Chapter 18 - Hazel #2
I swallowed, walking a few more steps. The feeling of darkness draped over me like a blanket. One second, the space was beautiful and lush; the next, it was gone. The trees had lost their leaves, the plants had withered away, as if the life had been sucked out of them. And it smelled of death.
I then spotted a hybrid in the distance, close to one of the larger trees.
One by one, more of them arrived in the space.
I turned, taking them all in. There were hundreds, and my heart started to beat quickly.
I knew that they had grown in numbers, but I hadn’t expected this.
Seeing them all together was terrifying.
But I looked around once more, trying to piece together where exactly we were. The large open space and the huge rocky area were just a few feet away from me. I’d seen it before. But where?
A large man spoke in front of them, catching my attention. A scar across his left eye. He had snow-white hair and was built like a train. “We will make them all pay.”
His eyes snapped toward me, and I felt my heart stop beating. I’d seen him before. He was the man I saw previously. Could he see me? Did he know I was watching?
“Hazel!”
I jerked awake as Asher was shaking me. “Hazel, wake up.”
I blinked, staring into his eyes. My stomach dipped low at what I saw. “I saw them.”
His body tensed up. “What? What do you mean?”
“In the pasture….It’s not a pasture, though. It’s their base. I saw them.”
Asher sat up. “What do you mean it’s their base?”
“That area I keep seeing. It’s their base.”
Asher leaned closer. “Tell me where you were.”
I thought of the map and frowned. “It’s that location I sent you before. That pasture. Well, it was a pasture at one point.”
He shook his head. “There was nothing there.”
“No, that is the spot. I’m telling you, Asher. That is where my dream always leads me.”
He seemed unsure. “Are you sure it’s the same location? You could be mistaken.”
I shook my head. “No, it was there. It’s the same place. I know because of the trees, and there is a large rocky area.”
“Then we will go look again.” He pulled himself out of bed.
I shook my head, feeling my stomach flip at his words. “No, they have grown in number, Asher. If you guys go there again, it’s going to be a slaughter.”
“We have to see how many there are. We have to look.”
Asher started pulling on his clothes. I frowned. “Right now? It’s in the middle of the night.”
He nodded. “Yeah, now. We can’t sit on this.” He pulled out his phone and headed into the hallway. I swallowed, feeling that sinking feeling growing. It had nothing to do with magic, but my instincts.
We were leaving the house half an hour later. We got out of the car, and I took in the large group of people who were going. The wind blew, and it sent a shiver down my spine. Gabriella hurried over, throwing her arms around me.
I sank into my sister’s arms, but was still unable to push this feeling away. I watched as the guys headed over into the woods. Jade and Nora got out of a car to the right of us and stopped next to us.
“Does anyone else feel this is wrong?” I asked, looking at all three of them.
“This isn’t the first time they’ve gone out,” Nora said, smiling at me. “They will be okay. We don’t feel any bad energy.”
I swallowed, staring into the woods. Time seemed to tick by, and I shifted nervously on my feet.
“Are you okay?” Gabriella asked, but I wasn’t. I just knew something wasn’t right. I could feel it deep in my bones. This was too fast. It was dark out, and they had no idea what they were going into. I should have voiced it more.
I opened my mouth to speak when a scream erupted in the woods. We all turned, just as another and another followed it. The sound of the hybrid’s voice followed, and I knew it wasn’t good.
“What’s going on?” Nora said, all of them turning white.
We all watched as a few of the guys came running back into the pack. A couple of them had shifted. Some were bleeding while others looked white as ghosts. But none of our guys.
I shook, my mind traveling back to my nightmare. The man who stared at me, had he seen me? Had he known they were coming? Was that where this sinking feeling came from?
We all moved, getting closer to the woods. We knew we were safe in the barrier, but the others wouldn’t be. A few more of the guys burst back into the space, all of them shaken up.
“What happened?” Jade asked, her eyes searching the woods.
“They were all there. They…they..” The guy’s entire body shook in fear. “There were so many of them. They came out of every direction.”
“Where is Brandon!” Jade screamed, her voice shaking in fear now. “Where is my husband! Where is your Alpha!”
The guys didn’t know. None of them knew.
The longer we stood there, the more the air started to shift. I could feel a tingle of the dark pull, which meant the others would feel it even more. The wind blew, and you could smell it. I scrunched up my nose.
We noticed people running in the distance coming toward us. I watched as a handful of hybrids followed them. My mouth dropped when I realized they wouldn’t make it.
There was nothing we could do. There were too many of them for us to stop. The men running knew it as well.
I felt tears burn as the first hybrid snatched one of them. They yelled, trying to free themselves. I felt Gabriella grab my shoulder, hiding her eye, but I watched.
The hybrid ripped his arm off, and blood splattered everywhere. The screaming only got louder as more of the men were slashed down. Nora and Jade both screamed.
They both started moving toward the woods, but the guys grabbed them, stopping them from breaking past the barrier.
“Let go of me!” Jade screamed, throwing her arm back at the guy. “They need our help!”
I felt like my world was shattering, and there was nothing I could do but watch.
Suddenly, I watched some wolves come running, slamming into the hybrids. I knew from their size and color that it was our guys. Jade dropped to the ground, sobbing. Nora was still trying to thrash herself free. Gabriella had gone stiff against me.
They freed a couple of the guys, but they couldn’t save the one who was already dead. The sound of teeth snapping and howls filled the space. I couldn’t keep up with who was winning. They were moving too fast.
The hybrids started to turn back, and I watched as the guys turned to us. The four of them were covered in blood and scratch marks.
The space fell quiet, and I looked at Asher. Tears fell, and I wished I had spoken my mind more forcefully to him. I knew that this was a bad idea and I was partly to blame for everything that happened.