Chapter 4

ChapterFour

That does it. The sheer fear and pain in her voice did it. The trust she must’ve felt to call my name out loud like that. I leap up, crawling with all my might till I was as close as I could.

Justin’s total attention was on Elaine who kept struggling and kicking her legs up in protest. It awed me just how strong she was to struggle against a wolf even in human form. I gathered courage and sunk my teeth into Justin’s left leg. He squealed loudly in pain. I refused to let his foot go till he jumped away from the girl at the door.

The black wolf rolled on top of me and I stalled, rolling away further and further while Elaine’s body fell limp on the patio of Audra’s house. Probably from the shock of everything she must’ve heard and witnessed in the past hour. A part of me wanted to go pick her up. That could only be done once we got rid of Justin who was currently trying to choke me.

Justin screamed, the sort of pain that could only be delivered via the heavy and profusely bleeding wound on his feet and back. His wolf form was hurt, too and his strength was falling weak against my newfound passion. He growls, ’I’ll be back’ before he threw one last glance over his shoulder at Elaine’s unconscious form. Then, he disappeared into the woods leaving us behind.

"Elaine," I call weakly. My body was so frail that I had not even realized when I had shifted back into my human form. My bones felt heavy and blood was drying at the front of my body while the back ached uncomfortably. I could feel dirt rubbing against the scratched skin.

I felt like I was slipping into unconscious. The only thing that held me back was the echoing ring of my name that fell from Elaine’s lips with so much trust and fear. Just the thought alone made me shiver. I knew I’d be alright and so would she.

We were both werewolves, we were bound to be alright way quicker than other species.

"Elaine," I said again, this time louder. She whimpered, pained and scared and so small that it broke my heart. I lifted my head to watch her as she sat up and frantically searched around for something or someone. Audra? Me? Justin?

"Asher." she sighed in relief, and then I heard rustling. Footsteps came closer to me, and then she kneeled beside me, knees and hands scraped from Justin’s bloodied nails. Elaine let out a wretched sob and I turned my gaze to look up at her as well as I could.

"Are you okay?" came my voice, hoarse and slurring as if I was about to fall asleep.

"Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?"

She half chuckled, half sobbed. "You’re lying down in a puddle of your own blood Asher, you’re the one who’s hurt. I barely got scratched."

I laugh along, soft as not to exert pressure on any of my wounds.

"Well? Aren’t you gonna help me up?" I asked while mustering up a brave smile.

"Oh, yeah, of course! I’m sorry," Elaine rambled on before sliding her left palm underneath my head and the right one held my shoulder in a place she must’ve found not wounded.

To me, everything hurt at the moment.

"It’s okay," I assured as she pulled me up in a sitting position with my back not touching anything. It was relief from the itchy feeling of dirt. The corners of Elaine’s mouth turned upside down, her lips started quivering and tears started spilling from her eyes at an uncontrollable rate.

"I’m sorry," she said in between sobs, and I only frowned in confusion. "You…"

"I’m fine Elaine," I reassured, already feeling better than a minute ago. She shook her head in dismissal—almost like a kid. "Hey, come on. Stop crying." She stopped for a second and looked at me with warmth in her eyes like I was a savior.

"A-Ambulance, I need to call the ambulance. You’ll die at this rate, the blood won’t stop," she muttered hastily patting around her cracked phone. I tried to protest but Elaine only cried more every time I said anything.

"Listen to me! I don’t need an ambulance! I’ll heal soon enough. It’s just a matter of time," I explained, voice growing softer at the end.  "You just saw me turn back and forth from a wolf. Please calm down."

The girl’s shoulders slumped and there was a steady pace of her breath but the tears kept streaming on and on from her eyes like I had turned a damn tap on inside her head. I closed my eyes and squeezed while the wounds burnt slightly. They were now starting to heal.

"See! You’re in pain! I need to help you," Elaine muttered in a small voice, and hesitantly, her hand brushed my hair away from my forehead with delicacy in her touch. "Oh, God, there’s blood everywhere!"

"How are you? what are you feeling? Right now, after seeing everything, do you feel any different?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?", she retorted in confusion, reaching to caress her bare neck and collar with her shirt sliding to the right. There was something different about how she looked and the better I left,, the more I could notice the changes. "Wait!"

My lips parted and I wanted to ask what was wrong but Elaine suddenly jumped up to her feet and started running around the patio before walking around in circles with her eyes trained downwards like she was searching for something. "What’s wrong?" I asked finally.

"My necklace," she breathed out in worry. "The black wolf took it."

"What kind of necklace?" I asked in suspicion, brows clashed. I almost lost my balance as I got up to my feet. Elaine came rushing to my side. She slid an arm around my mid-riff and quickly held me up in place despite the difference in our sizes. "You’re strong," I giggled.

"Thanks," she muttered distracted, chewing down on her lower lip.

"What did it look like? The necklace, I mean." My question made her go quiet for a moment and in utter silence, Elaine led me to the patio so I was sitting down on the marble.

"It was crescent-shaped, made of silver and I-I always wore it." She then gulped. "My mom gave it to me; it was always with me ever since I was a little kid of just ten years."

"Oh," was all I could manage to say for a minute. Audra had told me about her sister and brother-in-law’s mysterious death, which was now getting even more twisted in my eyes. Now, that I had seen for myself just how special Elaine was, there was definitely something wrong with her parents, too. "Did your mom ever say anything about it?"

"No, she just told me that it was hers and now I got to have it but," another gulp. "But without it, I feel restless, strong but anxious and like—never mind, just help me find it if you can?"

"Hey," I started politely. "You know you can trust me, right? I didn’t risk my life just like that," my voice had a teasing edge to it, but it made Elaine’s eyes even warmer. She continued to stare at me for a hot minute. Then, her ears turned red and eyes moved to her feet.

"I know but it’s kind of really difficult when you’re all naked," she mumbled, trying to stifle a laugh. I only laughed along. Of course, I was naked, I had just shifted to a whole different species! My clothes weren’t going to stay on!

"Oh please, you know why," I complained but she only shrugged. "Seriously though, tell me everything you’re feeling. I can’t help you if you don’t let me."

"Okay," she breathed and then again, rubbed over her throat where the necklace must’ve been hanging. "I have this weird feeling that something wild and reckless is trying to break free from my body. It feels like I was being held back, and now I need to free myself. It’s scaring me."