chapter 24

Waking to sound of whispers, I am laying on a bed in a room I have never seen before. Heavy

red patterned drapes hang from the windows. I could feel the soft breeze coming in, sweeping over

my skin lightly. The ceiling is high too high for anyone to reach without a ladder. What a bastard it

would be to change the lightbulbs on the lights fixture hanging from the ceiling. Looking down, I

am covered with grey duvet tucked tightly around me, making me feel claustrophobic. I wriggle my

arms out. I feel like someone made the bed not realising I was under the blankets. Sitting up, I look

around the room, it is huge. The bed is four poster bed with a canopy on top that matches the thick

curtains. A huge bear skin rug is on the floor of the room, and it has a huge fireplace bigger than I

am. A brown curved lounge sits in front of it. The stone walls fit perfectly with the mahogany and

red cedar furniture. The room looks like something more fitting of a castle than a house. I look to

the door which is slightly ajar and where the fast whispers of voices can be heard.

I strain my ears to listen. I could tell it was the same feminine voice of the woman from the

office. She sounded angry and was arguing with a man who's voice I couldnt recognise.

“I will give you month, Tobias, Theo. Fix it, or I will. Whatever it is you have going on with that

girl needs to end. Why you would you even think of doing this is beyond me.”

“She is our Mate, what did you expect us to do? Ignore her?” Tobias whisper yelled back, his

voice rising.

“Precisely, you should have left her alone to go about her life and forgot about her. You know

the consequences for bringing a human into our world. You have condemned that girl now to a fate

she has no idea about.”

“If you really loved her like your mate, you wouldn't have allowed this to happen. I thought you

would have known better than to put her life at risk, Tobias.” I could hear the anger in the strange

man's voice.

“One month like your father said. One month either you convince her, or we will have no choice

but to kill her. We can't risk being exposed. The council will have your heads if they find out you

broke the most sacred law we have.”

“You don't need to be scared, Imogen,” Theo's voice says next to me, making jump and fall flat

on my ass as I stumble over the tree trunk I was just resting on. I scramble backwards, trying to get

away from him. He walks slowly towards me, stepping over the fallen tree. I try to scramble further

back trying to get to my feet when my hands suddenly touch bare feet. I look up and Tobias is

staring down at me, shirtless and only wear draw string shorts. I crawl away and get to my feet

grabbing a broken branch holding it between me and them as they surround me.

“Put the stick down, Imogen,” Tobias voice cuts through the silence that had enveloped.

“No, stay back,” I tell him as they both ignore me, moving closer.

“Come back with us. We won't hurt you, I promise. Come on, you will catch a death out here.

It's freezing.” I hadn't noticed the cold, adrenaline pumping keeping me warm. They stepped close,

too close. I swung the branch and they stepped out of the way.

“Imogen put the fucking stick down. You will only hurt yourself,” Tobias voice booms, annoyed

at my defiance. I grip it tighter. Tobias eyes changing back to deep black orbs, he looked like a

demon, possessed and very ticked off.

“What are you? Stay away from me,” I screamed. My hands trembling holding the stick out in

front trying to ward them off.

“I'm a werewolf, Imogen.” His voice calmed and the light returned to his eyes. I laughed. Really,

they expect me to believe they are werewolves? Out of all things I have thought of while running,

werewolves wasn't one of them. Maybe demon or something more believable, but to believe a

person could change into a dog is ridiculous.

“You expect me to believe you both turn into furry dogs?”

Tobias huffed clearly insulted by my words. “He does, not me,” Theo's voice rings out. I forgot

he was standing there, my attention mainly on Tobias as he was closest, but now Theo was only

about a metre away. I turned and swung the stick at him. He moved quickly avoiding being hit.

“Then what are you then? We have Fluffy over there, what furry creature do you turn into?” I

spat sarcastically. I could hear Tobias growling from behind me, making my skin crawl and shiver run

up my spine. My body breaking out in goosebumps as his feral growl echoed off the trees, the

sound of bone snapping made me cringe, I dropped the stick to cover my ears; the noise was

horrendous. I turned to look at Tobias, but it wasn't him but the stray stalking towards me, teeth

bared and dangerously sharp. Then Theo's voice was in my ear.

“I'm something much worse.” His voice sent chills down my spine, and I screamed as he

grabbed me.00OOO