Word Count: 1580

~Brielle

My entire body becomes aware of everything around me.

Slowly I turn around, but I only see an empty room, the sound of Charlie's machine wheezing and purring throughout the room. Yet chills creeping down my back confirm the odd feeling that someone is watching me. Where from, I'm not sure, but it makes me refuse to turn back around, waiting for someone to come out.

"It's okay, Brielle," Charlie says gently, although her voice is shaking. I glance at her. She isn't calm but she isn't freaking out like I am. "He's not here. I mean he's everywhere, but only at night. You need to go now."

Turning back around, I grab her hands. It's a part of her so fully bandaged I doubt she can even feel my touch. "No, I'm not leaving you here."

"Brielle...He's done with me."

It seemed as though all the hope drained out of her eyes as she said that. For a moment I was confused, until I realised she blames herself for this. Maybe she feels guilty. Does she sympathise for whoever this is that's done this to her? This Chase figure who I've gathered sneaks around here at night praying on innocent girls.

"How will I know who he is? What does he look like?" I ask, glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one is lurking behind us, ready to silence me before I can release this information to everyone else.

Charlie's eyes widen. "Just like our Alpha. But also he is nothing like him. Dead in the eyes, crazed and insane."

Her words make my stomach turn in realisation.

Just as I was about to voice my suspicions, someone flicks the light off and then back on so quickly my heart jumps in surprise and I whirl around. For a moment, I assumed I would turn around to see this Chase figure standing there, in the perfect place to trap me in and take me away like he did to Charlie.

Instead, it's just Mabel, standing there, arms crossed over her chest, fiery red hair braided into two seperate plaits. "What are you doing Brielle? Weren't you the one enforcing the rule that we all have to stay in bed?"

"You nearly killed me," I huff, holding my hand over my chest as my heart struggles to slow down. "What a scare."

Mabel rolled her eyes. "Let Charlie sleep."

Sighing deeply, I back away a few steps from Charlie. Being here is probably putting her in more danger anyway, and Mabel will surely pry if I stick around. So I follow her to the door, stopping at the entrance to look back at Charlie. She stares at me, looking tense. There's more she wants to tell me, but I can tell she won't right now.

"Remember, you need to get out of here as soon as you can," Charlie says quickly. "Don't think you can save him."

As I left, her words haunted me.

***

I rose early to prepare for my day. It will be an overnight trip onto the mainland for a reason I'm not sure of yet, so I pack as much as I own - which isn't much - in preparation. Tucked in the front of my pack is the diary belonging to Ren. Only because I'm sure the girls will find it while I'm gone.

I'm ordered to meet Ren in the foyer by day break. As drowsy as I was from a lack of sleep - Charlie's words haunting me all through the night - I put on a bright smile when I approached him.

I can't let him know what's inside my head.

"Good morning," Ren greets. His voice is husky due to the early morning. It sends a shiver down my spine, but I quickly brush it away. "I apologise about this early start. But it is better that we get to the island early."

I shove my hands into my pockets. It's cold this morning. Without the sun, the hills that surround the Loyalty Pack casts chilling shadows. I'm not excited to be back on the mainland for that. In fact, I'm not excited to be back on the mainland at all. What if my family find out? What would they even do?

"So, why are we heading to the mainland?" I ask.

The smile on Ren's face is secretive. It might be all innocent, however, after last night, my mind is filled with many theories I haven't had time to put sense to. Ren and secrets go hand and hand.

"If I told you, it would spoil it," Ren tells me, brushing his hand back through his hair. He really doesn't mind having it messy after I'm used to seeing him so well put together. Maybe he isn't a morning person.

I don't pry, letting him tell me what we need to do next. "The boat will arrive in the next twenty minutes. We should head down to the docks."

Of course, I oblige without question.

The docks, as usual, are stunningly beautiful. Especially with the sun rising against the lake water. It glimmers with beautiful pink and orange colours, the boat coming to pick us up gliding along the surface. Just the sight of the mainland, as everyone wakes and begins to start their day stirs nostalgia within me.

Ren and I board the boat with all our things, sitting on the same side of the boat. I keep a professional distance, however, that's not the only reason. I need to know he's not going to turn into this Chase figure all of a sudden.

He seems to notice me watching, glancing over to look at me. "Is everything okay? You don't get sea sick do you?"

I shake my head.

As suspicious as I am of him, I also can't help but admire him. He's so stunningly beautiful. The strands of his hair shimmer almost bronze under the rising sunlight. That icy blue eye has dulled down, the green one suddenly the most prominent as it glistens in its emerald beautiful. Even his skin looks so soft and flawless it takes a strange pull within myself to not reach out and touch him.

It bothers me he is so beautiful. It makes all this harder. I'm digging into his life without him even knowing it.

"I hope you know I didn't need anyone to come to me to the mainland this time. But I thought you might like this," Ren tells me, smiling down at me with that smile that could win over any unsuspecting person. "And I'll like having you there. A lot."

"You've been visiting the mainland a lot recently, haven't you?" I mention.

"It's not like me at all, isn't it," he replies. When he turns back to look at the water, admiring the way the waves knock against the boat, I narrow my eyes.

Tonight is the night I figure out what is going on with Ren. For now, I concentrate on today, as we finally reach the mainland. We hit the dock, and luckily I manage to get out of the docks without seeing my old manager who I abandoned for a better join on the island. Them we slipped into a car before crowds started to gather, and headed off into the hills.

Still, Ren supplied me with no answers about where we are headed. Wherever it is, it's into a part of the Loyalty Pack I'm unfamiliar with. We climb up the hills, until at one point, Ren pulled the car over and I was instructed to put on an outfit in a public bathroom.

Again, I didn't question him.

The dress is frankly the most beautiful thing I've worn since I lived at home. It's a soft lavender colour that flows around my hips, the fabric light.

When I come back to the car, adjusting the dress on my hips, Ren opens the car door at me, smiling. His intense gaze makes me blush, which I quickly conceal by crawling into the car. He follows me in, and driver continues on his way.

"You look stunning by the way," Ren murmurs. Part of me wants to dismiss it, but him seeming so genuine has my stomach twisting with nerves. "Truly breathtaking."

"You're very kind."

"Sorry about keeping all this for you. I'm just adamant about this being a surprise. I think you might like it a lot," Ren tells me. He has this small smile on his lips that even has me excited. So much so, I feel myself start to anticipate this event for the first time today. So far I've just been going along with it.

I play with the hem of my dress, wondering in the back of my mind how expensive it must be. "I like surprises. But I think after this, we should be honest with each other."

It's a subtle hint he doesn't seem to catch onto.

"I think after today and tonight I'll be able to trust you. There's a lot about me you don't know about me," Ren says so lowly, I almost don't catch it. "But like I said, I trust you. I know you'll be okay with it."

Finally, I am confident I'm going to find out Ren's secret. By tonight.

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I've also just posted the second novel in the Immortal series (in no way in correlation to book one which is Fate

It's Time!

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Instagram: Sophie_Midika

~Midika 💜🐼