Ryder's eyes went wide, "Toby!" She exclaimed, as she pushed past Graynin to greet her dog.

She was caught off guard when Graynin spoke, "It's about time you got here."

She looked back at him, confusion riddled across her face, "What are you talking about?"

Graynin paid her question no mind, and simply stood there staring at the large dog at her side. She looked down at Toby, trying to understand what was happening. Toby stood there staring back at Graynin, in a much too focused way.

"What the hell is happening?"

When Graynin still ignored her, she looked to Tairin who was standing behind Graynin. He too was staring at her dog, except his gawking expression just confused her even more. What was she missing? She was just about to start demanding answers when Graynin spoke, "You need to take your shirt off."

The tightness in her face from her frustration instantly vanished as her face went slack in shock. "What?" Fell out of her mouth. Her instincts drove her eyes to Tairin, surely this would completely set him off.

Instead of disgust his face only showed bewilderment. He managed to answer her unspoken call to action, "You need to take off your shirt."

Ryder felt like a deer in headlights, "Wait.." She stammered. Her arms coming up to cover her chest in a defensive, conservative effort, feeling as if she might already be shirtless without knowing it. What was she missing? Why would Tairin support Graynin's offensive command? She looked back and forth between the now oddly allied men in front of her.

Graynin not looking phased by anything, watched her with a neutral expression.

Ryder felt her defiance rise up, "No." She said firmly.

She hadn't realized she had begun to back up, until she bumped into Toby. It was then she heard a voice resonating in what felt like her own head. "It's ok Ryder. I know this seems like an inappropriate request, but it's the only way I can give you more time to escape."

Ryder looked around frantically to find the person who was speaking, her darting eyes were caught by Toby staring purposefully at her. His big brown eyes focused and intelligent, full of thoughts and emotion, they were not a dog's eyes.

"Did you guys hear that?" She asked Tairin and Graynin without looking at them, unable to break eye contact with the big brown eyes staring up at her.

She heard the strange voice again, "Ryder, I don't have time to explain. Just trust me and do as I ask."

Ryder watched as her dog's eyes pleaded with her. She looked back to Graynin, "Do I really have to?" She pulled her arms tighter around herself.

Graynin's expression did not change, he simply nodded his response.

But Ryder still couldn't bring herself to do it.

Graynin spoke up, "I'll explain anything you want to know once we get you to a safe place. But for now, you need to trust me, and do as I ask, when I ask." There was no sympathy in his voice, just a cold exchange of bartering, her compliance for his knowledge.

Ryder gave her answer by slowly pulling off her lace top, the satin underlay smoothly running across her skin as she pulled it over her head. She felt her loose beach curls fall back down to her bare back as they escaped the opening of the shirt. She hadn't realized there was a cool breeze blowing until now, its cool tendrils sweeping across her bare stomach.

She looked to Graynin as she held her shirt out to him, forcing herself to not look to the ground, she was going to own this moment, and not let her exposure make her feel fragile. She felt both Graynin and Tairin's eyes flick across her, despite their clear effort to maintain eye contact.

Graynin pulled off his jacket, before taking the shirt, and held it out to her.

"Thank you." She said curtly, as she snatched the jacket from him. She swung it around her bare back, and was surprised by how soft and flexible the leather was.

Graynin rolled up the long sleeves on his white linen shirt and knelt down in front of Toby. Ryder strained to hear their conversation, but failed.

A gentle touch found her shoulder. Tairin looked like he had recovered from what she assumed was the same unnerving experience of hearing someone else's voice ringing in his head, but his skin still looked paler than normal. She wasn't ready to forgive him for siding with Graynin, a person he had fought every step of the way until this extremely awkward moment when she had to strip in front of them.

"Did you hear that voice too?" Tairin asked.

"Yeah, I did, but I don't think I heard it when you did. I only heard it after you already looked like you had seen a ghost."

"That was the most unnerving thing I have ever experienced. I would have thought I had completely lost my mind if that guy hadn't said what the voice was telling me to say."

"Graynin." Ryder added.

"What?" Tairin asked as if coming out of his fog.

"His name is Graynin." Ryder said again.

That seemed to do it, Tairin's eyes became clear and lost their haunted look. "Is that what his name is? I didn't hear when you asked." He looked to Graynin and Toby who seemed to be having an argument based on the pitch of Graynin's growling voice, and the scrunch in Toby's muzzle. "Do you know what's going on?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Ryder answered hollowly. " I'm still waiting for someone to jump out with a camera and yell, 'gotcha'." She too was staring at the back of Graynin's head, the memories of him killing those three men coming to the forefront of her mind. The back of his head with its short cut hair had been all she had seen that afternoon.

"Are you warm enough?" Tairin asked.

Ryder looked back to him, he was looking at her sympathetically. She was grateful for the innocent look, because it wouldn't have been hard for her to feel naked again. He had just seen more of her than any guy had ever seen before, other than her doctor of course.

"Yeah, I'm good." She said softly smiling up at him, grateful for his compassion, and forgiving him for looking at her earlier. She really couldn't blame him, she would have had a hard time looking away if he had been the one stripping.

Graynin stood, drawing her attention back to him. She caught the last of his hushed words to Toby, "May your soul find peace." He handed her shirt to Toby, who accepted the offer into his jaws.

Graynin turned to face her and Tairin, "You two need to follow me and do exactly as I say." His tone earnest. "We have purposefully lingered here so that when Toby leaves, with the shirt drenched with your scent, the trails will appear as if we have parted ways."

Ryder felt self-conscious at the word 'drenched', she hadn't gotten that sweaty from the run.

"Now, I'm hoping that they are familiar enough with my scent that my jacket will be enough to mask yours."

Graynin's words were cut short by a girls bloodcurdling scream. Ryder had never heard something so disturbing in her life, she thought the sound alone might make her sick. Luckily she was pulled from her fixation as someone began to drag her away. She mindlessly followed, still not able to hear anything but the gruesome screams behind her.

The screams became muffled as the foreign voice resonated in her mind again, "It has been the honor of my life to watch you grow up. I will always watch over you in spirit." The words were so heartfelt and loving that they were able to pull Ryder from the terror the screams had engulfed her in. She couldn't believe this was Toby talking to her. How was it possible?

She looked back at him, standing there watching them runaway. She hated that he sounded like he was saying goodbye. "Trust him Ryder." Was the last thing she heard as his golden body was consumed by the shadows of the night.

She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she whispered, "Toby."

Her moment of sorrow was cut short as she was forced to focus on running, the person holding her arm pulling her on faster. She was surprised to find Tairin was the one dragging her. She couldn't believe how committed he now was to a cause he had resentfully joined.

Ryder was about to yank her arm free of his grip when he turned back to look at her, his look of concern was so deep that Ryder couldn't be angry with him. He believed in the danger they were in now, and he was trying to keep her safe. She gave him an apologetic smile and gently pulled her arm from his desperate grip.

Tairin's face seemed to relax as she took to running on her own, he slowed so that he fell just behind her. She focused, committing herself to keeping a fast pace and breathing through the stitch in her side, Ok, I can do this, I have to do this, or I'll be eaten by a monster. Yeah that thought did the trick.

The silence of the night was broken again as a clash of howling and growling reverberated through the orchard. Marking Toby's encounter with the beast that hunted them. Everything in her wanted to turn back to help Toby, her closest friend since she was a child. She felt a firm push between her shoulder blades as Tairin forced her back into a fast run.

She couldn't believe she was just going to abandon him. Her feet began to falter. She couldn't abandon him. She was just about to start running back in the direction they had come when she was roughly scooped off the ground and thrown over a shoulder.

She saw strong legs in suede pants under her, it was Graynin who had captured her. She wanted to kick and scream at him to put her down, but she quickly found he held her in such a way that she was unable to get enough leverage to kick him. It was clear he had done this before. That inability seemed to bring her focus back to reality and she decided against screaming, she didn't want to bring the danger their way, not after what everyone had done to prevent it.

She heard the sound of a predator dying. A gruesome smile captured her lips at Toby's victory, but the win was cut short as the distinct sound of a dog yelping was followed by silence. She knew Toby was gone.

Graynin stopped, and roughly put her back on the ground. They stood in front of an oddly old looking almond tree. The bark was thick and cracked, creating a network that looked like puzzle pieces. She had never seen an almond tree at this stage of its life, far past its prime. All the ones in her orchard were young and smooth, the old ones were always ripped out to be replaced by new trees that would be better producers.

She watched as Graynin moved close to a fork in the branches of the ancient tree. She craned her neck to try and see what he was doing, it looked as if he were touching specific sections of the rough bark. Heavy breathing caught her attention, and she turned to see Tairin doubled over with his hands braced on his knees. Ryder closed the distance between them and gently placed her hand on his back.

Tairin spoke before she could ask her question. "I'm--Fine." He panted between heavy breaths. Ryder supportively rubbed his back, as she scanned the orchard.

"I'm glad to see you aren't straining for breath." He laughed in between his panting, "Did you get a nice rest during your ride the last mile?"

"Oh yeah, it was very relaxing." Ryder joked, rubbing her sore abdomen. But her laughter died abruptly as her scanning gaze fell upon a pair of red eyes. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched another set of red eyes appear.

She grabbed Tairin's arm and began to drag him towards Graynin, unable to look away from the eyes, unable to speak through the terror again. Thank God her feet still had some sense. Tairin looked up at her, still breathing hard, he followed her line of sight and saw the two sets of glowing red eyes. Luckily, he hadn't lost his voice, he called out, "Graynin!"

Graynin sharply turned on to them. Ryder pointing in the direction of the red eyes with her hand that wasn't holding the sleeve of Tairin's shirt in a death grip.

The first twinge of concern crossed Graynin's face but was instantly replaced with anger. He reached out for both her and Tairin, grabbing her by the arm and Tairin by the collar of his shirt.

One of their stalkers jumped forward into a stream of moonlight. Ryder had only seen wolves on TV, but to see their size in real life was so terrifyingly humbling. But she quickly realized this was no ordinary wolf, the moonlight revealed a hairless creature, with decrepit branches weaving through its dense hide, making it somehow a sleeker killing machine. Blood red eyes stared back at her, unblinking, and what looked to be decaying leaves laid aggressively back against its head like an angry dog's ears. The only part of the creature that actually matched what she had seen on TV were the glistening, porcelain white, fangs.

With a desperate yank, Graynin pulled her off her feet. She was falling, and instinctually tried to reach back and catch herself, but the ground did not come when it should have. Suddenly there was nothing but whiteness, no trees, no moon, just clean light. She hit something solid and slammed into blackness. 

PART TWO

 UNRAVELING