Chapter Fourteen

Lucy was relieved to see herself as a human again. She has been scared and confused since the night of her eighteenth birthday when she turned into that ghastly beast.

“Lucy?” She hears the sound of her mother’s voice.

She looks up with tears in her eyes as she sees her parents staring at her.

Her mom tries to step towards her.

“Stay back!” she yells. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Her mom takes a step back, wanting to help her daughter but no knowing how to handle the situation exactly.

“Why is this happening to me?” she cries out.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” she hears the girl say to her softly.

“Okay, okay? It’s not okay. I’m supposed to become a Luminar,” Lucy bellows out at Gabi.

Renn, still in his wolf form, tries to put himself in between Gabi and Lucy.

“Stay back, you horrid beast. Stay away from us!” Lucy yells at Renn.

“Renn, I think it’s best if you shift back, and we try to make sense of the situation.”

Renn moves to the other side of the room and shifts back into his human form.

“We didn’t mean to cause you any harm. We heard yelling and were just trying to help,” Gabi tries to explain.

“Wait, you look familiar to me. I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before I turned into that thing.” Lucy says.

“I saw you too, in a dream.” Gabi tells her.

“What’s going on?” she asks Gabi.

“I’m not sure, but according to one of the elders from our clan, this house was supposed to hold the answers that I am looking for,” Gabi says with a shrug.

“Well, well, isn’t this nice.” They all hear a masculine voice coming from the front door.

“Here I thought I was going to have the enjoyment of killing just two people, but it looks like I may have even more,” Baine says to them.

He looks at the couple and sees their tattoos, bearing the mark of the Luminar.

“Luminars, this just got even better,” he says as he makes his way into the room. Dane and Carl come walking in, still in their wolf forms.

“We just ran into some friends of yours; unfortunately, they aren’t going to be able to attend the next meeting,” he says with an evil laugh.

Renn pushes Gabi behind him and growls at Baine.

“Huh, aren’t you cute. You really think you can protect her from us?”

“I’ll die trying,” Renn tells Baine.

Gabi pulls on his arm, hoping to be able to keep him back from trying to start something with them. She knows Renn can’t take them all on by himself. Why, moon, why can’t she shift to help him?

“Lucy, you’re going to have to shift back into your wolf,” Gabi whispers.

“I don’t think I can. I don’t know how to.”

“So, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Just so you know, I’m really hoping you pick the latter,” is the last thing Baine says before shifting back into his wolf.

Renn, in no time, shifts back into his wolf form and moves himself to protect everyone.

Gabi looks to Lucy’s parents and asks, “Do you have anything here that can help us fight them?”

“There’s a cage in the basement. It should hold the three of them for a while,” the man tells Gabi.

“Where’s the basement?” she asks.

“Through the kitchen where they’re blocking the door, for the moment,” the woman answers.

“Alright, you two head in there while we try to keep their attention on us.”

“What about Lucy?” her mom asks.

“Go ahead, Mom. I’m going to try to stay and help them if I can.”

The mom gives her a sad smile but nods in understanding.

Renn tries to keep the Baine’s attention, while Gabi and Lucy try to keep Dane and Carl from attacking the parents.

Gabi, knowing that she was not strong enough to handle a wolf all by herself, assesses the situation and comes up with an idea. Grabbing Lucy and pulling her close, she explains her plan. If they flip the couch towards the wolves, it will cause enough of a distraction for her parents to go through the door to the kitchen.

With Lucy’s athletic build, Gabi assumes it shouldn’t be too hard. They both grab a section of the couch and lift it, tossing it as far as they can. Lucy is able to get her side up higher than Gabi’s, but it does the trick, giving the parents a chance to get into the kitchen.

“Stupid girl, that was my dinner,” Gabi hears Carl hiss out.

“Sorry about your bad luck, Carl,” Gabi responds, trying to keep his focus on them and not the parents.

“It’s a shame I have to kill you, Gabi. I kind of liked you,” he says before launching himself towards Gabi.

Gabi falls to the ground with Carl on top of her, fighting him with all her strength to keep him from biting her.

“Carl, you can’t kill her,” Baine growls out.

“Lucy, help, please,” Gabi cries out.

Lucy starts to back up into the corner again, scared about what to do. The third wolf is starting to make his way towards her until the kitchen door opens, and she sees her mom banging pots to get the attention of the wolf.

“Come on, you ugly beast. Come and get me,” she yells out.

“No, Mom, don’t!” Lucy yells.

The wolf turns around and runs to the door, trying to push his way in.

Lucy starts to feel the anger rushing through her as her eyes turn amber, and she starts to shift. Once she has shifted into her wolf, she rams herself into Carl, who is on top of Gabi, causing him to knock into Renn and Baine who are fighting. She then starts heading to the wolf that is pushing on the kitchen door, biting his back foot and pulling him back. He whines immediately and tries to snap at her.

“There’s another wolf?” One of the three wolves ask.

“Doesn’t matter; we see where her loyalty lies. She’s as good as dead. Just like the rest of them,” Baine lets out.

Gabi, Lucy, and Renn push themselves together in front of the kitchen door.

They can hear Baine and the others laughing, thinking that they have them right where they want.

“You might as well give up, Gabi. You’ve got nowhere else to go,” Baine says.

The door moves slightly open, and Lucy’s mom gives them the go ahead. Without notice, the three of them push themselves through the door and follow Lucy’s mom down to the basement.

They know it won’t be long before Baine and the other two wolves will be rushing down behind them.

They find Lucy’s dad in the center of the basement using himself as bait for the wolves.

“Dad!” Lucy cries out.

Her mom pushes all of them back behind some wooden boxes to keep them out of sight.

It isn’t long after that they hear the wolves padding down the stairs.

Baine laughs when he sees the man standing in the center of the room.

“I’m going to enjoy killing you, old man.”

He motions for them. “Come and get me then.”

As they all start to head for the man, he pulls on a cord, and a large cage comes barreling down right over the three wolves.

“This should hold them for a while,” he says to Gabi and Renn.

Lucy shifts back and runs to her Dad. He holds her in his arms as she starts to cry.

“Come on, everyone. Let’s head back up to the living room. Looks like we have a lot of talking to do.”