unsettled fear - Vanessa Harre (book recommendations for teens .TXT) 📗

it. I will drag you kicking and screaming if I have to and Sophia will skip along beside me.” Val kissed Collin and bit his bottom lip before kissing him once more. “That doesn't count, by the way. You kissed me and the other kiss was a happy kiss,” Collin pointed out. “I think I love you,” Val mumbled. Collin smiled. “I know I love you.” Val looked at the ground, nudging the dirt with her foot like a lovesick girl, hiding her smile. Collin slung his arm around her neck like they were teens. Sophia came out and they started to walk into the forest. It felt like they walked miles and miles when Sophia blurted out “So are mommy and daddy dating? Cause they make out when they are dating. Oh an I hungwy.” Sophia smiled all bubbly. Collin laughed while Val stood in shock. Sophia looked at her “Oh don't be wike dat you brought your self on to him Missy Mommy.” Val's jaw dropped, this little girl seamed very smart though she seemed dumb And Val couldn't figure out whether she was playing dumb or just plain dumb, no offense to her. She was a child and weren't all kids kinda dumb? Collin pushed Val's jaw up and he couldn't help but laugh at her and what Sophia said. She was a pretty smart kid and seemingly conniving, like she plained on getting them together by using her 'mommy/daddy' act and pretending that she was a 'helpless' little girl who would die if she was all by her self. But Collin knew she would probably be the last man standing, other then him of course. They walked on when Sophia cried out. “My tummy hurts!” Val looked at Collin. Collin picked Sophia up and placed her on his hip. “When we find water we will stop.” “Collin what if we don't find water?” “We will find water or we will not stop.” Val stopped. “I understand we need water, but we need to rest, the sun has already set and if I'm tired then I know she is exhausted.” “I don't care, we keep moving. Lets go, Val.” “No, you're wrong. We need to rest. Collin, she's a little girl and I'm not some killer who can go on for days of straight walking.” Collin walked to Val and grabbed her by her arm and started to drag her. “Let go of me!” She pulled out of Collin's grip. Out of nowhere a buff man covered in tattoos jogged over to them. Collin visibly tensed, and the man noticed. “Easy, dude, I just want to help. We have a group of people over here and there is fresh water-Hey, wait!” Val ran to the direction he had pointed to. When she seen the water she ran knee deep the dropped and started sucking the water down. It burned her throat from how nice it was and then she realized the water was warm she looked over and saw Collin and the man coming. It had been snowing, but an invisible line showed where the snow stopped. One side was like a blizzard, and the other was as hot as a summer day. Val didn't care. She had water and there was a fire. Collin put Sophia down and she ran toward the water, copying Val. Collin glared at Val. “Valarie, lets talk.” Val stood and walked toward him. They walked away from the group of people. “Why do you always act so stubborn? Huh? Why can't you just listen? I know what I'm doing and I'm doing the best for us,” Collin said in frustration. Val's face was intense. “Maybe we should of never met,” she turned, walking away. “Don't walk away from me!” Val didn't reply but just kept walking. Collin grabbed her arm again and Val tried to snatch it from him, but he had a better grip this time. “Let go of me. Now.” Collin didn't. Val turned and slapped him across the face and snatched out of his hand and started to march back. Then she froze, turned and looked at Collin. He stood there. “When you go get food, maybe you shouldn't come back. Maybe you shouldn't come back to me.” She turned back around and walked the rest of the way to the camp, gently rubbing her wrist where he had grabbed her. Collin walked down a few minutes later and looked at Val who was wrapped in her blanket snuggled with Sophia by the fire. She looked at him and then down at the fire. Collin spoke. “I need at least three men to go with me to hunt food and the man left will guard the women and the kid.” Three man stood and the buff guy stayed seated. “I'll protect the women and little girl.” Collin nodded and he and the men jogged off into the woods. Val looked at the fire then Sophia to see if she was still awake. She was. Val stood, “Take off your clothes Sophia. I'm going to wash them.” Sophia stripped and handed her clothes to Val, who walked away. She then squatted wrapping her little arms around her knees and then scooted toward toward the buff man. She smiled at him “Hi, why did you drawl all over you're self?” He laughed. “Why are you naked?” He questioned her back. Sophia laughed. “I understand,” She said. “But why is my daddy a wolf?” The man thought for a minute and then looked down .Sophia was sitting in his lap. “Go on, tell me.” “Well,” he said not really sure what to say or do. “Once upon a time, God made humans that could be wolves, but they didn't follow God's commands. So God made one wolf different, one that would change the fates of all the other wolves. And that guy's name was Collin. He was the Prince of Wolves and in order to be the king you had to kill humans. But Prince Collin didn't want to do that so he ran away. And one day he met a beautiful girl named Val and what neither of them knew was that they were met to be together and that they would stop wolves from killing humans. And no mater how far apart they grew, something would make them closer and closer together. Until both of them realized they loved each other and no matter how much they argued they would grow closer and stronger. But they would go through a whole bunch of problems and only if they survive would their destines from God be fulfilled. And their journeys still continue.” Sophia clapped. Then Val appeared and she laid Sophia's clothes out to dry and called Sophia. Sophia hopped up and rushed to her. They walked toward the water. It was clear fresh water that poured into a waterfall, which in turn flowed into the ocean. They walked on the edge of a big rock and into a cave that was behind the water fall. Val nudged Sophia into the gentle part of the water and started to wash her hair and body, singing a silly little song. “Scrub dub dub, in the tub, wash behind your ears we're almost done!” She looked down and a tear fell from her face as she remembered her mother singing the same song. Suddenly Val jumped back with a scream and the water turned red. A body fell into the falls and down the stream, leading into the jaws of the ocean. “Stay here Sophia, and don't come out no mater what, understand me?” Sophia nodded. Val slowly crept out to the camp to see what was going on. The evil wolves were there and they were not happy. They had killed the buff man and were killing some of the women, though they had collected a few they wanted to keep. They were ripping through the supplies that the humans had collected. When one of the guys picked up Val's blanket, he smelled it and smiled. “I call dibs on her.” Val realized he smelled Collin's shifter scent on it, and must think she was one. Then the bush moved and the man smelling the blanket walked to the bush and pulled out a terrified eighteen year old girl. “Should we kill her or keep her?” “Kill her,” one of the other wolf females shouted out. “We already have enough humans.” “Okay.” the man replied. He drug her up by her hair while she struggled to get away. But he was too strong. Val couldn't do much, but she was going to try. She rushed out and shoved the wolf, surprised that he actually fell. “Run!” Val screamed. The girl jumped and took off into the woods. Val scrambled to her feet but the guy was already up and he had a handful of her hair. He pulled her body to his and smelled her hair. “She's mine,” he repeated himself. “I didn't think it would be that easy to find you. You smell like shifter and roses. Are you a shifter?” He turned Val to face him. “Are you?” She didn't answer. “I'm not going to ask you again, so we will just find out the hard way.” “I guess we will then.” He smiled. “I like this one.” He looked at Val, “But when you play with fire, you get burned.” She stared back at him. “I've already been burned, so now I'm just dusting ashes off my shoulders. So Mister Flamethrower, make sure you aim higher.” He smirked and leaned in to kiss her. Val tried to shove him away, but couldn't. “I can taste him,” the man growled. He slung Val and she hit a tree. “Kill her. She's with a shifter.” The wolves walked toward her and Sophia ran out with a stick, butt naked. “Don't touch my mommy or else I gonna use this stick on you!” The wolfs laughed. “Kill her too, and find him and make him watch.” Collin and the three men arrived a few minutes later. Collin saw Val, who was lying by the fire. He couldn't hear her heartbeat. He rushed toward her, but something knocked him over. The other three men tried to help but they were killed easily by the evil shifters. The leader picked up Val and slung her over his shoulders, walking toward the waterfall's edge. Collin struggled. He knocked one of the wolves down to get away, but that only made three more hold him. When they finally had both his arms, they turned their attention to the leader, who had Val. “How much do you love her? Enough to go after her if she fell?” Collin glared. “If you hurt her, know I will kill you slowly and painfully. I took you're mates life quickly, but yours will go much more slowly.” The leader dropped Val into the water, her body only inches from the edge, but stuck on a rock. The leader walked to Collin and punched him in the jaw before forcing him to look at the river. “Now you will watch her die. My mates life for your mates life.” He turned back and Val and Sophia stood in the river with sticks in their hands and hit him in the head. Well at least Val did. Sophia hit him in a man's... sensitive area. The leader fell, knocked out, and Collin broke the grip from the other wolves. He growled and they turned and ran with their leader in their hands. “We”ll be back!” They shouted. Collin looked at Val, expecting her to rush into his arms, but she didn't. She only looked at him. Sophia looked shocked too. Sophia tried to give Val a little nudge. “Go on Mommy, this is what you're supposed to do.” Sophia pulled her arm but Val stayed in place. Collin walked toward her. “I told you I was going to ask you're dad