Sarah's heart raced as she stood at the corner of the street. It had been years since she had been in the tiny village but it hadn’t changed at all. She could see the house that she needed to go to, but her feet were rooted to the pavement.
“Now I know where Aiden gets it from,” she said to herself.
“Are you just going to stand there all day or are you coming in?”
Sarah smiled at the voice from behind her. It hadn’t changed at all, neither had the way her stomach fluttered when he was near her.
“Good to see you, Benjamin. You’re looking well.”
“As opposed to normally looking ill?” He said. “I’m guessing this isn’t a social call, is it?”
There was no denying the hope in his v
Aiden shuffled his foot as he waited for Sarah and Charlie to appear from the building that housed Sarah's office. She had gone to arrange emergency personal leave, ready for the road trip to Scotland. It had been almost half an hour but there was no sign of them at all. Filled with concern, he crossed the road to look for them, then stopped. There was something in the air, something different about the way it smelled. “Wolf,” he mumbled. His stomach flooded to bursting, with a mix of fear and worry, while his mind wouldn’t stop with ‘what if' as he followed the scent. Trying to convince himself that he was overreacting, he rounded the corner onto an empty street. The scent grew stronger with each step that he took, but then suddenly faded when he'd walked halfway down the street. Aiden looked around in confusion, then backtracke
As soon as he stepped outside, Aiden heard a heart-stopping snarl that sent every hair on his body standing on end. He had just enough time to dive out of the way of the huge brown wolf, as it came hurtling towards him with all its teeth bared and saliva dripping from its muzzle. “Holy shit!” Aiden scrambled to his feet and ran to the corner of the pub where he crouched low, waiting to see what the wolf would do next. He didn’t need to wait long. The wolf pushed off from the tarmac, its powerful back legs propelling it into the air towards Aiden. His heart thudded in his chest and ears as the huge front paws loomed towards him. Aiden ran forward, towards the snarling wolf, then dropped to his back on the tarmac. Raising his legs, he put all his strength into making his feet connect with the wolf’s soft underbelly. The
Charlie screamed in horror as she watched Aiden raise his arms over his face, then disappear under the weight of the massive brown wolf.“Aiden!” Sarah screamed from beside her.The brown wolf snarled and began walking slowly towards her and Sarah, never taking its eyes away from her. Her heart screamed at her that Aiden was dead and it was all because of her while her brain shouted to run for her life but without Aiden, she was as good as dead, anyway.“Aiden!” Sarah screamed again.“Run! Sarah, run for fuck sake!” Charlie shouted to her.Sarah, tears streaming down her face, shook her head. "I can't."<
“How did you do it?” Sarah asked.Aiden shrugged his shoulders then winced as pain shot through his arm and neck. “I don’t know. I just touched his fur and then the next thing l knew, my skin was being ripped apart and then I was charging at him, ready to rip his throat out.”“Your father told me the first time is always the worst and each time afterwards, it gets easier and less painful to shift. How do you feel now?”Aiden was hurting but it wasn’t the broken arm or the fast healing scratches that was causing it. “A little wounded but strangely, I feel better than I did an hour ago.”“That will be the regeneration. You’ll heal quicker than nor
Charlie heard Sarah shout for her to wait but she ignored her. She needed to get out of the house and clear her head, or at least think about what she was going to do. Slamming the front door harder than she meant to, she speed-walked down the street and turned the first corner. Walking as fast as she could, crossing roads, turning corners, Charlie looked for a large open space where she could sit and think for a while.Since her teenage years, Charlie had used open spaces to help work through her problems. She would spend hours at the beach, watching the ocean waves roll over the pebbles, or sitting on West Hill Cliff, overlooking the town below. At that moment she wished she was back in Hastings, watching the world go by as she had done many times before, but she wasn’t. Instead, she was in the middle of a strange town, with a friendly faery and a half-faery, half-wolf that was
“Aiden, let me go look for her. You’re in no condition. You still have a lot more healing to do.” Shaking his head, Aiden stood. “No, it’s my fault she stormed out. I’ll go find her. Besides, I can sense when I'm near her. You stay here and call me if she comes back.” “But Aiden, you’re arm…” “Just a scratch. Call if you hear anything, okay?” It wasn’t just a scratch, more like a nasty bite from a savage dog, but it had gotten better so it wasn’t exactly a lie. Besides, it had been five hours since Charlie had left the house and neither he nor Sarah had been able to get through to her on her mobile. The knowledge that Rafael was on his way to meet with the Alpha of the Red Dawn pack and with Charlie being alone and having nowhere to go, ha
“Sarah! That’s twice in a year you’ve come to this door. You’ll have to be careful you don’t start making it a habit, not that I mind. Come in.”“Thank you, but this isn’t exactly a social call. We need to talk, Ben. Are you free?”Sarah had questioned herself for the entire drive over to Ben's house and had almost turned back more than once.“Sure, take a seat. What’s wrong? You look like shit, I'm afraid to say.”Forcing a laugh, she sat down on the leather sofa and pulled in a deep breath. Her stomach was tied up in more knots than Fort Knox had locks and nervous nausea was rising in her throat.
Charlie's lungs felt like they were going to burst from the amount of effort she had forced into the scream. Bill had told her when he tied her to the chair, that it was pointless wasting her energy with trying to scream and shout through the rag in her mouth. He had said there was nobody around for miles, only wolves, but she had to keep trying."Sh… sh… she's in here, like you wa… wanted, Alpha," a man said."Thank you, Falcon. Make sure nobody goes to her unless they're with me. Understand?""I d… do. Yes, Alpha. Na...na… nobody."Charlie froze as the lock on the door banged and was promptly followed by the sound of creaking of wood. She held her breath as footsteps thudde