Bloodbond

Chapter 5

About twenty minutes later, we pulled up to a large gate that, I assumed, led to some sprawling estate. All I actually saw through the bars was a long driveway that made a sharp left and then disappeared. I fought to keep from rolling my eyes. Claire had said that werewolves were romatisized and that they were misunderstood because of it. Judging by the elegent metal gate barring access to the property before us, it was hard to believe that popular entertainment was just a romantisized view of what it meant to be a werewolf. It's probably the truth, but they weren't exactly making it easy with a place like this.

Claire pulled in when the gate opened and she continued down the driveway. It took us nearly five minutes to actually make it to the house and, once we did, I felt my breath catch. The place was absolutely amazing. To say it was huge would be an understatement. The grounds were immaculate and the garden was just beginning to bloom with the colorful buds of a wide variety of flowers. A few hundred yards in any direction, stood the border of a forest. That actually made sense. I'm sure it gave them an opportunity to run free without having to worry about being spied upon.

The house itself was...breathtaking. From what I could see, it was maybe four stories tall and the design had a gothic feel to it. While there were no flying butresses (thank God), there were a great number of arches all around the building. It was cream in color and the whole place just screamed class and old money. I fell in love just looking at it, but it only made things worse. Now I was just feeling really uncomfortable and my heart rate picked up.

Claire turned off the engine and made to get out of the car. I reached out and grabbed her arm, causing her to turn and give me a quizzical look.

I dropped my hand and decided to be honest with her. "I'm kind of nervous."

She gave me an understanding smile. "It's alright. If it helps any, sometimes this place frightens me too and I've lived here my whole life."

"That doesn't exactly make me feel any better. Anyways, I was more worried about the who rather than the where, if that makes sense."

I could see she had to think about my words a minute before she understood. When it finally sunk in, she reached out to grab my hand. "Listen, Cassia. I know this is all overwhelming and I genuinely apologize for that, but nothing bad will happen, I promise. I'll be with you the whole time." I tried to let her words reassure me and they did help somewhat, but I could still feel my nerves working overtime.

I finally nodded and pulled my hand back before climbing out of the car. Claire did the same and walked around to stand beside me. With a small smile, she squeezed my shoulder and inclined her head towards the house. I took the hint and started walking. Each step I took brought me closer to the front door and only served to further rile up my already frantic nerves. When we finally reached the door, Claire grabbed the handle and let us in.

I was immediately dumbstruck. I had thought the outside was amazing, but the inside of this place was even better. The celing was easily two stories up and held a beautiful chandlier right in the center that was currently lit up. Directly facing the door were two staircases that stood on each side of the room, meeting in the middle and separating again, leading out to two different sides of the house. It didn't take an expert to see that the floor was white marble and stunning. I didn't know much about architecture and home decor, but even I was drooling on the inside.

"This place is amazing," I breathed. Claire just smiled and kept walking down the hall that was directly across from the front door. She didn't say anything, but I knew she meant for me to follow. We eventually came to a door on the right that Claire opened and gestured for me to enter before her. It looked to be some sort of study or library. It had a large desk that sat in front of the floor length window. To the right, was a beautiful fireplace that was actually lit (my insides were doing a little happy dance at that). Every wall in the room was filled with books and I couldn't help but be a bit envious. I loved books and would kill to have a library that was even HALF as extensive as this one was.