Behind Enemy Lines | 2

Chapter Three

Hi everyone! Updating early today, I have a full day tomorrow :) Length is deliberately short, the next chapter will be very long though so bare with me, hope you enjoy!

Libby xx

Pain.

It was all she could feel in the darkness.

Her small body broke at the cold touch of the wind around her. Her joints hurt; could she even walk? Her skin was stiff with the dried blood on her skin. Her blood, it coated her like a mother’s hug. Delicately, she pried her eyes open. The sun stabbed at her vision, making her immediately shut her eyes again. Her red hair was stuck to the tree she rested on, her arms like stone. She couldn’t move.
“Hey, you’re awake?” Someone whispered. She tried to open her eyes again, a fuzzy picture of a woman coming into her vision.
“Take your time, the sun is quite bright.” They whispered again. Her ears hummed at the foreign voices, but they seemed somewhat familiar to her. Foggy memories of the night before entered her mind.

Screams. Snarls. Gasping. Blood. Knife. Stars.

Her rescue quickly came back to her as her eyes adjusted to the sun. Her light grey eyes opened to the world. Kneeling in front of her was a young woman with tumbling brown hair, her dark eyes watching her with worry. Her small lips pulled into a smile as she stared into her new born grey eyes.
“Glad to see you awake.” She spoke quietly, no doubt trying not to alert any nearby predators.

Vampires.

The red-headed girl flew up the tree, her eyes darting left and right as her heart rate increased exponentially. The brunette’s hands flew out to hold her down, but she hesitated just before she hit the scarred skin of the girl.
“It’s okay, there aren’t any vampires around.” She assured. Their opposite eyes locked as they calmed their racing hearts.
“I am Princess Thalia of the Wolves.” The brunette introduced, inching back slightly. “The man who carried you out is my mate Elijah, he leads the hunters.”
The grey eyes of the blood red girl enlarged at the news, confusion echoing in their smoky depths. Thalia smiled kindly at the young wolf. “An alliance formed between the hunters and the wolves, and those who are mated between are tasked to hunt down the vampires.”
The Princess watched as fear stroked the nape of the girls’ neck. Sweat poured down her forehead, she gulped down the block on her voice and tried to talk. All that came out was a harsh cough. Thalia reached over and grabbed her canteen, handing her the refreshing water.
“Take your time.” Thalia said, watching as she gulped down the water. “What’s your name?”
A shaking hand carefully broke off the fiery hair stuck on the tree behind the girl. Staring shyly at the Princess, her lip trembled.
“Um…” She whispered under her breath, ashamed to admit the truth. The girl had no recollection of her time before the vampires. Quick, think of a name…
“Raven.” They croaked. Thalia hesitated before nodding, sniffing the lie from her. She was tempted to penetrate her mind and find out her real name, but guilt weighed her down. Raven was here because of her, she spent more time in there than necessary, and that was on her plate. Never to be lifted.
“Let’s get you back home Raven, is your wolf up for it?” Thalia asked, standing to her feet. Her bare feet were deep in the soft soil. From Elijah’s shirt, the Princess had changed into thick leggings and a jacket over a dark singlet to match her eyes. She smiled carefully at Raven, aware that she must still be hurt from her ordeal.

And she could tell by the way she froze.

“We can walk, get your strength back.” Thalia averted the conversation and went to finish packing up the bags of food. She placed a small bag of meat and another canteen of water in front of Raven before she kept working.
Raven, was still. Usually werewolves felt a strong connection of similar emotions with their inner wolf. It was a part of them, like a limb. More like your own soul. However, Raven’s wolf had changed. She couldn’t feel it as a part of her anymore.
The darkness of the vampires had seeped into the heart of her wolf; her own heart. She could feel the cold fingers of death stroke her soul… taunting. Shivering at the contact, she stared at the food at her blooded feet. No hunger for food was in her body. Raven felt nothing. Her wolf sat in the darkness of her mind, a dark glint in its eyes. Fear rocked Raven’s core to the leaf-littered ground at the switch that had been flipped emotionally in her wolf. She was once so precious, delicate. Innocent.
Now, she was a victim to a fate worse than death. The vampires had done something to her, but Raven had no idea what. What did they make me?
She just hoped that Princess Thalia and Leader Griffin would help solve this. Her wolf was not her own, and she needed to be helped. Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask, her wolf stood in her mind. Anger poured out of her and enveloped the skin of Raven. Grinding her teeth, the fragile girl slammed her eyes shut and focused. The darkness was no longer tickling her neck, but had a firm clasp around her spine. One wrong move and she was done for. One wrong word, one wrong thought and her wolf would kill her herself.
Raven cleared her darkened mind of any thoughts and focused on her heart rate. Her wolf was pouring buckets of anger into her, almost giving her a heart attack. Raven’s heart struggled to keep up with the pace of the wolf, and she knew she had to calm her body down.

She thought of the one thing that would help her heart.

Her wolf closed her eyes, and the anger subsided. Her heart breathed carefully at the relaxing pace, and Raven herself calmed down. Carefully putting up a fence around the emotions of her wolf, she breathed deeply. Raven opened her eyes to see Thalia had not noticed her dilemma. The Princess had almost finished packing up the food, unaware of the near-death experience Raven had just encountered.

It wasn’t her first encounter.

And she doubted it would be her last.