It was in a werewolf’s genes to hunt. The urge was even more intense if they needed to give chase to their mate. And although Aiden, next in line to be the alpha ultra, was usually a composed teenager who knew how to control himself, he had trouble handling his wolf at that moment.
Run, little girl. Run, his wolf basically sang.
Aiden could picture the wolfish grin all too well.
Don’t, he tried to fight him. She’s scared.
Even as he told him that mentally, his wolf started taking control of his body. His eyes stung as they went black and his fingernails elongated into claws.
“I’m giving you a head start,” he sing-sang before chuckling, “make good use of it, little mate.”
The next thing Aiden knew, he lost the fight, and he was hurrying down the white hallways of the pack’s clinic.
He could hear her screaming for help. He then saw her almost begging, reaching out for someone at the door of another room… But what werewolf would dare touch what was his?
He growled at the mere thought of another’s hands on her.
She chanced a glance at him, and then froze in her tracks, looking terrified beyond comprehension.
Aiden’s claws retracted upon seeing her tear-streaked face. The wolf within him had only wanted to play, and now he was retreating yet again to the back of his mind.
See the damage you’ve done! Aiden all but bellowed at him.
Only silence met his angry inner outburst.
“Karen,” he let out softly, trying not to scare her further.
She cowered back in fear, shaking her head negatively. “Don’t come near me. Please don’t come near me.”
He held his hands up in surrender, silently telling her he wished her no harm. “I won’t,” he promised, “just go back to your room.”
She shook her head no vehemently. “I feel fine. I’m going home.”
“I can’t allow that,” he said grimly, even though he didn’t want to go against her wishes… She just knew too much, and preaturely too.
“You can’t keep me here,” she challenged, eyes defiant, chin jutted… like a queen. Like the luna she was meant to be.
“I have to,” he told her bleakly. And then, using his inhumane speed, he flashed behind her. “Forgive me,” he murmured, startling her, right into his awaiting arms.
He held her, savoring each moment, like the creep he was for her. She fought him every step of the way to her room.
But when he finally placed her on the bed, it seemed like all fight left her. She looked at him warily and asked anew without so much as a stutter, even though he could hear her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest, “What are you?”
“An abomination,” he said in a self-derisive tone. “A monster. A supernatural being. A werewolf.”
** ** ** ** **
There was something acutely sad about the way Aiden told Karen he was an abomination, a monster, before telling her anew that he was a werewolf, and she felt her fear dissipate at once.
“I don’t understand,” she let out on a sigh, her heart and her mind at war. Indeed in her heart, she knew he was telling the truth, but her mind was far from convinced. “How can you be…”
“If you don’t believe me, have trust in your senses,” he told her matter-of-factly.
His detached tone made her wince, and she felt like she was the cause for his closing off. Aiden was usually an easy-going guy, and this sudden change in demeanor worried her somehow.
“Trust your eyes that saw the change of color in mine, your ears that heard my growl.”
She nodded hesitantly, remembering all that had transpired, before asking in a curious tone, “But how can it be?”
“What do you mean how can it be?” He chuckled dryly. “I was born this way, sweetheart.”
It was not his first time using this endearment. And usually, each time he did, she caught fire. And yet, this time around, she didn’t feel her heart skip a beat as it should have, or even butterflies dance in her belly in anticipation for there was just something ominous about the way he spoke.
“Okay,” she drawled, as she looked left and right, trying to find an escape yet again.
“Don’t even think about it,” he iced out, before his features broke into a wry smile, “You run. I chase. And believe me, I’ll catch you each and every time.”
She gulped down her fear and tried to look at him, mustering all the courage she possessed. She ground her teeth and then asked, “Why did Shane call you alpha? And what’s an eraser?”
“There are ranks in our community, and the word alpha refers to the leader of the pack,” he told her, his expression still blank but his eyes softening.
“So you’re a leader,” she nodded in understanding. “I understand.”
“I’m not just any leader, or any alpha though,” he deadpanned, “I am the next in line alpha ultra of the US.”
“Alpha ultra?” She repeated dumbly almost. “It must mean something even more troublesome, huh?”
“You can say that,” he shrugged, the hint of a smirk in his tone.
She had asked another question, regarding this eraser, whatever that was, but he seemed unwilling to answer that. “What do you want with me?” She asked instead.
“Right now, all I want is for you to forget this whole werewolf ordeal ever happened,” he sighed almost dramatically.
She giggled. “As if!”
His smirk gave off the feeling that he was not telling her everything.
“You can’t mess with my memories, can you?” She then asked, fear gripping her tight in its grasp.
“I cannot, but an eraser can.”
An eraser: Whatever that was, was capable of manipulating memories, of erasing them, as the name suggested, she reasoned.
Good god, what was becoming of her life? There was no place left for logic or anything coherent. Everything she had known to be the real world was but one facade to said world the facade the humans chose to see.
“Did you mess with my head before?” The words were out of her mouth before she could help herself.