"Alpha Kalio eagerly awaits your return to the Pack… with his pup." He leaned in, his head jerky, his voice a ghostly whisper. The sharp metallic tang of his teeth, evidence of his recent kill, filled her senses.
Her eyes widened. This was worse than a normal rogue. He was the type who couldn't be reasoned with at all. One that fed even on his own kind.
"He would give anythi—-anything to have you…"
His twitching hand moved from her thigh and hovered over the bulging part of the coat. Idalia's hands shot up instinctively, ensuring he wouldn't touch Arik.
"…both. I could use that." His hand dropped back to her thigh, followed by a short, low maniacal laughter. The next words that slipped past his lips were too fast; she almost didn't catch them. "But Ashfield? Of all places?" He giggled to himself, visibly trembling.
Idalia tried not to show any emotion, but that information dumbfounded her.
This train was going to Ashfield?!
She had entered the wrong train!
She certainly wanted to stay away from the Sanctuary, but not to the point of going to the edge of Outer Metro. Grandpa Alfred said the edge of Outer Metro was dangerous, that it was too close to the Midline, which was filled with warriors who were always suspicious and too quick to use their metal weapons.
Guns! He said they were guns!
She had to get off this train!
Then there was this rogue!
Why were her problems accumulating? Good grief!
"I don't remember if he said anything about— ha— anything about wanting you alive. Bad memory, but it doesn't matter which way, does it?" He asked in a breathy note as he rested his head on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter at all, not when you smell this good."
She pressed Arik closer. Everything was rushing at her at the same time. It felt too overwhelming. Tears fogged her eyes as her nails dug into her palms, her teeth clenching with a cry she couldn't dare to let out, her heart hurting from how fast it was racing.
This wasn't happening.
By Argon, no. NO!
He would kill them both. This mad werewolf was going to kill her son.
Not if she could help it, though.
True, she wouldn't be able to fight him alone. To stand a chance against him, she would have to break the mental block she had put up between her werewolf and herself. Only then would she be able to tap into her abilities. But even without shifting, that alone would come with dire consequences. Alpha Kalio would sense her almost immediately, and her essence would become traceable in every spot she had been in recently.
What about these people here? If they were to find out what she was? They would rip her baby and take them in for experiments.
The odds were stacked against her and Arik.
Maybe there was another way…
The rogue's slimy tongue slithered across the side of her neck as he pulled down her scarf, granting himself unwanted permission. Idalia balled her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms as gruesome images flashed in her mind, voices she did not wish to remember.
She shook her head. Paying attention to her environment instead. She was here, in the present. She was here. She had to save her child.
She moved a hand towards her bag to grab her knife, preparing herself for anything that would come.
Arik stirred, nudging his head against her, then he began to cry.
The rogue hissed and pulled away from her. "Quiet it!"
Quickly, she began to pat Arik for him to stop crying. The eerie feeling coursed through her veins again.
The lights were still flickering, and although other passengers from other coaches could be heard complaining, everyone in this coach was oddly silent.
Idalia took in a short, shaky breath as it finally dawned on her.
There were more werewolves in this coach.
Did the rogue know? Maybe, maybe not.
They didn't follow her here, so that meant they were going to Ashfield to search for her and Arik. If Alpha Kalio could dispense searchers to search as far as Ashfield, nowhere in Outer Metro was safe from him.
The situation was worse than she thought.
She knew he was capable of turning Outer Metro upside down in search of them, but she didn't know he would move this fast.
How—— this wasn't the time to think about that!
The only safe place for now in the Republic of Valmere, was Echelon, a place past the Midline, where only the rich lived.
But— by Argon— the warriors and their weapons— THERE WAS NO WAY SHE COULD GET THEM THERE!
Her heart was beating so rapidly now, it felt like it would tear out of her chest. Her mindless, tightening grip around her knife had sent the blade into her skin, and now she was bleeding.
Was this it?
Was it over for them?!
"Quiet it, or I'll kill it!" the rogue snapped, pressing his hands to his ears, his face contorting with discomfort.
Idalia sprang up to her feet, instinctively, and said to the rogue who now stood in her way. "She is not hungry, she feels…messy. I must get her to the restroom and change her, or she will keep crying."
The more misinformation she could give them all to hear, the better. She knew they were attentive to her every movement and every word. Maybe if they reported back to him that the pup was a girl, he'd relent in this mad hunt for them.
What an outlandish delusion.
She almost laughed at how ridiculous that idea sounded in her head.
A growl rumbled from the rogue as he stepped aside.
"I'll be back in a moment." She headed to the exit of the coach, her heart in her throat as she wished desperately that she couldn't be followed.
From the corner of her eyes, though, she could see one of the people seated at the opposite side of the train rise to his feet and approach her.
"Mine!" The rogue growled, shifting as he pounced on the man. The man did the same, cloth ripping, bones snapping as chaos ensued. Everyone else followed, a fight for who would be the one to deliver her and Arik to Alpha Kalio. The seats were ripped up from the floors, the bars thrust through flesh to draw blood, claws rending deeply to the bones, and canines tearing into anything they could hold.
Idalia ran the moment the first fight ensued, Arik's cry ringing through the roof.
"Mummy is here. Mummy will get you out of here," she said breathlessly, now almost at the exit door. But then a hand yanked her ankle, dragging her down. She twisted mid-fall, landing on her back to shield Arik. Pain exploded behind her eyes as her skull struck the floor. Groaning, she sat up and swept her knife across the already injured werewolf's face. He snarled loudly, grabbing her hand and ripping the knife out of her grip.
"You worthless piece of—— "
"They are mine!" Another werewolf lurched into the fray, canines ripping into the attacker's arm, as a battle to the death ensued.
Using the distraction, Idalia ran to the coach's exit door in an attempt to escape to another coach. She jammed her hand on the big red exit button, but nothing happened.
NO! NO! NO!
She looked back quickly to see that a massacre had occurred, and among the bloodied mess on the floor, the walls, and the roof of the coach, only one surviving werewolf stood.
She kept jamming her hand on the button that seemed unresponsive, as he turned to her — wolf from the waist, human silhouette from the waist up, brown matted fur all across his skin, blood dripping from his fangs, and his claws out for more flesh to rip into. He turned to her fully, more madness in his eyes than she thought was even possible.
She would have to shift. She would most likely not survive this fight, but she would do everything to make sure to kill this rogue and only take her last breath when she places Arik in safe hands.
Anything to protect Arik.
"All that fight—— has made me—— hungry. Food…" he said jerkily, "…alive." He lurched.
Now!
But before Idalia could shift, the doors pushed open, and a deafening bang rang across the coach.