4. Hysteria

“What’s your name?” I asked, stepping out from the motel’s lobby. “And how do I know you’re the real deal? Not some random guy who's trying to lead me into the woods and do something devious?”

He reached for one of my duffel bags, taking the strap out of my hand and throwing it over his shoulder. “I’m Elijah. Elijah Ledger, but my friends and family call me Eli.”

“Right. So, Elijah?”

Elijah sighed, putting down the duffel beside his feet, and rolled up the sleeve of his navy shirt, revealing a geometric-like moon symbol with a print in the center that looked a lot like a wolf paw. “Happy?” A dark brow quirked. “Mine is a little different from everyone else’s marks, considering my dad is the alpha.”

“Alpha, as in leader?” I enquired.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Not sure how this works, but he’s like a king to wolves?”

Elija sputtered a laugh, shaking his head. “I guess you can say that.”

“So.” I gave him a sideways look. “Why is the prince out looking for a peasant?”

“I’m part of the Moon Guardians. As I mentioned before.”

“Okay, but aren’t you important compared to the others?”

“As long as my dad rules, not really,” he said. “Guess you could say I’m a back-up alpha if something happens to him. Which is unlikely. Nothing can kill that stubborn old fool.”

“You don’t seem to be close to him?” I prodded.

“Not really, no.” Elijah sighed. “But enough of me. Why are you out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“My mom dumped me by the train station, so I stayed here hoping one of you would come for me.” I paused, giving him a suspicious look. “How did you know where I was? Did Luca tell you?”

“Luca who?” he asked, rolling his sleeve back down. “No. I used magic and my senses to track you.”

“You said our marks look similar,” I redirected the conversation. “Mine doesn’t look anything like yours. Not even close. Mine’s all veiny and it looks like there are weird symbols forming in them. It glows, too.”

“Yeah?” His eyes narrowed down to my arm, covered by the sleeve of my jacket. “Can I see it? The veiny look is normal, by the way. It passes, so don’t worry about that.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” I pushed back my hair to reveal my neck. “Mine almost takes up my entire neck.”

“Your neck?” Elijah’s face contorted into a shocked expression. He swooped forward and grabbed hold of my shoulder. “What the hell?”

My brow shot up. “What? Is there something wrong with it?”

His gaze rose to meet mine. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“What do you mean?” I blinked, anxiety expanding inside my chest. “This isn’t normal?”

“No, it isn’t.” He stepped back as if he got burnt. “How exactly did you get marked?”

“Luca,” I said. “I was at school doing, well, what you’re supposed to do at a school when he grabbed me and bit me in the neck, and that’s how it happened.”

“Luca?” Elijah frowned. “I don’t recall any of the recruiters going by that name.” He shook his head. “And what weirdo bites you in the neck? That is, unless he’s your boyfriend?”

“Hell no.” My eyes widened. “And wait—does this mean I’m not like you? Maybe it’s some kind of prank?”

“No, you’re definitely one of us.” He gave me a sideways look. “I can sense the wolf in you. Quite strongly for a pup, if I must say so.”

I stared down at my feet, frowning. “Maybe something went wrong when he marked me? You said we use magic. Does this marking process involve magic? And why is your mark on your arm?”

“Sort of. We siphon energy from the huntress. She’s the only one who can grant us the gift to mark. Actually, we only mark when she demands us to.” He pulled a face. “The marking process does involve biting, but normally the one who does the marking bites the arm, in some cases, the leg. If this Luca isn’t dating you, then he’s a creep for biting you in the neck. It’s too…personal, there.”

“Great…” So Luca was unstable, then. “The huntress? What do you mean?”

“Diana.”

“As in from mythology?”

“Yes, but she’s not mythic,” he answered, stepping back. “Either she favors you, a lot, or you’ve ticked her off.”

I swallowed, not sure what to make of the situation.

Elijah conjured a life-size mirror out of nowhere. Literally. It floated mid-air in front of us, reflecting Elijah’s somber expression and my distress.

“What the actual crap?” I murmured, my voice barely audible. “Why do we need a mirror?”

“That, Hailey, isn’t a mirror. It’s a portal that will take us straight to the Academia of the Moon.”

“Why do we need to go through that?” I waved a hand toward it. “Why can’t we just take a car? Or a bus, or plane, or anything...normal?”

The apprehension I felt blossoming inside my belly had exploded into full-blown panic. The moment I stepped through that thing, every last bit of ordinary I’ve had would be nothing but a memory.

I peered at Elijah, sizing him up. He was without a doubt good-looking, and on a better day, I might even flirt with him. He had that innocent boyish charm to him—the kind that always had the girl home before curfew, who held open doors for people and helped elderly ladies cross the street.

The question was, was it all a facade, or could I trust him? What was really behind that portal?

It wasn’t as if I had many options to pick from. Everyone I knew abandoned me, and if I didn’t go, I could resort to slaughtering the entire town. That is if I don’t end up dead first.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, a small red light flickered wildly, but I couldn’t pinpoint out what on earth the reason behind it was.

“Unfortunately, it’s the fastest way to get to the academy, and we don’t have much time to get back.”

“Time for what?”

“Before they send the hounds. Remember I’m the alpha’s son. If I’m out too long, they assume something went wrong and backups come running. Trust me, we don’t want that to happen.”

“Oh?” My brows rose, my eyes not moving from the portal.

“The hounds are vicious.” Elijah’s breath brushed my cheek, and I shivered.

“I don’t like this.” I turned to face him. “What if I decide I don’t want to go?”

“I could leave you here. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d have to do that,” he shrugged. “But, you’re a wild card, and I can get in a lot of trouble if I leave you here, knowing what I know.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Which part?”

I rolled my eyes. “Wild card. How am I one?”

“That interesting mark you’ve got. We need to figure out why yours look like that, and we will need your neck to track down the guy who marked you. Luca, you said?”

I stepped back. “My neck?”

“Yeah, how else are we supposed to track the guy and ask him why yours look like that?”

“You're going to take my neck?” My voice echoed, and I took a few more steps back, sheltering my neck with a hand. “You’re not touching my neck.”

Elijah frowned before his face contorted in surprise. “Oh, no. That’s not what I mean. We’re not going to harm you—”

“I don’t believe you.” The calmness slipped from my body like a veil getting ripped off of me and unleashing every ounce of panic I knew was missing since the moment he showed up. “You did something to me.”

His shoulders dropped. “I needed to calm you somehow.”

“You used magic to calm me.”

“I had to. I could tell you were going to put up a fight,” he sighed. “I swear, we’re not planning to do anything remotely harmful to you. We’re here to help you. If you run free, you could die.”

“How do I know it isn’t a story your people spun to lure us in?”

Hysteria wasn’t pretty. I’ve never experienced it before, but it was debilitating. My mind couldn’t think clearly or process reality. I felt myself slipping into an abyss of mind-numbing fear, my legs weighing tons and my body shaking.

The only thing I could comprehend was that I needed to run.

“No, Hailey—”

Elijah cursed as I turned and made a beeline across the street into oncoming traffic, right in front of a speeding truck.

I barely managed to process my situation when large fangs sunk into the collar of my jacket and jerked me back in time before I got run over.

When I glanced up, I stared straight up at a gigantic wolf. I screamed.