Chapter 21

Charlie screamed in horror as she watched Aiden raise his arms over his face, then disappear under the weight of the massive brown wolf.

“Aiden!” Sarah screamed from beside her.

The brown wolf snarled and began walking slowly towards her and Sarah, never taking its eyes away from her. Her heart screamed at her that Aiden was dead and it was all because of her while her brain shouted to run for her life but without Aiden, she was as good as dead, anyway.

“Aiden!” Sarah screamed again.

“Run! Sarah, run for fuck sake!” Charlie shouted to her.

Sarah, tears streaming down her face, shook her head. "I can't."

Charlie understood how she felt. Aiden was all Sarah had and he had been killed right in front of her eyes. Charlie had been in that situation herself, many years before and she hadn’t run, either. If she had, she would have been killed, too, but this was different. This wasn’t her father shooting her mother and stepfather while Charlie sat huddled in the wardrobe, not daring to make a sound. This was a real-life wolf, heading towards them on her fathers say so because he wanted her dead. Her, not Sarah.

Sarah, listen…”

Charlie momentarily froze as a second grey wolf came hurtling towards the brown one at breakneck speed, sending the both of them crashing into a tangled ball of fur, teeth and claws.

“He’s beautiful,” Sarah sobbed through tears.

Dumbfounded, Charlie stared at the woman beside her who was beaming as she watched the two wolves growl and snap at each other like rabid dogs.

The brown wolf dove forward with its mouth wide open and Charlie screamed in terror as the grey wolf met him, mid-jump, in an attempt to latch his teeth into the brown wolf’s neck. The brown wolf simply swung his head, smashing his muzzle into the grey wolf’s head, sending him crashing to the floor. The grey wolf didn’t even have time to stand before the brown one sent his front paws crashing onto its ribs as it snapped at the exposed neck. The grey wolf writhed as it tried to free itself and keep its neck from being torn open.

“Thunder! Here! Now!”

The unexpected shout from behind her sent Charlie’s heart shooting to her mouth and her stomach careening to the floor. Watching in disbelief, Charlie saw the brown wolf turn, then walk away from the grey wolf as though nothing had ever happened.

“I said here! Right now!’ The man shouted again as he stepped forward.

The brown wolf seemed torn between finishing off the grey wolf and doing what it was told by the dark-haired, middle-aged man who had stepped forward.

“I won’t tell you again, Thunder,” he said.

Charlie was rooted to the spot as the brown wolf whimpered, lowered his head, then transformed into a completely naked man.

“The hybrid provoked me, Alpha. He threw me through a fucking window!” The naked man said.

“I don’t give a flying shit what happened. Get dressed and get out of here while I clean this fucking mess up,” the Alpha said, throwing a bag at Thunder, before storming into the pub. Grabbing the bag, Thunder turned to Charlie and blew her a kiss that sent a wave of nausea coursing through her.

“Sarah, we need to go, quickly, before the Alpha changes his mind. The way that wolf, Thunder, was looking at me has me convinced he’s working for my father.”

“No. I can’t leave him. He’s bleeding…”

Charlie’s jaw hit the floor as Sarah took off at a run, making a beeline for where the grey wolf had been just a few moments before.

“No…” she said as her feet slowly followed Sarah of their own accord. “It can’t be.”

Sarah was huddled over a patch of blood, applying pressure to a wound on a naked man.

“Aiden?”

“He’s injured. Help me. Pressure. Here… Charlie! Snap out of it!”

Charlie just stared at Aiden, unable to move.

"I saw that wolf rip his face off and crush him," she murmured, not quite believing her eyes.

"He shifted. Please, Charlie. Help me," Sarah pleaded.

She had thought that he had been killed. It didn't make sense. She had seen the huge wolf about to rip his face off and then crush him but he was there, where the grey wolf should have been.

"It's not possible," she mouthed.

“Charlie, please, if you don’t want to do the pressure, at least try and wake him. Shifting takes a lot of energy and the first few times are the worst. He’s never shifted to a wolf before, only humans and added with the fight, he’s exhausted. We need to get him home.”

“He’s a shifter?" The realisation slapped her in the face, almost knocking her flat. "You said he was faery, Sarah! You lied. You both lied to me!”

Tears of anger fell down her cheeks as she looked at Aiden, lying on the floor. “After everything that has happened, he couldn’t tell me? He couldn’t fucking be honest and tell me what he was? Neither of you could!”

“Charlie, please. We can talk about this later…”

“No!” She screamed back. Her heart was filled with pain at the deceit she felt. “I trusted him. Trusted both of you with my life. My bloody life, Sarah, and this is how I'm repaid for giving you both that trust. Do you know how that feels?”

“Charlie…” Aiden whimpered. “Let me explain.”

“Fuck you. I don’t want to hear it,” she said, before breaking into a run.