37. Lord Balthazar, at your service.

**Eve**

At first, Eve looked up at Eros in confusion. For a few seconds, she kept intense eye contact with him, noticing the little flame in his eyes, burning brighter with each moment passing.

"The heat, it is starting now, right?" she whispered, oddly enough, finding herself growing more excited than worried, or afraid.

"Get. The. Fuck. Out!" Eros roared, his jaw clenched, veins on his neck visibly popping out. At that- exact moment, she understood how screwed she would be if she didn’t move—literally screwed in all ways possible. She jumped out of the tub, rushing to the bedroom, closing the bathroom door, hoping that it'd win her some time. She picked up the shirt and sweatpants Eros had dropped on the floor. With inhumane speed, she was dressed and bolting down the stairs, literally running for her life. As she ran through the bar, a few wolves eyed her suspiciously, while the bartender, by some odd reason standing by the main entrance, opened the door for her, as he noticed the human girl in a rush. As she passed him, he smiled, mouthing "good luck" to her. Eve wanted to thank him, but she had no time to waste, she would do that later if she survived. Getting out of the bar has been the easiest task. Eve stood next to the building, confused as to where she should run or hide. The same bartender appeared by her side and nudged her.

"Miss, run to the packhouse, from there turn to the North, right into the forest. You'll find a small forest cabin near the border. An old lady will let you in and hide you there, tell her that Brandon sent you," he spoke frantically, looking back over his shoulder almost all the time.

"Why are you helping me? How can I trust you? How do I know this isn’t a trap?" Eve couldn't stop herself from questioning the bartender's intentions. She had trusted the words coming from a shifters mouth once before, almost ending up killed.

"You can't, but I'm the only person who can help. I'm sending you to his grandmother, from her father's side, she's a human. If she doesn't let you in, tell her you're mated to her grandson, and an early stage of the heat hazes him. Now run, he won't be able to stay in that apartment for long. Trust me; you do not want to end up in one room with a shifter in heat. Run!" As the last word left his lips, Eve heard a loud bang coming from upstairs. It came from his apartment, she nearly ran back, worried that something might have happened to him.

"No!" Brandon caught her arm and pushed her further away from the building. "He will destroy the whole apartment in an attempt to lose strength; he is trying to weaken himself, so you'll have more time. Run, before he loses it. If he catches you, he will treat you like a bitch, trust me on this one- no human has left the bed alive, after being mated like that." He kept pushing her, increasing the distance between them and the bar building. Brandon cursed under his breath, looking back frantically.

"If you won't run now, both of us are as good as dead. I touched you; you'll carry a faint hint of my scent; he will be enraged. Will you run, God damn it?!" He growled, more worried about the tiny human girl than he was about himself. Finally, Eve came to her senses. She briefly hugged Brandon, whispered a weak, "thank you," and took off.
After twenty minutes, she was exhausted. Eve kept pushing her body over the limits; over and over again. Eve knew she wouldn't outrun him, but this time, hiding up in a tree wouldn't help her either. Her side was burning, the only ray of hope she had was a faintly visible packhouse from afar. Eve bit onto her lower lip, mentally encouraging herself to run. A loud, thunderous growl sounded from afar, making her stop in her tracks. With shaky hands, she turned around, seeing a vast figure nearing her. This was it; she was caught, unable to move. Whatever that growl was, it froze her to the spot. She could see a figure, not human, not a wolf, something terrifying nearing her, like a nightmare consuming her whole being. Eve gulped loudly, somehow finding a strength to step back, her instincts screaming for her to run and hide. Once the figure was close enough for her to finally figure out what it was, it dropped on the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed them, heart racing, tears forcing their way out. When she opened her eyes, the scene hadn’t changed- a huge figure, still laying on the ground. She wanted to run, scream, yell for help, but the state of shock she was in, made her completely forget how to do any of those things. Her eyes scanned the area, wondering if the creature had been attacked or if it had just fallen on its own. After taking a few deep breaths, Eve finally remembered why she was there- Eros. She was sure he would be catching up on her by now, especially with so much time wasted. As she scanned the forest area, she noticed two significant figures nearing her.

'Run Eve, run, and don't look back! Stranger, Danger!' Yelled herself consciousness. She didn't run, paralyzed by the fear and adrenaline overflowing in her veins, Eve was no longer able to move a muscle.

"She's in shock, I think," a beautiful woman's voice sounded from afar. Even despite the distance, Eve could hear them both.

"Of course, what did you expect? She's human. Think about this, my love- no shifter has seen such things in their lifetime; I'm sure they would be shocked. And we're talking about a human girl here. I'm surprised she hasn't fainted yet. A strong one, I like her," spoke a deep male voice. Eve didn't let her guard down, she was sure she could run if her life depended on it. For now, Eve just stood there, waiting for both strangers to approach her. The male was tall, a silver fox at its finest. His hair and beard grey- a little darker than Eve's silver hair. He had broad shoulders and extraordinary height, just like Eros. The woman was a lot shorter, her body petite, and she had long, bright orange hair. Both of them wore long, black capes with huge hoods over their heads. Though she kept her eyes glued on them, Eve didn't notice how fast they approached her. The strangers stood a few feet away, male looking over her from head to toes, the female smiling lovingly, her brown eyes not leaving Eve's green ones.

"I'm so pleased to meet you, dear, finally," the woman spoke. Whomever this woman was, she reminded Eve of a siren- a woman, able to conquer anyone with the voice alone. She was gorgeous, a real-life Goddess.

"I- I," Eve lost her voice, taking a glance at the figure over the woman's shoulder. The thing that ran after her just a moment ago was still lying on the ground face first.

"Calm down, dear, we are not here to hurt you. Quite the opposite, we came to help. Breathe, calm down; then we will talk. In the meantime, I can introduce myself, if you'd like. Maybe, it'll make you feel more comfortable around me," the woman flashed a bright smile at Eve, giving out nothing, but positive emotions. Eve nodded her head; not sure if she trusted her voice at this point.

"My name is Mary, I come from a land far from here and this," she motioned towards the grey-haired male, "is my mate, Balthazar." As their eyes met, he instantly smiled, obviously- head over heels in love with Mary. They did look perfect together; her exotic, flaming look matched his serious stance well.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, young lady," Balthazar spoke, bowing his head a little as a sign of respect.

"E- E- Evangeline." Eve finally muttered her name, still battling her conflicted thoughts, wondering if giving out her name would harm her or not.

"It's a beautiful name, a born royalty," Mary added, a little flame dancing in her eyes.

"I'm not royalty," Eve blurted out, finally finding her voice. Mary and Balthazar exchanged some worried looks; something must be up with those people, they're acting too sketchy.

"Shit," Eve hissed, the thought of enraged, hazed Eros popped into her mind. "I'm so sorry; I must go. It was a pleasure to meet you both, but I'm kind of running away from a pretty pissed off shifter right now. I hope to see you one day and have a proper conversation, but I have to go now." Eve turned around, almost starting to run, and ended up hitting her forehead against a rock-solid chest. She looked up, seeing the same male grinning at her.

"Darling, you don't have to run now, he's unconscious and will stay that way for a couple of hours," Mary spoke from behind, approaching Eve, placing a palm on her shoulder.

"What?" She furrowed her brows, wholly lost in the situation.

"My mate shot a dart filled with silver at him as soon as we noticed what was happening. Thankfully, we were here at the right time. If we hadn’t appeared, something awful might have happened," she explained, standing next to Eve, gently squeezing her shoulder.

"I thought that silver is deadly for werewolves," Eve whispered. "Thank you, sir, I don't know how to repay you for your help," she genuinely thanked him. He had saved her life.

"Lord Balthazar at your service, young lady," he bowed again, this time lower.

"That's the truth, partly. Not all wolves are the same; your mate is one of those to whom silver reacts like a tranquilizer rather than poison," Mary said. They stood in silence for a while; Eve couldn't understand who they were and how they knew so much about Eros. So many details, she had no knowledge about, yet they seemed to know it all.

"He mentioned that he isn't quite a werewolf; he said something about being something else. What does that mean? How long will he be asleep for? Will the silver hurt him in any way? He will wake up, right? Will he be okay? Please tell me that he will be okay; tell me that no harm will come to him. If you're some kind of werewolf police- don't send him to jail, it is not his fault. He is not abusing me, or whatever you think, he's hazed, the heat started, and he ordered me to run so that he wouldn’t do anything. You see, he was trying to protect me. Please, please do not send him to the jail, he is innocent. I tell you, he is innocent," Eve ranted frantically, her throat felt sore, yet she kept pushing words over her lips, like a machine. What she didn't expect was for them to start laughing. Both strangers held their stomachs, laughing as if some ghosts had tickled them.

"Beautiful, obviously strong-willed, brave, and funny. She's a keeper," Mary wiped her tears away, trying to speak through a fit of laughter. She grabbed onto Eve's hand as she started walking towards the packhouse.
"Come on; I'll walk you to your destination, my mate will deal with the mess here. I'll answer your questions on the way."