Chapter 17: PRINCE CHARMING

POV - Hazel

“For a beggar you’re not that ugly. Take a walk with me.”

He’s not a bad looking guy, but his gaze and the way he handles himself just give me the creeps.

If she accepts, I swear…I won’t do anything because I fucking can’t. Please, goddess don’t let me witness this, don’t let me stoop that low.

I hear a couple of boys sneaker in the background, most certainly his stupid friends. Gosh, why do jerks keep procreating other jerks in a never-ending cycle of jerkiness?

“I can’t, I need to sell my eggs and milk. Papa will come get me soon,” she replies in a frail voice, giving away how scared she is, thus giving the pervert the upper hand.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back before your father comes for you. I’ll give you three pennies; they should be enough to cover the cost of everything. Now come, stop playing hard to get,” he says, finally loosing his patience.

He hauls me up by my arms, making me stumble into his open ones, our chests touch, while his hand slides down my waist to grope my ass.

My eyes fly open in fear and disgust; I immediately take a step back, pushing him away, and end up walking on the eggs I was supposed to sell, at a high price at that. More fear registers, probably at the thought of what her father will do to her when she comes home empty-handed.

“Look what you have done, silly girl; but don’t worry, I said I’ll give you three pennies, and I am a man of my word. Now, come,” he orders, grabbing my wrist tightly, this time decided not to let me escape.

He starts dragging me behind him, his friends whistling and hooting like idiots behind us.

“No, please, Sir,” I start pleading with him, while dragging my feet and trying to free myself of his hold. My heart is hammering like a drum, ready to bust out of my chest.

Displeased by my reluctance, he turns around in a flash and slaps me hard in the face, leaving hot burning pain on my left cheek. My face hurts like it have been scalded with hot water, and I feel my left cheek and eye starting to swell.

Son of a bitch! Wait until I manage to get out of here and kick that perverted ass of yours! I’m so furious I feel my blood boiling!

Dream-me starts crying, and honestly, I can’t blame her, I’d be scared out of my wits too in her position.

“Be good, and I’ll make it enjoyable for you,” the pervert whispers to my hear, trying and failing to sound appealing.

The girl doesn’t reply, and he takes it as a sign of approval, because he starts dragging her again, but we make it only a few steps before she plants her feet again, trying to resist him.

“You don’t really give me any other choice,” the guy comments slily, ready to hit me again, when a loud growl coming from behind me stops him in his tracks. The sound is cold and menacing, a sound which belongs to a wild animal ready to attack.

But it’s also a sound for me as familiar as the sun in the sky, as pleasant as the most melodious music ever created. The sound of my mate.

I want to turn around and drink him in, see his handsome face again, free of those haunting red eyes; but the girl doesn’t turn around, she stays rooted in her spot, her gaze lowered, while tears keep streaming down her face.

“Unhand her!” Derek voice sings to my ears, making my heart swell with love and pride. He’s come to save me.

“Why? I paid for her services, I have every right to collect what I paid for,” slimy guy says, making me want to kick his family jewels.

I feel something heavy flying through the air and landing beside slimy guy’s feet with a loud thud, metal clinking on metal. It’s a pouch filled with silver coins.

“Here, this should be enough to cover her debt. Now, leave,” Derek intimates emotionlessly.

Slimy guy seems to think it over for a moment, then makes up his mind, takes up the money and leaves quickly, probably afraid Derek would change his mind.

I hear Derek footsteps approaching, but the girl still doesn’t turn around to face him. Come on, turn around, turn around!

She doesn’t need to, though, Derek comes to stand in front of her and caresses her injured cheek tenderly with the back of his fingers; his touch is as light as a feather and sends goosebumps rising all over my body.

“It must hurt,” he comments in a soothing tone.

She finally looked up, to find his handsome face scrunched up into a frown of concern, and his eyes glowing blue showing the suppressed anger of his inner wolf.

Although, she is not afraid of him, on the contrary, his presence somehow feels comforting, and involuntarily, she leans into his soft touch, while exploring the depth of those brilliant blue eyes, which hold so many emotions within them.

“I’m Derek. May I have the pleasure to know your name?” he asks expectantly, his young features making him look more vulnerable than his older self.

“Hazel.”

He smiles one of his happy, all white teeth smile that nearly sends me in hyperventilation, before he takes my hand in his and then brings it to his lips, placing a light kiss there.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hazel.”

…

And of course, when the good stuff comes, I wake up and to hell with my prince charming reverie. He really looked like a prince in those clothes, despite the fact that he looks like a prince even without any clothes on.

At least this time no one died, I hope this is the new trend for these dreams I’m having, because I’m fed up with death and destruction. Actually, since those witches are real, I don’t think these are dreams, after all. They might be memories, like Cindy suggested, memories of past lives. Or stuff happened in parallel words. But then, why show them to me now? What’s their purpose?

I wished someone could just tell me, instead of making me guess blindly. I guess I’ll find out sooner or later; so, I’d better get up and start doing something useful while I wait for my answers.

I don’t know how long I slept until I woke up again; but hopefully, those witches will have moved to search somewhere else.

I walk slowly along the dark and humid tunnel, the sound of the underground river as my only companion, thinking about what I should do next. The most important thing now is creating an antidote for Derek and the pack. What Meera said yesterday had stayed with me: if we could retrieve the research Doctor Simons made for the previous antidote, we could possibly speed up the creation process. Although going back to our pack is not an option, they will be expecting me, and Derek would smell me a mile away.

I remember vaguely that at the time, Doctor Simons would send reports on her antidote making progress nearly every day to Derek, and if I’m lucky enough, he could still have those reports stored on his server, or maybe in his mailbox.

If I could access one of his computers, I could get the reports. He has one in his office at the packhouse, which is not an option, one in his office building, which could be too risky, the employees are mainly being pack members, thus susceptible to his Alpha command: he could have ordered them to keep an eye out for me.

He has a computer also at our villa, and that would be by far the easiest place to sneak in, not having many staff working there, I could get in and out undetected.

Filled with renewed purpose, I pick up my speed and half-run through the tunnel, hoping I can find an exit soon. I finally found a breach in the hard rock, where the sun filters through. I climb the slippery wall of the tunnel with difficulty and slip through the crevice pushing hard with my hind legs.

As soon as I’m out, I’m blinded by the strong light, having been underground for too long. So much for being a light wielder, as the witches put it.

When my eyes have adjusted, I let my wolf’s senses skim my surroundings, checking for possible threats, satisfied that she’s found none, my wolf starts running in the direction of our villa. Bless her and her good orientation skills.

Derek built this villa for us, so we could have some private time away from the pack and pack matters, to enjoy each other’s company, and most importantly to have wild unrestrained sex, without caring for who might hear what.

The villa is quite isolated, built in a small meadow in the middle of the forest, but it is also quite big and luxurious, at least on the inside, we have kept the outside low key, not to attract too much attention, making it into a really safe heaven.

Thanks to my injury having already healed, it doesn’t take me long to get to the villa, and when I’m near enough, I shift back to my human form, I cloak myself invisible and press my palm on the scanner at the entrance, hoping that Derek hasn’t canceled my access rights.

I hold my breath for the beep that will let me in.