Evangeline's Shadow

Chapter Two

Evangeline's POV



As I slowly drifted back to consciousness, I smiled gently to myself, curling up on the soft sofa and snuggling into the cushion a bit more. This was the life! Nobody here to yell at me, or hit me in the name of education. The place was brightly lit, clean, and smelled like home.

As the scent wafted under my nose, an image came to mind. It was a young woman with light brown hair arranged in a long braid, with bright blue eyes and olive skin. She wore a huge, brilliant smile, and I couldn't help feeling so familiar with her.

'That's your mother, silly,' Renita chimed in. My brow furrowed.

'Is she really?' I thought back, and I could sense her nodding, even without a physical form.

'She loved you very much,' the old wolf said after a beat, and I chewed my lip. It was one of the nervous tics I had accumulated throughout my time at the Marquis's mansion. I could feel Renita's displeasure at it, but she didn't say anything about it.

'Do you feel better?' she asked instead as I sat up on the sofa, stretching my arms around and yawning. I flopped myself against the back of the sofa, sighing contentedly.

'Of course. I wish all our days could be like this one.'

'They definitely could,' she said mysteriously. Renita had always said some things here and there that didn't make much sense, as though she had some inkling of what the future held for us.

But there was no way she could. There were legends in the Tessen family about a few members centuries back having oracle like abilities to see the future, but no one had had that power confirmed in hundreds of years. And they definitely weren't shifters.

I just shrugged her off as usual. She chuckled knowingly and settled down at the back of my mind, ignoring my irritation.

Whatever. Goofy wolf. It was time to get up and start making my way back to the Marquisate. I needed to be back before anyone noticed I was gone-

Right then was when I noticed it. I froze, turning toward the window as a chill crept up my spine.

It had been late morning when I had arrived at the Riley townhouse, and I had only planned to spend a short time napping and then get in some quality alone time before heading back to the Marquis's mansion in time for dinner. But there was no longer any sunlight peeking in through the curtains, and as I checked outside the window at the night sky, my mouth went dry. The moon was high up, which meant my short nap had been anything but.

I was doomed. So freaking doomed.

I hurriedly gathered my long hair at my nape and wound it around my hand, tucking it into my cap before securing it on my head. Practically bolting for the door, I noticed that Renita was oddly quiet and calm for the situation at hand.

'Are you okay?' I asked her as the lock clicked and I tucked the key away in my pocket.

She chuckled lightly. 'Oh I'm feeling fantastic,' she answered, but that was all the answer she gave. Something felt off, but I didn't really have the time to investigate it. So I just set off down the sidewalk, ignoring the few passersby I came across.

The way to the train station, I kept racking my brain for an excuse for my absence, but as someone who was forbidden to leave the estate grounds, it was going to be tough getting out of this one. Part of me wondered if anyone was even looking for me, if they had just waved off my absence as nothing to worry about and moved on with their evening. The other part couldn't care less and just wanted to never return there.

But legally I couldn't. I had tried escaping a few times in my younger days, and every time I was caught and returned to the Tessens, where I would suffer for weeks on end for my disobedience.

The memory made me groan. Was there no way of getting out of trouble this time?

As I stepped up to the station, I started to hear something weird. At the same time, I felt Renita's presence in my mind grow, and she radiated a weird mix of anxiety and excitement. The closer I got, the more vocal she got also.

'Hurry, Van!' she cried out as I finally got close enough to figure out the sounds were of a fight.

'Hurry? To what, you weirdo?' I couldn't help asking.

As soon as I turned the brick corner of the train station, she started leaping around in my head, causing it to throb on and off. In front of us, there was a group of men huddled together, one man in the center of the others. It looked to be three against one.

The idea made me huff in anger. Three against one was cowardly; it was nothing more than a beatdown. I pushed Renita and her craziness away from the forefront of my mind and stormed forward.

"Oi!" I called out. "You jerks!" Two of the three seemed to flinch at the sound of my voice, but the third kept going, kicking the guy in the middle right in the shin. With a cry, the third one went down, hitting his knees hard on the concrete.

Suddenly, I felt enraged for no reason. Before I knew it, I had thrown myself into the small crowd, pushing the three men away and grabbing the fallen one by the arm. I yanked him to his feet, shouting, "Run!" and he lurched after me, grabbing me around the waist.

Before I could say anything, he tugged me against him and leaned in close, murmuring in my ear, "Pardon me," and pushing us at the wall just a few steps away. I tried to push back against him, thinking he was losing his balance, but he was too strong - even for me? What is this?!

Then he whispered again, "Imagine somewhere safe," and even though I was confused as hell, my brain conjured up an image: the bedroom of my new townhouse in the Riley territory.

As we came right up on the brick wall, faster than we could stop, I clenched my eyes shut and cried out, trying to brace myself for the impact I knew was coming.

Instead, I felt us fall downward, and my face met something soft. Familiar scents hit my nose, and I turned my head, blinking my eyes open to see...

My bedroom in the townhouse?!

I tried again to push the man off of me, and this time I succeeded. He fell to the side, rolling onto his back, and I stumbled to my feet, looking around wildly. The soft thing we fell onto had been my bed, and now he was sprawled on it, obviously unconscious.

'That would be why he released you, I guess,' Renita chimed in, and I seethed a little.

'Where were you?' I demanded to know, pacing a little and trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

'Oh shush, you were fine without me,' my naughty wolf retorted, and I wished right then that she wasn't just in my head so I could swat her. She snickered at my thoughts and settled down again, content for some reason with the situation at hand.

After a couple minutes, I finally calmed down and took a look at the man I'd saved. He was objectively quite handsome. Short black hair fanned across his forehead, the sides of his head shaved up to the tops of his ears but the top of his hair was left a bit longer. His eyes were closed, but they were deep set, and his nose was straight and pointed. His square jaw gave his entire face a strong appearance, and his skin tone was a fair but rosy tone, except for the swelling bruise over his left eye from where he had obviously been struck.

I checked over him for more injuries and gasped when I found a stab wound in his right abdomen bleeding profusely. I kicked myself for not noticing sooner as I gathered my divine power to my hands and held them over the wound.

I could feel the split tissue mending itself, and when I was sure it was done, I set about removing his clothing to clean and bandage him up and settle him into my bed. I had taken care of the most critical issue, but he wasn't out of the woods yet.

Tsk... This was going to be such a long night.