Chapter 8 I Didn’t Choose This

Audrey’s POV

I was unable to understand what Derek meant.

Before I could say anything, he had started walking away, and the howl was low and guttural, cutting through the trees like a blade.  

He quickly move to my front, protecting me with his body as if I couldn't bear what was about to happen, and then he was standing there, angry and wild, and still too close.

“Run,” he said.

I didn’t, but I froze.

I hated that.

My legs locked and my lungs stuck. I sensed that something was going to happen.  It was there, even though I couldn't see it yet.

 A blur and wrongness circumstance overwhelmed me. The forest shifted with it, and the hair on my arms stood up like a warning.

Derek’s back arched.

And then it came...

Black.

No, darker than black. Like smoke and shadow and teeth. Looks like a wolf—but not. A shape shifting too fast to follow. It didn’t growl. It didn’t make noise. It just launched attack straight at us.

Derek shifted mid-air.

It was not slowly and not gradually. Not even in the way you might think from  movies or novels.  It offered no poetry and   elegance.  It was so violent in such a way that the sound of bones twisting, muscles tearing, and skin shredding made my stomach turn.

And then the fur, claws and snarling came. They collided with a sound that cracked the air.

I stumbled back with my heart slamming. The monster was on him, slashing, snapping, too fast to track. 

Derek bit down hard on its shoulder and it screamed—not like a wolf, but like something else pretending to be wolf.

The trees trembled around them.It was a fearful sight to behold 

And I stood there like a goddamn idiot with nothing but a pocket knife and a pounding head.

Then the thing broke away.

Not from weakness. It didn’t limp and It didn’t bleed. It melted backward like mist, retreating into the trees in one blink, two and it's gone. It was weird…

Derek fell to his knees and  his fur was matted with blood though not from his body.

I stepped toward him.

“Derek—”

A sharp rustle behind me.

It was another blur of motion. When I looked, it was Caleb this time.

 His shirt was half-ripped from racing, his eyes were burning, and he was panting.

"What the hell—” 

When he saw Derek, he stopped abruptly.  "You shifted?"

 Derek shifted back, screaming through gritted teeth as skin and bone changed form.  His knees struck the floor after his hands. His body shook. He didn’t even look at Caleb.

“You’re late,” he spat.

“What was that?”

“You’d know if you were here two minutes ago.”

“You shouldn’t have shifted in front of her.”

“She was about to die.”

They were yelling now. Raising Voices against each other.

With clenched hands, Caleb took a step forward.  "Derek, you understand what this means? If she saw you—if the bond activates—”

“I didn’t choose this!” Derek roared. “You think I wanted it to be her?”

“Shut up! Both of you!” I snapped 

They turned and looked at me, though not embarrassed.

 With my arms stiff at my sides and my voice trembling, I yelled "Stop talking like I'm not standing right here."  

 “I’m not a bond. I’m not a problem. I’m a person.”

Derek felt his chest rise and fall.  He seemed to have something more to say, but he bit it back.

 Caleb let out a breath and moved in my direction. “Are you hurt?” He said looking towards my direction.

I shook my head slowly 

“I’m taking her back,” Caleb said without waiting.

Derek didn’t stop him.

He didn’t speak as we walk back out of the woods.

Not until the town lights broke through the trees.Then he whispered, as if he was terrified of the response, "What did you see?"

 I didn't respond.

He tried again. “Audrey.”

“Was that a Spirit Wolf?” I asked.

He froze.

That was enough of an answer.

“You know what it was,” I said. “You’ve always known.”

He looked tired now. Not just physically. Like someone who’d been holding too much too long.

“They’re not wolves,” he said finally. “Not really. They’re what’s left of them. The ones who didn’t cross right. The ones who—” he trailed off.

 “They possess people, Audrey. They twist them from the inside. They wear skin like it’s theirs.”

“Why me?”

He didn’t answer right away.

“You said my mom—”

“They were hunting her,” he said. “They’ve been hunting your bloodline for generations.”

My throat closed.

“She died because of them?”

He nodded.

I felt like something shattered quietly inside me.

“Am I in danger?” I asked.

He didn’t hesitate to answer me.

“You always were.”

Adrian was waiting when we got back. He was pacing outside the Beaumont house, jaw tight with wild eyes.

When he saw me, he ran forward—then stopped short.

“You’re bleeding,” he said.

“It’s not mine,” I muttered.

He turned to Caleb. “Where the hell were you?”

“I found her,” Caleb said coldly. “After she was attacked. Where were you?”

“I’m not doing this with you,” Adrian said, grabbing my arm. “Get inside now Audrey!”

I pulled away. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Don’t act like you care now. You’ve been disappearing every other night.”

“I’m trying to keep you safe, Audrey”

“Yes of course….By lying to me?”

Adrian didn’t speak. Just shoved the door open and followed me inside.

The second we were alone, he spun on me.

“What did you see?”

I didn’t answer.

“Audrey.”

“No.”

His voice cracked. “I need to know.”

“And I needed you to tell me the truth weeks ago.”

He slammed his fist into the wall. Plaster cracked. His knuckles bled.

I didn’t flinch.

“You’re slipping,” I said. “Whatever you’re hiding, it’s eating you alive.”

His shoulders dropped. He looked broken.

“I made a promise to your father,” he said, voice wrecked. “That I have to protect you—even from them.”

I stepped back.

“Them who?”

But he was already gone.

The journal was still under my bed. I pulled it out with shaking hands.

The pages smelled old. There was a map tucked between the pages I hadn’t seen before.

It was hand-drawn.

A mark near the edge of the forest. Circled and labeled in the same spiky handwriting as everything else.

The Thinnest Veil.

I stared at it too long.

That’s where Derek had shifted.

That’s where the attack happened.

That’s where the Spirit Wolves bled through.

I grabbed a pen and marked it in the map.

I’m going back to that place.

Whatever is there,I want to see it. I don't care if it's safe or not.