Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Tyrelle yanked me back up on my feet before I could grasp what had happened. He moved in front of me and kicked the wolf's side, sending it sliding on the concrete floor as soon as the wolf in front of us jumped forward.

“Trespassers.” He growled before looking at me. “Run!” He ordered and began to drag me towards the direction of the forest.

“Shouldn’t we run back to school? We could hide in the rooms.” I suggested.

“There are still a few people left in that building. Don’t worry. My pack must have smelled their scent and are probably headed this way.” We ran much deeper into the woods than I would have liked. Tyrelle finally came to a halt and forced me into the bushes before I could react. When I looked up, I saw Tyrelle holding the wolf's neck in his hands before hearing a horrific break and the wolf's corpse going limp.

He discarded the limp body away while rubbing his arm that was bleeding from all of the scratches.

“Head to school, Gabriella. I’m the one that they’re after. They probably want to use me against my father.” As he said it, I heard the few growls from the forest where we were before.

“Where’s your pack?” I asked.

“Probably on their way. Get out of here.” He told me.

As stupid and as stubborn as it sounds, I didn’t move. I was frozen in place because I was so terrified by the sight of blood in front of me. The stench of blood wafted into my nose, and the presence of bone protruding from the wolf's lifeless body rendered my legs useless.

“Snap out of it, Gabriella!” Tyrelle yelled. He appeared to be on his way in my direction when a couple of wolves arrived from the forest, following the same path we had taken to get here.

Tyrelle cursed but moved in a way so that he was standing between the other wolves and me. “Gabriella, if you won’t move, then stay hidden and be quiet.”

He says this as he turns to confront our assailants. One of them started charging towards us. Tyrelle's body moved slightly as if he was ready to dodge it, but he held his ground. He raised his arm to stop the wolf's attack, but he was bitten on the arm in the process.

“Tyrelle!” That snapped me out of my train of thoughts when I saw that he was bleeding and grunting in pain.

“I’m fine.” He gritted his teeth and used his other hand to bury his claws into the wolf’s neck. I cringed when I saw that he closed his fist and tore a piece of its throat away before he cast the carcass aside. “Close your eyes and cover your ears if this makes you uncomfortable. It will be over soon.” As soon as he said it, he began to sniff the air. “Or not.” He added.

My gaze shifted to our left, where I heard a few loud growls from a distance that strangely drowned out the other snap delivered by Tyrelle to the remaining wolf.

“More are coming. I will draw them away from you while you make your escape.”Tyrelle abruptly collapsed to the floor, which concerned me. But that was before I noticed him growing fur and heard the horrific rearrangement of bones as his entire body began to shift. He not only changed his posture and went on all fours, but he also grew in size. In a matter of seconds, a reddish-brown wolf appeared in front of me, two times larger than the other three that I had just seen.

He turned his whole body towards that made me falter upon being towered by a huge wolf. He used his snout to help me get back on my feet before directing me in the opposite direction. A clear message that he wants me to run.

Tyrelle began to back up and ran in the opposite direction as the bushes began to rustle. That prompted me to run back to school.

Tyrelle was being pursued by a swarm of trespassers, as he had previously referred to them. I need to hurry back to school and find one of his 'pack' to inform them of the situation.

My legs began to burn, that I had to pause to catch my breath. Of all the times I ran away from Al, you think that my stamina would have increased.

“Tyrelle?” I gasped and turned back when I heard a rustle from the bushes behind me. I saw the wolf’s silhouette, and my body began to relax until I noticed one minor detail that I missed.

This wolf is small compared to Tyrelle’s.

I ignored the heat in both my legs and lungs as I made another full-on dash. However, running in casual shoes on a muddy plane is not simple. As I climbed a muddy incline, I kept stumbling over my feet. When I started panicking while moving to the other side, my hands got scraped, and dirt got under my fingernails as I desperately crawled on my way up.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it because I felt a weight settle on my back, and having its claws buried in my shoulders isn't a good sensation. I yelled in agony as I slid back down onto the ground, the wolf still on my back.

I didn't move even when the wolf was breathing down my neck. It moved his claws away from my back, repositioning them so that they pinned me but didn't dig into my skin. I closed my eyes when the wolf began to howl as if he had revealed his whereabouts to his comrades.

From the wolf’s demeanor, it doesn’t seem like it was going to hurt me. More like it was trying to hold me captive. Are they going to use me as leverage to Tyrelle?

I tried to retaliate and turn around, but the wolf was overpowering me. I have to stay calm and think things through. It’s not like I am exactly defenseless. I still have one more trick up my sleeve: my smile.

But if only I could turn around to use it, but it seems like the wolf won’t even let me have a look at him.

A ferocious growl came from the forest, and I began to develop a sense of dread, but that was until the weight lifted off of my back that I began to breathe easily.

I took that opportunity to move out of the way when I caught a flash of red fur from the corner of my eyes. It was Tyrelle who was fighting off the other wolf that had me captive a while ago. I closed my eyes when I saw him clawing out the eyes of the other wolf. The howl of pain echoed in the forest that made me cover my ears.

Tyrelle was limping towards me when I opened my eyes. He wasn't even halfway through when he collapsed to the ground and got mauled by two other wolves that appeared out of nowhere.

“Tyrelle!” The situation got worse from that point on as one of the wolves sank his teeth into his neck. But thankfully, with Tyrelle being an absurdly huge wolf, his attacker wasn’t able to fully grasp his neck.

Tyrelle rolled to the ground as he tried to get rid of the others, but it was a bad move considering that it allowed the other wolves to attack.

I ran towards Tyrelle and pushed one of the wolves that were closer to him. It gave Tyrelle enough leverage to get back on his feet and knock back the other one biting one of his lower legs.

He was severely bleeding at this point, but he still stood up to cage me with his body as the wolves began to recover.

I didn’t notice it at first because of the color of his fur, but when my hands grazed them, it felt sticky and covered in blood. I don’t know how Tyrelle was still standing, but it was clear that he was at his limit at this point. And frankly, I hate that I was being protected like this when I could have done something sooner. If I had, then Tyrelle wouldn’t be injured this badly.

“I’m sorry, Tyrelle,” I said as I crawled away from him to stand in between him and our attackers. “I can take it from here.” I was an idiot. And it took Tyrelle to be badly beaten up to snap me back to my senses. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this was going to work, but upon remembering that I did the same thing to some members of Tyrelle’s pack when I saved Al, I was hoping for the best.

I clenched my teeth and pushed the muscles of my lips upward to form a grin. The strain of my action caused me to shiver at the strange expression I was creating.

Because it was the first time I witnessed wolves cower in fear, the two wolves' reaction appeared hilarious at this point. From the back of their throats, they made a pathetic sound. As they ran, their heads were dropped, and their tails were tucked in between their legs.

When I turned around, my face was so numb that I forgot I was still smiling when I turned to face Tyrelle. It wasn't until I saw his reaction that I remembered I was still grinning.

But it didn't matter at this point because I could feel my smile evaporating as soon as I noticed Tyrelle's astonished expression in his wolf form.

“Tyrelle, I-” I took a step forward and stopped myself when Tyrelle tripped and fell to the ground when he attempted to move away from me.

I have to admit, that gesture hurt, but I couldn’t blame him. My smile always affects everyone that I know—even my parents when it first happened to me. Just what was I expecting from this guy? That he wouldn’t fear me like l?

Another roar from a distance informed us that there was another wolf in the neighborhood, but we were both too distracted to care at the time. Tyrelle appeared to be a broken wolf whimpering in terror, and I felt nothing but hurt at Tyrelle's demeanor.

The wolf finally arrived without our knowledge. And by then, it was too late for me to make a move because the wolf had chosen me as its prey.

I lifted my hands in defense and braced myself for the assault that never came. Instead, the wolf was blown away by a burst of wind. A loud snap was heard when its back hit the tree and fell on the ground lifelessly. "You filthy little turd." It was the first time I'd ever felt relieved to hear his voice, let alone see his face.

Al was standing in front of me, giving me a clear view of his back. His clothes were ripped to shreds and heavily stained with blood.

Was he fighting?

When he turned back to me, he was wearing an expression that I couldn’t read. He began to tear off a part of his hoodie that wasn’t stained with blood and started to wipe my face with it. Then, he began to look at Tyrelle with a sour and disgusted expression. “I never liked you from the start, but considering what I just saw, it makes me hate you even more. In fact, I want to kill you for making Gabriella wear such a sorrowful look.” His voice had a lot of venoms laced in it that I tensed up in fear that he would attack Tyrelle. It wasn’t until I saw his shoulders relaxed that I finally felt at ease. “But considering that she went that far in order to save your sorry ass, I’m going to let it slide.”

Al gently held my shoulder, and I flinched at the pain that surged from the cut that I got earlier. “You’re bleeding.” He clicked his tongue disapprovingly at the sight of blood on me while looking at my back. “I’ll get you to a hospital and carry you home. I’ll make sure that the mutt pays for it. Come on.”

I shook my head. “I’m fine. I can-”

A dark look crossed his face. “Stop being stubborn for one day and just listen. You can barely stand on your own. How are you even going to walk!?” I believe that it was the first time that he raised his voice at me in anger.

But as hard as it was to admit. Al was right. I was beginning to feel a little light-headed from standing. How else would I return home without collapsing?

In defeat, I lowered my head and nodded. I guess that I might as well trust Al at this.

Al turned to Tyrelle at that moment. “I am going to take her home. As for your pack, they are all safe back in the school. I took care of your unwanted visitors. In return, I don’t want you going near Gabriella again. I don’t like useless turds who wear that kind of expression when looking at my woman.” As if he was warning him, his fangs protruded, and his eyes turned yellow when he looked at him. Tyrelle, on the other hand, looked away from us in shame.

Al began to wrap whatever was left of his hoodie over my shoulders as he began to lead us away. I wanted to look back to Tyrelle, but something within me told me that I shouldn’t.

“Don’t worry. That mutt will survive. He’s already beginning to heal by himself as we speak.” Al assured me. It was weird how normal he was acting at this moment that I feared that he might be an impostor. But fake or not, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of security in his arms that my body began to relax.

So far, Al was the only one who didn’t cower in fear of my smile. I don’t know if he is just a weird psycho with an odd fetish, but maybe his reaction made me think that my smile probably isn’t that bad. But when I remembered Tyrelle’s response, all that thought went down the drain.

I was foolish to think that someone other than Al could stand my smile. I was even crazy to think that Tyrelle and I might even be friends. But I guess that’s just it. We aren’t friends. We are just acquaintances who are under a contract.

I shouldn’t let Tyrelle’s reaction bother me because it wasn’t supposed to be new. I should have expected this already.

I bear the smile of a cursed killer, and I am - and will forever - be alone.