I groggily began to come to.

The first realization I had was that I was not waking up where I should've been. Instead of greeting the morning from the grassy forest floor with our little group, I found myself lying on the cool concrete floor of a room all by myself.

As I continued to wake up, I realized that I was not in fact alone. There was someone else in the room talking in fact. I wasn't sure what or who it was and I was dreading the moment I had to open my eyes to investigate and face the reality of the events that had transpired yesterday.

"Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize your neighborhood. And whosoever shall be found, without the soul for getting down, must stand and face the hounds of hell. "

What the hell is happening?

"The foulest stench is in the air, the funk of forty thousand years and grizzly hold from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom."

Yep, I was going to die for sure.

"And though you fight to stay alive, your body starts to shiver."

Wait a second, this can't be...

"For no mere mortal can resist, the evil of the Thriller!"

My eyes flew open as suddenly, blaring forth, the opening trumpets to Michael Jackson's famous tune flooded the room as the song started over. I knew that ominous monologue seemed familiar, I let out a sigh of relief knowing now that I wasn't in someone else's company and as I sat up from the cold ground I finally opened my eyes.

A pair of eyes were boring into mine, just a few feet away Ansel sat cross legged in front of me. He smiled and I screamed, so I wasn't alone after all.

"Morning, sunshine." He greeted.

I scooted away from him as quickly and as far as I could until my back slammed against a wall and he laughed. "'Thriller' is just one of those songs you can never get tired of listening to, you know?"

I didn't know.

Well, I did but when you were abducted by a strange man who offered you candy before drugging you, appreciating a song wasn't a priority for me...

Who was I kidding though, the song really was a timeless masterpiece.

"Stay away from me, Ansel. My friends are going to be angry, they'll know I'm missing instantly and once they put things together they will come for you." I tried my best to sound confident and intimidating as I threatened him but it was difficult because I myself was not entirely convinced there would be a rush to go looking for me. Or a desire to check on me at all considering how my last words to Matteo had been to keep far away from me.

Ansel grinned and nodded enthusiastically, "I'm counting on that."

Why do bad things happen to me? I mean I feel like I am a fairly decent, moderately okay citizen and yet the worst things tend to gravitate towards me all of the time. I must have been truly awful in a past life to have earned the one that I have now.

I cleared my throat and tried to compose myself, "If it's money that you want--"

"It's not." Ansel cut me off.

"Okay.." I frowned, I didn't know if this was now a good thing or a very, very bad one. "What exactly do you want from me then?"

He raised an eyebrow over at me, clearly skeptical to believe my confusion. "Come on now, quit playing." His brow quickly contorted when he realized that I truly had no idea what was going on. "Wait, you really don't know?"

'Thriller' began to play through the room again, it must be on some kind of a loop. Ansel frowned suddenly and stood up from the floor with an irritated sigh. He crossed the room to the other side where he lifted the needle off of the vinyl that was being played on the record player and the room was filled with silence.

"The bounty?" Ansel asked, testing the waters of my knowledge but I had no idea what he was referring to. "Lysander's having a celebration and he wanted the intruders dealt with before then." Ansel paused biting his lip as if he was anxious, "You and your friends the intruders in case you didn't get that..."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, Cheese Man betrayed us. He really did us dirty.

"He offered up a reward to whoever could find the trespassers and bring them in before the party." He scanned over my face for a fleeting moment, "Dead or alive."

Sweet.

Ansel smiled easily over at me, "That's why I have you though so I don't have to kill anyone." He nodded once in approval with his own decision, "I've been watching your group since you left the city. I figured, you seemed pretty important so if I grabbed you, the others would follow to your rescue. They obviously won't want you dead so in return for me not killing you, your friends will comply with my demands and come along with me to Lysander's."

Why do all villains lay out their evil plans to the captive? It was tacky. On the other hand, Ansel didn't seem all that villainous to me, hardly evil. He was quirky at most but not scary or murderous. But Ansel was intriguing nonetheless, he definitely was supernatural that was obvious enough. Most likely a werewolf based off of the lack of vampiric features, but what did I know? I was still a wolfless werewolf so I couldn't say for sure.

"So it's about the money after all?" I corrected slowly, I must have surprised him with my first question after that big speech based off of his reaction. I knew I should be afraid but for some reason, I wasn't all that fearful. Maybe it was because being around Matteo had literally desensitized me or traumatized me enough that a mild kidnapping was nothing major.

I was Olive Ludovic, an official almost kinda sorta werewolf and I could totally handle this all on my own. I didn't need a man, I didn't need Matteo.

He scoffed and returned to his cross legged position in front of me, "Do I look like someone who would care about money?" Ansel quickly realized the error in his questioning, "Okay, don't answer that. It's a reward, a single wish to be granted."

Leaning forward I raised my eyebrows, "And what wish is that?" Also, how does Lysander really have the power to grant any wish? Does Lysander know about our intentions with him? How did Ansel know Lysander? Is Ansel a werewolf?

A plethora of other, more pertinent questions came to mind but I had the suspicion that in order to get to know who I was dealing with, I needed a different and more friendly approach.

His eyes as I expected brightened considerably and I felt proud of myself for reading the situation well. Ansel fiddled with his hands on his legs, "Freedom from Lysander, ironically enough."

For once in my life, the universe smiled on me.

I wanted to jump up off of the floor and scream, shout and dance all at the same time. Everything was going to be alright. All I had to do was explain our business with Lysander to Ansel and he'd realize that we could grant him that same wish.

I kept my cool however. "Why do you want freedom from him as your one wish?"

Ansel rubbed the tops of his knees and smiled at me but it didn't carry the same warmth I was becoming accustomed to with him. It was small and looked like at any given moment the slightest breeze could carry it away. His smile was fragile, it strangely felt very representational of him. "Lysander collects wolves and vampires that he deems rare or exceptionally useful to him. Even being as bold to scout for such creatures to add to his collection."

I was one of those, he found me and took me from my family and my pack because I was...special." So he was a werewolf.

Ansel sighed and in that moment he wasn't the slightly weird guy that kidnapped me, he almost seemed like a child. He tentatively reached forward, holding his hand above mine. "May I?"

I nodded and he set his palm on top of mine and instantly I felt a strange warmth radiate through my body and I had the slight urge to smile. When I looked up at Ansel, his brow was intently furrowed as if he was exerting an enormous amount of effort. Seconds later, I started laughing uncontrollably for no reason at all, to the point where my side began to ache until Ansel removed his hand and all the jovial feelings I experienced vanished.

There were tales of the most ancient werewolves possessing powers but over the generations they were lost and became a thing of legends. Matteo had also mentioned that some of the older packs like Ardor still had the inklings of old magic but it was nothing like this.

"It takes a lot out of me but I can influence emotion with physical contact." Ansel informed me with a half smile, "Lysander kidnapped me and kept me locked up for practically my entire life, using me for his own benefit. He began to trust me the more I willingly helped and one day I seized an opportunity to slip away when he wanted me to help with an interrogation. Ever since, Lysander has been trying to get me back in that cell and back into his clutches."

It was all just too much for me, I couldn't contain it any longer. "Ansel, we can save you and keep you safe from Lysander!" I excitedly announced, "We are going to kill him, that's what we came here for and once we do you would be free for good."

He frowned throughout the entire time I was rushing through explaining the circumstances we found ourselves in but quickly a smile began to take over his features. "I wouldn't need to turn you guys in?"

I nodded enthusiastically, "Exactly, Ansel! Everything would be so much better this way if we just worked together in this--"

My emphatic plea was silenced by the deafening sound of the door in the far corner blowing off of it's hinges. It flew across the space and collided squarely with Ansel's chest, sending them both sliding backwards, trapped underneath the massive piece of metal.

I screamed and immediately rushed to go and help Ansel but a loud growl froze me to my spot. There in the shattered doorway stood a rather angry looking brown wolf with all too recognizable amber eyes.

Matteo had come for me despite our last exchange.

He was a little too late though because as it turned out, I didn't need his saving after all.