Caged (20 page)

“He’ll be sure that I know Sean’s status.”

“OK,” I muttered quietly. After a long pause I meekly asked, “Do you think I’ll like it there?”

A crooked smile stretched across his face.

“I think you’ll learn to love it.”

I smiled and nestled into my seat. The flight was direct into Salt Lake City and promised to be a long one; a nap was in order. As I drifted off to sleep, my head resting on Eric’s shoulder, I felt at ease. The situation was harrowing, attempting to avoid my death and all, but there was comfort in knowing that Eric would be with me, keeping me safe as he promised.

Though he seemed a bit out of sorts, not quite himself all morning, I realized that this was an intense situation for him, too. There would be retribution, surely, for those who helped me if I were caught. He was also now in charge, and going to be away from his mentor and pack. I was selfish to not acknowledge that this was equally stressful for him.

I smiled as I dozed off. Regardless of what Sean had said, Eric did have honor. The fact that he was willing to risk his life to keep me safe proved that in my eyes. Perhaps it really was true that duress could forge the strongest bonds, and bring two people together. It appeared to be working in our case.

I slept peacefully at the thought.

25

I stared at the sizable crowd that crammed together on the front lawn.
That’s a lot of friends.
I couldn’t fathom how Eric knew all those people or why they’d all gotten together. It couldn’t have been him coming to visit.

Weres.

It was the only thing that made any sense. They lived as a pack and this ‘house’ we were visiting was more like a compound than anything else, stretching over acres and acres of land. I wondered if maybe he had been somehow affiliated with them before and wanted to show me off to them. I smiled to myself at that thought. Perhaps that was another reason why he had been so off on the trip out - he was nervous about me being accepted by his friends.

He came around to the side of the car and opened the door for me. I had been so consumed by the grandeur of both the building and the crowd that I had forgotten to get out of the car. He half-smiled at me, then cast his eyes over to a man emerging from the group. Eric took my hand and led the way over to him.

They shook hands like business associates rather than old chums. I was surprised by the gesture, but I figured that, like with Marcus, maybe male weres weren’t big huggers. Maybe it took the testosterone level down too far for their liking. I stood behind them a few feet, still engrossed with the surroundings and the crowd who was slowly closing in around us.

I never really paid attention to what was being talked about between Eric and his mystery friend, but rather focused on the faces of those around us. They were painfully hard to read, but I became more aware of one thing as they neared us - they were
not
friendly. The energy I was picked up on was lust, peppered with malice.

The lust made sense. Eric had said that male wolves could smell an unmated female and it made them crazy. The malice, however, made no sense at all.
Maybe he didn’t leave on the best of terms with these guys…

“And here she is,” Eric was saying. It snapped me back to attention as I turned and smiled at my new acquaintance. I reached my hand forward to shake his and was met with a strange expression as he turned to look at Eric with incredulity. I wasn’t sure if I had offended him somehow. Maybe I had violated some rule I was unaware of. Surely Eric would have told them that this was all new to me and some concessions would have been made.

A smile slowly crossed his face as he shook lightly at first, slowly working himself into a low-rolling laugh that eerily spread through the hundreds on the lawn.

Left in the dark yet again…

“She doesn’t know why she’s here?” he asked Eric, looking painfully amused. Eric was laughing now too, wearing a matching expression.

“Not a clue. I knew she was naive, but this is way beyond that.”

I tried to join in with the laughter, to cover up my confusion and not feel like the odd man out, but it was unsuccessful. I tried desperately to see what I was missing, what my naivety had left me ignorant of.

“I’m not sure she’s going to be pleased with you when she finds out,” he said, still carrying a note of mocking. I started to not care for him very much.

“No,” Eric replied, stepping closer to me. “I’m not sure she will be.”

The laughter died down and the tone became increasingly serious. As the two of them bantered enigmatically back and forth, I heard someone from behind me approaching. I turned to see a black haired, twenty-something male directly behind me. He did nothing and appeared to be awaiting acknowledgment from the man in charge.

I saw the leader nod in his direction and before I knew what was happening, my hands were shackled behind my back. At that point I was aware that something was wrong. Very, very wrong. I felt my fight-or-flight response go into overdrive and I looked to Eric for assistance. I was met with a cold, complacent expression.

“Oh, that’s just darling, Eric. She thinks you’ll save her,” said Eric’s strange companion as he stepped closer to me. He gently took my face in his hands and bent down to put his directly in mine. “There’s no helping you now, dear.”

I tried to tear my head from his hands but his grip tightened violently and squeezed until I thought my facial bones would break like glass.

“I’ve waited centuries for one of you. You will give me the power to change all of this mess, and your offspring will be invaluable to the cause.”

Hatred coursed through my veins. He was evil incarnate, a cocktail of Satan, Hitler and Bin Laden all rolled up into one. I was his, and I was terrified. My shaking became uncontrollable and I wasn’t sure if it was driven more by anger or fear - perhaps a healthy dose of both.

“Would you like a moment to say goodbye to her properly,” he asked Eric.

Fuck that!

“Yes. I think I’d enjoy that.”

With that, the man I presumed to be the Alpha turned to the group and ordered them all inside. He backed away, leaving Eric and me to our privacy that I was so not interested in at that moment. The only privacy I wanted with Eric was in a torture chamber with him on the receiving end.

He stood in front of me and had the gall to look me directly in the eyes.

“Ruby, Ruby, Ruby…what can I say?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders for effect. “I thought you and I would work out, but I guess you could say I got a better offer.” I could think of nothing to say, so I spat in his face instead. He scoffed to himself as he wiped the phlegm off with his shirt sleeve. “Oh, Ruby, you’re taking this so personally, but it’s business, babe. Just good business.”

“For you,” I shouted at him, kicking him square in the kneecap, driving his leg backwards. He stumbled for a moment then slowly returned to his position.

“I take it that means you haven’t forgiven me yet?” he asked condescendingly.

“You’re a dead man.”

“Ahhh…and how will you accomplish that, my dear?” he asked while stroking his index finger down my cheek. “You’ll be locked up here with no chance of escape, and nobody knows where you are. Not even your precious Sean. You made sure of that.”

The truth of that statement abruptly took any wind I had left in my sails out. He was right. I was alone, completely without aid. Seeing this realization flash over my face, Eric moved in closer to me. He reached around my back to where my hands were shackled and wiggled my ring off. He then held it up in front of my face.

“You won’t be needing this anymore, and frankly, I’d love to have a token to remind me of you in your absence. I really am going to miss our time together, Ruby. It’s regrettable that we didn’t have a little more.”

I felt a single tear spring from my eye and roll slowly down my face.

“Oh, don’t worry, Ruby. I’ll miss you too, but I’m sure one of the fine young gentlemen here will suit you just as well. They’re
very
eager to make your acquaintance,” he said as a self-pleasing grin crossed his face. “I’m done with her now. You can take her away,” he shouted to the dark-haired man, all the while never taking his eyes off of mine. Another male emerged from the house to aid with my removal. They both grabbed me around the biceps and hauled me away like a criminal. A prisoner. I guess that’s what I was about to be.

I looked back to see Eric and the Alpha shaking hands as they exchanged a large metal briefcase.

“The hood, you idiots. I told you to hood her,” the Alpha shouted to my escorts. We stopped briefly, just long enough for one to pull a black bag out of his pocket and roughly pull it down over my head. Our journey then continued.

Just as I was dragged up the front steps I heard two loud clicks followed by a high pitched whistle that trailed off in both volume and pitch.

“So it’s all here?” Eric asked.

“It is,” the Alpha replied, ”Tell Marcus it’s been a pleasure doing business with him.”

26

The darkness was strangely calming and familiar amidst the chaos. I took solace in it while I was ushered into a building, bound by the wrists, surrounded by a frantic crowd. My captors wound me through the corridors for a minute or so, and my sense of direction by that point was completely lost. We ground to a halt suddenly and I was wedged into position between my two delightful escorts. I could tell little about my surroundings other than that the room was vast and lofty; it echoed with the slightest sound. As the pack closed in around us, the noise boomed through the air, obscuring my hearing. The only senses I had left at my disposal were taste and smell, which seemed to be the worst hand I could possibly dealt - they were useless for defense or escape.

My head pounded from the mob’s cacophony, my body completely overwhelmed by the energies around me. My mind couldn’t process them all. I could only assume that the group was moving about based on the sheer number of emotions swirling around me, assaulting me unknowingly. I tried to reassure myself that at least I had that one trick up my sleeve. Eric hadn’t known about my gift, so therefore the clowns who abducted me didn’t know either. The downside was that there was little advantage in that for me.

The crowd started to settle down, unprompted by any audible cues. When it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, a lone set of footsteps could be heard approaching me.
Alpha
. As he neared I knew I was right. Evil has a very distinct feel.

“My gift to you has arrived,” he declared. The crowd instantly roared its approval, then settled without prompting. “My plan can now be put into motion. I’ve made promises to you for decades, and now, my children, we will make them realities.”

The crowd exploded.

“Once she is bound to the pack, we will have the power we need. An unstoppable power that will change the way things are and have always been.”

I shifted in my stance unknowingly, trying to understand his cryptic speech. I drew attention to myself in the process, which proved to be an unwelcome move. The Alpha grabbed me violently by the back of the neck, lifting me up onto my tiptoes.

“It starts tonight,” he screamed. “You will make her one of us!”

The males of the pack, which seemed to be the overwhelming population, went crazy. That did not bode well for me. I sensed their energies pressing closer, until I physically felt people brushing up against me, sniffing me, sizing me up like a steak for dinner. I tried to find a happy place in my mind. I knew there was no physical escape for me right then, but they couldn’t imprison my mind. I thought of home. I saw myself dancing to music I loved, blocking out everything else around me. Dance could always do that.

I heard the Alpha’s voice in my ear as I was released from his grip.

“Now the fun begins, my dear. You have no idea what you’re in for; they’ve been waiting for you for a long, long time.”

On a creepy scale, I gave that speech a nine out of ten.

Why can’t any of these assholes actually get to the point and say what they mean?

Without a chance to ask that question out loud, I was on the move again, although this time I was carried. I could only assume they wanted to further skew my sense of direction. The irony was I had a horrible one to start with, so they were going to great lengths to accomplish something that could have been done with a couple of quick turns in place. I laughed to myself inside.

My transporters took me through various halls again, though this time those halls were silent except for their conversational chatter. I gave up on paying attention to my surroundings and focused all my energy on what they were saying, hoping to get some idea of what was going on.

“Where are you in the order?” the one asked.

“I don’t have the seniority you do, but I’m somewhere in the top fifty, I think,” the other replied.

“You don’t stand a chance then,” number one snickered, “It’ll never make it that far. She’ll never make it past me.”

“Oh yeah, Bryan, she’s totally losing her shit for you. Look at her; she’s chomping at the bit to get to you.”