Chasing After Ashes

Chapter 13: White Masks

There were moments in life where you think you would think first before you acted. I would have thought I would be like that if I have ever gotten into a situation like I was in right now but my expectations of myself and the reality of what I did were entirely different. As I felt the man’s arms tightening and tightening around my neck, his deep voice which sounded like it was muffled by a mask or something, my brain stopped working but my body moved.

I quickly elbowed the man as hard as I could, his arm around my neck loosening a bit as he gasped at the impact and suddenness of my attack. Grabbing his arm, I tried to wiggle it from around me but he pressed it firmly on me. Feeling there was no more wiggle room, I kicked behind me to where I thought his feet were. He grunted in pain as my feet connected to his. Before he could do anything else, I smashed my head back to his, effectively loosening his arm around my neck.

As I moved him away, I back kicked him again for good measure so he wouldn’t be able to move immediately in the next few seconds. I barely heard the bell ring signaling the door to the convenience store opened, as I warily watched the man. All I could see was the top of his head, light brown hair that had a string wrapped around it. He was down for a second before I blinked and he was standing up again.

He was wearing a plain white mask which only had openings around his eyes. Probably why his words were muffled earlier because there was no space for the mouth in the mask. Because of the mask, I couldn’t even see what color his eyes were or any distinguishing feature on him except that his body was built like that of a weight lifter. It looked like there were muscles upon his muscles in the black muscle shirt he was wearing.

Despite his cover up, I could sense he was werewolf. It was all I could discern as he dashed forward in the next second, raising his fist. I readied myself, preparing to dodge when the man suddenly dropped forward. I saw Rastor behind him, lowering his right feet to the ground, showing he had kicked him.

Before the man could recover from surprise, Rastor grabbed his arms from behind and firmly secured it behind his back. The man’s muscles strained together at the movement. It looked painful, especially since it didn’t seem like his body was made for much flexibility. What it lacked there however, he more than made up for in strength and power.

I eyed the man warily, wondering if he would be able to move away from Rastor’s grip. He kept grunting but wasn’t able to loosen or remove the grip Rastor had on him. It made me raise an eyebrow at Rastor, wondering how he became this strong. Had he been training? The man was like a freight train on his own, all steel-like muscles, and I was sure he could pack quite a punch.

“Are you okay?” asked Rastor gruffly, his voice a little strained at the effort it took him to hold the man down. It was still unbelievable, seeing as the man was a werewolf as well.

I nodded my head at him. “Just a little bruised but otherwise okay,” My neck felt sore from almost being choked to death but it would be better within a few hours. “Thanks for the help.”

Rastor grunted at me as he rose to his feet, pulling the man along with him by pure force. This guy had definitely been training like hell to be this strong. As I moved to his side to help, I briefly wondered what he and the others had been doing in the time they hadn’t been talking to me. Because it was simply improbable for him to be this strong if he hadn’t been training for a few months.

All werewolves were strong. It was a given we could all lift trucks of varying weights if we wanted to. Even the most submissive and weakest of us could still lift a ten-ton weight like it was nothing. However, against another werewolf who had the same inborn strength, it would be a feat of who was stronger between the two of you. Because one wolf may had been building up his muscles and constantly training, while the other didn’t often do so. In this case, it was likelier the first wolf would win.

So, as we started walking for the door of the store and Rastor pulled the man’s hands tighter together until he grunted, I knew he had been doing something to gain all this strength. “What did you want with Evangeline?” asked Rastor.

The man’s body started shaking as he made a sound in his throat which chilled me to my bones. He was chuckling, I realized as he continued doing this for a few seconds, before he stopped. It was so abrupt that it only intensified how creepy the guy was. His voice was rough like he hadn’t been using it for a long time as he spoke, “To kidnap her, of course.”

I stopped walking with my hand firmly wrapped around the man’s forearms making the two stopped in their steps as well. “Why, what would you want with me?” I asked.

The man continued chuckling which only frustrated me further. Annoyed at how it didn’t seem like he was going to say anything more about what his reason was for doing this, I grabbed his mask and ripped it off his face. I needed to see who he was, to put a face to the person who wanted to take me away from everyone else. If he wasn’t going to say who he was, or anything more about his intention, then at least with a face to the person who was behind my supposed k********g would help a lot in identifying him.

The man behind the mask had deep-set brown eyes which had a glint of a predator. More so than us being werewolves, it was like he had lived his life in the face of continuous violence and bloodshed. There wasn’t a hint of light or kindness in the darkness of his gaze. His eyes were the only thing which you could clearly see as his face was riddled with scars of all sizes. They were definite proof of the kind of life he was living in.

Yet it also meant it was likelier he was simply a weapon to be wielded by someone’s hands. There was someone controlling him. Someone who was behind this need to kidnap me for some reason. A reason I needed to know.

“Come on,” I started walking, pulling the man forward and Rastor firmly holding the man in place. The scarred man was still chuckling as we led him out of the convenience store. The clerk looked weirded out as he held a phone to his ear, speaking softly to someone on the other end.

Well it’s not like it matters if the police are called, I thought, knowing we would be leaving soon especially with what just happened.

As we stepped out of the store, I saw Tate had opened the door to the backseat of the car where Justin was. He was talking to them and when the bell tinkled signaling the door closing shut, he turned our way. His emerald eyes widened when he saw Rastor and I were holding a scarred man in between us.

I turned away from him as he began taking purposeful steps towards us, his entire body seething with the anger he felt. The scarred man was looking at me with an odd smile on his face. It sent shivers down my spine which I tried my hardest to ignore because I needed to focus on other things. “Who are you working for?” I repeated.

Rastor tightened his hold on the man’s arms until I could see it reddening. He slowly elongated his nails until they dug into the man’s skin and pierced through it. It was a slow kind of t*****e, something I wouldn’t have expected Rastor would have done before but I certainly appreciated it now if it will help. But the man only continued with that odd smile on his face for a few more seconds before he spoke again, his voice lower than usual. “We will see you again.”

“What do you mean by—” Before I could finish my sentence, I was slammed against the windows of the store. The force and abruptness of it making me loosen my hold on the man’s arm. There was something sharp pressing against my back. Whatever it was had entered my back but it wasn’t a deep wound, I could feel it so it didn’t matter.

My thoughts were a whirl of confusion as to what had just happened as I pressed my hand onto my head, feeling blood running down on it. As I raised my eyes to see what just happened, I saw there were four wolves who were wearing similar plain white masks on their faces surrounding Rastor. Tate and the scarred man were nowhere to be seen.

Before I could have moved to help Rastor, the four masked wolves who surrounded Rastor moved away from him and ran. My eyes widened as I saw Rastor’s white and black striped shirt get stained by blood. He grunted as he fell on one knee to the floor, holding his stomach.

Ignoring the pain shooting through my entire body and my back which felt oddly numb, I moved away from whatever it was which pierced through me and headed to Rastor’s side. Quickly I placed my hands on him, feeling the roiling sea of power inside me easily surface, eager to mend his wounds until he spoke, “i***t. No need to waste your energy on healing me.”

“Shut up,” I ordered and let the power flow to him, knitting his wounds together easily and completely. I opened my eyes and saw he was looking at me, as I pulled my power back and removed my hand from him, not realizing I had closed it when I was healing him. “What?”

“You didn’t have to do it. I would have healed without your help in a few hours anyway,” he raised to his feet, patting his jeans from dust. The blood which had soaked his shirt made it so the front of his shirt clung to his body.

“Yes, but this way you wouldn’t have to endure the pain for longer.”

He only stared at me. His eyes were hooded with a cloud which covered what he really was feeling. I don’t know what he was thinking as he looked at me. The days when he freely showed most of his emotions around me were long gone but it was alright. I couldn’t really care less if his loathing for me will continue to grow because I ignored his request to not heal him. All that mattered was that he was feeling better.

Footsteps sounded from behind me as a familiar smoky scent came closer. I turned and saw Tate tightly holding his fists closed to his side, his eyes dark with the intent to kill. The air around him was thick with his anger, suffocating you until you succumbed to it. He stopped in front of us, heavily breathing in and out through his nose like it was all he could do so he wouldn’t lose his control of himself.

“They got away,” stated Rastor.

Tate nodded stiffly at him. “There were more of them hiding in the forest. I was busy fighting them off and before I knew it the man was gone.” He was breathing heavily, trying to calm himself with each passing second. But the more he talked, the more the anger around him thickened until it felt like I was drowning in it.

Unconsciously, I reached out to touch his arm, hoping he could calm down a few notches. Thankfully he seemed to have pulled himself a bit from the rage he was feeling. It was still hard to breathe but it was easier compared to the suffocating aura he had earlier. Tate continued speaking, his voice less gruff, “One of them, I don’t know how, weaved a spell which rendered me immobile until everyone of the masked wolves had successfully gotten away.”

“Someone touched with magic?” I asked, referring to humans who were born with the power to discern and make use of the magic in them. It could have been anyone. A warlock, witch, sorcerer, it didn’t matter what you called them but only someone who was born with the ability to manipulate power they were granted with would be able to do it.

“They were all wolves.”

“So, what could it be?” I asked knowing no werewolf could have performed such a spell. With what Tate told us, it wasn’t even likely the wolf was more dominant than him and had simply commanded him to stay. So how could a wolf had weaved magic?

“A wolf who is not a wolf,” stated Rastor which made Tate nod in agreement.

I was about to open my mouth to ask what he meant when the car suddenly honked. We all turned toward Tate’s car which was honking continuously and quietly agreed to continue this conversation later. As we got to the car, we quickly explained what had happened to Justin and Lowell who deemed it was necessary to leave right at that moment.

As we all got into the cars as we had done earlier and sped off, my heart felt heavy with confusion at the turn of events. There was a flurry of questions which bombarded my mind, revolving wholly on what those guys wanted from me. Or, I thought as I looked out the window and saw the woman who was staring blankly straight-ahead, was I really the target all along?

Night shrouded the world in its darkness as we continued driving, determined to arrive at Bromsdale where it was relatively safer than on the road. However, we all needed a good night’s sleep to be able to still be alert in case something else would happen, which was why we were finding a rest stop for the night. Tate stopped the car in front of a small motel at the edge of Huitterton city.

As everyone got out of the car, I noticed tension all occupied every inch of our bodies as darkness covered most of our surroundings. A few dimly lit street lights littered the street we were on and some were flickering shut. Although even if the lights these street lights provided were bright as if they were newly screwed in, we still wouldn’t have relaxed. What happened earlier made all of us more aware the enemy or enemies, weren’t afraid to move when there was daylight out. What more their plans were under the perfect cover the night provided?

Justin walked to Lowell, taking over his firm hold of the woman’s arm as Lowell headed to the motel to get us accommodations. I remained quiet, looking at the well-lit lobby of the motel as Lowell talked to the woman who was manning the counter. Turning my attention away from him, I glanced at the fiery red hair woman near me.

I turned to my earlier thoughts, wondering if there was something more to k********g me than we were told. It was possible seeing as there was no reason for the scarred man to have told us the truth. Although it meant there were many possibilities as to why we were attacked and I was almost kidn*pped. Reasons like because I was a known wolf from the Rosewood pack, my connection to the current Alcatrozz alpha, the Alarick, the Reons pack, and the list goes on.

“Is your wound okay?” Tate suddenly asked, breaking the silence which had taken over the group.

I nodded my head at him. The wound on my back and on my forehead had already closed over a few hours ago. As I turned to Tate who was directly in front of the motel doors, I noticed Lowell holding two keys in the air. “Lowell’s calling us,” I told them and walked toward the lobby without waiting.

There were only two rooms we were going to rent because with how many we were, one room couldn’t have accommodated all of us. Unless it was a penthouse suite. Something the small motel we were in didn’t seem like it would have and it would have been a waste to have rented it as well. Thus, two rooms which equally divided our group into two was for the best.

Grabbing the keys from Lowell’s hand, I turned to the others and was about to assign who were with each other, when the keys were snatched from my hand. “Justin, Lowell, and the woman will be in the first room and we’ll settle into the second room.”

“That’s not likely. Instead of Justin, I’ll take point in the other room. I want to guard her,” my voice left no room for reasoning as I said this.

Tate shook his head. “You need to sleep. Justin will take point for the first few hours before Lowell takes over. I’ll take first shift with us.”

“I don’t need to sleep. I need to guard her because there is no guarantee what happened earlier wasn’t targeting her.”

Tate sighed exasperatedly at me, placing two forefingers to his forehead as if I had caused him to have a headache. “Eve, just listen to me. You were the target of the attack earlier, that much is clear. You need to get your rest properly if you want to have the strength to fight back as well next time. Additionally, the energy you needed to heal yourself, you used to heal another person. You need to recover quickly so go to sleep.”

I was about to open my mouth to explain I didn’t need to recover because I was perfectly fine when Rastor spoke, “Just rest. We don’t need additional baggage tomorrow if you can’t function well because you’re still not feeling better.”

Annoyed at what they both said and feeling like I was driven to a corner where I could do nothing but follow what they wanted, I gruffly huffed. “Fine. But one of you better wake me up when it's time for my shift. I don’t want anyone being sleep-deprived while I sleep like an idiot.” With that said, I snatched one of the keys from Tate’s hand and headed to the number indicated on it, hoping with all hell nothing would happen while I slept.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hey guys! Sorry, I really had been busy these past few weeks. May is just a busy time for me what with my new work and other family related thingies. I'm trying hard to update as much as I can so I hope you guys will understand.

Anyway, kindly comment down below what you thought, share the story, or join the f*******: group to talk with the others about the book, get other details, and more! https://w**************m/groups/starsarewhatilove

To reiterate for those who don't know:

Book 1 of the Rosewood Trilogy - Alpha, Do I Know You

https://www.dreame.com/novel/1964802.html

Book 2 of the Rosewood Trilogy - Chasing After Ashes

Have a nice day everyone! :)