Chapter 4 Untitled

She used to be a prayerful person as a child, but along the line, as she

grew, she fell along the way like a bad seed. She had met bad friends at school

and rather partied than go to church. Her knees had not touched the floor for a

long time nor had she gone to confession. Now, she couldn't even pray well. Her

lips moved but only garbled words formed. She was sure God didn't even have

her time that night. That was why wild animals were sent to eat her. She was

irredeemable

What are you doing?' He asked her.

' Praying.' She replied, her voice cracked from crying.

He had moved further into the bush, carrying her effortlessly. She could

still hear fearful snarls of animals nearby. A dangerous, deeper growl from Darsh

quietened them. Sylvia's heart no longer pounded normally. She was half-dead

from terror. Was he calling them for a meal?

He got to a clearing within the bush and stopped, placing her on a trunk of

a fallen tree. 'You will be safe if you don't move.'

' Why don't you just let me go?

Please?' 'I can't, you've seen us,' was

his answer.

Sylvia bitterly regretted all the advances she made at him that night. She

should have suffered the party in silence. The first time she ever picked up a

man, he had to be a dangerous abnormal. 'I won't tell anybody. I promise.'

He scuffed. 'I don't trust a woman who can down a bottle of booze and pick

up a random stranger. Besides, you can't even walk.'

She hung her head. 'I'm cold.'

He looked at her up and down, her black gown was short and sleeveless.

He shrugged off his jacket and gave it to her. 'Stay here. Don't make a sound or

you die.' He then moved away about two hundred yards and squatted, one hand

planted on the ground. Few minutes later, two men approached him. They

moved awkwardly as if their limbs weren't straightened completely. They first

walked on all fours then on two legs. They were naked.

'What happened out there?' One of them asked Darsh. 'First you were at

that Flaya's party, then you were late for our hunt and a woman was with you.

And you got into a quarrel.' 'And you almost killed us!' The second man

snarled. 'We were just two against them.' 'Bayy, Faka,' Darsh replied. 'It wasn't

like that. The Flayas are friendly to us.'

'Not anymore. We wounded one of them this night, all for that woman.'

'The woman was a passerby,' Darsh told them. 'She brought me something

important I lost.' Bayy cut in. 'You knew this was our meeting. Why is she still

here?'

'She is hurt.'

'What?! Are you crazy?! We are leaving for a mission tomorrow. Dugu

North-East needs reinforcement. More terrorists are moving deep into the

forests and encroaching into their territory. They are killing and eating wolves

for food. The last of our wolves kind are more endangered now than ever.

Grandfather sent word yesterday, we go to Dugu North-East tomorrow.'

'I will go. Don't worry about the girl.'

'Get rid of her,' Faka growled. 'Give her back to the

Flayas.' 'They will kill her. She is not one of them. A

novice.'

'Nevertheless theirs. For meat or for sport. They got her

first. Let her go.' The two men melted into the bushes.

Darsh returned to Sylvia. 'Let's

go.' 'Where?' she asked him.

He didn't reply. He picked her up again and walked into the bushes. Sylvia

was now sure she was going to die. She had walked headlong into her own

demise all because John jilted her.

Darsh took her to one of those uncompleted buildings close to the thick

bushes. It was a duplex, yet to be painted, only one of the master's bedrooms in

the building was furnished. A bed, rug on the floor, electronics and a fridge. He Just a sprain,' he told her. 'You will be okay soon.'

She gave a sigh of relief. Treating her ankle might mean he and his cronies

won't eat her. She also noticed his fangs had retracted. Or they probably keep

their food in good condition first. Sylvia's fear returned, even though she liked

his touch on her skin.

He finished with her ankle then removed his clothes, and was completely

naked. Sylvia averted her eyes. He stretched beside her on the bed, threw a

blanket over his body and closed his eyes.

She didn't know what to do. She lay there like a log, sleep eluding her. She

couldn't think of escaping. Those beasts out there could kill her. Darsh remained

her only means of survival. He hadn't eaten her yet or harmed her in any way. He

was the one who saved her out there. She couldn't find her handbag and phone

since she fell on the road. She wondered if her friends and roommates had

started looking for her? It would take until close of work later in the day for her

colleagues at work to make concerted efforts to contact her. Her family weren't

used to calling her every day so they won't start getting worried till a week or so

later. She wasn't that close to her step-father, and she and her mother had

drifted apart since her mother's new marriage.

She caught herself drifting into sleep and snapped out of it and sat up. She

needed to be alert, she told herself. One shouldn't sleep in an enemy's den. Darsh

snored lightly beside her. His fine golden brown skin covered in soft dawn of

hair in a wavy pattern. His features are calm in sleep. She remembered how

those lips had rushed her body earlier that day. The intense passion they had

unleashed together. How she had wanted him desperately. She couldn't believe

that she wanted to sleep with a wild beast.

She sat there till the next few hours. Darsh woke up and was surprised to

see her awake. 'You couldn't sleep?'

Her glare answered his question.

He got up, the bed sheet sliding away from his body. He seemed not to

mind being naked in her presence. Sylvia had to look elsewhere. 'We need to get

ready to leave.' He looked her over. 'That dress is no good for the morning.'

'Just let me go.'

'You know I can't do that.'

Why? But I promise not to tell anyone about you. No one will

believe me anyway.' 'If I let you go, those two cousins of mine will hunt

you down. They will kill you.' 'Oh! God!' Sylvia cried.

And don't forget the Flayas too. For some reason that idiot thinks you are

his property and now we are enemies. I think he was seriously wounded in the

fight. You should have just left me alone when I told to you last night. You should

have just left.'

'I couldn't.'

'But why? Because you were drunk?'

'I don't know. It was more than that. I was attracted to you. I was drawn to

you. I don't know why? I thought you were my type.'

He was quiet. He looked at her, thinking. He shook his head and sat up on

the bed beside her. 'Maybe I'm your type. Maybe you are my mate.'

What do you mean your

mate?' 'The female for me.'

'I don't get it.'

'You've noticed I'm not like other men.'

Not ...human?' She asked him with caution, still not looking at him directly.