Chapter 7
Michelle POV
I watched as this Adonis, Greek God of a man, got down on all fours. His dirty blonde hair spread across his entire body as his face started to shift. Once fully transformed, his body was definitely that of a wolf, but his colouring resembled a Labrador.
He instantly starts wagging his tail and comes up to me, trying to be non-threatening. I start strongly patting him, and he makes happy puppy noises. I can’t help myself at this point. I go in for a full hug, and he gets up to join me on the couch.
“Who’s a cute boy?”. This makes him give me a big lick to the face. Willow is curious and pats his leg gently but cautiously while Kimberly just stares in disbelief.
Our attention is quickly drawn back to Conrad when we see him with Eve holding a knife to his throat. We all freeze.
“What are you doing in my house?” she spouts, full of anger.
Conrad shows no fear and starts talking to her. “You didn’t want to come see me, so I thought I should come see you”.
“I thought the hunter would have passed on the message to stay away”.
“He did, but I know he said I wouldn’t stop until I talked to you”. Why is this idiot not terrified? He’s just smiling.
Eve looks around the room before addressing us. “Did they hurt any of you?”.
Willow tries to be the voice of reason. “No, they really did just want to talk. He told us everything Eve”.
She moves the knife quickly, causing a nick to Conrad’s neck. He winces, but I think she did it just to prove she could and to show she was mad at him. She then turns to him in a demanding tone. “Get your dog off my couch”.
She seems to be getting madder by the second. She glares at us so intently that we can feel her rage. Then moved over to Kimberly.
Conrad looks over to Eve and tries to keep his voice calm. “Can we talk now?”.
“I don’t want to listen to anything you have to say”.
“We looked into your past and found your foster care file. I understand why you would be cautious of us, but we mean you and your friends no harm”.
She was livid at this. “YOU HAD NO RIGHT”.
“I know, but we’re trying to help you.” Conrad is showing nothing but concern and trying to keep her calm.
“Then leave me alone. I am not going back to that world”.
At this point, everyone was silent in the room, just watching how this played out.
“I get that you’re scared Eve, but you are still living pack life whether you admit it or not. That’s what stopped you from going feral”.
“You don't know anything about what I have lived like”.
“I know you and escaped the pack at 13. You were found in a bus cargo hold, unconscious and drenched in blood. You were in such a beaten and starved state that you had to stay four months in the hospital to recover. Your social worker tried to send you to foster homes, but you always went back to group homes as they were pack houses to you. You then went to university dorms, which were another type of pack house. Even now, you have made a pack house with these ladies. Right now, you are standing guard over the one member showing fear signals because you are a great protector for your pack. That’s why you were there when we raided, wasn’t it? You somehow heard about my plans and went to save the innocents in your old family”.
Eve starts shaking her head and covering her ears as a silent tear runs down her face. “Then just leave me be. Leave me with my pack and don’t make me go back”, she cry’s in a softer tone.
He starts to slowly walk towards her, speaking even more calmly.
“I’m not going to force you to come back. But you can’t stay in the human world forever. What happens when they all leave and have families? You have already lived in three makeshift packs. It’s only going to get harder for you. You need to realise that I’m not Blake and come back with me”.
A switch instantly flicks in Eve. The tears stopped, and her eyes went cold. She punched Conrad in the middle of the chest, sending him flying into the coffee table, shattering it.
“I KNOW YOU'RE NOT HIM. DO YOU THINK HE IS THE ONLY ALPHA I HAVE COME ACROSS? THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS TRIED TO CLAIM ME. YOU ALPHAS ARE ALL THE SAME. DEMANDING OBEDIENCE FOR THE SAKE OF THE PACK AND YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT”.
She ran out the back of the house through the kitchen door and jumped the fence. Conrad takes off after her, but couldn’t jump the fence due to injuries from crashing into the coffee table.
He staggers into the house holding his side and turns to Liam, who has shifted back and is getting dressed. “Liam, she’s heading northeast. We can catch up in the car”.
Liam looks at his boss with a sad expression, “No”.
“I’m not losing her again”.
“If we chase her, she will think she is being hunted. We have to let her go and hope she comes back”.
Conrad looks like he is on the verge of tears at the thought of losing her again. He leaves the house in silence and just waits outside.
Liam turns to me and passes me a business card. “Here’s my phone number. Text if she comes back so we know she is safe”, and follows his boss outside.
And with that, they leave the three of us in disbelief at what just happened. What the hell happened to our friend?