Under the Devil's Claws

Chapter 4

DEREK:

“Why are you so hellbent on taking a walk around the pack? Dude, I’m tired,”

“I never asked you to follow me, Rafael. It’s not too late to turn back,” was my response to my company who has been a bug all through the trip. I find it frustrating that he keeps complaining when it was his idea to follow me in the beginning. I never asked him to.

“Well, I’m here now. And I’m telling you I’m tired already. Why can’t we go back now?”

“Because I’m not done,”

“Dammit!”

I choose to ignore him after that because responding was tiring to some point. He clearly doesn’t understand how much I hate to be bugged. Or how much I hate complaints. This would be the first and the last time I would have him follow me on a walk.

It’s been five years since I last found myself on the premises of this pack. Five years since my father thought it was okay if I went to the academy even though I didn’t wish for it.

A lot has happened within those tears and now I am back, different than the way I left. That’s the biggest upside from the whole five years away because I totally hated it there.

“Seems like nothing has changed after all these years,” I say to myself a few minutes away from where Rafael last bugged me about wanting to go back.

“Of course,” I hear him say after I mention that. “Nothing has changed, Derek. So why don’t we go back now?”

Now I have had enough of it. So I slowly turn around to come directly in contact with the man almost a head shorter than I am.

I glare at him so hard that he looks a little bothered about what I am about to do to him. Pretty sure he wouldn’t want to know anything about it.

“Listen here,” I start to say, “When you requested to tag along, I only agreed because I thought it would be cool to have someone join me to sightsee. I never did it because I was craving company or anything. If you know me too well like you claim you do, you would know how much I like to be alone. And also how much I hate when someone f*****g complains next to me. So do me a favor and stop with the unnecessary pressure about going back. I’ll only do that when I’m most convenient,”

And just as quickly as the words came out of my mouth is the same way I turn around to continue walking. Damn, the bastard really had me showing the other side of me that I never liked to showcase. I just hope he gets the memo and doesn’t follow me on because I sure wanted to be alone now.

I haven’t gone too far away from the scene to realize that he is the perfect definition of a pest. Why? Because he kept on following me all along.

“Hey, man, I’m sorry!” his voice echoes around the place and I find myself shaking my head at his lousiness.

My hands are comfortably intertwined behind my back as I keep up with the motion, not minding that my supposed company was almost meeting up with me. I could increase the pace of my motion to stress him up a bit but I consider that child’s play so I won’t.

“I just said I was sorry,” now he was right beside me. I spare him a glance and then look away instantly. “Look, I had no idea that you hated what I was doing so I’m sorry that I never read through it when I should have,”

“You know you’re at it again,” I say.

“At what?”

“You’re bugging me,”

He comes to a realization and mutters, “Oh,”

“Just stay quiet for now. When I need you to say something, I’ll let you know,” were my last words to him before silence ensues between us. And I totally like the atmosphere the instance such happens.

The air around here suddenly feels different as we walk further into the territory. I think I might have an idea of where we are headed now even with the little knowledge about the environment.

Since we got around this path, there has hardly been any being in sight unlike when we first started the trip where a lot of pack members were all over. Feels different over here, I won’t lie.

I can’t help but comment, “Is it just me or does this area feel awfully odd?”

“I sense it too,” Rafael says. “But I won’t think deep into it because the training area mostly tends to be this way during this time of the day,”

The training area? I see. Guess I was right when I thought I had where we were headed figured out.

I decide to get the eerie feeling off my chest but it feels a lot hard to. Something about being here was strange and as much as I want to let it go, it keeps eating me up.

Perhaps it is a sign I should turn back. But what would that make me? A coward? Apparently. I was taught never to back down from a challenge and so this strange atmosphere around here should be treated as one.

I suddenly stop the moment I sight someone. Yes, I can see someone for the very first time since my arrival on this axis.

It is a lady in training pants and a sports bra. And what is she doing that catches my attention? It is the fact that she is running like she is being chased down by something. This doesn’t look good.

“Do you think she’s okay?” I have to ask Rafael.

“I bet she is,” Rafael responds. “That’s Layla and it’s normal to see her around here during hours like this. She has been on intense training for months now and this is one of them,”

“This doesn’t look like one to me. I mean, take a look at her face. She seems distressed in some way,”

I haven’t even landed on my point completely when something else catches my attention. Something that looks far dangerous to be overlooked.

Two enormous wolves are on the lady’s tail. Which explains why she is distressingly on the run. I knew she could not have been training to look that way.

“Quick, Rafael, shift! We need to help her before she gets caught up,”

And without waiting for Rafael, I start to run off in the direction of the running lady being chased down, taking off my shirt on the way as I shift midrun into my beast.