The Alpha or the Beta

(5) At Least you found me

As I turned to face my inevitable death I could vaguely make out a gigantic set of gray eyes staring back at me. The dark, smoky orbs were all I could see in the darkness that encircled us. The color was unlike any I had ever seen before; they were gorgeous. So beautiful in fact that it almost made me feel guilty for wanting to live, surely those cloudy eyes disserved by death. I expected the creature to pounce or at least move, but we sat there, staring at each other, motionless for what seemed like eternity. "Its okay, I give you my permission to kill me, Zabulus."

Mr. McConeal had promised me for four years that Latin was going to come in handy at some point in my life, I just never assumed it would be at the end of it. This was really it; this was how I was going to die. Eventually the Towns would find my mauled body out here in the middle of nowhere, or at least some of it. Somehow I was content with the idea of dying. Even an hour ago I feared death, yet now, staring death down into its striking gray eyes I wasn't scared.

The creature advanced towards me and instantly my body went numb. I could feel the blood draining from my face with every step that it took. I decided then to count down my death from five, closing my eyes on three. Five...there was so much more I wanted to achieve before I left this planet. Four...who would tell the Towns of my death? Three...darkness. Two...there was no one left on this planet I loved anyways, no one would miss me.

One...its time I see my mom again. "Leann, where are you?" Instantly my eyes fluttered open. The smoldering gray eyes were no longer in front of me. I was confused as to why it had chose to spare my meek and unimportant life.

I tried to make out the image coming towards me but my eyes were blurry with tears I hadn't realized were falling. "Leann, is that you?" Suddenly Liam stood where the creature had been only seconds ago. "Oh my God that is you!" He hurried towards me and to my surprise threw his arms around my body. "Oh, Puella, you're freezing!" If I had been paying attention I would have caught that he had called me either a damsel or his sweetheart. However, there were more important things going on at the moment and it slipped past me completely.

There was no logical reason for his body to have been so warm. I couldn't decide if he felt like a furnace because I was so cold or if he was actually a hundred and ten degrees hot. "Hhhh-oow dddd-idd..." I tried multiple times to ask him how he had found me, but I couldn't get the words to come out of my mouth in a coherent manner, no matter how hard I tried.

"Shhh Leann, don't talk. Just let me warm you up. I promise, you are out of danger now." Again I should have caught the mistake in his dialect but I let it slide subconsciously, he should not have known I was in danger of being eaten alive. We sat there for I don't know how long; me shaking like a fool with his arms wrapped tightly around me sitting on the forest floor.

Once I was sufficiently warmed to Liam's standards he released me and moved away from my body. Instantly I missed his touch and had to resist moving closer in order to close the unneeded space between us. I didn't know why my body was reacting the way that it was to this man but I chalk it up to the warmth that he had been providing me.

"How did you find me? What time is it? What was that out there? How cold is it outside? How hot is your body temperature? Where is your bloody shirt?" The questions came one after another, like word vomit that refused to stop. Liam had been correct when he stated that I was now warm enough to function somewhat properly.

"None of that is important, can you stand?" I meekly shook my head up and down but I was not entirely sure that my body would allow me to stand. Sure, it was warm now, but it was definitely in shock. As I slowly raised my body started to shake yet again, this time not from the cold but from the trauma that I had just encountered. I tried to take a step forward and instantly fell to my knees. I suddenly became embarrassed, not only had he been forced to find me in the woods and uncomfortably warmed my body; he now got to watch me fumble around like an idiot.