Stolen Fates - Anna

Loup Garou

As with all dreams, the memory faded to a vague feeling and Charlie's sleeping face was the first thing Anna had caught sight of when her eyes had fluttered open. It took a moment to remember where she was and what, exactly, had happened before she'd fainted. Turning over slowly, she eased out of Charlie's arms and stood from the bed. She tiptoed to the bathroom after gently picking up her phone from the bedside table and quietly closed and locked the door once inside.

She sat down on the closed lid of the toilet and unlocked the screen of her phone, quickly swiping to the app she was looking for. She would forever be grateful for technology as the map pinpointed her location and she shared the location through a text message to the last person she thought she'd be contacting.Please come get me...She muted the sound on her phone and waited, not exactly patiently for a reply.On my way. Be there in 10 minutes.Anna breathed a sigh of relief, a feeling she never thought she'd feel again when thinking of Chase. She waited a few minutes before unlocking and easing the bathroom door open just slightly. Charlie hadn't moved an inch and she all but held her breath as she quietly left the bathroom to slide her feet into her shoes and pick up her backpack.Just as quietly, she pulled open the door to Charlie's bedroom and stepped out, gently easing the door closed once more behind her. No longer worried about noise, she walked quickly down the flights of stairs to the main floor and had her hand on the doorknob when a soft voice whispered in her head saying, "Don't leave, little one. You're safe here."Anna shook her head and blinked a few times, pushing what she assumed to be her own thoughts away and pulled open the door to the fresh air of the front porch. She descended the few steps to the walkway that lead to the drive and looked back at the house for a moment. The quiet purr of a car engine pulled her attention from the house as Chase pulled up beside her and rolled the passenger side window down.She handed him the backpack through the window, which he tossed into the backseat of the car, and she had just opened the passenger side door when Charlie came running through the front door of the house, shouting her name repeatedly in panic.She cast a quick glance over her shoulder at him and climbed into the passenger seat of Chase's car and closed the door. She flinched slightly when Charlie reached the side of the car and gripped the open window with one hand. The other, he reached into the car to turn her face toward him with a gentle hold on her cheek."Anna, please, don't leave. Just...talk to me," Charlie pleaded, slightly out of breath and all she could do was pull her face away from his touch. His hand hung lax in the space between them and she heard the low growl escape his chest. She cast a sideways glance at Chase and gave a brief nod of her head."No...no, no, no. Anna, please," she heard Charlie's words fade into incoherent shouts as the car moved slowly away from him and gained speed down the drive. Looking into the side mirror, she could see him still shouting after the car from his knees and had to turn her eyes away when she watched him lean his face down to the ground before him.She glanced her eyes at Chase in the driver seat of the car as they turned from the drive and headed back in the direction of the city. She saw him lift a brow in question and shook her head at him."Don't ask," she warned and turned her head to watch the scenery pass by the passenger side window. She let her mind wander through her memories of the past few days and tried to find some sign, some warning that Charlie was obviously nuts. His whole family was nuts.What was that back there? Some kind of cult? And the way they talked about wolves...What was that about? she thought to herself as they drove. She chewed the inside of her cheek as her thoughts continued to swirl around in her head.The only conclusion she could draw was that they were, in fact, all crazy and a whole new level of crazy that she'd never experienced before in her life and never wished to experience again. When she'd been taken into the basement, she knew something weird was going on but she had to admit that she was curious.Curiosity killed the cat, she mocked herself with another shake of her head. Then those weird men and women had appeared and she had a sinking feeling in her stomach like she was about to be sacrificed to some god or something. She'd somehow managed to stay calm, even though every fiber of her rational mind was telling her to scream and run away.Then I'd have been gagged and tied to a chair in a dark corner somewhere, she thought and let a heavy sigh free from her lungs. No, she'd kept calm and agreed to what was asked of her, biding her time until she could get away. She hadn't expected to pass out but she supposed stress could cause that."You okay," Anna heard Chase ask hesitantly and gave a small nod of her head in reply."I just want to go home," she answered and heard him start to speak but stop before any words had actually formed. "What," she asked with a sharpness to her tone that she hadn't meant."It's just...are you sure that's a good idea? I mean...why don't you come back to my place? That guy doesn't know where I live and-," he spoke but stopped short when her laughter filled the car."You are un-f*****g-believable...Stop the car," she said, not even attempting the disguise the contempt in her voice. She shook her head and ignored the shocked look on Chase's face. She reached into the backseat to retrieve her backpack. "Look, I appreciate you picking me up and all but that doesn't mean I'm going to fall back into your bed and pretend like nothing has changed with us," she explained in the same tone.The car slowed to a stop against a curb back in the city and Anna quickly opened the door to step out. She felt Chase's hand grip her upper arm before she could exit the car and pull her back against the seat of the car."I'm just trying to help you, Anna," Chase ground out through clenched teeth and Anna winced at the pain in her arm. Just as quickly, he released her arm and Anna climbed from the seat of the car to stand on the sidewalk, slamming the car door without another word.She watched as Chase's car pulled away and she looked around, trying to determine where she was. She pulled the map up on her phone, ignoring the five missed calls and countless messages from Charlie, and sighed in relief when the pin showed that her apartment was only five blocks away. She shuffled her feet and began moving with the crowd in the direction of home.She rounded the corner of her block and spotted Charlie sitting on the front step of her apartment building. It hadn't been more than an hour since she'd left his house but he looked horrible. Even from a distance, she could see the dark circles forming under his eyes and his hair looked as if he'd tried pulling it out several times. She considered turning around and running away as fast as possible again but she couldn't. Just looking at the state he was in had her heart clenching painfully and moving closer to where he sat on her step."You look awful," she spoke, his eyes shooting up from the ground and to her face."Yeah...well...," he began and paused to clear his scratchy throat. "The person I care about most in this world did just run away from me with her ex...I think I have the right to look awful," he said and moved to make room for her to sit on the step beside him. "Where is the asshole, anyway," he asked and she watched his eyes scan up and down the street, looking for Chase."Hopefully off being an asshole to someone else. He just gave me a ride, Charlie," she said and sat her backpack between her feet as she sat down on the step beside him."But why did you need a ride, Anna," she heard him ask with his eyes back on the ground, his forearms resting across his jean-covered thighs. "Why wouldn't you just talk to me? Do you have any idea how scared I was when I saw you get in that car," he asked and emphasized his point by dragging his fingers roughly through his hair."Well, you all kind of freaked me out with the whole, wolf-worshipping cult thing. You know that's insane, right," she stated and watched his eyes slowly turn up from the ground and to her, disbelief evident on his features."That's what you think that was," he asked in surprise and couldn't contain the small laugh that rose up from his chest. "Oh, baby, I really wish you would have just talked to me," she heard him continue with a slight shake of his head."So...what was it then," she asked with a brow quirked in speculation and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly irritated with his amusement at her expense.Charlie cleared his throat and turned his body slightly on the step to face her more directly. "Promise you won't run away again," he questioned with a raised brow of his own and sighed softly when she nodded her head slowly. He leaned forward and closed the small distance between them and she heard his breath close to her ear. "Loup Garou, sweetheart...werewolf," he breathed against the lobe of her ear and then pulled away slowly to look into her eyes.