Ember
Carter told Jax he would take me home and we sped off on his Lambo.
” Where are we going?”, I asked him.
“My home.”, he said. I raised an eyebrow. “Why are we going there?”, I asked him.
“Ryder is dangerous, and in order for you to understand just how dangerous, you need to understand just how dangerous he is.”, he said before remaining silent. I looked out the window, running over things in my head within the last few months. Was there more to the monster that is Ryder? My mind was putting together the most ridiculous theory, but I chose to ignore it. It was not possible. We arrived at his house, and I was freaking stunned. It was a huge mansion surrounded by a beautiful forest that seemed thick, or at least that was the impression I had as we drove on the path through the forest. There were houses along the path. It seemed to stretch very far. Carter was looking at my reaction and was smiling.
” Do you like our home?’ he asked, still driving. The people walking the path nodded in respect to him as he passed, and he did the same.
“It’s freaking beautiful”, I told him. He drove until we reached his mansion. I saw a white Lambo parked in the garage along with a few other cars and smelled honey. Seth was here, somewhere. As suspected, I looked up into a window, and there was Seth, looking down at me with an intense look. I wasn’t sure how I knew he was there, but I just did. I looked at Carter and when I looked back at the window, Seth was gone.
” Stay here. I’ll be right back”, Carter said, looking at the window as well. No one was around and it was getting dark. The last of the sky’s light was fading and darkness was taking over. I looked into the forest. I was feeling something. Some sort of pull. I closed my eyes, unsure about the pull. My mind guided me to where it was coming from. It was like I was under a spell or something. When I opened my eyes, I was standing in the forest. I looked around me, but I was lost.
” HELLO”, I yelled, but not a sound was heard. It was silent. Too silent. I was told that when it is too silent, it is usually because a predator is around. You couldn’t even hear crickets. I felt a presence behind me, and the smell of honey filled my nose. Fucking Seth, trying to scare me.
” Not funny Se….. Whaaaaa”, I said, turning around, only to come across the largest fucking wolf I had ever seen in my life. It was brown, with yellow eyes that almost looked human. I fell on my ass in fear as he growled at me, slowly walking towards me. I felt a rock in the grass next to me. If this fucker attacked me, I could try to run, though I felt like I would not make it far. Just as the wolf jumped out to attack me, he was tackled midair by two even larger wolves. If I thought that wolf was big, these two wolves were even bigger. Just how fucking big are the wolves in Miami? They were the same in size and height, with one being white and the other being all black. Beautiful but terrifying. Run, I said to myself. I ran while they tore apart the brown wolf. It was a horrifying site. I had no idea where I was going, but I just ran. I ended up in another part of the forest and heard two howls. I was in a bush, but a growl from behind me let me know I had been spotted. The moon was high, and the sky was dark now.
As I backed away from the bush, the white wolf came through, stalking towards me. I heard a growl behind me and saw the black wolf pacing behind me. They were circling me. I stood still, paralyzed with fear. Another growl from the black wolf and I fell down. I started backing away as both wolves stalked towards me. I closed my eyes. If this is how I died, then so be it.
Just as I felt like they were about to pounce, the white wolf did the strangest thing. It sniffed me, then licked my face. It was something a dog would do to show it is friendly. What the fuck was happening? I opened my eyes. I felt a stinging on my face from where I scratched it in the bushes.
” You’re not going to kill me?”, I asked them, as if they could understand me. They looked at each other, then back to me. The white wolf licked my face again. I felt the same stinging on my hand and realized I scraped it. As if sensing it, the black wolf looked down at my hand and started licking the blood away. This would have terrified me.
Instead, I was mesmerized. I stood up and reached out my hand slowly to pet them. Maybe they were a pet of someone and knew the way out of here. We all heard a sound of crunching leaves behind us and they both jumped behind me, as if shielding me. I saw Jax walking through the bushes. He looked at me, confused.
” What are you doing here?”, he asked me, before looking at the wolves.
” Alphas. They are gone. Just the normal rogues”, he said, bowing. The wolves seemed more relaxed now as they turned back to me.
Jax had some clothes in his hand and laid them on the ground before walking away.
” Wait. Jax”, I said, going after him, but he was already gone. What the fuck? Would he just leave me here with two huge fucking wolves? I turned back to the wolves. Had I been paying better attention; I would have noticed that the wolves smelled like citrus and honey. Before I could say anything else, I could not have prepared myself for what I was about to see. Both wolves shifted, and in a split second I was no longer looking at wolves, but two fully naked grown men instead. Carter and Seth.
“WHAT THE FUCK!!”, I said loudly, backing away from them. Seth smiled.
” Now is that anyway to talk to your mates. We just saved your life, human?”, he said.
“Shut up, Seth. Can’t you see she is terrified? Carter said. They both put on their clothes while I stood paralyzed on the ground. If I ran, would they kill me?
” Are you going to kill me?” I asked, voicing my thoughts out loud. Carter looked offended, but could you fucking blame me? He was a fucking beast and now a man. Were the legends true?
“We would never hurt you, Ember. He reached out a hand to me. I looked at it. A million thoughts were forming in my mind.
” I don’t have time for this. You can take your time with the frightened human. I have to see this rouge shit. You’re welcome for the save, by the way, Ms. Maze, he said, annoyed, before walking past me. I moved out of his way fast. He looked hurt but just replaced it with his nonchalant attitude. Once he was out of sight, I turned back to Carter. His hand was still out, waiting for me. He wasn’t forcing me. He was giving me a choice. What the hell? It’s not like this could get any worse. I took his hand, feeling the tingles again, and he led me back to the mansion. It was nearing almost ten. Carter led me through the mansion.
The inside was beautifully decorated with a grand chestnut colored stairway in the entrance and a chandelier on the ceiling. There were many paintings that were spread along with the walls. I followed him up the stairs until we came to a huge room that smelled equally of honey and citrus. I knew at once it was their room. The room was almost three times the size of my apartment. The walls were black, trimmed in white. Their bed was big enough to fit at least 10 people, maybe more. Huge black drapes covered the window. There was a fireplace, and a huge TV was above it. The carpet was white and black. It was very clean and beautiful. I took a seat on the huge couch near the wall as Carter sat on the bed. I looked at him and waited for an explanation.
” Where to begin?” he said, almost to himself. He looked at me. I tried to keep a straight expression. No emotion. I was not really even sure how I was feeling.
” You can start by telling me just what the fuck I saw out there. What are you?” I asked him.