Chapter 4

“If you want a phone signal, you have to get to that hill, Laken,” Zuri told Laken with a grin on her face. She looked on the south side. The hill could be about five miles walk.

“How can you live here? No internet, no cell phone reception?” Her brows knitted.

“We do have a satellite phone. If you want to call your office, you can use it instead. But it’s with Dad as you well know.” Zuri shrugged.

“Right.” She marched down to the library where her stepfather is always holed up. The hallway was a bit dark, since outside was cloudy, and the rain is threatening to pour down hard anytime soon. She knocked on the library door, which was made of oak with wolf heads engraved around it.

“Yes, come in,” Mohegan said from the inside.

“I need your satellite phone. I have to call Sue and tell her I can’t make it tomorrow,” she stated.

“Sure,” he permitted and gestured at the phone on his desk. “Maybe you need a vacation, Laken. It’s now fate that’s holding you up here.” His eyes looked thoughtful. He closed the science book he was reading. Mohegan was a researcher—that was she had always known when he married her mother, Uri Pierce-Blythe. He even had a laboratory in the basement of this house. But she did not know what he was researching on. Not a clue.

“Well, I won’t have a choice if the weather is like this, will I?” She smiled smugly at him. He may be right. But she also wanted to get back to work. Sue could not handle her people alone. Farah made it a point, that is.

Before she called Sue, Zuri asked her to stay for at least a couple of weeks. It took her half-sister to promise to keep her entertained while she was there. Since it was a special request and she had not taken a break at work since she put up the business, she was forced to agree. She told her secretary that she will be staying for another two weeks and can only reach her through the number she gave. And of course, if it was only for emergency.

***

The next day, the two sisters hiked despite the rain. Zuri challenged her, so here they were. Armed with only a waterproofed backpack with basic necessities, they followed a vague trail toward the highest peak in the area. They only wore pants, sweatshirt, hiking shoes and caps.

“Haven’t you considered dating at your age now, Laken?” Zuri asked her in a teasing tone.

Laken rolled her eyes. “Dating? That has never occurred to me. I haven’t met a guy whose smell I like. Yet.” She pouted at the thought. Imagining all those kinds of strong scents coming off their body and perfume or cologne, she thought she would already faint.

“It’s that bad, huh?”

Laken did not comment on that. So far, she had not met someone who had the same problem as she had. But she knew there were some out there. It was somehow difficult for the others for her to relate to her condition, since they were mostly normal. And she considered herself not normal at all. But she could do nothing about it. It was her fate.

“You think there is some kind of outlaws living around this area?” she wondered aloud, weirded out by her own train of thoughts.

Before Zuri could even answer, her giggle was cut short, as some armed men appeared before them. Laken cursed in her mind as she and her sister put their hands in the air.

‘I think there’s my answer,’ she bitterly thought. Her heart was beating fast. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her at the moment. She watched her sister’s face filled with dread. She practically looked pale and was about to faint.

“Come with us.” The man with a mustache addressed them. His rifle was pointed at them and the same as the other two men.

The two ladies started to walk when a midnight blue-colored massive dog jumped onto the first man. The other two were caught off guard. They could only watch as the dog bit the man with the mustache in the neck. In a mere second, the huge animal set its attention to the other two. They shot at it while Laken pushed her sister out of the way. The two of them rolled down the ground. She felt the stinging pain in her left shoulder but tried to endure it. When she looked over her shoulder, the animal growled as it looked down at its lifeless victims. Blood was all over the place.

The only thing she could remember was the familiar mixture of scents before she passed out.