I can’t sleep after losing my best friend. My sweet little Hope is screaming in her sleep. As I gently wake her, she burst into tears.
‘Nathan didn’t do anything wrong! He didn’t deserve to die!’ she cries.
She had just dreamt of the explosion and Nathan dying, a trauma I knew she would forever have. I wish I could have shielded her from seeing it, from being there. I wish I could have prevented Nathan’s death, the explosion, all of it.
My mind replays when the car window wound down, revealing a gun pointing at the petrol tanker. I knew that the whole place would explode if he shot the tanker. It was a run-or-die situation. Then I had grabbed Hope’s arm and ran as fast as possible, praying to the Moon Goddess if we could just outrun the explosion in time.
Not wanting to think about it, I nuzzle my face into Hope’s neck. My tears drip down her neck as I listen to her little heartbeat as she has managed to fall asleep again. Finally, at some point through the night, I, too, drift off to sleep.
Upon waking, Hope gently caresses my face on her lap. We stare silently into each other’s eyes. Although I want to hold her and gaze into her eyes forever, I know we must keep moving.
Hope crawls out from the shelter, and I follow.
‘Where are we?’ she asks while looking around.
I wasn’t going to lie to her. ‘I have no idea, but we have to keep moving,’ I reply and shift into my Lycan form. Hope climbs onto my back.
Hours later, we can see a city in the distance with many tall buildings.
As we come closer, I stop to shift back into human form. But unfortunately, I’m shirtless, giving us unwanted attention.
Hope is already onto it. I watch as she climbs over a little picket fence and falls, letting out a squeak. She gets up, patting herself down, and then creeps towards a clothesline in someone’s backyard. Hope isn’t very good at being quiet. She must have tripped on every stick and stone and kicked every item lying around, making such a ruckus.
Hope comes running back into my arms, waving a grey shirt towards my face. ‘Here you are,’ she says as she catches her breath.
I had to laugh at her efforts.
‘What?’ she asks.
I smirk, shaking my head. ‘Don’t worry.’ I say as I put the shirt on. It’s very tight. Hope looks away, trying not to laugh. ‘Well, it’s better than nothing.’ I say, shrugging my shoulders.
We walk along the road. ‘Welcome to Threadington,’ a sign reads.
Hope and I look at each other, raising our eyebrows. ‘I’ve never heard of Threadington before. Let’s go suss it out, and I’ll contact our Beta Alex to organise transport for us.’
The traffic builds up, horns honk, and people holler at one another. There are hundreds of shops and tall buildings. It’s a big city.
We walk through the busy streets until we feel safe enough to relax for a while. I approach a phone booth and call Alex.
‘Alpha!’ he whispers. ‘Is that you?’ he asks.
‘Of course, it’s me…why are you whispering?’
‘You’re not going to like this Alpha—your pack house. Numerous packs have overtaken it. They attacked us together all at once. They told us to either join their packs or die! Half the pack didn’t even put up a fight and joined them! The rest of us, we are all in hiding at the moment until you return,’ he says.
‘Wands!’ I growl through the phone. Hope looks at me with worry and confusion.
‘Alex. Hope and I are stranded in a city called Threadington. I don’t have money to get a hotel.’
‘Can’t Nathan pay?’ he asks.
I pause in silence. ‘Alpha? are you still there?’
‘Yes, I’m here, Alex. Nathan is… dead. One of the other packs blew the petrol station up while we were there. Hope and I only just managed to escape.’
‘He can’t be dead! He can’t be!’ Alex cries out.
‘I’m sorry, Alex, I know we were all like brothers to each other. They want to kill Hope and me. I can’t let that happen.’
‘I have a friend in Threadington. She’s human, though. So she doesn’t know about us werewolves. Her name is Sally. I’ll ring her and tell her to expect you. As soon as I have Bella safe, I will transfer some of the packhouse funds to Sally’s account to give to you.
‘Can’t you and Bella get here to Threadington?’ I ask.
‘It would take us over a week to get to Threadington by car. I don’t want to risk the pup arriving along the way,’ he says.
‘Wait! The Moonfall pack! Alpha Dan! He was the only one against hunting me and Hope down. I think we can trust him. Take Bella and anyone else with you to his pack, you will be safe there, and Alex, don’t tell anyone our location.’
‘I won’t say anything, Alpha. I’ll do what I can to get the rest of the pack safely to Alpha Dan.’ he replies.
The call ends.
Hope places her hand gently on my bicep, ‘What happened?’ she asks with worry.
‘We can’t go home just yet. It’s been overtaken. Pack members have joined forces with them or fled,’ I tell her.
Hope gasps as her hands cover her sweet lips, ‘This is all my fault! If we hadn’t met, Nathan would still be alive, and you would still have your pack!’ she cries.
‘Hope! Nathan’s death was not your fault! This is all Alpha Tate’s doing, and I would happily give up my Alpha status if it meant being with you!’ I say to her.
Hope looks at me, wiping the tears from her eyes. I pull her close to my chest. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell, but you mean so much to me. Hope, I would die for you,’ I tell her.
‘I’m sorry.’ she whispers.
I gently kiss her lips. The sparks spreading through my body drive me crazy with lust and desire for her.
‘We need to find directions to Sally’s house.’
Hope nods. ‘Excuse me, sir.’ she says sweetly to a man walking by. ‘Could you tell me where I could find the name of this street, please?’ she asks.
The man smiles, ‘Ten blocks that way.’ he replies, pointing to the right of her. ‘Thank you, sir.’ Hope bows her head.
‘You’re very welcome beautiful.’ he says, giving her a wink.
I rumble a low growl and approach Hope and take her hand. I force a smile at the man and nod in thanks as we walk away.
‘You didn’t have to growl.’ Hope says.
‘I will growl at any man who tries to flirt with you.’ I reply.
Hope rolls her eyes at me.
We arrive in a residential area with lots of houses, ‘There!’ Hope shouts, pointing to a street sign. We enter the street and find the home.
It’s a cream-coloured house with a simple yard and a porch. We approach the front door and knock. A woman with brown hair answers the door. She’s a little taller than me and has pretty brown eyes.
‘You must be Hope and Maximus! Alex just told me your car was hijacked?’ she asks.
Hope and I gaze briefly at each other, raising an eyebrow. ‘Um yeah, that’s correct, I reply.
‘Please come in.’ she says with a bright smile.
We follow her into the house. ‘We appreciate you taking us in for the night.’ I smile.
‘Well, anyone who is a friend of Alex is a friend of mine. Are you hungry?’ she asks
‘Starving, actually.’ Hope says.
‘Please take a seat. I’ll make you both something to eat.’ Sally says, approaching the fridge.
I sit down expecting Hope to sit next to me, but instead, she sits on my lap. Hope glances around the room.
‘So, how do you know Alex?’ I ask.
Sally immediately blushes. ‘We used to date quite a few years ago before I moved to Threadington.’ she says.
I didn’t know Alex had dated a human in the past.
‘It was more of a no strings attached fling, nothing serious.’ She smiles. ‘I hear he has settled down now with a baby on the way?’ she asks.
‘Yes, Bella, she is due very soon to have his pup… I mean, baby!’ I reply.
‘Well, I’m very happy to hear he is doing well.’ she says as she places a plate of spaghetti in front of us.
Hope slides herself onto the seat next to me while we both scoff our meals. Hope looks very pleased with the food, and I don’t think she has had spaghetti before. Sally stares at us, a little worried about how fast we eat.
‘Gee, you guys sure are hungry.’ she says.
Hope nods, ‘This is delicious! I’ve never eaten this before! What do you call this?’ Hope asks.
‘Erm, well, this is spaghetti. I’ve never met anyone here who hasn’t tried spaghetti.’
I interrupt their conversation. ‘We’re from the countryside. No restaurants or stores exist, so we live off the land eating the basics.’
‘Oh, I see.’ Sally says, buying my excuse.
‘Well, since you’re done eating, let me show you your room.’
Sally shows us to the spare bedroom. ‘Here is where you can sleep, and the bathroom is just one door down if you need it.’
‘Thank you so much. This is so much better than the attic I’ve been sleeping in.’ Hope smiles.
‘What? You sleep in an attic?’ Sally asks, confused.
I interrupt the conversation again.
‘Oh, um, her grandma has builders renovating their house, so they spent a few nights sleeping in the attic.’
‘Oh. I see,’ she says.
‘Thank you for this, Sally.’ I say.
‘No worries. I have to head out for a few hours to run some errands. I’ll be back later,’ she says and closes the door behind her.
