Werewolf Bride

Run

"Charlotte!" Carlos is at my side in a second, supporting my stance with his strong arms. "What-"

"What was the truth? None of it." I interrupt him, finally breaking under the pain. He helps me slowly come back to the ground to lay down.

"Let me wrap up that wound." Carlos jumps to the next task at hand quite fluently. I'm oddly impressed by his quick thinking and ability to bounce back.

"With what? There isn't time to waste. We have to get out of here before he gets back. He likely has already realized I just spit a bunch of lies at him." I cover up my wound with my hand, as blood continued to gush from it. "He'll be furious that I was able to trick him." I nearly let out a short laugh. I am a dead woman. 

"I'll run back and get your clothes. We can bandage it up with mine." Carlos touches my shoulder gently in reassurance and makes sure I'm stable before running off.

After he's gone I stare in the distance the Beast ran off, searching for him pushing through the trees but he isn't in sight any longer. He could be on his way back any second. If that wasn't clear, he wouldn't have left us behind.

"Here." Carlos is already back at my side, his torn shirt in his hands. He ties it expertly around my legs and then throws my torn to tatters gown over my head. He helps me sit up enough to bring it down over my shoulders while I wince from the pressure.

"Oh, God. He'll be back any moment." I whisper regretfully.

"You could have just let him take me." Carlos murmurs sadly. "I appreciate your effort, but if you're not truly gifted, what could the plan have been?"

"I suppose it was just an idiotic way of creating a distraction. I managed to spot the wound on his leg. He didn't seem to have even noticed it, the monster. Who knows if the bastard feels pain at all. I took advantage of the situation on the spot." I mutter as he helps me to stand on my feet.

Carlos shakes his head. "You have quite the mind, Charlotte."

I shrug slightly but stay quiet.

"Though I wish at least some of what you said was true." He adds gently.

"Yeah, it would be awfully helpful to have some of those witch powers now." I giggle. "Now we should get going...or at least try." 

"That's not what I meant." He trails off shyly.

"Oh." I murmur self-consciously. I feel another blush coming on...the pregnancy. 

He and I exchange glances for another awkward moment before I give him a quick peck on the lips. He deserves it after all this shit, after all. "Come on. Let's get out of here." 

Carlos nods solemnly, giving one parting glance behind him. The only home he's known, and the only home I've known...now in the hands of the Beast, and we are helpless to it. 

"We have to kill him." He whispers. I can hear the inner torment in his voice and it causes my heart to ache. I feel for him, and I feel like I've personally failed him in this endeavour. I may have brought the lies to light, unmasked the Beast for what he is...but it's cost us practically everything. 

I grab his hand and squeeze. "Run with me." 

And so we do.  

For miles and miles, our wolves have never been faster. I don't know where the energy to keep going came from, but it kept pulling us through. Sometimes I encouraged him to keep going, and other times he would yip back at me to make sure I kept going. 

We run until we don't recognize where we are anymore.

And only then, did we stop. 

"We have to be on the outside of town now," I say hoarsely as I fall to the ground. He joins me in the grass and stares at the open meadow in front of us. "Nice to see a meadow outside of the place," I say, picturing the Beast...in a meadow. It felt like a distant memory. 

"Do you ever remember seeing the Beast in a meadow?" He mumbles to himself to my surprise.

"Yes," I say quietly, gazing expectedly at the horizon in front of us. I can't help but curiously stare at the treeline. 

"But I can barely remember. It feels so distant." Carlos groans. "I know it happened. I just-"

"Do you feel anyone watching us?" I whisper intensely, covering his mouth with my hand without allowing him a chance to answer. "I can. There's someone up ahead."

"I don't sense anything." He says, muffled behind my palm. 

I shake my head and stand to my feet and attempt to tug him up with me. "We have to keep moving. Now." 

"Calm yourself. Jesus, Charlotte." He shuffles to his feet and looks up to the sight before us. 

I thought being in the meadow with the Beast was terrible. Now, this situation just might take the cake. 

Raising my finger, I point to the tiny figures in the distance. They emerge out of the treeline in a row and come towards us, ever so happily. 

What sick joke is the universe playing on me now?

"You know them?" 

"How could I forget?" I shake my head as the small, little vermin approach. 

Because why wouldn't the universe gift me with the opportunity to see my precious stepmother and stepsisters again?