Wolfhenge existed as one of the most ancient and sacred sites of Frostone pack.
Set deep within the woodsy landscape of Frostone's heart, the trees here looked older and shadier, ivies and algae creeping and hanging off them like veils.
Despite having lived most of her life in Frostone, Audrey had never been here. Wolfhenge didn't accept visitors of the wolfless kind.
Even now, as she got down from the car on shaky legs, she couldn't fully appreciate the ambience of the place.
She couldn't shake of the uneasy feeling from their encounter with the strange figure on the road.
Certainly a man from the height and wideness of his stance.
Tristan gripped the steering so hard his knuckles whitened. "I don't have time for this."
Audrey's attention didn't waver from the figure. Under the full moon and with the distance between them, she could make out just his silhouette.
"Who's that?"
"Trouble in clothes. Get in the back and lay low."
His words spilled out of him as he got out, so Audrey's protests fell on deaf ears.
She watched him as he approached the stranger in that leisurely swagger she knew as his.
Choosing her battles, she scrambled across the centre of the front seats to the back and crouched low until she could barely see through the windows.
Her eyes closed. Thoughts of the dreadful and bellyaching kind roared through her mind in a whirlwind. Deckard's snarling face. The unbridled love in Nick's eyes when he asked her to escape with him. Tristan's exciting presence. Her new identity as a werewolf. All in the space of a couple of days.
Fate surely had a whole lot set aside for her. A generous bundle of twists and not so favorable surprises.
She heard a subtle hiss as the door on her left opened. Her heart dropped.
If it was Tristan returning, she would've known. Her nose would've picked up his scent like bees to honey. Her skin would've crackled with static sparks from the tingling of her nerves.
None of that happened. She kept her eyes shut tight, hoping for the best, even as a weight dipped into the seat.
Hot breath caressed her ears, causing goosebumps to flourish down her arms.
"Nighty night, pretty damsel."
Her heart vanished somewhere between her gut. She'd hoped never to hear that sneering female voice again.
"You don't have to shut your eyes like that. I'm not Medusa."
Audrey pressed herself as far back as she could before looking at Kiera properly.
"What…what are you doing here?"
"Sounds as if you're not happy to see me."
Kiera sat poised facing her, a cat ready to pounce without notice.
"I recall hearing you say you'd love to meet under better circumstances. Well, here we are. Can't picture anywhere better than this expensive contraption."
She eyed the interior of the car with unhidden desire. "Smooth ride. You mates must be stinkingly rich."
"Tristan is just outside."
Kiera offered her a toothy smile. "Conveniently distracted by my companion. He won't know I'm here until it's too late."
Audrey didn't want to appear weak to someone like Kiera but try as she might she couldn't help the tremble in her limbs.
Kiera's eyes glinted at her obvious discomfort. "Relax, Luna. I'm not here to hurt you. There'll be a better time and place for that too."
She tried to sit up straighter. "Why are you here, Kiera?"
"Now that's the spirit. Straight to business since we have little time for chitchat. Hopefully other better circumstances will arise."
Kiera leaned closer, a maniacal grin on her face, forcing Audrey to push back into the seat.
"I hear you've caused so much trouble in just a few days. Why? There's a man willing to go to war for you. Even die, too. A fairytale story for a pretty damsel. I'm jealous."
Audrey said nothing. Actually, she didn't know what to say. She glanced towards the front. Tristan had dissapeared somewhere with the stranger. What was keeping him?
"Take this."
She looked down at the outstretched palm with long black fingers sharp as claws. A phial of clear liquid sat nestled within.
Audrey didn't obey. "What's this?"
Kiera's reply was as simple as telling the time. "Wolfsbane."
Audrey stared at her in disbelief. "Wolfsbane? That's dangerous to werewolves."
"But empowering at just the right quantity." She licked her lips, a cunning fox ready to deliver her winning pitch. "You're fated to the twin Alphas but in love with another. He's putting his life on the line for you. What would you do for him?"
Audrey glanced down at the phial. Tiny yet toxic. Evil bottled up as a gift.
Kiera saw this an opportunity to continue.
"It won't kill him. All he needs is a whiff to become insanely strong and invincible. Not even Deckard would be able to defeat him. Your lover would prevail, sweep you off your feet and together you two would dissappear into the rising sun. A happy ending to your fairytale, pretty damsel."
As Kiera said it, the pictures came alive in Audrey's head. Oh how she yearned for that to happen. To be free of all this werewolf business entirely.
"The choice is yours, damsel. But you've got to hurry. You won't get another opportunity like this." Her voice lowered into a whisper. "You've seen what Deckard is capable of, haven't you? He's a cold-blooded monster."
A minute later, Tristan had returned to the car, his face set into a scowl. He sniffed the back of the car.
"Great! Now everywhere smells like murky wet fur. Dark creek scums running wild everywhere."
He'd gunned the engine and sped across the empty road.
Now, climbing the stone steps that led up to the cavelike entrance into the grove, Audrey fingered the tiny phial in the side pocket of her pants.
The shady trees whispered a silent song under the cool breeze of the full moon night. The scent of pines and cedar lingered in the fresh air. All calming essences of nature and age.
But the riot within Audrey could never be soothed. She had a choice to make.
Nickolas was ready to die for her. What would she do for him?
She grabbed Tristan's upper arm, causing him to stop. "I need to speak with Deckard."
Tristan gave her a look of mock pity. "Still on about begging him not to dismember your ex?"
"I have to try, don't I?"
Tristan led her around to a narrow path snaking through a congregation of shady cedar trees.
"Up there. Don't stray from the path or you'll get lost. He should be roughly two minutes in."
He dissapeared into the grove.
Audrey started up the path, her pace unhurried but sure.
Wolfsbane, unnoticeable in scent and taste to werewolves. Adrenaline to their veins in the tiniest amount. Poison to their system otherwise.
She opened the stopper, dipped a finger into the phial and dabbed the cool liquid generously over her collarbone and the sides of her neck.
It won't hurt her because she was yet to discover her wolf.
She recalled Deckard pressing her against the wall of the manor as he kissed a trail down the sides of her neck.
As their mate, it would be easy enough for her to make him kiss her like that again. Even taste her if she responded in kind.
Why make Nickolas unpredictably strong if she could make Deckard pathetically weak?