Becoming the Luna

Chapter 98

ATTENTION!!

Hi everyone!!! The repeated chapter has been edited... Thanks for reading!!!

I'm distracted as I start down the street which ended up in a path trail to the woods, why was my mom acting weird? And... Virgil?

Who was she talking to on the phone?

I had gotten so little of the conversation that I couldn't make head or tail or it.

I had too many questions that everyone kept ignoring, that was it! As soon as I got back home, I was getting answers from my mom, the secrecy was starting to piss me off.

With this, I make up my mind to enjoy the walk, the trees are almost welcoming as I start up the well trodden trail. 

The sun is streaming in through the spaces in between the tall pines trees and it looks serenely beautiful, the woods seems quieter than usual which is a little odd for summer but I pay it no mind, the chirping birds could get annoying anyway and the squirrels running around made me nervous like I was being followed because of all the crunching leaves.

It's so soothing and relaxing to just be a part of nature, just existing with nothing demanded of me. The walk is helping me to clear my head and breathe easier even though I'm still slightly upset at the fact that my mom is obviously hiding something.

I get to the end of the trail way too fast that I can't help but check the time. It had already been 10 minutes but it didn't even feel like it, plus I wasn't even breathless or sporting aching legs, maybe the summer vacation was good for me.

I'm tempted to keep walking, it's not like I would get missing, I knew the general lay out of the woods, besides it only got darker and denser on the other side of the creek and I've never been to that part before, I didn't even plan on reaching the creek but the solitude was too good to end so quickly so I decided to walk on for a couple minutes more before making my way back home.

I step off the trail and continue my journey, the dry leaves crunching under the force of my boots, it wasn't autumn yet so the leaves weren't everywhere yet but there was enough on the ground to make a thin carpet of dry crunchy leaves.

The best part about the Pine trees was that they were evergreen which made them pretty to see in winter.

I remind myself not to go too far, I did tell my mom that I would be back soon.

After a while of crunching through the leaves I pause and clearly hear the sounds of faint crunching behind me, I just shake my head, turns out the squirrels were still around.

Then I feel it, the prickly feeling of someone watching me, my blood runs cold at this, who else would be in the woods? Other hikers?

The uneasy feeling of being watched is enough for me to make a full turn, beelining for the trail, I had already overstayed my welcome anyway and I wasn't about to wait to find out who or what was watching me.

The crunching gets louder and so does the sound of my heart beat, I pause again could someone be playing pranks or something?

The crunching gets even louder when I stop moving and I can hear the tell tale thudding sounds of something big moving, my eyes widen in a panic as I get a quick memory of the wolf that had come after me when Virgil and I went to the creek.

The sounds stop abruptly and my brows furrowing in confusion, is it a prank? If it is then I am going to give the person a piece of my mind.

I turn around, ready to open my mouth to call out but I don't get that far.

Someone slaps a hand around my open mouth and pulls me flush against a harder and much bigger body, my eyes widen in panic as the implications of getting kidnapped or worse hits me.

My balance tilts a little as I get spun around and the next thing I know we're hiding behind a cluster of shrubs, the entire length of my back is pressed against the person and I start to struggle but the arm wrapped around my middle doesn't even seem affected.

I start to swing my legs, trying to get traction or a foothold so that I can break from the tight grip the person has on me but the person just effortlessly subdues my legs with theirs and that ends my kicking.

My panic mounts when the person still says nothing, content to let me practically lie on them, without the ability to move.

I start to tire of struggling but that doesn't mean I had given up, I manage to carefully get one of their fingers in my mouth and I bite down, hard.

The person keeping me hostage doesn't even flinch or let go as I had expected, instead all they do is make a brief indrawn breath against the skin of my neck.

"Your teeth are ridiculously sharp for their size." A voice murmurs beside my ear and my eyes nearly roll back in my head in relief.

Leon

It's just Leon, one of Virgil's older twin brothers, but what was he doing here in the woods? And most importantly why did he grab me?

He goes quiet again, and I stop struggling, knowing that he wasn't about to hurt me but I still needed answers.

"I'm about to take my hand away now." He explains in a low voice and I blink rapidly but nod in understanding. "Don't say a word or my hand is coming right back." He adds and my eyes widen.

How would I ask all my questions if I couldn't talk?

He takes his hand off carefully and I wince at the teeth marks on his middle finger.

"I-I'm so-sorry a-about t-tha" I start to stutter but his hands come back over my mouth quick as lightning, his middle finger is in my mouth like he's provoking me to bite on it again and I choke, remembering the one word Virgil had used to describe him.

psychopath

Just as I prepare to bite down on the finger assaulting my mouth, something moves in my peripheral vision and I stiffen, my mouth falls slack and Leon's finger sinks even deeper.

There's a wolf.

It's huge as fuck and looks positively feral with burning red eyes, that must have been what was following me around and if Leon hadn't grabbed me in time, I'd have been wolf food.

I shiver from the realization, slipping my eyes shut and praying that the wild animal didn't find us.

The finger in my mouth massages my tongue and my eyes fly open, stiffening when the movement doesn't stop and the arm wrapped flush against my middle moves subtly.

My shirt is hiked and Leon starts to rub slow circles into the bare skin on my side and I try not to freak out, he seems to be doing both movements absently like he's lost in thought and I try to ignore the motions, there was no way to tell him to stop anyway and if I made any sound the wolf would find us.

The wolf sniffs around for a while like it's wondering where it's prey had gone and another shiver ripples through me, I would have been that prey.

I slip my eyes close again, trying to breathe through the finger getting closer to my throat.

He applies pressure on both sides at once and I jerk, gasping and choking which gets muffled by the hand around my mouth.

"It's gone." He whispers to me, letting me go.

I had never gotten away from a person so fast, I scramble across the dirt until I'm a safe distance from him before I turn to see him staring at me with hooded eyes, the tattoos on his arm moving subtly with the muscles when he pushes a hand through his disheveled hair.

I gulp at this, staring at him with a wide deer in the headlights look.

"You shouldn't be in the woods at this time of the year." He says in a low voice that almost comes out as a growl. "Didn't your mommy tell you that?"

My eyes widen at the implications of his words.

'W-What?'

"W-What??" I stutter lightly, gently rubbing the sensitive skin in my side that is no doubt reddened from the attention it had gotten.

"We should go." He says abruptly, getting up.

I take the hand he offers me, squealing when he pulls me against his body, my breath gets slightly knocked out of me when I fall against him.

I'm just about to complain and accuse him of harassing me when a particularly large cone falls directly on the spot I had been standing on, which meant that it would have smacked me on the head.

"Oh." I murmur, softly, on a sigh. "T-Thanks."

He just gives me a tiny smile. "Let's get you home."