“Shit, you wake her. I’m not,” a male voice says, as a bright light shines into my eyes and then disappears again. I mentally groan; my head is killing me, and the light is annoying my eyes.
“We should wake her. We’re going to be at the pack in ten minutes. She needs to be awake for that,” a woman’s voice says in reply, and a hand shakes my shoulder. I blink my eyes open, pulling my head off the side of the car door where I was leaning, and look over into a pair of bright green eyes. They belong to a woman about my age, with long golden curly hair and doll-like features. She smiles widely, making her look even more innocent, but there’s something else about her; it’s in her eyes. She looks too old in them, older than she should be. I move a little in my seat, wincing at the pain in my leg, and then everything comes back in a rush. The wolf biting me and the grey wolf I saw running towards me. I look down at my leg, which is bandaged up, then at my clothes, which are the same as what I was wearing at the party, but the leggings are rolled up.
“Careful, I wouldn’t move that leg if I was you. Until you shift, you won’t be able to heal quickly. So that’s going to be sore for a while,” the girl says, turning my attention back to her. I feel around my pockets, pulling out my phone and trying to turn it on. I need to call Colton, but the battery is flat, and the screen has cracks all over it.
“It’s flat; you’ve been out for five days. Here,” the girl says, and offers me a chocolate chip muffin in a wrapper.
“Five days?” I ask, feeling the hunger overrunning any of my common sense and I rip the muffin open. I eat it as she watches me closely, like I’m going to attempt to jump out the window of the moving car. I stop eating the food when I realise I’ve been missing five days. Five days, and Colton isn’t going to know where I’ve gone. My bracelet is still there, and I find my hand rubbing against the crystals.
“It always happens, and it's always five days. I think it’s something to with the shifter gene getting your body ready for your first shift. But no one really knows,” she tells me.
“Shift?” I ask her, my voice sounding croaky.
“Let’s just get the fucking awkward part out of the way, shall we? We are wolf shifters. You were bitten by a rogue we were hunting, and you’re going to shift tonight,” the man driving the car says, and I look over at him. He has wavy blond hair that falls to his ears, and his green eyes meet mine through the car mirror.
“Please ignore my twin. Erik is an insensitive idiot,” the woman says, and hands me a bottle of water from her bag. I take it with a nod, as I try to process what he just said. Wolf shifter. They must be joking.
“Anyway, I’m Gold Maystone, but most people call me G.” She offers me a hand, and I look at her wearily before shaking my head, and her hand drops.
“Are you joking or trying to make me look stupid? Wolf shifters?” I say, putting the water bottle in my lap after having a drink. I guess they could have poisoned it, but I don’t see why they would bother now. They’ve clearly been looking after me for some reason.
“No joke, Wolfy,” Erik says.
“Shut it,” Gold snaps, and then smiles at me.
“I know this is a lot to take in and believe what I’m telling you, but it’s true. Wolf shifters are one of many kinds, and it only takes one bite,” she explains, and pulls her white cardigan off.
“I was bitten when I was seventeen, three hundred years ago. A rogue took me, bit me, and then tried to make me his mate. Erik saved me but got bit himself doing so.” She says and shows me a bite mark on her upper arm before pulling her cardigan back on. The bite mark is large and looks deep, a whiter colour than the rest of her pale skin, but it’s clear what it is.
“This is all crazy.” I lean back and remember how the wolf looked at me; how it seemed to get mad when I got my phone out. Colton isn’t going to believe this when I tell him.
“Did you just say three hundred?” I ask her, and she nods, her blonde hair bouncing in front of her eyes. “So, you're immortal?”
“You are too. I mean, we can still be killed, but other than that, we live for a long time,” she replies, and I don’t know how to process that or believe it. Everything she is saying feels like a haze.
“And you hunt rogues? You want me to believe that?” I ask her sarcastically, but she doesn’t seem to pick up on it.
“Why wouldn’t you?” she asks.
“No offence, but you look like a Barbie doll and as innocent as a kitten,” I say flatly, and Erik laughs loudly. I watch as Gold whacks him on the arm, and he still keeps laughing.
“Looks can be deceiving.” She winks, clearly not offended and has likely heard that one before.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask her carefully, after looking out the window at the trees we are driving through.
“To your new pack. Well, our pack,” she says brightly.
“Where exactly is that?” I ask her first because there are so many questions for that reply.
“It’s just outside a town called Lunaton. Which is in central Ireland,” she says.
“You took me to Ireland?” I ask her, and she nods her head. Ireland is far away from Stratford-upon-Avon, where I was living. It's also so far away from Colton.
“Yes. We are the only Irish pack, and even though Gold and I aren’t Irish, most the pack is,” Erik answers.
“Pack?” I ask Gold instead of Erik. That guy is strange.
“The name of a big group of wolves that live together. My family, and now yours too. Wolves need to be near others, or they start to go mad. It’s not natural for wolves not to be with others,” she explains.
“So, the rogue who bit me?” I ask. It makes more sense that the wolf might have gone a little mad, with the way he attacked me. If there were a normal person inside that wolf, then that wouldn’t have happened.
“Is dead,” Erik says before Gold can say anything, and she hits him on the arm again.
“Rogues are exiled wolves, on the run from packs and humans. Wolves never leave packs of their own choice, and if they did, it would be a terrible decision. We have a royal family who you go to and change packs if there are issues and you want to move. Shifters can’t be on their own long before their wolves end up taking over their human mind. The wolf in them literally kills them, and we hunt them down, making sure they don’t hurt anyone,” she tells me gently.
“You were too late this time. Someone did get hurt, and you’ve taken me from my life,” I say, and she frowns, resting a hand on my arm.
“Maybe some things are meant to be. You didn’t have anyone, and your foster mum had your bags packed at your home when we went there. She didn’t even want to know where you were when I got the cash out to pay her off, and she was a selfish human. You have a home now, and people who will be there for you.” She moves her hand, leaning back in her seat.
“I had someone, and he will come for me.” I frown at her confused look and look out the window again. I just have to find a way to tell Colton where I am, because I can’t believe it’s meant for me to be away from him.
No matter if this was meant to be, how am I meant to accept it without Colton?