Here I am again! Now we're skipping back to the present with Candi and Anna and Bran and all this good drama!
What shall happen next? Well, you shall find out~
There has been some edits to what Candi looks like. This is the last time it shall be edited, but in order to fit the plot she had to looks slightly different with a French accent instead of Spanish. Sorry for the confusion~ Promise it won't happen again.
"Are you alright?"
The Marrok's words hummed into Candi's ears as she tried to not hyperventilate in fear at seeing the boy-like beast in front of her. What did he want? It didn't make any sense. There was no way that he'd actually gone to see if she was alright. The only nice dominant male that she'd ever met was Samuel so this was beyond fake. It had to be. There was no way that he could be genuine about it. She hesitated in answering. She knew that he was holding back his dominance, and it almost felt like he was a submissive like her, but she knew otherwise, and it unsettled her that he could blend so well with her. Instead of getting impatient with her, he leaned silently into the open doorway and waited for her response as she sized him up, and then her own emotions.
She was shaken up, she knew that she was and she hated that his presence was just making it worse. That wolf that had grabbed her earlier had scared her beyond imagination. She hadn't been expecting him to wake up, let alone grab her. It had been many years since she was grabbed in a threatening way, in any way really, unless Samuel was giving her a hug or comfort for her nightmares. The nightmares had been getting rarer and rarer since he showed up in her life, but they weren't gone, and she wasn't even sure that they would ever truly be gone. After all, it's nearly impossible to get rid of the nightmares that were once reality.
Shaking the scary thoughts out of her head, Candi looked back over at the Marrok and watched him for a few minutes. He was attractive in his own way, no, he was attractive. He had sandy hair and prominent features. His eyes were gorgeous too, well, when they were open. They looked a lot like Samuel's eyes and she loved Samuel's eyes. The piercing blue was captivating and alluring, and at the same time incredibly... calming. Pulling her eyes away from him she forced herself to try and remember that he was dangerous. It was the fact that he felt so innocent at that moment that was giving her courage to look at him, and she knew that it was a bad idea so she stopped. Candi couldn't help but steal another small glance at him, and in the dark it looked like he was smirking.
"Been better." She said slowly and leaned back against the wall, letting her body slowly slide down it. She had been better, but when.
"I apologize for earlier." Candi shivered. "I haven't been myself lately."
Candi took in another sideways glance and he let out a chuckle that lacked any ounce of humor.
"You don't believe me." It wasn't a question, and he wasn't wrong. It wasn't his fault, Candi knew that, but she didn't trust dominants. Instead of insulting him by lying, she remained silent.
"It's very hard having a conversation with yourself you know." Candi's eyes were on the floor and she held her breath, half afraid that he was going to lash out at her. She flinched.
Bran looked down at her as she flinched and immediately he wanted to bend down and reassure her that he meant her no harm. From the way that Samuel responded to her though he believed that would be a very bad idea. Instead he just took a couple steps away from her and leaned on the opposite side of the threshold. She seemed to need space so he was going to give it to her. Letting out another low breath he closed her eyes, keeping his mind clear.
Sure Bran was curious why she was so afraid and he also felt incredibly pissed off because she was an obviously injured submissive werewolf. That meant that there was abuse and that meant that there was some crazy werewolf out there that was attacking harmless submissives. A submissive wolf never brought out a dominants wolves instinct to protect their position in a pack. Submissives didn't threaten a dominant. Quite the opposite. A dominant should feel the need to protect a submissive because they cannot defend themselves.
Flexing his hand a couple of times Bran's hand clenched into a face and he fought with the beast within to keep calm. He couldn't afford to scare the submissive anymore than she already was. His pale eyes settled on her and he raised an eyebrow. She had seemed to relax, though she had turned away from him and her shoulders were hunched over protectively. She really was afraid of him.
They stayed like that as the minutes passed by, the silence both calming and unsettling. Candi was glad that he wasn't attacking her and Bran was content with the fact that she wasn't running from him screaming, and that the beast within wasn't ready to go on a killing rampage.
Not right then anyway.
The time passed by slowly until suddenly Bran heard Anna's heavy footsteps charging toward the storage room. Candi heard them as well but she was obviously not able to tell foot steps apart for each person. It reminded him a lot of the brunette that was running toward them in the most humanly speed as she could muster. Bran smirked at the excitement in her steps and he looked toward the door just as she appeared.
"Bran!" She gasped out and Candi jumped out of the corner of his eye and slowly turned slowly to see what was going on. So she didn't notice him looking at her he turned back to Anna.
"What is it Anna?" He asked, his tone clearly amused.
"Adam, Mercy, Jesse, Gabriel and Travis are here! Jesse's going into labor." Anna looked flushed with excitement and Bran nodded lightly.
"Let's go then."
Candice listened in while Anna told the Marrock that a girl had gone into labor, someone who was close to Samuel. Samuel had talked about Mercy and her family a lot, and of course, his wife as well, but Mercy was one of the fun topics that he brought up once in a while when he had a funny story to tell.
Scrambling in her feet she watched as Bran and Anna disappeared out of sight and suddenly her panic set in again. That smell of metal and blood appeared again and she hurried out of the storage. As soon as she left the room, it followed. Her panic grew and she looked behind her again. Once again all she could see was the shine of metal. Her eyes got big and she started to breathe faster, to the point that she felt light headed. The smell grew closer. Where were the other wolves who had just left her sight? They couldn't have gotten that far. She shut her eyes tightly and she listened as the hospital noises faded.
When Candi's eyes hot open she was surrounded in darkness. It was silent and as she moved her feet made no noise. Panic seized her being as she started sprinting, screaming for Samuel, for someone. The smell burned her nose and she looked around panicked as she saw the flash of metal through the darkness. Staggering back she tripped over something and hit her head causing her vision to blur.
'You can't hide forever... I will find you... and kill you.' The voice echoed and then faded. The darkness faded as she felt someone grab her arms firmly and shake her.
She gulped in air and opened her eyes. The smell lingered and before her vision cleared she thought that it was her worst nightmare coming true. He found her, and he was going to now kill her.
"Candi!" A stern voice called and recognition was slow, but it came; Samuel.
"Samuel?" She asked, her throat painfully dry. What had just happened. The smell faded and she was left feeling dazed, staring up at Samuel who had a worried look on his face.
"Are you alright?" He asked slowly, obviously unsure whether or not she could understand him at all.
"What happened?" Candi asked dazed and she reached up and touched her own face and felt blood. Her head throbbed.
"When Bran and Anna showed up without you, I came to find you, and when I did, you, you were passed out on the floor bleeding from a cut on your head." Candi didn't remember hitting her head on anything. Did that thing get to her! Panic seized her and she gripped Samuel's shirt and he immediately pulled her close to try and make her feel safe. his scent surrounded her and she started to relax, but the worry that it had got to her didn't leave. The blood did explain why she continued to smell the blood from that phantom though.
"Come on. Let's go get you cleaned up." Sam said and helped her stand. Surprisingly no nurses had passed down the hall that she knew of. Maybe it was because they didn't realize she was there? It was probably because the hall wasn't really used all that much.
Samuel led Candi into a vacant room and started stitching up her head. The cut must have been worse than she'd thought. After that he forced her into some Scrubs and after making sure she was clear of blood and she could function properly, he led her to the room where everyone was waiting outside of because a baby was being born on the other side.
Just as Samuel pushed open the door a baby started to cry. Candi looked to the side of him to see the baby and she felt a pang of loss, of misery. She wasn't in any shape to be doing anything and Samuel knew it, but he knew she wanted to see the baby.
"It's cute..." She muttered softly and Samuel nodded, not looking over at her.
"It is."
"Pretty... girl..." She breathed and Samuel didn't even get a chance to turn and catch her as she passed out. Adam beat him to it.
"Adam." Samuel said stiffly as Adam adjusted Candi in his arms. Candi had stayed at Adam's house because she couldn't get her own place most of the time unless she was at Samuel's. Normally Samuel was willing to let this happen, but something was happening with her and he didn't like it.
"I'll take her tonight."
"No. She's wounded and I'll take her." Immediately tempers flared. They were so absorbed in each other that they didn't notice the door open and Mercy and Bran walk in.
"Adam..." Mercy said slowly touching his arm.
"I'll take her then." Bran said calmly and took Candi out of Adam's arms calmly and turned on his heels and walked out of the room.
"Adam..." Mercy said again and started leading him toward the bed where his daughter and her baby girl was. Gabriel was standing next to her flexing his hand, muttering about his wife's tight grip. Samuel seethed before she left the room and passed Mercy's and Adam's thirteen year old son Travis.
Knowing he should just get back to his job he just walked by without looking at the boy who was busy playing some portable gaming device and he got back to his job, knowing that Candi was safe in Bran's care.
At least he hoped so. You never can tell with a wild beast.
Nothing like finishing a chapter at 4 in the morning. Hope you guys like it! I did it for you!
