Chapter 9

Alice

I didn't know how long I had been running from them. All I heard was their maniac laughing and marching footsteps towards me. Almost like they were toying with me like a predator chasing his prey.

Run! I said to myself.

But my whole body was aching. Blood dripped from every wound I got because of their attack. Every step was so painful as if I was walking on the shattered glass. And the more I was running, the darker everything around me had become. The longer I ran, the more my body wanted to give up.

No, I couldn't just stop and let them capture me again. I should fight for my life. Although my hope about it got thinner with every second that passed, I still should done it. So at least, when I was seeing Mom up there, I would proudly say that I had fought well.

That she had taught me well.

After running for what seemed like an eternity, everything went silent all at once. I paused and took a glance at my surroundings.

It was quiet.

Not a single laugh, groan, or even footsteps was heard around me.

I did it. I saved myself from the death.

I strode back but suddenly I felt myself bumping into something. No. Not a thing, but a human. It was someone who bumped his body with me. I shifted my sight and looked for that certain someone.

It was him. The leader of those cruel wolves! The one who initiated these attacks on me.

And he was right in front of me - smirking with one of his eyebrows raised in satisfaction.

"I got you, Baxter!"

He swung his claw against me and I could feel another injury on my skin. I screamed so loud and everything went black.

"Help me!"

My eyes were opened. And blacks turn into whites in an instant. A bright light crashed through my eyes and it took me a full minute to adjust myself and be able to see everything.

Where am I? I think I had seen that warm creamy ceiling somewhere. Was this heaven? I never knew that heaven would smell like a loaf of warm bread and a cup of hot chocolate.

"You've wake up?"

A voice asking me with a clear concern laced in every word. I looked at the speaker and realized it was him. The man I had been running from. The reason why every of these peculiar things happened in the first place.

"Harvey?"

I froze and kept thinking again about what happened. The last memory I had was I was being chased by those monsters. I thought I would die alone in that wood. But what happened? Why was I in here now?

"Wait, what happened? How can I be in here? I was escaping and..."

He walked toward me and looked at me with a worried look. Then he sat at the side of the bed where I was lying.

"We had found you on the wood. In a horrible condition and dying. That's what happened."

I sighed. So my escape plan failed. I eventually was dragged back to this house again. After everything I had been through, my effort went in vain and I was back at this luxurious jail once again.

Should I feel thankful to him? After all, he was the one who saved me from dying.

I didn't know how should I feel. Hell, I even felt my heart twisted in different emotions that I couldn't name one by one.

My mind flew back to that bit of scariest moment in my life. The moment when those wolves were chasing me down. I thought my body was covered in a deep wound then. It was so painful and I strongly believe it would leave scars all over my body..

I glanced at my body.

What? What the hell just happened? Where are those injuries? I might be seeing it wrong, but how could those things just disappear in an instant?

"What's wrong?" Harvey asked when he saw me keep checking every inch of my skin.

"How could this happen? I meant, I clearly remembered they had injured me so badly. How could those wounds magically disappear? I even can't see any now." I exclaimed in pure amazement.

Harvey was taken aback by my words. Strange. Wasn't he supposed to be happy with my healing process?

"It's because we have an amazing doctor in here, Alice." He said while laughing awkwardly.

I never thought about anything strange. I thought maybe Harvey was just lost in his mind for a few seconds and my question caught him off guard. But the truth was bound to prevail anyway.

I was alone in the bedroom. A bottle of blood was transfused into my vein over the past few hours. And I felt stronger on each drop it was entering my system. I couldn't imagine how much blood I lost to the point I could feel so energized when getting a transfusion.

Helen entered the room with a big grin on her face. Harvey had told me that Helen, the pack's doctor, was the one who would be responsible for my condition. I couldn't wait to meet her and say how grateful was I because she saved my life. Finally, I saw her walking toward my bed to check on me.

"Feeling good, Lu- I mean Alice?"

I chuckled.

"Never better. You did a great job, Helen. I never felt this much energized before."

She smiled and checked my body.

"What did you do seriously? How could you heal me this good, Helen?"

I couldn't stop praising her because Helen was indeed a really good doctor. Her capabilities were beyond amazing! How could she make every single wound I had disappeared and I felt like a brand new person?

"Oh, no! It's not me the one you should be thankful for, Alice."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I furrowed my brow and stared at her with a confused look. Maybe she was just playing the humble card and refused to acknowledge her success.

"It's not me who saved you, Alice. It's Harvey! He was the one who used his blood to transform you into us!" She exclaimed at the top of her lungs, cheerfully.

I stunned. My mind went blank the moment I could register every word Helen just said.

Harvey? Transform me into them? A werewolf, she mean?

"No way! You gotta be kidding, right? There is no way I am a werewolf! It's impossible!"

"There is nothing isn't possible, Alice. What else do you think is the reason why you could heal so fast? It's because now you are one of us! Werewolves have the most excellent healing abilities!"

She greeted me so sincerely to the point I wasn't able to blow up in anger in front of her. As if, she was really happy to have me become one of them. To have me in their pack. And I couldn't bring myself to let out my frustration at that very moment.

After she finished checking on me, she excused herself from the room. Before heading out, she patted my shoulder lightly and smiled like an angel.

"Once again, welcome to the pack, Luna."

***

A wave of anger was bubbling inside my stomach. It rose slowly and I could feel my inside burning in a hot rage. An inferno was waiting to explode. Everything felt like a nightmare and I couldn't believe what just happened.

He just turned me into one of them! A fucking monster! A beast that I couldn't even imagine!

How could he do this to me? I didn't ask him to transform me! Fuck, I didn't even ask him to save me either.

It was better if he left me rotting to death in that damn forest rather than saved me only to make me into one of them!

I heard the door open and my eyes went straight to whoever was going inside the bedroom.

It was him! That fucking bastard who made me into a monster!

"What did you do to me?!" I shouted in anger just when he entered the room.

He looked perplexed by my raging emotion. And I knew better than anyone that it was just a mask he wore to make my anger subside. But it wouldn't work out anymore! I had a right to go berserk right now.

"Calm down, Alice! What did I've done?"

I rose from the bed and tried to hit him as much as I could. But he dodged me and held back my hand.

"You fucking monster! How could you do this to me?! You turned me into a monster like you! I hate you, Harvey! I hate you!" I tried with the rest of my energy to punch him but my effort went under the bus.

He held me close and hugged me tightly. His eyes searched mine and stared deep down at me.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I truly am. I can't let you die and I have no choice other than transforming you into a werewolf. I do this because I love you."

I stared at him in disgust. And I didn't even know where that strength got, but I successfully pulled him away from me.

"Get away from me!" I shouted again.

I pulled the needle in my arms out harshly and writhed in pain for a second. Blood trickled from my arms and the IV needle. It was a mess everywhere and Harvey looked startled at me.

"That's not love! That's a fucking obsession you have on me! You changed me so you could detain me in here! You made me into a monster because you know I can't go anywhere with that beast inside of me! You psychopath monster!"

He tried to catch my arms again. But I quickly inched away from him and retracted to the corner of the room.

"You've mistaken, Alice. I didn't have any bad intentions toward you at all! The only thing I want is to save you! Please understand me, Luna!"

Hearing those words made me burst out in anger once again. I had enough with all of these werewolves and Luna shit!

"Cut that bullshit, Harvey! I'm not your Luna! Hell I don't even want to be with you forever, you damn monster!"

He went silent. He stared at me in disbelief and he looked hurt. But I didn't care. I was the one who had a major loss in here, not him!

"You mean, you rejected me, Luna?"

I inhaled deeply and shot a firm look at him. Maybe strong declarative sentences would push him away.

"Yeah. I, Alice Knox, rejected you, Harvey Adkins, to be my mate! And I refused to be your Luna!"