Alone Until I Met You

I did as he commanded, I screamed. He cringed at the high pitch of my scream leaving him unprepared and open. While he was distracted I did what any animal did when they were cornered; attacked. The soft flesh on his neck was unprotected by fur which made it easy for my teeth to dig into. Hot bold spurted into my mouth and against my cheeks as his screams filled the air. I could feel the vibrations from his scream against my teeth like a gentle hum warning me that I hadn’t bitten down on his jugular.

He flung his fists around wildly and landed a solid punch on the side of my neck. I clenched my jaw harder down on his neck transferring the throbbing pain into something useful. Every part of my wolf side was working in overdrive; the muscles in my jaw constricting, the adrenaline pumping in my veins, and my fingernails digging into the back of his neck and shoulder holding him in place. By doing all of this more blood gushed into my mouth blocking off my air supply until I was choking.

I was so preoccupied with making sure that I didn’t suffocate that I didn’t notice his fist hovering over my head until it was too late. With a crack his knuckles slammed into my temple. I yelped out in pain causing the blood that had pooled in my mouth to spray out. Because of where he had hit me at, I momentarily lost my balance and crashed down to the floor with a thud. I coughed and the force of it jerked my insides, sending my head reeling. My arms wrapped themselves around my head trying to soothe my throbbing temple. His blood dripped from my lips, soaking into the ground around me.

“Allie!”

A deadly snap rang out followed by booming footsteps. Knowing that it was Colt who had called out my name I lifted my head slightly and winced at the thundering pain. My head was screaming at me for making such a movement but I didn’t care about the pain because he was coming. When I tried to look for him however I couldn’t find him because two thick legs were blocking my view. A lead ball dropped in my stomach as I slowly looked up at the man.

The dark red liquid stained the front of his shirt, dripping down from the collar and pooling around the chest. One of his hands was clasped around his wounded throat trying to slow down the bleeding. Blood trickled down in-between his knuckles making me cringe. Flecks of blood marked his chin and lower lip which was pulled back into a deadly snarl. His cold black eyes glowered down at me murderously as a growl was rippled up his chest. In one fluid motion I was jerked up off of the ground by my hair and slammed against the wall.

The back of my head smacked the wall making my headache worsen. I wined at the pain but it because soggy in the back of my throat as I stared up at werewolf. His lips were drawn back to reveal his sharpen teeth. The sight of it made my chest tighten with dread and made my legs tremble.

Wolf fangs.

“I was going to play with you for a little bit,” He growled down at me as if I had taken away his fun. “But now I’m just going to kill you.”

He lowered his jaw in a loud growl before thrusting his head down towards my unprotected neck. He was going to bestow me with same attack that I had done to him but unlike mine, his bite was going to kill me. His skin touched my jawline and just as I thought my life was over he was plucked away from me by the back of his shirt and thrown across the room. I watched completely awestruck as he crashed onto one of the wooden table chairs. The wood broke underneath him causing splinters to scatter out in. Kirk rolled around in the pile howling out in pain.

“I told you not to touch her.” My head snapped over to see Colt standing beside me facing Kirk. His face displayed nothing but his eyes… his eyes and voice gave him away. He was furious. A cold shiver ran up my spine and even though I knew that his wrath wasn’t directed at me I was scared. He stood his ground as he glared over at the moaning man. “I promised you a long time ago that I would never hurt you, and despite what happened with Hailey I have kept my promise.”

Kirk’s moaning suddenly stopped and in an instant he was standing up growling at Colt. “Don’t you dare speak of her!”

Colt’s mouth was drawn into a firm line as if he was holding something back. “Kirk I know that the pain you feel can never go away but you can’t hold a grudge against me any longer. You have taken out your revenge on me time and time again but it’s over now. I’m done with letting you do as you please so take this as your last warning. If you ever touch her again I will not hesitate in killing your worthless hide.”

Kirk gasped at the last part and looked at Colt wide eyed and then something flickered in his cold eyes. Suddenly he had this big wolfish grin on his face, “You’ve never had a problem with me killing your women before and now you’re saying that if I touch this mutt I’m as good as dead.”

A growl escaped Colt’s lips as he took a threatening step in Kirk’s direction. Kirk’s smile broadened, “Ahh so my old friend…you’ve finally found her.”

Colt roared in his direction and despite the very huge warning sign he had the audacity to laugh. “Oh my God this is perfect, now you can finally understand the pain you’ve put me through!”

“You have already had you’re revenge!”

Colt’s roar had become so loud that the other werewolves Kirk had brought along were jarred awake. Each one of them winced and moaned as they picked themselves up off of the ground…all but one. I looked over at him carefully. There was no blood gathered around him or even any bruises. I gasped beside Colt at the realization. The awkward position of his neck, the silent heartbeat, and how his back wasn’t rising and falling with each breath should have been a huge give away.

When had that happened? My brain was scrambling form an answer when I remembered. It had happened right after Colt had called out my name. The deadly snap of this man’s neck had been quiet almost silent against my own racing heartbeat and thundering blood. Guilt swelled inside of my chest. Even though the man had been fighting on Kirk’s side I still felt horrible for not noticing his death until now.

The other were’s however did not feel the same way. One of the less beat up ones pick up the dead body and tossed him carelessly over his shoulder then slowly they left the through the exact same door that they had come through. None of them said a single word as they silently followed an unheard command. Kirk, who hadn’t even acknowledged that one of his pack mates had died, followed the others to the door. Before leaving he looked back at Colt.

“Everything else meant nothing to me Coltrane.” He gaze fell upon me and I felt my body betray me yet again with a shudder. As if he had caught my reaction his smile grew. “My revenge ends with her.”

The door slammed behind bringing a close to the conversation. My shoulders sagged with relief as I heard their footfalls descended down the stairs but something inside of my stomach warned me that this was not going to be our final meeting. My nails dug into the palm of my hands at the thought. Yesterday I had been running through endless forest, worrying only about getting food and being alone, but now I was mixed up in some kind of feud and had to fight just to stay alive.

Speaking of the feud, I glanced over at Colt. His gaze was still focused on the door as if he was waiting for someone else to pop in. The muscles in his neck were strained as he watched the door intently. I felt a shiver dance up the length of my arms. Why was he still on guard? I wondered.

It wasn’t until another slam echoed through the large building before he finally let out a sigh. He closed his eyes slowly before bring up his hand and running it through his long dark hair. I couldn’t help but admire each flawless motion that he body made; the way his hard chest rose when he inhaled, how he’s calloused fingers danced through each strand of hair, and the way his cool green eyes softened when they met mine. The whole ordeal was almost enough to make me want to roll onto the ground and show him my stomach in submission.

Luckily I was saved from that when I noticed the gash on his left cheek. My cold fingertips touched my lips slightly as a gasp of disbelief emerged from my mouth. The gruesome cut started just below his lower lip and ended with a nick on the middle of his ear. Blood streaked down the side of his face, smearing his neck as well as his hoodie.

My bottom lips trembled uncontrollably and before I knew it I was standing right in front of him. My hand grazed his face, following the deep red line all the way to his ear. A whimper escaped my throat when I realized just how deep the cut was. That’s going to leave a scar.

To my surprise, Colt leaned his head into my touch and placed his hand over mine silently keeping it held against his cheek. His fresh green eyes helped to sooth away my distress at the injury.

“Don’t worry about it Allie, it’s just a scratch.” He voice was low and husky when he spoke, so much so that it warmed a path from my stomach up to my throat. “Now let me take a look at your head.” With his other hand he grabbed ahold of my chin and turned my head to the side to get a better look. For a moment I was left speechless.

The side of my head was throbbing with excoriating pain but somehow the pain didn’t faze me. I wasn’t withering out in agony or rolling around on the floor crying like I should have been. No, instead I kept glancing at his bloody cheek from the corner of my eye. I was praying silently that the cut wasn’t as bad as it seemed when he probed my swollen temple with his finger. I jerked away from him and howled out at the feeling of a hot iron digging into my skull. My head was pulsing with a new kind of torture. I whined out my displeasure at it all.

“Allie, stop whining okay, I’m sorry I hurt you.” Colt’s strong arms surrounded me pulling me into his tight embrace. His fingers danced around the back of my neck and lower back leaving behind a tingling trail of warmth. His calming voice and magically hands soothed the pain right out of my body. The side of my head that wasn’t injured rested snuggly against his warm chest. The light thuds of his heart beating in his chest helped in taking my mind off of my pounding headache. I was in a lull of complete bliss when his fingers fell away from my body.

I shivered at the loss of touch and nudged my nose into his neck. Where had this breathtaking man come from? His chest rumbled loudly causing me to jump as his deep laughter filled the air. When I realized that he was laughing I jerked myself away from him hoping to catch a glimpse of him smiling. Ironically enough I missed his smile and was instead greeted with his all too familiar frown. His brilliant green eyes dimmed when I had pulled away from him. The sadness I felt pouring from them left a strange twinge in my stomach making me hesitate in what I should do next.

Colt turned then and made his way into the kitchen. “I’m getting you some ice for your head.” He called over his shoulder.

I nodded an ‘okay’ even though I knew he couldn’t see me making the motion. He opened up the refrigerator and pulled out a bag of some kind before closing the door and coming back over to me. Colt reached out for my hand placing the chilled bag in it and then helping me place in on my temple. I hissed at the initial contact but slowly the cooling ice numbed away the throbbing pain.

“Thank you Colt.”

One of his dark eyebrows shot up and he cocked his head slightly to the side. “For the icepack? Don’t worry about it.”

Although I was grateful relief the icepack had given me that wasn’t what I was thanking him for. I shook my head from side to side. “Well yes thanks for that too but I’m also grateful that you saved me from…from Kirk.”

The memory of the man was still too fresh in my mind. The skin in which he had touched felt violated and cold making me shiver. When Kirk had me pinned to the wall, I was left completely unguarded and if Colt hadn’t intervened when he had I would have been killed. So this time when I looked up into his emerald green eyes I was silently thanking him again for saving my life.

He simply nodded his head, accepting my gratitude without question. “You probably have a lot of questions about how he and I know each other.”

He had said it more like a statement than a question so I didn’t feel like he required my answer. It was true though. I did have questions about what had happened between the two. It was obvious that the two had been friends but what had driven them apart? What about this Hailey character? Kirk had become enraged at the mere mention of her name so she had to be someone close to him. There was also the question as to why Kirk felt that I was of worth to Colt. The man had knocked down the door demanding that I was Colt’s girlfriend.

I nodded my head over to him when he didn’t say anything. His eyes darkened until he was glowering at me. I could feel the hairs on that back of my neck rise up warning me that I had done something wrong. I was about to ask him what I had done when his brisk voice cut me off.

“Keep them to yourself then.” With that he turned away leaving me with my mouth gaping open. It took only a few seconds before my brain switched back on.

Keep my questions to myself…what?

When he passed by the broken chair in the kitchen he mumbled something in coherent before kicking a few wooden chunks around. I wasn’t sure if he was angry because the chair was broken or because Kirk had broken it but either way I followed behind him. Once he was done fussy over the thing he made his way to the kitchen sink.

“B-but I don’t understand,” He turned the facet on before picking up a nearby rag and dipping it under the running water. “Why did that guy…Kirk wanted to-

He jerked the facets ‘off’ making a loud screeching sound that stop me in my tracks. Slowly, almost gracefully, he turned around and faced me. His hard green eyes stared firmly into mine, cautioning me not to say another word. In just two strides he was right in front of me. His cool green eyes were staring down at me and the warmth of his body was coming off of him in waves, both made me shiver from the intensity.

“What happened between me and Kirk is going to stay between us so get used to having those questions go unanswered.” He spoke it in a very dry monotone manner, almost as if speaking about their past made him feel uncomfortable.

I lowered the icepack from the side of my head and set it down on the nearby counter. With both of my hands now free I reached out and grabbed ahold of one of his. The freezing ice from the pack had left my one hand feeling numb and frozen. With my hand firmly placed in his though it was already feeling warmer.

“I do have questions about what happened between the two of you but I can wait.” His hand tightened against mine and I quickly looked up to meet his gaze. “I’ll wait for you to tell me what happened Colt, I owe you that much.”

His emerald eyes sparkled a magnificent green and I became entranced by the sudden change.

“You might have to wait a while for that to happen.” he spoke before lifting up the towel in my direction.

I had assumed that he meant to clean the wound on his cheek but when he gestured for me to come closer I realized that he intended it for me. I reached out for the rag but he shook his head again. Closing the distance between us he raised the wet cloth to my chin and started dabbing away the already crusted blood. The way he carefully polished the blood from my chin and cheek made my lower stomach tighten. How was it that such an intimating man could be so gentle?

When I felt as if my chin was clean enough I reached up and snatched the cloth from him. He frowned down at me for taking it away from him but did not attempt to get it back. The gesture made the cut on his cheek reopen and blood seeped out from the reopened wound. I winced for him and then without even thinking about it re-soaked the rag before dabbing the warm cloth onto his cheek. The more blood I wiped away the more gruesome the gash became. The jagged pieces of skin stuck out and blood started trickling down. My throat tightened as the cut became more defined and when I was finished it looked like a chuck of ground meat.

The cloth dropped to the floor. He had gotten this cut because he was protecting me. My fingers traced along the jagged cut, feeling his rough skin along the way.

“Allie,” His hand inched its way behind my neck causing me to shiver at the warm touch. Carefully he pulled me closer to him until his nose was rubbing up against my neck. “I told you already that it’s just a scratch.”

My voice shook as I whispered in horror in his ear. “I can practically see bone.” I pushed him away from me so that I could get a better look at the gash.

He turned his face to the side blocking the gory image from my sight. “You know that we heal fast Allie. It’ll be a scar in an hour.”

I blinked up at him for a moment. Truth was that I hadn’t actually known that we could heal that quickly. I had lived isolated in the woods all of my life only coming into contact with a few wolves over the years. With no other wolves around I had no need to fight meaning that I was never injured. Obviously I didn’t want him to know that.

“I know it’s just…” Heat rose to my face as I tried to figure out what to say. “I was just….worried that’s all.”

“You shouldn’t worry about me Allie, I can take care of myself.”

Feeling embarrassed that I had been worried about him I dropped my gaze down to the floor and looked at my delicate human toes. The tiny pink numbs curled into the floor as I swayed back and forth on my heels. “I know,” I mumbled to him. “But I was still worried.”

“Well next time there is a fight I need you to be focused on one thing and one thing only,” He placed his index finger under my chin and raised it until our eyes met.

My throat felt tight as I stared into his eyes. “What’s that” I whispered.

“Yourself.”

I could feel a frown working its way onto my face. I didn’t like it. He wanted me to only think of myself when we were in the mists of another battle? How could he say something like that? As if I was selfish enough to only keep my own wellbeing in mind.

“No.”

He frowned down at me. “No?”

“No.”

His hand dropped away from my chin only to rest by his side. “What do you mean by no?”

I released his other hand and placed them both on either side of my hips. Demonstrating how serious I was about this. “You can’t honestly believe that I’m selfish enough to only worry about myself when we are in a fight, can you?”

“Of course I can and you will.”

“So you only thought about yourself when you were fighting Kirk’s friends.”

His eyes lit up at that one and his brows knitted together. “This isn’t about me Allie-

“Ah-ha so you admit it. You were thinking about me when you were fighting those goons.” I exclaimed.

A growl escaped from his lips as he leaned slightly forwards with threatening intentions. “That was different?”

“Different how?” I asked abruptly.

“Because I’m stronger then you are Allie. I can afford to think about you but you on the other hand aren’t that strong. You need all of your strength focused on one thing just to stay alive.” His voice had escalated into a roar by the end of it all and I couldn’t help but stare back at him wide eyed.

He had used that tone of voice on Kirk when he was yelling but never had he used it on me. I could already feel a whimper working its way up through my throat so I turned my head away in attempt to keep it at bay.

“Allie…” I could feel the tips of Colt’s fingers scrapped against the side of my cheek and the whimper I had been holding back escaped. Instantly Colt jerked his hand away and started muttering something nasty before he rumbled out a sigh. “You know what you’ve been through a lot today and I’m sure that yelling is the last thing you need. We’ll talk tomorrow after we’re both gotten some rest.” He walked over to the other couch pulling off the blanket and tossing it to me. “You can sleep on the couch tonight. If you need me I’ll be in that room.” He pointed to the first door in the hallway. It had been the same door that he had gone into when we had first entered the apartment.

Then without so much as a glance back to me or anything else he left slamming his door behind him. I jumped at the sound that still vibrated through the air. Inside of my chest I could still feel my emotions running wild; the anger I felt from him saying to only care for myself, the sadness from being yelled at, and the fear that of being left alone again. None of them were going to do me any good however and maybe Colt was right. Maybe we both needed to sleep for a bit.



It was the loud crack that jolted me awake from my nightmare. I flung the blanket off of me and looked around the dark room to see nothing but black. My entire body was shaking with fear as I searched through the darkness looking for him. Another crack sounded like the end of a whip and suddenly the room flashed with light. I jumped at the sound seeing everything popping out of the darkness in a flash before hiding themselves again. Before the light completely faded away I saw his face hiding nearby. His coal black eyes smiling at me, his twisted white grin laughing as fear consumed me, and his black shirt soaked with blood.

Without a second thought I sprung up from the couch and ran for the door. My heart was racing so fast against my chest that I felt as if I was going to pass out from not inhaling quick enough. The knob of the door slipped through my fingers making my fear heighten even more. Suddenly the door gave and I flung myself into the room. Without being able to see anything in the room I had to rely solely on my sense of smell. I scrambled over to where he was not even feeling it when I knocked my shins against the bed frame. Once I felt the sheets under my hands I called out his name.

“Colt!”

The force of him shooting up from the bed was enough to make the entire thing shake. Another crack sounded through the place making me scream when the bright flash lite the room. Not wanting to see his face again in the darkness I blindly felt my way over to Colt. I cried out at the sheer feel of the man before curling myself into his side. My whole body was shaken with fear as I dug my nails into his side, holding him in place.

I could feel just how alert he was under my touch and that eased my mind the tiniest bit. When he was done sniffing out the room he wrapped his arm around me and laid back down on the bed. I buried my head into his hard naked chest just as another booming crack sounded. My yelp was so hard that it hurt my own throat. Colt’s arms tightened around me enfolding me into his warmth and filling my senses with him. His hand ran down the length of my hair going all the way down to my back before started again.

“Shhh, now Allie, shhh. I’m here.” He whispered into my hair.

Tightness grew in my chest. I wanted to tell him who it was that I saw in the darkness but the pressure held and all I could make out were whimpers and whines. Another crack sounded and this time it was followed by the quick pitter patter of rain drops smashing into the building.

“Allie, sweetie, tell me what has you so frightened.”

The cracking dryness of my throat had me wheezing into his chest but the words finally formed on my lips. “I saw him Colt. I saw him.”

His warm soothing voice ran over me like a hot liquid calming down my nerves and fears. “Who did you see?”

“Kirk. I saw Kirk.”

His comforting rubbing froze for a moment before he continued again. “It was just a dream Allie, Kirk’s not here.”

Already his voice was fading slowly making me drift off into a dreamless sleep but somewhere deep in my mind I knew that what I had seen staring back at me was not a dream. Kirk had been there. He had been watching me sleep. Waiting for me to scream.