There was a highway coming up along with the fields and farms on either side. We’d been running faster than I realized. The wereleopards were still behind us and catching up fast. Some of the other wolves were ahead of us and only a few were at our sides. Every now and then we had met up with the Shifter Task Forces but they weren’t half as much trouble as the wereleopards were going to be. I raised my head enough to look over Naremi’s head and saw a large number of wereleopards heading towards us. It didn’t look like Naremi or Lio planned on stopping so I put my head back down and braced myself. I heard and felt Naremi growl beneath me as we got closer to the wereleopards. Naremi suddenly stopped, making me jerk forward a little. I raised my head again to see what had happened and found that we were surrounded. The leopards stalked towards us snarling. Lio stood in front of Naremi and I baring his fangs at them but they were unmoved. My heart was beating faster than I thought po
Tonight was one I would remember for the rest of my life. I will tell you how the world as I knew it changed. I’ll tell you how I came to know secrets of a second world and how that world became more precious to me than the one I had known my entire life. There was a crescent moon that stuck out like a fingernail clipping in the starry night sky. It was the middle of May and the night air was slightly warm. I was enjoying all of the beauty of the night; up until about twenty minutes ago anyway. I was now running for my life through a deep, dark forest. I had been attacked by a couple of drunken perverts on my way back home from the store. God forbid I lead them back to my house. As I ran, I could hear them shouting behind me but I didn't dare to look back. "Get back here! We haven't had our fun yet!" One of them yelled at me. My blue, v-neck t-shirt had gotten ripped in the struggle. Part of my sleeve was gone and my breasts were pretty much spilling out of my bra
I lived in a small, and up until recently, peaceful town. The town of Delwyn was a nowhere town. You couldn't even find it on a map. There were lots of wooded areas, forests, and two large lakes, each at opposite ends of the town. I guess you could say we had a hunter's paradise. Everyone owned trucks of one model or another built for off-road travel because of the rough terrain areas; whatever could get you through thick mud and rocky roads was your best vehicle of choice. Five minutes or so was all it had taken for us to get to the main road. There was a green light ahead and we managed to make it through before it changed. "Make a left on Noliden, then go straight until you see Floneve." I said while looking out of the passenger side window. I didn't want to start a conversation, too much on my mind that I didn't want to share. I stayed silent until he asked where to go next. We were almost to Floneve now, driving about twenty-five miles per hour. "Turn right o
I was dreaming. I was standing in the middle of the forest at night wearing a white, spaghetti strap top with a long cotton skirt that flowed down over my feet like milk. My hair was pulled up into a pile of curls on the top of my head, leaving my neck bare. I was staring up at a full moon, hugging myself. Suddenly, Vasilios was standing behind me nuzzling my neck softly. I turned around and looked up into those silver eyes of his, and they were shining fiercely. He was smiling at me then, and it was different. His canine teeth were longer than they should have been, yet I still stood there smiling at him with adoration. Vasilios whispered something to me and then the dream changed to show me running through the forest, but I was in slow motion. I never understood why you could never run fast enough in your dreams. Vasilios was chasing me for whatever reason and he lunged forward reaching for me. Before I could see what happened next, the dream was broken by the sound of my phone
Later that night, I sat in bed eating popcorn and watching a romance/drama movie. Probably not the best idea considering what happened earlier but whatever. I had pulled my hair up into a ponytail and put on some pajama shorts that stopped just below my buttocks. I wore a sky blue t-shirt with the Mentos logo on it and no socks. It was quiet and peaceful in the house until I heard someone knocking at my door. It was a little after nine o’ clock so I wasn't sure who would be dropping by unannounced right now. I got out of bed and went to the front door. "Who is it?" I asked in a voice loud enough for whoever was on the other side to hear. "It's Vasilios and Baltasar. We need to talk to you." He said with slight urgency. What the hell did he think this was? "There's nothing to talk about Vasilios! Go away!" I shouted back at them. "Astraia, this is serious! You're in danger!" Baltasar said. My eyebrows scrunched and I shook my head. "Ha ha very funny! I'm not openin
When I came to, I was laying in a bed that I was sure wasn’t mine. I felt a gentle breeze from a window blowing against my face. Someone was sitting behind me. I felt the soft bristles of a brush going through my hair. It should have felt comforting, and it would have had I not witnessed what I did last night. I started to scramble out of bed and the mysterious person grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. I turned around to see who it was. A woman in her mid-thirties, violet eyes, and reddish orange hair sat smiling at me. She wasn't wearing any clothes at all, which made me look away quickly. “Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you. I just wanted to detangle that pretty hair of yours." She said, still smiling. I turned my back to her and she started brushing my hair again; she obviously did not care if I wanted her to or not. She used long, slow strokes and always ran her fingers through it after the brush reached the ends. "My mother used to brush my hair to relax me. I thou
My house was a disaster. All right so just the kitchen leading to the front door was a disaster. But at least both doors were fixed. The back and front doors had been replaced. Vasilios's friends told me that both doors had been reduced to mulch. There were pieces of wood, mud, and what looked like dried blood on the carpet in the hallway. It wasn't a large pool of blood, but it wasn't small either. There were sprinkles of blood on the walls also but nothing as bad as the carpet. I tried not to think of whose blood it was. It would make last night's events even more real to me. Vasilios's two friends were currently getting rid of the bloody carpet, putting down new carpet, and cleaning the walls. I owed Lio big time. Lio had sent Kyra and Githinji to protect me until he had a chance to meet with the wereleopard's clan leader. When I asked if he thought that would settle things he replied with, 'If things don't go over well, you won’t be the only one who's in danger.' I did not li
I sat in the back seat of their white impala. Kyra sat up front on the passenger side while Githinji drove. The impala was a 2009 model with cream leather seats. It was very clean inside and out. My admiration of the car stopped when we left the city limits. I stared out of the window as we passed the 'Welcome to Delwyn' sign. "They took him out of the city?" I asked. "To the outskirts. Their territory is up in the mountains outside of Delwyn. They have houses built into the surrounding lands at the base of the Abhora Mountains, but they do their clan business inside of the mountain caves." Githinji said. At some point someone had to question why groups of people were living in such secluded areas far away from civilized society, but I was sure those nosey people conveniently went missing. When we got to the Abhora Mountains, Githinji turned onto a narrow, gravel road that led to the back of a mountain side. I'd never been out here so I wasn't sure if this road has alway