Chapter 5: The Death

“What kind of wolf comes out in a storm? What kind of wolf attacks an innocent girl and strips her naked? What kind of wolf has paws that big?”

I don’t know how to answer Evan’s questions without telling him what I learned about the werewolves. He has been asking me questions like this throughout the entire funeral. The funeral takes place in a chapel in Vanderbilt. The storm has slowed down but it’s still snowing here. Tears are in Evan’s eyes. I can tell that he loved my cousin.

I pat him on the back. I have cried but not as much as Evan. My tears come at random times. The funeral is packed with mostly friends from school. It makes sense being that the building we are in is called the Assumption Catholic Cemetery and Crematory of Vanderbilt. It’s in the actual town of Vanderbilt that is at the bottom of the mountain. It took shuttles of students to from Vanderbilt University to the town of Vanderbilt.

I look down at my phone.

A text from my dad saying: Stay strong.

That’s what my dad sends me. He doesn’t show up. He doesn’t even call me. I called him over 20 times leaving voicemails about India’s death and this is the first time he’s replying. He’s replying through a text and he’s just basically telling me the same thing he’s always told me. He’s telling me to man up.

“Aunt Trina.”

I’m standing next to my Aunt now. She’s standing over the casket. We aren’t a very religious family and I notice that this is just like déjà vu. My brother was cremated in a closed casket as well.

My aunt Trina is a strong, burly looking woman. She’s slightly overweight. She isn’t directly related to my father. My uncle was but he died before I was born. Aunt Trina smiles at me as I walk up to her.

“Your cousin would want you to have this,” she states.

She hands me a bag. I look in the bag and notice some jewelry. Old pendants and what not. I’m not too focused on that though. I’m more focused on Trina and the fact that my Aunt doesn’t even cry over her daughter. She just stands there…strong and still. The same Aunt Trina I’ve always known.

“I’m sorry my dad didn’t make it…I swear I don’t know what’s wrong with that man,” I reply.

It’s more anger than anything that makes me talk like this.

Aunt Trina nods, “I know. It’s ok. It’s complicated.”

“Complicated. His niece is dead.”

“He isn’t allowed…”

“What?”

Aunt Trina doesn’t respond at that moment. Something catches her attention and I realize the same thing that catches her attention catches everyone’s attention as well. The doors to the crematory open and there is a walk into the crematory chamber.

Walid is standing in front. Fang, Professor Timus, Naomi and Amina are following close behind. The five of them seem to be pulling all the attention. Students are wondering why they walk in late to the cremation. They all have black furs on their bodies. Not coats. No. They have huge shawls that seem to be expensive with long hairs going all the way to the ground.

They march in and I can’t keep my eyes off of them. Besides the furs and maybe the processional way they are moving, they seem normal. They have contacts in. They move behind Walid---always behind Walid as though respecting him as their leader.

They march past everyone and walk right up to my Aunt Trina and I.

My Aunt Trina doesn’t look Walid in his eyes, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Her voice is low. My mouth drops open when she says it.

“What?” I ask.

Walid looks over at my Aunt Trina and nods as though accepting her condolences. How backwards is this? My aunt apologizing to Walid for HIS loss? India didn’t even Fuck with Walid all like that. I’m so confused but I notice Walid cross his arms. His huge black fur takes up so much room. He has a grandness about him but he’s taking up the entire aisle in the most ignorant way. I’m sure other students who’ve come out for India’s cremation are irritated by the fact that Walid’s gang is blocking everyone.

Walid doesn’t say anything to my aunt besides that. He has a face of recognition to her. I wonder if they know one another?

Walid turns to me at that moment, “Nasir…are you doing ok?”

“My cousin was mauled by a fucking…wolf. No. I’m not doing ok. You want to know how I’m doing. Walid. Sir. Whatever the fuck you got these people calling you. I’m pissed and I’m scared as hell. How the fuck do you think I feel---”

I feel like what I said was offensive because Fang is staring at me so hard that I think he’s going to knock me into the next lifetime. He even takes a step forward but Walid stops him with a strong hand. Walid’s brother doesn’t cross over his arm.

He just stands there staring at me bitterly.

“I’ll find out who did this,” Walid tells me and puts his head down, “I promise.”

I shake my head and turn to the cremation chamber. It is starting. I’m so upset. I’m so scared. I’m so fucking bothered. In the next few minutes my cousin is being burnt in the cremation chamber.

And I can’t take it anymore. The bitch comes out with a vengeance. I am crying loudly. The tears stream past my face. My Aunt looks at me. I wonder if she’s embarrassed. I could care less if she is though. I could care less if Walid and the others are confused on why I’m so emotional. India and I weren’t so close but she was family. That’s all that mattered.

And as I’m crying something weird happens.

Walid, the strong, dominant leader of his pack pulls me close. He pulls me close as though he doesn’t care whose looking. He pulls me close and he hugs me. He lets my cry into his fur coat. His hand goes over my head…almost petting me gently. He’s comforting me in a way that I’ve never been comforted.

His lips lean down and press up to my ears and Walid whispers gently, “Everything will be ok.”

After the funeral Aunt Trina takes off. She doesn’t even say goodbye. She runs off as if someone is chasing her or something. I want to find it strange but hell everything is strange.

I am back in my room packing my things. Evan is just watching.

“I don’t blame you,” he says, “First your brother and now your cousin…”

“I’m getting the fuck out of here. And you should too if you know what’s good for you,” I tell him.

Evan looks afraid. He should be.

“Do you know anything…anything about India’s death?” he asks me.

I want to tell him. I want to tell him about Walid. I want to tell him about the werewolf pack. God knows which one of them killed India. My name wasn’t Scooby Doo and I wasn’t going to stick around and play pet detective. I wasn’t going to stick around and pretend to be brave. I was scared as fuck. I needed to get out of here.

I remember what India told me though. Walid scared the hell out of me and the last thing I wanted to do was let his secret out. He was a werewolf. Even if I was too…he just clearly was more dominant. I wasn’t planning on telling anyone anything.

“Evan…”

“Something weird is happening here isn’t it?” he asks me.

“Let it go Evan…”

Just as I’m grabbing my suitcase there is a knock on my room door. It’s more like a bang than a knock. It’s Evan who opens the door.

Fang is standing there. He has a black fur on. He looks like a younger smaller version of Walid. Instead of being 6’2” he was just 6’0”. He was far from a small guy though. He was shorter but his muscles were just as solid as Walid. He fills out his fur shawl. Unlike Walid he doesn’t have a cocky smirk though. His face is serious as he looks in the room. He’s almost grimacing.

Fang turns to me, “Walid wants to see you outside.”

“Listen I just want to leave.”

Fang’s eyes pierce at me. His strong glance intimidates the FUCK out of me.

“You want me to tell him you refuse?” Fang challenges me, “Is that what you’re telling, dawg?”

He stresses the word Dog almost like he means it as an insult. Even though Walid has that dominance about him Fang just seems straight up mean. I think about it. I don’t want to piss these people, these wolves off before I leave.

“I’ll be out in a second.”

“You want me to come with you?” Evan offers.

Fang shoots him a stare, “Did I fucking invite you, you fucking nerd?”

Fang looks as though he’s just looking for a reason. He’s standing there glaring at Evan. Luckily Evan doesn’t seem to want to play the hero right now. He just stands aside and allows me to walk past him.

Fang leads me outside. At first I don’t see anything but he continues to walk behind where the dorms are. We walk behind the cabins to where the woods begin. There he was. Walid. I wasn’t surprised when his loyal followers were all gathered around as well. The girls sat on logs. The professor leaned up against a tree. Fang took his usual position right behind Walid as if he was his personal guard dog.

They stare at me. All of them. While I have my suitcase in my hand.

“You’re leaving?” Walid asks.

“Uh…pretty much.”

He shakes his head, “Why?”

“You’re joking right. Maybe because I don’t want to be end up looking like butchered meat,” I reply to them.

Fang rolls his eyes, “No backbone.”

The girls sitting on the log laugh at Fang’s rude behavior. The professor just crosses his arms and grunts. Walid is the only one who doesn’t seem either amused, disappointed or annoyed with me.

“Look I don’t want no problems,” I tell them.

“We didn’t kill India,” Walid replies.

“Really because she was on her way to see you before she ended up looking like spare ribs.”

“Are you saying the Alpha is lying?” Fang asks.

“Fang shut up,” Walid states.

“He’s disrespectful.”

I’m shocked as Walid slaps Fang across the face! His slap is so powerful that Fang flies across the logs the girls are sitting on. You would thing Fang was hit by a car by how far his body is lunged into the air. None of the others go to help fang. The girls giggle amongst themselves again. The professor grunts again. When Fang hits the floor he stays there, blood dripping from his mouth.

“Don’t make me tell you again to shut up,” Walid tells him.

Fang finally moves but he doesn’t make eye contact with Walid. I’m understanding it. The respect is everything with these people…or werewolves or whatever they prefer to be called.

Walid turns to me, “India told me that you were bitten by a black dog with blue eyes. She was heading back to you when she was attacked. Is what she told me true? Did a black dog attack you? Is that true?”

I nod, “Yes.”

“The black dog is a stray. An unwelcomed werewolf in our territory,” Walid explains, “He been stalking…stalking…us…”

Suddenly there is a smell. I don’t know where it’s coming from but it’s close. It smells like…sweat or something. I’m not sure. I’m not the only one to notice the smell.

Walid and the others turn to the right. They seem to be able to know which direction the smell is coming from. I turn to where they are looking. I don’t see nothing but they are right. The smell is coming from the East.

“He’s close,” Professor Timus says and then mysteriously adds, “He’s listening.”

“After him,” Walid commands.

Professor Timus and Fang begin to change. It’s the same way that Walid changed before. Their bodies begin to morph. They make more noise than Walid made when he changed. In front of me now is a grey wolf with a white underbelly where Fang used to be and where Professor Timus was is a dark chocolate wolf.

Walid turns to the girls who are still sitting comfortably on the log, “…All of you…”

When he adds that the two girls change as well. Amina is a grey wolf as well similar to Fang except her eyes are yellow. Naomi is the last to change. I can tell she is resistant. I don’t know why but she seems annoyed that she has to change. When she does changes though her coat is a beautiful golden color that I’ve never seen on a wolf before and her eyes match almost in sync with her coat.

The four wolves run off at that moment chasing god knows who.

“What’s happening?”

“Let’s get you inside.”

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Walid brings me to his room when we get back to the cabin. I’m not sure what he wants from me. My suitcase is still at my side and I’m still trying to get the fuck out of here. He hasn’t dismissed me yet though so I don’t know how to go about doing it.

It doesn’t take long for Walid to take off his shirt.

“What’s going on?” I ask again.

“My pack is hunting the intruder,” Walid says, “His name is Mayorga. He’s the black wolf. He used to be a member of the pack but I kicked him out. This is my territory. He’s returned on my territory with an agenda.”

Walid throws a fur at a hook on the door. I remember being in his room the day we had sex but I didn’t notice the fur the first time. His bedroom has the aroma of a man. It isn’t sweet and potpourri smelling like my room. Walid’s room doesn’t necessarily stink either. It just smells…strong, masculine like he’s been working out all day. The odor is fragrant and pungent to my nose. For some reason it turns me on and I find my dick getting hard…

And my ass. My ass is wet. Fuck Walid is such a man.

“What agenda?”

Walid shrugs, “I’ll ask him before I kill him.” Then he adds with a funny attitude and a smirk, “ I’ll make sure to let you know right after…”

walid takes off his shirt. He throws it on the floor and stares out of the window. I’m standing behind him. His back is large and fan shaped. The angles of his muscles contort as he leans against the window will. He doesn’t have underwear on and his black jeans are low. They barely cling to his external obliques.

“Listen. I’m sorry to hear about your stray issue. I just want to leave.”

Walid ignores my request.

“Your father gave you to me.”

“Come again.”

“He sent you here for me. Like he sent your brother before you.”

“You know my father?”

walid turns to me and shakes his head, “Your father is a werewolf. A lycanthrope. A man who can change into a wolf. Just like me. Just like you…”

My heart races. Impossible.

Or is it it? I never noticed my father changing but come to think of it Walid reminds me so much of my father. This strong Alpha male being that was confident and more masculine than life. The look in his eyes was like my father. Like my father he seemed like he wasn’t afraid of anything in this world. It was similar to the personality of Qadir. It skipped a generation with me though.

“Is that why my father didn’t come back here?”

“Your father lost to me before. I took over this territory when I was a young wolf and forced him and his pack to leave. India’s parents were part of your father’s pack. So were mine. I displaced them.”

Believing my father was a werewolf was easy. Hell. With what I was learning that was even expected. However the idea that someone was strong enough to scare my father away blew my fucking mind. It makes me even more scared of Walid.

“How many are there. How many wolves?”

Walid shrugs, “I don’t know. We keep the pack small however. Your father was an Alpha. Like me. When I became the Alpha he had to leave. His pack had to leave as well. I started my own then. A new wolf pack. I gave him permission to bring you here. You were supposed to be mine like all the others, until that fucking stray bit you. You are his now. The stray’s. He’s attempting to start his own pack. Fucking Mayorga. He’s threatening everything I’ve built here. He’s attempting to take over my territory. And you…you’re his. You’re Mayorga’s! You’re a threat to me.”

I raise my hands.

“I didn’t ask anyone to bite me. I’m not part of any plan to overthrow anyone. Listen. I’m not a threat to you.”

Walid looks at me with a strong look. He takes a few steps towards me. His footsteps are so heavy that I find myself backing up immediately. I back up so much that I’m pressed up against the wall. Walid is looking at me. He’s sniffing me. I don’t know whether to be turned on or scared to death.

I just stand there pressed against the wall. I don’t move. He’s invading my personal space. Hell! I don’t have personal space at this moment. Walid is pressed up against me!

He’s hard. I can see his dick print between his pants. I don’t dare to move anything but my eyes as he sniffs me.

“Where is he? Where is Mayorga?” he asks me.

“I don’t know who the fuck you’re talking about.

Walid looks me up and down, “I’m only going to ask you again. He’s been hiding his scent from me. He’s using the humans to camouflage himself. Where is he, Nasir?”

Walid grabs me against my throat. He holds me up against the door. I couldn’t move if I want to. He’s so fucking strong. I feel like a kid. His lips are so close to mine. I can feel his musk from my nose. It smells so strong and dominating. It almost smells like sweaty sex. That’s the only thing I can compare it to from before I got these strong senses.

“You are a stray,” Walid tells me, “Do you know that? I didn’t awaken your wolf. The smart thing for me to do would be to kill you right here. Leave your body rotting in the field for Mayorga and then ambush him. That’s what I should do.”

That is when I see Walid’s teeth. Large fangs grow where regular teeth once were. They run across the sides of my neck. He could kill me now. He could take a bite out of me and I’d be done. His single hands pulls me up against the wall. My feet are no longer on the ground. I’m dangling like prey in his arms. Helpless..

“I’m not a threat to you,” I promise him, “Please…please…”

Oh my god! My heart is racing. I’m so afraid.

But then all of a sudden Walid pulls back his face and there are no more fangs. He releases me from his grip and lets me fall to the floor.

“I’m not going to kill you,” he tells me.

“Thank you,” I tell him, “I just want to leave.”

Walid crosses his arms, “I’m not going to let you leave either.”

I’m confused. Walid is looking down at me. I’m surprised when he licks his lips at that moment. His dick is still hard. From the ground I look up and see the dick print in his pants right in front of me. Walid strokes it a few time from underneath his pants and looks down at me.

“Why…why can’t I leave?” I ask, “Please I’ll leave your territory. Just like my father did. I won’t come back. I promise. Please just let me go.”

“I don’t repeat myself. Don’t make me repeat myself,” Walid says to me.

I’m so confused. If I’m such a threat to him why can’t I just leave? Why the fuck can’t I just walk out? Was he going to keep me in Vanderbilt against my will?

“Why do you want me here!”

I don’t know what’s the screaming come from but all of a sudden Walid runs towards me. I think he’s going to hit me like he did his brother Fang earlier His hand swings backwards and goes towards my face.

He just stops short.

“No one talks to me like that on my territory. You hear me?” he says.

I don’t know what comes over me. Maybe it’s annoyance at the fact that I’m being held.

“I just did.”

I am so sure I’m playing with fire at this point. I’m so sure he’s going to hit me really this time but instead he turns and smiles.

“You have me breaking all the rules don’t you?” he asks me, “You shouldn’t be in my territory. You shouldn’t be alive.”

I’m confused by him. Walid is a mystery. Why hasn’t he hit me? Why hasn’t he killed me then? Why is he looking at me with this…stare…

“What do you want from me?” I ask him.

It’s the only question I can think of.

“Take your clothes off…”

“What?”

“Take your clothes off. Now. I want to fuck you…”

To read the next chapter go to www.crushedcrown.