Lauren staggered back in alarm, her hand grabbing the bedposts. “Do something.” She yelled “Beth, fucking do something!”
Beth rushed to Eric’s side and bent over him, then after a few seconds, straightened up.
Lauren stumbled forward with tears in her eyes, grabbing Beth’s clothes “He’s gonna die if you don’t do something!”
“I’m not gonna die.” Eric’s voice came from the bed “Calm your horses, Sommers.”
Lauren turned so fast she was surprised she didn’t keel over. “Eric? Eric!” She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, tears of gratitude falling from her eyes.
“Ow! That’s alright, Lauren. If this wound doesn’t kill me, you will.”
“Shut up.” Lauren said, releasing him and drying her tears.”How do you feel? Hurt?”
“Yeah, duh.” Eric replied. He blinked a couple of times and looked around “My glasses. Have you seen them?” He croaked.
Beth hastily passed him his glasses which were cracked at the lens. He put them on and looked into Lauren’s eyes, seeing the questions that lay there. He dragged his eyes away after a few seconds.
“No, I don’t know who did this to me. I know that’s what you’re about to ask.” He muttered.
“You must remember something. Anything! How did you get to wherever you got this wound?” Beth spoke up.
“I don’t remember, honestly.” Eric answered. “I was suspicious. Maybe I shouldn’t have been. I won’t be tending to this big wound in my stomach.” He tried to look down at his torso and winced.
“I followed you, Lauren. I came to your house and I met Beth and Axel, some other people and a dog. This strange-looking Asian girl tackled me too.” He paused, looking at his friend. Lauren knew who the Asian girl was but she didn’t say a word.
“Beth asked the dog to knock me out and they left me in your kitchen.” Eric continued. “When I came to, it was evening already and they’d gone. Beth’s truck wasn’t in the yard. I was even more worried so I decided to trace her using Google maps, to Perkins. Hitched a van ride with a group of weirdos who dressed like hobos and referred to one man as Alpha.”
Lauren looked at Beth in alarm, then back at Eric “Alpha?” She whispered.
“Yeah.” Eric eyed them warily “You know, like Twilight-type werewolf shit. Weird, huh?”
“Wh-what did they look like?” Lauren stammered.
“Well, they were all dressed funny, like I said. One had vivid red hair and another tried to strangle me because I looked at some scar on his arm. They all called me ‘human’ too.”
Lauren and Beth fell silent. Eric noticed this and his eyes darted between them suspiciously. “What?” He asked.
“Nothing.” Laura replied hastily.
“It’s not ‘nothing’. Eric grabbed Lauren’s hand “Tell me. Do you know them?”
“Look, maybe you should rest. You’ve been through a lot. We’ve all been.” Beth cut in, freeing Lauren’s hand from his grip. “I think you should call your mom too.” She continued. “She has been calling me frantically for the past one week. She might have believed that you’ve been with us since that isn’t strange but maybe two weeks is a really long time to be away from her.”
Eric’s eyes widened “Two weeks? I’ve been away for two weeks?”
“Technically, since you said you followed us to Perkins that night.”
He groaned and closed his eyes. “God! That’ll be a very long phone call.”
Lauren laughed “You should probably get right down to it. I’ll get my phone.”
☆
Few minutes later, Lauren came back with her phone. Beth had gone downstairs to join Katherine and Axel, so the guest bedroom was empty save for the both of them. Lauren sat by Eric’s bed and he raised his eyebrows enquiringly.
“What?” She asked teasingly “You need me here in case Mama McKinney decides to flog you with words. You need my shoulder to cry on.”
“Haha. Funny.” Eric grumbled as Lauren doubled up with laughter. “The only person that would be crying in this room today is you. ???? ???’? ???! ??????, ? ???? ???.” He mimicked her.
Lauren stopped laughing “That was a one-time thing. I’ll certainly never cry over an ungrateful bag of dreadlocks like you again.”
Eric grinned “Oh you will, Sommers. I bring tears to the eyes of fair maidens such as yourself. I’m irresistible.”
“Irresistibly annoying, you mean.” Lauren quipped. “Forget it, Eric. That’s the last time I’ll ever cry for you.”
“I enjoyed it though.” Eric became serious “Seeing you care so much for me was relieving. For a while I thought I was going to, you know, lose you.” He reached for her hand and held it, staring into her eyes.
“Lose me to what?” Lauren asked. His tone was becoming way too serious for her liking. She looked into his eyes and what she saw there made her squirm uncomfortably. It was clear he wasn’t talking about their friendship anymore. “You should probably call your mother now.” She prompted.
He blinked as though coming out of a trance “What? Yeah. Yeah, I should.”
“On a second thought I think I’ll give you some privacy. I’ll be outside if you need me.” She murmured. Suddenly she wanted nothing more than to be away from Eric for a while to gather her thoughts. Without another word, she stood up from the bed and left the room.
Once outside she laid a tired head on the door and sighed, closing her eyes. The day was finally getting to her. She felt like she’d lived a hundred years in today alone. Her eyes were drooping with sleep and her bones were ready to give up. Her dress, the black chiffon that she had worn for the funeral was damp with her sweat and tears, dirt clinging to its hem. She found her mind going back to Aidan, not for the first tim today.
Her stomach rumbled with hunger, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything today.
“Hungry?” A familiar voice came from the direction of the stairs. She gasped and opened her eyes, letting out her breath as she realised it was only Aidan. He stood there with a plate of toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.
“Tea and toast in the middle of the night?” She asked, forcing a smile.
“We should really stop limiting a particular food to a particular time of the day. Tea and toast really does hit hard in the middle of the night. Try it?” He came to the door and handed her the plate of toast. She picked one, biting into it gratefully. She was extremely starving.
“When did you get back?” She asked, giving him a once-over. He looked like the fight with the werewolf had gotten the better of him. His white shirt was stained with dirt and missing a few buttons. His feet were bare and his hair, usually obsidian-black, was streaked with dust that turned it white.
“A few minutes ago.” His voice was cheerful but Lauren could sense a hint of tiredness. “Beth said your little human friend is around.”
“It’s Eric.” She glared at him, “He… had a little attack, so to speak.” Lauren said “He was found on our lawn, bleeding. We still don’t know who or what caused the wound.”
“Sheesh.” Aidan murmured.
“And the–” Lauren’s eyes, full of questions, bored into his.
“I killed it.” He said, meeting her eyes. “For a second I wasn’t sure I would survive it. If I wasn’t in wolf form it would have killed me. It was… horrifying, Lauren. That thing would have killed you. See what it did.” He pulled the collar of his shirt down and showed her his shoulder. Ther was a single claw mark there. But instead of it being red with blood, it was black.
“And the curious thing is that the wound doesn’t hurt.” Aidan added, pulling his shirt back up. “It has been throbbing though.” Immediately he said that, Lauren’s mind went to the bracelet on her wrist and how it had throbbed too, merely hours ago.
“You need a shower.” She said, trying to infuse some lightheartedness into her voice “And good food that isn’t toast.”
“No, I know what I need.” He murmured, placing the plate of toast down and pulling her closer. He gently tickled her neck with his nose and smiled when she giggled. He pulled her even closer and laid light kisses on her cheek, her neck, her nose, feeling her squirm. Lauren murmured and tugged at his hair in demand, and he stopped his gentle teasing to kiss her full on the lips.”No, I know what I need.” He murmured, placing the plate of toast down and pulling her closer. He gently tickled her neck with his nose and smiled when she giggled. He pulled her even closer and laid light kisses on her cheek, her neck, her nose, feeling her squirm. Lauren murmured and tugged at his hair in demand, and he stopped his gentle teasing to kiss her full on the lips.
She groaned and her knees buckled as his hands went around her and hugged her closer. He smelled of dust and sweat but she didn’t care. All she wanted was to never leave his embrace again, and it was at that moment that the doors of the guest bedroom flew open. Lauren almost jumped in fright and quickly separated herself from Aidan.
“Hey, Lauren. I’m–” Eric started, then stopped at the sight of them. They were no longer in an embrace but Lauren’s guilty face gave them away.
“What the hell?” he demanded, and before Lauren could say anything in her defense, his eyes moved to his torso and the stitches that Beth had put there. The stitches were coming loose again and blood was seeping out. He looked up again at Lauren’s eyes and opened his mouth as though to say something. But before the words could come out he toppled over and fell into her arms.