Seduction (The Journal of the Wolves of Spruce Hollow) (9 page)

To cement the story, I’d even launched into a little speech about how it was so important for the two of us to be together after everything that our family had gone through with my mother’s death.
 

In truth, I felt really bad about lying to Sorcha and her family because they were good people who had always treated me well. But it was a means to an end and would allow me to get the hell out of Spruce Hollow and away from Roan without him knowing that I’d left.

“I’m going to drive Aspen to the bus stop, we have to leave now if she’s going to make it,” Sorcha said as she pushed away from the table.

“Oh honey, I was hoping that you and your sister could help me tidy up the supper dishes. Do you think maybe your brother could drive her or maybe Jude? If you don’t mind Aspen,” her mom said kindly.

“Sure, that’s fine by me” I said, shrugging my shoulders. I didn’t care how I got there. A team of bobsledding cats was fine with me as long as I got to the bus station on time.

As luck would have it, I got stuck with Jude driving me because Sorcha’s brother wanted to stay behind and help his father in the barn with the horses. I envied Sorcha sometimes, she was lucky. She had a good solid family unit, with members who truly cared about each other and always pitched in to help one another out. For the hundredth time since I’d known her, I found myself wishing that I had that too.
 

But there was no sense in wasting my breath; I would never have that sense of familial connection with anyone ever again.

We walked along in silence to Jude’s car, a black Mazda RX-7. As I opened the door and got in, I found myself wondering how Jude had managed to buy such an expensive car when he lived in such meager college accommodations with Sorcha’s brother?
 

As we drove along, I was deep in thought and ignored Jude. I needed to figure out what my next move was going to be once I got off the bus in Shawfield. I had no idea what to do or where to go once I got there as I’d only ever been there a couple of times in my entire life. I supposed that I could get a hotel room for the night and then figure out what to do from there.
 

I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to go back to my apartment in Springbay. Roan would easily be able to find me there for sure. Maybe it would be safer to stay in Shawfield for a few days until I figured out a plan? That sounded like a pretty good idea to me. Besides, I would be safe there because it was hours away from Spruce Hollow. It wasn’t a perfect plan but it would give me some time to think without having Roan breathing down my neck.
 

With my mother’s death, I was suddenly quite wealthy. Well, wealthier than I’d ever been in my entire life, at least. Wealth could buy many things in life but the only two that I was interested in right this minute were freedom and a large dose of security.
 

What I really wanted to use the money for would come after I successfully made my getaway and got back to my regular life.
 

I had decided that I was going to use my inheritance to buy a little place near the water. I didn’t care what kind of water either. I wasn’t picky. A river or the ocean would do. Heck, even a stream.
 

It would truly be a dream come true to wake up every morning and be able to watch the sunrise over the water.
 

Maybe I could finally make some happy memories there and get a dog? We could go for a run everyday on the beach or the riverbank and then we could lay on the couch and watch tv while a fire roared in the stone fireplace. That would be idyllic.
 

There was
one
thing I really missed about my old life in Spruce Hollow and that was having Blackie around. After all these years, I still missed him.
 

Maybe I could get a German Shepherd? I knew it wouldn’t be the same as having a wolf around but German Shepherds were supposed to be loyal, smart and really brave dogs; kind of the way Blackie had been.
 

I guess what I really wanted was to re-create the life I should have had if Roan hadn’t abandoned me.
 

The years after he left Spruce Hollow were hell for me because once Roan had left town, I was suddenly branded an outcast in the pack.
 

I wasn’t even invited to pack functions anymore. It quickly became apparent to me that the only reason the pack had put up with me for all those years was because of Roan and his interest in me, not because they felt that I truly belonged there.

I’d never understood why the pack members hated me so much after he’d left but it seemed like they’d somehow blamed me for him leaving.
Like it was somehow my fault!
Ha, little did they know, I hadn’t wanted him to leave either. It had destroyed me inside.

I even started getting bullied by the pack kids at school. I couldn’t even take the bus to and from school anymore because they would gang up on me at the bus stop.

 
After I came home from with my second black eye, my mom started driving me back and forth to school everyday.
 

The Alpha eventually got involved but it didn’t stop the bullying, the threats just became more veiled, the violence better orchestrated. At the end of the school day, I would race across the street to Sabre’s auto body shop, where Caver and Griff were working, and I would wait there with them until my mother was finished work for the day. It made the school day a lot longer but at least the bullying was kept to a minimum. They couldn’t beat the snot out of me if I wasn’t anywhere that they could get me alone.

I was a complete social outcast within the pack. Even my own “grandparents”, Roan’s mother and father, seemed distant. Nana Rosie would come to the house and visit me, as I was no longer permitted to go to the Big house because pack members were constantly there, coming and going on pack business or just dropping in for a visit.

My mom tried to explain to me that the Were pack was angry and in mourning because they’d lost their Beta.
 

But how was that
my
fault? I certainly didn’t make Roan leave. I had wanted him to stay in Spruce Hollow too. I was devastated by his betrayal just as much as they were. Probably more. So how was I any different from them?

I just didn’t understand it and I didn’t care to anymore. I had suffered enough at the hands of Roan and the stupid Were pack. Never again would I be their punching bag.

Jude was quiet and I was lost in thought as we drove along. Truthfully, I’d really wanted Sorcha to drive me to the bus station but I guess beggars couldn’t be choosers, as my mother used to love to say.
 

We pulled into the bus stop at six twenty-five pm. I still had five minutes to spare.
Thank god, I was going to make it!
 

I was so relieved that I even gave Jude a little hug goodbye in the car. I hadn’t been that close to him since the night we made out in Springbay. He felt physically solid and muscular as I put my arms around him. And he smelled nice too. He smiled down at me but it was an odd half smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes,
it was all teeth.
 

“Thank you Jude, I really appreciate you dropping me off,” I said sincerely. I suddenly felt a little choked up as the realization that his was probably the last time that I would ever set foot in Spruce Hollow dawned on me.

“No problem, I’ll extract payment at some point in the future,” he said quietly, his eyes boring into mine.

“Err, okay. Well, I’ll see you around then. Take care,” I said as I grabbed my purse and opened the door.
 

Jude could be one weird, temperamental dude. He hadn’t even smiled or laughed when he’d said he would “extract payment” for dropping me off.
What the heck did that even mean?
I assumed that he was kidding, of course, but most people laughed or smiled when they were joking around.

Chapter 11

~Aspen~

The bus stop was deserted. But there weren’t very many people in Spruce Hollow to begin with, so it was quite possible that I would be the only one getting on at this stop.

The older, grey haired man behind the counter was counting up his till when I arrived at the counter.

“Hi, excuse me, I realize I’m cutting this kind of short but I’d like to buy a one way ticket to Shawfield.”

“You’re cutting it a lot too short, young lady. The bus to Shawfield left a half hour ago,” he said as he pointed to the arrivals and departures sign.

“
What
? No, no. It couldn’t have. The last bus leaves Spruce Hollow at six-thirty, not six. It has for years!” I said in disbelief.
 

“Sorry, my dear, but the bus has already left. Cutbacks and all. You know how the economy is. I was just counting the till and closing up for the night. But I can still sell you a ticket for tomorrow if you’d like? The earliest bus leaves at ten am.”

I stared at him, open mouthed and unsure what to say. I hadn’t anticipated this happening and therefore had no Plan B. I could suddenly feel my hastily constructed plan quickly unraveling at the seams.
What was I going to do now?

“Oh god. Yeah, I guess so,” I said dejectedly. I would have to hide out somewhere until tomorrow morning. I supposed I could always go back to Sorcha’s.
 

But I knew Roan would be at the door looking for me within the next couple of hours, so her place was definitely out.
 

Either way, no matter where I spent the next few hours, I had to walk back into town, as the bus station was on the outskirts near the highway.
 

I certainly didn’t want to spend the night outside, shivering on a bench somewhere, while I waited for it to open up in the morning, that’s for sure.
 

In the end, I decided that I would go to Roan’s auto body shop. I had nowhere else to go in this godforsaken hell hole of a town. I knew I could sneak in the side door of the shop, as the key had been hidden in the same spot since I was a kid. Roan would never think to come and look for me there.
 

Plus that way, I could set the alarm on my phone for sunrise and make my way back to the bus station before Caver and Griff came in for their morning shift. It was a perfect plan and one which meant I only had to lay low for a few hours until tomorrow morning.
 

I could do it,
I had to do it
. There was no way I was staying in Spruce Hollow!

Have you ever noticed how it’s always darker in the woods than it is standing in an open field? Yeah, I was definitely noticing that now. I had decided to cut through the woods as it was the fastest way to get back into town from the bus station. It was also the only way I was going to go unnoticed by anyone who might be driving by.
 

Roan knew mostly everyone in town, through his auto body shop, and it would be pretty easy for him to find out if anyone had seen me walking along the main road.

It was starting to get dark and my “creeped out” factor was about a nine out of ten as I walked through the woods alone. I was pretty sure I knew where I was in relation to the highway, but the forest tends to look different in the dark with all of its shadows. Plus it’s scary as hell.
Omg, what if I ran into a bear?

I knew that I wasn’t completely lost yet as I could still hear the faint sound of cars passing by in the distance. If all else failed, and I got hopelessly lost in the woods, I could always travel towards the sound of the cars and I’d come out somewhere on the highway.

So, I was still okay.
Nothing to panic about Aspen. Suck it up, you’re doing just fine.

Snap.

Oh my god, what was that?
I could hear branches cracking under footsteps and it was coming from somewhere directly behind me. Was there something close by? Could it be a wild animal?
Or even worse, could it be Roan?
 

My breath was stuck in my throat as I stopped and whirled around. I was prepared to fight for my life with my bare hands against whatever I might find, whether man or beast.
 

To my complete and utter shock and surprise, I whipped around to find none other than Jude standing behind me. He was pushing aside a branch and stepping out from under a large tree.
 

As he walked towards me, in the darkening woods, his gaze was predatory and I found myself feeling annoyed beyond belief.
Had he been following me? God, what a complete pain in the ass.
 

It was just the two of us, alone in the woods, and I didn’t have to keep up pretenses anymore for the sake of Sorcha or her family.
 

“What the hell do you want, Jude? Are you following me?” I said, trying to sound much braver than I felt.
 

“Aren’t you a feisty one, Aspen? Not like your friend Sorcha. No, you’re a different breed entirely, aren’t you Aspen,” he said quietly.
 

“I think that’s the most words I’ve heard you string together all night, Jude,” I said sarcastically.