Chapter 15.1 - Freeing Anna Kent – part 2
Seeing her assistant suddenly burst into tears, unable to hold on any longer, made Aniya go to her, sit on the chair at her side, and hold her hands, waiting for an answer.
Anna slowly nodded and spoke after cleaning her tears and calming down, looking at her hands over her lap the entire time. “They went to my parents’ house yesterday, asking all sorts of questions about me. They were two men and one woman, and they introduced themselves as Hunters. They explained nothing more, and they didn’t need to, because my parents already knew very well who that crazy group of despicable assassins were. Years ago, a group came to my father’s house and took his mother with them. No one has seen her ever since.”
Anna Kent slowly raised her eyes and stuttered, “Y-you a-are one of them… Miss Aniya… am I… going to die as well?”
“I am not one of them, don’t worry. You didn’t answer me, Anna. Did you take proper measures until now so that your beast form don’t-“
Anna Kent grabbed Aniya’s hands and vigorously shook her head. “I never killed anyone, Miss Aniya, that I can swear! My parents have a cellar in their house with a cage and chains for me that I have been using since I changed for the first time, at sixteen! My grandmother used to lock herself in there, so my father knew what to expect and told me what could happen to me. He also has two friends, and their son is also one, like me. I went to their house yesterday because my parents told me not to return home. They told me the Hunters were probably outside, waiting for me! If they catch me, I will be done for. I am sure of it!”
Aniya bit her lower lip and took a slow deep breath, focusing on the smell coming from her once again, crying assistant. When Aniya spoke, her voice came out different, calmer and more enticing. “Focus on my voice, Anna. Breathe. You are safe here. Nothing and no one will ever harm you. I will make sure of it. Look at me, Anna, and focus on my voice.”
The crying assistant took a couple of deep breaths, feeling her heart rhythm slowing down and her unsettled breathing returning to normal. She raised her head, and became amazed by the faint yellow light surrounding her boss, the moody and easily annoyed Aniya Rossi. “You… are glowing, Miss Aniya! So beautiful…”
“I am a Werewolf like you, Anna. My friend says I am his Luna, but I prefer to be the Alpha and let him be the Luna if he wants. We are still negotiating our parts in our relationship. I think I am winning, but he is rather stubborn and awfully handsome. I need you to trust me on this, Anna, because I want to make sure the Hunters have no shot at getting any proof of your condition.”
“Y-you are a W-Werewolf? I-I never knew… Of… of course, I trust you, Miss Aniya! How couldn’t I?”
Aniya grabbed her purse from her desk and took the blue wolf’s bane flower from there. Anna Kent immediately covered her nose while looking in a panic at that dangerous flower that her father always warned her to be aware of. Anna sniffed the flower and then showed it to the surprised assistant. “Focus on me, Anna. Focus on my voice. Don’t let a mere flower make you lose yourself to craziness and violence. I know you can do it because I did this to two people yesterday, and you will be the third one I help.”
Anna Kent slowly uncovered her nose and felt pain all over her body, and she flinched, making Aniya warn her. “Focus on me, Anna! Don’t close your eyes, focus on me, on my light, on my voice! You can do this! There is nothing you can’t do! You have never failed me ever since I met you three years ago, so I know you won’t fail me now!”
Hearing such things from the person she admired the most caused the terrified assistant to look straight at Aniya, and she noticed her gentle smile and the light around her growing. The pain lowered, and she stared at the blue flower that Aniya was placing on her open palm. Aniya’s next words made her gulp, but the power and gentleness in Aniya’s voice made her lose all doubts, and she approached the scarring flower from her nose and took one slight sniff. The pain was lower and lower with each sniff until it became a slight pain in her stomach, as if it was a mild cramp caused by her period.
Anna made a big smile and delivered the flower to Aniya. “What did you do, Miss Aniya? I could never be near this flower, but now I just feel a slight pain!”
“I don’t know how to explain this, Anna. My friend says it’s an ability that our bond grants me, and that his mother used to have it as well. Since it’s not safe for you to go to your house, you might as well come with me to pick up my friend, and we will all go to my secret hideout. I have a panic room there. We can go inside and wait for the change. If everything goes well, I might get you out of your uncontrollable state, like I did last night with my friend. We were fully awake and in control of our bodies. We spent all night in the forest at the back of my house, running and fooling around. I need to warn you, the change in the morning is painful, but not as much as the first change at the beginning of the night.”
Anna Kent had her mouth half-open, unable to mutter a single word. For a few seconds, she stood there, looking at that gentle smile and hypnotised by the light. Then, as the light faded, Anna was able to speak, “Miss Aniya… I always blackout at each change because the pain is unbearable, and when I wake up in the morning, I don’t remember a thing. You… that man with green eyes that was here yesterday… is he… your partner? And you were both in control of your beasts? How is that even possible?”
“I have no idea. I had never changed before yesterday, and the moment he noticed what was about to happen to me, he carried me to my panic room. I changed there, fully aware of what was happening to my body. He changed too and ate his Human remains that were left behind. When he was going to eat mine, I beat the crap out of him, and he woke up. I don’t know how, but we could hear each other in our heads. If we tried to speak, only growls would come out. You have no idea how good it is to feel those big, powerful bodies, to see everything in the dark, to hear, to smell! The touch of the fresh soil in our paws, the fresh night breeze in our snouts. Truly amazing, I may add.”
With each sentence, Anna Kent was more and more amazed. After thinking for a few seconds, she spoke, “I didn’t know you had a secret place, Miss Aniya! Being able to control my scary beast… I once saw a picture that my mother took of me when I was like that, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing in the morning. Do you think… I can control it too? What fears me the most, ever since my first change, is escaping from my cage and killing my parents or some innocent person outside. I know the Hunters kill Werewolves to prevent them from killing people, but I never asked for any of this! It’s not my fault!”
“I know Anna, I know. None of us asked for any of this. My parents also told me some people like to eat human flesh in the morning after changing back, and some like to know they can turn into a nightmare and go around killing everyone they see, even if they remember nothing in the morning.”
Anna trembled, fearing that one day she could be one of those. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Miss… Aniya… That man who is nearly my age... The son of my parents’ friends… we… well… we kind of like each other, but we fear our kids will be like us. That’s why we never dated. We both like each other, but this curse…”
Aniya gently squeezed her assistant’s hands. “This is not a curse, Anna, it’s just a blood mutation. It could also be the next step in the evolution of humankind, but those crazy Hunters keep on standing in the path of nature. How about this? Why don’t you call that friend of yours and have him meet us somewhere in the City? We can pick him up after I get my friend Lisa, and we can all go to my place. My friend would love to meet more Werewolves considering he kept on talking about a pack yesterday, as a big and happy family of Werewolves protecting each other’s backs against our common enemies.”
“I… can do that, Miss Aniya? That would be… amazing… yeah…”
Aniya noticed the way her assistant was smiling while looking at the emptiness, totally lost in her thoughts and dreams, probably with that man she mentioned. She tapped her hands, retrieving Anna from her dreamland. “What about if you make a call to him so that we can start working? I saw your messages about a meeting today with some people from Dior. I assume everything is taken care of?”
“Of course, Miss Aniya. My aunt… I mean, Miss Meredith will arrive at two, so we can have all afternoon for that meeting if needed.”
Aniya nodded, and as she was going to sit at her chair and Anna was cleaning her face and taking deep breaths before grabbing her phone, she asked, “Anna, if I didn’t come today, how would you handle that meeting?”
“Like if that would ever be a possibility, Miss Aniya! In three years, I never saw you miss a meeting that I warned you about! Why would today be any different?”
Aniya winked while turning on her computer. “Probably because I left a very handsome man waiting for me, instead of being with him all day. It’s probably better if you don’t assume I will come running if you schedule a meeting without asking me first. I used to drop everything to come here, but that green-eyed beauty is awfully tempting!”
“Oh! I didn’t think of that! In my defence, I never saw you so infatuated with a man before, Miss Aniya. At least not in a way that you would skip work because of it! He sure is handsome, and those green eyes of his! I could stare at all that green for hours! Oops! Sorry Miss Aniya, I got distracted.”
Aniya moved one finger in front of her while grinning. “No, no, you naughty Anna. You are already taken, remember? Or will be, if everything works out tonight!”
Anna smiled back and then remembered something. “Miss Aniya… What if we change and you are unable to wake us up, and we attack you?”
“Good luck with that! Nick attacked me yesterday, and I rubbed the floor with him. Besides, my light becomes amazingly strong when I am near him. I think if we work together, we can probably wake you, your man, and my friend. If we can’t, well, you will get a nice beating and won’t even remember it in the morning!”
Anna Kent burst into laughter, dropping her phone. She grabbed it before it fell on the floor and immediately answered the voice on the other side. “Hi. What do you say if we meet after work in the City? Remember that coffee shop we went to last time? Meet me at the door and after I end my work, I am going to pick you up. What? Do I sound happy? Well, I am very happy, actually. We can talk more later, I have a lot of things to do!”