Chapter 44

Raphael walked down the stairs behind his mate. He could see she was tired by the way she held herself.

As soon as they reached the bottom he cocooned her in his arms. He'd been waiting to do that for hours. He inhaled her intoxicating scent and trailed his nose along the back of her head till he reached her neck. He rested his nose there on her warm flesh, so tempted to trail kisses along it till her body flushed red.

Soon, too soon, he felt her small hands pulling his off of her body.

"I need to get ready for bed." She said in a hushed tone, not looking at him.

He looked at her, she was so tempting right now. He could feel his pants getting tight. "Yeah." He said, his teeth were elongating as well.

She looked up and he saw a sliver of fear in her eyes. Then she turned quickly and shut and locked the door to the bathroom.

He walked to his room and sat down on his bed, frustrated and sorry. He'd scared her. His own mate. He needed to control himself. 'Yes she's tempting but she's not ready.' He told himself trying to calm down and regain control of his body.

He heard Brooke open the bathroom door then close another, her room door most likely.

-How you doing?- He asked, worried that she would now be afraid to even talk to him.

-I'm not sure, I mean they were basically saying that I could disappear in the middle of the night and they… they wouldn't care.- He let out a breath in relief. She was only worried about her family. She wasn't upset with him.

But, now that he'd been reminded of her family, he was confused. What was wrong with them! They were basically disowning her. Well that was fine, because now he would take care of her.

-I'm sorry honey.- He said, and he was, if he hadn't brought her all the way to the mainland then Brooke wouldn't have to deal with all of this shit.

-It's okay Raph, it's not your fault.- She replied. 'We'll, it kind of is.' He thought guiltily.

He laid down and closed his eyes. He could smell her cinnamon scent through the wall, he smiled.

Suddenly the mind link was severed. He got up, he couldn't smell Brooke anymore. He flung his door open and ran to Brooke's room, which wasn't far. He tried the handle but it was locked. He knocked, "Brooke! Brooke!" He yelled, he was now banging on the door, trying to get it open.

He heard footsteps behind him, and smelt Brad and his father, Mitchell.

"What are you doing?!" Mitchell yelled, putting his hand on Raphael to try and stop him. But there was no point. His mate was in there and something was wrong.

"Something's wrong!" He yelled as he tried kicking the door. The door wouldn't budge no matter what, 'Magic.' He thought, 'But why?' He needed to get in there.

Finally it started to budge, he gave on last shove and it opened. He ran to Brooke and wrapped his arms around her. She was standing still, staring across the room at a blank wall. He heard Brad and Mitchell coming closer, and he swallowed back a growl and yelled, "Get back!"

"Excuse me, I believe that's my daughter!" Mitchell replied.

He then heard Brad say, "Daddy, let's let them be." Raph turned his head and saw a look of reluctance pass through Mitchell's eyes, but then he turned and left.

'Won't even fight for his daughter.' Raph thought.

He returned his focus to Brooke, her pale skin was covered with goosebumps and her eyes were still focusing on that one spot. She hadn't moved since he'd arrived, and hadn't indicated that she even knew he was there.

He looked down and wondered why her shirt felt like skin, then he saw that she was wearing only her bra and pajama pants. He swallowed and focused on her face only, he was still holding her skin, which was smooth now that the goosebumps were gone.

He needed to get out of here before… before something happened.

"Brooke." He said, his voice husky.

He watched as her eyes moved and he could see that she was thinking.

He was about to ask her name again when she whispered softly, "What do Elves look like?" She looked him in the eyes and waited for his answer.

Now that she was facing him her breasts were pressing against his chest, she didn't seem to notice. He thought back to what she said, 'What do Elves look like.'

He cleared his throat, "To mortals like you, they look and sound human. But to immortals like me and other Lycans they look like," He paused recalling the last Elf he saw at Alpha Spruces house, "They are surrounded by a sickly, grey and green smoke that smells like rot and dying things. I've only ever seen one up close once, it was just over a hundred years ago, during the last battle Lycans had against Elves, I was around fifty and working in strategy. One day the Elves breached our defences…"

~~~~~~~~~

FLASHBACK

Raphael was having his sixth cup of coffee that day while looking over the map of the mountains in the dim lantern light. He marked off the bases that had been over run, taken back or destroyed.

He heard the running footsteps near his door, he glanced up and saw one of the warriors gasping for breath, "Th-the Elves, they're coming!" He choked out.

Raph stood up hastily and ran towards the main building, yelling as he went, "The Elves are coming! They're here!"

Doors flung open and Lycans ran to the main building along with Raph. He opened the door and said, "Arthur, the Elves are coming."

Arthur, the head strategist at the time, stood up and hurried outside to the watchtower. Raph followed but remained at the bottom of the ladder.

It was getting dark, and now an eerie mist was starting to seep through the trees. Raph glanced up and realized that he was surrounded by it. He began choking. He'd heard about the awful, rancid stench of the Elves, but had never smelled it himself. He began breathing through his mouth to try and make it bearable.

He looked up and couldn't see the watch tower anymore, he looked around and he couldn't see a thing. Except that poisonous smoke. He turned quickly when he heard a scream from behind, then another. They were horrible ear-piercing screams that chilled Raph to his bones. He elongated his claws, ready for an attack, although he knew that it probably wouldn't do him any good.

He turned and the mist cleared slightly, and he saw an Elf. It stood surrounded by an even thicker smoke that flashed green every couple seconds. He could still see it's skeletal body underneath the dense shroud. Raphael watched as it held a Lycan up by an invisible force and strangled him to death, the Elf tossed the Lycan's body away.

Raph blinked then stumbled back in horror. The Elf turned to him and Raphael, will never forget those haunting, milky, white eyes that belonged in a corpse but stared straight into his own golden eyes.

Ralph shifted and ran as far away as he could.

To this day he still couldn't believe that he'd survived.