Beloved

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kristen's POV

When I was little, my father convinced me that fairies lived in flowers. He told me that if I looked long enough at the flower, a fairy would surely appear. And I believed him. Every time the wind would push at the flowers in our garden, I sprang to life and searched for fairies that might've flown out of their homes. My childish mind would trick me, and I told my father every time I saw a little, colorful creature.

Maybe fairies were real, after all.

After seeing Emanual change form from human to beast, I had felt sick to my stomach. It was wrong. It wasn't realistic, but it still happened right before my eyes. I had stumbled away from the wolf, which had almost reached my shoulders. It was enormous, compared to the other wolf I had seen the night before. I didn't know if the grayish brown fur made it look broader and taller than it was, but its size truly terrified me. So, of course, I ran. I ran away from the monster, stumbling and falling. Every instinct in me told me to run, but one. Something big and powerful inside of me told me to stop and stay with the creature. But I pushed it down. This was a monster with claws and teeth so sharp, it could tear my skin apart with a twitch of its paw.

Charging deeper into the woods, I had no idea where I was going. That didn't matter, I told myself.

You just need to get away.

I was too scared to stop. I didn't know if it was following me or not, as the thumping of my heartbeat boomed in my ears. Finally, when my lungs could barely take any more, and I slowed down. I had ended up in a dark part of the woods. A crowd of pines stood tall, filling the air with a strong smell of resin. I pushed my back against of the trees, gasping for air. Adrenaline was rushing through my veins, making my legs shake. I had no idea of how long I had run and how far away I was from him – or it.

"Kristen?!" A far too familiar voice thundered through the woods. The shout made me jump away from the tree. I was seconds away from running in the opposite direction of the booming voice, till I saw him. This man looked like a normal human being. Except this man wasn't human. He was something entirely different, and I had no idea what. If it weren't for the burning in my legs, I would've thought I was dreaming.

The man was sprinting towards me, and he was suddenly grabbing my waist.

"I told you not to fucking run!" He fumed and I whimpered in return. My gaze immediately left his eyes, which were overflowing with anger.

"Look at me!" He demanded, and when I didn't obey quick enough, he grabbed my chin and lifted my head.

"This is the second time you've run away from me, and it better fucking be the la-"

"Stop it! Fucking back off!" I yelled at him, a look of confusion replacing the furious expression. His grip on my waist softened, as he looked at me with wide eyes.

"What did you fucking expect me to do?!" I pushed his hands off of me and walked further away from him. "Why the hell would I want to stay with you?! You kidnap me, make me stay in your house without telling me why I'm here, and then you do this weird, fucking shit!" I screamed at him, finally letting my thoughts out.

"And yeah, sure, you're nice once in a while, and sure, we kissed, but you're just a really big asshole!" Tears were rolling down my cheeks, but I didn't care. It felt so good and freeing to scream at him and make him stand there like a baffled idiot.

"So, yeah, I ran away. And you're dumber than I thought if you don't get why." My voice was lower now, and I was almost out of breath. I watched him, while my shoulders rose and dropped as my lungs filled with air. He still looked truly surprised by my outburst, but the man in front of me slowly started to nod. Now I suddenly realized what he was wearing. Nearly nothing. Only a pair of sweatpants clung low on his hips. The sight of his muscular torso almost made me forget the anger for him I still had. I quickly ripped my eyes off of his body and looked him in the eyes.

"You're right." His voice was probably lower than ever before, almost a mere whisper, but I heard him. I hummed at him and crossed my arms, waiting for him to continue.

"I get why you'd run away. Every sane human would do that. But, as you just saw, I'm not human. I am a werewolf." What he told me certainly did not seem sane. But I had seen it. I had seen him go from human being to wolf in a matter of seconds.

"And I'm afraid there's a lot more to tell you." He spoke, before dropping down on the ground, sitting against a tree. He patted the pine needle covered dirt next to him.

"Sit."

"Really? Can't I just stand?" I nearly whined.

"You wanted to know why. If you sit, I'm gonna tell you everything." Those words made me dump to the ground, sitting next to him. My gaze stayed on him, while he was silent for a while, thinking of what he wanted to say. 

"So, as a werewolf, we live in packs." He started off. His hand rubbed against the other, as he practically oozed anxiety. 

"Wait, 'we'?"

"Oh, yeah, everyone here is a werewolf. Like I said, we live in a pack. It's a big group of wolves, around 300 people. We all live either in the woods, like in the packhouse or other houses around in the woods or in the town nearby. Only werewolves from this pack can live in this town because this is our territory." I nodded at his words, trying my best to get it all in. It was just so, so weird. And different. And just completely surreal. This town had werewolves living in it. And nobody even knew.

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Kinda awkward ending, but i just wanted to publish because my final exams are finally over wooooh! so im free for the entire summer (hopefully i'll update lots). And because it's my birthday :) my sweet sixteen! (although i'm just sitting here writing and looking at my new art supplies).

Thank you so much for reading this chapter, if you enjoyed it please vote and comment!

Every vote and every (positive) comment mean so much to me. Your feedback is what motivates me to keep on writing this story. 

- the bday kid