Hunted

Chapter 4 - Frustrations

I must have fallen asleep again. When I woke it was because a car door closing, the sound soft but still enough to register in some part of my mind. A car door? No. A gate. An electronic gate of some kind, perhaps.

We were moving again slowly. I watched him and Nick out of the corner of my eyes, not moving, feeling safe. Safe? Why so safe? It wasn't something I could explain. It logically shouldn't have been happening- my only experience with werewolves was bad ones.

Was it an inbuilt sense, knowing the difference between hostile and safe? Something about that short time with Nick, on the plane and in New York, that had led me to trust him? Maybe I'd just been around so many hostile men for so long that I learnt to recognise hostile behaviour without consciously acknowledging it. They weren't threatening. Not to me, at least, though they had been very threatening at one point when they snapped the neck of a 'mutt' in front of me.

Maybe I was just going mad. Or I was too tired to know the difference. Both valid possibilities.

"We're here." Antonio murmured, reaching across to Pav, giving her a gentle shake. She jumped, blinked, leaning up and gazing around her. There was a driveway, bush, no landscaping, just the natural landscape that might have been here since before humans tried to claim the land around it.

The light was fading as well, dark clouds building in the sky, the patter of rain starting to fall on the car. He sped up, just slightly, as if he wasn't keen on getting stuck in any sort of downpour.

The house came into view beside a lush green field, a garage beside it, the garage door opening to reveal a long dark empty space.

"Ah, good, he got it empty for the trailer." Antonio muttered. His attention was focused completely on getting it inside, presumably without scratching it or denting it. "Saves us having to hide this and rush it in all at once while the twins are watching." '

I had seen the shapes of people on the verandah outside, through the rain, but hadn't gotten much of a look at them. Three of them maybe. Voices were there too. The rain increased in strength. Pav was already being helped out, Antonio on her side with an umbrella over their heads, her legs unsteady. She looked worse and was already failing to walk by the second step. Antonio was quick to lift her up, umbrella over the two of them, and out the door of the garage.

"Come on." The door was opening, Nick outside it, waiting. He held a hand for me. I stared at it, his outstretched hand, trying to figure out what he wanted me to do with it. It took me a few seconds to remember that humans held hands. Friends. Sometimes lovers. He'd snapped at me for hours, going from angry to quiet to angry, and now he wanted to hold hands?

I ignored it, sliding past him, ignoring him. The anger may have been wrong to target at him but I needed to be angry at someone right now. Couldn't explain it. Just had to be angry. Maybe it was nerves.

A growl from behind me. "Oh, fuck it, they can wait." A hand grabbed my arm. "Wait. Wait, Liz."

I froze then. That name I didn't want to hear. So what if it was more proof that he'd known who I was before this? So what if he'd known me before all of the bitten stuff at all? I hissed, softly, covering his mouth with my hand. "I'm Anne. Remember?" I went to walk, again, but was yanked back harder, making me wince. Ow. I may have healed faster like this but I was still injured.

He cringed the second I winced, grip on my arm softening. "Anne then. But let me talk."

"Why?"

"I heard what you said to An... to my father."

"When?"

"When I was pretending to be asleep." That statement didn't help the anger in me and he seemed to realise, know he'd slipped up again, frowning deeper. "I know that sounds bad. I just didn't want him to tell me off or cut you off. Sorry."