Chapter 49- Whispers In The Wind

When he heard her high-pitched scream, his heart stopped. He was heading in the right direction for sure. He picked up speed and skidded to a halt. Crystal was pure white and shaking. Without thinking he shifted to his human form and pulled her into his arms. She rested her head against his naked chest, and she sobbed. He could smell dead flesh and turned in the direction the smell was coming from. Lying at the bottom of banking was a woman that looked like she had been attacked by wolves. He picked up another scent that was mixed with the one of decaying flesh. Drake. He growled in a low hum and his body tensed while he calmed is own wolf that wanted to rise and rip off Drake’s head.
He turned back to Crystal and kissed her forehead, unsure of what to say.
“Put some clothes on,” Crystal said pushing away from his nakedness with flushed cheeks.
“I don’t have any,” he whispered. He shifted back into wolf form and tugged on her sleeve. He led her through the forest to the edge of his coven where his jeep was parked. Crystal popped the trunk and dug through a duffle bag for his clothes. Placing them in his mouth she watched him trot behind a tree. Once he was dressed, he beckoned her into the car.
“What happened?” he asked her while pulling dried leaves out of her hair.
“I am getting your car dirty,” she said, and he grabbed her chin.
“Forget about the car. What happened?” she turned away and Levi saw her hands trembling in her lap. He picked up both hands and gently ran his thumb over her skin.
“Drake. He his back,” she whispered.
“What about the…”
“I don’t know. I was running from Drake when I fell and…” she began to sob again, and he pulled her into his arms. It had been a big shock for her.
“What are we going to do?” she asked him.
“We act normal. If either of us reports that body, then we will be in the firing line. We keep quiet,” he knew that the other covens would readily blame him and his people for the death of the woman and Crystal wasn’t a girl that her coven liked. They would jump on any excuse to see her dead.
“What about Drake,” she whimpered.
“I will deal with him,” he said stroking her hair. He hated seeing the strong girl he had come to know look broken and afraid. He would make Drake pay for what he had done.

***
He had done what he had been ordered to do. Chase Crystal into the woods let her see the body and freak her out then she would take care of the rest. It was an easy enough task. Yet he still failed thanks to his Levi. Levi was a big problem. One he knew he would be expected to get rid of. However, he had no doubt that he would fail if it came down to a fight. The only way he could win was to outsmart him.
He had ruined everything. Drake grinned as he thought up ways to make Levi suffer. To take him out of the game. Crystal would become his if it was the last thing he did. After all she had promised him just that.
He knew she would be angry, and he would pay for Levi saving her. Yet he wasn’t concerned. For what he had planned for his cousin would make up for the wrath of his boss.
***
“What!” Jeanette demanded. She narrowed her eyes at Martha who was the unlucky one of the elders that had delivered her the news.
“To keep your title as the head of the Starlight Coven you must remarry before the next full moon,” Martha relayed the message for the second time.
“And why is that?” Jeanette snapped.
“A woman can only rule if they have a husband at their side. You Jeanette Hudson have no husband,”
“That moron, if he wasn’t already dead, I would kill him myself. Line up the eligible men for me. I will choose a new idiot to call my Husband.”
Martha laughed and gave Jeanette a sly grin.
“You have already taken your arranged marriage. The next marriage can only be by choice and not force. And let’s face it. Who would want to marry you?” Martha said in a mocking tone which only angered Jeanette more.
“Any man would be privileged to be my husband. Don’t you ever forget that and mock me again!” she roared.
How dare the snotty nose old woman say no man would want her? Was she losing her touch with the witches?
“It is not you Jeanette. Rather Crystal, what man would want to deal with her?” she was right. Children should respect their parents and Crystal ran in a league of her own. She always had, no matter what Jeanette had done with her, Crystal did her own thing. No form of punishment or praise had worked. Now as a teen everyone was afraid of her. They would never admit it. However, it was in their eyes. She scared them.
***
Crystal needed someone to talk too. She needed Ruby and her comforting ways. Crystal needed the love of a mother, and she was the closet that she would come to a mother’s love.
Levi had dropped her off outside the community and she made her way straight to Ruby’s home.
Yet again Greg’s car was in the driveway. She smiled as she thought just maybe he had given up his ways. Then she shook the thought away. No one changed overnight. Greg would still chase any girl that crossed his path. He would just be more discreet now.
Crystal knocked on the door. After a few minutes of no answer, she knocked again. Nothing. She pulled the handle and the door slowly opened. Calling out Ruby’s name she made her way to the kitchen. Ruby always sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea to hand.
There was no one there. She checked the whole house and came up empty. Not even Greg and his smug grin were to be seen. He didn’t walk anywhere. He thought his legs would snap off if he walked to the end of the street and back.
She had a feeling something was off and made her way home. She had nowhere else to go and the forest wasn’t the special place it used to be.
“Cry…st…al…” she heard her name whispered and a light breeze pushed past her. She turned around. Two boys tossed a ball backwards and forwards from each end of the street. No one else was to be seen.
Crystal carried on walking when she heard the whisper again. This time it was in a grave voice the kind you hear in horror movies. She froze and slowly looked around her. Goosebumps had risen over her body and her legs felt weak.
A hand clamped onto her shoulder, and she instantly reacted. She grabbed the intruding body part and twisted it back while she turned and lifted her knee up into the enemy’s midsection.
“Owe,” she heard a familiar voice groan out unrecognizable words and she came back to reality. Hugo was doubled over in pain.
“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry,” she couldn’t believe what she had done. The voice it felt real, not human but something else. Like it was right there behind her.