Chapter 4

Lucia’s POV

I woke up spluttering as water was poured on my face.

Sitting up, I stared into a pair of unfamiliar forest green eyes. “Who the fuck are you?” I snapped.

His face twisted in disgust. “The proper thing to say would be thank you.”

I tugged at the ropes around my torso. “Kidnappers these days must be rather interesting. Being mannered and everything.”

He scoffed, straightening. “Last time I am saving the life of one of your kind.”

Your kind?

The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight. “What are you?”

“The Ghost of Christmas Past,” he replied sarcastically, rolling what looked like a ball of dirt between his palms. “Open your mouth.”

“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped, jerking in my chair.

“Open your fucking mouth,” he said, prying my jaw open. “Before I rip it off.”

He fixed me in place and forced the ball of dirt down my throat. I swallowed and immediately started trying to make myself gag.

“Who sent you to kill me?” I asked, wondering how long it would take the poison to work and if I would be able to negotiate my freedom before then. “How much did they pay you?”

“You overestimate yourself,” he said, wiping his hands on a rag.

After shuffling around the room for a few minutes, he turned on the lights.

I looked around. It was a cabin.

“Do you live here?” I asked.

“Are you always this stupid?” he retorted.

I waited for a minute, watching him as he went about what looked like a nightly routine.

“When are you going to let me go home?” I asked again, this time more politely.

It would not be in my best interest to keep being rude when I did not know where I was.

He walked past me and snapped off my restraints. “You can leave whenever you want, but a friendly warning: the wolves are roaming the forest, looking for the young lady who injured their Alpha.”

As if on cue, a loud howl echoed in the night, followed by a harmony of other howls.

My hands trembled. I was not prepared at all to face so many.

“How far are we from South City?” I asked.

“By plane, train or bus?” he asked, shaving his face like we were not in imminent danger.

“Please,” I said, hating how desperate my voice sounded. “My brother and bodyguards could be looking for me right now. If they roam into the forest, they could be in danger.”

His hand froze. “How old is your brother?”

“Sixteen…why?”

“They would probably take him to be a plaything for their warriors, instead of killing him. That was what they did to Alicia.”

His voice was dark, heavy. It must have been a trick of the light but I could see gold specks in his eyes.

“Who is Alicia?”

“My little sister,” he replied curtly. “Don’t worry. She is dead.”

“Shit.” I let out a choked sob, not even sure why I was crying. “Do you have my gun? I need my weapons.”

He looked at me through the mirror. “On the table.”

As I turned to the table, I paused. There was an intricately carved bow leaning against it and a pack of arrows beside.

“You were the one who saved me from Reese,” I stated. “Thank you.”

He did not respond, going back to his shaving. I was about to leave the house when I paused, glancing back at him.

“Hey, can you…can you join me?”

His brow raised at my words. My hand clenched around the doorknob as I awaited his reply. “You have nothing I need.”

Living in a cabin in the middle of the woods meant that he was self-sufficient. If he were not, he would have sought out one of the human settlements.

But…

“How about the heads of as many wolves as you want?” I said. “If you want, I can tie them up on a board and let you use them as target practice.”

I gestured to my gun. “You have seen what I can do.”

He scanned me from top to bottom and then turned back to the mirror. I did not expect him to agree instantly anyway but the seed had been planted.

“South City is in that direction,” he said, pointing to the right.

So this was the neutral territory between South City and the other human settlements. He might know a bit about them.

“I will be back later with questions,” I said, heading into the night.

“Sure thing,” he muttered in response.

I started with a slow jog, vigilant of my environment as I moved. The leaves crunching under my feet seemed to echo in the quiet night.

Fifteen minutes had passed when I came across the first wolf. We made eye contact and before he pounced on me, I jumped on the tree nearest to me, climbing onto the highest branch I could manage.

As he threw his head back to howl, I shot him right in the throat.

His eyes bugged as he fell backwards onto the damp floor. The rest of the wolves had heard the gun go off and were now bounding in my direction at full speed.

I used the few seconds I had to take stock.

Two anti-lycantrope smoke bombs. Two injections. Eight bullets. At least two dozen wolves.

I was pretty much screwed.

“Lucia Everton!” Kathy yelled over the howls of her pack members.

“I didn’t know the slut went out on assassin missions. What? You need this many people to kill one human?”

Kathy paused, her words catching in her throat at my insult.

“Be kind to me, okay?” I said, aiming my first bomb right at her. “I am a human after all.”

As the bomb detonated, all hell broke loose.