Chapter 18

ARIELLA. "No..." I whispered, trying to hide my panic. Good thing that we were under the shade of the other buildings nearby so the moonlight wasn't directly hitting me. And the moon was actually partly covered by clouds, but still, if the moonlight hit me directly my wolf might get triggered to transform. "What did you say?" David asked, still clueless of how dire the situation was for me. "I'm sorry, David, but I have to go." I stood up and then walked sideward to the sidewalk to avoid the moonlight, and I saw David looking at me confused and shocked. If this wasn't a disaster in the making, I would've laughed at the face he's making right now while watching me walk like a crab toward the shade the buildings cast on the sidewalk. But I really had to go now, so I did everything I could to get away from the moonlight. I ran like a mouse looking for shade where the cat wouldn't spot me. I could still hear David calling me and the only reason he wasn't following me right now was that he was caught off guard by what I was doing. I'm pretty sure right now, he was thinking that I just lost it. I was already far enough from him when he started calling me back again. I looked back at him and saw him running after me. That made me panic even more, because what if I transformed in front of him? That would be the end of my stay here at New Forks. "No!" I yelled when I felt the moonlight hitting my skin. My wolf had already reacted wildly, growling mad at me for trying to avoid the moonlight. Normally, I would have allowed this transformation, as every werewolf needs to transform into their wolf form every month. But because of what has happened the past few days the full moon’s schedule slipped from my mind. I was so ashamed of myself for forgetting the full moon, and I understood why my wolf was angry at me. I was already hopeless. The transformation had begun, and David was still running after me. To make matters worse, I tripped over something and fell to the ground. That was the moment when I felt that fur had started to grow on my skin. If David sees it it'll be over for me. But then something happened. I sensed another presence of someone, and the next thing I knew, I was being pulled away from the sidewalk where I fell, into the dark alleyway between the tall buildings beside the street. I couldn't see who it was because everything happened so fast. We moved like our lives were at risk. Whoever this was that was dragging me out of the street, I'm pretty sure that this wasn't a human. No human could move as fast as this. Even I felt extremely dizzy as we moved from one spot to another like a blur. And when we finally stopped moving at lightning speed, I realized that we were in total darkness. The person with me suddenly hugged me, and then I knew who it was. His scent overwhelmed me and then calmed me down. My wolf had stopped whatever it was doing, and the transformation had been stopped too. I took deep breaths as I tried to recover, looking around in search of light but all I saw was a small spark of yellow to our far left. "W-Where are we?" "Inside a tunnel. Good thing no vehicle seems to use this anymore," said Eli. Light suddenly appeared from him and I saw that it was coming from his phone's flashlight. "What were you thinking? You could have been seen." "I'm sorry... I forgot." "You forgot that it was a full moon tonight?" he asked before I could even finish my answer. "How distracted could you be with that man that you forgot that you were a werewolf?" "Hey! That's foul. David wasn't the reason I forgot about the full moon." I said that shouting but then I went softer when I saw how he was looking at me right now. The light was reflected on his face and his eyes were glowing so I could see his reaction clearly. He was mad at me right now. "So who was it that distracted you that much? Me? Because that would be wild if it was me. You're not distracted by me, Ariella. It was clearly him. You were on a date with him. You were even drinking together." "I told you it wasn't him!" I yelled, but he covered my mouth for fear that someone might hear us from the outside. “Shh! Our voices echoed through the tunnel and we might get found here.” "Would you mind?" I pushed his hands away from my mouth. "Why do you even care? I thought you left already?" "Left? Why would I leave when you're in danger here? I just stayed at the hotel because I didn't forget it was a full moon!" "But you were still out right now," I argued, "so you have no right to scold me like that, Eli. You were outside too." "Yeah, but I was careful. I was in the shadows the whole time. I wanted to check on you but I saw you there outside that store on my way to your apartment. I almost attacked that person because I thought you would surely transform in front of him!" Hearing that from him made me cry. I don't exactly know why though. Was it because I was relieved that he didn't leave me here alone after all? Or was it the shame I was feeling right now that I almost committed a mortal sin and risked our secret existence to the humans? Or was I just so happy to hear that Eli would even kill a human just so I wouldn't get exposed? "I'm sorry..." I finally sobbed. Hot tears fell from my face. Eli's face softened, and then he suddenly hugged me. As I sank into his chest I cried as hard as I could. "I was so scared, Eli. I t-thought it was over for me..." He took a deep breath and caressed my hair. "You really made me worry, huh? I was ready to snap that guy's neck had he reached you." "I'm sorry," I cried more to his chest, wetting his shirt. "I was dumb---" "Don't say that," he said softly. It was funny how he was raising his voice at me a while ago but now is defending me from myself with his soft, angelic voice. "You're not dumb. Maybe careless, but not dumb. Ouch! I was just joking!" He flinched because I playfully hit him on his chest. "Are you sadistic? You always hit me." "That's only fair after hurting me so much," I told him, wiping my tears. "Well, yeah. That's fair. Hit me all you want then. Just don't push me away again. You obviously need someone like me to kill anyone who sees you in your wolf form because you're careless. Ow! Ow! Just hit me, not pull my hair!" "I'll punch you next if you don't stop teasing me you bully!" We laughed and I hit him more before I finally stopped. We went quiet for a while. And then I realized that the moon wouldn’t disappear soon. "It looks like we can't get out of here yet as long as the full moon is up. This is going to be boring." "Yeah. We'll be here for a while, Ariella. So why don't we do something fun while we're here?" "Fun? What fun? It's so dark here." "Exactly," he whispered and then kissed me full on the lips.