47. Out for Blood

forty-seven

Out for Blood

*FLORA*

M y chest clenches whenever I recall my talk with Elden. I could see the pain in his eyes. He tried to sound calm and composed, but his eyes gave him away. He looked so hurt. He always says nothing can surprise him, but deep down, I think he hoped he would be wrong here.

Fuck this!

I need to make sure to get Cindy, her husband and her brother out of here, and be prepared for when Elden comes. I think he will need me more than ever. I use my Goddess-given powers to reach out from my room into the house, noticing how Cindy is alone in the kitchen. Hank and Gary are in the living room. All three of them look scared and exhausted. Desperate people sometimes do terrible things. Does that make them terrible people? I don’t know. But seeing how I am their victim, I feel like it’s on me to either let them fall or help them up again. And I choose the latter. I want them to have a second chance and never be so dumb again.

The other group of men is outside in the garden. Safe enough for me to do what I need to do. Reaching out my hand, I touch the doorknob. It’s not laced in silver, which makes it even easier for me to open it. Channeling my powers towards the door, I hear it click and open it easily. Without further ado I hurry to the kitchen.

Cindy looks surprised and a little shocked when she sees me. “You-“

“Cindy,” I say earnestly, dropping my innocent act completely. “You need to leave. Take your husband and brother, and leave.”

“But-“

“You have no idea what you got yourself into,” I say. “But despite everything, you were nice to me, so I am going to return the favor. They-“ I point outside. “-are counting on you being killed. The man who is looking for me, my mate, is a royal lycan, an alpha wolf. They know that, but they probably didn’t tell you.”

She stares at me. “But he told me it’s just a rich boy who has some disposable income, and-“

“They lied, and you need to leave,” I press. “If you die, who will look out for River?”

She stares at me, tears in her eyes. “There is no special treatment, is there?”

“Not one your cousin knows about. You need to be there for little River. He needs his mom and dad, and his family. Take the money you got and keep it to get the best possible treatment for him.” She wants to argue, but I stop her. “I know who hired your cousin. Believe me, just take the money. He is not worth having a bad conscience for.”

Cindy looks at me, and for a split second, I am scared she will refuse to leave, that she will not believe me, but then she takes my hand. “You are an angel,” she says quietly.

“I am not,” I say. “I am just a lycan wolf with peculiar powers.”

“I know, I was stupid,” she admits quietly. “The moment I agreed to help my cousin, and I realized what it entailed, I knew it. But I didn’t know how to get out of it anymore. I just wanted to save my child.”

“River’s fate is still open. He might die, but he might also live,” I tell her. “You don’t know the outcome of his illness and how he will respond to treatment. I don’t know either, but I just know that he needs you. And please, don’t ever get mixed up with something so shady again!”

Cindy hugs me swiftly, much to my surprise. But it’s not an unwelcome gesture. “Thank you. I still don’t understand what’s going on, but I know you could have easily lumped us together with Robert and the others. Thank you.” She looks at me. “To me, you still are an angel,” she utters.

“Good luck with everything,” I say. “Make sure to get away, now. We will deal with your cousin. They won’t bother you ever again. You can be sure about that.”

She nods, squeezing my hand once more before hurrying to the living room. I hear her talk with Gary and Hank, and I decide to trust that she will convince them to leave. Meanwhile, I have my own problems to deal with, namely Robert and his goons. I am still not sure what exactly, their occupation is. I told Elden that I think they are traffickers, and I strongly believe that’s true, but we will need to do some more research to know exactly what they have been doing.

I hope Samuel and Geneva can help us bring them to justice in the human world. How we will do that, I have no idea yet, but we will find a way.

Without overthinking what I am going to do, I step outside through the front door. Behind me, I can hear another door opening and closing slightly, followed by light footsteps, indicating that Cindy, Gary and Hank have left.

“So, here you are,” I say, when I see Robert and his men in front of me. They had retreated to the garden to have some drinks. Robert is leaning against the wall, while the other three are sitting on the ground. Now, they all get up.

“Look who is trying to run,” the man snarls.

“Run?” I blink, eyeing him curiously. “That’s funny. Why should I be the one to run? Funny, funny, funny.”

“What’s so funny?”

“As a human, you were stupid to get involved,” I giggle. “So stupid.”

The guy who just spoke looks slightly taken aback. “I swear, she is nuts,” he mutters. “Rob, this girl has some screws loose.”

“A screw, huh?” I tilt my head, wondering if I can pull it off. I can let silver appear out of nowhere, maybe I could also form it.

…picture it…

What… That voice! Celeste!?

She still sounds far away, but she is there! Picture it in your mind, she says tiredly.

I focus on a screw in my mind, blinking curiously to see if it works, and indeed I am holding a silver screw in my hands. Wow, that was easy. I laugh and toss it at the guy. “Like that?”

The dude jumps away as if I had just tossed a highly toxic object at him. That was fun. “Oh, you didn’t catch it!” I make sure to let another silver screw appear and toss it at him again, making him jump away once more.

I can’t help but laugh. Robert, however, seems to have had enough and steps forward, snarling at me. “You little cunt,” he hisses. “I-“

I focus on a new object, my smile replaced by an angry frown, as I point a dagger at him. “You were saying?” I ask darkly. “It’s not so fun when your poor little cargo fights back, huh? Maybe I should draw some blood from you and sell it off to some vampire covens. I am sure they will approve!”

My continuous change of moods seems to work because the men look at me warily. They seem to be scared that I might totally go insane, especially now that they know I still have my powers.

“Werewolves don’t hurt humans,” Robert says awkwardly.

“Says who?” I laugh. “Besides-“ I clap my hands. “-I can still toy with you to my liking. Don’t you know who I am?”

They clearly have no idea, and I don’t intend to tell them. It’s better to leave them guessing. I hope this gives Elden enough time to find me before these idiots try to run.

*ELDEN*

I have long outrun both Vincent and Calvin. The moment Flora stopped her mind projection, I reached out to my betas, informing no one else but them. For now, it feels safer if it’s just the three of us. We took off immediately, with Vincent driving, until the path got so narrow that I decided it was faster if I ran. Regis was restless, and angry, pushing me forward, and I was all too eager to give in to him.

I still am eager. We are both out for blood; we are just not sure whose blood we want the most!

Get to our mate! Regis growls. Our mate!

It’s all he can think of.

Regis and I run straight through the forest, not following a specific path, but with every step, my anger gets stronger. Something seems to burn inside of me.

I can feel her presence and take up her scent now, although I am still too far away and shouldn’t be able to do it. Maybe it’s part of the gifts I got and haven’t delved into yet. Everything is so much clearer now, my mind able to hyperfocus on Flora and trailing her scent without knowing her exact whereabouts. In front of my inner eye, I let my gift play itself out, by showing me all the scenarios that could possibly happen. Now that I have the hang of how to work around its limits, it’s so much easier to use. Most of them show me Flora in safety, but there are a couple of bad outcomes. It’s always a possibility.

I barely even notice the house with the red fence when I break through the forest and find myself running towards it, just chasing Flora’s scent. It’s so much more prominent now. The area is deserted, fortunately, and the building is the only one in the area. I hand the reins completely to Regis, having him chase forward, with full speed and he jumps over the fence separating us from our mate.

In front of us is Flora, with four men. One of them is cowering in the back, while the other three are standing too close to her to not to be threatening. Their eyes widen in horror when they see my lycan. A terrifying growl leaves Regis’ throat, making them startle.

“Oh, here you are!” Flora chirps, waving at us.

“My God,” one of the dumbasses mutters. “That’s a monster!”

“He is not a monster,” Flora snarls. “You pathetic losers have no idea what you messed with. You are the monsters!”

“Stay away from us!” the tallest of the guys huffs before grabbing Flora’s arm and tugging her towards him. He holds a knife in his hand. Regis doesn’t wait for him to do anything with it and dashes forward, his angry growl ripping through the air. Before he can lunge at the idiot, Flora pushes him aside.

“Don’t,” she blurts out. “He is just a human. He will die! He is literally nothing!”

Regis' view is red, though, he doesn’t seem to hear or see her, because he is just focused on the psycho who threatened our mate. There is a burning fire inside of him that seems to swallow him more and more.

Regis doesn’t focus on the other men anymore, who have retreated to a far corner of the garden; instead, he stares at the asshole who tried to hurt our mate. My head starts hurting at the intensity of his feelings. It’s as if everything is blurred. Regis struggles, too. I can feel him losing and regaining his focus, only to lose it again.

What’s happening?

My head starts spinning. A loud growl echoes through the area. I can hear Flora’s voice in the distance, as if she is trying to reach out to me, but I can’t quite hear her. In an attempt to regain his control or maybe to get rid of the headache Regis tosses his head around, his claws reaching out for whatever he can reach.

When it feels like it’s all getting too much, I can feel something warm against our fur, the presence soothing our head immediately. Slowly, my blurred vision makes way for my regular one. The four guys are cowering in a corner. I think one of them has peed himself. At least it smells like it. Flora has wrapped her arms around Regis’ body, clinging to him and talking to him in a soothing voice.

I smell her blood.

Flora’s blood!