t w e l v e
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Dedicated to and cover by _EVLestrange ❤️

"WHAT DID HE say to you?" Jared demanded as his eyes landed on the open stretch of road ahead of him. The car rolled down the highway at double the speed limit.

Eretria turned her head away from Jared's furious face. A blue vein rose across his forehead. "Nothing. He has nothing to do with the murders," she stated, wiping her sweating palms on the edge of the leather car seat, and gripping it as Jared dangerously skidded around a corner. Her unwanted fear had returned, gnawing at her insides like maggots.

"And you believe him?" Connor's calmer voice enquired.

Tia briefly nodded her head even though the Alpha and Beta could not see it. "Yes. He didn't seem like a man that lies."

"None of them ever do," Jared growled. He smacked his hand down on steering wheel without so much as an enraged grunt.

Connor exhaled. "Daniel has a reputation, Tia. We can't trust him."

Tia furiously shook her head. The man she had met had been true. Although he did not have a heart that beat, or skin with colour, he had been honest to her. She had been told too many lies; she knew how they sounded. "We can."

"Any your reason?" Jared asked.

"I could tell he wasn't lying. He seemed too..." The brunette paused for the right word. "Civilised."

Jared and Connor snorted at the comment. Tia ignored the noises. She had grown tired of men not listening to her when she knew she was right. If anything, Jared was more conspicuous than Daniel.

"You know what, just shut the fuck up," Tia ordered. Her claws tore into the seat, piercing straight through the thick material. "I want to find Colton, and arguing about Daniel isn't going to help."

The two men fell into silence, merging into the midnight scape around them. The moon was low overhead, its luminescence trapped by thick grey clouds.

It took five more minutes before arriving at the pack house. Eretria was quick in her endeavour to exit the car, bundling her dress into her arms before leaving the vehicle and entering the vicinity of the pack house. The door creaked on its copper hinges as she slammed it open, leaving a dent in the plaster. She ran up the stairs, and for the first time, didn't get lost.

Out of breath, she knocked on Colton's door. She was greeted by silence.

Tia sighed, fisting her hands before pulling off her black heel. Mustering all the strength in her legs, she kicked down Colton's door. The brunette blinked rapidly to adjust to the pitch black that swelled in her eyesight. The room was empty of all life, the lights switched off, and everything silent.

Although she wouldn't admit it, Tia wanted to cry. She hadn't cried for months, yet the sheer act was something her father had seen as a crime, so she had taught herself how to hold back the salty water droplets.

She ran her hand through her sweating scalp. Her thick tresses thirsted for a wash. Tia gulped in air, panic beginning to set in. Her mind raced at the speed of light. She didn't know where Colton was, or if he was ok, and it petrified her down to her bone marrow.

"Tia," A voice resounded from behind her. A hand landed itself on her shoulder, but she flinched away from the man's electric touch. "You're hyperventilating."

Tia's eyes shifted from brown to silver, billowing into the iris like a gathering storm. Her claws were thirsting to reveal themselves; her teeth were stretching beyond recognition. She couldn't control it, and she didn't want to.

"Get off me," Tia hissed, her mouth aching for the taste of blood. Darkness reached for her, but she shook her head to smother it away. All at once, the beast released her. Eretria rested a hand against the peeling plaster wall to steady herself. "I'm leaving," She announced to Connor.

Connor inched forwards with a hand on his cufflink. He brought his face close to Tia's and stared directly at her, sending a ricochet of shivers down her spine. "You can't leave, Tia. We just need to figure out which vampire clan did this, and then the rest of the packs will be safe."

"That's exactly what they want," The woman growled. "They want a war, and we'll be giving it to them."

Connor grabbed Tia's shoulders in the blink of an eye as she attempted to walk across the corridor to her new room. "And we're not going to," He reassured the werewolf, which resulted in her narrowing her eyes. The male stank of blood and body odour. Bile rose tediously in her throat, yet she couldn't swallow it. "Tia, please. As much as I hate to say this, you need us-"

"Like hell I need you," Eretria interrupted. She stomped her bare heel down onto Connor's foot, but the bone refused to break. "Now let me go."

"I can't. You need to find Colton, and we all need to find the killer."

Tia snarled, showing her gums. Her mood had turned sour, despite the electricity running through her veins and drawing her closer to the Alpha. "I'd rather do it by myself. My pack was killed. Not yours. So stop keeping me a prisoner here, and let me fight my own battle."

"No."

"Yes," Tia retorted. "I don't know why you want to protect me. I don't understand any of this. But fine. If you want me to stay, for whatever reason, I'll stay."

Connor's face cracked into the slither of a smile. Tia knew she wasn't supposed to see it, but she did. It slithered across his lips like a serpent. "Good," Connor exhaled. His hands ran down Tia's arms before letting go of the woman completely. "I don't want you getting hurt. I knew your father, and he was very protective over his kin."

Tia wanted to tell him that her father could be a monster, but her lips were sealed shut. Instead, she pushed all the thoughts of her family to the back of her mind, and scraped her hair from her face.

"Yeah, he was," Tia murmured. "And I hope for his sake he's-"

Connor's phone vibrated as Eretria was halfway through her sentence. The man pulled out the mobile from his trouser pocket and frowned at the screen.

Tia leaned in to see who the image was of, but Connor answered before she could see. The disgusting stench of blood stung her airways as she leaned in closer. It blanketed the Alpha's estranged aroma of pine trees and wet pelt. Secretly, the brunette missed the vibrant scent.

Connor's jaw pulsed relentlessly before he decided to speak. For an Alpha, he didn't appear comfortable in the slightest. Tia could smell fear entwined with the staleness of the corridor. "What do you want?" He demanded down the line.

The other voice on the end of the line replied swiftly. Connor rolled his eyes, and removed the mobile from beside his ear. Eretria expected him to hang up, but instead the phone was thrust into the palm of her frozen hands.

"He wants to talk to you."

Eretria nervously placed the phone next to her ear. Butterflies hovered in her stomach, twirling in a shock of wings and colour. "Hello?" Her shaking voice asked.

"Hello, Eretria," Daniel's words hummed.

Tia's stomach dropped into oblivion, the flock multiplying until it was a fully fledged hurricane. "Daniel," she uttered, almost dropping the phone. "What do you want, because you're in the top five people I do not want to talk to at all. Ever."

"I'm trying to help you," Daniel encouraged. She could imagine him sat in a grand mahogany chair, sipping blood out of a crystal glass.

"You can help by leaving me alone," Tia glowered. "You tortured my friends." She almost threw up at the word. Colton was her friend. Connor and Jared were affiliates.

"So they're your friends now, are they?"

"No, but I trust them more than you," Tia continued. "Now why'd you call?"

Daniel's breath rattled down the distorted line. "The murder tonight was a distraction. I would head to the Fang Pack if I were you."

"Wha-"

"Goodbye, Eretria," Daniel stated before hanging up, the line blurring into oblivion. Fear struck Tia's body like a blade ripping through each of her vital organs. After her argument in the car, was Daniel yet another person who had lied to her? How else would he know about whatever had happened at the Fang Pack - unless he was desperately trying to help, and without a reason to prove it.

Tia felt betrayed, so much so that she crushed the phone in her grasp. The screen cracked, and Connor's face grew furious.

"What- What did he say?" Connor stuttered as Eretria let the iPhone fall from her grasp onto the carpeted hallway floor.

The woman shook her head. Her brain rattled painfully in her skull, like a thousand needles were piercing into it. "We need to go. Now."

"Ok."

"What were you saying earlier?" Connor continued with folds between his eyebrows.

Tia flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Nothing important."