Irina locked eyes with the dying werewolf through a small opening in the sea of legs.
"Get out of this city or you'll be next." The lady said clearly to her without moving her lips. Her eyes closed in death. The masses didn't stop. They continued to hit her. A man even pulled out his dick and peed on the dead woman. People flipped out their phones and took pictures and videos, laughing and cheering for their kill. Nobody saw anything wrong with it.
"Are you okay, dear?" The coffee shop owner asked Irina, helping her up. She was still trembling and kept her head down in case her eyes had changed color. Her glasses were shattered on the ground.
"I could have sworn you had a cut earlier." The man said, holding up her elbow. When Irina looked, her skin was uncut even though a drop of blood was still smeared on the ground. How did she heal so fast?
"Hurry! Say it isn't your blood but someone else's. He suspects you. Say it now!"
Irina looked around but couldn't see anyone who could have said that to her apart from the dead werewolf lady who was very dead now. Her eyes lifted briefly to the shop owner with his hands on his hips. There was indeed a suspicious glint in his eyes.
She cleared her throat and hurriedly lied.
"It wasn't my blood. I got knocked down but I didn't injure myself. Someone must have stepped on a shard of glass or something." She replied, then thanked him before bolting through the crowd and running as far away from the scene as her legs could take her.
She found herself in the field where she first woke up. Her heart should have been racing given how fast she ran but she was hardly out of breath. Her moist eyes were only as a result of the speed with which she ran, the speed which she was trying to comprehend right now as she gazed upon the field with squinted eyes.
She paced back and forth and tried to calm down. She couldn't believe the lengths the city went to expose werewolves. They put wolfsbane extract in coffee at the coffee shops? What else did they do? What else was harmful to werewolves? Was there something in the water too or the street food? How the fuck was she supposed to survive like this?
She was too afraid to go to school given what she had just learnt about the city. What if the water in the restrooms was laced with wolfsbane too or something else that could kill her? She wasn't ready to die, not before she knew how to come back. She crouched on her knees and covered her face with her hands.
"Irina, you're so fucked, aren't you?"
She shook her head and stood up. No, she wasn't going to go down without a fight.
"Well played, Xander but you can't break me."
Her eyes dropped to her elbow. How did her injury disappear so fast? What else can werewolves do? She stared around and saw no one in sight. She couldn't hear any human heartbeat for miles but only that of insignificant animals. It amazed her how quickly she had come to know the difference.
It was a bad idea to learn this way but till she found a way to get to the school library, she was going to figure shit out herself. She picked up a stone with a jagged edge and sliced her palm open. She observed it, watched as the blood seeped out in rich red and timed her healing process. After a minute, her flesh began to close up till it was completely melded, leaving a thin but fading scar.
Irina gasped. Was this a werewolf thing too? If this was something that came with the territory of being a werewolf, why didn't the dying lady heal? Was the wolfsbane a blocker for their healing ability? So many questions swarm in her head.
She blocked her ears again as the sounds around her intensified. She had painfully realized that if her ear was going to bleed, it would have happened by now. Since it hadn't, then it probably never would and she will eventually get used to surviving without her mom's tea. She planned to.
Irina grabbed her bag and stood ramrod straight. She was prepared to risk it. She had to get to school and find out for herself. She had forgotten her phone at home so the library was her quickest bet. Besides, there were some key information that could only be found in books. Dusty and moldy books aided her earlier research on rebirth more than online articles ever did.
She got to Sandgate university in ten minutes. Her legs didn't ache from jogging. She smiled, thankful for the agility. There were definitely upsides to being a wolfy, she thought. At least she didn't have to board a cab and fall victim to the cab driver's antics for catching werewolves. What if he had an air conditioner that poisoned only her kind? What if he drove a stake through her heart? Oh, that's for vampires but whatever. Till she knew what to look out for in the city, she was going to take the long, hard road.
The hallways were empty because most classes had already begun. Irina walked on eggshells, always looking over her shoulder. When she accidentally bumped into a guy, she almost shrieked because she could have sworn, she was being extra careful. Where the hell had he come from?
"Hey, watch it." He yelled angrily.
"Sorry." She apologized but as she tried to leave, he blocked her path.
"Are you blind or something?"
She listened as he ironically went off on a rant about manners and respect, two things which he clearly lacked. More students filtered into the hallway from their dismissed classes and for some reason, no one bothered to come to her aid.
"Look, I already apologized, okay?" She replied. "You're creating a scene over nothing." Soft gasps erupted from the students milling around as she talked back. She ignored them. "Sorry for bumping into you." She attempted to leave again as the growing crowd unsettled her but this time, the guy yanked her back by the tail of her hair and shoved her to the floor.
"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to, missy?"
Irina clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. Rage bubbled in her gut and it took a lot to strap it down. This guy was tickling her last nerve.
"That's enough, Edgar. Cool it."
Irina blew the stray hair in her face out of the way to get a proper look at the guy who had just stopped her from clawing at Edgar's neck and feeding his lifeless body to the crows as acutely depicted in her fertile imagination. Edgar's savior looked like the lead singer in a band with swept up brown hair, blue orbs for eyes and a sexy, lean body that would look mesmerizing even in cringey outfits. While he slowly advanced towards her, more gasps ensued, mostly from the females.
Irina got up on her feet and dusted herself while glaring at Edgar. He scowled at her before storming away. A bright-eyed girl dressed like a modern-day barbie princess rushed forward and gasped in shock.
"Nyla? Oh my God, Vin, it's Nyla!"
She gave Irina a tight hug that cut off her oxygen intake for all twenty seconds it lasted. While she blamed Nyla's new but poor fashion taste for people's failure to recognize her in school, Irina gently shoved her away and took a step back. Who the fuck were these people and why won't they let her get to the damn library? She thought impatiently.
"I'm sorry but I have to go."
"Nyla? Wait. It's me, Dakota. Don't you recognize me or Vin?" Dakota traded worried glances with Vin.
Dakota. Shit, Irina cussed. She saw that name in the book Matt gave her. Quickly, she raked through mental files and got it. She played it smooth when she realized she had almost blown off Nyla's best friend and her twin brother.
"Of course, I know it's you Dakota. I'm in a bit of a rush. We can catch up some other time. Sayonara."
"NYLA."
She froze at the sound of Vin's baritone voice. Shit. Did Nyla have a thing for him or what? Why was her heart racing just because he called her name so authoritatively. Slowly, she turned, hoping her cheeks didn't exude a crimson blush.
"What Vin?"
"Blowing off your best friend is one thing but I won't take the same from you." He edged closer till he grabbed her shoulders with both muscular hands. "I called every day for months after the accident to check on you. I sat by your bed side while you were in coma. I have no idea why your family never bothered to inform me that you've woken up, even when I called three nights ago. Seeing you here so suddenly like this…" His voice wavered as he cupped her chin. Irina struggled to free herself but he didn't budge. "I missed you so much, babe."
Babe???
Before she could process it, his lips came down on hers. Like a reflex action, her right knee sliced upward into his groin. He buckled with a low groan, grabbing his crotch.
"Nyla, what the hell?" Dakota shrieked, rushing to break her brother's fall.
"I'm sorry." Irina said, wiping her lips. "I'm so sorry." She took off. The library would have to wait. More students clustered around to take a good look at her face as she plowed through them to find the restroom.
Fucking hell, Irina thought. How could a werewolf like Nyla choose to be famous around here despite the risks? Why didn't she keep a low profile like the other werewolves in the city? Did she have a special way of protecting herself? How was she different?
She found herself in the female restroom and sucked in a breath. That little show out on the hallway was far more intense than she expected.
How was she supposed to deal with school if she had a famous boyfriend and best friend vying for her attention? What if they caught on to what she really was? While she held her head in front of the sink and sighed deeply, she caught a mild scent.
The bathroom door swung open and a girl walked in. Nyla pretended to wash her hands. When she turned on the faucet, she recalled the scene in front of the coffee shop earlier and panicked. What if there was truly something in the water?
"The girl came up beside her and washed her hands under the flowing faucet.
"Don't worry. The water isn't harmful to werewolves. The extract isn't as easy to mask in water and food as it is in drinks."
Irina turned to the pretty girl with a shocked expression.
"Are you…"
"A student here? Nope. The other thing you're thinking? Yep." The girl dried her hands and fixed her hair in the mirror.
"Oh wow. That's a relief. I'm Nyla by the way."
A small smile tugged at the girl's lips as she looked at Nyla's hand. She shook her head. "It's just as I suspected. You've lost your memory."
Irina tucked her hands in her pocket and shifted uncomfortably. "And why would you think that?"
A brief silence followed before she got a response.
"You've clearly lost your memory if you don't even recognize your own big sister!" Isla voiced.