Chapter 7: From the fire

Lace’s POV

I think I overslept this morning. This was pretty evident with the sunlight streaming into my window and the faint sound of the army outside. My room was the only one on the right side, in the middle of Killer and Hayley’s. Which meant I was able to hear the idiots not needing a nurse. I got out of bed, getting out the only other shorts I owned that weren’t dirty, throwing on a shirt, tying the ribbon on the back. Next, I headed into the bathroom, quickly brushing my hair and brushing my teeth.

And then I was off, knowing the way by now. Kira was probably already outside and she knew that I was NOT one for being woken up. Proof of that was four years ago when I had accidently punched her when she had shaken me awake.

I headed down the corridor, overhearing a few voices from the rooms there. And then, then I heard something that made me halt in my steps.

“…Nurses? Honestly Mace, couldn’t you have been a bit more creative?” That was definitely Chris’ voice. I tip-toed closer, my curiousness getting the better of me.

“All I could come up with” Mason… okay Mason.

“But we don’t need them, we’re werewolves”

My eyes widened as I heard that word. Werewolves? Were these people high or something?

Yet… the wolves in the forest. This weird not-an-army-but-training-camp. O shit…

I stumbled backwards, my back hitting the wall with a soft thud.

“What was that?” okay, super good hearing. Definitely some supernatural shit going on here…

I spun around, rushing down the corridor but knew it was too late.

“Lace!” How the hell did he know my name!?

I kept on walking, acting as if I didn’t just find out the huge ass secret this pain-in-the-ass had.

“Lace!” his voice came again and then suddenly his hand grabbed my shoulder. I was pushed onto the wall, his featured just full-fledged anger, “What the hell were you doing!?”

“Nothing” I breathed, feeling my heart thundering. If this guy was going to become even angrier, I was screwed.

“Lacy” his hands grabbed onto mine, making me wince as his left hand surrounded the bruised right hand of mine. It hadn’t completely recovered from the punch.

“What was that?” he asked, immediately noticing. 

“What was what?” I said as he tightened the grip, making me groan out in pain.

He lifted up my hand, inspecting it, “What did you do?” It was lightly bruised and hard to use. Stupid Chris…

“Nothing”

“Do you want me to squeeze it again?” Mason said, lifting his eyebrow.

I shook my head, biting my lip. Why was he suddenly being nice to me? And why wasn’t I being lippy and annoying? He was making me nervous, but why though? I was the opposite of nervous usually. This made little sense to me. So little sense.

“Come on” he said, letting go of my hand and instead, taking hold of my shoulder. He pushed me down the corridor, me more confused than ever.

“Where are we going?”

“Infirmary” he sighed, “You need a brace”

I nodded and relief flushed through me. Good, he had forgotten about my eavesdropping.

“Once we get that, we can talk”

Dammit…

He guided me to the small room, making me sit on the freezer as he started to look for the brace.

“Was this from when you punched Chris?” he asked, finally walking towards me with an army green brace. I nodded, watching as he lightly took my hand, his fingers soft even though his palms had callouses on them.

“You’re a lot less irritating when you’re alone” he mentioned, placing the brace on my hand, “You know, except when you’re listening to private conversations” His hands were placed onto the freezer, them on either side of me and creating a barrier between me and freedom.

“I… I…”

“What did you hear Lacy?” he said, looking at my features.

“Nothing”

“Stop lying” he said, it coming off as a growl. My eyes widened and I leaned away from him, fear crawling into my stomach.

“I didn’t hear anything” I said, looking down at my lap.

“I know you did”

“Well you’re wrong” I snapped, letting our eyes make contact. He was staring at me sceptically, his eyes reading me like a book.

“If you’re hiding anything – and I know you are – I will find out. And then I’ll make sure you regret keeping this secret” he threatened, letting go of the freezer. I watched him go, my eyes open wide and my mouth slightly gaping.

Kira was the one who knocked me out of my trance when she came in, immediately looking concerned. Well sweetie, be prepared to feel a lot more worried.

XXX

Hailstorm’s POV

When I arrived back at the house I was immediately greeted by my friends, they coming at me as if they haven’t seen me in years.

“Guys I got us some clothes and also, look-“ I started to get the picture out of the back pocket of my shorts but Kira grabbed my wrist, making me frown.

“We need to talk to you” she said, glancing over at Liam who had brought in the bags. He glanced at the girls sceptically but in the end just rolled his eyes, placing the bags on the ground, “I’m going to go outside” he announced.

I watched him go, my attention brought back to my friends with a tug from Kira.

“Is everything okay with you guys?” I frowned, “What’s going on?”

“Come on, let’s go to your room and we’ll explain” 

Kira started pulling me, we heading up the stairs and my brain only becoming more and more confused.

“What about the bags?”

“Forget about them” Lacy said, opening my bedroom door. I was pulled inside before Lacy closed the door again.

“You guys are acting weird” I said, walking to my bed and going to go sit there. I was tired, the whole doctor visit and running around the dorm having made me keen for a nap.

“Hayley” Kira said, placing a hand on my thigh, “We… we need to tell you something”

Lacy walked towards me, biting her lip.

“Guys – you’re making me worried, what are you guys on abo-“

“They’re werewolves” Lacy blurted out. My mouth formed into a smile, and I lightly laughed, “Really funny Lace”

“No Hailstorm – it’s true” Kira said, “Lacy overheard them?”

“Werewolves don’t exist guys. Maybe you heard something else Lace”

“I’m positive it was werewolves and just – think about it. How did we end up here? Wolves – and as far as I know, there shouldn’t be wolves in these parts. The training camp, why haven’t we had to work once? My freaking hand is messed up because I punched someone in the nose. That someone perfectly fine”

“They’re not werewolves” I tried but somewhere in my brain a DING, DING, DING went off, making me slightly sick.

“Hailstorm, you know I’m right about this” Lacy said, “Even Killer believes me!”

Kira nodded, her face ashen.

“Werewolves… we’re stuck in a house with wolves!?” I gasped and my hand flew to my stomach, “I’m having a puppy!?” I started to breathe heavily, feeling as if my lungs weren’t accepting the oxygen.

“Hails, calm down” Lacy said, shaking me lightly.

“I… I can’t” I gasped, “I’m – I’m pregnant. With a puppy!”

“Lace, get her some water”

I heard Lacy’s footsteps running off somewhere but all I could see were spots. My breathing was short and I clutched onto Lacy’s thigh, trying to get control of everything.

Water was poured down my throat but I spluttered it out, the few droplets making me feel somewhat better. But not by much.

“We – we have to go” I gasped before everything faded into darkness.

XXX

Liam’s POV

When I returned to the house, I immediately headed to the training area. As chief of the warriors I was doing a really crappy job and I swear, these newbies were going to start thinking I had quit. Chief of the warriors… Liam Taylor. Didn’t quite sound right but well, here I was.

I saw some of the new recruits look over at me, thought that was quickly halted with a shout from Mason. Looking more annoyed than usual, I knew the recruits by the fighting zone were going to suffer.

Chris was busy by the obstacle course, light chuckles erupting from his mouth every time an overconfident newbie would fail. I headed towards the shifting space, watching as the boys there struggled to contain their wolves.

Some of them were starting to grey but most of them were white wolves. White wolves indicated new and the darker you became, the more experienced you were.

“Try again” I barked, looking over at a snowy wolf who seemed as if he was about to start a fight. He looked up at me, his red eyes filled with irritation.

“You wanted to be a warrior” I shrugged, “Again”

The guy shook his head, shifting back to his human form with a groan. He had beads of sweat dripping from his forehead, clearly having done this for a while now.

“Three more times and then go take human laps. Thirteen. All of you!” I instructed, hearing sighs and groans coming from the group, “Twenty then”

I made my rounds that way, instructing the guys at the weight lifting area to go practice their shifting, knowing that we were going to start having WIFI signs around here if the group didn’t stop working on their arms. The second to fourth obstacle course were doing okay, the group struggling but no injuries occurred.

Which was a good thing because our nurses were nowhere to be found.

“Mason, have you seen the girls?” I asked, moving over to my friend.

“Saw Lacy a while back” he grumbled before trudging towards the fighters, grabbing the one by the collar of his shirt and throwing him back, “Bad tactic!”

“When did you see her?” I shouted, watching as Mason shouted insults to the poor guy.

“Like four hours ago” Mason said, looking over at me for a quick second.

I nodded, frowning. I had arrived here like two hours ago, meaning that Hayley was supposed to be out here already. Kira should definitely be here by now. She seemed like the most responsible of the group and wouldn’t just skip out.

I headed towards Chris but he hadn’t seen them either. Worry started to embed itself in my stomach as I headed into the house and couldn’t detect them anywhere. The bags were still by the front door, though one of them was open, clothes and things spilling out of it. Which worried me even more was the fact that when I came to Hayley’s room, the only indication of someone being there was a spilt glass of water.

Messy… this girl was seriously just messy.

Focus Liam! The girls were probably already an hour away. I headed back downstairs, grabbing the boys.

“She’s dead” Mason growled, clearly referring to Lacy.