Chapter 10

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Elina

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I look down at my bleeding legs, which are covered in bite marks.  Pain simmers deep into each wound. I breathe heavily, looking for a way out; he’s been gone for five minutes. I need to get up; I need to leave before he returns and kills me.  I try to stand but immediately fall because my legs are too weak. I’m too weak.

 “You pathetic thing.” My heart race as his voice pierces my eardrum like a knife. He appears before me smirking; my head hurts, the bite hurts, but the betrayal feels worse; he saved me multiple times. He said he had no reason to kill me, so why now? Did he find out something about our connection and want to get rid of me because of it?

“Xavier, please...we’ll break the bond, I’ll break it, please don’t kill me.” I try to beg, but my cries don't seem to touch his heart. Instead, he laughs, a maniacal devilish laugh; why is he like this? Was he always like this?

“You’re a weak witch who couldn’t even kill a demon wolf. So why would I trust you? All I have to do is kill you, and I’ll be free.” So that is it; he wants to kill me because of a bond that I didn't create or understand. 

“Xavier, please.” I begin to beg again, but he ignores me and shifts into the wolf. Doesn’t his wolf, like me? He does and even calls me his Queen. Then why is he doing this to me? Before I can think it through, he sinks his teeth in my sides. I scream in terror as the pain ripples through my body; my head is getting light. I don't know how much longer I can hold on. 

*******

Xavier

*******

“Let’s go.” I immediately grab my belt and start to undo it.

“Woah, Woah...” She screams and covers her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to run.”

“Yeah…Let’s take my car.” She offers, finally uncovering her eyes. Are all witches this shy? I chuckle, remembering the first time I stripped before her. My chest tightens, and  Silas whines. I need to see her, which is driving me insane. Why do I care so much about her? Is it because of Silas?

“I’m faster.”

“Yes, but this way, you get to keep your clothes on,” I growl loud and viciously as annoyance fills me.

“Simmer down, wolf boy. You can growl all you want later. Right now, Elina needs you.” 

 “Fine, let’s go.” I frown and head to the car with no other choice since her mother will probably have my neck if I appear naked again.

“Do you know what attacked her?” I ask as she starts the car and steps on the gas, speeding down the dark empty road.

“Raina says it’s a demon wolf. I turn to her, stunned. Demon wolves’ slaves of other supernatural beings. What are they doing here, and why would it attack Elina?

“Why would it attack her?”

“We don’t know, Raina believes an incubus who wants something from her sent it, but we don’t know much about why Elina since they usually avoid witches.”

“Smart, witches are….” I stop when I see her scowling at me.

“Anyways, he needs to break your bond.” Why would he need to? Unless Silas, who’s been with her, is keeping him out. F**k this is more is becoming crazier and crazier. An incubus? I knew that damn witch was trouble the moment I laid eyes on her, and now I’m tangled up in this mess.

“I don’t want to get involved in this.”

“You already are.” She says, making me frown because I know it’s the truth. I sigh as we pull up to her house. I quickly jump out of the car and run to the door as I hear her scream my name.

“Xavier, no, please stop!” I run to her side as she crunches her face, clearly in pain. I lift my hand slowly as if involuntarily and wipe the sweat from her brow. It’s okay, Elina, you’re going to be okay, my heart whispers, but I don’t dare say it out loud. A strange feeling fills my heart, so I quickly snatch my hand away and turn to Raina.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“You will know the answers when you find her, boy.”

“Find her? What are you...”

“You have to wake her up. Otherwise, she will be trapped in her mind.” Iris offers more insight, but it only leaves me more confused.

"Huh?"

“You are connected; only you can wake her,” Raina says. What? Only I can wake up? What can I do? Something me alone can do? A kiss flashes in my head. No, hell. Silas whimpers; you shut up. I yell at him; there is no way I’m kissing that annoying witch.

“If I have to kiss her, then she’s going to be asleep forever.”

“You would be such a lucky wolf...” Her mother, who has been silent since we arrived, shouts as she glares at me; the lights all suddenly start to flicker on and off.

“Honey, calm down; we need him. “She looks at her husband and exhales sharply before glaring at me and walking away.

“This isn’t a fairytale boy; I need you to lie down on that bed next to her,” Raina says. “Now come on, we need to get you in as quickly as possible.”

“I’m not doing anything until someone explains what I have to do.”

“Aurum Tirumos,” Her mother shouts, and with the flick of her finger and her few words, she lifts me off the ground and slams me onto the bed. I growl, snapping my head and trying to break free, but the hold is too strong.

 “Settle down; you’re simply entering her dream and waking her up.”

“How? My wolf, Silas, couldn’t get in; I’m blocked.”

“I’ll create a bridge for you to slip through. Drink this.” She hands me a small vial; I put it to my lips and drink it without question. My insides set on fire; I contort in pain and howl.

“WHAT DID YOU GIVE ME” I try to move but can’t; my lips go numb as my eyes get heavy.

“Remember, you must wake her.” Those are the last words I hear before my eyes shut.

“I hate witches.” I groan as my eyes open; the cool night air blows on my skin. Where am I? I sit up and look around, the school, why are we at the school?

“Ahhhh!!!!!” I hear her screen, which sets fire to my heart as I go running towards the door. I tear the door open and burst into the empty hallways of a replica of our school, only it’s creepy.

“Ahhhh,” She screams again.

“Elina! Elina!” I shout, my heart full of panic as she screams a third time before she goes completely silent. “Elina! Elina!” I shout, but no response comes.

“Silas, can you sense her?”

“no”

“ f**k! Elina!!!!!!!!” I growl loud. I run from classroom to classroom, trying to find her but no luck. I see blood marks on the floor up ahead; my heart gets erratic as I follow the trails of blood. Isn’t this her dream? Why can’t I find her? I turn the corner and freeze; before me stands a mirror image of myself. He smiles at me.

“Welcome to the party, my other half?” The dream me says with a smile.

“Who the f**k are you?”

“I am you; you are me; we are her worst nightmare.”

“Cut the bullshit, I’ll ask you again, and I better like your answer; who the f**k are you?” He grins but doesn’t answer; Silas growls.

“I’m going rip your throat out,”  I growl before I shift into my wolf.

“I’ve been looking forward to this.”  He says before he shifts as well, his wolf of those demon red eyes I saw in Elina’s dream. So it was this fucker all along; we (Silas and Xavier) growl and circle him. We jump at him and grab his neck; he jumps and throws us back. We land on our feet and jump on his again; he dodges us, we land a couple of feet away. He runs full speed and pounces on us. He grabs our left hind leg with his teeth. We growl in pain. Silas! My anger boils.

We growl loud, swing to the left; we throw him off. Then, without giving him a moment to breathe, we pounce on him and grab him by the throat. He yelps, we sink our teeth deeper, but he suddenly disappears into thin air. We look around for him, certain this is a trick, but he’s gone.

“Ahhhhhh,” Elina screams returns at once. Elina! We have to find her; we race through the hallways towards her scream.

“Xavier, no,” She cries out, f**k! What is the asshole doing to her? We run faster until we can hear them speaking clearly. “Please stop...I’ll try, I’m trying...”

“Break it, break the f**king bond, or I’ll kill you.” Dream me growls at her. We burst through the doors; he stands over her. He’s grabbing her hair and pulling it back; her eyes are closed. Her clothes are ripped and blooded.

“Mine!”A guttural growls rubbles through us as we run towards and jump. He looks up then immediately vanishes like before. We land before her. She opens her eyes screams a blood-curdling scream when she sees us. I shift back to human form and pull her into my arms, but she doesn’t stop screaming.

“Elina, it’s me, the real Xavier; I’m not him.” She doesn’t seem to hear me because her high-pitched screams continue. “Elina, it’s me! We hate each other, but I would never try to kill you.” I try to reason with her again, but it’s not working. She doesn’t seem to be in her right mind.

“Elina...”I sigh, grab her by the shoulders. I guess this is a fairytale, after all. I think just before I crush my lips over hers. She resists for a couple of seconds until her hands go limp, her body morphs to mine. I close my eyes, my heart pounding, jolts of energy course through me as I deepen the kiss. I wrap my arms around her and pull her close. Our mouths part and come together as we take each other in. Mine... Silas whispers. She pulls away, suddenly breathing heavily, leaving me longing.

“Xavier?”

******

Elina

******

I feel my wounds healing, so I pull away, stunned. I call his name as my heart pounds in my chest as I try to recover from the kiss that has just shattered my world, my first kiss. He’s been trying to kill me all night; why did he kiss me?

“Xavier, please don’t kill me. I promise we’ll break it, so please,” I begin to beg, hoping he’ll stop hurting me.

“Elina, I would never hurt you.” He whispers as his eyes slowly open.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“I have no reason to hurt you. The one who’s been chasing you all night isn’t me; he’s some kind of incubus trying to get to break our bond.”

“An incubus. Wait, it wasn’t you.” He shakes his head, and my heart flutters. For some reason, I was happier than I should be that he wasn’t the one trying to kill me. He looks at me awkwardly and finally says.

“I’m sorry I kissed you; I only did it because you were panicking.”

“It’s fine, so we’re in my dream, and he wants to break our bond; why?” I ask quickly, changing the topic, hoping to calm the butterflies in my stomach.

“Look, your crazy mother didn’t explain it when she strapped me to the table and sent me here.”I chuckle for the first time since I landed in this nightmare.

 “I’m sorry, mom’s overprotective.”

 “Yeah, she isn’t my biggest fan. You owe me one, but first, we have to get out of here. You have to wake up.”

“How?” I asked, confused, looking around at what had been my nightmare for the past hour.

“Again, I did not receive instructions.” I look at him for the first time since he’s arriving and find my eyes drifting to his lips.

“I kissed you already. That didn’t work.” Shit, he caught me staring, my cheeks heat. I avert my eyes quickly and fidget.

“I wasn’t even thinking about that.”

“Sure, you weren’t...Can you walk? You had bite marks earlier; you seem to have healed."

|I healed after the kiss...” My eyes shift to his lips again; my entire body felt like it has been set on fire. Was that because I was panicking, or was it really amazing?

Xavier: My kiss healed you? Well, I am special…” My cheeks flush from embarrassment. I hurry to the door to avoid looking at him.

“Hey, where are you going?” He says as he catches up to me.

“To find a way out of here, or do you plan to stay here forever?” A thought flashes in my head that I could stay here forever and kiss him, but I quickly push it away and start walking faster.

“Hey, hey, slow down. What are you running from.” I avert my eyes and slow down as we enter the hallways.

 “Be careful that freak is still running around.” He warns, which makes me stop and look down the hallways before proceeding cautiously. We walk in awkward silence for some time as we try to find our way out. I try my best not to look at him because I keep thinking of the kiss whenever I do. No, I can’t think about that now; I need to figure out what this is and why it’s trying to kill me. I flashback to the memory of me running in the woods and my body floating. Where’s my body?

“What happened to my body? The last thing I remember, I was being chased in the woods.”

“Your body is fine; I found you.”I spin to him, shocked.

“You?”

“Why are you shocked? I’m always saving your ass. When you call, Silas goes running.” He scowls.

“Nobody asked you to save it,” I grumble before turning and continue to walk.

“You should be thanking me, witch.”

“ My name is Elina, and Thank you almighty alpha Xavier for saving my life. Are you happy?” I mumble sarcastically. I can’t believe I was thinking of kissing his annoying ass again.

“I don’t like the tone, but I’ll take it.”

“Cocky ass...”

SLAM!

A sound echoes through the halls. I jump and grab his hand.

“What was that? “I ask, looking around; at the end of the hallway, the door opens and slams again.

“Is the baby scared of a little wind?” He chuckles, teasing me.

“Who’s scared? I’m not.” I fume.

“Hmmm, then why are you still holding my hand? I look down and immediately let go, flushing with embarrassment.

 “I’m not scared.”I walk quickly towards the front door.

“You are so scared.” He continues to tease me playfully.

“Well, a psycho was wearing your face chasing me and biting me all night.” He growls as we exit the building into the chilly cold air.

 “I’m going to rip his throat out.”

“You may get your chance,” I mutter as I look before me and slow down.

“What?” He asks. I point straight to the pack of red eyes in the woods. Walking towards us is a dozen growling wolves baring their teeth. My heart pounds as fear grips me; I stand frozen.

“Run!!” He screams, but I can’t move; my eyes are locked on the wolves they’re calling, pulling me in, like my past dreams.

“Every damn time I have to save you.” He says as he grabs my hand and pulls me away, pulling me from the trance as we run back into the school. We run through the doors and close them.

“Duino Selao,” I whisper over the lock shutting the door as the first wolf lunges at it.

“Thank you. “I say to Xavier, who’s pacing.

“That’s not going to hold them, we have to go” We run towards the stairs, and the wolves attack the door.

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

My heart pounds as we run up the stairs. As we reach the landing, we hear growling; up above, there are three wolves.

“F**k,” He screams, and he heads back down the stairs; I follow as the wolves upstairs chase us down. We run down the hallway.

BAM

The front door flies open, and the wolves pile in, running towards us, and we’re trapped in the middle between the two packs of wolves.

“Get behind me,” Xavier shouts as they growl. He shifts into his Wolf as they pounce on him.

“Elina, run!” I hear his voice screaming in my head.

“I can’t leave you, Xavier.”

“Leave now,” He shouts in my head; I run as they begin to fight; I keep looking back and watch as he jumps on a wolf, bites his neck, and rips it out. Then, he growls and kills another two; a wolf jumps on him from behind and bites him; he yelps spins, and rips out that wolf’s throat. Then, one of them bites him from behind again, and then another wolf lunges at him and then another. My heart feels as if it’s bursting through my body.

“Xavier!!!!!!!!”

“Go!!!”He shouts, ripping into another; one of them bites him in his neck, he staggers, and they all rush in. No, he’s going to die; he can’t die.

“ Xavier!!!!!!!”I scream, my scream echoes throughout the hallways, the lockers burst open, and wolves fly back. A massive amount of energy flows through me. I raise my hand the wolves rise in the air.

“Intuos obsletin,”  I scream. The wolves burst into ash. I don’t know what power or spell I just used, but I don’t have time to think about it. Xavier’s on the ground looking like a bloody mess. I hurry to his side.

“ Xavier,” I scoop his head into my lap, he’s still in wolf form, but then he suddenly shifts to human. He’s bloody with bite marks, and his eyes are closed.

“Xavier, I’m sorry; this is all my fault.”I start crying, holding his face; I rest my forehead on him, my heart pounding as if I’m losing a part of me.

 “So dramatic.”He groans, opening his eyes, my heart flutters.

“Xavier!”I lift my head, smiling; he’s alright; I breathe a sigh of relief.

“I told you to run.”

“You can say thank you.”

“Whatever!” I frown. He’s such an ungrateful asshole. He tries to sit up, but his face twists with pain.

" F**k," He clenches his jaw. He's a dick, but he did save my life, so I have to head him.  I try to think of a healing spell, but I can’t remember one. Oh, the kiss, I healed when he kissed me in the classroom, so maybe it will be the same. I grab his face between my hands, and before he can protest, I crush my mouth down on his. His lips are stiff for a second bit he joins me quickly. My heart flutters like the first kiss; my skin is scorching, a shiver runs through my body. I pull away, opening my eyes. We’re no longer at school but in the woods, the ground covered in snow.