Predator | 49

April froze in her spot at the sudden noise. She looked at Nikolaj. He didn't have his eyes set on her anymore, but was looking out of the window instead, despite the fact that nothing could be seen from where they were standing. His eyes were narrowed into small and dangerous slits and his teeth were tightly clenched together.

April knew that look. He always carried that expression on rare occasions, when he was displeased or angered with a situation.

His hands slowly dropped from her face and he turned his back to her. She was afraid to ask what happened since she was quite sure that whatever the sound was, wasn't anything good.

"What's wrong?" She asked with obvious hesitation, her voice barely above a whisper.

Nikolaj kept silent for long moments, most probably trying to figure out what had happened, before he decided to answer her question.

"It's Natalya."

April blinked several times. That wasn't the answer the expected to hear. Nikolaj walked in long and quick steps over to the front door. April trailed behind him. He opened the door and the chilly air immediately bit into April's skin.

She instinctively rubbed her arms and walked outside, peering over Nikolaj's shoulder. Natalya was lying on the ground. She looked exhausted and was breathing harshly. And she was naked. April figured that she had just shifted back into her human form.

Nikolaj darted back into the cottage and came out with a blanket in his hands. He crouched down and spoke something to Natalya. April didn't understand what he was saying, he was talking in his mother language.

Nikolaj covered Natalya's naked body with the blanket and helped her to get up. He had his arm wrapped around her in order to steady her and keep her from falling. She took tiny steps, as if her own legs weren't capable to carry her weight anymore. Nik walked Natalya into his cottage and helped her to sit on the couch.

He knelt down in front of her, taking both of her shaking hands in his and rubbing over her knuckles tenderly. Nik spoke in a calm voice to her, trying to calm her down.

April didn't know her well enough and she had a feeling that Natalya might even dislike her for whatever reason, but she still hoped that nothing serious happened to her. She might be a dangerous Lycan, but right now she looked like a scared girl and nothing like a dangerous beast. She looked fragile.

They spoke a few more moments. April didn't understand a single word, but Natalya's voice was audibly shaking. Nikolaj listened to her with a hard mimic.

"Is everything okay?" April asked after a few minutes. It was kind of a dumb question, since it was very obvious that nothing was okay, but it seemed like the only right thing to ask.

Natalya's eyes locked with hers, looking like she had forgotten that April was even there. Her eyebrows furrowed, she watched her with that kind of look that April always received from her whenever she was around. The look of distrust and wariness. It was as if she had to be cautious of her and as if April was the Lycan and Natalya the vulnerable human and not the other way around.

She then glanced at Nik. He looked worried, afraid even, but only for a second before the look fell from his face and was replaced by a blank mask.

No one answered April's question. That wasn't something she had expected. She thought that Nik would at least trying to reassure her that everything was alright and she hadn't to worry about anything. But this time it didn't seem to be like that. Now she was even more worried than she was minutes before.

Nikolaj then helped her up and walked Natalya to the door. He hugged her tightly and spoke something into her ear, probably something reassuring. Natalya let the blanket slide off her body and gave it back to Nikolaj. April looked away, not really wanting to look at her nude body.

She heard Nikolaj closing the door, followed by his footsteps, until he walked into the living room. He neatly folded the blanket and dropped it on the couch.

Now, Nikolaj showed his distress freely and without any care. He had by far the largest frown April had ever seen on him on his face. His eyes were tightly clenched together as he rubbed his hands over his lids. He never looked so tired like he was looking right now.

"Nik?" April asked.

His eyes fluttered open and the intense look of worry she found in his eyes was scaring April.

He walked to her in slow but large steps, taking both of her hands in his, his thumb affectionally rubbing over her skin in a soothing motion.

April's heart beat faster and harder, but not because Nikolaj was standing so close to her that she could feel his breath fanning against her face. It was because she was so scared to hear he was going to say. She could barely hold his gaze longer than ten seconds.

"April.. I need to leave," was the first thing he spoke after painful long moments.

It took a while until her brain could process what he was saying. Her face fell into a deep frown as thousand of different questions formed in her head and not being able to ask them all at once was frustrating.

"Why?" She asked. A few brief seconds passed before she asked again. "Why do you have to leave? What happened? And why was Natalya here and looked scared? What happened?" She asked all at once.

Only then she realized that Nikolaj had the same problem. He didn't know what to say, struggling to find the right words. She had never seen him like that, being so disstraught.

"Something bad is happened here right now," he answered, but it didn't answer April's questions at all.

If anything, she had even more questions than she had a minute ago. Nik decided to answer her question with the most obvious answer he could find.

Of course it was nothing knew that something bad was happening in Rosewood, she knew that much already. This wasn't anything knew.

"What? What is happening and why do you have to leave?" She questioned. "God, Nik, please just tell me what is happening right now. I'm kind of freaking out right now," she continued.

"They are after me," he said. "The turned Lycans are hunting me and they will be here soon. That is why Natalya was here, to warn me."

For a moment, April was speechless. She wasn't even sure if she was breathing, because it felt as if invisible hands were choking her and depriving her of oxygen.

"How does she know that?"

"She saw them running to our direction and tried to hold them off, but she failed."

"How does she know that they are after you? How can she be so sure of that? How can you be so sure of that?"

Nothing of what he said was making any sense to her. She tried to calm herself down by trying to tell herself that Natalya wasn't right, that she was talking a lot of bullshit and that no one was after Nikolaj, but as soon as Nikolaj shook his head, all of those thoughts vanished into thin air.

"She was telling the truth." He watched her with sad eyes. She had never seen him this sad. "We... we had an encounter with a few turned Lycans a few nights ago. Every one of them attacked me, not the other Lycans who were there to help me. They just wanted me."

"Why didn't you tell me?" April asked in an uneven voice. She could feel the tears pricking her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She hated crying.

"I don't know. I didnt want you to worry," he explained, but it failed to make her feel any better about the situation.

"What are we going to do now?" She asked him, proud that her voice was stronger than before.

Nikolaj frowned down at her. "You will go to your car and drive away. Better yet, drive out of Rosewood. Don't take any roads near the forest when you drive out of town. It's time for you to return back to your home."

April looked at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe that he was telling her to leave. She knew that he was saying it for her sake, wishing nothing more than for her safety. But she didn't want to leave him alone. Not when she wasn't even sure if they were going to see each other ever again.

"You think I can just leave you behind?" She croaked in a tiny voice. "Can't you come with me? We can run away together."

Nikolaj shook his head. A pained expression washed over his face. "I can't. They will be still after me."

"But-"

"No, April. You will listen to me," he demanded in a harsh voice, taking her by surprise. She wasn't used to hear anything other than a soft voice coming out of his mouth. "You will leave Rosewood. It isn't safe here anymore. I was stupid to think I could keep you longer with me, while I knew the whole time that you shouldn't be here with me. I'm sorry, April. I'm so sorry."

"But what about you? I can't go without you. I don't want to go without you."

"You have to. Promise me you will leave and won't come back, April."

April took a shaky breath. "So that's it? I will just leave and never see you again? How do you expect me to do this, Nik?"

"I will find you," he spok in a determined voice. "I promise to you that this is not over."

April didn't know what to answer, so she just nodded her head. Nikolaj let out a relieved breath. He took her hand and walked her out to her car.

"Don't worry about me. I will be fine."

She tried to believe his words, but it did nothing to ease the fear and the worry.

He opened the door for her. April relucantly got into her car. She wasn't even afraid that something might happen to her. But she was beyond scared that something might happen to Nikolaj. He was her only worry.

"I promise I will find you," he said again. He struggled for a few moments, trying to say something. Instead, he breathed a long breath and looked at her affectionally. "Drive safe." He shut her door close and waited until she drove off.

Her eyes flickered to the rear-view mirror. She was unable to look away from him, until he dissapeared from her sight completely.

April decided that she would drop off at her brothers place. She needed to know if Eric was alright and warn him about the danger, if he didn't know it already.

She pulled over and hurried to his apartment, but found it empty. April tried not to be worried, not wanting to freak out. It didn't have to mean anything that he wans't here.

April fished her phone out of her back and decided to send him a quick message, asking him if he was alright. She then tipped in another message, telling him about the turned Lycans that are after Nik. She told him to be careful and told him not to worry about her, because she was safe right now.

In this moment, April wished that she wasn't just an ordinary human who wasn't even able to help them without being shredded into pieces by Lycans.

She closed the apartment door behind her and walked back to her car. April didn't want to return back to her home. She wasn't even sure if that place would even feel like home anymore.

When she walked down to her car, she saw Shawn just getting out of his car. He looked at her with worried eyes.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Shawn asked and walked towards her.

"I was looking for Eric. Do you know where he is?"

"No, I haven't seen him in a couple of hours. He had left for the police station, but he should be fine," he promised to her April nodded in relief. "But I'm worried about you. I was at Nikolaj's place right now. He told me what has happened."

"I'm leaving," she blurted out, though she was sure that Nikolaj had told him that anyway. Now that she had spoken those words, it felt more real to her.

"I know," Shawn said. "I will drive you away from here."

"You can't," April declined. "Do you know where I live? It's an eight hours drive, even longer with all the traffic out there."

"I won't drive you the whole way back to your home. I will just drive you out of Rosewood into the neighboring town, maybe even a couple of towns further away until I can be sure that you are safe. We will take your car, of course."

April decided not to tell him that it actaully was Eric's car and not hers, since her car was pretty much destroyed since the last time she had tried to leave Rosewood.

"Okay. I can thank you enough for that, Shawn."

He shot her a dashing smile and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Let's go then, before those bastards arrive and try to eat your cute face."

April gave him a tight smile. She was thankful that he was trying to make her feel better, but she wasn't in the right mood to be joking.

They got into the car. Shawn was the one driving, since he wanted her to rest. After all, it would be a very long drive.

They sat in silence for long minutes. April wasn't in the mood for small talk and she was thankful that Shawn noticed that and remained silent. She just looked out of the window and tried not to worry too much. She wanted to trust Nikolaj's words that he would be find and that he would come for her once all of this was over.

"Shawn, where are you drivng us?" April asked as soon as she noticed that they took the nearest road to the forest. The one, which Nikolaj warned her not to take.

He shot her a questioning look. "Hm? Out of town, of course. We just talked about this."

"Nik told me not to take this road," she answered. "And is this way even the one that brings us out of town?"

"Yeah, don't worry," Shawn reassured her with a large smile. He placed his right hand on her shoulder and squeeted it reassuringly. "I know the ways around here, trust me."

"Okay," she asnwered with a nodd of her head and stared back out of the windwod.

God, she really should stop worrying so much. Shawn probably lived here in Rosewood for years. If anyone knows his way around Rosewood, than it would be him.

Another ten or fifteen minutes passed and no one of them spoke another single word. Her mind drifted back to Nikolaj, wondering if he was alrgitht. She pulled her phone out of her bag to check if her brother had send her a text.

He didn't.

April tried not to be disappointed. Shawn already promised her that he would be alright. There was nothing to worry about, she thought to herself.

She hated it how she way leaving withouth even saying goodbye to her brother. Leaving without a warning was not something she liked to do, but she didn't have a choice.

But most of all, she did regret that she didn't spend enough time with Eric or with Nikolaj. It all seemed like nothing but a very short and brief stay, despite the fact that she was in Rosewood for almost over a month already. Much longer than she had actually planned to stay.

Shawn drove them down the empty road and April noticed how quick the time had passed. The sun was going under and the sky darkened as the time went by.

The road was surrounded by endless amounts of trees on each side of the road, with no other cars driving. April was beginning ro recognize this road.

"Shawn?" April called in a tiny voice. "Where are you driving us?" She asked again, not caring that he had already answered the same question not too long ago.

She turned her head to him and watched him carfefully when he remained silent with both of his eyes watching the road.

"Shawn?" She asked again, much more scared than she was before. Her heart was now beating so violently against her chest that she thought she might faint right now. She wet her lips, her throat suddenly feeling dry. "You aren't driving us out of town, are you?"

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Sorry for the long wait. I really should stop making false promises about the updates. Also, I posted The Forgotten Wolves again. Thank you all for reading.