chapter 16

ARIELLA. I was rooted to the spot. Eli sounded and looked so serious that I instantly believed him even though I couldn't sense anything. He then ran towards the direction he was looking at and that scared me. I backed onto the top of the stairs, my heart beating fast. I was worried for Eli. What if something happens to him? My wolf had suddenly become agitated too, probably worried about my mate as well. So plucking my courage, I ran and followed Eli, but I couldn't see him anywhere. The darkness of the night plus the slight fog had made visibility in the area a little hazy, so I just looked around aimlessly. I was careful not to call out to Eli in case someone else heard me, but I was already running for a couple of minutes and I still hadn't found him. I stopped at a bench near the entrance of the public park and took out my phone from my pocket when I felt someone pull me by my arm. I shouted so loud but then a hand covered my mouth too. I forced myself to turn around and see who it was and I was shocked to see David standing in front of me. "David? Why are you here?" He looked confused too. "I was buying drinks and was about to go home when I saw you running super fast across the street. You looked like something bad happened." He pointed at the plastic bag he probably dropped on the road a while ago when he grabbed me. He must have been shocked to see me run so fast. “Oh. Yeah, something did happen.” "Why were you running?" "I was looking for Eli," I replied. "Oh wait. I need to call him." I finally went on to call Eli's number but it was just ringing. No one was answering, so that just made me more scared. "Oh my God. I shouldn't have let him..." I stopped mid-sentence when I remembered that David is a human. "I mean, I saw Eli running to something or someone... And I tried following him but I lost him." "I see. We can ask for help from the police. Should I call them for you?" "Oh no, no... Please don't bother. I don't think that's necessary...yet." I didn't want the police to get involved because who knows what happened to Eli. What if he ran into some supernatural beings like ourselves? That would become a huge problem for us, so I have to search for Eli on my own. "What are you going to do, Ariella? Are you going back to your house?" "I guess so... I'll probably just wait there. Maybe he's now back there. Thank you for helping, David..." I was about to walk back to my apartment alone but David offered to walk me back too. It was weird because this was the second time a man walked me back tonight, only this time it was scary. "This town is really quiet, 'no?" I said randomly because we stayed silent as we walked. "Back where I came from, it's much bigger and noisier, so I always wanted to live in a small town like this. This is the first time I thought that maybe being in a small town makes it a lot scarier at night, don't you think?" David chuckled. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. And it's worse because I told you about this town's history. Not everyone likes it here, you know. So here's hoping that you don't get turned off by that." He clearly said that as a joke but I got curious instead. "What do you mean by that?" "Well, I guess I have to tell you this now," he started. "But as I told you earlier, a lot of residents got killed here years ago. And you know what comes next after those kinds of horrible things. The town got a bad reputation, but also it earned the interest of some weird people. Did you know that a lot of people went missing here over the years too? Basically, because of this town's dark history, eccentric people come here and do their weird things. This place used to be popular as the best place to get ‘lost.’ Whatever that means.” “Oh wow. I didn’t know that.” “Some of them scared me, to be honest. One woman came here a year ago saying that werewolves and ghosts live in this town and she came here to hunt them down." I froze when he said that, and that made him stop too. "I'm sorry, but did I hear that right? Did you just say 'werewolves?' Here?" David laughed again. "And ghosts. Vampires too. And witches. You know, the usual fictional suspects. That woman claimed that she ran into a werewolf at the wildlife park nearby when she visited and vowed to search for it here." My heart skipped a beat, not knowing how to react to what I just heard. Luckily, we finally arrived at the front of my apartment building, and I saw Eli standing there at the foot of the stairs looking at us. No, he wasn't looking, but glaring. "Why is he with you?" Eli asked loudly. David chuckled, and I couldn't help but get amused that despite Eli's rudeness, David just laughed it off. "I bumped into him when I was looking for you," I explained. "Anyway, thank you for walking me home safely, David. See you at work tomorrow." "Yeah. See you at work too. Goodbye," David said politely to me and even waved at Eli. He was clearly teasing Eli. I watched David walk away and when he was far enough, I immediately went to Eli and hit him on his shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?" "Why are you so rude to him? He just accompanied me back here safely!" "I walked you home too!" he replied like a child. "And I made sure that your place here is safe! Look, I even got bruises because I ran into someone suspicious!" He showed me his left arm and there were really bruises there as if some big claws tried to cut him. His wounds were bleeding, so I quickly told him to come with me to my unit so I could clean the cut. Eli looked happier than sad about his wounds because I cleaned them and covered them with gauze pads. He was looking at me intently while I did it, which irritated me. "What? Did your brain get injured too?" He smiled naughtily. "You know how to heal wounds faster, right?" I blushed because I knew what he was saying. Part of the benefits of the mating bond between mates is that we can actually heal our mate's wounds and injuries faster by licking it. Intimate physical contact usually does the trick too, so even a kiss can help the wound heal faster. But there was no way I would lick Eli's wound, or be intimate with him. "You look shy, Ariella. Did my charms finally get you? Well, they already got you since technically we're mates, but you know what I meant." "What if I stab you instead?" I said, making Eli holler so much that it made him tear up. "You're so happy for no reason, Eli. Maybe your brain did get injured. And why are you still not telling me what actually happened earlier? Why are you so calm? You said there was someone following us earlier, right? What if it's a werewolf too, just like the rumors?" "Rumors? What rumors?" I forgot that he was not there when David told me so I filled him in with what I heard from David. "Then maybe that was a werewolf. The person who was following us attacked me when I saw them peering at us over some hedge near the small river at the park." Eli was talking at the park at the center of the town, the same place where I met David earlier. "So it was really a person?" Eli nodded. "Yes, Ariella. And I don't know why but this person might be interested in you for some reason. Maybe it's a lone werewolf looking for a mate they can forcefully subdue to become their woman." "I heard about those. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's a rogue werewolf. Maybe the rumors here are true. Oh no, then does that mean we're no longer safe here? I just moved in here!" "Well, there's one way to discourage this person if this is really a rogue werewolf targeting you. But you may not like my idea." "Why? What's your idea?" I asked. "Oh Eli, I swear, if that's something crazy---" "Let me live here with you, Ariella."