Page 15 of Out of the Darkness

Madelyn blinked, and his eyes were normal again, but they were full of both concern and residual rage. The claws had vanished, and his teeth were back to regular size too. Seconds ticked by as she wondered if she had imagined it all. The only indication that she had seen what she did was the blood that coated his front, starting at his lips and going down to the waistband of his jeans.

The thought of what he had done had her eyes instinctively flicking over to the growing puddle of blood and the dead body just a foot away. Her stomach rolled at the sight. The guy’s neck was gone, just a hollowed-out hole where his throat used to be. The skin was jagged and torn, and she could see the ripped ligaments, tendons, and even a bit of his spinal cord. She whimpered and swallowed the bile that began to rise in her throat again as Xavier tugged on her chin, forcing her to look at him again.

“Don’t look at him; look at me,” he told her. “Focus on me.”

“You… you killed him.”

She had to be going into shock. Her mind was blank as if someone had hit the delete button on everything but what had just occurred. It was replaying over and over again in her head like a horror movie on repeat. She found herself emotionally numb too, a blank void where nothing was registering. Once the shock wore off though, she knew that she would break; there was no doubt about that. It was just a matter of time.

“I did,” Xavier replied as he began examining her wounds. The gentleness of his touch was a contradiction to the viciousness in which he had just attacked that guy. She didn’t think he was capable of being gentle after that. “And I’d do it again. No one touches what’s mine.” His eyes met hers and blazed brightly for a moment, making her blink again. “And you are mine, Madelyn. Whether you want to admit it or not.”

Because she didn’t have the mental capacity to fight him right then, she just averted her gaze, biting her lip. She instantly regretted that though as she got a taste of the man’s blood that now splattered her own body.

Xavier yanked his sweatshirt off and wrapped it around her shoulders. She hadn’t realized that she was trembling until he began rubbing her arms through the material as if trying to warm her up. “You are in shock,” he pointed out. “But I don’t think you have a concussion. Your pupils look normal.”

“I… I think he broke my ribs,” she muttered, unsure of why that mattered. It was just all she could think of to say.

“Here, let me see.” Xavier helped lift her to her feet, one hand grasping her arm and the other on her waist. Dizziness washed over her once she was upright, but he kept a hold on her until she was steady.

Grabbing the hem of her shirt, she gently lifted it, wincing as she did. Xavier pressed against her side in multiple places, some of them causing her to hiss through her teeth. When he was done, she lowered her shirt and instinctively grabbed onto his biceps. After what just happened, she needed the comfort his touch seemed to bring.

“They’re not broken. Just bruised,” he explained.

She looked up into his pretty blue eyes, her vision only slightly blurry now. “How did you know I was in trouble?”

“I watched you come into the structure and realized you were taking longer than normal to leave,” he said with a shrug. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I… I think so. Th-thank you.”

Not once in her life did she expect that she would be thanking her stalker. It felt strange and unnatural, and she was sure she would end up regretting it later when she was thinking clearly again. But, whether she wanted to admit it or not, he did just save her life, and that warranted her gratitude.

Xavier cupped her cheek with his hand, and for the first time, she didn’t shy away from him. “You never have to thank me, little dove. I will always protect you. I’m just sorry that I didn’t get here sooner.” He bent down a bit and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “But right now, you need to get out of here. Go home and get cleaned up. I’ll handle this.”

Madelyn shook her head, not understanding. “Xavier, I can’t leave the scene of a crime. I have to stay. I have to give my statement to the police.”

“And what exactly are you going to tell them, Madelyn? How are you going to explain this?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her as he motioned toward the body.

“I…” She paused, trying to rationalize what she had witnessed, but she was coming up blank.

The truth was she didn’t know how she would explain it because she didn’t know how to rationalize what she saw. Then, there was the very real possibility of the cops thinking she was the crazy one. If the police didn’t believe her when she tried to tell them about her parents and her foster father, there was no way they would believe her when she told them that Xavier had glowing eyes, claws, and extended canines. That just screamed ‘crazy’, even to her.

“I don’t know.”

“Exactly. No police. I’ll handle this. Just go get cleaned up.”

Without waiting for a response, Xavier helped her back toward her car, stopping briefly to pick up her car keys, which were still lying on the concrete where she had dropped them. Then, he assisted her in getting into the front seat. She looked over at him as he placed the keys into her hand, and she realized that it didn’t feel right to just leave him behind. He had protected her, saved her. If he got caught trying to clean up her mess…

“Go,” he told her as if he could read her mind. “I’ll be fine.”

After giving him a small nod, Xavier closed her door, and she struggled to put the key into the ignition, her hands still shaking violently. Once the car was started, she pulled out of the spot and headed toward the exit, watching Xavier disappear in the rearview as she did. Something had changed between the two of them that night; she could feel it as if it had left a mark on her. Something was different, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Somewhere along the way home, the adrenaline began to wear off, and Madelyn had to pull over to the side of the road because she began crying so hard that she could no longer see through the windshield. Her mind was a mess, her body was sticky with drying blood, her head was killing her, and all she could do was replay the events of the attack over and over again. And every time she went through it, she came to the same impossible conclusion: Xavier wasn’t human. And she had no idea what she was supposed to do with that information.

Chapter Seven

Xavier

Xavier dressed as quickly as possible, having not even taken the time to fully dry off after his shower. The fear and uncertainty he saw in Madelyn’s eyes when she looked at him after he had killed that man bothered him, though he wasn’t sure why. He was used to people looking at him like that, mainly right before he killed them. However, he didn’t like the fact that his actions had done that to her, and his wolf was anxious to make sure that she was okay. After yanking on his boots, he snatched up a clean t-shirt, not bothering to put it on right away, as he stormed out the door.

---