??A Howl In The Night??
?(She’s Mine)?
?From Novel r0m@n�
?Chapter 8?
“Mona,” the same voice from before, the one that doesn’t belong to Xavier or Yi, wakes me. My eyes flutter open, consciousness returned.
“What happened?” I ask, the blurry images coming into focus. Hovering right above me is an unbelievably handsome man, with bright green eyes. My eyes grow wi-de as I survey him. With each strand like a clear crystal, sparkling like rainbows in the light, his hair reminds me of Xavier’s but without a definite color. His short buzz cut of this spectacular hair gives way to pale, perfect skin and lightly reddenedl-ips. His eyelashes are thin and shiny black, long and enticing. His face is heart-shaped, and he almost looks like a girl.
“You lost consciousness,” he informs me, his gaze disconcerting. It is slightly plea-sant, but still strange. I still have not gotten used to all these pretty guys looking at me.
I sit up, my back against the headboard. I look around the room, at the splendor surrounding me. It is absolutely gorgeous, a be-droom with surprisingly modern furnishes.
“Well, thanks,” I say, getting up from the be-d, “I am fine now.” My hair is matted, falling past my shoulders. The man gr-abs my arm, his expression of concern.
“Are you sure?” he questions, peering into my eyes.
“Of course,” I nod, though I am anything but. My head hurts, a throbbing pain that nearly swallows me whole. It is diminishing slowly, yet not quite slow enough. I truly have no idea what just happened. My mind seems to be fuzzy, only the pain and the strange screams echoing in my head over and over…
Xavier rushes into the room, his expression of pure alarm. “Mona!” he cries, coming to meet me. He demolishes me into a hvge, bone-crushing hvg. It is comforting… more than I can ever admit. “I was so worried…” he whispers, his breath dancing along my cheek. I smile, tilting my head downwards so he can’t see it.
The rainbow man stands up, watching me with a warm smile that makes my heart go fuzzy. “So she really is your mate,” he says, without any doubt, “I’m glad. This will st©p our alpha from being such a pla-yer.”
Xavier blus-hes slightly, my eyebrows rising. “Xavier was a pla-yer?” I rip away from him to ask the man. It is ha-rd to believe, for the way he shows me such devotion is not like a pla-yer at all.
“Was,” the handsome man wi-nks, “but now that he is mated, all he can think of is you.”
“You are a pla-yer too!” Xavier protests, his voice ignored by us both.
“So mating makes you instantly fall in love with each other?” I ask dubiously. He nods matter-of-factly. “Then we didn’t mate,” I say confidently.
“What?” they both stare at me, Xavier frowning as I back away from his grasp.
“I am not in love with Xavier,” I firmly state.
The man looks at me, and chuckles. “Yes you are,” he says, “I can see it in your eyes. You just won’t accept it because you still don’t un-derstand it. Your b©dy is probably trying to reject these foreign feelings.”
I stare at him for a second, and then I begin to laugh.
“Think whatever you want,” he grins, “my name’s Jake, by the way. Wes said that he wants to meet you, so he will be coming soon…”
A figure bur-sts into the doorway, his breathing heavy. “Where is she?” the guy asks, and then his eyes find mine. Grinning eagerly, he crosses to be by my side. “My name is Wes. And your name, my beautiful lady…?”
“Mona,” I can’t help but grin, instantly relaxed by his pla-yful attitude. Also, his entire appearance is enchanting, invoking awed silence. His hair is a bright blonde, almost pure gold, and he has those green eyes that seem to be the common thing between all these werewolves. His skin is as tan as Yi’s, with nicel-ips and a thin but strong b©dy. His face reminds me of Xavier’s, with a likeness to a lovable puppy.
“She’s my mate,” Xavier carefully informs Wes, and he rolls his eyes.
“Oh really? I haven’t figured that out yet.” After snapping at Xavier, he turns to me. “Your smell is so wonderful… have you met Yi yet? Because he will love you.”
“Why?” I ask. He certainly doesn’t seem to love me.
“Because he likes stealing other men’s girlfriends… as do I. And especially one who possesses an intoxicating fragrance like you,” he sm-irks, casting a white-toothed, glistening smile that shines brightly. I blus-h, the red rushing to my cheeks. I snap my hand away, a scowl decorating my features.
“I’m not anyone’s girlfriend!”
“Ooh, you’re feisty.” Wes only smiles brighter, his enthusiasm unst©ppable. “I like it.”
Xavier gr-abs my arm. “You’re jealous aren’t you?” I laugh, letting him start to drag me towards the door. He blus-hes slightly, a cute expression on his face.
“No, why would I be?” he asks. Wes and Jake cheer behind us, obviously amused that Xavier is experiencing that kind of emotion.
Just before we exit the room though, a hvge form fills the doorway. “Hey,” he nods at Xavier, and then turns his gaze to me. “I’m Ray,” he introduces himself, without a smile.
“I’m Mona,” I note his similarity to Xavier, their likeness almost startling. Ray is muscled, even more so than Xavier, and sinewy. He is tall with brown hair, his face an almost perfect copy of Xavier. However, a thin scar stretches from his forehead to his cheek, marring his otherwise beautiful face. If Xavier was the Prince of Light, Ray would certainly be the alluring Prince of Darkness.
“Now I guess you’ve met all of us, Mona,” Wes says loudly, “this is our pack. We used to call it the ‘pack of pla-yers’, but now that Xavier is settled, we can’t exactly say that anymore.”
“No girls?” I question, only to see four faces shaking their heads no.
“We like to be free of all women,” Jake grinned, “love ’em and leave ’em, I always say.”
“You people are terrible,” I laugh, instantly feeling at home with these handsome men. After a second, I nearly jump in alarm at the realization that I can ba-rely recognize myself. The old Mona would have run away by now. The old Mona would have never fallen for these wily werewolves’ tricks. It must be those strange feelings Jake was talking about.
Ray just stares at me, a forbidding expression on his face. “She nee-ds to leave for a minute while we have our meeting,” he says, his voice rou-gh and completely unlike Xavier’s.
“Come on,” Wes protests, “she’s not doing any harm! Let her stay-”
“No,” his voice is firm, insisting, “she isn’t p@rt of the pack.” His words are forbidding and fierce, striking me cold. I turn, walking out of the door. Xavier sticks his head out after me, issuing a warning.
“Don’t go outside of the grounds,” he says, “it isn’t safe.” Then, Yi comes up and brushes past me into the room. Right before they shut the door, I see their faces, turned serious by something Ray said.
He’s not exactly a ray of sunshine.
How could he be a pla-yer? Maybe he’s the strong and silent type all the girls like to go for. He certainly is handsome enough… I mean, they all are. Especially Xavier, having an authority hanging over his head like a crown. Everyone in the pack seems to respect him.
Looking up, I wonder how they all live in such a big place. It is so old-fashioned, obviously not built by these handsome teens… oh, of course. They are probably fifty to a hundred years old. However, most of them don’t even look nineteen, though Jake might pas-s for being in his twenties.
After gazing at the beautiful artifacts for about ten minutes, I decide to head outdoors. Xavier said I couldn’t leave the grounds, but he never said I couldn’t take a walk in the grounds. After searching for a while, I find an exit, going throu-gh it to find that I am now located in the mansion’s garden. It is beautiful, alerting my s-en-ses with sweetness and beautiful colors. I circle it, but soon dismiss it to be too uninteresting. Just like the mansion; old fashioned and dreary.
The stars wi-nk at me as I survey the area once more. A small path to the side, strewn with pine nee-dles and leaves, catches my attention. Slowly I begin to walk it, not knowing quite where I am going.
The moat is nowhere to be found, leading me to believe that I am not outside of the mansion’s boundaries. However, when I spy the dark, forbidding trees that remind me of the forest Xavier and I traveled throu-gh, I am not so sure.
quic-kly I dismiss my doubt. Of course I am still in the borders, for I haven’t pas-sed the moat yet. Surely…
Everything is quiet now, the only whispers being the ones of the rushing wind. My hair brushes behind me, b!own by its frightful gales. I squint, wondering how a wind this fierce could have just started up out of the blue. It is strong, but I hold my stance against the invisible monster.
However, my troubles only increase as a white apparition appears before me, coming out from behind the trees. The fear, the pain… it begins to pound again as I gaze in surprise upon the curious creature. It has no shape, a white ghost with the same red eyes as the men on the mural I had seen earlier. Suddenly, memories start flooding back to me, ones I can’t stand to remember.
My scream rips into the night as the creature starts flying my way, the familiar eyes delving into my soul. I definitely know those eyes. But where? When? Who?
The haunting eyes that are causing me to have a serious migraine pause, the white blob still. Then, they squint slightly, and the ghost-like form charges towards me. Escape is impossible. I am frozen, still with shock and remembr@nce.
My parent’s murderers…