As if the forest was telling us to leave, a branch crashed to the ground just off the side of the road to my right, and I was so startled that an abrupt scream escaped my throat.

“What the... Bayla! What's wrong with you?!”

Larissa came running to me.

I'm sure she thought something had happened to me, but my heart had just dropped, and I was clutching the seat.

“Can I leave you alone without something happening to you?”

That had been a lousy statement. Just because I was clumsy didn't mean I was a little kid. I didn't like this place, and I had a good right to be scared of falling branches.

“I don't think you should leave me alone at all when you take me into a forest like this.”

She looked at me blankly.

“What? It was your idea. I didn't want to come here?”

“And it would have been smarter not to come here.”

Larissa spun around.

My eyes widened at the sight of a man with countless scars on his bare scalp. His eyes were completely black. The veins around them stood out.

Larissa took a step back and bumped into me and the motorcycle.

My heart slipped into my pants a second time, only this time a little deeper. I held my breath.

The abnormal-looking man spread his fingers before clenching them into fists, inhaling the air in a deep, threatening way.

“How come you both smell so good?”

I swallowed because I knew immediately that we were dealing with something inhuman. A freaking werewolf?!

I should have known. We never should have come here. There were reasons why there was no one here. We were alone. Alone with a supernatural psychopath.

“Larissa, let's go, please!”

I quickly handed her the helmet.

“You're not going anywhere!”

The man contorted his face into a disgusting grimace, and came closer.

We both shuddered but didn't move an inch.

Every step closer he came, my heart tightened. I didn't want to die. Not like this. Not in Blairville.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a second man stood between us and the disgusting psycho.

Larissa glanced quickly at me, as if she no longer understood the world. She looked frightened, which was a rare phenomenon. Anyone who grew up on the streets of Sacramento had actually seen a lot.

Her uncertainty increased my fear.

“Who gave you permission to be so greedy?” the one in the long black coat asked, turning his face away from us. He had dark brown hair and was slightly thinner, but very tall, taller than Larissa.

“Get out of my way!” the bald man pressed out. He sounded angry, furious and demanding.

“You're too conspicuous.”

The other man pressed his hand against the psycho's chest, who didn't seem to like it at all.

“What would your Nicolaj say if he knew how much you're out of his preferred manner?” the bald man snapped back.

The dark-haired man seemed to feel offended, which was why he wrapped his fingers around the other's neck to push him back a little further.

“Nicolaj wouldn't want us causing indiscriminate damage within his territory, don't you understand? There's far more at stake here than your hunger.”

The psycho shoved him away, back toward us.

“It's too late, they've already seen us in our dark form.”

Larissa did something very clever and slowly put on her helmet.

Both men immediately turned toward us. The psychopath was unchanged, but the other one also seemed to have a problem with his eyes, because they had become just as dark. Completely black. He was a little younger, maybe in his late thirties, and more attractive, albeit dangerous and threatening. And he seemed to be eyeing us.

Then I recognized his silhouette.

My eyes widened, and his gaze lingered on me.

No doubt about it. This was the man from the street yesterday. And he seemed to know that I recognized him.

“Can't you smell it, too? And you know what that means... They both have it in them. If Nicolaj knew what a treasure we'd found, he'd be delighted.”

I didn't know what that meant, and I didn't want to know. The dark-haired man seemed to be thinking about the other's words while eyeing us, which didn't make it any better. But above all, he was looking at Larissa in a strange way.

I just wanted to disappear. But Larissa didn't move.

“They've seen us, Tristan. We can't let them go now,” the psychopath laughed loudly and approached again.

That was the last straw for me. I wouldn't stay here another second.

I pulled Larissa onto the bike.

“Drive!” I shouted loudly and Larissa started the engine.

But the bald man suddenly jumped in front of the vehicle in a flash and held it with his sheer physical strength.

What the...