Chapter 6

ChapterSix

Aunt Audra returns with a glass of water in her hands and is quick to settle back in her original place. Before she even has the chance to say anything, Asher bombards her with questions.

"Why did Elaine’s mom give her that necklace? Why is concealing her identity so important? And most importantly, what makes her so special as a wolf?" he spat out, fumbling over his own words in haste. His point came across clearly.

We were both hungry for answers that only she had.

"Elaine’s father, Jeffery, was a smart man. He was one of the Eden Wolf descendants, hence, making Elaine one, too. As one of the Eden wolves, her identity and her safety are more important than anything in the world," Aunt Audra explained, but only confusion grew in our minds as she continued to speak about my father.

" He knew anything and anybody could be a threat to Elaine, so he moved out of his house with Serena as soon as possible. It worked for a while, but then they were being attacked, being threatened. Serena decided the best way they could make sure of Elaine’s safety without them was to hand her over to her grandmother or me with the necklace around her. It was the best shield they could afford to have."

"Woah, Woah," I said. "Let’s back up for a minute, please. Could you tell me what exactly an Eden Wolf is?" I asked, not grasping anything else with this question in mind.

"Exactly, I’m very lost, too," Asher agreed, clicking his fingers together.

"Ah, I see your father didn’t tell you either. That’s fine, I’ll tell you." Aunt cleared her throat and continued. "It is said that Eden Wolves were the first werewolves to ever walk the earth. This identity and power are only passed via bloodline and nothing else. Only one Eden wolf’s blood is passed onto the descendants and this time it was your father’s lineage that was passed onto you."

Oh.

"Does that mean there is no other Eden Wolf among us?" I asked, both shocked and terrified.

"That’s right," Audra confirmed. "The Eden wolf’s blood has been passed on for Millenniums. Since Jeffery died long ago, his blood was transferred to Elaine, which makes her the strongest wolf in the world. It’s both a blessing and a curse."

I let out a scared shaky breath. All the new information was making my heart thump loudly against my ribcage.

"Why is it a curse? Isn’t it a great thing to be the strongest in the world?", Asher asked, conveying both our confusions and Aunt Audra’s face flashed with a knowing look like she was expecting this question, too.

"As great as it is, a lot of supernatural creatures are after the Eden Wolf bloodline. Since Elaine is yet to have a child, there is a chance that her death will cause the bloodline to transfer to a random wolf instead. The necklace was created by me and Serena in a way that assured her safety." She paused and looked right into my eyes as she said the next words.

"The blood has been awakened Elaine your life, along with ours, is in danger. Be prepared for everything. This might be a lethal fight."

There was not much to remember after that, my final image of last night was when I tucked myself into the bed of the guest room with an alert mind and fear coursing through my veins. I remembered freaking out in front of Asher about it, but that was the least of my concerns at the moment.

Asher had asked to be my security guard last night. Aunt Audra had no choice but to agree, of course. I too had no objections since he was somebody I could trust, somebody we both could trust. After showering, the footsteps downstairs indicated Audra was still home. I heaved a breath of relief at that.

Apparently, she wasn’t a wolf but a witch. Something I was yet to hear about.

The whole ordeal was so weird to me. Just yesterday I was this college girl on a vacation at her aunt’s place for summers but now? Now I was the world’s strongest Wolf who was protected by another wolf, and a witch, who also happened to be the same aunt.

Who knew that my life would come to this?

Exactly like Asher’s explanation from yesterday, my life had been a mess since the starting and now everything was starting to connect. I could think of all the suspicious deaths that were starting to make sense. I shook my head to clear it of any sad thoughts and turned the knob of my room open.

There was pin-drop silence in the house except for a little ticking of clocks but I knew someone was there because of my newfound abilities and heightened senses. I quietly padded downstairs, expecting to be greeted by Aunt Audra’s sweet smile or breakfast ready on the table.

The smile that I saw wasn’t hers.

"Asher?" I frowned in question and he hummed softly.

"Good morning, Elaine, your breakfast is ready." Asher grinned, cocking his head towards the plate on the dinner table covered by another.

"When did you get here?" I asked. Instead of sitting down, I stood in front of him.

"I’ve been here all night," he said. "Don’t know why, but I didn’t have it in me to leave you alone." Asher’s brows clashed together and I stared at him while he brought one hand to gently caress the back of my head.

"Thank you. I cannot thank you enough for both what happened yesterday and for staying tonight," I sighed and then felt color creep up on my cheeks at the gentle touch of his hand.

"It’s okay, I wanted to help and I wanted to stay." He smiled. "Now, come on, check out the breakfast," Asher urged, pointing a finger at the dish on the table. I laughed, half suspicious and half fond. He was...a cute guy.

"Okay," I muttered softly. I took the lid off only to find the plate empty, except for a little note in the middle of it. Curiously, I picked it up and opened. My ears could pick up that even Asher’s heartbeat was fast out of nervousness.

’Elaine, will you do me the honors and let me take you out on a date? -Ash.’

I tried to hide my smile but ended up laughing at his silliness with a blush riding high on my cheekbones. "So, what do you say?" he asked, still looking a little flushed when he came up behind me.

"Yes, I will do the honors." I chuckled and turned on my heel to catch his gaze. "Where are you taking me?"

"I know exactly where to go but it’s a surprise," he cheesed, so I rolled my eyes but nodded.

"Fine, let me go change first."

He nodded, chewing on the inside of his cheeks and I hopped away to my room. I returned a few minutes in a black sundress that was casual enough for me. It wasn’t until then I noticed he was wearing jeans and a shirt that I was sure I didn’t own.

"When did you change clothes?" I asked, and he turned around in surprise.

"Oh, you’re back. I asked a friend from the pack to grab me a pair from home." He shrugged. "Let’s go?"

"Yes."

I quietly walked behind Asher and he kept on pausing to say something, but then he’d shake his head before moving on again. When it happened for the fifth time, I sighed and asked him what was wrong. He replied with a simple ’Oh nothing’ so I kept quiet till we reached his car.

The air was a little awkward as he seemed to be holding himself back from saying something. I gaped at the race car in front of me. It was red and totally suited Asher’s personality.

"It’s pretty, right?" he asked as he opened the door for me. I beamed back, quickly settling into the passenger seat of the expensive car. Asher sat down from the other side and we went on in a silent but comfortable car ride. Each of us full of blushing cheeks.

Being with Asher throughout the day was surprisingly more comfortable than I would’ve thought. As soon as we were off the car, he stepped closer beside me and silently asked for my hand to hold. Turns out, that was what he wanted to say to me.

The first half of our date went in a round of the whole town where he’d stop at multiple places and asked me to try things there. We had a lot of street snacks but they were all shared so we could still have space for dinner. At one point, I had started to feel like everything I was eating was a new discovery, despite how many times I had eaten the same thing before.

Everything was like an adventure with Asher.

A lot of people seemed to know him around town He being the social butterfly he was, would stop and introduce me, too. I could only smile and adore him while he put his smart mouth to use and let out a scurry of jokes throughout the day.

Whenever things weren’t serious, Asher seemed to be a person with a happy-go-lucky personality. We eventually stopped to have dinner at this grand restaurant that he deemed was ‘the best one ever.’ It was starting to grow slightly chilly in the car, so I asked him to turn off the air conditioner and somewhere along the way, the comfortable weight of his palm on my lower thigh made me feel a little better about the situation at hand.

This date was a good distraction even if it meant just a few hours.

"So, how did you like Millerville? Does it fit your city standards?" Asher teased, nudging his shoulder against me. The boy’s cheeks were slightly reddened with the exhaustion of the last two days, but he seemed to be more than delighted.

"No." I scrunched my nose up. "It’s way better."

"Oh?" He giggled, raising a brow at my honesty. "I’m sure you like it here because of me only. Nothing else."

"Of course," I replied with a sarcastic smile, nudging his shoulder back playfully. It was starting to seem less sarcastic and truer with every passing second.

The restaurant was just as good in it’s exterior as it was in the interior. The place seemed really expensive and I couldn’t deny the giddy feeling in my belly because of it. We took a seat at one of the smaller tables against the glass window and enjoyed the view after placing the order.

Our order arrived a couple of minutes later and once again, the comfortable silence was back. When we were done with the dessert too, he insisted on paying with the premise that he was the one who asked me out. I denied it. He had been paying for everything all day long!

"Hey, Elaine?" he called when we were walking back to his car and I hummed in his direction. "Do you want to come to meet my pack now? It’s for your own safety."

I parted my lips, wanting to put his offer down right away, but he interrupted again.

"Please? I don’t want anything to happen to you, Audra will understand and I want you to trust me, too" he pleaded, amber red eyes shining back at me in a way that made my heart thump.

"Okay," I breathed out. "Let’s go."