Chapter 5 Cursed Clash
At first, Yeseus running with Klishei on her back in the middle of the night seemed pretty normal.
But when Yeseus entered a forest and started jumping from one branch to another with such great lengths that they were almost flying, it dawned on Klishei that Yeseus was not joking about his powers.
”Yeseus, what are you?” She blurted. As they leaped from the treetops, the half-formed moon glowed. Before they did the deed, he mentioned something about the full moon and that he could not heal her directly or else she would drain him.
She could only think of one creature that relied on the power of the full moon—an ancient legend of the Atcha Tribe that her mother told her whenever they visited her grandparents in the countryside.
“Are you a werewolf?” She finally mustered the courage to say it out loud.
Yeseus looked back at her with a small smirk before turning his attention to the horizon in front of him.
“Smart girl.”
Suddenly, a huge rock wheezed past them and it erupted in a rockwall in front of them, causing an explosion and making Klishei scream and close her eyes.
Yeseus stopped in his tracks. He evaded the falling stones and landed in a nearby clearing. He let her down gently. “Are you okay?” He asked, checking to see if she was hurt.
”I’m fine.” She saw the trail of blood on his arm. “Yeseus, you’re bleeding!”
Yeseus glanced at the cut on his right arm, as if only noticing now. “This is nothing. I don’t even feel it.”
Then, his head scanned the surroundings. He positioned himself in front of Klishei. “You’re quite confident, hurling boulders towards an Alpha. Do you have a death wish, Daevar Proy?”
Klishei winced at the word ‘alpha’ and the name he mentioned.
Shadows appeared from the trees. One of them stepped forward, revealing the figure of the one who proposed to her at school. His face, though still beautiful, had a deathly look towards Yeseus.
”Klishei,” Daevar started. “Whatever that man told you to convince you, you should not believe him.”
Yeseus chuckled. “Jokes on you, I haven’t told her anything yet.”
Daevar was not convinced. “Let me be the one to protect you. I am not the enemy. I am telling you this early. You are on the wrong side.”
Klishei worked on her voice. “What do you mean?”
Daevar pointed a finger at Yeseus. “That man… is a killer.”
The word gripped at Klishei's heart. "Ask him yourself. As the last Alpha, he should be one with integrity. But he turned on his own kind, on us. Klishei, the man you are with is a murderer who killed all female werewolves, including his sister and mother.”
A strong wind rustled the branches of the trees, making an eerie sound. Klishei felt a chill as the temperature dropped. She clutched at her own arms as Daevar’s words sunk in her mind. She was suddenly conscious of herself. Which one of them was the illusion this time?
Yeseus just stood there unmoved and unaffected. Klishei stared at his back, doubt and fear starting to creep in. Earlier, he described himself as her protector and said that he would be taking her somewhere safe and here comes Daevar telling the same thing.
She took her time reminiscing what had happened at school, back to when Daevar appeared as a transferee and then Yeseus appearing the day after.
"Daevar, I have one question." Her voice was shaking a little. "If you are not the enemy, why did you wait for Yeseus to get to me before you acted? Is there a reason why you couldn’t approach me directly?"
Daevar was dumbfounded. He clenched his fists. “I…I did not want to scare you. I did not expect for Yeseus to act quickly which is my greatest regret. I should have gotten to you earlier. Trust me on this, Klishei, I sincerely care about you.”
Klishei replied with a loud voice, “If you really do care, why did you let Yeseus, whom you claim to be a monstrous murderer, get in contact with me freely? Scaring me should have been the last of your concerns.”
She remembered Yeseus helping her when she was being pestered by Daevar at school. The deep look in his eyes, full of concern, while her mind was being torn into two because of her headaches carried more care than Daevar’s tricks on her.
Also, her memory of Yeseus being really gentle and careful with her in the bed played a huge part in trusting him that at the very least, he was not going to kill her.
Klishei clung at Yeseus’ back and tugged on his shirt. “Please, let’s just get out of here. I’m scared.”
Yeseus saw the tears forming at the corner of her eyes. He nodded, placing his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.
”You heard her answer, Daevar. You know better than to force a woman with that sweet talking ability of yours. If you back off now, I might not bother you for a decade. You and your companions do not have to die by my hands.”
Daevar let out a howling laugh at that. “Back off? And let you leave with that woman easily? No way. She’s ours!” His tone had completely shifted. Gone was his wooing voice. Klishei finally saw who was pretending.
Daevar looked at the others and nodded at them. “Kill him. Remember, the one who delivers the final blow will immediately become an Alpha.”
Klishei watched in horror as she saw Daevar’s companions transform. This was what her mother kept on telling her about, how there were extraordinary humans who had the ability to shift from skin to fur, fingers to paws, humans to monsters.
In place of human bodies, Klishei was looking at huge beasts of different colors, all baring their fangs and growling. They were not even the size of the wolves that she could remember from watching documentaries. These ones towered over Yeseus.
“Yeseus?” Klishei turned to him, her voice merely a whisper in fear. But Yeseus remained calm, clutching her shaking body with his arm.
“Bear with it a little longer, Klishei. Our friend will be here at any moment.” His ears perked. Then, a smirk worked on his face. “Speaking of.”
A truck suddenly cut through the trees, appearing just at the back of Daevar. The lights blinded him and he was tossed as the vehicle bumped into him.
Yeseus scooped Klishei and they jumped, perfectly landing at the open back of the truck.
“NO!” Daevar shouted. But he couldn’t do anything about it as he himself could not even stand.
“Hang on tight” Klishei heard the driver shout amidst his reckless driving. Judging from his voice, he was the one whom Yeseus was talking to earlier.
The truck levitated off the ground. Klishei could only watch in amazement as they were launched into the air. She felt Yeseus hold her. Just as she thought gravity would make them fall, there was a rumbling sound, much like an earthquake, and they entered a hole in the sky.