Dylan
I'm not sure when, but it seems like lately I began to expect the unexpected. It seemed that nothing has been working out the way that I thought it would, and I still wasn't a hundred percent sure how I felt about it.
One of the most unexpected things was not the fact that I had found myself in the woods about to shift into my wolf in front of others willingly. It wasn't even the fact that we had encountered a strange wolf who didn't belong to our pack while out here.
Not even seeing Vit standing here and addressing the stranger in a way I never thought I would have ever seen from him, which was throwing my mind in a tizzy and had my thoughts all over the place.
I have been around this man many times over the years and I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard him speak, and among those times he has never spoken like the way he is with this man right now.
There was a gruff hoarse rasp to the words he spoke so comfortably and I wasn't sure if that was his natural speaking voice, or if he was out of breath from rushing over here.
It was that Vit knew this man. He had to. He called him by name the moment he walked out of the trees. I knew it to be true because the man reacted to him immediately.
Watching the scene unfold before me was like nothing I've ever seen before. Their facial expressions gave away little and when they did they immediately caught themselves and removed the emotions as to wipe the slate clean.
Vit was in his usual black ensemble, but I noticed that he was wearing something on his head. Thinking that maybe he was trying to keep his bald head from the cold, I didn't think to much of it, but his usually clean face had a hint of stubble on his chin and cheeks that were completely out of character for him.
Assessing his appearance, I realized that if he ran over here, he would of had to do it on foot because he was wearing way too many clothes to have shifted and gotten dressed.
The stranger, who we now knew was named Tristan, just stared at Vit for a few moments. At first it appeared as if he had seen a ghost, then his expressions switched from surprise, to shock, and then to all out anger.
"Did you know," Tristan growled, and I watched as his chest seemed to begin rising and falling very quickly. I'm not sure what happened or why, but his calm and somewhat friendly appearance was slowly shifting.
Unsure if he was about to lose control and shift back into his wolf, me and my little group all simultaneously took a step back. We were standing in a triangular formation with pretty equal distances between us, but it seemed that they had almost completely forgotten about us right now.
"Does anyone know what the f*ck is going on," Lecia whispered to us all. Unable to answer her I just shook my head, but I heard one of the twins, if not both of them, tell her no.
"Did you know," Tristan asked again, and it was obvious this time that he was only speaking to Vit. I looked between the two of them as if this was a play and it was now Vit's turn to say his lines.
Vit stood there just watching the man named Tristan, but he didn't answer him either by word or shake of the head. This only seemed to make him angrier and I was almost sure he was going to end up losing control and attacking.
It was dark out now and while it was a bit hard to see him completely, I thought that from this distance Vit looked as if he was straining, but I wasn't sure what could have been causing him to physically struggle at the moment.
Lecia had come close to me so quietly, that I jumped when I felt her hand on mine, but even the tiny noise that came out of me didn't draw the attention of the other two men.
"We should leave Dylan," she whispered to me as quietly as she could. I turned my head slightly and saw that her brothers were slowly taking steps backwards into the woods that we had just come from.
Even though I knew she was right, something inside of me really wanted to stay here and watch what was going to happen to this man. Maybe I was just afraid for Vit and didn't want anything to happen to him.
We were not friends by any means, but he has been kind to me, and even protected me before so I considered him a kind man and someone I didn't want to see anything happen to.
As the thoughts were going through my head the man, Tristan, snarled, "this whole f*cking time, did you know!"
I couldn't understand what he was asking. Honestly, it seemed like he wasn't even really asking a question, or maybe it was something only Vit would understand since they seemed to know each other, pretty well from their reactions.
Finally, Vit took a small step forward and shook his head, "no, I only just found out." I could tell that he was going to take another step closer to him, but Tristan let out another snarl.
"Liar!"
This time it was a bit harder to understand the one word because his teeth had started to grow into fangs in his human mouth and the word seemed almost too hard to pronounce.
Rae had been quiet and I wasn't sure what she thought of the scene in front of us, but she seemed to be anxious to the point of being eager, too bad I had no idea for what.
She has been so different lately. There have been times where she leads, and times she forces me to deal with difficult situations on my own. I almost feel like there are things that she isn't telling me, but I just haven't figured out what it is.
"Rae, should we leave or do you think we should stay," I asked her quickly. Leaving was probably the last thing I wanted right now, but I wasn't sure if that was me or her and I needed to check.
I waited for her to respond as I stood there watching still, but she didn't answer me. My frustration got the better of me and I softly growled in displeasure, but I hadn't realized that I did so out loud for all to hear.
Everyone's heads whipped towards me in that moment and I instantly regretted making a noise because the looks on their faces were like different degrees of anger.
"My bad," I mumbled quickly as I tried to take a step back, but it was too late. The man named Tristan had refocused on me and now that he was partially shifted I could see how dangerous he looked.
With my lack of experience with other wolves, I couldn't help but gawk at his partial transformation with sincere intrigue. I had never done this with Rae and I instantly wished to try it out soon. I would love to see what I looked like with her teeth in my mouth.
But my thoughts of what that would look like vanished as Tristan's eyes glowed so bright that I could clearly see them even from where I stood. If he shifted now, I was sure that he would be on me in seconds, and he had stated that he was here for me after all.
The moment he moved his foot, Vit launched himself across the space and headed straight for him. Vit was near Tristan so fast that I knew that he must be mid shift as well. If he wasn't then he must train relentlessly to be able to move that fast.
"Do not do this now," he spoke as he stood blocking Tristan's way to me. With his back to me, all I could see was how his body was almost the same size as the stranger, with the stranger being an inch or so taller.
Once his way to me was blocked, the twins and Lecia began urging me to leave, but with Rae basically ignoring me and this strange little feeling, I wasn't sure if I should.
"Dylan, he is distracted for now, but he might not stay that way. We need to get out of here now." One of the twins was saying from behind me as Lecia tried to pull my hand to follow, but I couldn't.
I have alone for my whole life minus the few weeks that I have had with Lecia and her brothers. No one outside of the pack should know anything about me so for him to say that he was here for me meant something. To me, it meant something.
"Why is he here for me? How does he even know anything about me? How does he know who I am? Does he know who I am?"
Even as I asked, I knew that they wouldn't have the answers I needed. The only one who would was the man currently being blocked by Vit and I honestly had no idea which of them would win if they fought right now.
This man, Tristan, had to be strong and intelligent for him to be able to get onto our pack lands without anyone else knowing. At that thought, I wondered how the hell Vit had come so quickly.
Turning I asked my friends, "has an alarm sounded or did one of you call the guards?" Lecia looked at her brothers and the pink on Nico's cheeks let me know that he had completely forgotten to call for help.
Cruz on the other hand looked away quickly and I watched his jaw clench as I waited for his response. "Cruz, how did Vit know to come here," I asked him directly.
Without turning to look at me he replied, "Eren."
"Eren," Lecia shrieked at him, "what are you talking about? Why the f*ck would you call him?"
I truly had no words for him and I was glad that Lecia was the one who asked the question. She was about to keep yelling when he didn't respond right away, but he cut her off quickly.
"I didn't call him, he was here. And before you ask I don't know why he was out here, but he was. He linked me right before the wolf appeared. He's the one who warned me and went to get help."
We were all looking at him, but he was still looking away from me and I was glad. Glad that he felt guilty. Glad that he didn't turn to look at me and see the hurt on my face.
Eren was the last person I wanted to think about right now. I didn't even know if I would ever be ready to dissect all of my feelings about him. In the past few weeks I have seen so many different sides of him that it had almost made me forget how awful he has been to me my entire life.
Today though, he reminded me of who he really is and let me know that I was an idiot for trying to see him for something more than that. What hurt the most was the feelings that came along with my confused thoughts.
With the direction our little conversation had gone I almost completely forgot about the situation taking place not more than thirty feet away from us.
Vit and Tristan were still talking and I wanted nothing more than to walk over to them and find out what was really going on. Letting go of Lecia's hand, I turned to walk towards them.
My temper was starting to get the better of me and I was losing control of my patience. Rae was finally paying attention to me and was now trying to get me to calm down.
"Too late!" I yelled at her.
It was too late for them because when I had finally decided that I was going to walk across the little clearing we were in, more guests appeared in almost the same place that Vit had emerged from before.
This time, I didn't even try to hide the growl that left my mouth when I turned to see who had now joined us.
Noel and Eren came tumbling through the trees. Noel seemed to be holding Eren up by the way that he had his arm draped over his shoulders.
Both of the newcomers stilled at the sight before them and Rae was the only thing that kept me in place. While Noel looked at me in confusion, Eren's eyes wouldn't leave my face at all.
How dare he stare at me like that. I growled in his direction and I utterly enjoyed the look of dismay and shame on his face. Taking in his appearance also filled me with satisfaction because he looked like he had been beaten to hell.
"What is going on here," Noel asked as he slowly lowered Eren to the ground next to him and he glanced from the two different groups across from him.
Eren looked a bit confused to, but I couldn't trust the expressions on his face just like I couldn't trust him. Nico came forward, but it was Vit who spoke, still with his back turned.
"Noel, I need you to get everyone out of here, now."
Turning my attention to where Vit stood, I saw that Tristan had turned his attention to Noel and Eren and was glancing back and forth between them and me.
"Why did she react like that towards them," Tristan asked awkwardly since his teeth still had not gone back to normal.
Noel seemed shocked when the person half hidden behind Vit had spoken. "Who da f*ck is this then," he asked loudly and I knew he didn't care who answered him, as long as someone did.
To my surprise, it was Eren who spoke, "that is the intruder I told you about. He showed up as a giant red wolf and was headed straight for Dylan. Since I can't shift, I went to get you to come help them."
Wait, if Eren had gone to get Noel, how did Vit know to show up when he did? I wanted to ask, but Noel wasn't done with his questions.
"Are you really here for the little miss," Noel asked Tristan, "there is no way that he will let you take her."
His words made Tristan shake so bad that I knew that he was trying his best to keep the shift from fully taking over.
Vit was whispering to him, but it didn't seem like his words were placating Tristan. The shaking continued and I could see the glow in his eyes. It wouldn't be much longer before the shift took him and he was a wolf again.
Noel spoke again, "the nearest patrols will be here in less than five minutes, I don't know what's going on, but I encourage ya to leave before the entire guard arrives."
The look that Vit game to Noel was quick and he gave him a curt nod before he turned back to Tristan, "leave now, do not ruin his plans, and do not come back here. She is safe. I promise on my life."
Howls sounded in the distance, and I knew that they were close enough to sense that we were out here.
Tristan looked around at all of us, but his gaze landed on me and stayed while he spoke, "do not begin to think you can keep me from her, but know that I will kill you if even a hair on her head is different when I see her next, Vincent!"
Was he talking about me? And if he was, why? I really didn't understand what the hell was going on here and I still had no idea who he was, but I saw that Tristan was stepping backwards into the trees and I knew he was about to leave.
I had to stop him. I needed to know who he was and why he was here, and how he knew me.
"Wait, how do you know who I am," I yelled after him and the moment the words left my mouth he stopped walking.
Tristan looked at Vit, then back to me, "I will explain everything to you the next time we meet, I swear," he uttered before he took his last steps leading away back into the woods.
We all stood watching the spot where he had vanished into the trees. No one moved or said anything for a few moments, until Noel called out, "the patrol will be here soon and I am sure that no one wants them to know about what happened here tonight, right?'
I didn't turn to see the others reactions, I was looking right at Vit who had finally turned around and was staring at me. He knew this man and why he was here, and I was not about to let him keep that from me.
"Before you ask, the answer is no. I can not tell you anything more," he told me apologetically.
Wrong answer. I forced Rae to shift right here in front of them all, snarled, and ran off into the woods leaving all of them there staring after me as I ran in the same direction Tristan had gone.