Caine

Since I was staying alone, I chose the biggest room in the apartment.

Stupid Liam. That was all I could think while I unpacked the four suitcases I brought.

Most of my things had to stay behind in one of the houses.

While I continued putting things away, I thought of different ways I would kick Liam’s ass for getting me in this situation.

It was late in the afternoon after I’d taken a shower, when I decided to go into town. I was starving and no matter how pissed off I was, I still had to eat.

The only thing Adam had pointed out after we got here was a fast food place, and that’s because he was planning to get a burger on the way.

I decided that it would be my first stop before going grocery shopping.

I was lucky the apartment had a small refrigerator. My excitement died down when I noticed there wasn’t a stove or a microwave.

Since I was already mad at Liam for sending me away, I knew what would make me feel better- blaming him for not bothering to buy a stove.

Stupid Liam. I thought again after I got in my car.

I was glad that Adam hadn’t taken that too. He had dropped me off and was running a few miles south, which was where the rest of the gang was waiting for him.

“Who are you?” A tap on my shoulder made me turn around.

I had been standing in line at the burger joint. It was a family owned place that was crawling with more teenagers than anything.

I had apparently chosen the worst hour to come, because the place was packed.

When I turned around, I found a girl looking at me with a frown on her face.

“Are you talking to me?” I asked her, pointing at myself.

“Yeah, who are you?”

I cocked my head to the side, wondering if she was alright.

“Who are you?” I asked, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘you’.

“I asked you first,” she said, putting her hand on her hip.

I laughed, and looked up at the ceiling.

Seriously, this is the place where Liam thought I would be safe?

“What are you, five?” I asked her.

She didn’t look like she appreciated my words, because she narrowed her eyes at me.

“I asked you a question and I expect an answer.” Her tone sounded demanding.

I was about to laugh again, but the girl behind the counter called me up.

“I want a number 2 with no onions,” I ordered, as the girl chewed her gum rather loudly.

“Anything else?”

I shook my head and handed her a twenty. While she was offering me other things to buy, I could feel the girl behind me staring daggers at my back.

I tried to think back to anything I might’ve done to upset her. Honestly, I hadn’t even cut in line this time.

I moved to the side to let the person behind me order. It happened to be that girl, who only ordered a drink.

I almost expected her to come and bother me again, but she didn’t. She went to fill her cup and then left the place. Just before getting out, she turned back to look at me.

She had a blank expression on her face. Just like Liam did to people all the time to tick them off, I smirked at her. It worked, because her blank expression quickly turned into a scowl.

That’s what I thought I said to myself.

Once my order was ready, I grabbed the paper bag and made my way out. After that strange encounter, I really wanted to be alone.

All the noise at the burger joint was getting to me. I got stopped twice. The first time it was a guy, no doubt trying to flirt. I only put a hand up and walked away. The second was a bubbly girl, wearing too much make up.

I probably should’ve been making friends. Considering I didn’t know how long I had to stay in that area, it sounded like a good idea.

If that girl asking me who I was hadn’t approached me, I probably would’ve stayed to talk. Now, I just felt annoyed.

I stepped out into the fresh air, and hugged my thin sweater closer to my body. I was cursing myself for not bringing a bigger jacket.

The smell of rain was all over the area and a light coat of drizzle was falling. I hardly felt it, but it was still there, making everything feel colder.

I got in my car and turned on the heater full blast. When I reversed out of the parking space, a truck three spots to the side did that same.

I shrugged it off as a coincidence.

Two streets down with the same truck behind me made me realize it was no coincidence. There was no way the people behind me were going to the same place and had left at the same time as me.

Instead of driving to the apartment, I made a few more turns and kept going until I reached a large supermarket. I had been planning to go grocery shopping, so I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.

I quickly parked the car, and made my way to the store. There was no way I was staying outside alone more than I should. A few people were walking to their cars or into the store, but it was still dark and I wasn’t risking it.

The same girl from the burger place got out of the truck, but she was with two more guys. The three of them had black hair. Despite the girl’s soft appearance, there was something dangerous about her look. The two guys- they looked built like statues and people I definitely didn’t want to mess with.

I walked into the supermarket, trying to look casual while also hurrying up.

Once I was safely inside, and surrounded by a lot of people, I took out my cell phone.

“Hey Char.” Estella’s warm voice made me relax immediately.

“I need to talk to Adam. Is he around?” I asked her, checking out my surroundings.

I couldn’t see the girl or the two other guys anymore.

“Yeah, we’re still on our way but we stopped for the night,” Estella told me.

On the background, I heard her yell out for Adam.

“Cool,” I said, grabbing random stuff and dumping them in the cart I was pushing around.

“You’re good?”

“I am, I just need to talk to Adam,” I told her.

“Oh, he’s here,” she barely got to say that, before Adam took the phone from her.

“Did something happen?” Unlike Estella’s calm voice, Adam sounded alert.

“Nothing yet, but some guys are following me,” I whispered to him.

I was cupping my phone, just for extra precaution.

“That’s probably not good,” Adam said.

I heard him shuffling things on the other side of the line.

“Are they Wolves?” He asked- his voice more serious than before.

I stayed quiet for a moment, not knowing how to answer his question. How could I not have thought about that before?

“I don’t know,” I replied.

As I walked out of the cereal aisle, I saw them again. They were by the fruit and vegetable section, and their eyes were trained at me.

I faintly wondered if they were purposely trying to make it obvious, just to freak me out more. If that was their plan, then they were definitely doing a good job.

“I can’t go back, but you can come to me,” Adam said in a low voice.

“Where are you?”

“I’m at a supermarket,” I replied.

I hadn’t noticed just how much crap I had piled into the car until Adam asked me about it.

“Don’t buy anything you can’t carry in your hands. Get out when you see other people exiting the store with you. As soon as you get in the car, leave.”

I swallowed loudly, and looked once again in the direction where my stalkers were at.

They weren’t there anymore.

“Okay,” I mumbled, before ending the call.

I didn’t wait for him to say goodbye or anything.

Humans, I might’ve been able to handle. Werewolves? I wouldn’t even be able to take one. Talk about life being unfair. It couldn’t throw me a curveball even when I was pretending to be human.

While I stood in line with a bag of chips, a pack of gum, and a Dr. Pepper- I tried processing why Wolves would be after me.

I wasn’t really pretending to be human. I was a human.

My frown grew more when I noticed the stalkers either paying or pretending to pay something two aisles away from me.

“Want some help with that?” The guy putting my things in a bag, asked me.

“With one bag?” I asked him flatly.

“Hey, I’m just offering,” he said.

His tag said his name was Trevor.

I was just about to tell him a colorful word, when I stopped myself.

I needed an escort to my car, didn’t I?

“You’re right. I wouldn’t want to hurt myself with that very heavy bag,” I said.

I tried to sound nice, but I felt like my sarcasm was obvious.

He gave me a confused expression, probably not knowing if I was being serious.

“Let’s go,” I told him, handing him back the plastic bag with my things.

The checkout girl sent a glare to Trevor, but he completely ignored her.

“So what’s your name?” He asked on the way out.

I was glad that a few people finished getting charged, and we weren’t walking alone. Even if I didn’t know Trevor, I knew it wasn’t safe to have him out here alone if shifters were chasing me. I wasn’t sure they were Wolves, but I wasn’t taking a chance.

“Martha,” I lied.

I figured if anyone was going to get in trouble, I’d at least give my cousin’s name. I didn’t like her either way.

“Cool, I’m Trevor,” he said.

The stalkers were a few steps behind us. The fact that they were making their chase so obvious was only serving to get me more nervous.

Trevor tried to make more conversation, which got cut off every time I gave him one worded answers.

“Thanks,” I told him as soon as I reached my car.

I took the bag from his hands and got in before he could say anything else.

I was in my car driving away when my phone went off.

“Hello?” I answered, keeping my eyes on the road but turning to my rearview mirror every so often.

They weren’t following me anymore.

“Where are you?” Adam’s voice sounded urgent.

“I’m okay, they’re gone,” I said.

I heard him sigh on the other line, before he let out an audible groan.

“Please tell me you didn’t do this to come with us?” Adam asked.

“What?” I yelled into the phone.

“You didn’t fake this, did you?” Adam questioned.

I could hear the disapproval in his voice.

“Are you kidding me right now?” I asked.

Before he could get his answer out, I disconnected the call and threw my phone on the passenger seat.

So maybe I’d tried every which way to not come here, but there was no way I would fake something so serious. I knew things were hard for us right now. I wasn’t stupid.

My phone kept going off, but I ignored it. After it rang about five more times, I decided to just turn it off.

Instead of making my way out of the city, I just went back to the apartment.

I still had my burger, which wasn’t exactly warm. I ate it anyways, while watching a movie that was half-way through. I had to make a note to call the cable company.

Suddenly staying locked inside the apartment seemed like a good idea. Heck, maybe I could be like those ladies with the cats, except I’d probably get dogs. After all, I was used to dealing with dogs.

Instead of blaming Liam like I’d done so many times today, I blamed Adam.

Stupid Adam.

I just had to think that to put a smile in my face.

I spent the entire next day inside the apartment. I had to turn on my phone. When I did, I heard it beep nonstop for a full minute. I had received almost fifty texts from all of the guys, and I had a few voicemails, which I decided to ignore.

I expected the stalkers to knock at my door. The thing was- I didn’t know why they were after me. I mean, sure I wasn’t the nicest person. But I had just arrived in town. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to cause any havoc.

The calls and texts continued that day, but they all went ignored.

Finally in the afternoon, I decided to answer. Adam was probably crapping his pants because I’d ignored him so long.

“What?” I answered, putting as much venom in my voice as I could muster.

“Are you alright? Why didn’t you pick up your phone? What happened?” Adam kept asking.

“I’m fine, no thanks to you. If that’s all, I really need to go. I’m busy.”

“Busy? Doing what? And what happened last night? Who was following you?”

“Oh, you didn’t know? I was just pretending some psycho rude girl along with two other giant guys were following me. You know, since I’m so desperate to leave,” I sarcastically replied.

“Charlotte, don’t be like that. I was just asking,” Adam said, sounding apologetic.

Well, too little too late for that.

“Whatever, if that’s all, I gotta go,” I told him, and hung up on him once again.

I felt slightly bad for the way I behaved with him. I was two seconds away from calling him back, when he called me instead.

“What?” I answered.

“You hung up on me again,” he said, not sounding too happy about that.

“Yeah well, you accused me of lying.”

“Are you at the apartment?” Adam asked, completely ignoring my comment.

Jeez, the least he could do was apologize about that.

“I am.”

“Stay there,” he ordered, any playfulness completely gone from his voice.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him, now feeling nervous.

Maybe now he believed me because something had happened. Crap.

Now I was actually feeling bad for ignoring him all last night and today.

“The battle started,” Adam cryptically said.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it.

What? I asked to myself.

I would’ve laughed, had Adam’s voice not sounded so grim.

“Midnight Moon and Raven Pack- it started. And they aren’t the only ones involved. I can’t believe Liam didn’t know this,” Adam said, sounding really annoyed.

“Didn’t know what?” I asked, still feeling upset about the whole thing.

“Locus pack is also involved in the fight,” Adam replied.

“What?” I shrieked into the phone.

For a moment, I felt embarrassed that my voice sounded so girly, but I dismissed the thought as quickly as it came.

“Liam assured me that Locus pack had nothing to do with this. It turns out Locus Pack is in on it too. I don’t even know if any attacks might be headed your way,” Adam said.

I could hear him pacing around a room.

“Hey, hey, listen to me,” I told Adam, trying to get his attention.

He sounded really out of it.

“Liam gave us only one thing to do. If the battle gets to you and you get hurt, he’s going to kill us all. I just know he will,” Adam said.

I chuckled, attempting to put him at ease.

“Adam, I’m at the apartment, surrounded by a bunch of humans. I’ll just stay here until everything clears out, okay? There’s no way the Wolves are going to come near the humans to fight,” I reassured him.

After a lot more convincing, Adam finally let me hang up.

Although I went about the rest of the afternoon like everything was fine, I knew it wasn’t. Four, now five packs were involved in this fight.

So many of us were going to die there, and they were still going to war. That just seemed so sad.

I worried about Liam. I worried about him so much, my stomach was in knots and there was a painful ache in my chest. He was going to be in the middle of the fight because he was locked up.

It was almost nine at night when a knock on the door made me jump. I was in my room, but the knock had quickly turned into loud banging.

The person at the other side of the door was literally trying to break it apart.

I had my cell phone in my hand. I could call Adam and tell him what was happening.

But I didn’t call.

If these people or Wolves- whatever they were- would take me, bringing Adam and the rest of the gang would do nothing for them.

They wouldn’t be able to save me. Instead of thinking ‘stupid Liam’ like I had been doing all afternoon, I just felt like crying. I missed him so much.

Just as that thought came to my mind, they burst into the room.

“We knocked.” The same girl from last night said, as she held up the door knob.

“Seriously, was that necessary?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure where my voice was coming from, because I was scared.

“You need to learn to keep your mouth shut,” she chastised me.

“What are you, my mom?”

It was probably smart to do as she said, but I knew I was doomed either way.

The girl glared at me. The same two guys from last night were standing behind her. There were also three more guys that I didn’t recognize, not that I knew any of them in the first place.

“No, but I can force you to keep your mouth shut,” she threatened, taking a step closer to me.

Great, while she was actually fully dressed and ready to kick-ass, I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Somehow that just didn’t seem fair.

“I know your name is Martha,” she said.

“I want to know what you’re doing here. This time I expect an answer.”

“Oh, so last night you didn’t expect an answer?”

Right after I said that, she closed the distance between us and raised her right hand in the air. She was about to slap me. I wasn’t even sure how I dodged the hit, but I somehow did.

I jumped out of the bed to get away from her. After I did that, they all began closing in on me at the same time.

The smooth way she was moving and her speed made me fully aware that they were definitely shifters.

I wasn’t sure who got me, but a sharp pain erupted from my neck down to my spine. The last thing I felt was a cold shiver run through my body, before everything went black.

“Wake up.” I kept hearing somebody whisper.

As I began waking up, I realized that nope, they weren’t whispering. They were yelling at me to wake up.

I frowned, taking a few seconds to actually open my eyes. When I did, I quickly closed them again because the light was hitting me directly in the eyes.

“Wake up!” It was that same girl snapping at me.

“I’m awake,” I croaked, feeling the dryness in my throat.

Had I been sleeping for a long time? I didn’t even remember falling asleep.

“Now you can answer my questions,” she said.

She was standing up straight, looking down at me with an air of superiority. It didn’t exactly help that I was lying down on the floor, still wearing the same clothes from last night.

That’s when all the memories of them breaking into the apartment came back to me.

I picked myself up in a sitting position and held my head in my hands. The movement made my head hurt, so stayed in place.

“What are you, Martha?” She asked with a sneer.

“Lesley, cool it,” someone else said.

I didn’t look up, but I knew it was a guy.

“What? I’m just asking what she is, which I’ve been trying to do for two days now,” she defended herself.

She kept talking, but I couldn’t focus too much on her words. When I put my hand on the back of my head, I felt a bump.

I would’ve shaken my head at them, or cursed. I couldn’t though. Even speaking felt like too much.

Stupid Wolves.

“How are you blocking your scent? We know what you are,” another guy jumped in.

This time I actually looked up at him. It hurt, and it made me dizzy when I moved my head too much. I still did it though.

“Blocking my scent?” I repeated.

“Look, we know what you are. We saw you arrive with that Rogue,” the girl, Lesley, said to me.

She was still scowling. So much scowling and frowning- it was going to age her before time. That thought made me smile inwardly.

“With that Rogue?” I asked.

“Yes, and I know you recognized me- what I was. I just want to know why we can’t smell your Wolf. What are you? You must be a Werewolf,” she said, looking at me like I was a strange creature.

“A Werewolf?”

“Are you stupid? You’re just repeating what we’re saying,” Lesley snapped, narrowing her eyes at me.

I propped up my knees and rested my head against them. My hands and arms were completely covering my face from the group in front of me.

“Exactly how hard did you guys hit her?” One of them asked.

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. I was actually the one who thought they were pretty stupid. For all they knew, I could’ve just known Adam.

It didn’t mean I was a Werewolf. Which, I wasn’t.

I had to wonder why they thought I was hiding my scent. That wasn’t even possible.

“Look Martha, having a Rogue Werewolf in our territory during this time is dangerous. You’re dangerous because we know why you’re here,” the same guy who had asked how hard I’d been hit, said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, but I wasn’t sure if they understood me.

The words were more than likely muffled by my knees.

“With the packs in battle right now- surely you must know that Imperial pack got attacked by Rogues. That won’t happen to us because we’re ready for you,” he said, his voice sounding commanding as he spoke.

I didn’t say anything.

“Our Alpha isn’t back yet, but he will return this afternoon. Your execution will be then,” he said.

His words made me snap out of it.

“You’re killing me?” I asked.

It was the first time I noticed I was actually in a cell, and that light was really way too bright. Wasn’t more electricity being wasted because of that?

“You aren’t cooperating and we don’t spare the lives of Rogues,” the same guy said, just as he turned to leave.

“Are you people crazy? This happens in movies you know. My mom told me not to move to the middle of nowhere and I didn’t listen. I have seen Wrong Turn, Hills Have Eyes, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Now the same thing is happening to me,” I dramatically said to them.

I wasn’t sure if my little speech had worked, but it definitely got their attention.

“This is so bad.” I added the last part for extra dramatics.

I tried to think of more but my brain felt like jelly. The extra worry about possibly getting killed later in the afternoon had doubled the pain in my head. That bump really wasn’t helping any.

While I thought of a way to escape, they all began arguing. Lesley kept telling them that I was pretending or something. I didn’t catch most of her words. The other guys were sure that I was a human.

After arguing some more, they all cleared up the hall in between my cell and the one across from me.

I wasn’t dangerous to them. All the information I knew about packs didn’t exactly make a Wolf.

The next few hours were spent in strange mood swings from me.

At first, I was positive I could escape. That little plan had a few downfalls- the first being that I was underground, in a barred metal cell.

From positive, I went to being angry at everyone. I was angry at Lesley for being a bitch, at the Wolves for thinking I was a shifter, and at Liam for abandoning me.

I spent almost an hour hating Derek for kicking me out of the pack. I would never see my mom or my dad or Theo again.

Another hour was spent missing Liam. I knew he would blame all this on Adam and the gang, maybe even on himself. My death would sign their deaths as well.

By the end, I was just thinking that this was what happened to people like me. I didn’t belong in the human world because I wasn’t entirely human. But I didn’t belong in the Werewolf world because I wasn’t strong and I didn’t have a Wolf.

So- they were getting rid of me.

The pity for myself was probably the one that hit me the hardest.

I was still sitting on the ground and my head wasn’t feeling any better. It had gotten to the point where I thought that maybe them killing me was best. It would finally make the pain go away.

My heart began beating faster the moment I heard movement at the doors. No one had come or gone all day. They hadn’t even fed me, the bastards.

“Why didn’t you kill her?” I heard a deep male voice ask.

“I don’t know if she’s a human.” That voice I recognized. It was the same guy that seemed to question Lesley more about me.

“She’s a Rogue. We were only waiting for you Alpha.” I would never forget that voice- it was Lesley.

The narrow hallway made their voices and their footsteps sound so loud. The closer they got, the faster my heart pounded against my chest.

“Kill her- I don’t need to be here for this.” That was the same man Lesley had referred to as her Alpha.

By the time he said that, they were a few steps away from my cell.

I didn’t want to cry. Liam would look at me disapprovingly if he saw me in that moment crying. They were going to kill me unjustly, but I still should’ve held my head high.

So, I got up from the ground, grimacing as I did. It was hard to stay up. My legs felt weak, and the dizziness in my head had returned.

I pushed all that to the back of my mind and stared at the group that was approaching my cell.

Lesley was there, along with four guys I faintly recognized. In the middle of them- standing a step ahead of the rest- stood the guy who I assumed was the Alpha.

He was tall, really tall. His blonde hair was disheveled, but his jeans and dark shirt looked neat. His tall frame, combined with his strong built body, only served to make him look more intimidating. It was hard to ignore how good looking he was, and I almost wanted to punch him for that.

Yeah, he could have it all- while people like me were getting killed by Wolves like him.

As soon as he spotted me, his grayish green eyes concentrated on me with so much intensity.

I was about to complain, but I could see that Lesley was going to open up her big mouth. Neither of us got a chance to get in a word because the Alpha spoke first.

“Mate,” he growled, his eyes still focused on me.

His words were enough to shut us all up.

Before I knew it, he was bending the thick metal bars to the sides, trying to get into my cell.

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t think I could find my voice to say anything. As I looked around, I noticed that the entire group was all looking at the Alpha with widened eyes.