"There's no good times this impossible year. Just a beachfront of bad blood and a coast that's unclear."
~ Panic! At the Disco, Impossible Year
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Something in her told her to turn around, and thank God she did. With a snarl, the danger snapped his jaws, drool dripping from its jowls. Everything about the creature screamed it was out for blood.
Sophie's blood.
The giant wolf pounced and just in the knick of time, Cillian barreled towards it at an inhuman speed, tackling it to the ground. With his claws out, his massive hands gripped around its furry neck to keep it pinned to the forest floor.
He must have known something she didn't because he started talking to the wolf. "Touch her again and I'll snap your neck." He snarled, venom dripping off his words.
With a powerful kick from its hind legs, the animal sent Cillian flying back. That left Sophie and the wolf. Fear lassoed like a rope around her neck, guiding her scrambling back as the beast prowled closer.
She couldn't even get on her feet before it was on top of her, it's claws sunk deep into her thigh. A blood curdling scream broke past her lips, tears flowing heavy and fast down her cheeks. Before its dinosaur sized teeth could snap her head right off, it was slammed on its side.
With the little strength she had left, she turned over to find Cillian looming over her. With her belly down on the ground, he was in a protective stance over her, his knees on either side of her.
Multiple monstrous wolves had them surrounded. They were all quiet, minus a couple yips and growls. Cillian growled right back but she was too busy fighting unconsciousness that it didn't dawn on her why he was able to communicate with them.
They were lycanthrope.
A sickening wet popping noise made Sophie flinch and try to look up to find the source of the horrific sound, but Cillian was quick to shield her gaze from the lycan shifting into human form. After a few more horrible noises, followed by some rustling, she was shocked to hear another voice.
"Who are you and why are you here?" The man's voice was deep and authoritative.
"Shouldn't I be asking you?" Cillian snapped, his stance over his mate not faltering.
"You're the one that crossed into our territory." He scoffed. "We picked up your scent on our border a few weeks ago, but left you alone when you went away. But then you came back. Why?"
Just as Cillian suspected, Sophie's home must have been on the border of a pack. They didn't cross into their territory until now.
His jaw opened but then snapped shut at the sound of Sophie's breaths getting more inconsistent and shallow. Even her heartbeat was beginning to slow, telling him she was about to pass out. He weighed his options and decided, "give my mate the medical treatment she needs and I'll tell you everything you want to know."
"Mate?" The man exclaimed with a mocking laugh. "She's a human!"
More sickening snaps made Sophie's stomach churn, but she was fading in and out of consciousness now and unable to look up to find the source of the noise.
A woman's voice came from their left. Weren't they surrounded by wolves? Where was the voices coming from? Were there people amongst the wolves? "Sully, the human is marked. What he's saying is true." The woman defended the unusual pair. With a tilt of her head, she examined Cillian. Something about him, his scent, his appearance... it all seemed so familiar. "Pick her up and come with us."
Cillian eyes hastily scanned over Sophie's body for more injuries, spotting a few that were thankfully treatable, nothing life threatening. She must have passed out from shock and a possible concussion. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh in relief as he gathered her into his arms.
Bruised and sore himself, he ignored his injuries for now. Like he was trained and broken to do, he put on a mask of bravery and let the others guide him into the unknown.
It took a while to get to the entrance of their territory. It was extremely well hidden, deep within the woods. Sensors and cameras were everywhere in case any human got too close to the border for comfort. All it took was one of the lycanthrope patrolling the border to chase them away in wolf form. Most the time, they didn't even have to be seen- a few howls or growls hidden within the trees was all it took.
Once they got past the guards and a few more trees, the forest opened up to the most stunning homes he had ever seen. In the clearing, tons of log homes, restaurants, and even grocery stores filled the area. They never had to leave this place if they didn't have to. They learned not to trust humans after their pack was raided many years ago.
They were led into a building that resembled a small doctor's office when they stepped into it. However, they didn't have an ordinary room. It was more of a holding cell with a hospital bed in the middle of it.
With a few guards and a doctor in with them, the two other lycanthropes stepped outside to notify the alpha.
"I don't think he's just a rogue, Sully." The woman whispered to her cousin.
"He doesn't belong to any other pack. What else would that make him?" Sully gruffly retaliated, his face twisted in its usual scowl.
She shook her head and admitted, "I feel like I know him."
"Yeah? How?"
"I'm not sure." She replied, honestly. "But I swear, I know him."
No sooner than the words left her mouth, their Luna, Sully's mom, burst through the doors. Her eyes were wide and frantic, desperately searching.
Before the pair could ask about her frantic appearance, she demanded, "where is he?"
The cousins shared a look, unsure. "Who?"
"My boy! I picked up on his scent, he's home! Where is he!?"
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Still unconscious, Sophie laid on the hospital bed. Standing next to the bed, Cillian protectively held his mate against his chest while the pack doctors worked on her. Thankfully, the extent of her injuries were minor and treatable, minus her concussion and pierced leg. It was stitched up now and would take some time to recover. He could tell the pack doctor was irritated he'd have to waste material on a human, but he still did his job as asked. Cillian made sure of it.
The doors were flung open and a middle aged woman stood in the doorway. Her gaze met Cillian's, and it was then he noticed how similar her eyes were to his. In fact, all of her looked like him.
It seemed to click for the pair at the same time, but Cillian didn't move. With his mate cradled protectively in his arms, his mom also froze in her footsteps.
"Cillian?" She rasped, tears already flowing hard and fast down her cheeks.
All at once, he was that little five year old boy again with his home burning down around him. His mom being ripped away from him as he was dragged by a noose around the neck into what would be his living hell for the next couple decades.
He only held Sophie tighter against him, the only person who's been a rock in his life. His face drained of all color as if he had seen a ghost. "You're supposed to be dead." He rasped, eyes blank, processing.
Hoppers told him they killed every last one of them. Who didn't burn in the fires and explosions died from a bullet wound. He never bluffed, or so Cillian believed until now.
She shook her head and tentatively approached him. "Some of us are gone, but we moved and rebuilt over the years." She smiled through her tears. "I'm here."
Cillian sucked in a breath he forgot to take, his heart beating a million miles a minute.
"I know this is a lot for you." She whispered, holding herself back from running to him and embracing her not so little boy anymore. "I'm sure we have a lot to catch up on."
His head spun and his strong legs wobbled beneath him. No, no, no, this had to be a dream. Everyone was gone, he was sure of it.
She took another step forward. "We looked for you for years. We never stopped."
His eyes landed on his mate, praying she'd wake up. He couldn't handle this alone. He didn't know what was real without her. She always snapped him out of his nightmares.
A gentle hand laid on his forearm. Adrenaline flooded his veins, but he was frozen in place- not even to flinch or move away. His gaze followed the hand on his arm, following it until his eyes met his mom's.
"Welcome home." She whispered through her tears.
He released Sophie and allowed his mom to envelope him into a long overdue hug. Her embrace was warm, soft, but firm- just as he remembered it to be so, so many years ago. Gentle hands ran up and down his back in comfort, to calm him down- just as she would when he was child.
Their moment was interrupted by a wolf barging into the room and there was the same sickening snapping and breaking of bones that majority of the room was used to hearing when they shifted. All were desensitized to the noise and the appearance, except for one.
"Um, Cillian?" His mother whispered and gestured to his mate.
He turned to Sophie to find her curled up on the bed, with her arms wrapped around her legs, horrified at what she had just witnessed. She was trembling so violently it broke his heart.
Through her tears, she saw a figure move towards her and a choked cry for help forced itself up her throat. The figured ducked to be closer to her and wrapped its arms around her.
"It's just me, you're safe. It's okay." She heard Cillian say as softly as he could.
The group watched as the massive lycanthrope hunched his shoulders over and ducked his head, doing his best to look as small and least intimidating as possible. The next in line alpha was trying to look small and not intimidating... for a human.
Adrenaline flew over her veins, but she couldn't move a single muscle, not even to scream. The absolute horror completely paralyzed her, and the more she thought about running away, or simply moving a bit, the more she felt discouraged and utterly terrified.
"Deep breaths, you're okay." His voice sounded so far away, but she knew he was the one with his arms around her.
He coaxed her through working on steadying her breaths, and soon, the cobwebs cleared from her mind. Still scared by the countless eyes on them, she threw her arms around his neck in an embrace.
He sighed in relief, thankful she was on the other side of her panic attack. "I got you, it's okay."
From over his shoulder, she noticed not all the pairs of eyes were friendly ones. Some seemed angry, others seemed sad. Mostly, nearly all seemed to be in a state of shock.
She pulled out of the hug and slid her hands down his shoulders to his firm chest. "Where are we- what... what's going on?" She exasperated.
"I..." he stopped himself, not believing his own words.
A woman very similar looking to Cillian peeked her head over his shoulder. "Hi, honey. Sorry to scare you. I'm Angie. I'm, um..." she spotted the rings on their fingers. "I guess I'm your mother in-law."
Sophie's jaw dropped.
Angie gestured to the brooding man that found them in the woods. "Cillian, this is your little brother, Sully."
Though he was considered the little brother, there was nothing little about him. He almost reached Cillian in height and most certainly did in muscle mass. Now that they really studied each other, they realized they did look quite a lot alike. Same dark hair, Cillian's more curly than his brother's. Same golden eyes, dimples, similar bone structure...
"We had him a couple years after... after we lost you." His mom explained through her tears.
With Cillian pushing 30, that meant Sully was nearing his mid twenties. Sully has heard tons of stories about his brother he's never met- good ones.
The older he got, the more he learned about what happened, how he was taken from the pack at the mere age of 5. He thought of his brother often, wondering what it would be like if he had an older brother instead of being an only child. Now that he was here, with a human no less, he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.
"I've heard a lot about you." Was all Sully could bring himself to say. There was a coldness to his tone, more matter a fact than welcoming.
With his heart in his throat, Cillian responded, "I look forward to getting to know you."
"Not if she's here."
"Sully, that's enough." Their mother intervened. "This is his home just as much as it is yours."
His nose wrinkled in distaste and he bit out, "you know they'll never accept a human here." He snarled, his eyes snapping over to glare at Sophie. "Not after what her kind did to us."
Sophie shuddered at the threat clear in his tone and cowered behind Cillian. "I can go home if they let me go." She whispered in his ear.
He turned to face her, his body still in a protective stance in front of her. "If we leave, we leave together."
"I don't-" she glanced at Sully, fear clear in her eyes. "There's only one of you and God knows how many of them. I don't feel safe, Cillian." She whispered, even quieter than she did before.
"Sophie, is it?" Angie intervened, her posture calm and welcoming. "I can assure you my husband and I will ensure nothing will happen to you while you're here. We want to help." She said with a pointed look at Sully.
"Dad's still here?" Cillian couldn't help but ask. He assumed the worse when he didn't show up.
"He is." She smiled, her eyes crinkling the same way Cillian's did when he smiled. "He was out of town but he's on his way and he knows about Sophie."
Sully shook his head. "This isn't a good idea."
Cillian's lips twisted in a sudden snarl and he snapped, "We weren't hurting anyone. You rammed your vehicle into ours, remember? You made us your problem."
"What are you talking about?" He exasperated, irritably. "You crossed into our territory."
Sophie's jaw went slack. "That wasn't you that hit us?"
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Please don't forget to comment, follow, and vote! Thank you sm for 9k reads!!
Sooo a lot of y'all said you'd be interested in another werewolf book! It would be lots of cute sunshine x grumpy character stuff but also some darker stuff. Hopefully that won't change your mind on it bc I promise there will still be loooots of romance!
I don't know how many of y'all came from my alien book, "Arranged to the Alien," but I'm in the process of writing another alien book as well!
Question of the chapter: What do y'all think of Cillian's family so far?
Clues for next chapter: ðï¸ðªð©·