Fallen Love
Chapter 7

Esra.

It’s been four weeks since I’ve had any news from Chris or even Lisa, although Lisa has been sending me messages and telling me that Chris has important things to sort out. He’s receiving another Alpha on his territory right now, and Lisa must be by his side. I don’t dare go and see them, even though Chris has told me I’m welcome. I don’t want to arrive at the wrong time or meet the wrong person and reveal my powers, so I wisely stay at home. I’ve been watching the moon these days because it’s too quiet, the witches are up to something and I’m trying to find out what. Em isn’t serene either and goes out more than usual to try and glean information from nature, animals and, with a bit of luck, other totem animals.

Deciding to go for a walk, I put on a cardigan as it’s cooler at night. I shouldn’t be going out under cover, but I’ve got this feeling that won’t leave me, shivers covering my skin as I get closer to the door. Once outside, a breeze rustles my hair. After checking that no one was in the street, I flashed my emerald-green eyes and followed the yellow trace on the asphalt. With my hands in my vest pockets, I ignore the vibrations from my cell phone in my pocket as I head towards the unknown. I don’t know what I’ll find when I get there, but this vision is pointing me in the direction of a solution, a safe way out, so I go in with my eyes closed. It was through this vision that I met Lisa, but that’s another story.

After more than an hour’s walk, I’m standing in front of Kerry Park, my witch vision gone, wondering what I’m doing here. I climb the fence, making as little noise as possible so as not to alert the night guards. Far be it from me to get caught at two in the morning in a Park closed for the night. Skilfully, I sneak behind bushes and trees to ensure a hiding place at the slightest suspicious noise. During my inspection, I hear some light growling and squeaking, and once again shivering, I continue my progress out of sight. The squeaking is closer, as is the high-pitched laughter. I grimace, knowing that witches are out there. I’d imagined all sorts of things, but not this: a dog … no, a cub is up in the air with two witches around him, giggling like fishwives.

– It’s been a long time since I’ve studied a little werewolf,” sneers one of them.

– It’s true that children are hard to come by,” scoffs the other.

I crouch behind a bush and draw my bow, then unfasten my collar, which becomes rigid. Aiming for the first, I release my arrow, which encircles my victim’s neck. My victim tenses up and, barely two seconds later, falls to the ground. The poor thing must be suffering from the powerful poison on her necklace, Em’s venom, deadly to others but not to me, of course.

– What’s the matter with you, Nerva? Come on, get up.

But as she approached her friend, I stood up with a fireball in my hand to signal my presence, and the more I advanced, the more the witch retreated, alternating between me and her witch buddy, still in agony. I come face to face with the one on the ground, throwing the fireball at her, her screams dying in the night until silence falls around us. I glance at the little werewolf, who begs me to help him. It hurts my heart to see this. You amaze me that everyone wants us dead.

– It’s not right to attack a child,” I declared softly.

– Cub bones are the best way to bring bad luck to someone, and he’s not from around here.

– You won’t be needing your bones,” I say harshly.

She takes two steps back after hearing my sentence. She really thinks I’m going to let her go with the scared little wolf. With a thought, I tell Em to go and get Lisa; as a wolf, she’ll know how to handle the little one. Just so she’s really scared of me, I conjure up a replica of Em who passes between her legs, at the sight of her the witch leaps into the air then sends energy at the snake which evaporates. Screams reached us, so I hurriedly turned off the streetlights around us and transformed my eyes into Em’s to get my bearings. Meanwhile, the cowhide tried to escape with the wolf cub, but just like her charred friend, I stopped her with my arrow, which surrounded her blow. His spell is cancelled and the cub falls to the ground, I bring him closer to me and lower myself to his level, running my hands through his fur to heal him of any wounds, apart from fear and temporary paralysis due to the spell they cast on him, he’s got nothing broken.

– Wolves are coming, you’re safe now,” I say softly.

Of course he doesn’t answer me, but licks my hand as it passes his muzzle. A smile stretches my lips as I point out where the wolves are coming.

– You’re welcome, little wolf, I may be a witch, but I’m a nice one, don’t worry. You go ahead, I have to leave.

I k**s the top of his head and see a wolf – not a she-wolf – coming towards us and recognize Lisa’s aura, once in front of us, she cuddles the little one then licks the top of his head, when she stands up towards me, her voice is in my mind.

– Thank you so much Esra, this is the Alpha’s son who was visiting us, he had disappeared in the afternoon, his bodyguard had been killed, his gaze settles on the witches. Thank God you were there, Noah is safe.

– He called me for help, I didn’t know what was going on until I got here. I’ll leave you to kill the last witch, although she won’t be much longer, I wave to the boy. Goodbye Noah.

More members of the pack arrive, so I teleport home to make sure I’m not seen. Em is lying on the sofa when I arrive and doesn’t even open her eyes – how ungrateful of her, I swear! Reassured that the cub is in a safe place, I pour myself a glass of water, thinking of the cub’s father, who must have cringed when he didn’t see him come back. Which means Chris won’t have a problem, since it was Lisa who found him. Even in wolf form, I would have liked to see him, but I didn’t want to take the risk. He’s already seen Em again, which is more than good. Feeling a bit tired, I put my glass down in the sink and turn off the lights to go to bed, at four in the morning it’s not bad I think.

Em is already waiting for me when I crawl into bed, and just as I’m about to set an alarm so I don’t wake up too late, I get a message from Lisa, which doesn’t surprise me.

De la Louve: See you tomorrow? I mean, this afternoon.

Thinking fast, I type my reply, calculating my quota of hours of sleep before going to see her.

From Me: Shall we meet around four o’clock in front of the college?

From the Wolf: Perfect, see you then.

I send her some k****s too, then set my alarm for one o’clock, which gives me nine hours’ sleep, which isn’t bad. Without waiting, I go to bed and imagine myself killing dozens of witches just to let off steam.

*

Arriving in front of the college, I wait for Lisa on a bench in the sunshine, my eyes closed. I think a lot about the little wolf and hope he’s all right and that this nasty encounter doesn’t leave any after-effects. I hear the sound of an engine, and when I hear the car door open, I smile, knowing it’s Lisa. A sigh escapes her and I open one eye to look at her.

– How are you? I asked.

– Fine, thanks to you,” she said. The Alpha is looking for you to thank you.

– I don’t need any thanks. What does he know about me?

– Not much, but his son confirmed my story about the intervention of a human, which confused the two bitches, so I took the opportunity to kill them.

– And Chris?

Lisa straightens slightly, then glances at me with a smile. I waved my hand so she wouldn’t dwell on that part and encouraged her to speak. She then stands up, beckoning me to follow her, and we take the road towards a glacier.

– He’s wondering, he’s seen Em and suspects that I didn’t find Noah with my tracking skills, even though I was close by.

– Do you think he suspects I’m involved?

– I don’t think so, but he must suspect that the witch who helped me, who gave me the bracelet and saved my life… Isn’t dead like I say.

As long as he doesn’t suspect me, I have nothing to worry about. I’m relieved it all turned out well, not to mention Chris’s doubts about the witch – basically me – but he has no reason to find out it was me since my powers are blurred against any magical being and apart from using them in front of him or me telling him, he has no reason to know.

We enter the ice-cream parlour and take a table at the back so we can talk quietly, I watch Lisa scan the room with her eyes – a habit, she says – every time we enter a place, she checks to make sure there’s no one there who’d be likely to bother us, human or otherwise. A waiter comes to take our order and we order two vanilla ice creams, chocolate, whipped cream and cupcakes … Oh, the calories we’re going to take now, but you’ve got to understand, it’s too good.

– It’s weird to see you, it’s been too long,” said Lisa, resting her chin in her hand.

– It’s true, I’ve missed your nonsense.

– I don’t know if I can go back to school.

– Lisa! Exams are coming up, you’ve got to at least pass them.

Lisa is about to speak, but the waiter comes to place our orders in front of us, the she-wolf says nothing for a few seconds, fiddling with her ice cream with the teaspoon, then looks up at me.

– We’re on the alert Esra, echoes are coming in from all sides, witches are joining forces with werewolves to get our territory and the children. But why the children? I don’t understand.

A grimace appears on my face, arousing his curiosity. I’ll have to tell him.

– You know, don’t you?

– Cub bones can cast a curse…. The curse of bad luck, I confirm.

– Do you think they want to give us the evil eye so we lose?

– I think the cub I saved was destined for that unfortunately.

– It’s f*****g horrible.

His fist slams into the table and a crack is made. Laying my hand along the crack, I repair the table before it breaks in two and attracts attention. I take Lisa’s hand, which was flailing all over the place, to calm down.

– Calm down Lisa, we’re not alone.

– What can we do against witches? We can handle the wolves, but not the witches,” she shakes her head. We won’t be able to protect the pack’s children.

– As long as I’m here, Lisa, nothing will happen to you with the witches.

– You’d risk exposing yourself to Chris and the others, and I care about you too much to lose you.

I grab both her hands to stop her panicking and try to calm her down a little. She’s really on edge and needs to clear her head. I take off my necklace and put it in her hands. Don’t worry, nothing will happen to her, she’s wearing a part of me in the bracelet, so she’s immune.

– If you need me, I’ll appear wherever you are.

– Thank you, Esra.

– Right, now let’s eat some delicious ice cream,” I say, putting my necklace back on.

She smiles at me, then the next conversation moves on to much more normal subjects: classes, fashion, holidays…. As we emerge from the glacier, we stop and look up at the grey sky with orange flashes of lightning. It’s hot and there’s no breeze to cool us down, Lisa turns to me with her eyebrows furrowed. Oh, it’s not good, but it’s not good at all.

– Uh, do you agree that it’s not normal?

I simply nod and look up at the sky a little longer when I hear my first name. Lowering my head, I was surprised to see Chris and Nick coming towards us. It takes me a while to realize that he’s right in front of me, after four weeks it seems unreal. At this point I realize that I’ve been thinking about him a lot, more than I should. Just as I’m about to say nothing, Chris comes up to me and gives me a hug. A breath of fresh air fills my lungs and a smile forms on my lips.

– What are you doing here? Lisa asks.

– Well, we went into town on business and caught up with you,” replies her brother.

But the looks the three of them give each other mean just the opposite. Chris has stepped back, but remains very close to me. As they talk to each other mentally, my eyes stare up at the sky, which doesn’t move, an arm on my shoulder wakes me up to see Chris smiling at me.

– Are you coming with us? We’d love you to come for the weekend.

– I’d love to.

He was relieved, so we went to my place to get some things. While Lisa and Nick returned to their own territory, Chris drove me downstairs to my building, where I hurriedly packed a bag and joined him. Chris waits for me with the trunk open, and I drop my sports bag into it. Once I’m settled in the passenger seat, I watch him drive off.

– How are you? Chris begins.

– Well, I’m studying for my exams, and you?

– Well, I’m pretty busy with work, so a nice weekend away wouldn’t go amiss.

– I couldn’t agree more.

All the way home, Chris asks me questions about classes, exams and my vacation plans, which at the moment are non-existent. He hesitates but offers me nothing, and given everything that’s going on in his pack I can understand why. A flash of lightning lights up the sky, startling me, and Chris pulls over to the side of the road with a jerk of the steering wheel. Leaning over slightly, I examine the sky, not at all serene.

– Do you think it’s serious? I ask him.

– Honestly, I have no idea.

His hand rests on mine to catch my attention, and once my eyes are in his, his fingers tuck a lock of hair back behind my ear.

– Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

– That’s right, you’re here.

Chris gives me a smile that would melt anyone’s heart and leans in to k**s my cheek. After a few minutes of staring into each other’s eyes, which is starting to annoy me, we set off again, I can’t wait to get there. As we enter the dirt road, I gesticulate in my seat, which seems to please Chris. I don’t know how to interpret his reaction, because to him I’m human and I don’t understand why he seems delighted that I’m happy to be here; he shouldn’t even be inviting me into his pack. Maybe my bond with Lisa is pushing him to include me in his life. Does the fact that he likes me really play a role? I don’t know, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can. Chris parks in front of his house and when I get out I wave to the people I pass, who respond warmly. People are so nice here, I’m not used to it but it feels good. Lisa and Nick are already here, and after collecting my bag we enter their home. Lisa shows me the guest room so I can put my bag down, and I’m delighted to see that it’s right opposite hers. She then takes me on a tour of the house and garden, and I’m blown away by the grandeur and style of the place – it’s truly magnificent. We then go for a walk around the village, to make sure I don’t get lost if I go out on my own.

They welcome me with open arms, ask me questions about my life and seem genuinely interested. I feel their joys, their interests, although I find it rather odd to be so integrated with them, being a human in their eyes. Werewolves aren’t exactly known for being sociable with people who aren’t of their own species – basically me, whether I’m a witch or a human – and since the witch chaos eleven years ago, that can’t have helped much. I’m very moved to be accepted by them in this way. The men, women and children all come to talk to me as if we’d known each other for years. Fortunately, I have a very good memory, so I retain every name and piece of information I hear, and if I can’t remember them, I can find them again by entering their heads briefly. After a while, Chris and Nick appeared, surprised to find us in deep conversation with a bunch of people who stood back to let the two males pass.

– Well then, girls, what are you doing?

Nick looks at us, raising his arms to slap them along his body, exasperated at having finally found us.

– We haven’t moved since earlier,” replies Lisa.

– For two hours? And answering when you’re called, that’s possible too, isn’t it?

– We didn’t hear you, we were in the middle of a conversation.

I smile to see them arguing over so little. Again. Chris makes his way between them to join me, in turn exchanging a few words with the people around us before leading me back to their home. Emmett finishes setting the table as we enter the kitchen. He raises his head as we enter and his gaze goes straight to Lisa, who doesn’t take any notice of him; she pulls me away from Chris so we can sit down. Nick joins us all smiles with the pot of bolognese pasta and glances at Lisa, knowing that it’s her favorite dish – mine too, by the way – but nobody knows that. We move on to the table and Nick serves our plates copiously, but I’m about to explode from the portion he’s given me. We discuss tonight’s program, which will consist of two action movies, After Earth with Will Smith and his son, and Battleship. As much as I love this dish, I can’t take it anymore and I’m going to explode.

– Lisa, please finish my plate or I’ll throw up,” I beg her in despair at the thought.

She gave me an apologetic look that made my stomach churn, then looked towards one of the guys. Suddenly, an arm passed in front of me, making me jump, my plate went up and landed in front of Chris. Looking at him surprised, he sends me a wink before finishing my pasta bolo. The mental conversation goes both ways, either me or the pack. After we’d finished, we put the dishes in the machine and cleaned up the table, Nick leaving to put on the first film as we joined him. Lisa wanted to drag me along, but Chris pulled me towards him, leaving my place to Nick.

– You’re abandoning me,” laughs Lisa.

– Oh please, I’m embarrassed enough as it is.

Lisa’s laughter fills the room, drawing stares from the guys, but she calms down with a hand swing to get them to move on. Nick started the film and then closed the electric shutters so that we were in complete darkness. My anxiety then goes up a notch, since I’m between the end of the sofa and Chris, so I can’t escape. On the one hand, I want him to do something, and on the other, I don’t want him to.

Very contradictory thinking, very practical.

The film starts and I’m receptive to any movement to my left, its warmth spreading through me like a trail of powder that runs over my skin until it tingles. Concentrating, I find the same emotions in his thoughts as on the day of the match when we first saw each other.

But I feel a change, something else is with him and I know very well that this something is his wolf, I didn’t feel it the first time but I do now. Maybe our closeness is indirectly bringing me through his barriers. Chris fidgets and his arm goes behind the top of the sofa for a second, and having seen films of this moment, I suspect it will be next. His hand comes to rest on my shoulder and, with a light touch, urges me to snuggle up to him, and although it feels very strange, I comply without a word. When my head rests against his chest and his head rests on top of mine, I hear a sigh of relief, but I’m not sure if it’s real or if he’s doing it from his thoughts. It feels strange to be in this place, but secretly I feel perfectly at ease, only that was before I remembered it’s only temporary.

Immediately, my smile evaporates as I try to put up an emotional shield around myself so that Lisa can’t feel my sudden discomfort. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I hope to keep my secret for a long time to come. Don’t forget that finding out you’re a witch isn’t the only way to get him off your back; if he finds his soul mate, you’re screwed too. His soul mate? I restrain myself from moving away from him for good. A witch can’t have a soul mate, but wolves can, so who would I be to stop him from getting his half? I’d be no better than the black witches in that case. I close my eyes to try and calm down. How could I forget that he has a soulmate somewhere when Lisa keeps reminding me of his connection to Emmett.

The only thing that relieves me is that he’ll probably get bored of me since I have no experience of relationships, s*x and the like, and he wouldn’t go any further with my poor self. Then again, I’m a witch, so I’m destined to be alone. Although Melinda used to tell me that everyone has a other half, I can only wonder if I’m not the only exception. It’s true that I should have died a long time ago, the Goddess of Nature may have assigned another half to the one I was destined to have, it’s quite possible. In any case, I can never be completely happy, and I need to get that into my head as soon as possible, so as not to be unhappy afterwards.

My eyes widen as Nick’s voice reaches me.

– Off to bed,” he declares.

I stand up slowly and the hand Chris had put on my shoulder moves down my back to the small of my loins, he stands up, leaving his hand in the same place, then moves gently closer without getting too close. When the others leave for the stairs, we follow, arriving on the first floor Nick and Emmett go to their rooms to wish us good night, Lisa takes me in her arms with a big smile.

– If you need anything, I’ll be right across the hall, okay?

– Don’t worry, Lisa.

– I’m so glad you’re here for a whole weekend,” she raves, clapping her hands.

Chris and I laugh as she heads back to her room.

– Don’t do anything stupid,” I hear as she closes the door.

I roll my eyes, not surprised at her mockery. Now that we’re alone, there’s a little white space, feeling his gaze on me my eyes settle on him. I’m lost, this whole thing is such nonsense. How can I stay close to Chris when he’s got half a world away? I’d like to reason with myself and go away, but they’re all so nice to me that I want to enjoy it a little longer. I’m not happy for long anyway, so I don’t have long to wait.

– Well, I’m going to bed too,” I began.

Chris doesn’t reply, but comes over to k**s my cheek. A bigger smile spreads across his face when he sees that I’m blushing. My God, I’m going to get a subscription to the peony red attitude if this keeps up. How embarrassing, I can’t even imagine the look on my face.

– Good night Esra.

– Good night, Chris.

He moves off down the corridor to the back, so I enter my assigned room. Once I’ve closed the door, I go into the adjoining bathroom to undress and take a nice hot shower – me and hot water, we love each other – once I’ve finished I get ready for bed and once I’m in the sheets, what a surprise to see Em appear. I’m going to talk through my thoughts to make sure nobody hears me, it would be stupid to do such a stupid thing in the werewolf house.

– How was your evening?

– Nickel and you something new? I ask.

– No, I’ve searched everywhere, all the hideouts where they’re likely to be, I’ve looked for their energies but I can’t find anything. You don’t know how frustrating it is to spend so much effort and end up with nothing.

Hmm, that’s strange, a witch always leaves something in her wake, and after this afternoon’s phenomenon, there should have been a trace. This doesn’t bode well for what’s to come, and from the look on my reptile’s face, she’s thinking along the same lines.

– Stay close to the pack, I don’t trust you.

– Good idea, I’ll set up a barrier for the night and she’ll get up in the morning.

– That’s more than enough,” I reassured her.

After telling her about my afternoon with Lisa and my evening with the pack, Em left to survey the territory. I get up and go to the window to look around, the moon is full and heavy clouds flood the sky. Returning to my bed, I mentally warn Lisa of what Em has just told me and of our solution for the night. We continue our conversation telepathically for several more minutes, then fall asleep. I hope tomorrow goes well.