Chapter Nine

I was hurt that Leo had not come running after me. I could not believe that he had just assumed that I was guilty. He honestly thought I had slept with his brother.. and for what, out of pity? I was not sure what situation was running wild in his mind.

One thing I knew for sure was that my chest felt tight and I felt so sad.

I had decided to stay at a cheap Hotel for the time being… I simply could not face Leo or Alex.

Leo was supposed to be my boyfriend, so I understood how hurt he felt but Alex had also acted as if I had hurt him too.. that maybe I should have picked him instead of Lorenzo; they really thought that little about me.

It was then, that I remembered Alex being forceful at the Hospital when I was attacked by Lorenzo and his friends, the first time that I had been attacked. I never did push Alex’s hands away or tell him to stop touching my body.. but that was different. I sighed in realisation; no it was not different in their eyes.

Male Shifters always judged female Shifters poorly when it came to such things.. but if a male Shifter did that then it was okay. I grimaced at the reality of the world that I live in.

Males were free to do as they pleased, whereas females were judged for everything that they did.

I meant no disrespect or disgrace in my statement; it was just how sexist the species were.

I remember when my mother and stepfather had found out about my first time having sex. I grimaced at the memory;

I was seventeen, more than old enough legally in our world. I had been drinking a lot, my stepbrother and his friends had a Birthday gathering in the forest near the castle where we lived.

The music was out of hand, the males and females were going at it crazily with their lust. And there I was alone, my stepbrother would laugh and pick on me, as he always did.

I was the outcast and I should not have gone out there with them.

I got upset and ran to the nearby caves to be alone but I was not alone.. I never did see his face.. I remember having my body pushed to the ground so I could not see him. He whispered that it was our secret, my back was turned from him the whole time, part of that made it more exciting and enjoyable.

Only the next day, my brother found me lying down sleeping half naked… and he told everyone. Everyone called me a whore because I did not know who I had been with.. and the look of disgust on my mother and stepfather had made it much more of a painful ordeal.

That was the day, I realised I needed to be free of my family.

When my real father requested that I went to meet with him.. I knew that was my one shot at escaping. And so, that was exactly what I did.

I never did meet my real father but I had heard he was the reason that my stepfather could not have children with my mother.. after having me it was apparently physically impossible. So a year after he married my mother, he had hired a maid to carry his first born child, my monstrous stepbrother, Shane.

And that was why everyone hated me in my family, everyone except my mother. I was not just the disgusting Hybrid but I was also a bastard in everyone’s eyes.

I winced at my memory shaking my head. No, I cannot and will not go back.

I grabbed three bottles of whiskey from the local Supermarket and made my way to my Hotel room.

It took a lot for a Shifter to get drunk, but I needed to forget everything for a while.

Tomorrow would be a new day, I smiled happily.

Tomorrow I would speak with Leo and I would make him understand what really happened.

I grimaced at my headache the next day, but if I did not feel this bad then I might have chickened out on contacting Leo. I smiled. Everything would be fixed and me and him could go back to how we were.. we had been so happy and I missed our silly conversations and our teasing. Actually I missed everything about Leo.

Maybe he would see how strongly I felt about him and forget about it all. Or maybe he would leave me.. I grimaced at my second thought.

When I got to the Beachfront, I smelt Allie’s scent instantly and I sighed at her uncomfortable gaze.

‘Please just go and get Leo, I need to speak with him about all of this’. I muttered, sadly.

Allie was wearing a pin-striped suit and she looked all business, whereas I was wearing ripped black jeans and a black vest.

‘You actually think I would let you near him after this? Why do you not just go and find Lorenzo.. I am sure he would love that!’. She snapped, angrily.

I gasped in response to her anger. If she was in a suit then Leo was not in town or.. he was having time off.

I decided this approach would not work, so I waited for her to leave and walked past the back clearing.

I found him as his Leopard and he scowled at me, the second he set his eyes on me.

I was in human form so if he retaliated I would get injured or worse.. but this was Leo. My Leo.

I sighed sadly; he was not my Leo anymore.. I knew that simply from the look in his eyes.

I stupidly reacted the way we should not in front of shifted versions of us; I let my tears fall. I screamed at him to hear me out and he roared at me to leave… I screamed and cried letting all my emotions run wild.

He leapt at me forcing me onto my back; it was clear as day that he had lost control of his anger for me.

Leo dug his claws into my skin and I could not help but scream in agony, he then bit into my shoulder aggressively. I could feel my body going faint, as I lost more and more blood, with each new injury that he inflicted upon me.

The male wearing black, from before, could hear screaming in the distance; he tilted his head in response. The woman’s screams sounded a lot like Scarlett Night’s voice.

He shrugged lightly; like he cared if she was in pain. She was his enemy.

More of her screams in deep agony.

His nostrils flared and he swore in response; somebody was hurting her. He should not care and yet he found that he did.

He should let her suffer and yet.. he began throwing off his clothes and letting them fall to the floor and then he started to shift into his wolf.

He dropped to his knees and groaned in pain, as his bones began to crack and reform.

I felt so lightheaded, like I would faint at any given moment. Leo was enjoying inflicting pain upon me.

Did he really hate me so?

I closed my eyes, giving into the darkness.

My eyes snapped open when Leo’s Leopard was shoved off of me.

I had expected to see Alex but soon realised this Werewolf was a stranger.

A jet black wolf stood over me protectively; I did not know this Werewolf. It had no scent and it was the extremely muscular. Much bigger than Alex’s wolf.

The black wolf stood on its hind legs and let out an ear piercing snarl at Leo; it leapt at him and he did not even have the time to react before he was pinned and the wolf dug his teeth into Leo’s shoulder, enjoying inflicting pain on him.

‘STOP, PLEASE. DO NOT HURT HIM, IT WAS MY FAULT!’. I screamed out weakly.

I tried sitting up and winced, clutching at my side.

I was losing a lot of blood and I felt so weak. But I could not let Leo get critically injured or worse because of me.

He dug his claw into Leo’s chest and then leapt off of him and then ran off into the bushes.

Leo looked at me with shock in his eyes, despite still being transformed into his Leopard.

The male from earlier reappeared in a black vest and black jeans; but I did not pay much attention to him because I could feel my temperature dropping rapidly.

Within seconds everything went white.

The male frowned deeply, as he stared at Scarlett’s extremely pale body.

He needed to get her to a Hospital and fast. Or she would truly die.. and oddly.. he did not want that.

‘You, Leopard. Where is the Hospital?’. He glared angrily.

Leo groaned, as he shifted back forcibly.

‘I.. I have to fix what I have done. Give her to me and I will be sure she recovers’. Leo muttered sadly.

‘You really think I would let you near her after you nearly killed her!?’. I scoffed at him.

Leo sunk his head and whimpered slightly.

‘Alright’.

When Scarlett awoke, there was no sign of Leo. I could smell somebody else.. but they had a strange scent.

I could not believe Leo did this to me. I found my tears were streaming down my face even more, as I hugged myself tightly.

I was in a side room on a bed; my body felt refreshed, so I knew Dante had given in and helped me. He had a responsibility as a Human Doctor before he had a responsibility as a Pack Doctor.

I sat up and gasped in shock; the stranger from before was sat in the chair by the window, eyeing me with curiosity.

‘You!? is Leo okay?’. I winced in pain, as I questioned him.

He scowled in response.

‘Please. I need to know he was not hurt badly’. I cried.

‘The Leopard is fine, I did as I was told’. The male grumbled, as he gritted his teeth, watching my reaction.

Now that I paid attention to the stranger, I was taken back by how handsome he was. But it was not just that.. he had his long hair draping down to his chest; his red eyes shone brighter than I had anticipated.

He had a tattoo of a bright sun shining and underneath it was a wolf staring up at the sun happily, with its tongue rolling out of its mouth; it was extremely detailed on his arm and was in full colour.

I found myself extremely curious about not only this tattoo but the male also. Only recognised Nobles had tattoos, like this. Alex never did reveal his, but I knew it would be very flashy, as he was to be the next leader of the Elders of the High Council of Werewolves.

He seemed to be amused by my attention, because he was smirking at me, as I took in every aspect of him.

He stared at the door, hearing Dante’s footsteps closing in.

He grabbed the leather jacket that was draped over the chair and put it on, covering up his tattoo.

It felt very suspicious. But then, I doubt I would want to be recognised everywhere I went.

Dante broke my train of thought by muttering loudly, as he entered the room.

‘My Alpha will be here soon, you should leave if you do not want an issue with our Pack’. Dante frowned deeply.

He smirked in response.

‘Oh I can handle myself.

I gasped in shock, this male was not just a random male helping me. Maybe he was here to cause trouble for Alex.

‘Who are you and why did you help me?’. I glared at him, trying my best to ignore my pain.

He chuckled, an odd musical laugh and smiled at me in response.

The instant my eyes locked with his, I blushed deeply.

There really was something about this Werewolf than made me feel strange. Dante cleared his throat and the male shrugged.

‘Shadow’. He smiled politely, getting up and gesturing his hand to mine.

I gulped in response and shook my head in a quick refusal.

Dante must have felt the awkward tension and came up to me and whispered into my ear.

‘Should I call security?’.

‘That sure is an idea’. He chuckled, clearing amused with Dante’s fear for him.

It was then that I heard echoing shouts down the corridor.

It was Alex.

‘SCARLETT?!’. Alex snapped angrily at somebody.

‘I SAID SCARLETT FUCKING RAINE’. He snapped again.

Alex stormed into the room and stared at Shadow instantly.

‘Who the fuck is this?’. He gasped in shock and annoyance.

Shadow grinned in response.

‘Wait.. was this the male that hurt you Scar?’. Alex frowned deeply.

Shadow stood up and glared at Alex.

‘Typical, you, her Alpha fails to protect her and I get shit for helping her’. Shadow snapped.

‘Okay, that is it. All of you leave me alone’. I snarled.

Alex looked at me confused but sighed and began to walk out of the room. Dante followed him without even looking at me.

Shadow however, just sat back down in his chair besides the window.

‘Shadow? I meant you as well’. I frowned.

‘Not a chance sweetie’. He winked.

I crossed my arms and looked down at myself.

What now?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Here I was covered in bandages, with messy, matted hair and yet another Alpha was attempting to flirt with me.

Or maybe he had questions for me? I had no idea what this male wanted, but it felt like trouble.

‘My family are Nobles, yes, but I would prefer your friends did not know’. He smiled politely at me.

I sighed deeply in response; why was I always surrounded by important males?

‘I am Scarlett Raine.. but then you know that’. I sighed softly.

‘Ah, a fellow Noble’. He smiled, extending a hand towards me.

I looked down sadly.

‘What is it?’. He frowned.

‘Shadow, I am not a Noble.. I am an abomination’. I stared down at my hospital gown, picking at the fabric.

He stood up and to my surprise; he sat on the side of my bed and pulled me to his chest.

‘Trust me, you are a Noble. Being what you are does not change that’. He spoke matter-of-factly.

I felt a bunch of tears drop down my face.

I did not even know this Shadow and I felt like I could trust him. How strange.

The moment was over as quickly as it begun, however, he then stood back and frowned at me. His face retorted in anger.. like I had done something wrong.

‘I actually.. need to go now’. He mumbled quietly.

He turned around and bolted for the door.

And now I was just sat here alone and extremely confused.