sight of Maria. She had been beaten so much that her two eyes were almost swollen shut, and her arm was hanging at a crooked angle as though it had been broken. The sky blue shirt that she was wearing was soaked with blood, and without anyone telling her, Sophia knew that
The group set out not long after with Bandor. Michael carefully avoided Sophia’s gaze, although he could feel her eyes on him most of the time. What he was doing was for her own good, whether she knew it now or not. In time, she would be better for it. This time around, they came across some other houses, although not much. “Where are all the people who live in this dimension or whatever it is? We’ve not come across anyone else, except for those soldiers yesterday.” Michael asked, speaking to Bandor. “Hush! You have to forget that we met those soldiers and never mention them again. You never know who might be listening here. You could get in trouble.” Bandor said urgently. “Alright, I’ll stop yapping unnecessarily. So, when do you think we’ll get to where we can order hire a car or something? You do have a phone, right, Bandor?” Michael asked. They had had to leave their phones behind because Duncan had told them that they would be frisked and their phones and any other technologica
That night after Michael left, Sophia found it difficult to sleep, despite how tired she was. Before, Michael had been blowing hot and cold, leading her to believe this minute that he felt attracted to her as his mate and in the next minute as though she was only deluding herself. Still, she could have sworn that she saw the tenderness in his eyes, moments before his eyes turned cold, but now, she knew she was mistaken.Finally, she fell into a troubled sleep but was rudely awoken sometime around dawn when aggressive pounding came on the front door of Sally’s house, startling her, as well as every one else in the house, wide awake. They all met in the corridor and hurried into the living room to see that the door had been broken down and a bunch of Drupas soldiers were standing there and turning the whole living room upside down.“What is this madness? How dare you come uninvited into my home and make a mess of my home?” Sally shrieked at them in righteous indignation.“We’re looking
"What the hell just happened here?” Toby breathed in amazement. “It’s called a disappearing spell. I had Sophia do the spell so that their bodies will vanish without a trace and it will look like they absconded from their duty post. That should distract anyone who might be searching for them for a while. I can’t bury them in the backyard in case someone comes looking for them.” Sally told them all. “That makes sense,” Sophia said, trying her best not to stare at Michael, even though it was very difficult not to do so. He was all that she could think about. Now was not the time to be lusting after her mate, though, as they had more pressing matters to attend to. Take for instance, they still didn’t know how Duncan planned to rescue his fiancée from Damien of Monstergate. He kept changing the topic stylishly any time they asked him, causing Sophia to suspect that his strategy was not something that they were going to like at all. “What kind of creatures were those? I don’t think that
“What the hell?” He began but stopped short when he saw that the other soldier was dead too, along with two others whom he hadn’t even noticed, that had been running over to join the fray. Sally was standing still a few meters away with her eyes closed, chanting stuff under her breath.“Come on, quick! Gather the bodies. They must not be found, otherwise, we’ll be in serious trouble. It is a crime to kill soldiers in these areas, but they left me with no choice. Damn! This is a mess, and I hate this, but what’s done is done.” Sally said hurriedly, opening her eyes at last.“How did you manage to do that?” Sophia asked in wonder.“I’m a sorceress, and I used a very strong and terrible kind of magic to kill them, but we have to hurry, otherwise, more of them will soon be on the way here, and I’m already drained of power. Even if I wasn’t, I’m not sure that I’d want to kill any more of them, because the killings will be easily traceable to me. Now, Michael and Toby, pick up those bodies.
The small group of people trudged through the short savanna in which they found themselves. Michael carefully avoided Sophia’s gaze, even though it was very difficult to do so. He was acutely aware of her and her every move, as he was sure she was with his. She wasn’t even attempting to hide it.“Although this place does not look like the best place on earth by any means, I don’t think it’s as bad as we thought,” Toby said, breaking the silence that they were walking in.No sooner had he said that, than an arrow came flying out of nowhere in the growing dusk to land at Sophia’s feet, startling the living daylights out of them all. Michael immediately sprang to attention, growling at the growing shadows and all but ready to charge at whatever it was that had thrown the arrow.“Shhh!” the old woman - Sally whispered fiercely and urgently. There was a rustle in the shadows, and then out stepped three creatures who looked like human beings, except for the snouts on their faces and the thi
“What the hell?” Michael began as soon as they stepped to the other side, his facial expression showing utter disbelief. The expression on the faces of the others mirrored that of Michael’s as they all looked around, hoping that they were dreaming.“I don’t understand … how come we’re back exactly where we started?” Sophia asked no one in particular.“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I can’t believe it. What a waste of time! Duncan, what’s going on? Care to explain?” Michael asked, his tone suggesting that Duncan had better have a good explanation for this.“We have to go through the tunnel seven times before we get to the other dimension.” Was the nonchalant reply.“Whaaaat?!!” The other three chorused.“I’m sorry, but the rules guarding this particular portal are very rigid. I think it’s to deter nosy humans who manage to sneak past the security from entering into the other dimensions. It’s a shame it wasn’t enough to deter Vanessa from going there.”“So, what you’re trying to
They got to the portal around two in the morning the following day. Nothing eventful happened on their way here after the events of last night, and Sophia had not had a chance to use or test her powers again. She still felt the same, something that was quite disappointing, as she had thought that there would be something to show the fact. She was fast asleep, and so was Toby who was sitting beside her. “Alright, guys, we’re fast approaching the portal now,” Duncan announced loudly, waking Sophia up. Toby still slept peacefully, and as usual, was snoring loud enough to wake the dead. Sophia wondered how she had managed to sleep so soundly with him snoring right into her ear and then realized that getting her powers must have somehow drained her of energy. “Hey, Toby. Wake up.” She said, shaking him awake and looking around as she tried to clear the sleep from her eyes. They were driving along a very high fence that seemed to go on for miles before they finally arrived at a large gate
Michael had Duncan by the lapels of his shirt and was growling fiercely, while Toby tried unsuccessfully to pry him off poor Duncan, who was sputtering in indignation and trying in vain to free himself. Sophia could see why Michael was so distraught. She was still kneeling down in the same position in which she had been before her trance, with her eyes tightly closed as she remained unaware of her surroundings. “Make her normal this minute, or I swear to God that I’ll rip you into tiny pieces,” Michael yelled, not caring that he was practically choking Duncan, who was trying to convince him that he wasn’t responsible for what was happening to Sophia in vain. “Wait. Let me try something else. I swear I didn’t do anything to her. I don't know why she's like that. Please, let go of me.” Duncan managed to ground out. “Oops. I thought he didn’t like me or want me as his mate. How come he cares what happens to me and what doesn't?” Sophia told her parents. “Even if he doesn’t care, he ca
Sophia followed Duncan into the sparse bushes silently, her heart beating a mile a minute as she did so. If she failed to gain her powers, of which she was seriously beginning to doubt that she indeed had any, they were certainly going to be doomed. Duncan did not look like he had any intention of abandoning his fiancée in the other dimension, and neither would she want him to. Michael had promised to help him, so he had no choice but to do so, but aside from that, he did not strike her as someone who would abandon a mission all because he was afraid. From the little that she had seen of him, he seemed to be someone who thrived on dangerous situations a lot. Toby did not have where to go and was willing to follow the two men and do whatever he could to prove himself, and probably earn some money while doing it. That left her, who had gotten an escape route because of Duncan's fiancee, at least in a roundabout way, and there was no way she was not going to do everything she could to sa