Mor said goodnight and softly closed the door behind him. He suspected that after today, Nina wouldn't want to be alone and would ask Derek to stay. Sure enough the door remained shut.
Before he himself could sleep, Mor had a few housekeeping tasks. He made a call to the number Aras had left on file and reached an answering machine. A quick message was left stating the "little wolf" was back safe and sound. Aras didn't need to come into work due to the temporary closure, and he assured that the kitchen would remain clean while he and those staying at the refuge used it.
That done, Mor descended the stairs to his basement office. Once inside, he checked his bonsai to see that it was in good condition. It wasn't a conscious choice on his part; doing so had been a matter of habit for some time now. Satisfied as to it's health, Mor booted up his computer to make an adjustment to his new website. Rather than tinker with the new design, he simply redirected traffic from the main page to a much simpler page. A blank background with a generic construction and repair image, caption with an error message. Normally this was the error page that displayed when there was a bug, but Mor altered it to read "Mistik Refuge temporarily closed, try again later".
Mor would have preferred to invite everyone back immediately, but aside from making his guests feel safe again so quickly being highly unlikely, he couldn't afford the distraction.
The refuge will just have to wait.
Mor returned to his cabin and mechanically got ready for bed. At first it seemed he would quickly fall asleep. When his head hit the pillow though, he started to shake. Mor had nearly lost
everything today. Katerina had been abducted, and he'd been powerless to do anything about it. She could've been killed easily, and all to get to him. Her stubbornness, the way she never shied from reality, even as it scared her; it could have all vanished in an instant. And then he'd been given a chance to save her, take her place, and he'd fought against it. He'd antagonized her kidnappers, threatened them, escalated the situation, and risked her life. All for what? So he didn't have to go with them? Was his disgust and fear so great that they came first? Did his anger have such a strong hold on him that Katerina didn't matter?
Did he have any right to call himself her friend?
On top of everything else, it seemed his father was still a big factor in his life. Despite everything he'd done to avoid it, this man was still affecting him, still influencing the world around him. In hindsight, it was easy to see that Mor hadn't just been running from his father's legacy, but from the dryad in himself. Moving across the country, living underground, trying to disassociate himself from who he was had all been in vain. Oraien made one decision in a world not quite part of this one, and still the ripple effects turned his life upside down. Could he really do anything to stop that, or was he doomed to end up under Oraien's thumb regardless? That possibility frightened him more than he cared to admit.
There was a part of him that was tired running, that wanted to fight back. To do whatever he could to upset his father's plans. This terrified him more; that urge to break free from the fae had let him justify doing horrible thing to so many. Even the fact that he'd saved one of them, Nina, couldn't absolve him of those sins. He'd been telling himself all along that it wasn't just for him, that his research could save others. In the wake of everything that had transpired tonight though, such an argument rang hollow. If he gave into that urge to fight, what more would he sacrifice in its pursuit to ending all this? Would he give up his morals again? Risk Nina, Taryn, and Derek? Or worse, would he use them? Take advantage of their friendships and use it as a tool to attack his father? Like pawns for his own selfish ends.
Just as his father had done.
It was uneasy dreams Mor had all night. Dreams filled with bloody thorns, dead wolves, and hideous, mocking laughter.
The next morning came and Katerina still hadn't gotten a second of sleep. After Derek had passed out beside her she moved to perch at the end of the bed for a while, then tip toed to the balcony. For hours she stared at the stars, replaying the last few weeks in her head, just to make sense of it all. When the sun began to rise, she stirred from her statuesque state. Without thinking much on it, she climbed over the railing and jumped, landing perfectly on her feet. The height would have broken several bones in any normal human, but her werewolf strength and healing made it easy for her to fall from a second story building without so much as pulling a muscle.
Barefoot, Katerina walked through the dewy grass, heading towards the familiar trail at the edge of the refuge, not sure where she was heading. As she stepped onto the trail twigs and rocks scrapped her feet, but it didn't slow her stride. She continued on, stopping at the beautiful waterfall only to Change. It came quickly, her body desperate to return to its preferred form. She lay there after, feeling the spray of water on her back as the sun rose. After a few minutes Nina continued onward, deep into the forest. At some point she lost the trail, continuing on straight, feeling the warm sun slowly creep up her back as it rose. The deeper she got, the more relaxed she felt, as if the farther she strode from civilization, the safer she was.
Eventually she stumbled on another trail, and turned left, following it up a short hill. Knowing by now she was lost in the forest, and not caring a bit, she followed the trail until it opened to a small parking lot, which led to a road. Nina stuck to the trees, so no one would spot a tall, sinowy white wolf loping around. The sun had fully risen now, and she knew Derek and the others would be awake soon, and panic if she was not there. Picking the direction she thought the refuge would be in, she followed along the road, hidden by the forest.
She didn't recognise this road at first, but soon enough she hit a familiar T-intersection, where if Katerina turned right she'd find the highway. She continued forward, knowing now she was heading in the right direction.
She was almost at Mistik's driveway when she stopped and crouched down. Across the street and a few trees ahead was a car that had been pulled off the side of the road. There was no sound of the engine, and no lights flashing, but the smell of gasoline still hung in the air, meaning it had only arrived in the past few minutes. However, Katerina couldn't see anyone in the driver's seat, no anywhere in the car. Creeping forward with her belly flat to the ground, she got as close as she dared and still saw no one.
It's too close to Mistik. Even if it is just a coincidence, I can't let my guard down.
Backing up until she was completely masked by the trees, she continued to the driveway, keeping silent and hidden. Her eyes never left the gravel road beside her as she walked parallel to it towards Mistik, all the while worried for Drew, Derek, and Taryn. When the clearing opened up ahead of her she felt her breath release, as if she had thought something terrible had happened in the hour or two she was gone.
Just because the clearing is empty, doesn't mean nothing happened.
Weary, Nina made a wide arc around the clearing, until she came upon Drew's cabin, fortunately nestled near the trees. Able to get up close without risking exposure to the whole clearing, she looked in through one of the windows at the back of the cabin. Sure enough, Drew was inside...asleep.
Do I wake him? What if it's nothing? But what if it is definitely something, and I fuck up again?
Her nose was pressed up against the cold glass, making two little circles of breath on the window pane. She pulled away and pushed her paws on the spots instead, letting her nails hit the glass. Sliding them down, they made a terrible scratching nose that irritated her ears. Inside, she could see Drew stirring, the sound penetrating whatever dream he had.
Suddenly a loud shattering sounded through the clearing, making Nina jump. Jumping back into the brush, she snuck around till the refuge was in her sights again and looked around.
What could have made that noise?
She counted the windows in the main building, looking for a break. Nothing. the second floor also looked untouched. The sound had been far enough away too, that Nina knew it hadn't been any windows in the cabin. A small shadow caught her eye, darting between Derek and Drew's vehicles.
The cars!
Not brave enough to venture into the clearing, she arched her way around the clearing again, back to the driveway which was the closest vantage point she had to the vehicles. Sure enough, the front right window in Derek's SUV was smashed into, glass lying everywhere. The shadow she saw had to be the whoever tried to break into the vehicle, and might also own the idled car on the road.
Again she scanned the clearing, now looking for moving shapes. Already she was growing weary of playing this game, and exhaustion had finally decided to start nudging its way into her brain.
Focus...keep focusing-THERE!
Around the right side of the main building she could make out a figure crouching in the shade, looking around. Her stomach dropped and her heart stopped as the figure's head slowly twisted in her direction and stopped...looking straight at her. Katerina flattened herself to the ground, her heart now pounding as she tried to convince herself he couldn't see her. But the figure stood and stepped into the light, a gleaming wicked smile on his face.
He was tall, like Derek, with broad shoulders and thick muscular arms. The rest of his body followed suit, making him looked like a he'd spent too many days in the gym, looking for that perfect body. His hair was shaved, his face clean cut, so all she could focus on was his dark eyes, staring directly back at her. He had a pretty face with high cheekbones and a square jaw, although age had sketched in a few wrinkles on his forehead. His face seemed familiar somehow, like she had seen it once before, but attributed that to his ordinary features she had seen on a hundred men in Toronto.
The man continued forward, passing the vehicles and getting within a few feet of her before moving along the driveway. As he got close his eyes strayed, and for a moment she thought he hadn't actually seen her.
"White doesn't camouflage, Katerina."
His words knocked the breath from her throat as it constricted and her stomach twisted in knots. He continued walking though, not even looking back. It didn't matter though; there was no way she'd attack him without help. This was him, this was the killer.
This man wanted to murder her.
He continued forward and she stayed rooted to her spot. When he was almost out of hearing distance he spoke again, "I don't normally play games, but you,
little wolf need to learn your simply a toy. Follow me now, or that siren your about to hear won't save them in time."
From the clearing a wail suddenly blasted, filling the forest with the screeching sound of a fire alarm. Katerina's hair stood up on end, her body jolting to get up and find her friends. But his warning also rang loudly in her head. She knew his capabilities, knew without a doubt this man had the means to do as he threatened. Getting to her feet she stumbled into the driveway, pushing herself to follow the man, even though every step took her away from Mistik.
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