Chapter 8-"Are you checking me out?"

Yup. You guessed it right. This is the pup's blood. Come to the Northern Woods alone at 10pm tomorrow night. If I find out anyone else who knows about this, the next thing I send will not only be a drop of his blood...

I stared at the white letter with red specks of blood blankly. I put the letter closer to my nose and took a deep whiff.

Pup's blood, smell of paper, and the intruder's scent. No doubt this is the kidnapper. My wolf confirmed.

Should we tell others? I asked nervously.

Definitely not. I mean, we're one of the pack's strongest fighters without shifting so I think we can get the pup back without any harm. My wolf said confidently. Guess I'll have to believe her too.

But why did he only tell us to come though? Shouldn't they ask the pup's family or the higher-ups? We're just a random member in the pack. I asked in confusion.

Who knows? We'll see tomorrow. Go take a shower and sleep. I'm going to turn in now. Nights. My wolf yawned and shut off from me.

I took a brief hot shower, changed into my comfy PJs and tucked myself under my blankets. I tried to sleep but that letter was bothering me a lot.

Why did he want me to come alone? Especially me? Who is he, able to come into my room without my parents smelling him out? Able to pass through the heavy guards around the territory for days? Is he a rogue? Human? Witch? Demon? Elf? Vampire?

Of course, with these unanswered questions again, I fell into a deep slumber.

~~~

"Is anyone here? Help me! I'm scared..." A little boy's voice whimpered.

I looked at my surroundings. I was in an unfamiliar woods. The boy's voice continued to echo around me.

"Where are you? Tell me so I can help you!" I screamed in the woods.

No reply.

Okay, this is getting a little creepy. I felt goosebumps rising on my skin and subconsciously rubbed my arms. I walked around the woods, trying to figure my way out but always ended up at what looked like the same place I started due to the heavy fog in the woods that never seemed to get thinner.

As I walked further, I smelt another wolf's scent. Wait, two wolves. One of them smelt like the intruder- a bit of werewolf and that something else. I walked into the direction of their scent, the thick fog going against my face.

At last, the fog started to thin out and a tall figure holding a smaller figure by the neck appeared from within the fog. I took a good look at the tall figure and gasped.

That dude was unrecognisably ugly. His eyes. The sclera, our white part of the eye, was black for his and his irises and pupil is white. I've never seen such a werewolf before. When he saw me gasped at the pup he was holding by his neck and struggling to breathe, his lips curled into an upside down smile. His lips were the inverted ones of ours.

He's the definition of the word "deformed".

"Help me!" The pup wailed, thrashing midair due to the way that fucked up person is holding him.

"Hush, my child. I could kill you in a second, do you believe that?" His raspy voice reached my ears, making the hair on the back of my neck stand.

"Let the pup go." I said firmly and stood to my ground, not showing the tremendous amount of uneasiness and fear I have around him.

The truth is, I'm scared shitless. But saving the pup's life is my priority now.

"Possible. Walk towards me, love. And I'll let the pup go." The intruder smirked, increasing my level of uneasiness but I knew better than to talk back. He might snap the pup's neck in a second.

And of course, needless to say, his smirk couldn't even hold a candle to the all so famous smirk of Flash's.

I shook my head internally to clear my thoughts. Why am I thinking of that jerk now, when I'm in a dangerous situation?

I took long but slow strides towards the intruder. The closer I get to him, the more deformed he looks.

Maybe I should call up the best plastic surgeon in the world for him.

When I was about a feet away from him, his smirk grew even wider until the tips of his mouth almost reached his ears. We stood there looking at each other for a moment before I decided to swiftly snatch the pup from his hand. He might go back on his words for all I know.

Unfortunately, he was a millisecond faster than me. He held the pup high in the air where I couldn't reach it, making the poor boy scream and cry even louder.

"Patience, love. Maybe I'll teach you a lesson today." His smirk turned into an evil smile and started laughing like some crazy villain in movies.

Crack.

I felt drops of warm liquid on my forehead. The droplets travelled down to my nose and dripped onto the floor. I looked down and jumped back in shock.

Blood.

I looked up, only to see the pup's lifeless eyes staring straight into my soul. As if he blames me for acting too rashly, thus causing his life. Blood constantly flowed out of his mouth, turning the earth below him red.

I glared at the sadist, who was still laughing at my flabbergasted look.

"I'll be back for more fun, love." With that, he vanished with a gust of black smoke in the air like those supernatural movies.

I quickly caught the small corpse before it landed onto the ground. I cradled it tightly, letting the guilt and sadness overwhelm me.

"I'm sorry." I choked out.

Suddenly a bright light blinded my eyesight which made me close my eyes shut. The next time I peeled my eyes open, I was in my room again.

I held up a hand to touch my cheeks, they were wet. I sat up and went to the bathroom mirror. I looked exactly the same as I was before I went to bed, except the tear streaks.

So, it was a dream then? I thought.

It felt so real though. It's like I've been teleported to that unknown woods.

I splashed my face with cold water and dried my face with a towel. I went to my bedside table and glanced at the clock only to see it was only 4 in the morning.

Sigh, I couldn't sleep. Especially not after a scary dream that felt so real.

I crept down the stairs, not wanting to disturb my family sleeping due to their sensitive hearings. I got to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of boiled water. I mean, who uses plastic water bottles at home?

After drinking my water, I put the glass into the sink and crept back upstairs. When I reached my room, I glanced at the clock once more.

4.15am.

I trust-falled myself onto my bed, except that my bed would always catch me, and stared into my ceiling blankly.

Hey, you there? I asked my wolf.

What do you want, human? Go back to sleep. My wolf slurred.

How could you sleep after such a scary dream we had? I asked incredulously.

What dream? The only dream I had was me and Flash's wolf were in the woods and we-

Okay, hold your horses. I don't need to know about your wet dreams. I cut in. And you've got to be kidding me. The dream we had with the intruder just now, remember? Don't try to play tricks with me.

I'm being serious here too. What dream are you talking about? Are you hallucinating?

No, I'm not. Wait let me clear this up. When we had dreams, it's always the same for both of us right? I asked slowly.

Yep, and my dream, or should I say our dream should be us and Flash do-

But what I dreamt just now was actually about the intruder. He was weird. Not the exaggerated kind of weird but the legitimate weird. I tried to find words to describe my horrendous dream but to no avail.

Okay, that starts to sound really creepy now. Since you say the intruder in your dream is weird, could it be someone hijacked your dreams? Okay, but that doesn't seem right. Tell me about your dream. I don't have the same dream as you just now, I swear. My wolf perked up from her sleep in curiosity.

I told her every bit of the story including how the pup died.

That. Actually sounds like a horror or thriller movie. She said, amused.

No shit. I rolled my eyes.

Okay, I'm starting to think something might be wrong with us. Shall we visit the pack hospital? My wolf said in a worried tone.

After today, when we save the pup. I decided and fell right to sleep from the fatigue.

~~~

I dragged my tired footsteps to the cafeteria, not bothering to spare a glance at the popular table since I can already smell his scent. I sat down on my usual seat opposite Teegan and Mason. Lex joined our lunch table once more. I guess he's officially part of our lunch group.

"You seem tired today, Cleo. Did something happen last night?" Tee wiggled her eyebrows at me, obviously hinting about Flash.

"Yes of course. A shit load of things happened." I mumbled, rubbing my temples.

"Oh really? Tell us about it." Lex turned to me, watching me with curious eyes.

"It's just me having a bad dream and couldn't sleep for the whole night." I shrugged, not wanting to recall the unpleasant dream.

"What are you, a kid? What dream was it? Is it a monster chasing you or something?" Mason rolled his eyes upwards and stuck his tongue out trying to act like a zombie.

"Somewhere along those lines. I couldn't remember already." I lied. Honestly, I'm still kinda creeped out by that dream.

Lex, Tee and Mason continued chatting and eating their lunch while I rested my head on the table trying to get some rest before the remaining lessons.

The bell rang in no time and everyone scattered to their respective classes.

Hours passed torturously and finally it was time to go home. I was on my way to the carpark until I realised Dad drove me to school today because he was worried I would get into an accident if I drove with half my mind asleep.

Now the thing is, how am I going to get home?

I sighed heavily and ran my fingers through my black hair which became hot after standing under the sun for a while. I was getting restless until a white Porsche pulled up beside me.

The privacy window at the driver's seat rolled down to reveal Lex wearing sunglasses. He wore a big welcoming smile on his face and used his head to motion for me to get in.

"But you couldn't get into our territory." I scrunched up my face.

"I'll drop you at the borders of your territory?" He suggested.

I gave him a grateful smile and a nod and walked over to the shotgun seat. The border is nearer to home than school. I could ask fellow pack members driving past the borders to give me a ride home too.

Just as I opened the door, it was slammed shut by another hand. I looked up at who's beside me and shot him an annoyed look.

"Listen, I have no mood to argue with you now-" I was cut off by that jerk.

"Get in my car. Wouldn't want to bother another person who don't belong to our pack would we?" He winked at me and turned to the driver side and shot a smile through the privacy glass window.

Can you guess the person? Bingo! It's Flash Winston.

"But I-" The next moment, I saw my world became upside down and the floor moving without me moving my legs.

"Let me go, you jerkface!" I screamed while hitting Flash's back, not caring about the amount of people looking at us.

I took one last look at Lex and mouthed him a "sorry". Thank god he took it well and drove off after waving at me.

He seems like a way better guy than that son of a bitch who's carrying me upside down on his shoulders right now.

I love how he makes our skin tingle from his touch. My wolf fan-girled.

I'm sorry, but aren't you supposed to be mad at him for just dragging us away in front of a crowd? Geez, we're going to be the talk of the town by tomorrow. I rolled my eyes at her.

Not gonna lie, but I low key enjoyed this sensation created by the mate bond. However, I know it's just the mate bond. No feelings attached.

I heard the car door opened and I was put onto the car seat.

"What did you just do just now?" I glared at him and folded my arms while he reached for the seatbelt and fastened it for me.

After that, he turned to me and our face were merely inches apart from each other. My heart rate increased by each second, much to my dismay.

I'm pretty sure he heard it because then, his lips curled up into his infamous smirk.

"Sweeping you off your feet."

With that, he closed the car door and walked to the other side of the car. The whole time, I stared blankly at the front. He got into the driver's seat and drove away from the school.

"Fell for me already?" He asked, his eyes still on the road but I could see his smirk from the side. I hate to admit, he's actually quite hot with his strong jawline and high cheekbones and...

"Are you checking me out, cupcake?" He laughed, his eyes remained on the road which immediately made me turned to face the window.

"Of course not. If you looked clearly, I'm actually trying to find the reason why girls would even fall for you. Sadly, I found none except for your trash attitude." I rebutted, still looking out at the window. It would be awkward if he saw right through my lie.

"So, basically you're still checking me out. Okay, that works." Flash chuckled.

"Did you have an extra bowl of stupid this morning?" I turned back to him shook my head disapprovingly.

"Nope, I had an extra bowl of charms this morning." He winked at me which made my heart skipped a beat. No joke.

I sure as hell did not sign up for this today.

Not bothering to reply him, I turned my head back to the window and closed my eyes. With the company of Flash's scent, I let fatigue overwhelm me in no time.

"Cleo Havard! Get downstairs for dinner!" I jolted awake from the sound of my Mom's screeching.

I looked around only to realised I'm back in my own room.

Wait, was the car ride with Flash a dream too? But it felt so real. My brain is fucking with me these days.

"Coming!" I shouted back and went downstairs. My stomach growling as soon as I smelt lasagna.

My parents, including Storm were waiting for me to sit down before we start eating. Once I sat down, Storm and I started inhaling our food.

It is indeed a rare moment where all of us are present for dinner. Dad and Storm probably stopped their work and studies to investigate the missing pup case.

"Right, how did I end up in my room?" I asked between mouthfuls of lasagna.

"Our dear Alpha Flash sent you home and told me to carry you upstairs. How did you end up in his car though? I thought you two couldn't stand being in each other's sight?" Storm replied while chewing his food. This is the reason why we're siblings.

"Don't even mention about it. It's a long story anyways." Was my reply and he didn't prob further which I was glad for. My family had gotten used to me having issues with Flash.

"Eat slowly, kids. Remember what I taught you about dining etiquette?" Mom chided as she proceeds to feed a spoonful of lasagna into Dad's mouth. Dad pecked her on the lips after chewing his food.

"Stop, I had enough of this PDA for 18 years." I groaned and covered my eyes playfully.

"I had enough of this PDA for 20 years." Storm mimicked my voice and covered his eyes too. I must say both my brother and Flash did a bad job in mimicking my voice.

"As they say, mates get more attracted to each other the longer the time they spent together." Mom winked.

"Is that scientifically proven?" I asked, completely forgotten the lessons Mom gave me about mates.

"Of course it is. Once you interact longer with your mate, whether by talking, touching or just by their presence, the mate bond will get stronger day by day until you can't resist to mate. Didn't I teach you about that already?" Mom narrowed her eyes at me.

"Um... yea. Haha, I kinda... forgot?" I muttered sheepishly.

"Many couples fall in love at first sight. Some may be a little stubborn but due to the mate bond being too strong, they mate in the end and they live happily ever after. So, morale of the story, don't resist your mate." My dad said in a wise tone.

"Of course I won't. Who would? Would you, Cleo?" Storm turned to look at me expectantly.

Ignoring his question, I asked, "Is there a way to completely resist the mate bond and actually get together with the person because of true love? Or like how long do stubborn couples usually resist each other?"

"So far, I haven't heard of anyone completely resisting the bond until they truly fell in love with each other. Most of the time, stubborn couples resist each other about three months max. before they succumb to the bond." Mom answered.

"Why are you so interested in this, Cleo? Found your mate already?" Dad joked.

"No, of course not. I'm trying to gain more knowledge." I shrugged and took another bite of my food, hoping they'd buy my lie.

Thankfully, they did and we went back to eating as usual. After eating, I went up to my room to take a shower. After showering, the time was 8pm.

Two more hours until I had to meet the intruder. I lay on my bed and stared at the ceiling again. My mind travelled to the conversation at the dinner table just now.

Remembering my parents' words, I made a mental note not to get too close to Flash anymore or the mate bond would get even stronger. That explains my erratic behaviours with I'm with him.

No werewolf couple completely resisted the bond until they truly fell in love with each other huh...

I'll be the first one then.

I've got a feeling it wouldn't be long though. My wolf said cheekily.

I've got a feeling it would be a long long time. We'll die as a virgin unless special circumstances happen. Could you actually imagine mating with that jerk? I would much rather take my own life, thank you very much. I shuddered.

It isn't that bad, gurl. I imagine it all the time. She said in a naughty tone.

Okay! That's enough. Maybe I shouldn't have conversations about mates with you anymore. I shut her off and got to my study desk to finish up my homework and do some revision.

I did my revision until 9.30pm and changed to black leggings and a black windbreaker. I stuffed some of my plushies and pillows under my blanket to make it seem like I'm asleep so mom don't freak out when she finds out I'm missing. Storm and dad went to the pack house to continue the investigation so I needn't worry about them.

After checking the coast is clear, I opened my window slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible since mom has sensitive hearing.

Better be early and do as I told. Wouldn't want the ending to be the same as my dream, just in case.

I hopped off the window and landed on fours professionally. I used to climb trees when I was a pup all the time. I checked my surroundings once more, ensuring there's no one in my vicinity before sprinting off into the Northern Woods.

Our territory was huge. Like really huge. Maybe as huge as the Amazon Forest. Which is why we basically had to travel by car in our territory. We even had private jets and our own airports just for travelling in our own territory. Our residences are nearer to the Northern Woods, but also not near enough to