I kept slipping in and out of consciousness, the only thoughts that filled my dreams were the images of Carlos, my mind kept replaying his transformation, the way he stained the walls with his blood, my once gentle and caring boy best friend was now a monster who couldn't quite control himself, what was going to happen to Miriam, I should probably tell her, she deserves to know.
"Miriam?"
It took a bit for her to answer and I was scared she already knew, but there was no way she possibly could have, it only happened a few hours ago… I think?
"Charlotte? Where are you, why weren't you at the festival? Everyone has been worried sick?"
"Look Miriam, I can't tell you out of fear of you getting seriously hurt, but something happened to Carlos-"
"WHAT? IS HE DEAD? NO PLEASE DON'T LET HIM BE DEAD!"
"No, no, Miriam calm down, he's not dead, but he's been turned into a.."
I could feel my voice breaking at the end, and the tears started coming again.
"What?.. Charlotte what happened to him?"
"He's been turned into a monster, they put a needle in him and he has wings and a tail and he's like eight feet tall now and I don't know it's all my fault, Carlos told me to keep my mouth shut to protect the pack, and they turned him into a monster. Miriam, I'm so sorry, I've taken this away from you…"
There was silence for a long time, I knew I deserved it. Miriam was probably sobbing now, Carlos was her perfect prince charming, her mate has been taken away from her. I can only hope there is some way to reverse the effect of that needle. She spoke again, much much quieter this time, I could tell she cried a bit.
"It's ok Charlotte, you did what you could to protect the rest of us, but please, make me a promise ok?"
"Ok."
I'd do anything to make up for what's happened, I'd kiss my high school bully's shoes if it meant getting Carlos back.
'Bring me the heart of the dick that's at fault for Carlos' situation, so we can have a trophy."
"I promise, I'll bring you the heart of all of them Miriam, I'm so sorry."
"And stop apologising for this, I don't blame you, not one bit… and get Carlos back, monster or not, I want to see him again, ok?"
"Of course, be safe, and please don't follow the link, no matter what you do, stay away from me, I don't want the same to happen to you."
"Ok, goodbye Charlie, I-I love you, even if that sounds weird, I do."
I couldn't help but smile, Carlos is a lucky wolf, Miriam deserved to get him back, and I swear to the Moon Goddess I'm going to get him back to her, to the both of us.
"I love you too Miriam."
I shut off the link, if she's anything like Carlos she will come for me too, and end up getting herself hurt.
I sat there in my own little silence whilst trying to ignore the voices of the people around me, I heard the sounds of horses in front, behind and beside me, what now? Did I somehow time travel to the olden days where they didn't have cars? I put my head up a little and looked around, I saw Christopher in the front of what I knew was a cart. There were people all around us, all on horses. I shifted slightly, I definitely didn't want to attract attention to myself. I saw a sharp enough object in front of me and grabbed it slowly. I waited until everyone was too busy looking at the scenery and then shot to my feet, hands swinging in the direction of Christopher and for the sake of being the dramatic little shit head I was, I screamed like a mad woman.
"CHRISTOPHER!"
I dug the knife into his shoulder, he didn't have enough time to react before the knife was wedged deep into him, he let out a pained grunt before motioning to the guards, I pulled the knife out and dug it into his back before being pulled back.
"I swear to god I'm going to gut you and bring your heart to the doorstep of someone who is none too pleased with what you've done, what the hell was in that syringe?"
He pulled out the knife with a loud sigh, he handed it to the guard on his right and looked back at me with a scowl.
"Love, I think that's a question to ask your darling mate, he gave it to us."
"I will perform an opera in the dining room of your mansion naked before I call that disgusting man my mate."
"That would truly be a sight to see."
I heard the guards around me chuckle so I kicked the one closest to me in the balls. He groaned and clutched his nether region, that's right you asshole.
"Where are we and why are we travelling like we're in the nineteen hundreds?"
He chuckled and turned back to look at the forest.
"I loved those times, the wars were what makes real men, maybe that's why your little friend couldn't handle the syringe, he was too weak." He spat. I felt my face heat up and I tried to run at him again.
"TAKE THAT BACK NOW CHRISTOPHER, YOU MADE HIM A MONSTER!"
He looked back at me with a blank face, and to my horror he smiled and began to laugh like a fool.
"Answer the question where are we and why are we travelling like this?"
"Where we are is none of your concern, we are travelling like this because it's easier not to be tracked."
"I think where I am is some pretty important information that I would like to know."
"That's why I'm not telling you, now sit down and behave, we won't be moving much longer, we are going to make camp."
I let out a low growl and sat at the furthest part of the cart, shooting growls and anyone who looked at me. I just wanted to go home, bring Carlos back with me and have a pity party with Miriam.
We travelled in semi silence, the only thing that could be heard were the guards talking about different kinds of powders that make explosives. I listened to some of it, but I quickly got bored as I forgot most of the chemicals that were involved, never really paid any attention in Science, the only thing I really remember was a chemical that stained your skin, cow shit brown, I think it was called Potassium Permanganate, it was a very pretty pink colour, at least I thought so. I listened to the gentle hum of the forest coming to life, the birds in the trees and the small furry animals scampering in the undergrowth. For a small moment I was happy, pleased with the sounds of the forest, if only I didn't go for a run, none of this would've happened, I'd be snuggled up with Carlos and Miriam, listening to them calling each other pet names and kissing each other, before I would've resented the idea, but now, I'd give anything to have my normal happy life back.
We stopped at a peaceful looking clearing, to be completely honest, I feel like it's a stupid idea to make camp with a werewolf prisoner and not expect her to run away, why not choose somewhere secure? As if answering my thoughts Christopher turned to me and said;
"Don't get your hopes up, I have guards stationed in a circle around us, hidden far away, if you try to escape, we will not hesitate to chain you to the posts of your tent."
God fucking dammit. I rolled my eyes and walked off, calling over my shoulder.
"I'm going for a walk, don't come and get me, I'll come back when I feel like it, there shouldn't be a problem if your guards are so good."
I strolled through the forest and breathed in the beautiful scent all around me, I could smell the pine all around, the sweet flowers giving bees a place to feed, I learnt a fact when I was younger that bees like to take naps in flowers, it would make me smile sometimes. I kept walking and sat down on a rock that had a small pond underneath, I could see frogs and fighting fish thriving in their beautiful environment.
A noise from the trees made me look up, and I gasped when I saw Carlos perched on a tree looking at me curiously, he had blood all around his mouth and down his chest.
"Carlos." I called softly.
He perked up and shuffled on the branch, trying to make a decision on whether he should come down. He stopped and leapt down without a sound. He walked over to me slowly, almost as if he was scared to startle me.
"It's ok, come here."
I held out my hand for him, he stopped and cocked his head to the side, much like a dog would when you said something to them that they didn't understand. He continued to make small steps before he was about a foot away from me. He looked at my hand and reached out his slowly, once he made contact he stepped closer. I jumped into him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He jumped back a bit out of surprise and made a weird noise before wrapping his arms around me protectively. I was relieved to find that there was still some Carlos left in him, I had someone to bring back to Miriam, Someone who I could still wrap my arms around.
He bent down and picked me up, walking the edge of the rock, he sat down with his legs over the edge. He didn't move his arms, didn't make any noise, all that I could hear was the gentle beat of his heart. I wriggled a bit and his grip only tightened as he growled.
"Carlos please, I'm not going anywhere."
I'm not sure he understood but he loosened his grip anyways, I wriggled so I was facing him, I looked up at his face, he still had a very perfect face, I brought both my hands up and cupped his face and gave him a little peck on the nose. For a moment he just looked at me, then he made a noise that sounded like whimpering. I caressed his cheek and smiled at him.
"Hey, it's going to be ok, I'll help you, after everything you've done for me, I'm going to bring you back and take you back to Miriam I promise."
I put my forehead to his and I felt him sigh, I opened my eyes and saw that his eyes were closed, he seemed relaxed and content.
"Can you speak? At all."
He looked at me and then looked up, thinking. He made a weird grunting noise then opened his mouth, he tried to make words but all I heard was a low growl. He quickly closed his mouth and looked down defeatedly.
"Hey, it's ok, we'll get through this."
I smiled at him, and he surprisingly managed a smile. We heard something come from behind him, his head whipped around and he stood, placing me on the ground gently, he looked at me almost apologetically before running off and flying into the leaves of the forest.
"Hey, come and eat, Alpha Koi won't be too happy if you aren't healthy."
"He can take his expectations and shove them."
"Don't argue with me girl, if you weren't valuable I would've killed you already, hurry up."
I rolled my eyes and took slow steps towards him. When I meet Alpha Koi, I'm going to gut his throat and feed him to his grandmother.