She was on her chair facing her laptop in her room. Its black screen reflected what she was going through presently. The files she had been working on earlier had been erased and wiped out before she could even back them up. The hacker had covered their tracks well, but Mira couldn't afford to give up. She couldn't allow the pressure to get to her.
Her eyes shifted over to the window, the streetlights outside were displaying scary shadows across her living room. The city was alive, busy with people coming and going, yet in her little apartment, everything was too quiet.
She froze.
Still, she had the feeling something was wrong.
She looked confused when she stood up and slowly moved to the kitchen. She couldn't hear anything, but her mind was telling her something wasn't right.
She heard the sound of something shifting, something scratching the floor suddenly. Her heart seized immediately. The noise came from behind her, it wasn't loud but she could hear it.
Mira looked closely around, with fear still placed on her face. But there was nothing there.
"Get a grip of yourself," she whispered to herself. It was probably just her imagination playing with her mind. But she couldn't forget the feeling.
Then, she saw a shadow moving across her living room. She was still trying to see clearly when the door to her apartment was forcefully opened widely with a force that sent Mira stumbling backward.
She went to the closest weapon, she could find, a heavy flower vase placed on the counter. She did not know who
or what was coming from the door, but she was ready to fight.
It was just no one.
It was a man, tall and scary, dressed in dark, dirty clothing. His eyes were yellow in the small lighted room, and his face was filled with a scary smile as he stepped toward her.
The man jumped at her with unnatural speed, his arm stretched to grab her. Mira dodged the attack by a mere chance, her heart still pounding as she threw the vase at him. The glass broke against his arm, but it barely seemed to affect him.
Her eyes checked around the kitchen and settled on the knife block by the counter. She grabbed one of the knives with her shaking hand. She turned to face her attacker just as he jumped again, claws were visible, aiming for her throat.
With a shout, Mira slashed the knife through the air with her eyes closed, catching him across the chest. He howled in pain, stumbling back slightly. The blood that came out from the wound was darker than expected, more like black oil than anything human.
But before the creature could strike again, something unexpected happened. A powerful force attacked the rogue werewolf from the side. The attacker was thrown against the room wall, crashing into the wall with a loud bang.
Mira turned in surprise, her knife still held tightly in her hand.
The figure who had attacked the werewolf wasn't a man. It was Dane.
Dane Voss.
Her heart seized immediately as she saw him move, his body shifting with an unnatural ability. His eyes were shining gold, and his features changed with the force of a predator. His movements were seriously fast, and within seconds, he had the rogue pinned to the ground, his hands wrapped around the creature's throat.
This was the world she was investigating, and it was real. Werewolves are not just stories. They were real.
The miscreant struggled under Dane's grip, but it was clear that he was not a match for him. Dane's grip tightened, and the wicked struggle weakened. After a moment, the wicked could not walk, his body was falling flat.
Dane stood while breathing heavily, his eyes were slowly returning to their normal color. He saw Meera, his expression was unlimited. "You are Ok?" He asked, his voice calmed down.
His mind was filled with many questions as soon as the pieces were broken. Dane was not just a businessman. He was not just an ordinary man. He was part of this world. The world of werewolves.
But what did it mean to him? What did he do to himself?
Before she spoke, Dane's voice was again appearing.
"We need to leave," he said, his voice being less and necessary. "It's not over you are not safe here."
Meera took a nap, yet he was trying to understand everything she had just seen. "What's going on? Who was he? And why are you?"
"There is no time," Dane examined around the room with his eyes. "You need to come with me. Now."
As he turned to follow Dane, he realized that there were loud sounds to reach his apartment. Some people were coming.
"You have a lot of questions," Dane said, his voice being less stable. His eyes were on him, fast and calculated. "But the only question that now matters is what you have discovered."
"I have come to know that something is wrong here," he said, his voice stable. "You are running much more than disclosing. People are disappearing. For your qualities, whatever is hiding this city, there is a relationship for it. I do not back down until I reach the truth."
"I told you before," he said, his voice He was a rogue, one of the very creatures I've been trying to protect this city from. You don't understand what it means to find yourself in the middle of a war you can't even see. But I'm trying to keep you safe. That's all I care about right now, I gave my word to your father and am not ready to betray it."
"I don't need you to protect me, so you knew my father this much," she said, her voice more determined than before. "I need the truth. The people need to know the truth, you are a mystery yourself and people need to know you."
"Fine," he said, his voice harder now, final. "If you want the truth, then listen carefully. The city isn't safe for you anymore. When you ask questions, you put yourself on their watch list, and they don't care who you are or what you think you know. They'll come for you. And when they do, there will be nothing I can do to stop it. Your father also tried to get answers and look at what happened to him."
Mira's blood ran cold. "Who are you talking about? Who are they? So my father was also involved in all this?"
"They're the ones pulling the strings. The ones who think they control everything. But I'm not one of them. I never was. I had to make sacrifices to protect the city, to keep the war from appearing on the streets. You don't know what the risk is here, Mira. You don't know what you are working on. ,
"I am not walking away. You are not the only one who has things to lose. I have my own reasons to find answers. And I will not let you scare me into hiding." She said, her voice firm.
"You are stubborn," he said quietly. "But you are also smart. And I know you are not going to give up, no matter how many times I try to warn you."
Mira did not return. She could not.
But there was something in Dane's voice that gave her rest. She felt that he was not trying to scare her. He was trying to protect her in his own different way. She wasn't sure if it was genuine or not
And that was the problem. She didn't know who to trust anymore.
"Then help me," she said, the words came out before she could stop them. "Tell me the truth. I can't do this alone. I don't know who I can trust now. I do not even know if I can trust you."
"I can't do that, Mira. Not the way you want me to," he said quietly. "But I can offer you something else. A way out. A way to keep you safe."
Mira shook her head, her frustration already being visible. "I don't want a way out. I want to find the truth. I want to know who's behind all of this. I want to know why people are disappearing. I want to know why you're involved."
Dane's eyes were showing some danger, but he quickly controlled it, and his voice again calmed down.
"Then you have to make an option, Mira because once you are on this path, no one is going back. The truth comes at one price. Are you ready to pay it?"
Mira was precious but did not want a part of it. She was not sure what she would have to pay, but she knew one thing to ensure that she could not stop anymore.
Just then, a loud sound came from outside the apartment, and then there were heavy footsteps, indicating that the danger did not end.