Chapter 3 – Taken, Not
1066 Words
Maya’s POV
The word is in the air.
Too heavy. Too loud. Very wrong.
Darius moves before I can even think.
The shadows get blurry when he turns so fast. His hand goes up, and his fingers curl like claws. The dark eats the voice that spoke. There is a loud sound of pain, maybe fear, and then nothing.
My heart beats hard against my chest.
"Why did they say that?" I ask.
He doesn't respond.
"Darius?"
I'm behind him. His shoulders are stiff. His arm is still bleeding, and the blood is hitting the ground in slow, steady drops. He takes a deep breath, as if he has something wild in his chest.
He says, "We're leaving."
"Where?"
"Nowhere you know."
That should scare me more than it does.
My skin, on the other hand, tingles. He touched me on the wrist, and it still feels warm. Even though my mind says I shouldn't, my body feels like it's leaning toward him.
"I need my stuff," I say. "My apartment is..."
He turns his head quickly toward me.
There is a flash of something sharp in his eyes.
"Where?" he asks.
I told him where to go.
He curses under his breath.
The sound isn't loud, but it feels heavy. Like a door shutting hard.
He takes my hand again.
This time, there is no warning.
The world becomes fuzzy.
The wind howls past my ears. The ground disappears beneath my feet. My stomach drops like I've fallen from a high place. I close my eyes tightly, scared I'll fall apart.
Then we stop.
Hard.
I trip and almost fall, but Darius catches me.
We're on my street.
In front of my building.
In the windows, lights flash. Smoke rises into the night sky. My heart stops.
"No," I say softly.
The front door of my building is cracked down the middle and hangs open. There is glass all over the ground. It smells like fire and something sharp and wrong in the air.
I break free and run.
"Maya..." he said.
I kept going.
My chest hurts from taking the stairs two at a time. The lights in the hallway flicker. Someone ripped the door off its hinges. Another one is bent in like it was kicked by something that couldn't be stopped.
There is no door.
The frame is broken.
My apartment is a mess.
Broken furniture. Walls ripped. My little table broke in half. Drawers were pulled out and dumped on the floor. My bed ripped open, and the stuffing flew everywhere like snow.
I am shaking as I stand there.
This was where I felt safe.
This was mine.
Darius comes up behind me.
The room is full of his heavy, dark presence. The air seemed to be drawn to him. As he looks around, his eyes glow a faint silver color.
"They were here," he says.
"Who?" My voice is quiet.
"Not the cops." Not a person.
He shuts his eyes for a moment.
Something has changed when he opens them again.
"I felt it," he says in a low voice. "My wolf did."
I look at him. "Felt what?"
He says, "You."
I don't get it, but my chest feels tight anyway.
"Your scent led them here," he says. "From the alley." They got there quickly. "Too fast."
My knees give out.
I fall to the floor, where there are broken things all around me. As I picked up a picture frame, my hands shook because the glass broke right through my smile.
"I didn't do anything," I say quietly.
"I know," he says.
He gets down on one knee in front of me.
The movement is slow. Be careful. He seems scared to scare me.
He says, "This world is real." "And now it knows you're there."
My eyes hurt from crying.
"I just wanted to go home."
His jaw gets tight.
"I tried to keep you out of it," he says. "I failed."
That word hurts more than the broken room.
Failed.
A low sound comes from his chest. Not a growl. Not a sigh.
Hurt.
He reaches out but then stops.
"We can't stay," he says. "They'll be back."
"Where do I go?" I ask.
He turns away.
"With me."
Fear started to build in my chest.
"Do I have a choice?"
He looks me in the eye.
He says, "No."
Not mean.
Truthful.
He helps me get up. I pick up my jacket off the floor and my phone from under a chair. Everything else stays behind.
We move quickly.
Down the steps. Through the broken door. Into the dark.
As shadows move in my peripheral vision, Darius pulls me close. I hear howls from far away that are low and long. My skin feels prickly.
The city is different now.
It feels like it's watching me.
We stopped in a quiet spot under a bridge. Darius puts his hand on the ground.
The air changes.
Things start to take shape in the dark. People step forward, both men and women, but their eyes shine. A little yellow. A little gold. Some silver like his.
They are looking at me.
Some people are curious. A little cold.
One woman moves closer and looks sharp.
"Is this her?" she asks.
Without thinking, Darius moves in front of me.
"Yes."
A murmur goes through them.
Someone says, "She's a person."
My heart is racing.
"Where are we?" I say quietly.
Darius doesn't look back.
He says, "My land." "My pack."
The ground under my feet feels both real and solid at the same time.
The woman smiles slowly and knowingly.
"So this is the one who shook the Alpha," she says.
Darius growls.
"That's enough."
She raises her hands to show peace, but she keeps looking at me.
"Welcome," she says in a soft voice. "You are safe here."
I don't feel safe.
I feel like I've been taken.
The pack closes in on us, pulling us deeper into the shadows, to a place I didn't know existed.
I hear a whisper move through them as we walk.
"She doesn't know yet."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
No one answers.
Darius's grip on my hand gets tighter.
The path ahead opens up into
Darkness, but there is a soft, glowing light in the distance.
And that light makes me feel like I can't close a door.
- Writer
