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"What do I do? To keep myself safe?" Elara asks, her voice coming out in a nearly inaudible squeak.
"That’s what your training is for. It’s just become a little more important," Denzel says, a little too casually for her liking. "You use what you learned to protect yourself, and you keep practicing. In the meantime, with the full moon coming up, we need a plan."
Elara blinks. Is it that close to the full moon? She instinctively looks toward her window, that strange crimson color still taunting her. "That means Laith might turn or..." She doesn't finish the sentence. She doesn't want to think about the alternative and how she might handle it if it's her fault.
"I can feel your apprehension through the phone. I know this will be like a test for you, Elara, and for Laith, but it must be done. I have an idea, if you can trust me."
Elara scoffs, knowing there's no choice but to trust Denzel. He’s the only person who's been willing to help her or be honest with her in any way. No matter how hard she's tried to get a word out of Kade, he won't tell her anything, making his presence that much more infuriating. Denzel is powerful, and an ally if not a friend. He’s the only one she could fully trust about this, right or wrong.
Elara takes in a deep, sobering breath. "Of course. What am I going to have to do?"
"I'm not sure your last turn was ideal," he says, and she laughs nervously.
"That's an understatement," she mutters.
"Laith, as you've mentioned, lives in a huge mansion outside the city. His turn will be in a more controlled environment ifhe stays put. So we'll have to help him go through his first shift there."
Elara cringes, thinking about how scared Laith will be. How scared she'll be if she’s being honest.
The sounds of Elara's parents returning from a date night filter up the stairs, the door shutting behind them and locking still a little disturbing to her newly heightened senses.
"Elara?" Her mother's voice comes from the hallway. "We're home. Are you awake?"
Elara covers the phone with her opposite hand and hollers back, "Yes! Just hanging out in my room." She hears her parents whispering sweet nothings to each other and other intimate messages she's more recently privy to, thanks to her super hearing.
She cringes and lowers her voice. "So, if I'll be turning in the woods, how am I going to be able to help Laith?" she asks.
"If you're the one who's responsible for turning Laith, then he'll make his way to you. It's instinct. You end up finding the wolf who sired you when in wolf form, especially the first time."
Except she didn’t. Another oddball move to chalk up.
"I’m not sure how I feel about that," Elara admits. "It's a little creepy."
"Creepy as it may be to you, it's natural to us. Werewolves have the idea of hierarchy and connection in their blood. You'll get used to thinking like this the more you're with others like yourself, Elara."
She tries not to comment as she knows very well there’s nothing and no one out there like her. Denzel is simply being kind.
"Okay, so I basically just wait and see if Laith comes to me in the woods while you go to his house to see if you can ease the transition and we hope he survives?"
"Well, when you put it that way..."
Elara switches her phone to the other ear. "What about Kade, though?"Ugh, why does he have to come up in every conversation?"What if he’s around, too? Then, we won't know whether it was me or him who turned Laith."
Denzel's growl of complaint seems to reveal he feels the same way about their shared nuisance. "I'll watch for him. We both need to try and keep him away if possible. But unless Kade is right next to you, it shouldn't interfere too much. Laith will still come straight to you if it was you who turned him. Kade, for now, is irrelevant." Hearing the frustration in Denzel's tone lets Elara know Kade will be dealt with eventually, once they address the more pressing problems. But is that what she wants?
The thought of his eyes on her makes her long to see him again at the same time it frustrates her. She shouldn't be conflicted about someone who treats her that way.
"Okay, got it," she responds. "I better go, though. I don't need my parents asking too many questions."
"Fair enough. Have a good night, Elara."
Elara nods and hangs up, going to her window. Pulling back the curtain a little, she looks at the waxing moon only to catch a glimpse of a figure standing across the road, looking right back at her.
She gasps, shutting the curtain and catching her breath, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Then, she slowly opens it again and instantly recognizes the dark figure—Kade.
He’s watching her again.
Elara lets the curtain go and runs to her door, listening only a second to hear her parents preoccupied, and then heads for the door to the house. She rushes out to the road, determined to catch him this time, but stops in her tracks to find him already gone.
