Chapter 49
THE SECOND ATTACK
CASSIE
The Werewolf Empire controlled over three hundred districts, many of which were within the modern territory of River Valley. In many districts, there was a human population of about one million people, on average.
More so than the Empire itself, the Werewolf colonies would be the key to the werewolf population and power of River Valley, and would be necessary to retain the Werewolf Empire’s power. It was not possible to keep the Werewolf Empire on Earth without controlling these colonies.
In addition to their terraforming and economic power, the Werewolf Colonies controlled their own law system, which had been built up for thousands of years. It was based on the ancient “Law of Power”, an old tradition that was based on the ancient codex of ancient human law. This was the type of law that one had to take if one wanted to deal with the Werewolf Colonies. Many countries of the Empire had similar laws, and the Werewolf Law was used to judge those that were caught committing crimes.
On the other hand, River Valley had no legal system, and so all criminal acts were enforced by the Empire’s judicial system, which was rarely used in River Valley.
***
I really liked what I saw in the mirror.
I turned back towards the car’s window, ready to leave the place. The horn of the car on the other side of the road blared. Throwing me back into the waking now, I knew my plan will not be futile. We just needed to devise a strategy around it. The thought of Lou brushed through my mind. Seeing her strapped to life support like that made my heart ache – and I knew deep in my heart that it was not the work of a predator. Lou was not of age yet, she still had a year to reach that point.
The only sensible thing was that Lou was attacked by my father’s people. There’s no beating around that bush, and mother was protecting them.
As we continued to drive, out of nowhere, a car rammed into us. It was like something out of an action movie. Our vehicle swerved nonstop until its nose struck a tree. I looked at Eric and thank goodness we had both been wearing our seatbelts, so we were safe. He saw it too - this was not an accident, this was intentional.
For an instant, we both believed that this was a random act. It made sense that the drivers that drove past us had just turned left, and the one coming right up had rammed into us, but it felt all too coincidental like it was premeditated. The car that crashed into us had been following us in the distance. They blocked the exit, blocking our escape. Eric pulled his car in speedy reverse and we went into the road again, but before we could zoom off, we noticed the truck and it rammed into us harder. Our car flipped on its side and somersaulted off the road. We were upside down.
"Get out of the car!" Eric yelled.
"Eric," I whispered with adrenaline pumping through my veins.
"Get out of the car!" he yelled again. "Now!"
I was holding on for dear life when I felt Eric's hand slip through my fingers. I fell away and he came after me. The force of the crash made the airbag deploy on top of him. I could feel the heat of the explosion and then darkness. I couldn't remember what had happened. "Eric," I called.
"Are you okay?" he yelled.
"Yes," I said, unsure as I did a mental scan of my body to see if anywhere hurt.
"I'm okay," I reassured myself.
"What happened?" Eric said, jacking his seatbelts off.
"We were hit by a car." I could hear a terrible pain in my voice.
"What?"
"We were hit by a car," I whispered. "It came out of nowhere." We struggled with the situation. I felt something poking in my side, but I didn’t want to look down at it. I undid the seatbelt and fell out of it. I crawled out the shattered window, and I saw Eric doing the same as well. The driver of the truck was out now, and he was holding a wolf hunting rifle, the type that could make a hole large enough to kill a wolf. I could feel blood on my arm. I could see broken glass everywhere. My whole body ached.
"Don't worry," I whispered to Eric. "We'll be fine."
"Run!" Eric said with an astounding alarm in his voice. He jumped into his wolf self and headed for the wooded area and I followed him. We heard the ringing of several rounds of bullets fired at us, I was shocked none of them caught up. I thought at any minute, the bullet will tear through us, and one of us might drop dead – but we kept moving.
We couldn’t afford to die; not now – not when our enemies still roamed the streets and threatened the ones we loved. We ran for long minutes, until we reached a shack.
"Listen to me. We're not safe here. Just look around and run." He pointed to a smoky haze, which I could feel through the ground. We could still hear the hunter in the background, or I might be the one imagining it. I ran a hand through my hair in exasperation. Immediately, I sighted a high tree with a lot of vegetation. I looked at Eric, and I could see the gaze in his eyes – he was thinking what I was thinking.
Without contemplation, we both climbed the tree and laid ambush for the one who came to hunt us.
“Predator?” I asked, looking out for possibilities.
“They don’t hunt in broad daylight like this, and you are already a part of us – Jameson has imprinted on you, so you are under his protection. The stench is so strong that I can smell it from a mile away. And that was a possibility that was quickly dusted off my shoulders.
As we perched on the branch, holding still, I could hear footsteps crunching through the woods. It wasn’t just one person, there were lots of them.
They were really dead set on ending Aldo Dawson’s bloodline – and they didn’t mind that they were trampling on the Advanian treaty. The River Valley Royals must think they are above the universal law. They must think other people are beneath them because, why the hell will they shoot live rounds in the middle of the day if not that they are too confident and insane.
The thought made me smile ruefully because, in some retrospect, my father was like that too – confident, a bit cocky, and isn’t scared to take on the world. My mother said I had taken that trait as well, but I wondered if I had, because if I did, I would have stood up to the people who tore my family apart, but here I was hiding in a tree with Eric Bleu.
I turned to face Eric, and for the first time on that tree, I realized how close we were. He turned to me as well, and I could feel the heat of his breath on my face. He looked really handsome, no doubt, and flashes of what happened the previous night flipped through the pages of my brain.
For the first time, I noticed how perfectly his eyebrows were arched, how beautifully long his eye lashes were, his pouty lips that often turned into a sinister smile looked soft and there were obvious hickeys on his neck and jawline – that perfectly chiseled jawline.