Torn Between Mates

#13 Attack

Ella's breathing increased as she gawked at Riven in fear and surprise. He had seen her shift. Why didn't he tell anyone? Or was he not fully aware of her situation? Whatever it was, Riven was a red flag. She pushed him, running away from him with all her might. She knew if she tried, she could escape anyone, even Riven.

Riven grunted in annoyance. Why was everyone running away from him? When he looked at her moving farther and farther, his eyes fell on her shoes. It seemed familiar. But he couldn't quite establish where he had seen those. He brushed off that weird thing he was wondering about. Of course, he must have seen her wearing those. Given her situation, she couldn't possibly own multiple pairs. She repeated her clothes so often.

He grunted when he couldn't stop himself from following her. Was anything anymore in his control? It annoyed him, but he, anyway, followed his heart. Otherwise, he felt it would simply explode out of anxiety. He felt like something too precious was slipping away from his grasp.

"s**t!" Ella grumbled, increasing her pace.

She wondered if she should shift since her wolf would be much faster. Riven already knew about it. So what was stopping her? She started running towards the treeline, jumping, shifting in midair into her magical white wolf. Her eyes shimmered a purple glow as she landed on her four paws. She looked back, howling. She growled when she saw someone gawking at her other than Riven. It was the beautiful girl in the purple dress from the ball. She wondered if she had seen her shift. She was worried that someone more had discovered her secret. Without taking any more chances, she ran like chaos in the wind and sky, wild like a raging storm.

Riven saw Chloe emerging from the corner just after Ella shifted. He was worried that she had seen Ella's face. For some reason, Ella didn't want anyone to find her secret. So he felt a profound necessity to protect it for her. He went back and forth about finding it out or following Ella. He grunted in annoyance when he realized it wasn't even a choice. His heart had already left behind Ella. He growled, shifting to his black wolf, chasing after Ella. He knew Chloe wouldn't take it easy. But he didn't care. He only hoped that Chloe didn't follow him.

Chloe gaped in awe. She had never seen a much more beautiful wolf in her entire life. Did something change when she was away from Cynthia? She dreaded that she didn't see it was whose wolf. She couldn't even guess the gender. After all, it moved so fast that she doubted if it was all a dream. Didn't they say all the pure white werewolves vanished when she lived in the Cynthia till her early teens? She sighed, reasoning that she might be wrong. Perhaps it was just some random wolf who had strayed its way inside the boundary. But she couldn't forget its shimmer and that stern gaze. She had a glimpse, but it was the most mesmerizing moment of her life.

Chloe was still processing what she had witnessed when she saw Riven running from the opposite direction. She was confused. Was he being chased by a ghost? What was with that speed? He was grunting and grumbling, looking towards the treeline. Did he see it too? Maybe. Their eyes met for a brief second. She had not even raised her hand to wave at him when he turned his face away from her. It broke her heart into pieces. He didn't even care to give her a little gesture. Everything was much more important than hers. Wasn't he who asked for this date? Why was he ditching her? She wondered if he was running like that to escape from him. She forgot about the white wolf, focusing on Riven when he vanished into the treeline after shifting into his black wolf.

Chloe cussed. She couldn't let Riven run away from her again. She shifted immediately to follow Riven. She entered the treeline, sniffing. The treeline was oozing with his heavenly scent. But there was a trace of another dominant presence. She sniffed again. But this time she couldn't pick it. She shook her head, wondering if she was imagining things. First, the white wolf, and now this scent. She followed his faint essence, her eyes shimmering with rage.

Ella's wolf's alluring aura and essence enthralled Riven, even if it was too faint for him to establish what it was. But it made him go crazy about her. It surprised him to be able to pick on her essence. It wasn't the case last time. Were they forming a bond in some strange fashion? It churned his heart upon that heavy realization. Ella's words echoed through his ears, playing again and again. Was he falling for her? No! It couldn't be true. Wasn't he interested in that mystery girl yesterday? He didn't even notice Ella was missing when he saw her. It must be out of his curiosity and worry. He followed her essence, rustling through the thick forest. He felt an adrenaline rush. He growled in ecstasy. Wasn't it similar to the Claiming event? He howled again in euphoria, chasing her wolf even if he hadn't seen it yet.

Not far ahead, Ella scuttled through the dense forest expeditiously, with no care for the branches and twitches she was breaking with her hasty moves. Not until she picked up the familiar unwanted scent she hadn't realized she had gotten too deep inside the forest, trying to avoid Riven. She could feel him chasing her like a mad wolf. She slipped when she suddenly stopped running out of fear. It was only yesterday she had gotten herself into trouble. Was she a trouble magnet now? She was even more alert since the smell was pretty fresh. What if they had seen her too? She knew she was no fighter. She looked in all directions, hoping to see Riven, her only hope.

"Crack..." She jerked, shifting into her human form when she heard a footstep. She looked in that direction, swallowing hard. It was a man she had never seen in her life. Yet he seemed terrifying. She could tell he was there to kill her.

"Very brave of you. Was it you who chased me yesterday?" The man taunted, getting closer.

Ella stuttered, taking a step back.

"Hi, I am Dan, the one who kills you." Dan sneers, sending a shiver down Ella's spine. She looked at him with pitiful eyes, pleading with him to spare her.

"Crack..." Another sound echoed. A bullet passed by Ella, startling her. She closed her ears and eyes, tears falling freely for her dear life. She shivered in fear, screaming for her help.

"Ella..." She heard a faint whispering voice. But her mind was too occupied to bother about it.

What was the need to run so deep into the forest? No, why did she think it was imperative to run away from Riven when he had already found her truth? She should have negotiated something.

For all she knew, there were more. The traitor wolves ambushed her for jeopardizing their mission. They must want to kill her. She needed to escape back to the pack and inform them about it. She regretted her choice. She made a terrible mistake by not intimidating them about these traitors.

She closed her eyes, praying to the moon goddess to send Riven soon for her help. She was worried that she had outrun him and he had lost his way to her. She screamed for help, trying to use something the other wolves called a packlink. It was a telepathic mind link the wolves of the same pack used to communicate. She hoped it would work, at least for this one time, for her life's sake. But she did not know how to do that. She cried in agony. She was a foolish girl. Perhaps it was her destiny to die at the hands of these almost-rogue wolves.

The pack members never really used packlink to communicate with Ella. Or maybe they couldn't because she could never do that. Over the years, she didn't feel its importance. Then it slowly became a well-established fact that she didn't even have a primitive wolf ability. It pushed her further down the hierarchy.

About a dozen wolves emerged from all sides, surrounding her. She screamed as loudly as she could for help, closing her eyes and hoping for another miracle. But when nothing happened, except that it made those wolves chuckle and jeer her, giving haughty remarks, she rose to her feet, growling in a rage.

Her eyes shimmered with a purplish hue. Something came over her, taking control. She had never felt so confident in her life. Suddenly, a dozen wolves seemed like nothing to her. Her wolf was fearless. She assumed it was so easy to beat them all that the fight might get over in a blink. She started transforming from her legs, her bones breaking into paws as she glared with fury.

But she had nearly begun shifting when a bullet pierced through her. Her eyes widened in shock, her mouth opening in bewilderment. She fell to the ground with a thud, anxious as blood oozed out of her wound. She groaned in pain, feeling everything getting blurry. A teardrop rolled from her eyes. Whatever had taken control over had evaporated. She was left feeling miserable and sorry for herself.

She knew it wasn't a random bullet. It was a special one coated with wolfsbane and silver designed to kill werewolves. She was about to die. Even if Riven finds her now, it would be too late. She struggled to stay awake, but her eyelids weighed down. She blinked to keep her eyes from shutting, and her breathing became heavy. But darkness began to engulf her.

"Ella..." She heard a voice echoing in her head, or was it coming from somewhere near? A teardrop rolled down her cheek as she could not fight back her eyelids again.

This time she didn't see her life flash through her eyes. It was Riven that crossed her mind. Why did she run away from him? It pained her more from heartbreak than the bullet wound as she lost her senses.