Big Bad Wolfie
Chapter 61: 60 - Stupid Questions

Alright, time to get your big girl pants on and get this sh*t done.

Ignore the part of you that's dying inside.

Shove it down.

Shove it down, down, down.

You have to be brave.

Be brave, be brave, be brave.

We're in our hiding positions after deciding the plan and our ear pieces are on the lowest volume.

Hopefully the hybrids won't be able to hear them, but just as a precaution we agreed to keep the communication to a minimum.

Wolfie and I are at the side of the building waiting for an opening to sneak in and clear a path for everyone else.

We've been spotted by one of the guards already, but we took him out before he could sound the alarm.

But his buddy showed up looking for him before we could get anywhere.

I glared at the guard from our hiding spot as he started to sniff the air.

Wolfie and I looked at each other.

Wolfie slowly reached down to grab a rock without making a sound. He silently threw it far away from us so the rustling of the leaves would distract the hybrid. I know it's cliché, but it works.

The hybrid's head snapped in our direction.

Well, crap.

It works most of the time, anyway.

My and Wolfie's eyes widened and we rose slightly from our crouched positions, ready to do with this one what we did with the last guard.

But he did something very peculiar for a hybrid.

Maybe that's why it took us so long to process what happened and respond.

The hybrid turned on his heals and made a run for it.

Crap. What just happened?

An alarm started blaring.

Double crap.

Wolfie and I looked at each other's stunned faces, both probably understanding what this means at the same time. They know we're here, and we're screwed.

A second later we snapped out of it, and with the gracefulness of a couple of startled elephants, we stumbled out of the foliage and towards where the hybrid went. We came to a halt right inside the facility hallway.

I stopped because running head first into the pits of h3ll without a second thought wasn't on my agenda today, but upon looking over, I realized Wolfie stopped for a different reason.

His eyes were that beautiful glowing gold and his skin was becoming even more taut against his muscles. He's shifting.

I subconsciously squeezed my thighs together and swallowed the new lump forming in my throat.

No! Bad Maria. This is not the time to be thinking about how big his muscles get right before he shifts.

What I should be thinking about is that if he does shift, his scent is going to be impossible to hide. We might as well have a GPS tracker on us while sneaking through this place to take down the fist level defenses.

Or... At least that was the plan.

The ear splitting alarm and flashing red lights may or may not have tipped the hybrids off about the fact that there's intruders, though, so the plan has to change.

Our element of surprise is gone.

Or at least mine and Wolfie's is.

But maybe I can make it so it's only mine.

I immediately turned my attention to Wolfie. "No shifting!" I grabbed him by his broad shoulders and forced his nearly shifted form to face me. "You need to be as discreet as possible while going on with the second part of the plan. I'm going to run around causing a raucous while you all make your ways to the lab, as planned."

This brought him out of his shift real quick. "What? No. You're not running around this h3ll hole alone. Especially not as bait," he scowled at my suggestion.

"Someone has to draw the attention from the lab -"

"Then, I'll do it. Or Zach, or Rose, or Stephan, or someone else. I don't care who, as long as it's not you," He glared.

"No, me doing it makes the most sense, and it's the safest. I actually know a little bit about these winding halls. I'll have the best shot of leading them away from the lab and making my way around to avoid them."

Thank goodness I told the others what chemicals to mix.

"But-"

"No buts. I'm sorry Wolfie, It's only logical for me to do this. If we —"

"F*ck logic," he growled.

"If we try and communicate with the others through the ear pieces, it might expose their position. They know we were traveling in a group, so they're already on the look out," I continue and ignore his brash comment.

"No," he frowned like a child who was just told their puppy ran away.

He's just so... How do I say this? Impossibly adorable when concerned. I can't handle it right now.

"You can't," his voice broke slightly as he grabbed onto my arms.

lightning fast footsteps started coming into ear shot.

I looked down the corridor that hybrids will most definitely be coming barreling down soon.

I turned back to Wolfie as my mind glazed over like it does when it needs to block out fear. "I'm sorry, be safe," I said as I easily leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, then ran.

The glaze lets me do all sorts of crazy things.

I've made my way to the opposite side of the building than the lab.

The plan is going perfectly.

I've successfully attracted the attention of dozens of hybrids.

Now the only problem, is that the plan is going perfectly and I've successfully attracted the attention of dozens of hybrids.

And I'm royally screwed.

There's a small room - it's closer to a closet, actually around the next corner, that I can hide in that should mask my scent.

After turning what was probably the fastest corner I've ever turned, I threw the jacket I stole from Brandon down a near by stair well, flung myself into the room and shut the door as silently as I could within a matter of half a second.

I listened with closed eyes and baited breath as the hybrids zoomed past the room and towards my scent down the stairwell.

Even when their footsteps were only echos in the distance, I still didn't open my eyes or take a breath.

I can't look at the room I'm in.

I can't relive it again.

I can't breathe in what it smells like.

It's moments like these that I really do question how I could be such a dumb @ss.

I came into this room to save myself.

But I'd rather suffocate in here than take a breath and smell it again.

I remember It smells like pain and tears and sweat and urine and blood and blood and blood and blood and blood.

Goddesses I'm an idiot.

And blood and blood and blood.

Do NOT open your eyes.

And blood and blo-

"Maria."

I jumped out of my skin and my hands automatically flew to cover my face, luckily blocking my vision.

"Maria, it's Jason. Where are you? Are you alright?"

I let out a sigh of relief but then regretted it, because there's no getting that air back.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Just dying inside, "how are you? Did you get to the others?" I whispered.

"Yeah, and I didn't run into hardly any trouble."

I'm glad this wasn't for nothing then.

"Maybe that means you can meet up with us."

I really want to. I really, really, really want to.

Jason's POV

"No can do," came her short, whispered response.

I growled under my breath while I watched Stephan take care of the last hybrid in the lab.

I know she said it's risky contacting her, but I doubt the hybrids' senses are that strong, and I need to talk to her.

"Why not? I don't like you being all alone." The permanent scowl on my face deepened.

I tried to go after her when she ran off, but she turned a corner before me and when I caught up, she was gone. There was a hallway and stairwell that she could have gone down and her scent was down both, but before I could track her, I heard hybrids in the distance and sent a prayer to the moon goddess that they didn't replace her before I did.

Then I ended up stumbling upon everyone else at the lab. they said they made a b-line for it when the two hybrids guarding their entrance ran off when the alarm sounded.

Yeah, I ended up at the lab. The only place I knew she wasn't going.

'Way to go. If it was me, I would have found her.'

There were hybrids everywhere, we would have had to go straight through them to get to her.

'Well-'

She has no use for us dead. I rolled my eyes at Ki.

"I know but this is working. I can't stop now," Maria's voice came back and distracted me from my conversation with Malaki.

"Maria, why are you doing this?" I shook my head, refusing to listen to what she's telling me. "Do you really wanna be alone, here? of all places. Don't you want someone with you? ME with you? Aren't you afraid on your own?" I got a little angry. Not at her, though.

It's becoming harder and harder to be angry at her after we marked each other.

But I still feel angry. At the world. At the hybrids.

"Those are some of the dumbest questions I've ever heard, Wolfie," she sighed, but her voice sounded weird. Strained.

I got more nervous at that, but still rolled my eyes at her response. "Why? because you're that fearless and you don't need anyone's help?" I shook my head. Why won't she just realize

"No Wolfie, because I'm f*cking terrified."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"I'm so terrified, I can't breathe."

Another pause.

"Of course I want someone with me. Of course I want YOU with me... But if you were, I'd probably just cry into your shoulder. If you were, I'd be distracted from the goal. If you were, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to get the hybrids' attention, then all of this would be for nothing if the others couldn't get to the lab."

"I want you so bad right now." Her voice started getting shaky like she was crying.

My stomach dropped.

"But I can't have you."

Maria's POV

But what else is new.☐☐☐☐☐☐