Number 16

“Good night, send my greetings to your charming prince and my papa bear.” Anna teased wagging her eyebrows. “Good night, Anna. You need sleep to stop being silly.” Lorelei smiled a little grabbing her bag and coat from the stand before exiting the bar.
It was just eight pm, so she decided to continue her journey back home from work on foot, humming to her favorite song on the way. It was just a short distance, so she would walk and enjoy the soft breeze feel on her skin.
Warped in the moment of bliss she felt and the fresh air of the early night, she didn’t notice that she was being followed.
She swung her head gently to the rhythm of the song she was humming as she passed through a dark alley leading to her house.
The alley was surprisingly surrounded by different people, they were all suspended at all the corners of the alley giving her an ominous feeling. If her counting was correct, all the males were up to six and they all looked hefty. She didn’t know why but the males looked like they were up to no good, and why did it seem like they were after her?
The gazes on their faces and the death stare were all directed at her but it didn’t deter her movements as she continued traipsing home with quicker steps and fear in her heart.
This time she noticed that they were actually on her trail, they were right behind her every step and their numbers seemed to have multiplied. These people were not human, their quick steps couldn’t be attributed to a human and from the look of things, they were werewolves - werewolves with sneaky missions on their minds
“Oh no! Oh no!.” She muttered with shut eyes scared of what they might do to her. She knew she was in a deep mess at the moment and she couldn’t do anything to save herself from so many werewolves. She was the definition of the weakest creation to have ever existed with no iota of power.
“What did I do? Why are you on my trail? I didn’t do anything, I don’t even know you people, or do I?” She yelled fearfully. The werewolves said nothing to reply to her questions, just carefully surrounding her with their death stare still fixated on her.
‘Could this be the werewolves from Crimson Fangs striking fear in the hearts of people?’ she thought not knowing why she was being followed.
‘Would they kill her as they do with the others? Was her death near now? Won’t she at least get to say goodbye to her son and Roman?’ A million thoughts ran through Lorelei’s mind as she was at the center of twelve werewolves who looked like they killed people for a living.
“Please, don’t hurt me. I promise I would do anything. Please don’t hurt me…. Please.” She begged on her knees but the stoic-looking werewolves said nothing giving her the chills.
“There’s no use begging us, we are here on orders to end you.” One of the hefty-looking werewolves roared. These were the first words she heard from them, at first he even thought they were mute since they didn’t speak since a while ago.
“End me? What do you mean by ending me? On whose orders were you asked to end me? I didn’t do anything!!.” She screamed ruffling her hair.
“So you actually think we would disclose the name of who sent us, you are pretty but you have no brain.” Another werewolf with long curly hair said, his voice lacking emotions. Was she thinking someone like him could show emotions or even have a heart? That was way too delusional to think.
“But I haven’t harmed anyone, I swear. So why should I be killed without a reason, without doing anything? I didn’t come to this world to get killed because of an unknown order. Just set me free, my son must be probably crying.”
“You don’t have to harm anyone to get killed by us. You are going to die today and that’s it.” The werewolf with long hair said, paying no heed to her please and taking a threatening stance, their claws elongated as one of them took steady steps towards her with his claws elongated.
“I promise I would do whatever you want me to. I don’t want to die, I have a son, spare me.” She pleaded frantically panting in fright. ‘Someone, anyone please save me.’ she thought searching around to see if anybody was in sight to help her but the alley was dark as usual. She wondered what prompted her to walk on foot today, she would have probably avoided all this if she was in a cab.
“I promise it won’t hurt much, just stay still and you would be dead before you it.” The curly hair werewolf uttered with a bright smirk as he continued sauntering towards her with his elongated claws.
‘How is it even possible, that they can elongate their claws in human form?’ She thought, a bit more scared to the bone than before, she wished Roman could just appear and save her like he always did. She shut her eyes already expecting the worst to come but it didn’t. She didn’t want to die, did it really not hurt and maybe she was already in heaven?
“Are you alright?” A soft feminine voice which she recognized so too well asked close to her. She gently opened her eyes to see Ariel in front of her and all the werewolves gone. She breathed a sigh of relief, Ariel was the last person she had expected to see the moment. Being in a distorted state as a result of fear, she barely could answer any questions she was asking.
“They are gone? They are gone?” She inquired fearfully looking around to see if they would pop out from nowhere and attack them both again.
“Yes, I chased them away.” Answered Ariel as she gave Lorelei a concerned look.
“How we’re you able to chase them? They had elongated claws and all… Did they hurt you in the process?” Lorelei inquired accessing her face to see if those werewolves did anything to Ariel.
“No, they wouldn’t dare unless they wanted to be struck dead by the moon goddess.” She replied, wondering how Lorelei in this situation still cared for someone else other than herself when clearly she was the one that question should be directed to. Lorelei was really kind to a fault and it showed how she had a large heart.
“H- How did you know I was here?” Lorelei stuttered as she inquired, the fear she felt a while ago was yet to leave her.
“I heard your cries…..” Ariel narrated how she had been passing by in this direction when she heard the muffled sound of pleas coming from this dark alley and she decided to go check it out and shockingly it was Lorelei who was being attacked by some werewolves. She had chased them away using her special abilities as the Luna of Dead pull pack.
She hadn’t expected to see that werewolves from crimson fangs were still hiding and lurking in the dark in this new location. How they figured this location was also a thing to worry about. They had only relocated the pack to avoid being attacked and they were already getting attacked already when it was barely up to three days since they moved.
"I was so scared, Ariel. I saw my life flash- flashing right in front of me. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t show up at the time you did. I would probably be dead and gone
“Let’s get you home, okay,” Ariel spoke helping the kneeling Lorelei up. She knew Lorelei would be too stunned to speak so she just let her be. . . .
‘That must be Lorelei’ Roman thought as a knock sounded on the door of the entrance. He carefully dropped Xander on the bed to go open the door for his beloved with a wide smile.
On opening the door, his eyes furrowed on seeing Lorelei in a distorted state with Luna Ariel standing with her. He ushered them both in, his eyes accessing all of Lorelei’s body, face, and everything to see what was wrong.
“What happened to you?” He gestured to her but received no answer and it worried him the more, he carefully made her sit before bringing a glass of water for her. ‘Maybe she was just tired and needed water because she was perch.’ he thought, but she took only a sip and dropped the glass.
He turned to the Luna with a questioning gaze, he wanted an answer as to why his mate returned in such a mood and since she wasn’t given him an answer, he might as well ask the Luna.
“Well, Lorelei was almost attacked by some werewolves from Crimson Fangs. It was actually a miracle that I was passing by when it happened, only the moon goddess knows what would have happened……” The Luna narrated the whole story to Roman, his hands clenched into a fist. “How dare they!” His wolf Egor bellowed angrily in his head.
’His pack members were targeting his mate but what could they possibly want with Lorelei, unless…
Roman turned to look at Lorelei who was shivering still from evident fear and an ache gently tug on his heart. Seeing her in such a state caused him to be more than heartbroken and he also felt an unexplainable rage at himself for not being there to kick those people’s asses.
“Mama is back” Xander squealed running out of the room, Roman had just finished bathing him a while ago. Roman picked him up from the floor and brought him to shivering Lorelei.
“Mama what’s wrong?” little Xander questioned face palming his mum with his two tiny hands affectionately. Lorelei didn’t reply but engulfed Xander in a tight hug that soothed her mood. The calmness she felt hugging Xander gradually made her more relaxed.
Luna Ariel stared at the mother and child and she didn’t know when she dropped a tear. The bond between them was perfect and anything that could ruin it should be abolished. She turned to look at Lorelei’s mate - Roman who had a smile on his face staring at his mate.
“I want to request something of you, Roman,” Ariel spoke, making sure she got Roman’s attention. He urged her to continue with a gesture.
“I want to ask you to please protect, Lorelei. You should please let nothing ruin this beautiful relationship.” Ariel acquiesced to Roman her eyes glancing back and forth between Lorelei and Roman.
Roman nodded his head to assure her that Lorelei we’re his responsibility but she wasn’t convinced that he could be capable or powerful enough though she sensed Roman’s Alpha blood before, but after she knew he was just a mute she doubted that he could do anything. He surely won’t be a threat to anyone who tries attacking Lorelei again as they might consider him feeble which was probably true. She wasn’t discriminating but what could a mute possibly do? Who would even listen to him, even with the Alpha blood in him? Maybe asking him to protect Lorelei was going a bit too far.
She wished she could do something to stop any harm from coming to Lorelei, not to sound homo but she genuinely felt love for Lorelei and never want to see her hurt in any way.
‘Maybe it was best if she took care of Lorelei and Xander herself.’ she thought. It was the best decision to take for now and she was going to try all in her power to do it.
Ariel sighed deciding to protect Lorelei and her son.