★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★He’s being such a bitch.I didn’t argue with him. I didn’t yell. I didn’t try to convince him anymore because, clearly, his mind was made up, and nothing I could say would change it. Instead, I decided to let my frustration fuel me into doing something productive. Something he couldn’t stop me from doing.I took one of the bikes resting against a shed and rode into town, letting the cool breeze work against the heat rising in my chest. I gripped the handlebars tighter than necessary, pushing myself to pedal faster, harder, as if I could physically outrun my anger. He’s so damn stubborn. I get it, I do—he’s set in his ways, and if someone told me something about someone i trusted, I’d probably react the same way. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. It doesn’t mean I have to sit here and let him dismiss me like I’m some idiot grasping at straws.No. I know what I’m doing.At the general store, I picked up two glass jars and two goldfish, each swimming
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥 The swim in the lake had helped me think. And i came to a conclusion, when i argue or fight with Vanessa she bites back and i end up feeling stressed. Why not ease in with peace. I’m not an asshole, and yet I’ve been acting like it since the moment i picked her up on the side of the road. She’s stranded here for goodness sakes. My mother would be so disappointed me. I took Vanessa out to the pack’s bar. It was lively at this time of night, packed with wolves laughing, drinking, and throwing darts at a target on the far end of the room. The scent of alcohol and fried food clung to the air, mixing with the usual musk of wolves who’d spent their day working hard. The moment we stepped inside, heads turned—not because of me, but because of her.Vanessa had that kind of presence, the kind that demanded attention whether she meant to or not. She was dressed in fitted jeans and a crop top, her curves accentuated with every move. Dark, smooth skin glowing under the d
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I think I need to stop drinking so damn hard. Yesterday was a twister for me. I spent my time arguing and then dancing... there’s got to be something wrong with me. This is why I do not take vacations. I am a mad person apparently. I awoke in the living room with a blanket over my body and my bladder full. I tried not to rush out of the living room to not piss myself but I walk fast enough to get there in time before things get worse.After that, I washed my hands, and face and brushed my teeth. Once I felt fresh enough, I made my way out of the bedroom and in search of Colton. He had turned the whole fight around yesterday after dismissing me, to apologizing. It was weird and a complete one-eighty to what I’m used to. He wasn’t around, as expected. I guess this is the farm life. I showered, and opted to spend the morning working on a piece about the lake and how the town seems to hold scenic views that people would love, and I wanted to write about how
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I wandered deeper into what I had assumed was a park, my boots crunching against a narrow gravel path. The air was different here—still and heavy as if the trees themselves were holding their breath. I tightened my jacket around me, but it wasn’t the cold that made me shiver.The tombstones were what unsettled me the most. Unlike the neglected storefronts and cracked sidewalks of Dusty Creek, these graves were pristine. The marble shone as if it had been polished that morning, and the engravings were crisp, untouched by time. Even the flowers, carefully arranged at each headstone, were fresh—some still bearing droplets of morning dew.I paused, my fingers brushing over the carved name of someone I had never met. The town itself had felt like it was crumbling from within, yet here, the dead were treated with more care than the living.Who tended to these graves?I turned, searching for any sign of a caretaker. The town was small—too small to hide someone f
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I got up in an instant, apologizing once more before attempting to leave.“Please don’t leave. I would like to talk to you.” he expresses as he grabs my ankle. I wanted to say no. I mean am i willing to ruin my whole mood with this? By entertaining this... conversation with the man my mother chose? The answer should be no, but it isn’t.I bob my head, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ears. Which popped back out because my hair chose to fight me. Tom, i remember my mother had called his name. I helped him up, and he pointed towards a nearby cafe where we could go and have a conversation.I ordered a black coffee, i wanted no sweetness to combat the bitterness in my chest. Tom got the same thing, and for the first five minutes we don’t talk. Then he starts.“I know you don’t like me. And your mother bringing you here under false pretenses only makes you hate me more.” since he knows why is he wasting his time trying to talk to me? I am not going to ris
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥The brush in my hand was slow and deliberate, moving over the mane of the injured horse with a tenderness I didn’t feel inside. Each stroke was meant to comfort, but it did little to soothe the knot tightening in my chest. The soft swish of the bristles against the horse’s coat was the only sound in the barn, and I wondered if the silence made the weight of the moment heavier. My mind had been racing all day, thoughts like wild stallions tearing through my head, refusing to be tamed. The farm—the ranch—had always been my sanctuary, but today it felt like it was closing in around me, the walls growing tighter with every breath I took.I glanced up at the horse, her dark eyes watching me, patient but knowing. They always knew. Animals, they didn’t need words to understand when something was off. It was like they could sense the shift in the air before I even fully realized it myself. My hands, stiff from the tension, gripped the brush harder, trying to make the st
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥As expected my seven-hour walk around the entire land, there was nothing I could find. Nothing that helped me figure out what was going on with the land. The grass looked as green as they were gonna get, everything on the surface level looked good. But the crops are dying slowly, the cattle too, and now I know one of my horses is suffering from an injury I can’t explain, the others might suffer from the same issue. It would take me longer if I wanted to speak to everyone in the pack while also carefully looking through... god, I’m tired. I can’t even mentally check myself into any conclusion because this land is becoming less beautiful. I might be panicking, to be honest. My head sometimes switches when something goes wrong... with my animals, and the pack who who need this land to survive. It’s how they make their money, and how they live their lives, this pack is where they raise their children. I’m tired. I know I shouldn’t give up, and I won’t but with no
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I couldn’t sleep that night.The conversation I had with Tom lingered in my head, replaying in loops like a broken record. His lack of remorse gnawed at me, not because he didn’t care—he just didn’t feel the way I did. He didn’t know my father, didn’t grow up under his shadow, didn’t watch the slow, aching unraveling of a man betrayed. Tom had the privilege of distance, the safety of time. He had years to come to terms with the fact that he fell for a married woman, that he stood by while she tore a family apart.I couldn’t wrap my head around it.The sheer indifference of it all stunned me. My mother and Tom had moved on, built a life, never looking back at the wreckage they left behind. They never thought about my father, my siblings—never cared about what it did to us.The anger burned deep in my chest, too thick and heavy to let me rest.I pushed the blankets off and swung my legs over the bed, the movement too fast, too careless. The moment my foot h
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★We rode the horse all the way to our next destination after leaving the diner, the sky still dipped in twilight shades of purple and gold, dust kicking up behind us as we passed a few shuttered storefronts and the odd resident walking their dog or heading home. It was peaceful, the kind of calm that settled into your bones if you let it.Colton reined the horse in front of the mechanic’s shop—a squat, sun-bleached building with a rusted sign that just said Steve’s Auto. The kind of place that didn’t need Yelp reviews to survive, just old men with busted pickups and nowhere else to go. I thought it was thriving earlier, Colton had brought me here, but things must have changed.Steve himself stepped out as we pulled up, wiping his hands on a rag that had long given up the fight to stay clean. “Thought I heard hooves,” he said, giving a nod to Colton. “She yours?”“The horse or the woman?” Colton asked with a smirk.Steve snorted. “Whichever’s gonna sass me
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I don’t know what I expected when Colton said we were going somewhere not on the map, but it sure as hell wasn’t a water tower. Not one with a view that made the whole damn world feel like it was holding its breath.The town looked like a miniature version of itself from up here—soft, sun-drenched, unreal. Like someone had pressed pause and we were sitting above time itself. I leaned back against the blanket he laid out, stretched my legs out, and let the warmth of the sun and his body beside mine lull me into a kind of weightless joy.God, when was the last time I felt like this?Carefree. Safe. Wanted.Colton was lying next to me, one arm propped under his head, the other draped across his stomach. His shirt had ridden up a little, exposing a sliver of sun-kissed skin, and I had to force myself not to stare too long. Or touch. Or climb on top of him right then and there.Which was ridiculous, because we were literally on top of a damn water tower.“I ca
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥 After a good breakfast and wrestling a cup of caffeine from Vanessa, I grabbed the keys to one of my Jeeps, tossing them once in the air and catching them with a grin.“C’mon,” I said to Vanessa, watching her follow with that curious tilt of her head I’d grown addicted to. “Thought we’d take a little ride into town.”“I didn’t even know you had a Jeep,” she said as we walked down the path to where the whole family keeps their cars.“I’ve got a few things tucked away,” I said with a shrug. “Come on, I’ll show you.”We rounded the back of a big building, where a few of our vehicles were kept under tarps or shade roofs. Trucks, bikes, the old Jeep I’d learned to drive in for the first time. A bunch of other really clean and expensive-looking cars. I gestured at the line-up. “Told you.”She gave me a little side-eye. “Are you secretly a car fanatic?”I laughed. “Yeah, but that’s not the only reason we have alot of cars. I just grew up in a family where fixing thing
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I woke up warm.Not just physically—though that was part of it, tucked into the soft weight of Colton’s arms, his chest rising and falling behind me like the tide—but something else, too. Safe. Anchored.For a second, I didn’t move. I just blinked slowly at the soft light filtering through the curtains, breathing in the scent of soap, pine, and something distinctly his. Then I tilted my head back slightly and looked up.He was still asleep.His face was peaceful in a way I rarely got to see. No furrowed brow. No guarded jaw. Just Colton, unburdened. His mouth twitched a little, like he was dreaming about something mildly annoying or mildly funny—it was hard to tell with him.I laughed under my breath. Quiet and breathy.What a strange life.I used to wake up to sirens and honking cabs. Now I was waking up in a quiet room on a ranch, wrapped up in a man whose idea of rest was plowing half a field before breakfast.And yet… this didn’t feel strange at all.
▄︻デ══━一 COLTON HAYES💥 We couldn’t keep them here, that was a thought i couldn’t shake from the moment i showed up here. I stood in the barn, arms crossed, watching the twins—Fabian and Derico, or whatever they called themselves—slumped against the wooden post, weak and sullen but still dangerous. Ross had tied them good, and Abel was pacing like he wanted an excuse to break something. I think my father wants to hit someone. I’d let him, but I can’t risk him accidentally killing them. We need them.Vanessa’s concoction was still doing its work. She hadn’t lied—whatever she’d made, it drained the strength right out of their bones and soul as well. Enough of it could ruin a shifter’s ability to ever turn again. I’d seen that look in their eyes now. They understood what was at stake. She did say it was like wolfsbane. I should send a general message to everyone in the pack to wash the concoction off their skin. “We should move them,” I said finally, turning to face my father. “Take ’
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I shut the lid of my laptop and stared at it for a long second. The screen was black, but I could still see the echo of everything inside it—files, photos, confessions that might change the course of this pack’s future. I backed it up to several places. The first backup was easier than the others after it. Ugh, I’m actually super tired. I feel like crashing but i have one more thing to do. I gotta make that call I’ve been avoiding.My thumb hovered over my phone before I picked it up and scrolled to a number I’d been avoiding for days.Maya (Editor-in-Chief)The moment it started ringing, I regretted it. But there was no turning back now.She picked up before the third ring.“Jesus Christ, Vanessa. You’re alive. I’ve been calling you, emailing you, and texting you. You practically live on your phone, so why haven’t you been answering?”Her voice was sharp, loud, clipped. Familiar. And also tired. Everyone’s got shit that they’re dealing with.“I’m sorry,
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I checked on my phone and the recording. Thank fuck for the apps i use. That long confession would have needed to be divided into two parts, or more. I turned to Ross and Abel.“I’ll go get Colton, he can help you guys with this.” I said, slipping the last of the vials into the worn canvas of my bag.“You want us to just watch them while you’re gone?” “Yeah, just think of them as wild, untamed STDs. You don’t have it, but you gotta watch out for it.”Abel gave a curt nod, jaw set and eyes still on the twins, who were slumped and breathing heavily against their restraints. Ross, on the other hand, let out a quiet little hum — not disapproving, not questioning. Just… amused.“STDs?”I glanced at him briefly, and sure enough, he was fighting the corner of a smile.“Yeah.”His lips pressed together, and he took in several breaths to calm himself. “You do that,” he said, like he was letting me walk off with some private joke I’d never understand. “Don’t be to
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★I set my vials down carefully on a dusty old table by the door, arranging them neatly, almost deliberately slow.Fabian and Derico — the Fa-derico twins — were chained and fidgeting against the beams, their faces tight with pain and hatred.Good.Let them stew.I turned to Abel and Ross, keeping my voice even, business-like.“We’re going to do this properly,” I said. “I’m going to need to take some photos and videos.” I glanced at Ross. “If they confess anything — especially anything about a woman named Alina — we’re going to need proof.”Ross raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Abel grunted his approval. They didn’t know that name, I’m guessing colton didn’t really tell them the name of the woman who scammed him. I’d like to punch her. Not out of jealousy though. I’m classier than that- It’s maybe partly jealousy. Still, colton is a nice guy. And girls like me and alina use nice guys. I’m not proud of those past conquest but I’m also not ashamed of it.I loo
★。\|/。★VANESSA DAVIS★。/|\。★The field buzzed with leftover tension — the kind that clung to your skin and made every breath feel heavier.Children whimpered quietly against their mothers' legs.Men who hadn’t joined the chase and women stood frozen in place, casting nervous glances toward the trees where snarls and crashing sounds echoed in the distance.No one knew if they should stay or run.I stepped forward, heart pounding, but kept my voice soft, steady."Everyone," I called out gently, enough to draw their wary eyes to me, "please — head home. Take the little ones. The elders, too. There's nothing else you need to see. Get everyone to the safest place you can. Thank you for your time today."The pack hesitated, the weight of their fear holding them still. I noticed people squinting at the distance. They didn’t want to move, just in case there were more attackers. I softened my tone even further. "You're safe. Colton and the others have it under control. It would do them a gre