“Cole changed Aiden,” Liam confessed, his voice was soft in my ear and my impulse to curl up in his arms became harder to fight. Beside me, Rose was looking at us, eyes big with confusion.
“She doesn’t know anything,” Nate, the guy in the passenger seat, said. His tone made it a statement, not a question. Liam shook his head.
“Only Ben and Alicia know, and even then Alicia doesn’t know everything of our… situation.”
“You better start now, ‘cause I don’t think we’ll have a lot of time when we get there,” Oliver said, looking in the rear-view mirror and catching my eyes. He winked at me, his eyes traveling from Liam to me, only a few inches apart since I was sitting on him. I felt Liam’s hand on my hip, pulling me closer so I wouldn’t fall and a wave of heat came over me. Liam nodded and then began his explanations. He started with the whole wolf thing for Rose. He explained who was Nate -the guy who found him-, and then added that Oliver was a member of Nate’s pack. The rest were at the house they all lived in, waiting for us. Rose was in shock, she kept glancing at me and then at Ben.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” She yelled at me.
“It wasn’t my secret to share,” I simply said, taking Liam’s hand and then moving on his lap to make it look like I had done it to make sure I wouldn’t fall. In response, he tightened his grip on me, whispering in my ear when Rose turned to Ben.
“Are you okay? We can ask them to make place if…” He didn’t finish his sentence when I shook my head at his suggestion. It wasn’t necessary. And besides, I enjoyed it very much…
“Okay, move on,” Ben said, leaning toward the window to take a look at us.
“Today at school I crossed paths with Aiden. I could easily smell it on him, so I decided to follow him… And that’s when I saw him with Cole. They were talking about the change, how Aiden had it easier then others, and how lucky he was. That confirmed my fears. At lunch I was tracking them, and they saw me… Said that I shouldn’t shove my nose in their stuff and that somebody could get really hurt. Blah blah blah,” as he said that, he rolled his eyes. “Anyways, I told Ben, and we decided that we should wait and see what happened. I knew they were going after you… And when the final bell rang and you didn’t show up for your ride, let just say we panicked.”
“We panicked? You were pretty much running all over the place to find them. Sorry bud, but you were hysterical...” Ben said, laughing.
“Okay, whatever. I tracked you down, calling these two to fetch you and then tada, we’re here, trying to make a run for it…” he finished, taking a deep breath. I could feel his breath tangling my hair and caressing my neck, so close, I was going crazy… Focus Alicia, the little voice in my head said.
“Yeah, but they know where we live, they’ve been there already. You know they’re going to go there. They’re pissed, Liam. He wants the girl and he’s not about to give up,” Nate said, turning around in his seat. Liam nodded, locking his eyes with Nate’s. The two of them looked at each other for a long moment and then Liam broke it, turning to Rose.
“Are you okay? We might have to… We might have to leave you guys alone in the house when we arrive, but we’ll be back to explain a bit more,” he said.
“I’m there to protect them,” Ben said, pulling Rose closer to him, and smiling at Liam. I heard him laugh behind me and the hand that was on my waist let go.
“Yeah, we’re not leaving them alone. We don’t have time to sit and chat inside though, they won’t be far behind. Liam, you’re going inside with them,” Nate said, still turned in his seat. I felt Liam’s body go rigid, and his breath was leaving his mouth huskily.
“No, Ben’s able to protect them, and they’re not gonna get close enough to enter, don’t worry about that,” He said, his voice too calm to reflect his emotions.
“Liam, you’re too young, they’re going to kill you. You said it yourself that Aiden must be powerful, it’s not normal to take only one day to completely change…” Nate stopped, leaving us to continue his sentence. My heart went still for a few seconds, thinking about what was about to happen. According to Oliver, we were very close to the house, and when we would get there… I didn’t want that to happen. I would never forgive myself. If Liam died… I couldn’t even think about it.
Liam buried his face in my back. His hands went back to my waist, his fingers digging in my skin with the force of his embrace. “Don’t worry about me,” he whispered in my ear, only for me to hear. He recovered fast, before anyone could see.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,” he repeated more loudly, for the rest of us to hear. “I’ve trained, and we all know that our instincts are kick ass,” he continued, laughing softly at my ear.
“You’ve trained with us not long enough to beat them, and yes our instincts are pretty good, but Cole has been around for a few hundred years, he knows way more than all of us together,” Oliver said, turning in a disguised driveway. We were in the country, and there wasn't anything but the big house that I could see right ahead. A couple of trees where lining the side of the house, and I could see a forest spreading behind. I loved it.
“Whoa, that’s a big house…” I heard Rose whisper. I turned to her and saw that she was super close to Ben, leaving a gap between Liam’s knee and hers. A gap big enough for me to fit in… I slid from his knees, his grip refusing to lighten even if I wasn’t threatening to fall anymore. Rose saw that and she scooted a little bit closer to give me more space, finally, Liam gave up and his hands were back on his lap, where I was sitting only a second ago. I was barely sitting, my butt only touching a parcel of the seat, and knees were digging into my back, but Oliver parked the car and we were able to get out soon enough. As soon as we were all out, Nate took me and Rose by the hand, half running half dragging us to the front door of the house.
“We have ten minutes…” Liam said, sniffing the air around him.
“Okay then, let’s do it fast,” Oliver replied. He joined us; running to the front door and leaving it open for Ben and Liam. Nate still had our hand and we were now in the kitchen, on the opposite side of the house. The rest of the guys were still in the living room.
“Guys, we need to go!” Nate screamed, and waited for an answer. He didn’t appear to have one until I heard a rumble over our head, like a bunch of people were walking fast toward the same place. A few minutes later burst of laughter and voices erupted in the living room. They all came to the kitchen, maybe ten or twelve young adult from sixteen to twenty five, all smiling faces, oblivious to what was going to happen. All because of me.
“Okay, you know what you need to do. The girls are staying inside, so they can’t, under any circumstances, get close to the house. Push them to the forest, and then we won’t attract as much attention. Liam knows their behavior, he’s gonna share, right?” Nate said.
“For sure,” Liam said, and his eyes became unfocused and his lips parted in concentration. I kept waiting for someone to laugh at his concentration, someone to break the silence, but it didn’t happen. And when I looked around, I saw the same expression on all of the faces of the werewolves. I took the chance to take a good look at them. There were a few women, all tall, and the rest was all men. Ben was standing with them, probably feeling left out, but he smiled at me. Rose beside me took my hand, squeezing it in hers.
Right at that moment, Liam’s face came alive again, his eyes snapping back. He turned to Nate. “I think that’s all. And we should go right now. I sense them real close…” They all streamed out the kitchen to take their place all around the house. Ben and Liam stayed in and they guided us to a room upstairs.
“That’s my room, make yourself at home. Pull the blinds and lock the door. If someone’s in the house, don’t make a sound. They’ll probably smell you, but just in case… We’ll get you when it’s over. And please, for the love of god, don’t look out the window. They’ll see you and know you’re here…” Liam said fast. He took a deep breath and then turned around, hand on the handle.
“You have a room?” Ben said, eyes wide.
“Yeah, they made me one when they found me. They’re hoping I’m going to move in when schools out…I think that’s all. And you better keep them safe,” he said, a smile spreading on his lips. He pulled Ben in a hug, and then it was Rose’s turn, and finally mine. “I have to go,” he said suddenly, and disappeared behind the door. As soon as he was gone, Ben locked the door while I walked to the window and pulled the blinds so you couldn’t see anything from outside. Rose was sitting on perfectly made bed, looking at us pace around the room. I joined her, lying on the opposite side, but Ben continued to pace, like a restless dog. At the first sign of battle he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes seeking the darkness of the blinds. He couldn’t see anything, but he still tried, knowing there was something out there he wanted to be part of, but couldn’t. He turned to us, and locked eyes with Rose, who was studying him intensely.
My eyes went down to the ground, feeling like I was interrupting something. And I took one of the pillows closer to me. The voices and cries outside were louder now and I felt so alone, in this silent room with my brother and my best friend. I heard the springs groan under Ben’s weight when he sat down beside my friend. We stayed like this for a while. Nobody moved, we were just listening to the chaos that was taking place just outside. And my thoughts were keeping me busy all this time. Sometime during all this I had put Liam’s pillow on my head, muffling the sounds. He hadn’t been sleeping here much, maybe two or three times, but his sent was still surrounding me, making me drowsy. And when I had peek at my friend, I saw that she was in Ben’s arms, her head on his shoulder.
Looking at them like that, Rose eyes close and Ben’s left hand rubbing softly my friend’s arm made me look away. It wasn’t too personal, but I still felt like an outsider. After a few minutes of starring though, I turned in the bed so my back was to them and buried myself in my thoughts.
The screams were becoming unbearable and I couldn’t stand that this was happening because of me. Liam, Nate, Oliver and all those faces I didn’t know… They were risking their lives because I had been stupid enough and go ahead and trust Cole. He was a crooked guy, and I couldn’t be with him ever again. I knew that, but sometimes I just seemed to forget… It was like one minute I despised him, and the other, I loved him so much, I had trouble breathing. It wasn’t normal. Cole… Cole wanted something from me and I didn’t even know what. Nate had said it himself. He wanted the girl and he wasn't about to give up. His voice kept echoing in my mind. He meant it in the literal way. Cole wasn’t about to give up. He had tried several times, and apparently he had been about to try again to get me alone with him tonight. Was I that oblivious? It seemed stupid of me, the always cautious girl who had learned pretty young to protect herself from everyone else.
A tear escaped my right eye at the fresh memory of the Laser Quest incident. Yeah, I had learned the hard way, but it seemed like I forgot it all when Cole came in the picture.
Liam had said something about Cole and the mind reading thing when we were alone at our party, a couple of weeks ago. He had said that he wasn’t sure if he could read my mind. But he was so old… Maybe he could, that was what he had said, and now that I thought about it, all the things he did, it all made sense. He played with my mind, made me do things I didn’t want, made me forget things... A shiver ran down my spine. I didn’t remember anything he had erased from my mind, but I knew I was right. The feeling in my gut was showing it clearly. I was disgusted by him.
Beside me, I felt my brother get up and pace the room once again. I hadn’t realized that the sound of the fight had reduced to close to nothing. It must mean that it was almost over… My heart was beating fast, pumping the adrenaline that was circulating in my veins.
“They can either be done, gone in the woods, or all dead…” Ben whispered, breaking the silence that had surrounded us since Liam had left us. He didn’t speak loud, but it still made me and Rose jump in surprise. A gasp escaped my friend’s lips, like she was thinking about the worst. By my brother’s expression, he was thinking the same. You have to be positive Alicia, the voice in my head kept repeating when an awful image came bursting in my mind.
I closed my eyes again, losing the fight against will to stay in control. The guilt was too intense for me to ignore it and a tear came rolling down my cheek once again. This time Rose saw my despair and came lying beside me. Her arms went around me in a friendly embrace but it didn’t give me any comfort. The only thing that would comfort me would be to see all of those faces I saw for only a few minutes come back to the house, all intact. I lost once again the sense of time, and I was pretty sure I drifted off a couple of times.
By the times my eyes opened for the third time, it was dark outside and a dark figure was perched on a chair on the opposite side of the room. Rose was still by my side, deeply asleep, like I was only seconds ago. At that moment, I heard a door open, and footsteps running up the stairs. Ben must have heard it too, because I saw him jump from his chair and take a few silent steps to stand by the door. My hand caught Rose’s arm in a silent warning, and I turned around to see her eyes wide open, starring at the door. So she had heard it too.
The tension in the room was building quickly with the time the person made to climb up the stairs. Footstep, silence, footstep, silence, footstep, silence… The sound made a terrible melody in my head, the beating in my chest matching it perfectly. Our eyes were all glued to the door, waiting for it to open, and the footsteps stopped right before it. Ben took a step back, preparing himself for the blow that was coming. When the door opened, a screamed escaped Rose's lips, high pitched and strident for the new comer to hear.
“Guys, cute it out, it’s just me,” Liam screamed more than said to make sure he was heard. I stopped abruptly, and so did Rose. Ben’s laughter came rushing from his lips, filling the empty space in the room. It took only a few seconds for Liam to join in and the atmosphere began to loosen up.
---> 
kayla!