Chapter 5 Cologne

Monroe

‘She's like a sister to me too…’

Zyle had rejected me even before he knew of my feelings for him. His words rang in my head threatening to deafen me. 

It's been two weeks since I last saw him and I decided to move on. It was freshman year and I would not waste my time sulking over spilt milk. 

“Weren’t you going on a date?” Onyx asked turning the page of a magazine. 

“Yeah…” I replied and clipped a bookmark on the page of my textbook and closed it up, nudging my glasses in place. 

“Are you planning to ditch Nolan?” I rubbed my temples and sighed.

Nolan had walked up to me in class the day after I met with Zyle and we began talking. He wasn't the type who cared about talking stages and the likes, he was straightforward.

He made it clear he wanted to take me out. 

Nolan was eye-catching and a soccer player with a physique to die for. His blue eyes are beautiful as well and his tanned skin, gorgeous. But he wasn't Zyle. 

Anyway, I was going to grow in love with Nolan and bury Zyle behind me. If he thought of me as nothing more than a sister, then I'm grateful I have a ‘brother’ like him. 

I shot up to my feet and walked to the bathroom to freshen up. The date was scheduled for 9:00 and it was already 8:33.

I hurriedly wore a fitted pair of jeans and a tank top, then threw a leather jacket on it. Wore my hair in a ponytail and applied lip gloss. 

I picked a purse and spun to Onyx for a review. 

“How do I look?” 

“You always look sweet, sugar.” She complimented. I grinned from ear to ear. 

“Don't stay out late. Keep your phone tracker on at all times. News of campus kidnappers has become rampant lately.” She cautioned like a mom. I nodded and stepped out. 

The night was chilly. I pulled out my phone to send a quick text to Nolan. 

‘I'm in front of the old cathedral.’

I rubbed my face with my left palm after hitting the send button. My phone rang almost immediately. I looked at it and the message read. 

‘K. I'll be there in 20.’

I raised a brow and looked around the scanty environment waiting patiently for Nolan to arrive.

“Hello, butter.” I spun around and saw a middle-aged man with a scar running down his face. I shuddered and stepped back a bit while awkwardly trying to smile at him.

“Can I know the way to the bus stop from here?” He asked. I pointed in a direction but his gaze never left me. 

My nerves kicked in and everything in me wanted to flee, so I took inconspicuous steps away from the man. 

He reached for something in his pocket and all the cells in my body blared, code red. I spun to walk away but the man was in front of me in a second.

I flinched and pivoted, breaking into a run, but the man was surprisingly faster. 

He grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me until my back hit his chest. 

I let out a scream to alert any passerby but my screams were muffled by a handkerchief pressed firmly against my lips. 

I clawed at the man with all I had but my efforts became lazy. 

My eyes fluttered closed as drowsiness set in almost immediately.

…

My eyes fluttered open and the first thing that came into my vision was four huge figures towering over my lying body. I scrambled to get up but my movements were restricted. My eyes widened when I realized I couldn't move much. The biting cold stung my bare skin and I also realized my jacket was removed. 

“Who do we have here?” A voice said. I looked towards the sound and the man who had covered my mouth with a cloth smirked and a knife glistened under the moonlight. I struggled against my restraints, my heart pumping faster than normal and my breath came in ragged rasps. 

“It's a meal.” one of the guys said. 

Meal? Me? 

“Fuck!” I cursed when the wires used to tie me cut into my skin due to my harsh squirming. 

“Of course, Fuck!” One of the men said and they all burst out laughing. I screamed for help at the top of my lungs. 

“No one will hear.” One of them said. 

Tears welled in my eyes threatening to spill as I 

Squirmed some more ignoring the pain in my ankles and wrists. 

“Slow down candy. Do you wanna get hurt?” They mocked. I ignored them and kept screaming. Struggling. 

“Ahah candy, you don't know when to give up” the man who brought me said in a disgusted tone.

He snatched my glasses from my eyes and tossed them somewhere before waving a hand a few inches away from my face.

Perhaps he thought I could not see without my glasses but he has never been more wrong. I could see well enough to remember his sick face and report him to the police…if…if I get out of here alive. 

The thought of me dying here in the woods, with no one aware of my location frightened me and made me choke on my saliva. 

“Please…please…I'll be quiet…just let me go.” I forced through the pain in my throat and body. 

“Awwn, how cute,” he said with a pout. The others chuckled. 

“I'll advise you to keep shut and cooperate with us. If you resist further we'll have to kill you and make some money off your body parts but if you cooperate well let you go.” A very scary and tempting deal. 

I stopped struggling and allowed the tears to flow down my face into my ears and out. Lose my virginity to a bunch of hooligans and save my life or struggle and still lose my virginity to them and also get killed. 

“Good girl…” 

“Don't worry candy, it'll be quick and painless…I guess” They all cracked up as he ripped my shirt open. He wiggled his tongue when my breast sprang free.  

His hands went towards my jeans and immediately a low growl was heard from within the woods. His movements paused. 

Several seconds passed and the growl wasn't heard again, I tried to wriggle free from the restraints. More scared of whatever was lurking within the woods than I was of the men. 

He ignored the sound and continued to pull down my jeans when the growl grew louder and closer. 

I wriggled to free myself, I didn't care if I lost an arm while at it. 

Suddenly, footsteps, like light gallops reached my ears. 

The men released me immediately and tried to scurry away. I tilted my head up with my little to no strength and looked towards the forest part and what I saw weakened my body and turned me to jelly. 

A black wolf the size of a horse rushed towards me. 

RUN!!! RUN!!! RUN!!!

My mind screamed at me. The energy to break loose from the restraints was already gone. I lay on the floor, trembling while the creature charged towards me with its teeth bared.

I shut my eyes tightly wondering if this was how I was going to die.

Mauled by a beast. 

A second passed.

When nothing happened I opened my eyes a bit to see if it was close and my heart almost jumped out of my chest when the humongous creature jumped over me and landed in the opposite direction.

I looked around and saw that it was not after me…yet but the men. 

It caught one of them and with animalistic movements it severed the man in half, tossing the bodies aside. Then it ran towards the other men chewing their guts out until they convulsed to their death. 

My body locked up, breath snagging in my throat when the animal walked towards me slowly. 

A step at a time, the creature took calculated steps towards me, forcing my trembling body to freeze. 

When the creature was nose to nose with me, I smelt a familiar cologne. The same type I had dreamt about for days now. The same type that was on Zyle. 

Why did this creature have the same scent as Zyle? 

That was the least of my problems right then. 

I felt like the beast could kill me without moving. I held my breath, hoping I would not anger the beast with my loud annoying panting. 

The beast lifted a claw so sharp it looked properly filed and manicured and tore up the wires that restrained me.

The red eyes and black slit pupils did not leave my face. I didn't look away either. Too aware of the consequences. 

My arms and ankles were freed and I stayed, numb on the ground. 

“Monroe!” The loud call from Nolan made my eyes widen in surprise and gratitude. The creature backed away from me until all I could see in the dense wood were its burning pupils. 

“Nolan!” I screamed weakly. 

Nolan was beside me in a few minutes but the beast kept staring at me within the dense forest.

Nolan covered me with a jacket and I was too terrified to care that he saw my breasts. 

He picked up my glasses and balanced them on the bridge of my nose. 

Nolan hugged me, but I didn't even look at him. I kept my gaze focused on the predator’s eyes, glowing in the dark. 

“It's fine now, okay.” He assured. I snatched my eyes from the creature and looked at Nolan. 

Tears poured down my face like a stream. I bawled like a toddler. 

He quickly fetched me in his arms and jogged out of the forest. 

The temperature in the forest dropped so low that I shivered underneath the jacket. 

A low growl filled the woods as Nolan sped his movements. 

I closed my eyes and buried my face in Nolan's shoulder but all I could see beneath my lids were red eyes with slitted-dark-pupils.