Hollow Repentance

- - - - - Izzy's POV - - - - -

"I-I didn't know what to do, what to think. I just needed to be alone to get my head around everything, I mean, it's a lot to take in, so I wandered around the garden until I found the gazebo. It seemed like a good place to think about things. I--I can't remember it getting that cold... What I don't understand, though, how did you find me?"

Glaring as Torren glanced away, I lightly touched his arm and smiled. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had me chipped or something, hence, the tattoo.

His eyes locked with mine and he grew serious; uh-oh.

"Lexi found you; she tracked you through the blizzard using the scent from your hat. She could do that, Izzy, because she's a lycanthrope; a werewolf. You've only ever seen her in human form, but you have seen a lycanthrope in beast form. Remember, the dog in your apartment?"

I shook my head in disbelief and pulled away from his radiating body, hyperventilating. I was still struggling to stand when I leapt from the bed, my eyes wide and lined with sleep.

"Th--thats impossible. It was a dog in my apartment, a dog. Nothing more."

Suddenly, the room started to spin faster around me and I closed my eyes hastily, allowing myself to slip back as I felt as though I was about to lose consciousness again.

A warm fleece blanket wound around my body and Torren's arms crushed over the top, his fingers entwining like a padlock and chains. Trapped.

My heart skipped a beat and pounded furiously against my chest as his breath brushed against my neck, followed by the faint tingle of his tender lips. I melted into his arms, my eyesight slowly but surely regaining.

"You can't escape the truth, child. No matter how far you run, no matter where you hide, you can't escape the truth. Just accept it; ask me whatever you need to know and I'll help if I can."

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