IsobelleIt had been a month since our excursion to Forest Hills. The boys had been spending the past couple of weeks training some new rangers. Now our communities all came under one banner, it meant shifters from all over Whitehaven could be posted anywhere in the state. They mixed teams into cats, bears, foxes, and wolves.Alpha Alec and I had been working tirelessly to ensure Whitehaven remained the sanctuary he intended it to be. We would always have a secure place to live and a stable home to raise our young. Those who lived in human communities had to remain hidden. It wasn't ideal. Not with the elite hunting them down.“Come, look at this!” Alpha Alec beckoned me to where he was standing at the opposite side of the laboratory beside the cryogenic chamber.Looks could be deceiving. Nobody knew that this high-tech lab was concealed beneath the fortress. My job was top secret. Alec employed me as a lab technician. I came to Whitehaven to study a rare species of wolf, and that was
"Miss Isobelle Harding," our principal, Mr. Saunders, called me to the stage.Shaking with adrenaline and sweating like a bitch in heat, I ascended the steps with the sound of applause ringing in my ears. All my focus went into not tripping in my graduation gown and looking like a complete dickhead in front of all these people. The pressure of having a hundred pairs of eyes following me across the stage scorched my face with embarrassment. I wasn't exactly an outgoing person and despised being the center of attention. Perspiration formed across my upper lip like a sweaty mustache, making me feel sticky and gross.Why did this gown have to be made from black polyester?In temperatures of eighty-six degrees, the heavy material was suffocating. By the time I had walked across the stage floor, I was a flustered mess. As subtle as I could muster, I wiped my damp palms against my gown before accepting the diploma. The principal grasped my clammy hand as we exchanged an awkward handshake. I
The following morning . . . “Have you got all of your travel documents and your visa?” Mum asked as she crossed off each item on the checklist. Mum was a list maker. Not a single day went by when she didn’t compile a list of things that she needed to do or things she needed to buy. This time, she had put together a list of all the items I needed to take with me to America. “Yes, Mum, they’re in the travel wallet you bought for me,” I replied, holding it up as evidence. “See, Arron. Those things come in handy, don’t they? They keep everything together all in one place. Everybody should have one,” Mum suggested as she wagged her index finger at Dad. He had initially scoffed at the idea of owning one, back when she was ordering them from eBay the other week. Mum began rhyming things off, using her fingers to count on. “Let’s see, you’ve got your money. We packed your suitcases. Do you have a spare charger? Did you get one?” she questioned, her brows almost hitting her hairline as if
I gazed out through the windscreen and up at the highlighted brickwork. The spotlights on the walls bathed the guesthouse in a pale-yellow hue and a sun canopy stretched around the front of the building like a light and dark striped skirt. The inside was just as modern as the outside. Peter helped to bring my belongings to the reception desk. We had to be quiet so as not to wake the sleeping borders. Chloe and Lincoln were there to greet us, and what a fine-looking couple they were too. Chloe’s summer dress clung to her voluptuous figure like she had been hand-stitched into it, and her blonde hair and tanned skin gave her a healthy glow. Her husband, Lincoln, stood around six-foot-five, rocking the hot mountain man look without really having to try. Either he was well-endowed, or a snake had slithered up the inside leg of his jeans, because fuck me, that was one impressive appendage. I turned my attention elsewhere. Peter and Lincoln carried all my luggage to my room, allowing Chlo
Chloe pulled into a free parking bay along the edge of the town square. Lakewell was a cute little place that had an ample number of shops, despite being in such a small, populated area. I had an excellent view of White Lake from this side of the town. There was a picnic park along the water’s edge with an adventure playground for children. The harbor was bustling with families all out enjoying the sunshine and feeding the ducks clumps of bread. I could imagine this place being great to raise a family. Chloe and Lincoln certainly picked the nicest place to raise Angelica and Cameron. “I’m going to take the kids to choose a gift for Lincoln. We could meet up for lunch later if you don’t want to be dragged from store to store by the kids,” Chloe suggested. “I’ll meet up with you later,” I decided, wanting to go off and explore on my own for a while. “I need to pick up a few essentials.” Chloe nodded, chuckling at the unusual term I used for browsing. “It’s impossible to get lost arou
“So that’s it? They just returned unscathed?” I asked disappointedly. Call me wicked, but I hoped there would be a raunchy tale to tell. Something to fantasize about when I go to sleep at night. “I can only repeat what I know.” Teresa shrugged. “The girls weren’t harmed in any way; they came back with the same excuses. That the men were searching for the ideal woman, but they never found the right one,” she finished. “Personally, I think that most of them went looking for trouble. Most seemed disheartened when they came back unfulfilled.” She scrunched her face in revulsion. Chloe giggled and even Teresa relaxed and saw the funny side. The scientist in me was rolling my eyes, calling this out for the bullshit that it was, but after the night I had, something Teresa had just said resonated with me. Like an itch I just had to scratch or else it would bug me. “I thought I heard wolves howling outside the guest house last night,” I told them. Chloe frowned. “Kids love to pull prank
All was quiet in the guesthouse as I returned. I wondered if any other guests had checked in since my arrival. There wasn’t any sign of Chloe and the children. They must have gone into their living quarters to relax. I returned to my room, noticing the maids had made the bed, and left clean towels on the comforter.They hadn’t touched my recording equipment. It was stacked in the corner of the room where Peter said it was. A large brown envelope caught my eye. Someone had propped it up on my pillow. It looked important. I emptied the contents onto the crisp white sheets, finding the keys to the car, Peter’s email address on a piece of folded notepaper, and the log-in information I needed. As if the universe thought I needed a break, my phone rang. It was my mother. I swiped my finger across the touchscreen to answer the call. “Hi, Mum. How are things at home?”“Great,” Mum replied. “I’m just checking in with you to see how you’re settling in.”“Everything’s fine. I went into Lakewell
I bucked and thrashed to break free of my kidnapper’s iron grip, but it was useless. Whoever he was, his strength exceeded my own and all I could do was scream bloody murder as he dragged me deep into the forest. No one would know where I was. I dropped my backpack on the lawn. My camera was still dangling from the cord around my neck, weighing me down and biting into my nape. My terrified screams turned to desperate sobs. At one point, a hand pressed down so hard over my mouth that I thought I might pass out. I could scarcely see a thing as he pulled me through the thicket. All I could hear was ragged breathing and the sound of heavy footsteps beating on the ground — until the bickering started.“What part of ‘let me handle it’ did not sink into your thick skull?” an angry voice roared. “Can we not discuss this now? I'm kind of busy here, in case you haven’t noticed,” the guy holding me answered him.“Go easy on her, she still needs to breathe,” a raspy voice snapped.There are thr