Pack Wars

Chapter 8 - Late Introductions

Zara was consumed by a thick, clouded blanket of confusion mixed with disbelief. The emotions washed over her normally logical thoughts like a tidal wave as she jogged along after the handsome man currently leading her through the darkened woods. 

The extremely handsome… mysterious… enticing… sexy-

‘What the hell Zara, focus here!’

Shaking her head, she immediately snapped out of her drooling daze and blinked rapidly, her bare feet beginning to slow down as she suddenly came to an abrupt halt on the leafy ground.

At that exact moment, Cole too sensed that she had stopped and turned around to face her. His expression showed his sudden confusion as his dark brows furrowed together as he spoke.

“What is it? Are you alright?” he queried, taking a step in towards her with his arm out in a gesture of support, “Are you hurt?”

His tone seemed genuine enough, though she couldn’t be sure. She had only just met this man a matter of twenty minutes ago! She couldn't trust him; she didn't know who she could trust out here.

Zara shook her head as she fought to control her heavy breathing, her body bent over with both of her hands resting palm down against her upper thighs as she watched him cautiously.

“My boots! I left them back there... with that… thing.”

“We need to keep going, it’s not safe out here.” he urged, completely ignoring her comment about missing boots.

“You don’t understand, those boots are worth more to me than anything-”

“-Are you willing to die for them?” he spoke over her voice, commanding her attention.

“Because I can guarantee you, that thing will still be there waiting for you to return.”

This caught her off guard as she merely continued to pant heavily, while maintaining his heated gaze. Only now after she had the chance to really think and weigh up the risks, had she realised just how foolish she had been about retrieving her boots.

“What was it?” she asked softly, “That thing… what was it?”

Cole seemed to purse his lips with unease before he spoke again.

“It has many names, Shadow Creature, Haunter… but my kind call it a Reaper.”

“A Reaper… as in the Grimm Reaper?” Zara clarified; her left brow raised sceptically.

Rolling his eyes at her comment, Cole continued.

“It is no joke, believe me. The Reaper is a being of complete and utter darkness. Of pure evil, merciless and unforgiving… And its only known weakness is the light, as I’m sure you’ve already figured out from your… recent encounter.”

Zara stood up straight, biting her bottom lip nervously now.

“Which reminds me, care to explain what happened back there?” he prompted calmly.

Now it was Zara’s turn to frown. She looked down to the ground out of apparent guilt and folded her arms across her chest as she replied bitterly.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You have magical powers, I saw them with my own eyes. You’re a witch aren't you?”

“No, you’re mistaken…” she shook her head, still unable to meet his gaze. “Maybe you got confused in the heat of the moment and-”

Before she could even finish her sentence, he was suddenly standing right in front of her, close enough to feel his hot breath fanning out across her face as he spoke. His now brightly glowing eyes fixated on hers with a dangerous intensity.

“-Is that so?”

He looked her up and down for a moment in silence before grinning.

Fuck, even his grin made her weak in the ankles!

She swallowed hard, fighting desperately to stand her ground, even if her own body had chosen to betray her.

Being a werewolf, Cole could hear the rapid pulsing of her heart thumping from deep within her chest, over and over as she flicked her chocolate brown eyes up to meet his in challenge.

This only made his grin widen; if there was one thing Cole liked it was a challenge.

His kind had never managed to get along well with witches in the past; they were merely too different to coexist. Another reason for their ancient treaty having been formed.

“Ok then, don’t tell me the truth…” he took a step in closer, closing the minimal gap between them and coming close enough for their lips to almost touch now as he spoke deeply.

“I know this must be frightening… confusing even.” he began to reason with her calmly, “But I promise, I mean you no harm.”

Zara snickered as she shook her head.

“That’s exactly what someone intending to harm me would say.” she pointed out, glaring directly into his eyes. 

Those warm, golden glowing eyes of his.

Those eyes that made her feel as if she were melting where she stood.

“Fair point.” Cole admitted.

But there was nothing dangerous or conniving about his expression, nothing that would have her running for the hills anytime soon. She felt something for him, something strange and unfamiliar that emersed her entire body every single time she looked into his eyes, every time she smelled his scent lingering in the air. It was beyond intoxicating. 

But why?

‘I like the way he smells? Ok, now that’s weird.’ she thought to herself.

His voice cut in over her thoughts; deep, husky and laced with rugged sensuousness.

“Look, we really need to keep moving if we want to reach a safer location by sunrise. Is there any possible way I can convince you to trust me, just this once?”

Zara appeared to think to herself for a moment, as if she were considering what he had just asked her. Without even realising it she voiced her reply.

“You could tell me your name.”

A dazzling smile suddenly appeared on his stubble-covered face, only slightly managing to reveal his sharpened canines on either side as he let out a soft, deep chuckle of laughter and took a step back to widen the gap between them.

He felt foolish. In all the craziness of their surprised meeting earlier on in the woods he hadn’t yet found the time to properly introduce himself. Matter of fact, neither of them had.

“It’s Cole…” he spoke with a smile, extending his hand outwards for her to take once again.

Zara’s brown eyes darted down towards his hand and examined it for a second or two before she too smiled and reached out her hand to place it in his, then shaking it.

“Zara.” she replied hesitantly.

The sound of her name being spoken, rolling from her tongue like that had suddenly caused his inner wolf to growl with hunger, with an untamed flicker of desire he had not yet felt for anyone before.

And at the exact moment their hands made skin to skin contact, he knew… He knew the hidden connection between them had finally been revealed. Cole knew what this woman was to him, how important she was and why his wolf had been so restless up until now. 

“f**k…”

Uttering the curse with but a whisper, he pulled his hand away from hers with embarrassment and pursed his lips tightly together as his gaze fell to the ground.

It wasn’t possible.

It couldn’t be this woman…

She wasn’t even a wolf like him! It made no sense.

Why would the Moon Goddess pair him with someone like her? A witch, of all things?

A mixture of confusion and rage began to boil throughout his veins as he fought to hold his inner wolf at bay, preventing it from surfacing.

At that same time Zara could see his obvious inner struggle and furrowed her brows as she tilted her head to the side and reached for him.

“Is… everything alright?”

“It’s fine.” he snapped, frowning as he lifted his head and pulled his arm away from her.

His eyes were brighter now as he fought to meet her gaze.

“We should keep moving. The Hallow Woods can be notoriously dangerous at night, as you’ve seen first-hand. Who knows what else might be out there lurking in the shadows.”

Although she brushed it aside, Zara couldn’t help but feel a little rejected by his actions now as she watched him turn around and begin walking off in the direction they were initially heading.

Had she done something wrong?

Said something to offend him, perhaps?

Normally running off with some strange guy she had just met would be the last thing she would have agreed to. But after what she had witnessed tonight… werewolves… that shadow creature… she honestly wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

However, the only thing she was certain of was how she felt when she was around Cole, which made absolutely no sense whatsoever. They had spent less than twenty minutes together in total after all.

And who the hell was he anyway? How had he found her out here, all alone in the middle of the night? Should she be worried about the identity of this handsome stranger?

Her head was beginning to ache with all the added stress and concern she placed upon herself when she heard his voice call out over his shoulder as he continued along.

“Hey, are you coming or what?”

As she stood there watching him slowly begin to disappear into the shadow of night she wondered if she was making the right decision to go along with him. To allow this complete stranger to lead her off towards an unknown location, so far away from the safety of her Coven and home.

Would he keep her safe, as promised? Could she trust someone she didn’t yet know?

Her head continued screaming out as loudly as possible, warning her to 'run away now!'… 

But what she had always believed to be her heart spoke even louder now with but a single word, causing her to follow along after him into nothing but dangerous uncertainty... 

'Safe' the voice said simply.

Little did she know that the distant voice she had always believed to be her heart was in fact her inner wolf, scratching desperately to try and free itself after being restrained for so long.

And soon enough, her wolf would indeed find a way to break free...