Chapter 48 - The Werewolf Cometh...

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur. Arik continued to practise with Drake and Carter while Kerri went off to God-knows-where with Joshua and Mel.

“Arik!” Drake snapped, obviously not in a good mood. “Be careful. I could’ve killed you.”

“What? Oh, yeah, sorry.”

“You and Carter aren’t focused enough,” Drake said, telling them off as if they were children. “I know you two have found your True Loves and everything, but there’s a time for everything. And now is not the time for you to fret about your Mates. They are fine.”

“Sorry,” Arik and Carter muttered.

“If you’re distracted like this later on, Woodland and his pals will kill you. You don’t want that happening, do you?”

“No,” they answered simultaneously. Drake can be very intimidating when he wanted to be.

“I thought so. Now focus.”

***

The tension at the table during dinner was so obvious it was almost tangible.

“I’m going to leave early with Mel and Joshua just in case Ty comes early,” Kerri murmured to him.

“Do you have to?”

She kissed him. “It’s for the best.”

His grip around her tightened. “When are you leaving, then?”

“Well, now.”

Arik sighed.

Hey, Kerri soothed him, running her fingers through his hair. It’s going to be okay.

Mm.

She kissed him. Come on, where’s the fight in you? Don’t die on me, okay?

He kissed her cheek. I’ll try.

She stood up and was about to follow Joshua and Mel out of the dining room when Arik grabbed onto her arm.

“Yes?” she asked, turning around.

He stood up to face her and reached behind his neck to unclasp his necklace.

“I want you to have this,” he said, placing it around her neck.

She smiled. “Thank you.” I think we’re officially a cute couple now.

Arik kissed her one last time and watched her walk away.

***

Carter was pacing the room, Drake was staring moodily into the mirror and Arik was thinking about Kerri. Where was she? Had Woodland already taken her? No, that wouldn’t be possible.

He checked his watch. It was eleven thirty. Woodland should be here soon. He cleared his throat once, and then twice. It was too quiet in this room.

Carter and Drake looked drearily up at him, and he shook his head. “It’s going to be over soon,” he said, forcing a smile on his face.

“We’re not sulking because of the fight,” Drake said dully. “The fight we’re looking forward to.”

“Then what is it?”

“Not knowing whether our Mates are going to be okay,” Carter snapped.

“Well, I have the same concern as well. You had the opportunity to back out of this, but now you’ve joined in, you’ve got to stay in, okay?” Arik snapped back.

Carter scowled at him and he scowled back.

“How are they going to get in here without setting the alarms off?” Drake wondered aloud.

“He used to work for the Sterling,” Arik said, directing his scowl at Drake. “I’m sure he’ll find a way.”

“Yeah, but all the passwords and locks have been changed since he’s been away. We change them every time someone leaves us, remember? Just in case they decide to betray us.”

“Oh crap.”

“You should be glad, maybe then he won’t be able to come.”

“No, he’ll definitely come, and he’ll make a public entrance so that we’ll get in trouble afterwards.”

Drake and Carter groaned and Carter was about to say something when suddenly a crack appeared in the ceiling, causing it to give way and causing a large crash. All three men were thrown back against the wall. They exchanged a look, nodding to each other for good luck as they watched three men emerge from the smoke.

Woodland came out first. “Hello, Channing-Driscoll.” Then he smirked. “No wait; it’s just Channing now, isn’t it? Your father’s very disappointed that you decided to drop his name.”

Arik scowled and cast a spell on the door to make sure it stayed locked. “Let’s get this over with.”

“What? No inviting me for a cup of tea? Maybe a biscuit?”

Arik hurled a large gust of wind at him. “Go screw yourself.”

Woodland laughed and dodged it easily. “You’re still so predictable after all these years.”

Arik tightened the grip of his mind so that Woodland wouldn’t be able to gain control of him and use his thoughts. Woodland had always been good at mind-control.

Woodland smirked. “Don’t you want to know whether I brought your lady love, Channing?”

Arik scowled, although he was a bit put off. “Don’t bring Sitara into this.”

Woodland laughed. “Don’t worry. I told her that you wouldn’t want to see her and made her stay.”

Arik growled. “Enough.” Two men appeared behind Woodland, and with a slight nod of his head, all three of them suddenly grew into wolves and ripped right through their clothing.

Arik and Drake morphed into dragons. Arik headed straight for Woodland while behind him, Drake and Carter went for the other wolves.

The fight was a blur. It was like old times, when Arik and Woodland used to wake up early in the morning to practise their skills, but this was fuelled by hate and anger.

He was doing fine when suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw Carter fly past him and hit the wall, unconscious. Drake yelled to him that he got it, and Arik nodded, distracted.

Arik continued to fight Woodland, mostly defending himself and blocking his blows then attacking, since he had to help defend Carter’s comatose form as well.

You were always too compassionate, Channing, Woodland sneered in his head.

Better than being a cold bastard like you.

It’s fun being me, actually. You should try it.

Over my dead body.

Woodland shot a wall of fire at him. By the time I’m finished with you, you will be a dead body.

Arik flipped up and over it, unleashing a stream of fire at him. We’ll see, he thought smugly as one of Woodland’s men slumped down next to them, out cold.

Woodland growled and suddenly leapt towards Arik, and his men did the same to Drake. They crashed through the glass and landed in the garden below. Arik and Drake hissed in pain, as dragons detested glass and detested glass even more when it was stuck in their body. Arik curled his tail around Woodland’s leg and flung him out. Woodland crashed against a tree, but quickly regained his position growling.

Suddenly, something crashed down onto the ground next to them. Everybody’s head whipped around to see what it was.

Carter. Arik looked up. A wolf was standing up there, looking out of the broken glass wearily, having just awoken. It must’ve had pushed Carter off the building before he had time to wake up. Arik’s snarled ferociously. The bastard.

He looked back to Woodland just in time to see Woodland leaping towards him. He collided into him and they slammed into the wall. Arik’s head hit the brick wall, and everything went black.

***

When Arik came to, he was bound to a tree, and he was human again.

“Wha—“ he muttered groggily.

“Glad to see you’re coming to, Channing.” Woodland had morphed back to human and was sneering down at him.

Arik snarled at him and strained against the ropes and then howled in pain.

Woodland’s sneer grew. “Like our new ropes? They were designed especially for dragons, seeing that they hate glass so much and all.” He motioned towards the ropes, which were encrusted with small but sharp shards of glass that stuck out in every direction.

Arik scowled at him wordlessly and looked around. Carter was still unconscious, but was tied up anyway. Drake looked well and truly pissed off, although he couldn’t do anything about it because he was gagged and tied up with the glass-crusted rope as well.

“You know, Channing, for the last few months, I’ve been practising a new skill that my five-centuries-old friend taught me.” He kneeled down so that he was the same height as Arik. “It’s basically when you slip into another’s mind and not only take control, but you can also send out messages telepathically to another person in the name of the person you’re controlling.” He smirked. “Fascinating, isn’t it?”

Arik was about to tell him how flipping fascinating it wasn’t when he felt something pierce through his mind like a giant headache and took a firm grip of his mind. Arik howled and tried to block it out, but Woodland was strong.

With an evil smile on his face, Woodland took out a piece of cloth and gagged Arik with it. Then he slowly flipped through Arik’s memories.

“Interesting,” he murmured as he went over the…intimate experience he shared with Kerri that night. “Very interesting indeed.” His eyebrows suddenly rose when he got to the…good part. “True Loves, eh?”

Arik snarled but could do nothing. Suddenly, he could hear himself sending out telepathic messages. To Kerri. His eyes widened, and he strained against the ropes and tried to yell for Kerri not to fall for it, but the rope and the gag didn’t help.

Kerri? Kerri, love, his voice thought smoothly. Arik prayed for Kerri to be in a deep, deep sleep.

Arik? Her voice came on uncertainly. He groaned. Of course she wasn’t.

You can come out now, love, he heard himself think, everything’s all right. It’s all over. Arik struggled helplessly against the rope, aware but not caring as the glass drove into his skin, burning him.

Are you sure?

No, no, no, he wanted to yell. No. Woodland grinned. Yes, love, you can come out now.

Arik watched in silent horror as Kerri stepped out tentatively from behind a waterfall and out.

“No,” he choked out through the gag, but it was too late.

Woodland and his men were gone.

And so was Kerri.

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