Chapter 57 Monster in the Woods
ADRIANA
So maybe I didn’t think about how boring this was going to get.
After a while, maybe about thirty minutes, the only thing I could hear was the chirping of birds in the trees and the crickets singing their nightly songs. The forest around us was alive with sounds, but they were all natural, peaceful.
The kids were playing a few feet away from me and that was the only other sound that could be heard asides from that. Their laughter and excited chatter filled the air as they chased each other around, playing games.
Leo pulled on my hand and pointed to them, his eyes asking permission. I immediately nodded my head. It was getting easier for me to understand him these days and I was so happy about that progress.
I watched as he smiled and ran in their direction. The other children made space for him immediately, welcoming him into their game. If Elijah could see him right now, he would be so happy. His son was finally coming out of his shell, finally acting like the child he should be.
He was becoming more and more open lately and it made me feel so relieved. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he said his first words. Well, not his first words exactly, but his first words in a long time.
I liked how connected I felt to him. He now felt like my son and it was like in everything I did, I had to consider him. When I was sleeping, the first thing I thought about when I woke up was when he would wake up and if he’d need me.
I didn’t like him waking up from his nap and not seeing me there. It had happened once and I noticed it made him nervous and anxious, and I didn’t want that to happen again. The poor boy had been through enough abandonment in his short life.
Every time I was eating, I always looked out for him and made sure he’d eaten as well. Everything I did included him now and it made me feel good to take care of someone as wonderful as he was. He’d become such an important part of my life in such a short time.
Elijah? Well, Elijah could take care of himself. He was a grown man and an Alpha.
I had just decided to sit down on one of the chairs when I smelled something in the air. It felt strangely familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It wasn’t the pack’s scent, and it wasn’t the forest.
I raised my head and filled my lungs with air, trying to identify what I was smelling, but I still couldn’t recognize it so I just ignored it. Probably just an animal passing through. As I watched the kids play, I saw something moving in the trees at the edge of the clearing.
I suddenly stood up, feeling like I should be alert to see what it was, but when I didn’t see it again, I thought it might just be the moon reflecting light on shadows. Or maybe a deer or some other forest creature.
I hoped they came back real soon.
I didn’t like being alone out here with just the children. It felt too vulnerable, too exposed.
A cup dropped on the ground because of a strong gust of wind and I bent down to pick it up. As more cups fell, scattered by the wind, I kept having to bend down to retrieve them and put them back on the table.
As I bent down to pick up another cup, I saw the movement again, and this time I was sure I saw something. Not an animal.
Something bigger, and it moved with purpose. I left the cup on the floor and immediately started running toward the children, my heart beginning to race.
“Leo! Get in the house!”
He turned around to look at me, confusion written all over his small face, but he didn’t move. He just stayed there with the other kids who had stopped playing as well, all of them looking at me with wide eyes.
There was something wrong. I could feel it in my bones. Why did it have to be now that no one was around? Why did it have to be when the entire pack was in the forest, shifted and running, too far away to hear if I screamed?
What was I going to do? I didn’t even have a wolf that would help me fight whoever it was. I was just a human right now, powerless and weak.
The scent was there, tickling the edges of my memory, but I couldn’t quite grasp it.
Since Yara had decided to go AWOL again, I was left completely alone.
“Leo, get in the house now!”
I was seeing the shadows more evidently now, multiple figures moving between the trees, and I was absolutely sure we weren’t alone anymore. My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.
I didn’t even know who to call because I doubted anyone was here. The guards at the border should be there, but would they hear me from this distance? I mean, no one would think we’d be invaded at this time right? During a full moon run when the whole pack was together?
But how did they get into the pack? I knew there were always guards at the border, stationed there specifically to prevent things like this.
Or maybe I was overreacting. Maybe I was being paranoid. Maybe it was just the shadows of the pack members who had gone on the run, some of them circling back early.
I stopped to look at the trees more carefully, trying to see if there would be something or someone familiar, and the scent I’d been smelling that was familiar finally clicked. It was actually someone we knew. Or rather, someone I knew.
But no, that didn’t help matters at all. It made things worse.
Something within me kept telling me that something was very wrong and Leo’s name kept ringing in my head like an alarm bell. I continued running toward him, my legs pumping as fast as they could.
“Come on guys. Let’s go inside. Now!”
“But why? We want to play outside,” one of the children whined.
There was no time for this. Whatever was in those trees was going to come out very soon, and I needed these children safe. I needed Leo safe.
“You can play inside. It’s just as fun. Come on, let’s go.”
Something in my voice must have convinced them because they finally decided to go inside. I rounded them up like a shepherd taking her flock inside for the night, counting heads to make sure I had everyone. One, two, three, four, five, six, all accounted for except Leo.
When they were successfully inside the house, I turned back around and watched the trees, my breath coming in short gasps.
Maybe I should go inside as well. That would be the smart thing to do. But I wasn’t feeling like running, like cowering. I stayed outside and waited for the monster to come out, planting my feet firmly on the ground.
Maybe it was my father and his damn cult. They’d been causing trouble, attacking packs, killing innocent people.
It could only be them, yes. I told myself that if anyone was going to kill that man, it would be me. I would ask Elijah to give me the honors of killing him and that would make me very happy and satisfied.
He had caused a lot of pain to a lot of people who didn’t deserve it and I would be their savior. I would be the one to take revenge for them, for all those children who died, for all those families destroyed.
After standing on the porch for a while, feeling the cool night air on my skin, I decided to go down the steps. I knew nothing was going to happen to me as Yara had already said—I was special, I was protected. But then again, they had killed others before me. Other special wolves who probably thought the same thing.
As I turned to go back in, I met her standing right there, having appeared silently.
“Hello, sister.”