Maia

I didn't know what had happened. I felt disoriented. My vision was unfocused. Had I fainted? I shouldn't have skipped lunch. I hadn't eaten much aside from the granola bar on breakfast.

As I tried to sit up, the rough gravel stabbed into my palm. Was I lying in the middle of the street? What was I doing here? Was I dreaming? And who was screaming my name? My thoughts were so jumbled up, I had a hard time discerning what was actually happening and what was not.

An arm wrapped around my shoulder, helping me to sit up and a second later, someone held a bottle over my lips, urging me to drink. I felt confused but I acted on autopilot and tilted my head back. As soon as the cool water slid down my throat, I felt relaxed but my throat twinged. I was too focused to gulp down more water as my mouth parched, I didn't pay the ache much attention.

When the bottle was almost empty, then did I noticed Liana. She was crouched over me, her face was too close, hovering over me. Eyebrows scrunched deep.

What happened?

Why did she look so concerned?

The thought didn't even get finished in my head when I felt the pressure on my hand. I looked down to see my fingers were in a crushing grip and then I noticed Clyde. He was beside me, sitting on the damp, gravelly street, wearing a pained expression on his face, looking miserable.

"What's happening?" I croaked out. That little effort instantly brought the ache back. I rubbed my fingers over my throat to ease the pain when Clyde took my fingers and stopped me from doing it.

" Don't press over it. You got a little bruise. Give your throat some rest. You will feel much better in a few days. Okay?"

"Why? How come I…?"

Upon asking about the details, his expression got changed in a blink. Clyde looked angry and instantly zeroed his focus on something. I turned my head back and my gaze fell on the handsome man I saw earlier. My saviour. He saved me from the wolf.

His face held a different definition of handsome, rugged, sharp features. Hair, a little messy and the end of the strands were a little curly falling over his forehead. And a shadow of a beard had already started to appear. His strong masculine appearance though a far cry from Clyde's boyish and approachable charm yet I felt drawn towards him, I had never felt before. Almost palpable and intense.

Then the earlier incident came back to me and I jolted back

He tried to kill me.

I tried to scramble back to get far away from him so he couldn't hurt me again. Clyde put his hands over my shoulders and stopped me. He put a finger under my chin and tilted my head back and whispered, "You are safe. He couldn't harm you anymore. You are with me now."

I lost in the sincerity of his words. He sounded like before, when we were together. As if we were never been parted. But I knew Clyde was just being considerate, trying to comfort me, nothing more than a random stranger would do when he found someone vulnerable, in trouble.

I looked down, trying to get away from this situation, get away from Clyde and of that man who without a thought tried to squeeze the life out of me.

"How are you feeling?" Liana diverted my mind from diving deeper into my thoughts I didn't want to go in.

I needed to know what to say. Was I feeling good? No. Was I hurt? No. So, the only thing I could do was to give her a nod and hopefully she would take it as a yes.

"You are shivering."

I didn't realise I was shivering. It was cold out here and my clothes were damp. How long had I been here? Alone? Before they found me? Came to my rescue?

I didn't protest when Clyde helped me on my feet. I wanted to get far away from him but the chill had gripped my bones and I felt a bit wobbly on my legs.

Liana rushed to the jeep, parked a few feet away, opened the backdoor and after a quick rummage, she brought a blanket with her and wrapped it over my shoulder. Only then I noticed we were not alone, there was Jamie and Diello.

Jamie might have come to pick Liana when they have heard me. Diello and Clyde, it was not odd for them to be together when they always hung out and belonged from the same knit social circle. Even Jamie was a part of that group.

Though I got clarity on what I always found odd. Clyde never visited the cafe though I knew he was one of the locals. Did he never visit the shop because of me? I didn't know what I felt about that. At one point, I was glad. I didn't have to deal with him and ruin the only place, I looked forward to coming back and on the other, I was disappointed. Clyde might have the same feeling not to be in my periphery.

That man might have grunted something because Jamie and Diello moved closer, one of them said something in response. They both trying to corner the man as if to make him fear them. But he stood there with a confident grace and with a penetrating gaze on me. What I saw in his eyes, shook me to my core. Hatred. Rage. Disgust. All directed at me.

Why?

The man looked so still, standing firm and the pale light of the moon crowning over his head made him looked almost inhuman. Without fury in his eyes and his clenched jaw, the man shared no resemblance of a human. And for a flicker of a moment, I was sure I saw his eyes were glowing.

I shook my head. It was time to realise that I had enough for a day and I needed to get away from all of these as my mind had already started playing tricks on me.

Clyde stepped in front of me to block my view, displaying an annoyed expression that he didn't appreciate our staring that stretched too long for his liking.

"Go with Liana. You'll be safe."

Clyde surely didn't know what he was dealt with. He might be overconfident thinking they were more in number but I felt the power, the strength in his grip. That man could easily overpower Clyde along with his friends.

"What happened to him?"

I felt the need to ask. I didn't know why? Maybe if I gathered the information that he would be handed over to authority, I could get some sleep tonight.

"You don't need to worry." That was where he was wrong. By the look on that man's face and strength in his muscles, he looked at every bit of fear he could conjure in people's minds.

"He is dangerous," I whispered. If that man wanted to hurt me, he could do it in a blink and no one could save me from his clutches but somehow he held himself back. Whatever the reason might be, I was glad for it. He was a few years older than Clyde and his eyes spoke as if he had seen more, had more life experiences and saw the darkness, normal people could only think of skittering around, never fully stepped in and got lost.

"We can handle him. Liana. Take Maia with you."

Liana took my fingers and dragged me with her and soon, I fell into step beside Liana and we walked towards the cafe.

If there was a match between Clyde and that mysterious man, I knew without a doubt who would be the winner and would get the trophy home. Definitely not Clyde.

Kasa was nowhere to be seen and Liana quickly opened the locks on the front room and took me in the back, into the kitchen. She quickly opened the fridge and served me a slice of cake and busied herself into making some coffee.

I was already shivering and the chill from the damp clothes seeping into my bones. So, When Liana placed the coffee cup before me, I wrapped my fingers around the coffee cup for an ounce of warmth. One complaint I always had about the cafe that it lacked a proper heating system. Before today I didn't feel much of its absence but now, I was almost craving it. I always thought how could Liana or her mother, or the patrons never felt the need to have the place warm. Maybe being born here, they were used to it.

I raised the cup to my lips and took a small sip. My body felt instantly relaxed and it comforted my throat.

"You'll get a fever. You need to change your clothes. I have some extra clothes in the shop.."

"I don't think it would fit me."

Liana was so thin compared to me, and I was a couple of inches taller than her.

"I should've going back to the campus. But…"

I didn't know if I had the courage to face that man again. What if he was waiting for me? What Clyde would do with him? Threatened him?

"Don't worry about that. We will drop you off. Let the boys handle the issue first."

I didn't why they all believed that somehow they had an upper hand over him when I could clearly see they hadn't.

"Are you feeling good right now?" Liana leaned over the counter with a concerned look on her face "Could you tell me what had happened?"

When Liana noticed I wasn't comfortable discussing the topic, she urged further "It would help us to go deep into the matter. We could stop from repeating such similar circumstances in future."

That last sentence made my head and turn and I spilled out the details.

"First there was a wolf. Then the man came to save me…"

"The man and the wolf were there at the same time?"

I nodded.

"The man actually came to help me from getting attacked by the wolf."

"Did the wolf try to harm you?"

"Yes,"

"Are you sure?"

I gave her a puzzled look. What did she mean by that? A wolf is supposed to kill humans.

"I mean…sometimes they just.." Liana shrugged her shoulder "they want to play."

"Play? It was a wolf, not a dog."

"You never know."

I felt more confused about what was she trying to imply. That I got scared for nothing seeing the wolf. And how was she so sure of that. Though by no means I got hurt still I thought…

"Stop worrying so much. Do you need anything?"

I looked down. The coffee was halfway to full, already turned cold and the cake remained untouched. I lost my appetite. All I needed to go into my dorm room and tucked myself under the blanket I used to do when I was a child and got scared. Either my parents were not home or too drunk to even answer my knocks. And I didn't want to disturb Martha so I tucked myself in under the blanket and turned on the flashlight.

"I am fine."

"Let me check if the boys are back. Jamie and I could take you to the campus."

I nodded.

Liana walked back to the front, leaving me alone in my own thoughts.

Who was that man? Handsome. Mysterious. And why did he hate me so much? Did I know him? I didn't think so. Then why? Tonight I won't be going to have an ounce of sleep as that man had somehow without permission intruded himself into my thoughts with too many questions I didn't have all the answers to give.