HIS SCENT IS A MOON LIT LIE

Chapter Twenty Three

Jordan's POV

Of all the creatures crawling out of the dark tonight, it just had to be the devil in the shape of a human.

Adrian stepped out of the darkness with a sharp grin plastered on his face.

"You are getting sloppy. Did you really think it was a brave idea to bring your little mate to a crime scene?" Adrian's smirk deepened, the urge to wipe that dirty grin off his face grew stronger.

"Leave." The words slipped out firmly, my voice low and laced with command. "You can walk away now that i am asking nicely." My teeth clenched tightly.

As expected, Adrian chuckled, the sound made my ears rise in disgust "Walk away? Now give me one good reason why I should do that?" He wriggled his brows at me mockingly.

My gaze shifted towards Elara. Noting the frightened look on her face, it was clear that this was not the moment to engage in a fight with Adrian.

Right now, the only thing that mattered was helping her find her grandfather.

"I can tell how much you want to fight me but now is not the right time." My words came out calm with a hidden threat, each one driven by my suppressed anger.

He titled his head and sneered. "I do not want to fight you, i want to kill you."

Adrian's attempt to make me lose my temper was working, I growled lowly and attempted to take a step forward but all of a sudden, Elara gently pulled me back by the arm.

She cleared her throat and boldly took a step forward, closing the gap between I and Adrian.

"Nobody is killing anybody here." Her voice was shaky and my eyes caught her hands trembling.

Adrian seized the opportunity to make a joke out of her. "Do not worry Elara, I am only after him."

"Elara, get behind me."

She carefully slid to the side, the way Adrian watched her with amusement written all over his face, my guts told me she wasn't safe.

Adrian cracked his knuckles but with my wolf instincts tightening around my bones, I rushed towards Adrian with my fist tight in the air.

My fist hastily connected with his jaw, wiping his smirk off for a moment before he retaliated by landing a sharp blow on my right cheek.

Pain flared sharply, it made me suck in a sharp breath and slowly staggered backward.

"Jordan!" Elara called out my name. I knew her next instincts were to confirm if I was hurt so I hastily yelled. "No! Do not come close."

Without waiting for Elara's response and charging forward, my shoulder slammed into him, knocking him off balance.

Adrian growled angrily, with his claws and fangs out, he came at me.

We traded blows, fast and brutal. My vision blurred, the noise around me slowly became faint but I kept reminding myself, the goal was to protect Elara, to keep her safe from him.

"You think you are strong enough?" He hissed. Adrian beat his chest and exclaimed. "THIS IS MY WORLD, NOT YOURS!"

He set his leg low and I went down, my body colliding with the hard floor.

He knelt over me, one hand was pressing my shoulder to the ground while his knee was pressed to throat with enough force.

Struggling to breath, a bitter cry echoed.

"Jordan!" Elara's sobs ignited this desperate need to protect her, a sudden fury spiked in my chest.

My hands reached for Adrian's wrist, gripping it tight and brutally twisting it.

He released me so I used the advantage before he could react by rising up and snatching the collar of his shirt. "Give me one good reason why i should not rip out your throat."

Adrian looked like had something to say but both our head snapped towards the front of the house when we heard the sound of tires screeching towards this direction.

I loosened my grip on Adrian's collar and he made a run for it.

"Someone is coming, we need to hide." I turned to gaze at Elara.

There was fear written all over her face. Elara's body trembled and she bit her lower lip, struggling to stop herself from breaking down into tears.

Gulping a lump down my throat, a look of concern grew on my face"Are you okay?"

She wrapped her arms around her body. "H-e..H-e, his teeth." She stuttered.

Of course she had seen Adrian's claws and fangs, that explained why she was so frightened.

"The way he shifted, can you do that too? How was that even scientifically possible?" Elara threw questions at me and I knew if i gave her an answer, our conversation would probably never end because I had a lot of explaining to do.

"I will explain all of that later, someone is coming so we need to hide fast." I said, grabbing her by the wrist as we rushed behind the house, crouching low near a broken shed.

I peeked over the edge just as a familiar black Jeep rolled to a stop in front of the house.

"Do you sense that?" Elara suddenly whispered besides me.

"What?" Furrowing my brows at her in complete confusion, the question slipped.

"The scent." She paused to sniff loudly. "It is familiar."

Her words sent something cold run through my veins.

Elara inhaled, she scrunched her nose up and her eyes suddenly widened with certainty.

"Mum?" She said in a questioning tone.

Just as she uttered that, i watched Elara's mum step out of the car but I barely had time to process it when another breeze swept through, carrying an entirely different scent.

My heart raced extremely fast as I shook my head in disbelief.

No, it couldn't be.

"Elara, there is someone else out there." My voice came out low.

"Who?" She looked at me curiously.

I turned to the direction of the east side of the woods where the sound footsteps drew steadily.

"My mother." I said through gritted teeth. "She is here too."