Chapter 5：Distraction

Daryn blew out heavily from his mouth and said, "Yes, I have to change the bandage."

"Do you need help?" she asked and then closed her mouth. She mentally berated herself for saying that. She wasn't experienced and had never ever done that before.

"Can you?" he asked without looking at her, his voice full of doubt.

"I can try—" she croaked. "I don't have the right knowledge about it, though."

"Open the dashboard in front of you," he instructed, pointing with his chin. "You will find fresh bandages there. Wear the gloves before you put that on me."

Dawn opened the dashboard and took out the gauze. When she looked up, she noticed the man opening his shirt buttons. She bit her lip. Even though it was cool in the car because of the air-conditioning, sweat gleamed on his bare chest and arms, which only accentuated his toned muscles. Dawn watched him as he tipped his head back. She saw the thick cords of his neck becoming taut and quivering. His Adam's apple bobbed as he took the shirt out. His arms tensed when he held the steering again and every muscle in his chiseled shoulders bulged.

Daryn looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

Immediately, Dawn lowered her gaze and wore her gloves. She was distracted to hell. His shirtless state might have driven over a dozen girls crazy. She focused on what to do next. The old bandage spiraled around his abdomen, was soaked in blood.

"Remove the old one and wrap the fresh one," he demanded taking a deep breath in as if readying himself for the pain.

"No, I can't. Just put on the bandage while I am driving," he answered in a clipped tone.

"Okay," she replied hoarsely. She opened her seatbelt. Bending towards him, she removed his old bandage that was red. It made her feel cringy.

At her touch, suddenly, Daryn's tense muscles became even more strained as an electrifying jolt zinged through his body. It was as if something exploded inside him. He sat up.

"Anything wrong?" she asked looking at him with wide innocent eyes.

His body quivered seeing those green eyes and his gaze traveled to her lips. "Nothing!" He clenched his jaw tightly as he wolfed down his emotions and shifted his attention to the road. He had to collect his thoughts.

Carefully, she wrapped him with a new bandage. "I didn't know that you were wounded," she said in a low voice. "How did that happen?" she sounded concerned. She couldn't see the injury properly, but surely it was really bad. She felt for him.

"Even you are hiding your wound," he snapped.

Dawn bit her lip. How did he know? Without replying, she stashed the bloodied bandage into the plastic of the new one and shoved it at the back. She crossed her arms across her chest and puffed her cheeks in anger. She started looking outside and hoped that the rain stopped. "Please drop us in the next town."

When Dawn had bent towards him and wrapped the bandage, her smell overwhelmed his senses. He became painfully aware of the raw basic hunger that surged through his system. With all the previous girlfriends he had been with, he never felt so much out of control. He knew that he had an intimidating presence and that people feared him but this girl—

He could smell fear in her ever since she had entered the car and so he had stayed quiet.

Daryn pressed the pedal further and the car accelerated. He had to wring those thoughts out of his mind. He was a pureblood werewolf and a leader, a prince of a rare Silver Clan and the next King of all the werewolves.

And she was—bitten. She was about to become a Neotide.

And he was on a mission—to kill all the rogue Neotides from the face of the earth. Well, most of them were rogues. They couldn't control their emotions that came with the transformation. He hated them. They acted without reasoning. And worst of all, most of them were claimed by Azura's gang who was his nemesis.

He would drop her in the next town and then forget about this incident.

The car cruised at a high speed. Dawn reclined on the back and closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt no danger from the wounded man. She was about to sleep when blinding light from a car on the back reflected on her face through the side mirror. At first she thought that the car would overtake them but a few minutes later another car came and it drove parallel to theirs.

"There are two cars around us. Maybe we should give them a pass."

A muscle feathered in Daryn's jaw. His face was pale.

Being an heir to the Silver Clan, Daryn was one of those who wouldn't die even if a silver bullet hit him. His blood and tissue regeneration was of a higher grade than any werewolf alive in this world. He was practically an immortal. His genes, his blood, his DNA and almost everything about him were invaluable. All these qualities made him a target of greedy humans who wanted to catch him for 'research purposes'.

On top of that the monthly dose of neotides, who were unleashed by Azura on a regular basis to kill him, often along with humans.

They had managed to slash him deep this time. Four of the Neotides had attacked him together. He had neutralized them but in return they gashed his flesh right beneath the rib cage. Daryn had handled his wounds after taking the medication in the usual way. However, the wound was so deep that it needed another round of fresh bandages.

"Whatever happens next, just keep yourself locked in the car, okay?" he warned her.

"What- what do you mean?" She didn't want any more drama than what she had experienced the past few days. She just wanted a safe life from now on.

"There is no time to explain," he said and swiveled his car hitting it on the side of the one that was parallel to them making Dawn and Cole roll to the left.

"Stop it!" she shouted. "Just let us go."

The car on the left wheeled on its tires and was knocked off the road.

"Come here and take the steering," Daryn barked.

"What?" Dawn cried. "No! You just stop the car and let us go."

Daryn opened his seatbelt. "Open your seatbelt," he said, baring his jaw.

Her saliva dried in her mouth. She meekly did what was told. As soon as she opened it, Daryn pulled her in his lap so quickly that she was speechless. Another jolt passed through his body.

Cole was watching the two of them with wide eyes.

"Drive the car," he said guiding her hands to the wheels. The way his body felt after touching her was beyond words. He gritted his teeth. He punched the button on the digital display of the car and the car came in auto-cruise. "Don't touch the display. Keep steady and I repeat whatever happens, restrain yourself from getting out of here."

Dawn bobbed her head like a toy.

Next moment, Daryn shifted to the passenger seat, opened the door and disappeared with galactic speed, closing the door behind him.

Dawn turned her head to see that the car, which they had hit earlier, was back on their side. Suddenly she heard a loud thud mixed with the sound of rain splashing. Through the dark tinted glasses, she could somehow make the distorted shape of that car. It kind of squeezed from the top and stopped.

That crash was followed by a violent thud on the back of their SUV.

Cole screamed as his face slammed in the front seat despite the seatbelt.