Loved By Danger

Chapter 8

    It was pitch black tonight because the heavy clouds were in the sky, no light from the moon or the stars, just a world of darkness.  Both Aden and Creed waited until the night guards changed shifts to change into their wolf forms.  Creed's nerves spilled out as Aden picked up on his nervousness.  He nuzzled his fur, giving him some reassurance that he could do this as long as they stuck together.  They traveled across the rooftops making sure to stay away from cameras and alarm systems.  It was too quiet a night, but that was only because the police still enacted a curfew on the civilians.  They both move through the buildings with ease, and as large as they were, they still landed on their paws as if they were no bigger than a cat.  Once they finally reached the end of the city buildings, they realized they had a problem; there was nothing but openness from where they stood to the large mansion on the hill.

    If they were going to reach the mansion, they would have to race at top speed and be on their guard  because there was no doubt the mansion was protected by security both seen and unseen, "We both can't go," said Aden sniffing the air, "I'm faster we both know that so you're going to have to stick around here and howel if you see something out of the ordinary."

    "That's not safe. We really shouldn't separate right now."

    "But what can we do?  I can handle it.  I might be able to move fast enough to dodge whatever sensors they have on their land, you can't keep up with me, and I wouldn't know what to do if you got caught."

    "Fine, but as soon as something goes wrong, you come back.  And I mean haul ass out of there."

    "Fine, I can see a way in through the gardens from the back.  I did a little research on the building before we came tonight.  Mr. Terrell is very vain and had an entire house viewing online.  I'm sure he didn't show everything, but he did show the gardens and back entrance."  Creed nodded and then lay on the cold ground with his head on his paws.  If he could avoid this entire plan, he would, but Aden had to do this. He didn't have a choice in the matter.

    Aden took one last look, and before Creed could give another objection, he took off across the grassy field.  Feeling the grass beneath his paws was something new to him because there was nothing but cement and gravel throughout the city.  On the outside of the walls, there was barely any foliage at all, but here it felt nice under his paws, making his wolfly attitude almost giddy with excitement.  He made sure to steer clear of anything that could have some kind of sensor or camera near or around it.  Finally, he reached the edge of the large shrubs.  He dug a hole underneath and then slithered through, coming out on the other side.  The security was below minimal there only a few were on guard.  It was probably because the Terrells' were a cocky family, and they wouldn't ever think a wolf would dare enter their place of living.

    Aden crept through the flower beds, and an abundance of sweet-smelling flowers wafted his nose.  It was kind of hard to pay attention to any other scents.  There was a lone light on the second floor, it was dim, but he could tell that someone was still up as he climbed the leafy ladder onto the balcony.  He could smell a familiar smell once he touched the landing.  There as he peered through a cracked window, he could see Jo sitting at a desk painting on an easel.  Her room was almost bare, like she didn't bother to finish unpacking.  It didn't look homey at all.  Aden and his pack might live in an almost run-down building, but still, you can sense the love and community...here, he didn't feel any of that.  There were no family pictures along the walls, no photos of her smiling while they went on a vacation somewhere.  It didn't even remind him of a teenage girl's room.

    Aden rested on his paws and just watched as her hand moved along the easel. JO wasn't facing him, but he could tell she was looking peaceful and determined to complete her craft.  He realized that he didn't have the chance to think about the fact that her brother pointed out she had already done a picture of him; he wondered what it looked like and what look did she capture in her mind as he tried to look around the room to see if it's nearby.  Before he could move, he felt something small hit his shoulder, and looking around on the opposite side of the balcony stood a young woman with fiery red curly hair.  She looked at Aden with a gentle smile then held her finger to her lips, telling Aden to be quiet.

    Aden didn't know what to do and how long she was standing there.  He stood there as she walked up to the window and pushed the balcony door opened wide and Aden hide in the shadows, "Geeze Amy," yelled Jo, "Why the hell would you scare me like that?"

    "I just felt like it," she said, standing in the way of Aden's sight, "You know you should leave this door open more often.  You can do with some fresh air every once in a while."

    "Yeah, and you could use the door.  Why're you coming in that way anyway?"

    "Suspicious much?  Relax, I was sneaking up to say hello.  I'm supposed to be in the kitchen helping prep for tomorrow, but I saw an opening to escape, and I took it.  How do you feel about what happened today?  I mean, the association was in this city for what a day, and they're already making trouble."

    "Yeah, but it's worth it.  Who knew there were werewolves so close to the city.  Or they could be regular wolves.  All I know is that I was in school when it went down.  I don't think my father will ever let me go on a hunt." Aden overheard that Jo was also a hunter.  It would make sense because her father and brother were.  

    "Well," continued Amy, "Who knows what they were.  But if I were you, I would go downstairs because your mother is stuck in a drunken loop once again and is calling your name over and over.  She keeps fighting off the staff whenever they try and move her to her room."

    Jo gave a heavy sigh as she slammed the pencil down, "I swear she might as well drink until the morning.  It's already this late as it is."  Amy shrugged with a smile, and once she was the only one in the room, she turned and looked out of the balcony door at where Aden was standing, "You were almost caught, you know," she said into the night, "She may be a quiet one in school, but her instincts are sharp as a blade."  Aden finally understood that she was talking to him as he slowly peered out of the corner.  How did this woman know what he was? He would think she would start trying to attack him right now.

    "I'm not going to hurt you," she continued, "I know what you're here for, and you're not going to find anything useful.  Hell, I didn't even find anything to take back to Neko."

    Aden didn't say a word, but he did come fully out of the dark corner once he heard Neko's name, "Yes, I know that good for nothing.  I have been knowing him for years.  He was the one who found me this job, and I have been here ever since.  It's not easy being a double agent," she giggled at the last part, "But all jokes aside...you won't find anything here unless you go into the mansion.  There is a place not on any blueprints that I want to check out, but I don't have the slightest idea of how I'm going to get there or what I would find when I get there."

    Aden lay down on his stomach and listened more she had to tell him.  She kept a smile on her face making sure he knew that she wasn't threatening, "I'm sorry for what happened to your pack leader.  I overheard the team talking about it.  But if I know Judge, he won't go quietly."  Aden huffed a low huff because humans didn't understand them when they were in their wolf form.  There is a lot of nonverbal communication that has to go on.

    "Yes, I know him...but I didn't know that you knew Jo.  I know not now, but maybe in your human form, she will know you.  But it seems you have an interest in her, I can tell."

    Aden rolled his eyes at her, and she laughed, making the smile reach the corners of her eyes.  Aden wondered how old she was because she didn't have any wrinkles, and for her to know Neko, she would have to be an older girl.  But still, she was beautiful in a way, "Anyway, wolf, you should be getting back.  There is a sensor here that they just installed that could pick up differences in two feet standing versus four, and they don't own any dogs.  If I were you, I would like high tail it back to safety."  Aden's eyes widened as he jumped over the balcony railing and landed on his four paws.  He gave Amy a look back to say goodbye, and he disappeared into the night.  

    But before he was off the lawn, he could hear voices and people shouting coming in his direction.  When they finally spotted the large and black wolf darting across their field, they started to open fire.  But thankfully, Aden had enough adrenaline bursting in his veins that he could pick up full speed.  Off into the distance, he could hear a howl from Creed, which was far too late if Aden could guess.  They both met up together and started hightailing it back across the buildings.  Aden encouraged Creed to pick up the speed, but he soon realized he could hear the loud and fast cars. The security brought out onto the streets that they weren't going to make it to their home.  They had to make a detour.

    Aden hit a hard left, and Creed followed, but he wasn't graceful in the change of direction.  They made it to Neko's house, but for them to get in, they would have to break a window setting off Neko's alarms, "Who in the hell wants it!  I'll be damned if someone breaks into my home!  Not while I'm alive!" He came out of his bedroom with a large gauge shotgun, and it was one of the old school models.  Both Aden and Creed stood there in their human form, naked with their hands up.  There was a knock at the door as the police had come to the house.  They would've never gotten there so fast if they weren't already out on patrol and a rogue Lycan was on the loose.

    Neko cursed at the boys, went to the door, and swung it open. The young cop looked frightened as he noticed the gun in Neko's hand," What do you want," said Neko.

    "We heard your alarm going off, sir, and right now, the hunters believe they're in pursuit of a Lycan," he stammered a bit as he talked, "We wanted to make sure it didn't break into your home."

    "Ain't no way a Lycan going to come in my home and not get two of these in its head.  I broke the alarm by accident.  Every year you fools come up with new technology, and I can barely get over the first one.  So excuse me for being a crazy old man.  You can get off my property, took your record timing to come here in the first place.  When I need you any other time, you take hours to get here now beat it!"  Neko slammed the door in his face and turned to the two boys, who finally found some clothes to put on.  Neko put his gun away, muttering something to himself before turning to them.

    "Every time I swear you boys are always in some trouble.  You both will be paying this bill I'm about to get in the mail."

    "Not a problem," said Creed.  His nerves were still on edge, and Aden could hear his heartbeats almost as if his heart was outside his body.

    "Well, what did you find?  I hope that you have good reason almost to get yourselves killed."

    "They were behind the attack on my father today, but that's all I was able to find out," Aden took a seat on the couch and laid his head back on the cousins, "I also found out you have a man or rather a woman on the inside."

    "Oh, you mean Amy...yeah, that's my go-to person for anything involving the association.  Normally she would come to me with some things, but she hasn't been able to get away like she used to.  I don't know how she gets her information, but she does come thru."

    "You trust her?"

    "What you don't?"

    "She saw me in my wolf form, but she doesn't know my human form.  How did she know what I was?"

    "Well, that's because she is what the ancients called a Seer.  Back in the old days, they used to weed out the werewolves.  They're human like I am but just a bit more in touch with nature, if you know what I mean.  You, as a wolf, are not the same as a regular wolf in the wild, and they could see that.  Something about your aura that makes you seem more human than animal.  But her kind was used and then tossed by the hunters because they didn't like the idea of a war on the innocents.  Sure kill the rogue Lycans, but once they realized they were also killing children, they became against it."

    "I don't think they know what she is."

    "No, of course, they don't; otherwise, she wouldn't be able to tell me what she knows.  But in any event, how is your father?"

    "As good as he could be after what happened to him."

    "Well, until he regains his strength, you have to gather as much as you can before the council comes and don't mention anything about Amy or me.  They despise humans, and not all werewolves are like your father and how he runs his pack.  They would rather a war because they're tired of having to hide who they're.  You boys get some sleep, and we can pick this up in the morning.  You have a lot of work to do tomorrow, like fixing my damn window and working at the spot."