章節 26: 25

R U B Y

He headed out at daybreak in accordance with the plan and drove throughout the day.

Xavier and Axel repeatedly tried calling Natalie, but the call kept going to voicemail. It didn't ﬁll me with conﬁdence that she was all right. I was terriﬁed that we might return to ﬁnd a house ﬁlled with dead wolves.

We barely spoke to each other. I assumed Xavier and Axel were lost in their own thoughts, just like I was.

At around 5 pm, we started looking for a motel to avoid traveling through the night. Axel took his own room, while Xavier and I shared one.

We might have wished we could continue to travel at night, but that shit wasn't going to happen. Not while we still knew so little about the bloodsuckers. At least Xavier and Axel now knew their scent, but what good would that do if we were attacked again? Thankfully, it wasn't a full moon, so the guys were at full strength, but we were taking nothing for granted. What if there were more than two vampires? Xavier and Axel would be outnumbered, and I wouldn't stand a chance.

Xavier and my room contained twin beds, a television so small, even I could've picked it up and thrown it without effort, and a mini-fridge. I could see Xavier in my peripheral

vision on the next bed over as I laid on my back on the incredibly uncomfortable bed, a bedspring digging into me, causing me to shift every three seconds.

He had his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. I sighed and scooted closer to the edge of the bed to get some relief.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he turned onto his side to face me.

I nodded.

"The shadow that you saw behind Natalie–was it more like a person that was blurry or a plain black shadow?"

"A plain black shadow," I replied as I turned onto my side to face him. "Why?"

"I'm just curious. You saw that ﬁrst during the mind link and you've been seeing shadows ever since. That has to mean something."

I rolled onto my back. "I know. I feel like it does too. It has to." I rested my arm on my forehead. "There is so much going on, so much to think about. I don't have a headache, but this tension in my head's driving me nuts."

"I know what you mean. We'll get the answers we need soon enough. It won't do you any good trying to speculate or try to ﬁnd answers where there are none."

I snorted. "That's easier said than done." I rolled back onto my side, the lamp sitting between our beds illuminating his face and making his eyes shine. "Do you think they're okay?"

He nodded, knowing whom I was speaking of. "She's ﬁne. They're okay. We'll leave early in the morning again, and it'll be just a few more hours before we get there." He propped himself up on his elbow. "They're all right."

I could hear it in his voice—he was trying to convince himself of that as well. I bit down on my lip. I hadn't considered the fact that although Natalie was my friend, she

was also his cousin—his family. They were all his family. Of course, he would be worried since none of their calls had been returned. "I'm hungry," I muttered softly to myself.

Sitting up, he swung his legs off the bed. "Where are you going?"

He bent down to put his shoes on before getting up. "I'm hungry as well. I'll go get some snacks from the vending machine in the lobby, okay?"

I nodded and watched him leave before I turned the lamp off. Sometimes lying in the dark offered some comfort. With a bit of light coming in through the window by the door, I could tell if anyone walked by the door.

I was becoming paranoid, but after everything that had happened, I thought I had a right to be. Hence, the knife hidden safely under my pillow.

I wasn't sure when I dozed off, but a rattling sound in the room woke me up. Trapped in the state between awake and asleep, I rolled onto my side to face the door as I rubbed at my eyes. "Xavier?"

When I got no response, I opened my sleep-crusted eyes and spotted someone standing in the corner of the room. I blinked rapidly, my heart skipping a beat as I realized it wasn't Xavier. I jumped up and turned the lamp on before reaching under the pillow for the knife.

When I looked back, I could just make out the form of a man. It did not look like a solid person but instead, it appeared smoky and indistinct. It was seeping into the walls. My eyes bulged as a scream rose to my mouth. I jumped out of bed, tripped, and fell, my eyes still on the smoky form that was almost gone. I got up and rushed to the door. When I opened the door, I almost ran directly into a tall form with a pair of bright eyes staring down at me. Blinded by fear and pumped up on adrenaline, my ﬁst acted on its own.

Luckily, Axel was quick to grab my hand. "Ruby, what the hell? Why are you screaming?" He focused on the room and moved past me to get into the room.

I pushed him out and slammed the door behind me. "There's someone in the room, was someone in the room. It was a shadow." I squeezed my eyes shut. "No, not a shadow. There was someone there, but he turned into smoke." I opened my eyes. I didn't like the way he was looking at me. "He turned into fucking smoke! You have to believe me!"

He reached out to me and held my shoulder. "Hey, I believe you. Come on." He took my hand.

As we walked, I couldn't stop looking around. "Someone is watching me, Axel. Something's wrong here."

"Nothing is wrong with you," he said as he opened his room door and let me in. "Where is Xavier?"

"He went to get food. Do you think he's okay?"

He didn't answer as he went to his window and peeked outside. "He's ﬁne, see?" Since the lobby was a straight shot across from his room, he could see Xavier through the glass door standing at the counter.

I leaned forward and saw him then breathed a sigh of relief that only calmed me for a second. I hadn't imagined it. I was sure of it. Someone had been watching me sleep.

"There wasn't a scent in the room other than yours and Xavier's," he said as he sat down on the bed. "I guess they could have masked their scent, though."

I plopped down beside him and looked over at him, his statement not helping to calm me down at all. "The person is still here, Axel. All he did was fade into the wall. He's still here. We can't stay here." I sighed as I glanced down at my feet. In my panic, I had run out of there without putting shoes on.

I didn't know how he could be so calm. If he believed me, there was no way he'd be this calm.

"We can't leave. If someone was watching you, they had a lot of time to hurt you, if that was their intention." He walked over to his backpack where it sat on a chair across the room. He returned with a pair of socks in hand and handed them to me. "They're clean. Put them on."

I stared at the socks but made no move to take them. All I kept seeing was black smoke in the shape of a man.

He sighed and bent down. "We can't leave tonight. It's not wise for us to travel at night."

I broke out of my trance when his warm hand lifted my leg. I watched as he slid the socks onto my feet one at a time and slowly, very slowly. My cheeks began to heat, and I rubbed my hands against them. I dropped my hands as he looked up at me. My heart skipped a beat as his hazel eyes bored into mine.

His hand was still on my foot, but the moment lasted for just a second as he looked away and stood up. "No one will get to you," he declared conﬁdently as he walked back over to his bag. "I'll make sure of it." He zipped the bag closed and turned to face me, his long hair hanging over his back and shoulders. "I'll protect you, Ruby. You know that, don't you?"

The promise in his voice was somehow enough to make me calm down. "Yes," I answered slowly. "You know, you're not a complete dick."

The lip arched. "You caught me in a good mood. Give me some time."

I rolled my eyes.

He chuckled as he strode over to sit beside me once more. "Sorry about punching you in the face last night."

Axel touched his nose before leaning his head back on his hands. "No worries. You pack a punch, but your hands are still too small to do much damage."

I punched him in the side as hard as I could.

He yelped and sat up.

"You were saying?" I stated.

"Damn, did you really have to do that?" He chuckled. "This is abuse."

I couldn't help but giggle as I leaned over to him somewhat. "I'm learning from the best." I pulled away as I continued to laugh.

Suddenly, his laughter died away. His expression changed. My laughter halted. "What?"

His jaws clenched. "I'm sorry for what I did to you." He rubbed his cheek as he looked away. "The dungeon. All of it."

I raised a brow in shock.

Before I could say anything, the room door opened and Xavier walked in. "What's going on?"

Axel got up and headed for the bathroom. "Someone was in her room."

"What?" Xavier asked as he dropped the bag in his hand. "Who? Where are they?"

"They seeped into the wall," Axel yelled from the bathroom before reappearing, his hair now in a bun. "Whomever it was or whatever it was had been watching her sleep."

Xavier looked towards the door and then back at me. "Shit. I had heard a scream but that moron in the lobby was watching a horror movie. It was so loud, I thought the scream came from it."

Axel picked up his bag and placed it on the ﬂoor before sitting down. "There was no scent in the room. Other than the usual nasties, you pick up at a motel. It must have been masked and we can't knock on each door to check if there is a supernatural inside."

Xavier sighed and picked up the bag he had dropped. He removed two Twinkies and threw one to Axel before giving the bag to me. "You should eat something now. Axel and I

will stay up. We'll take turns to watch if this shadow person returns."

I looked from one man to the other. Right now, at this moment, my curse of being mated to both of them felt like a blessing. I took the bag from Xavier and scouted up to the headboard. "I don't think I can sleep now," I admitted as I ripped into a Doritos bag.

"That's ﬁne. You'll fall asleep eventually," Axel replied as he slid down in the chair somewhat and glanced at Xavier. "You're on the ﬁrst watch."

Xavier threw him a nasty look and sat on the bed beside me. I offered him some of my Doritos but he declined. "Eat. You need it more than I do. Was this one of the shadows like before?"

I shook my head. "No. Those shadows were exactly that, solid shadows. This one was more smoke-like."

He said nothing after that, but remained by my side.

Even though I'd said I wouldn't be able to sleep, knowing they were both watching over me had me drifting off pretty soon.

Axel

ince I'd taken the last watch until this morning, Xavier drove us back to the pack. The moment we

arrived, I could tell something was off and Xavier could too.

Ruby took off running towards the house as soon as the car came to a stop. She ignored me telling her to slow down as she started screaming Natalie's name.

Footsteps approaching us rapidly caught my ear and Natalie appeared with her white hair was piled high on her head.

Ruby pulled her into a hug. "Where the fuck is your phone? We've been calling you and Mathieu. Neither of you answered."

"Um, I have no idea where it is, to be honest," Natalie replied. "So much has been happening around here."

"Like what?" Xavier asked as he pulled her into a hug. "What happened the other night when you mind linked

me?" Ruby added.

Natalie held her hands up. "Okay seriously, what's going on? Come on, I'll ﬁx you guys something to eat. You all look like shit."

Ruby sighed as she followed Natalie into the kitchen.

I lingered in the back while I leaned on the edge of the door. The house seemed quiet, more than usual.

"You started ﬂickering between looking transparent and normal. Then you started bleeding…" Ruby waved her hand over Natalie's body. "…Out of everywhere." She slid onto a stool around the island. "There was a shadow behind you. It appeared after you started bleeding and then it attacked me. I thought maybe you were hurt, that you were being attacked here."

Natalie looked thoughtful for a moment. She moved a few strands of stray hair away from her face. "No. Our connection broke. I ﬁgured you were waking up or something. Nothing like that happened here last night."

"Where is everyone?" I asked. "It's quiet here, more than usual."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Where's dad?" Xavier asked.

Natalie didn't give an answer as she walked over to the fridge and began removing eggs, bacon, and everything she needed to make a meal.

Of course, I wasn't planning on sticking around to have a feast, I had my pack to check on. All I wanted was to make sure Ruby made it back safe.

"He took the pack to a secret location," Natalie replied as she braced herself on the island.

Xavier frowned.

"He's been moving the pack slowly. After that entire pack was killed, vampires tried to kill the Council member from Europe." She poured three glasses of orange juice for Xavier and Ruby but I declined. "All the Council members are on lockdown right now. They're targeting wolves ﬁrst and it's a smart move. However, other supernaturals are being attacked as well."

"So, it's getting out there then that they're real?" Ruby asked.

Natalie nodded. "Yes. Everyone is on high alert."

I scratched my chin and walked further into the kitchen. "Why are they attacking now? They've been living in secret for years, decades and now all of a sudden, they're attacking Council members. Where have they been all this time?"

Natalie sipped from the glass she offered me and shrugged. "I have no idea and right now, we can't worry about that. What about your pack?"

"I sent a message to my beta before we left to head back here," I told her.

Nodding as she listened, she cracked eggs to whisk together.

I went on, "It's only a matter of time before the humans notice something is up. They are killing humans and being sloppy about it."

Natalie snorted. "Well, at least now, there is something else on the news other than humans murdering each other. This world is already shit for us to now have vampires to worry about."

"They're like any other supernatural that plague humans and risk exposure of the all other supernaturals. They'll be dealt with accordingly," Xavier said in a low voice before

slamming his ﬁst down on the island. "But for all the training we've done over the years, nothing has prepared us for this. It snapped my spine."

Natalie's face fell. "What?"

"One of the vampires that attacked us," he told her. "It snapped my back and I think if you do some research on how that pack was all murdered, there'll be a lot of dead wolves with their backs snapped. Fighting them in wolf form will mean we'll be at full strength, strong enough to rip them to shreds but at risk of one climbing onto our backs."

I frowned, as he hadn't told me this. "The one that attacked me didn't do that. It went straight for my chest. My heart maybe?"

Xavier nodded. "They try to not prolong a ﬁght with a wolf. They try to make their ﬁrst strikes...the last. Their scent is their greatest disadvantage. If they learn to mask that we'll be screwed, but I think if they haven't over the years, they've been in hiding they can't."

"That's a start then, right?" Ruby asked. "Having an idea of how they'll attack. At least, we know that and can pass it on to other packs. What about sunlight and being staked through the heart? Do you guys think all of that is true to kill them?"

"Sunlight yes," I replied. "Being staked, no, that's bullshit. They're already dead, so they don't have a beating heart. Go for the head. They also heal quickly, so decapitating them has to be done quickly or completely dismembering them. At least that's what I think I saw in that book. It's been years." I rubbed my hands together as I tried to picture the book and everything I had seen within it. "Wolves and a handful of other supernaturals are strong and fast enough to ﬁght them and win. Plus, we smell them so easily." I looked at Xavier. "Thinking about vampires ﬁghting style now, I think my pack has been incorporating

techniques in our training to ﬁght them." I gave him a smug grin and although, I know now wasn't the time to be petty. But there was no way I would let the opportunity miss me.

His eyes lowered as his jaws clenched.

I turned away. "I'm going back to my pack. I'll secure their safety and return with the book."

I glanced at Ruby over my shoulder, her green eyes pierced into mine. I looked away without saying anything. It was becoming increasingly di cult for me to look her in the eyes without feeling things I didn't want to. I ﬁgured being away from her for a few hours might do me some good.

"Hey," Xavier called behind me.

I got to the front door and turned around to face him. "Yeah?" The time we'd spent together had left us less hostile towards each other but I still didn't like the guy. As much as I'd never admitted this to anyone that's partly because of how close he was to Ruby. They deserved each other, as they were true mates. She and I were just an accident made by the goddess.

Even so, I still cared for her…I still dreamt about her. "Why are you doing this?" Xavier asked. "Helping Ruby

and I and willing to pass on useful information so easily."

I inhaled as I buried my hands in my pockets. I looked past him to the direction of the kitchen as Ruby's laughter met my ears. I rarely heard her laugh but when I did, I tried to imprint it to my memory. "What's going on right now, is bigger than land and power. Some things are more important." I cleared my throat as my eyes drifted back to him while Ruby and Natalie began to whisper. "Besides, if we don't work together and these leeches take over, everything will be theirs. That's all there is to this."

I turned away without another word and closed the door silently behind me.

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