Narrator-
Miranda remained as still as a blade of grass in the absence of wind. She kept her forehead pressed against the glass window, and her eyesight glued to the rushing trees that bordered her side of the road.
Her lungs performed soft, almost inaudible breaths, while she avoided even the subtlest of movements, including blinking. The more time Miranda spent becoming less human and more of a statue, the more time was allotted for her brain to connect the dots from the first night she spent at Georgie's. It seemed that her jogged memory was becoming more lucid, rather than a figment of a dreamy imagination.
Across from the mute human, Asher's growing restlessness was evident. The vein on his forehead was throbbing, and his left lower eyelid began its comical twitching act. Asher's knuckles were ready to pop out of their joints from holding the steering wheel too tightly. The Alpha male tried to take in a few deep breaths, but the suffocating scent of sweet, ripe oranges, filled his lungs and stimulated the monster inside him.
The more time he spent with her in the car, the more he was ready to tear her apart. Asher wasn't ready for a new mate. Especially not a human one. He didn't have the patience to deal with her whining and upcoming culture shock, as Joshua so kindly put it. Asher was too preoccupied with finding the murderous snake responsible for ruining his life, which meant that he didn't have time to slow down and consider the little feelings of the soft human girl. The human girl he hadn't stopped thinking about since the first time he saw her. The human girl, who's scent has now imprinted in his nostrils and mind. The human girl, who's current presence, even though she was as mute as a creeping ghost, haunted him enough to the brink where he wanted to stop the car and chase her away.
Unable to control himself, Asher swerved the car off the road and forced the tires to break and squeal against the asphalt. Joshua grabbed on to Miranda's seat to keep his head from bashing into its back, while Miranda's thin fingers held onto the seatbelt for dear life. When the car finally stopped moving, Miranda looked at Asher with a wide gaze and a heaving chest.
"Dude, what the heck?" Joshua asked while looking at Asher with a frown.
"Get out." Asher said lowly.
Miranda looked at Asher, unsure of whether it was her he addressed.
"Asher, what are you doing?" Joshua asked carefully.
Asher turned an angry gaze on Miranda, and with fuming nostrils, he said again, "get out."
Miranda blinked, then gulped and shook her head. She frowned and leaned her head slightly towards Asher, while squinting her eyes, as if not understanding what he had said.
Asher found Miranda's actions to be openly defiant. So with a growl, Asher pushed his door open and walked around to the passenger's side. He grabbed the handle and pulled Miranda's door open. He leaned inside the car and removed her seatbelt.
Grabbing her shoulders, he hauled Miranda out of the car, "I said get out."
Joshua was quick to step out of the car.
"Dude, what is your problem?" Miranda demanded, while pushing Asher away from her form.
Except, the man didn't move, and instead it was Miranda who ended up stumbling backwards.
Asher stalked her way, forcing her to move her back against the car.
"Woah, woah." Joshua exclaimed, jumping between Miranda and Asher.
"Alright, let's all just take a breath." Joshua mediated, while covering Miranda with his back, and facing the fuming Alpha.
"Get her away from me." Asher growled, while pointing a menacing finger towards Miranda.
"You're the one who kidnapped me." Miranda fired back.
"Shh, shh." Joshua told Miranda.
"Don't tell me to shush. This blockhead is the one who jumped me, not the other way around." Miranda wasn't giving up the fight.
"Yeah, yeah, keep talking." Asher said, taking a step forward.
"You're delusional." Miranda accused, pushing up against Joshua, ready to take Asher on.
"Take her home." Asher turned his unique-colored globes to Joshua.
"And I swear on everything, if I see you at Georgie's again, you won't like the consequences." He now warned Miranda.
"Consequences?" Miranda voiced, then she shook her head in disbelief, "I'm sorry, who are you again?" Miranda now stepped out from behind Joshua.
"Dude I don't even know you, and you think to threaten me? Don't tell me what to do." Miranda spat back, while marching up to Asher until her face was under his chin.
Asher sent Miranda a murderous gaze.
"Ha-ha, okay. Let's just all take a breather." Joshua said, trying to move between the couple again.
"Take her back home." Asher said in finality.
Then he pointed at Miranda, "Don't let me see you near Georgie's again."
"My job is at Georgie's." Miranda replied, her head hot, her heart racing, although a part of her wasn't sure why she even argued with Asher.
She didn't owe him any explanation.
"Find a new job!" Asher ordered.
"Don't tell me what to do." Miranda pushed back, just as two other cars approached the scene.
The first was Miranda's bug, driven by Jamie, and the other was Jamie's wrangler driven by George. The two vampires stepped out the vehicles, and both Asher and Joshua stiffened.
The moment Jamie approached the group, the soft, cool scent of dry ice entered Joshua's nostrils. However, instead of acknowledging the vampire, the Beta grabbed Miranda's elbow and pulled her backwards, away from Jamie and George.
George, seeing this, simply sighed, and looked at Asher.
"Kidnapping, really?" George addressed the Alpha.
"It's none of your business, so move along bat." Asher replied casually.
"Now, now, there's no need for name calling. Let's just have a civil conversation." George answered, hoping to dampen the blazing fire.
"Nanda, are you okay?" Jamie now asked Miranda.
"No, get me away from these people. The dude is freaking psychotic." Miranda didn't hold back.
Jamie took a step towards Miranda, but Joshua only pulled her further backwards.
"Don't even think about it." Joshua addressed Jamie.
"You can't just take her away from her home and family, the girl doesn't even understand what's going on." George expressed, losing his smile.
"And that's your concern because?" Asher baited.
George chuckled and shook his head, "she's my employee. Her aunt entrusted me with her well-being, and it won't look good if I allowed her to get abducted from my premises."
"Sounds like a personal problem to me." Asher shrugged, then he nodded his head towards Joshua, signaling him that it was time to go.
Joshua nodded silently and turned around with Miranda still in his grip. He pushed her back into the passenger seat, while Miranda protested.
"N-no. No! Let me go! Jamie! Jamie get me out of here!" Miranda urged, her eyebrows pointing upwards in fear.
Jamie took another step towards Miranda, but Georgie's grip fell on her forearm, stopping her from going any further. Joshua smiled at Jamie's actions, and she hissed at him. Joshua made a mock of being shocked and scared by Jamie's actions, before rolling his eyes and entering the back of the SUV, while Miranda still protested.
"What do I tell her aunt?" George demanded.
"WHAT?! No George, you can't let them take me." Miranda fought, then attempted to open the door, only for Asher to close it with a harsh kick, forcing Miranda back.
"Tell her aunt that she's no longer a concern." Asher simply said, then began walking towards the driver side.
"It doesn't have to be this way Asher." George warned.
"Well, it didn't have to come down to this, if one of you bats didn't cross the line. But now, I guess everyone will have to suffer." Asher replied, entering the car, and slamming his door shut.
"Georgie! Georgie!" Miranda smacked her palm against the window, openly sobbing.
George approached Miranda's door, and after a moment. Asher started the car and lowered Miranda's window. George reached into the car to grab Miranda's hand, but Joshua slapped it away. George shook his head at the childish behavior, but nonetheless resulted to gripping the window's edge. Miranda gulped, while tears continued to flow from her eyelids. George smiled softly at Miranda.
"You have to go with him for now." George said softly.
"Wh-what? No. No!" Miranda protested, shaking her head stubbornly.
"Miranda, listen to me." George said softly.
Miranda sniffled and looked at Jamie, who did nothing except look away in anguish.
"You have to go with him. Just keep your head down and do what he tells you. He won't hurt you." George assured Miranda.
Miranda sniffled again.
"But aunt May-" Miranda began, which caught Asher's attention.
"She'll be fine, I'll explain everything to her." George replied, hoping to calm Miranda down.
Asher pressed the gas pedal and revved the engine to show his impatience. Miranda sent a look over her shoulder before rolling her eyes and sniffling again.
"And what exactly is everything? What am I a part of George? What the heck is going on?" Miranda quizzed, unable to just accept this sudden turn of events.
"I- Miranda love, just go along with it for now. It will all be revealed soon." George said, before placing a soft hand on the side of Miranda's face and landing a swift kiss on her forehead.
George moved away just in time for Asher to speed off again, with Miranda still in his grasp.
"Well, that went a lot better than I expected it to." Joshua admitted, earning a glare from Asher through the rearview mirror, while Miranda simply frowned and looked back at Joshua with a similar gaze as the Alpha.
Joshua seeing this shook his head in understanding. Asher and Miranda were definitely mates.
#
"Georgie what the heck?!" Jamie snapped as soon as the car disappeared down the road.
George rose a hand and sign that Jamie paused.
"Why did you let him take her? He's going to tear her apart!" Jamie accused.
"If he wanted to hurt her or reject her, he would've already done so." George explained, then placed his hands in his pockets and looked down the way where the car disappeared around the bend bordered by tall pine trees.
"So what do we do now?" Jamie demanded, crossing her arms.
"Let's just drive the car to Aunt May's, and we'll regroup there." George decided.
Jamie nodded, but she was still visibly angry.
"Oh and Jamie." George called out.
"What?" Jamie replied.
"This meeting never happened." George warned, and with a silent nod of understanding, Jamie returned to Miranda's car, which she hotwired and performed a U-turn, heading for Aunt May's house, with George in tow.
As the distance grew between Asher and George, another creature was making a trip in the perpendicular direction to both vehicles. The vampire, who had witnessed the entire showdown between the Alpha wolf and the mediator vampire hurried to the town hall, located at the center of the city.
This building, which resembled a mixture between neo-classical and gothic styled structure on the outside, harbored hundreds of vampires on the inside. The structure itself was divided into four floors meant to represent the level of hierarchies in the vampire community surrounding the Mayor.
Elaine entered the building, and as soon as she walked through the lobby, all the moving vampires inside the building stopped and bowed. Elaine smiled pompously at their actions, and kept moving until she reached the elevators, blocked by two security guards, who remained straight and still.
"I'm here to see the Mayor." Elaine said simply.
"What is the nature of your business?" One of the guards asked.
"Well it will be your head on a platter if you question me again." Elaine replied with a daring smile.
The guard stiffened.
"Darling, what did I tell you about abusing my guards?" Elaine suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Well, he should know his place. After all, I am your daughter." Elaine answered while turning around to greet her father with opened arms.
Damien leaned forward, kissing his daughter's forehead, before smiling with his fangs and saying, "He's just doing the job I paid him to do. Because if he didn't do it, then I'd have to kill him."
The father-daughter duo spoke so casually, as if the person in question couldn't hear them.
"Yeah, well I guess fair." Elaine shrugged, then she turned to the guard whom she had threatened.
She approached him and grabbed his chin, keeping his face still. She leaned forward and kissed him. She inserted her tongue into his mouth and kept kissing him, while the guard remained with his statue-like composure.
When Elaine pulled away, she smiled at the imprint of the red lipstick on the guard's lip.
"Sorry for threatening to rip your head off." Elaine apologized teasingly.
The guard gulped, and nodded, but remained mute.
Damien rolled his eyes at his daughter's antiques, then he laced a hand around her waist, and pulled her to his side.
"Alright that's enough." Then he led Elaine into the elevator.
Elaine kept her gaze on the guard until the elevator door closed.
"I now know that you do get off on scaring men." Damien said in observation.
"Well, I learned it from my daddy. Tell me, how are the girls in chamber eight on the fourth floor doing?" Elaine questioned, referring to her father's own unique batch of human girls.
"Ugh, I feel like I'm going to need a new group soon. I'm getting bored with them." Damien admitted.
Elaine smiled.
"But what brings you to see me this evening?" Damien wondered, while stepping out of the elevator, when it reached the fourth floor.
"It's not really a what, but rather a who." Elaine baited.
"Alright then, who?" Damien asked, leading his daughter to his office, and taking a seat at his desk.
Elaine sat down, facing her father. She leaned back in her chair, then she shrugged.
"Alpha Asher has a new mate." She revealed collectedly.