Werewolf Dreams (22 page)

She glanced around the dark forest fearfully, knowing there was no way she could out run a wolf let alone three. They’d be able to track her anyways.
Her only hope was to climb and to climb fast. The trees were so close together, she could climb one and jump to the next, making it harder to track her. But she’d have to move now.

Ava ran for the nearest tree with low lying branches and jumped high, grabbing onto the branch and swinging up even as the pain ripped through her body.
She ignored it though, grateful for all the adrenaline rushing around dulling the worst of the pain. She moved up the tree as fast as she could, until she got as far as she could. Now to jump to the next one. She moved toward the nearest tree and knew she’d have to jump through the air. If she messed this up, if she misjudged anything, she’d fall to her death, by the landing or by the wolves that were getting closer and closer. She heard another howl, closer now and jumped, hoping that the shadows of the night would protect her. She grasped onto the tree limb, barely feeling the scratches and cuts from stray limbs. She pulled herself closer to the trunk of the tree and moved up.

Ava heard the wolves now, incredibly close and hugged the tree, as she curled herself up. They rushed past her, on the scent of Zoe, except for one wolf.
One wolf paused and circled back, sniffing around the first tree she’d climbed. The wolf circled the tree three times glancing up and then ran to catch up with the other wolves. She heard them racing through the forest and wondered what she should do now. She could run back to the cabin and hope there was a car there she could steal, or she could stay where she was in the trees, moving from tree to tree and hope that Cyrus and his friends would find her soon.

She shivered as the cold of the night started to affect her body and decided to go with her gut instinct.
She’d stay in the trees. She moved to four different trees, in case that one wolf led everyone back to the first tree she had climbed up. She knew she’d get no sleep that night as she held onto the branches. She wished she could have just transformed into a wolf and followed Zoe, but with hurt ribs and no experience there was no way.

She jerked her head up as she heard the sound of a lone howling wolf.
The sound was so lonely and sad, she gasped wondering if they had found Zoe. She closed her eyes and sent a prayer up for the girl and held tighter. She lost track of time through the night, zoning in and out of a place between sleep and wakefulness. The pain in her ribs was so excruciating from all of her climbing that she gave in and cried, knowing no one could see her. As the darkness started to lift, she jerked to full consciousness as she heard the sound of movement in the forest. She moved her head to the side and looked down onto the forest floor, wishing she could move her cramped legs. Any sound would gain their attention. She caught the sight of dark forms moving slowly and held her breath.

Ava swallowed nervously as she realized that there were far more wolves than three.
There were at least six that she could count. Her blood turned to ice as she realized these wolves could be hybrids. And according to Cyrus, these wolves could climb. Titus must have sent for them. She stared wide eyed around the forest wondering when or if Cyrus would come for her. And if he did, would he even be able to save her now. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the trunk of the tree. She flexed her cold stiff fingers and let her breath out slowly.
Please come Cyrus. Please come for me
, she thought over and over in her mind.

She jumped a little as an eerie howl went up right underneath her.
Ava glanced down, her whole body stiff with fear as she saw three wolf-like creatures standing on their legs and looking up, right at her. She squeaked in terror and glanced up. The tree she was in was incredibly tall, she could go as high as she could and hopefully they wouldn’t be able to follow. They were large creatures and outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds.

She stared down as the howling grew louder and louder.
She gasped and her heart rate speeded up and her flight or fight instinct kicked in. But it would be impossible to fight that many wolves and fleeing was its own danger. She bit her lip and scooted up on the tree trunk, so she could stand instead of sit. Her ribs screamed in protest and she moaned out loud. She used one hand to push her hair over her ear and looked down again. The howling stopped and all the wolves dropped down to the ground and turned to stare at something in the distance.

Ava’s breath started coming faster and she started looking at her options.
The trees surrounding her were in jumping distance, but after all night of gripping the tree trunk and getting little to no sleep, she would most likely fall. She glanced down again and felt her heart stutter in her chest. Below her, standing in the middle of the hybrids was her grandfather Titus, Ben and another man she didn’t recognize. And they were all looking right at her. Ava glanced at the tree again and shuddered. How long would she be able to evade them?

“Ava dear, it’s time to come down now.
We’ve been looking all night for you. Ben here came to get me he was so scared for you. He feels really bad about hurting you and taking you away from Cyrus. He does dear. I’ve told him he has to apologize to you as soon as you get down. You’re my granddaughter after all,” he said chuckling.

Ava ignored him and began climbing up, groaning as the pain in her ribs multiplied.

“Now Ava, I’ve called your father. He’s more upset than I’ve ever heard him. He doesn’t want you mixed up in all our politics and in our ways. That’s the last thing he wants. I’ve told him that if he comes to pick you up right now and takes you home, then we’ll guarantee your safety sweetheart. If you don’t come down right now Ava, I won’t be responsible for what happens. You see, I’ve brought some special friends to help us find you. They’re not very gentle creatures I’m afraid. In fact, they tend to get a little messy when they’re excited. Ava, they’re very excited about finding you,” he said with a smile so merciless she felt sick to her stomach.

Ava continued to climb and refused to answer her grandfather.
Ben and the other man’s laughter climbed right along with her though. She heard them talk softly between them and then she heard Ben’s voice.

“Ava, now you know I’ve had a thing for you from day one.
Cyrus beat me to you, but if you come down right now, I’d like it if we got to know each other a little better. Your grandfather has given me his blessing to be your mate, unlike Cyrus. I think once you get to know me, you’ll see that we were always meant to be together. I’ll protect you and take care of you Ava, you have my word.”

Ava looked down and glared at Ben.
The last time she’d seen him, he’d been kicking in her ribs with a wild ferocity that she’d never forget. She’d rather be eaten by hybrids than be a mate to him.

“Okay, boys, I think we have our answer,” she heard her grandfather shout.
“Up and at em team. Go get her,” he shouted to the hybrids.

Ava stared down at the hybrids, her eyes wide and her mouth open as they stood on their back legs and then started jumping for the low br
anches. She blinked her eyes trying to clear the film of exhaustion and groaned in fear as one of the hybrids took a running leap and caught hold of the lowest branch. It used its freakish, human like paws to pull itself up. It was awkward and made very slow progress, but it was climbing. Slowly but surely, it was coming for her.

Ava wiped the cold sweat off her forehead and moved up to the next branch.
Pretty soon, she would run out of places to go and she’d have to jump. She ground her teeth as she saw that another hybrid had made it onto the tree. She could hear Titus laugh in amusement.

“See that Ben, the finest animal ever created.
He can climb, he can kill and he can run for days. He’s perfect. I bet he has her down here in less than fifteen minutes. Now what about Zoe? Have you found her yet?” he asked, sounding very unpleased.

Ben cleared his throat.
“Um no Sir. She got away from us. She’s very fast and it was a dark night. And we didn’t have the uh, hybrids helping us out. But don’t worry about Zoe. She’ll never show her face here again. She knows what will happen,” he said.

Titus growled and then turned to the other man.
“And Cyrus? Were you able to take him out the way I told you to?” he asked, obviously not caring if she could hear their whole conversation. That’s when she knew that they meant to kill her no matter what.

“Titus, Cyrus has gone in to hiding.
We can’t find him anywhere. It’s as if he’s disappeared sir. I’m sure Ben here, scared him off now that he’s your next in command,” the man said, obviously just saying what Titus wanted to hear.

Ava’s attention jerked back to the hybrids.
As she had been listening to Titus, they had gotten closer. Now, there were four hybrids in the tree moving slowly toward her.

She moved outward, instead of in and felt the branch she was on, bend from her weight.
She clenched her teeth nervously and stared hard at the next tree, gauging the distance and hoping her stiff and cold body would do what she wanted it to. She stopped as she recognized that everyone had become silent as they watched her every move.

“She’s jumping to the next tree,” Titus said, shaking his head in irritation.
“
Damn it
. If she starts hopping tree to tree, this is going to take way too long. Ben get back to the cabin and grab me my gun. I’ll just shoot her down. I’ve got things to do and this little girl has caused enough trouble to last a lifetime,” he said in disgust.

Ben nodded and turned and ran
for the cabin. Ava felt a tear trace its way down her stiff cold cheek. She wanted to see Cyrus again. She wanted to see her dad again. She wanted to live. She didn’t want to die, being shot out of a tree.

She got ready to jump, knowing that even if he did have a
gun, it would be hard to shoot her down with the distance and all the tree limbs in the way.

She bunched her muscles, ready to fly when she heard a new howling sound.
She paused and looked over her shoulder at where the sound came from. For some reason, something inside of her made her stare and listen. And then it came again. She glanced down at Titus and he looked arrested by it too. And then he looked scared. She gripped the tree tightly and then swallowed as she began to hope. Could it be Cyrus? Titus and the man she didn’t know talked quietly for a few seconds before turning without a word and heading in the direction of the cabin.

“
Cyrus!
” she screamed as loud as she could.

All the hybrids began growling loudly but she ignored them and screamed again. “Cyrus! Help me!”
And then, out of the woods came at least ten wolves flying over the bushes through the trees, coming to surround the two hybrids still on the ground and growling up at the hybrids still climbing toward her.

Av
a stared hard at a large, brown wolf as he looked right at her. And then the wolves started fighting the hybrids, biting and tearing and howling. The hybrids in the trees jumped down to the ground to join the fight and she was left alone. Ten wolves against six hybrids was no match and within twenty minutes all hybrids lay on the ground, their throats ripped out and their blood already soaking into the ground.

Ava swallowed anxiously and then began to make her way slowly down the tree, breathing heavy from the exertion, exhaustion and pain.
While she was concentrating on the climb down, Cyrus changed into his human form and stood waiting for her as everyone else stayed as wolves.

She hopped down from the lowest branch clumsily and was immediately wrapped in Cyrus’s arms.
She cried out in pain as he squeezed her too hard and he immediately pulled back, looking into her face.

“You’re hurt.
I’m so sorry Ava,” he said, touching her cheek where the tears had made tracks through the dirt.

“
Ben and Titus went back to the cabin. They have a gun Cyrus. They’re the ones who sent the hybrids for me. They want to kill me and you,” she said in a rush.

Cyrus pointed toward the cabin and the wolves immediately leaped into a run, heading for the cabin as Cyrus stayed back with her.
He picked her up gently in his arms and began walking. Now that she was safe, she began to tremble as she held onto him. Pretty soon though, she fell asleep, so exhausted she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

Ava woke up later that day, in her bed, with Cyrus lying beside her, staring at her face.
Ava blinked in surprise and tried to move but felt constrained. She glanced down and moved the sheet out of the way. Her ribs were wrapped tightly and felt much better.

“Wow,” she said softy. “I must have been really out of it,” she said as she tried to sit up.

Cyrus stared at her and touched her arm softly with his finger. “I’m so sorry Ava,” he said softly, taking her hand. “I should have protected you.”

Ava shrugged and then winced.
“It’s not your fault Cyrus. I guess this is just what life is about when you’re a werewolf,” she said grimacing. “Kidnapped, getting my ribs kicked in, treed by blood thirsty hybrids and to top it all off, a murdering grandfather. Yeah, it’s been a great summer so far,” she said dryly.