The Huntsman pays no attention to noises and people around him. It is clear that we are his only goal.
As an ordinary werewolf, how do you outrun a lycan like the Huntsman? It's quite simple really: you don't bother.
The back door swings open. Before our terrified faces can scream, Dean gives a dramatic sigh.
'Hello, ladies.'
My head whips backwards. My mind runs a diagnostic to see if it is playing an illusion on itself. But it is Dean; in flesh, blood, baggy shorts and a tight, bulging T-shirt.
'Dean!' Alicia squeals. She practically tries to climb backseat to embrace him, attached seatbelt and all.
I am happy to see Dean too, it feels like eons ago since we last laughed without a dark cloud over the atmosphere; but this is giving the Huntsman what he wants. He wants Dean; we were bait; now, he has Dean.
I am expecting to see the Huntsman sprinting towards us faster than my eyes can follow when I turn back to the road; but he is just standing there. He is talking to someone.
No, he isn't talking to just anyone but Vanessa White.
I have a feeling the Huntsman doesn't know which way is North anymore. Disorientation and vertigo are two of Vanessa's simplest tricks.
Dean jabs a thumb backwards. 'We might want to get out of here,' he smiles in his cool, I-have-got-this-with-you kind of way. Even I want to climb over and hug him. I quell the urge to rip out the seatbelt of Alicia's precious car.
Dean doesn't have to say it twice. Alicia puts the car into reverse and floors the pedal. The Huntsman and Vanessa fade into the distance.
As an ordinary werewolf, how do you escape from a lycan? It's not that difficult. You do it in a car with all the windows rolled up to seal your scent. But cars have their own scents, you may say. Yeah. But most of it is just exhaust gas.
'Dean, I'm so happy you're okay,' I turn backwards.
'And I'm so happy to see you,' Alicia says.
Dean grunts to stop himself from breaking into a wide grin.
'Take the next left,' Vanessa says.
I blink. Alicia inhales sharply as she stares at the backseat through the rearview mirror. The steering wheel warps a little under the unchecked strength of her grip.
'You look like you are having a stroke, Alicia,' I hiss quietly at her shock.
'Maybe I am!' She shouts, taking the left turn. 'So it's true.'
Vanessa rests her head against Dean's broad chest. 'I'm just tinkering with your head, Alicia. I'm not here.'
She says that but it looks like she is here with us, lifelike and life-sized. Her voice is no different than it has always been.
'What did you do the Huntsman?' I question in curiosity.
Vanessa gives me a soft stare. I am a little unsettled by the fondness in her gaze. With one pretty, porcelain eye shut, the stare is very cute; a look you would give a partner you love. Or a daughter dear to your heart.
Yikes!
Vanessa's smile widens. She answers my question, 'I didn't do anything to Rufus, also the Huntsman. The two of us go way back. I just told him Hello to buy you some time.
'You look like a White, Claire.' Vanessa passes a hand over her own face to indicate the paleness of mine. 'Are you all right?'
I wonder if the paleness is why she was giving me the proudparent look. Alicia beats me to answering Vanessa's question.
'In every sense of the word, Claire isn't all right.'
Vanessa sits up and even Dean gives a frown as he appraises me.
'I thought you would have found out yourself by now,' I laugh. The words are meant for Vanessa. Some of her alarm and Dean's is relieved by my laughing. As with the last time she appeared to me, Vanessa should be reading my mind like counting the fingers on her hands.
'Let's just say I don't want to overextend myself,' she explains vaguely.
I didn't give it a thought then but the reason she wasn't reading my mind was because she had already overextended herself. After getting into the Huntsman's mind, a lycan; and by maintaining a synchronized presence in three people's minds—Dean's, Alicia's and mine—with a gulf of miles between our locations, Vanessa's mental powers were swelling enthusiastically at the time. Whatever remained of her lifeline, albeit a werewolf lifeline, was burning away like a torch.
Dean's Luna already knows about Sebastian. Maybe she doesn't know about the pictures, but she has at least seen him in my mind. I don't know what she has told Dean or how much she has told him, so I start from the beginning.
Dean's expression isn't as responsive with news about Mason and me as I imagine it should. So not news then. Vanessa has told him about it. When I start on Sebastian, the pictures and the poster is when the couple look shocked.
'You told Olligrander to pass the pictures to the Imperials?' Dean questions in disbelief.
For the first time that day, I feel Vanessa's mind seep deeply into mine. 'Don't bother berating her, Dean. Claire regrets it now,' she says. Her eyes have acquired that penetrating quality that makes goosebumps want to breakout on my skin.
'Claire has more problems than she thinks,' Dean begins, a sour look warring with annoyance on his face 'Olligrander has too many ancient grudges against Lauren. Where we have a problem now is that Lauren prides her bloated self-importance in Lycan social circles on her closeness with the Lycaone family through Mason. She is one of Pearl Lycaone's favourite friends, and Pearl is Augusta Lycaone's favourite daughter. Many supplicants use Lauren's connection to Pearl to reach Augusta Lycaone herself. If those pictures circulate through Europe, harm will come to the respect and relevance Lauren has built over the years. It will look like Lauren has lost favour with the Lycaones—Olligrander surely knows this, so he will ensure those pictures spread.
'If he succeeds, it won't be only Lauren you'll have problems with. Pearl has a twisted, outrageous idea of what loyalty is.'
'Oh.' That is the only response that comes to me.
Vanessa smiles brightly. 'At least you didn't curse.'
'Shit!' I say.
Mason Lycaone, the half lycan infamous through no fault of his own, isn't the last child of Augusta Lycaone. He has two younger half siblings, Earl and Pearl, who are full-blooded lycan twins.
I can see the twins in my mind: an unnaturally pale girl, Pearl, and her brother, Earl. Vanessa's memories are an invaluable trove of information. The twins count as albino lycans somewhat. They have a complexion of pale white, and, in some places, pink. Weren't it for the pink, they could almost pass as Vanessa's kin.
Earl and Pearl have always been beautiful, more so because of their complexion, which makes them stand out in every occasion. The birth of the twins worsened Mason's rejection by his mother and family—the twins were the cynosure of every eye, while their elder half brother was an embarrassing eyesore.
The only thing Pearl probably loves about Mason is his affair with Lauren. It might probably even be the only thing the lycans think he has done right.
'Claire, Dean didn't want you and the rest of the pack involved with anything that could put you against the lycans. But amazingly, you have gone ahead and put yourself in the middle of everything. You are a true Olligrander,' Vanessa smiles flippantly.
There are many original werewolf families scattered around the globe. And some of them have something peculiar to them. The Elderwood family, Dean's family, have their strength and resilience. They are known as honourable and loyal, which makes me wonder what the werewolf community must think of Dean now. Vanessa's family, the Whites, are overpoweringly telepathic. Thomas Olligrander's family, the Olligranders, are known for being a pain in the hide.
The Olligranders are a family of dissidents, rebels and outlaws. They have a problem following orders because they have the natural ability to cheat every kind of werewolf bond. They can't follow an alpha because they can shrug off an alpha command at will.
Alpha commands are naturally unbreakable. A werewolf's body will obey, with or without the werewolf's consent. It's how packs can remain stable.
What is even more absurd about Olligranders is that they can slip easily out of a mate bond. Or have many mates at once. And they bear their last name over their first names, so that every Olligrander is called Olligrander. Except to distinguish between members of the family is when first names become relevant.
To be an Olligrander is to be rebellious and troublesome.
Truth be told, some members of the werewolf community wouldn't be unhappy to see some families like the Whites and the Olligranders go extinct, a few of them among the Imperials; but strictly by natural selection. It is because these families, the Olligranders, Whites and others, have caused a greater count of large-scale werewolf conflict than any other.
'What will you do about Sebastian and Seamus?' Vanessa asks me.
The question reasonably causes me thought. It is now more certain what I have to do. It is high time I left all my childish, Prince Charming fairy tales behind and embraced reality. And Saturday is that reality.
No more Mason. He was but a mistake. Sebastian will be etched in my memories forever. He will burn the half lycan out of my thoughts. I will also make sure of it personally. I am ready to agree to everything Sebastian may dema—
I hiss for a sudden pain in my chest, sharper than on previous occasions. I suddenly have everyone's attention.
Vanessa gasps. 'That thought. Continue that thought!'
Alicia and Dean are looking from Vanessa to me. Reluctantly, I continue the last line of thought. Or I try. No sooner have I started to imagine Sebastian and me together in intimacy than the pain reappears.
Vanessa positively appears aghast.
'What is it?' Dean is tense. Whatever happened must have seemed very painful to him, which it was.
'Is she having a stroke? Can werewolves get a stroke?' Alicia queries.
Vanessa can't find the right words for a few seconds. 'It's a mate bond,' she says finally.
'A mate bond!' Dean, Alicia and I exclaim together.
'Rather, the stirrings of one.' Vanessa's looks blankly at me. Her mind, wherever it is, is poring over the probabilities, the possibilities and, most especially, the liabilities.
'Claire, there is someone you think of cheating on and it causes you pain. Who is it?' Dean asks in gentle urgency.
'Mason,' I whisper, as shocked as everyone else. 'But how can this happen? Is it even possible? Mason has a mate!'
'A mate bond is an instinctive thing, Claire. And it doesn't ever stir unless there's a chance that it can reach completion,' Vanessa explains.
'So Claire and Mason can be mates?' The puzzlement is clear in Alicia's question.
'A mate bond is broken if one of the partners dies, or if an Imperial dissolves the bond with the consent of one of the partners; neither of which has happened between Mason and Lauren. And a werewolf can form a mate bond with only one person at a time. A mate bond between Mason and Claire shouldn't be stirring,' Vanessa says.
'It's Olligrander,' Dean informs quietly.
'Olligrander did something to me?' I ask in confusion.
'No. You are just expressing an Olligrander trait. They can form and break bonds where it shouldn't be possible.'
'If Olligranders can form and break bonds at will, Claire can break this forming mate bond, right?' Alicia asks.
Dean groans. 'It doesn't work that way. In times of stress, Olligranders may initiate this unpredictable, rebellious ability often without knowing. The ability works to make bonds or break bonds that should be absolute. It is rare for the trait to mend bonds it has broken or cut bonds it has made. I have never even heard of it in my lifetime.'
A spell of appalled quiet descends on the car.
'You keep moving from one problem to another, Claire. I'm starting to think you are the chosen one,' Alicia teases finally.
'Has anyone here considered what Lauren will do to me if that mate bond forms? What Pearl will do? What Augusta will do?' I glance from mute face to mute face. 'I thought so,' I say acidly.
'Pull over, Alicia.' When she responds with a bewildered look, I practically shout, 'Pull over now!'
My hand finds the door handle when she eases the car to a stop by the curb. 'Where are you going?' She asks.
'To break this stupid bond.' I slam the door.
I have only begun to walk away when I return and tap the window. Alicia lowers the glass from her side. She still looks bewildered, as do Dean and Vanessa.
I duck my head inside. 'Tell Olligrander I'm going to kill him next time. And Vanessa, please get out of my head,' I say.
She nods once, slowly, and fades away.
My bag on my back, I walk briskly from the car. My head is a mess. My heart is a mess. My chest twists but I push down the pain. I'm ripping this bond to shreds today.
Sebastian will not have to wait till Saturday to have me. I'm going to his place, and he will have me now: it isn't a matter of his willingness at all; he will have me today, whether he likes it or not.