Ivan Smith: The rise of the elemental werewolf

Chapter 4

Ivan woke up in the middle of the road, head spinning, and completely confused. Two men were staring right above him. One of them held a phone to his ears.

“Are you alright? Sir?” a dark-skinned man in his twenties asked. A mini crowd had gathered around him, staring like he just dropped from the sky.

Ivan blinked. The last thing he remembered was the man in black, and then getting shot.

He quickly felt his chest, and his back. No pain. The only indication he had been shot was the blood in his chest.

Ivan stumbled up right.

“Sir?” The man called again, but Ivan just stumbled off, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

As he made his way towards the hospital, a familiar Audi blocked his way.

It was Leah. She quickly stepped out of the car, and ran towards him.

“What the hell happened?” She demanded.

Ivan shook his head. “I don’t know… I think I was shot, but I don’t feel anything.

Leah frowned. “Where?” he pulled open his chest but there wasn’t even so much as a scratch. Leah glanced at the driver. They both shared a look.

“What?” Ivan asked.

“We need to talk.”

“About what? Did you just hear what I said?” he bellowed.

“I did, and you need to come with me.” Leah gritted, her eyes begging.

“No, I need to go see my mom.”

“That will be taken care of. Do you want to explain to the hospital why you are covered in fucking blood?”

Ivan paused, eyes going wide. “Did you send the man in black? Was this your doing?”

“Of course not. Are you insane?!”

“Then why are you so adamant about getting me away?”

Leah facepalmed.

“Just trust me. I’ll explain everything to you when we get home.”

“Not until I talk to my mom.” For some reason, Ivan felt like he needed to be by his mom's side. Maybe he'd snap out of this bizarre dream or hallucination épisode.

Leah sighed, and handed him a coat. Ivan ran to his mother’s ward. He pushed the door open, and found his mother, and a man he recognized as the man in black about to inject something into his mother's IV.

“Who the hell are you?” Ivan demanded.

The man suddenly ran. Ivan tried to get him, but he jumped through the window.

Just then, Leah appeared alongside her assistant.

“What happened?”

“Someone just tried to kill my mother!” he shouted.

“Which way did he go?” she asked.

“Out the window.”

“Did you see what he looked like?”

“Shaved head, glasses.”

“Alright then. Ray…”

“We’ll get your mom out of here, okay.”

“The hell you will, I'm going after him.” He said and took off.

“Wait!”

But Ivan was already out the window. He found the man getting into a black Audi and driving off…

Ivan chased after him until the car was gone.

Just then, Leah and Ray appeared beside him.

“Get in.” Leah demanded.

Ivan didn't protest this time.

By the time they got back to the Condo, Ivan was going mad.

Master Sinzu had told him what to expect when he got out of prison, but it had only been six hours, and he had already been shot? He wasn’t even sure if he had. His mother was almost killed.

Something wasn’t right.

“Hey.” Leah said from the doorway.

Ivan whipped his head to look at her.

“Hey.” He said, his eyes heavy and tired.

“Just checked on your mom, she is sound asleep, My doctors will be in to see her tomorrow.”

Ivan nodded. “Thanks.”

“You are welcome. Have a seat.” She pointed at the love chair. Ivan didn’t feel like sitting right now, but he obeyed her regardless.

“I’m not sure where to start from.”

“Why people are trying to kill me would be a fucking good start or hell, tell me how the fuck I was shot tonight and I’m still alive.”

Leah sighed; she did not particularly want to be doing this. She wondered why her grandfather had not simply told him about it while he was in prison.

“As for why you were targeted tonight, I can't give you an answer just yet. My men are working on it. But I can give you an answer on how you are still alive with no scratch on you.”

“And?”

“There is no easy way to say this, so, I am just going to go ahead and say it.”

“You are an Elemental werewolf.”

Ivan blinked rapidly before bursting into laughter.

“I do not have time for jokes or fan fiction, Leah. My mother could have died tonight. I could have died tonight!”

“This isn’t a joke. Why would I joke about this?”

“Well, it has to be. What you just said is a load of fairytale bullshit.”

Leah rolled her eyes, and stood. She strolled past him, and made her way to the kitchen.

Ivan followed, curious.

"What are you doing?” he asked.

“This.’ She turned around and stabbed his arm with a knife.

Ivan bellowed.

“What the fuck! Are you crazy?’

“No, but you are healing?” she gestured at his arm.

“How do you explain that?”

Ivan stared at his arm, and almost jumped. It was as Leah had not just stabbed him. There was no trace of a cut or wound. Even the pain he initially felt was gone.

“That is what happened tonight. You have healing abilities five times of an average wolf and fifty times that of a human. It sounds crazy, I know, but it's true. That’s probably what grandad saw.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Most things rarely do.”

Ivan paced. There was no denying it. Was that why he always felt different from the other kids?

Why he felt like he could hear voices.

He ran his hand through his hair once again.

“So, what does this mean?”

“It means that you are not an average human. And frankly, it makes sense why my grandfather chose you.”

“Are you a werewolf too?”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t quite inherit the gene. My father married a human. I have traits of being one. I am stronger than the average human, and faster, but I don’t transform.”

Ivan laughed again. All his life he had cowered, and hid from trouble only to find out that he wasn’t an ordinary man.

“It’s a lot to take in. But just know you’re special.”

“Is my mother one?”

“I don’t think so. You were adopted after all”

“Yes.”

“So, what now?’ he asked, still pacing, still trying to wrap his head around the whole thing.

“Well, we get married, and we go from there. I'll teach you everything I know, and you get to inherit half my grandfather's wealth and power.”

Ivan stared at her. He couldn’t say no to her. Not when things had changed this drastically.

“Okay, I accept your proposal.”

Leah smiled.

“Great.” She smiled. And Ivan couldn’t help but smile back.

“Alright then. I have a meeting in fifteen minutes. I’ll be back.”

“A meeting or a date?”

“Ah, you saw that.”

“You didn’t seem to be hiding it very much.”

“Look, Vincent has been a dear friend for years…”

“Friend?” Ivan raised a brow.

“Its complicated. We are not really supposed to be together.”

“Forbidden love, huh?”

“Its about to get more forbidden after the wedding.”

Ivan sighed. “Don’t on my account break up with him. Its not like we are in love. This is after an arranged marriage.”

“Wow, are you saying you are not jealous? That kind of hurts my feelings.”

“I’m not saying that atll. I’m saying it would be selfish of me to demand faithfulness from you.”

“Oh, Ivan. You have no idea how sexy that sounds.”

Ivan blushed. For a moment, neither of them looked away. Something cracked in the air between them. Something intimate.

“Well, I should go. I'll see you tomorrow, Fiance.”

For the first time since Ivan was out of prison, he laughed, and it was one filled with humor.

Ivan watched as Leah walked out, her heels clicking against the marble floor.

“Damn, she is beautiful.” He whispered to himself.

Ivan could not sleep, no matter how much he tried to. Too many things had come to light. None of which particularly made any sense. A lot had happened in such a short span of time, It felt overwhelming.

A werewolf? The more he went over it in his head, the more ridiculous it sounded.

And why didn’t master Shinzu tell him about this.

Ivan made up his mind to confront him the next day, nothing made sense to him. He needed to know more.