Bitterly, I swept the tears off my face and swallowed the pain that threatened to destroy whatever was left of me, because now, without Isis, I was truly alone. I had nothing.
Wiping my palms on the heavy comforter, I forced myself to regain control, and guided my attention back to my immediate reality and “peculiar” surroundings. Pushing the fluffy cover aside to free my legs, I noticed that I no longer wore the linen shirt and pants that were the pack’s standard clothing.
Instead, a matching pair of pink, fuzzy shorts and an oversized top of the same material covered my body. The cozy fabric caressed my skin, but I wasn’t sure how to feel about a stranger undressing me and dressing me back up like a human doll.
Also, it was fair to say that was probably the least of my problems right now.
Taking a steeling breath, I glanced at my surroundings beyond the sumptuous bed where I sat. A gasp escaped me. My eyes couldn’t instantly find the end of the space, making the room easily the size of the pack’s communal dining room.
Soft hues of lilac, grey, and light cream spread over the entire space, including the dividing wall that faced me. A large fireplace made of smooth grey slabs stood in its center, extending fromfloor to ceiling as a soft fire swayed inside it, keeping the room perfectly toasty. A large painting of a pastel-colored forest I shouldn’t recognize hung from the stone over the mantel, yet it somehow seemed familiar.
Double bookcases in a whitewashed wood framed the fireplace on both sides, filled to the brim with books while two large, cozy-looking chairs before it tempted me to sit and enjoy a read. I’d never had the opportunity to read a real book—other than the picture ones Isis used to teach me how to read when I was a child.
With a silent plea from my soul, my feet touched the plush carpet, each step taking me toward the bookcases, but something stopped me before I could get there.
Eyes widening, I slowly turned toward the floor-to-ceiling windows that encased a wall-wide balcony to my right. The wall of glass, however, was not what stopped me in my tracks, but rather the magnificent view proudly displayed through it. Before I realized what I was doing, I rushed up the two steps that took me to the balcony, swinging its doors wide open.
The second I stepped off the carpet and onto the cold tile, the unusual, yet wonderful noises that filtered into my ears when I first awoke returned with relentless force—the chaos, the laughter, the children…
“The city!” I breathed, gripping the steel railing at the edge of the terrace as my heart pounded madly within my chest, almost bursting out of me. “I’m in the city…” I repeated in disbelief.
And still, the sight was nothing like I’d ever imagined or expected it to be. Nothing like the little town at the skirt of theCrystal Glow Mountainsin Colorado.
A dazzling forest of red, yellow, and orange trees spread below me as the sun appeared to begin setting in the sky, though many were already losing their pretty leaves. However, this was not like the forest where I’d lived all of my life.
Perhaps, it wasn’t a forest at all.
The innumerable rounded trees that painted the land seemed to gather around a large, peaceful lake, but they were all perfectly contained within a concrete jungle. A multitude of grey buildings rose around its boundaries, reaching for the sky like they wanted to touch it. Light reflected off some of the towers, making it seem as though they were made of glass.
Buildings of all sizes stretched before my eyes in every direction, including the one I was in, forming cluster after cluster, and occupying every single possible inch of land they could find. My eyes fell on a blueish rooftop to my left when the chilled breeze wrapped me in a welcomed embrace. Its pointy towers reminded me of the castles in the picture books from when I was a child.
Somehow, despite the heart-wrenching emotions that churned inside me, lighthearted happiness slipped through once I glanced below. For the first time in my life, I was no longer on top of the human world, I was part of it.
Throngs of people walked the streets, somehow doing it without bumping into each other. Some dressed in all black, talking on the phone while they walked faster than anyone else—clearly in a hurry to get to where they needed to be. Others casually strolled across the road, holding bags, and drinking from the paper cups they held while wearing vibrant hats and scarves. A group of young girls, around my age, laughed as they walked together into the colorful trees, and several businesses framed the buildings around me. It all felt so surreal.
Humans. Real humans… and I was so close to them.
So close that my pulse began to race uncontrollably, and my wolf became restless with hope and excitement. She was eager to join them, her renewed duty to protect them becoming fiercer than anything I had ever felt from her. My wolf’s joy spreadthrough me at the sight, a feeling I thought I would no longer get the chance to feel, but now rushed freely throughout my being.
“Central Parkis gorgeous, isn’t it? I totally loveNew York Cityin the Fall.” The feminine voice startled the crap out of me.
I whirled around to find Vanessa snuggled with a coffee cup in the chair a few feet from me. No threat exuded from her, my instincts said there was no danger, but it was too late. My wolf pushed to the forefront, ready to defend me from the unknown “attacker”, her claws ripping through my fingertips in reflex and drawing blood.
“Aaah,” the pain-filled moan escaped my lips as I cradled my hands to my chest, bending forward. The joke was on me and my wolf, knowing that even if the Vampire before me attacked, I couldn’t exactly defend myself from her like this.
“Shit!” Vanessa gasped, dropping her cup, and rushing to my side. “I’m so sorry, girl. I didn’t mean to scare you. I-I thought you knew I was there. I’m sorry.” She tried to hold my hands, but I stepped away from her.
“Don’t touch me,” I warned, letting my wolf’s growl seep through my voice as I tried to hold on to the hate I’d felt for them not two minutes ago—for taking me away from Isis.
Pain filled her eyes and she nodded, taking a step back too. “Of course. Forgive me.”
The hurt in her voice almost made me regret my outburst. Almost. Still, even if she looked like an innocent human, she was averydangerous monster. A Vampire. Although, in a messed-up way, she and the others had saved my life, I didn’t know who they were, or if I could trust them.
“You didn’t say you were here,” I reluctantly added in a calmer voice, “and I didn’t see you.”
Her confused eyes settled on me. “Yeah, but you are a Wolf Shifter. You have heightened senses and stuff. Didn’t you sense me here?”
Well, crap. She had a point. What the hell happened to my senses? I hadn’t smelled the stench of Vampire nearby and I definitely didn’t sense a dangerous monster.
