2. THE KIDNAPPERS

~YULIA

My heart was hammering hard as I ran out the exit door.

It took a lot of time to get my breathing to be even. It did not help that I was still running even after leaving the club. Street lamps were my only form of light since the crescent moon was not bright enough tonight.

I could have stopped in front of the club to wait for a cab but I was too worried that the mysterious man would follow me outside and easily find me.

It was a miracle that I had escaped him despite feeling all these emotions. And I was sure that if he somehow showed up before me again, then there would be no way that I could resist him.

"Damn, no one told me that older men were this delicious," I muttered to myself.

My phone buzzed again and this time, I stopped to pick up. After all, I felt assured that the mysterious man could no longer find me again. I had given the club enough distance that I could no longer see it.

"Lana," I began the moment I picked up the call.

"Where are you, girl? You have us worried sick!" She screamed.

Lana was my childhood friend and I could always tell when she was acting. 

"Rogers put you up to this, didn't he?" I answered instead in a straight voice.

"What?" She exclaimed about to go off when her voice was cut off. 

"Fine, you got me. I couldn't reach you anymore and I have a feeling you blocked my number, thus I used Lana's phone," Rogers boldly said. 

I rolled my eyes at him. I hated the fact that they were now treating me like an egg. As if they were scared I was going to break if they so much as looked away from me. 

"I am on my way home already. Why are you so persistent about this?" 

"It's not safe for you out there. Your mother confided in me before—" he paused, refusing to say the obvious. "She said your life was in danger." 

I frowned. "What are you even talking about? Why will my life be in danger?" 

"I am coming to get you. Just stay exactly where you are. I have been able to pinpoint your location." 

"What? You're tracking me now?" I screamed. 

"I just did what I had to—" 

I ended the call before he could finish the statement.

I released a frustrated growl before tucking my phone into my pocket. And as if the universe was against me, it suddenly began to rain out of the blue.

"Very funny, Moon goddess!" I called sarcastically.

That was when I felt a shift in the atmosphere and my wolf stirred with alarm. I felt the hair at the back of my neck stand. A feeling began to build up at the back of my mind, almost as if someone was stabbing a thousand spikes into me.

It was accompanied by the feeling of being watched.

I stared around the space with wide eyes. That was when I caught sight of red crimson eyes watching me from a far end of an alley.

My heart skipped triple beats and my wolf sank to the deepest part of my core. I looked away immediately and my body started trembling.

Who the fuck was that and why were they watching me?

My heart started hammering again and I dared another glance at my stalker only to see that the eyes were gone.

Had I imagined it the first time or had they really been there?

My wolf suddenly flinched and that was when I noticed a group of men coming my way.

"Shit!" I cursed before breaking into a run.

"Get her!" One of them roared. "She's the one we've been looking for!"

My heart shattered at their words. Could my mother really have been right? Was my life really in danger?

I picked up my pace and swiftly broke into a run under the rain. I had no idea where I was going. My body began to tremble violently and I thought that this was it for me.

"Surround her!" I heard another say.

I gasped. This was not good. If they surrounded me, then there was no way that I was going to make it out.

I increased my speed as I ran blindly down the empty streets. I wondered how late it was for the streets to be this dry.

My wolf was jumping around my head as she fueled me— forced me to keep running.

I thought about my sweet mother who had always protected me, while I insisted on being a rebel. I thought of her lifeless body when I found her that morning.

They said she suffered from a heart attack and I blamed myself for not being in the house with her to help her when it happened.

Was this my punishment? Was she finally getting back at me from the heavens for being an irresponsible child?

"Gotcha!" A man exclaimed as he appeared before my face.

I flinched and fell back immediately.

Laughter scattered across the space and I realised that I was now surrounded.

"It was a sweet chase but this is where it ends," Another said.

"I still don't understand why she's in high demand. Didn't the mother just die?" Another asked as I continued trembling on the ground.

"I overheard them talking about a certain Moonheart bloodline and her being connected to it," a third man said.

"But what do we care? All we do is make sure that she is delivered and this one here is the most expensive package we have ever come across," the first man said.

My heart hammered hard against my chest. My head was jumbled with multiple thoughts. 

What was this they were saying about a certain Moonheart bloodline? What did it have to do with me and why was I the most expensive package?

Who were they planning to sell me to? And why was anyone willing to pay for me?

Suddenly, gunfire erupted through the night and one of the men dropped dead. I screamed in horror.

Another shot sounded and one of them yelled.

"Fuck! We're under attack! Grab the girl!" Another said.

A car suddenly came to a stop before me and the door came open. "Yulia! Get in!"

It was Mr. Rogers' voice.

So as one of them made to grab me, I instantly shot to my feet and ran so hard. I had never run as hard as this my entire life as adrenaline shot through my bones.

"Don't let her get away!" I heard them say.

I was almost at the car when one of them grabbed me. "You're coming with us, bitch!" He yelled.

"Let me go!" I screamed as I started thrashing around his hold.

"Hey, asshole!" Mr Rogers called.

That was when he revealed a gun and shot the man in the head. He went limb immediately and dropped to the floor with a hard thud.

My tremors intensified as shock left me frozen on the spot, unable to move for a split second.

"Yulia! Get in!" Rogers roared and it snapped me out of my trance.

That was when I resumed running again. The moment I launched myself into the car, he shut the door and zoomed off.