13. The Chase

I was a nervous wreck as I prepared for my date with Darren. The session with Alice yesterday painted some things into perspective.

A large part of me wanted to give it a try with Darren.

I took a peek into what my future looked like if I pushed him away. I didn’t like it all. It was lonely, sad and cold. That’s not what I wanted for myself or Raya.

I still preferred long sleeved dresses. So today I was wearing another one. This time though it was red instead of black.

“I can’t believe you’re going on another fucking date with him” Raya growls, popping into my mind.

She has been silent these past few days and I was grateful. Right now though, I wanted her to go back to where she had been hiding. She came out because she wanted to make trouble. I couldn’t allow that.

“There’s nothing wrong with going out with Darren”

“Really?” she asks sarcastically. “Because from where I’m standing everything is wrong. The dates, the sex, the feelings…Everything is fucking wrong”

She was breathing hard. Indicating that she was about to lose control.

Fuck do I miss my Raya. She wasn’t always like this. The Raya I know. The one I got since I was thirteen was kind, sweet, gentle and thoughtful. She never said anything mean to me. She was my bestfriend.

The Raya in my mind now was completely different. It’s like she flipped a switch and turned everything good about herself to bad. She was mean, angry, bitter and always lashed at me every chance she got.

“Please stop it Raya, don’t try to ruin this for me like you did last time” I beg her.

I was hoping that deep inside her there was still some good left. That she still loved me enough to let me have tonight.

She gives me a wolfish smirk. An evil one at that. “Oh but I plan to make it a disaster…it will be the worst date you’ve ever gone to”

“Raya…” I plead while taking my purse.

I leave my room and head downstairs. Ren wasn’t there so I breathe a sigh of relief and get out. The night was warm and it promised a fantastic time ahead. That is if Raya doesn’t ruin things for me like she promised.

I get into my car and start driving. Not wanting to witness the knowing looks from Ren, I had asked Darren not to pick me up. We were meeting at a certain restaurant instead.

“Will you stop pacing…you’re giving me a headache” I snap at Raya, thirty minutes into the drive.

She pauses for a second then continues. As if I had not said anything. My hands on the steering wheel tightens in frustration.

“I told you I was going to make this night a nightmare…if I can’t have my happiness then neither can you” she snarls, baring her teeth at me. “You took everything from me and now I’ll do the same. You’ll never get your happy ever after as long as I’m still your wolf”

I want to say I’m shocked by her words and the bitterness coating her voice, but I am not. That doesn’t mean that it still doesn’t fucking hurt.

“I didn’t take anything away from you, Raya. Remember we are one. What’s mine is yours and vice versa”

Her eyes narrow into slits. Glowing a bright yellow. Hidden behind them is a hint of madness. It’s when she gets like this that she scares me. Because an unhinged wolf like Raya is a very dangerous wolf.

“Yes you did!” she screams. Her shrill voice reverberating through my skull. Causing a painful migraine and making me almost lose control of my car.

“You took everything from me. The first thing you took was ten years of my life when you refused to heed to my warning. We were caught and held prisoner for ten fucking years. I lost my friends and family. I could have been mated during that time and had children. It’s because of you that I lost my freedom. And as if that wasn’t enough when we got free you took my away my chance at happiness by rejecting My mate”

She was breathing hard. I could feel the waves of anger and anguish rolling off her. Her hatred for me is at the center of her emotions.

Since I was five minutes away from the restaurant, I decide to park my car to the side. The last thing I wanted was to get into an accident.

“Sebastian and Fang were already in love with Ren and her wolves. There was nothing to be done about it” I try to explain.

“You could have fought for them. They are our mates not hers…but being the selfish little bitch you are, you just had to take away my only ray of hope”

Her lips curl in disgust as she looks at me. I’m fucking sure that if she could kill me with her bare hands she would gladly do it and not even flinch. I let the insult slide as I continue to try and reason with her.

“Do you think it would have been that easy? He was going to reject us or have you forgotten that little piece of information.” I take a deep breath and try to calm both of us down. “I did what I thought was best”

“Best for who exactly? Because it definitely wasn’t for me. You’re a coward Mayra. You took the easy way out instead of standing your ground and fighting for what is rightfully ours. You could have forced his hand. Even if he was going to reject us, you could have rejected his rejection”

I sigh. I don’t understand why she can’t see how wrong that is. You can’t force a man that doesn’t want you into loving you.

“And then what? Live our lives in misery because our mate is in love with someone else? Why can’t you see how Ren and Sebastian’s love is pure and true? They’re meant to be and I couldn’t separate them, especially not after what Ren did for us. They belong together”

“I fucking hate you!” she screams. “Everything that has happened these past years is your fucking fault”

“Raya I…” My sentence is cut short when I notice a pair of glowing red eyes.

I sit frozen.

So I wasn’t hallucinating yesterday like I had thought.

I was in werewolf territory and at this time of the night there weren’t many people driving. Most prefer to shift and give their wolves freedom to run and hunt.

My heart starts beating hard when the eyes seem to be moving towards me. Its body was completely shrouded in darkness so the only thing I could see were the red glowing eyes.

Without thinking and completely driven by fear, I get out of the car and start running in the opposite direction. I didn’t know what this thing was. Whether it’s good or evil, but I wasn’t going to stay around and find out.

The moment I start running, I hear its terrifying growl behind me. Shit! The growl suggested it was a wolf but there has never been any documented account of a wolf with red eyes.

I push myself harder when I hear its pounding paws behind me. Each step sends vibrations through the ground. By just the vibrations and the pounding of paws I could tell the thing was massive.

I run in the direction of home. Hoping that if I could just get close to the borders of the pack then I would be safe.

“Raya…” I call her but she doesn’t answer me. In fact by the way she’s lounging and staring at me with a lazy smile indicates that she’s enjoying this.

I trip and fall when another of its howls distracts me. Not caring about my bruised elbow or knees, I quickly stand up and continue running.

Even though I was burning calories and using up energy, I was still cold. I felt like my body was encased in ice buy how scared I was.

“Raya please…just shift and take over, I’m not sure I can outrun it in human form” I beg her, my voice catching at the end.

It seemed like all I do is beg her these days and it also seems that she never hears my pleas.

She laughs instead, her voice full of satisfaction. “I’m going to ignore you just like you ignored me fifteen years ago. I hope whatever the thing is catches you and I pray that when it does, it will take its time tearing you into pieces. I hope it makes you end fucking painful”

With one last evil chuckle, she slinks to the back of my mind and blocks me.

I don’t stop the tears that trickle down my face. Without her I was basically a human trying to outrun something that was definitely not human.

Adrenaline pumps into my system as I push myself harder.

Goddess please, don’t let this be how I die. Don’t let it get me.

I don’t know how long I’ve been running or how far I was from the borders, but I start to feel exhaustion taking over. Being a human truly sucked.

It’s then I realize that the thing was toying with me. Just like we play with our prey while we're out hunting. It would increase its speed, scaring me and making me push myself harder, then slow down again before repeating the process all over again.

My legs were begin to shake and I didn’t know for how long I could keep this up. I begin getting lightheaded, making me start to panic.

No, no, no…Goddess no.

I know that I was slowing down. It wouldn’t take much effort for the thing to get me.

I almost die when I feel its hot breath so close to my neck. I scream when I feel the it’s claw tear into my back.

The shock and the pain makes me fall down. Air rushes out of my lungs and I try to get up but I don’t have enough strength in me to do it.

I close my eyes and accept my fate all the while cursing Raya and the moon goddess. I wait for the inevitable as I feel it circling me. Its pungent smell making me want to hurl.

The last thing I hear before darkness embraces me is its victorious howl.