Two

REMI’S P.O.V.

I could feel them coming closer, rapidly closing in on our town.

My heart hammered against my ribs as the pull grew stronger. It took everything in me not to go down and meet them at the treeline like I did in my dreams, but I wasn’t ready to die.

And I knew Thesta wasn’t either.

“Thesta!” I hissed down at her, terrified the beasts would hear me before she did.

Yet, her body remained limp, the blood soaking her shirt as it dripped from the wound on the side of her head.

“Thesta! Wake up!” I said a little louder, tears filling my eyes as I glanced around for help, but everyone had barricaded themselves away. Their doors and windows were covered and bolted shut to hide from the very beasts I had been running toward.

There was no one to help.

"Damn it!” I spat before ducking under the bell and sprinting back down the stairs. The world felt darker as I stepped out, and every muscle in my body tensed as I rounded the corner into the open town square.

“Thesta, you have to wake up! They are coming!” I whispered, my hands sizzling and burning as I began pulling at the chains, wiggling them down her body until they reached her hips and fell to the ground.

I groaned as she fell forward onto me, her dead weight sending me stumbling back a step before I was able to get a good hold on her.

“Please, Thesta!” I begged as the blisters started forming on my hands from having touched the silver, making it difficult to hold her. “Please, wake up!”

A low snarl in the forest behind me made my mouth go dry, but the adrenaline that flooded my body gave me the strength I needed to drag her back to the bell tower.

I was panting and sweating by the time I got her there, laid her on the floor, and closed the door behind us. Still, I knew it wasn’t over.

We were as good as dead if we stayed here. The trail of blood would have them breaking down the door any moment.

It wasn’t fair to her.

She hadn’t wanted this. She had changed her mind.

This was all my fault. If I had just gone back with her when she first asked, we would be safe and sound inside the pack house right now.

My eyes landed on her blood-soaked shirt, and I reached for it without thinking. I never thought my plans through, and my father scolded me for it constantly. This time was no different.

“Remi?” Thesta groaned, grabbing her head as I pulled at her shirt. “What h-happened?”

“Listen to me carefully. The elders tried to sacrifice you. You can’t trust them! Now give me your shirt!” I said as quickly as I could, pulling it over her head, and feeling an ache in my chest as I ripped the door open and the frigid night air hit my face.

I wanted to look back at her, but I couldn’t. It would hurt too much to say goodbye to her.

She had been my best friend since we were kids. Even when the rest of the pack turned their backs on me when I didn’t shift at sixteen like the rest of them, she stood by my side.

She had always been like a sister to me… which was why I couldn’t let her die for my foolishness.

“What are you doing?” Thesta whispered from behind me, her words slurring from the blow she had taken, and I bit my lip, knowing she was in no state to defend herself.

It was impulsive, but it was the right choice.

I had to lead them away from her.

“Giving you a chance,” I breathed before stepping out of the bell tower. “Barricade the door, and the second the sun comes up, you need to run. Leave this place before the elders find you.”

Before she could respond, or I could change my mind, I reached back and closed the door between us.

The night suddenly felt quieter than before, and I quickly scrambled to hide the drag path from the tower to the post, using my foot to kick the dirt around to bury her blood. I needed them to follow me and the smell of her bloody shirt, to think she had gone in the other direction.

I had just reached the post when a dark, low growl filled the air, and I froze as the pull I had been fighting for years reared its ugly head, demanding that I turn to face the beast there to kill me…to go to him, just like in my dreams.

Goosebumps rose along my body, and I shivered as I felt their eyes on me.

I hadn’t been fast enough. 

A dozen glowing eyes from the treeline were all trained on me, and I swallowed hard, seeing just how outnumbered I was.

If I thought I didn’t stand a chance before, I knew I definitely didn’t now.

Instinctively, I took a step back, but the vicious snarl that followed the movement made me begin to shake.

I pressed my hand to my stomach as one of the beasts moved out of the shadows of the trees and into the moonlight for me to finally see after all these years.

Yet, when he did, I knew I had made a mistake.

Thesta had been right. We should have stayed with the pack in hiding.

My lips parted as I instinctively wanted to scream, but nothing came out as I stared in horror at the beast.

The stories hadn’t done them justice. They were nothing like other shifters. They were terrifying.

The giant stood on two paws, a strange mix of human and wolf, with fur covering most of his beastly body, and could easily tower over me by a couple of feet. His chest looked mostly human, but his legs bent like a wolf.

Blood soaked his fur and covered his chin and chest, and my gut twisted at the sight, knowing I would be his next meal.

My hand tightened around the shirt in it, and I tried to remind myself why I had left the safety of the brick walls I had been surrounded by only moments ago.

My knees almost buckled as I met his glowing yellow eyes, the pull thrumming in my body, taking the breath from my lungs and all sense of reasoning from my mind.

I felt ensnared by his eyes, and I couldn’t look away… I didn’t want to.

That deep feeling of familiarity hit me like a punch to the gut.

It had to be him, his howl. He had been the one calling to me in my dreams, luring me out to be his prey, and I had fallen for it.

His nostrils flared, and he huffed at me with what seemed like disgust before finally freeing me as he looked away.

Hesitantly, I followed his stare to find him eyeing the bell tower, and I sucked in a sharp breath as he released a low, hungry growl.