Time Mends (26 page)

I’ve replayed that scene at least a million
times in my head since then, and I’m still not sure what would have
happened next if Hashim hadn’t interrupted. The most likely
scenario involved me pushing him away and telling him to keep his
evil nose to himself, and emphasizing the point with my fist.

At least, that’s what I keep telling
myself.

“
Go,” Hashim hissed as
Travis jolted away from me. When I didn’t immediately obey, Hashim
pointed at me and then the cage. “You. Go.”

Knowing there was no use in delaying the
inevitable, and eager to get away from the weirdness of what just
happened with Travis, I went inside. I heard the door slide home
and then the hum of electricity. The whole time I just stood there,
looking at my prison and trying not to panic. Claustrophobia has
never really been an issue for me, but, then again, I was never
locked in a cage for weeks at a time before. I didn’t cry, though.
I kept my spine straight and shoulders back. The wolf, who still
prowled close to the skin with the full moon only being hours
behind us, refused to submit in any way to the two men who were now
standing just outside the basement door.

Eventually, I felt ridiculous just standing
there, staring resolutely at the grey concrete wall. I took my time
exploring my surroundings, knowing I had all the time in the world.
The bed was small, but the mattress was comfortable. Not too firm,
not too soft, and free of lumps or sprung springs. The dresser was
filled with dings and stains, but had the regality of a once noble
piece of high end bedroom furniture. The odds and ends making up
the bathroom were surprisingly clean, the scent of bleach
overriding any hint of mold, mildew, or anything even less
appetizing.

Once the inspection was over I lay down on
the bed and waited.

It took me five minutes to realize I was
hearing voices, and another two to realize they weren’t in my
head.

“
We are honored to have
you with us,” said a female voice with a heavy English
accent.

“
No, I’m the one honored,
my Alpha,” came the reply from a familiar voice. “I am only sorry
that the situation wasn’t a little different.”

“
Yes, this whole thing is
rather… unfortunate. But you have nothing to fear. I can See your
nobility and honor. I know you would never intentionally defy your
Alphas.”

“
No, ma’am. I really
wouldn’t.” In my head I could see Talley twirling a strand of shiny
black hair around her finger. She was on the floor just above me, I
could tell both from the way her voice floated down through the air
vent and her smell. The room must have been some sort of living
room or family room since the drone of a television set is what
kept me from noticing anyone in the room before then. One of the
first survival skills I acquired after Changing was learning to
tune out background noises. If I hadn’t, I would have been driven
insane by the constant stream of marginally talented Disney singers
coming from Angel’s bedroom a long time ago.

I closed my eyes and tried to visualize my
best friend standing just above me. Was she scared? Were they
treating her right? And where were the boys? They should be there
with her, protecting her.

“
I was wondering, your
highness, if it was possible for me to see my friend.” The tremble
in her voice was evident even through the floor/ceiling.

There was a long pause, and then the Alpha
Female said, “I do not think that would be a good idea. The
Thaumaturgic has too much sway over you, I fear. Not that I blame
you, my sister. Not in the least. Anyone in your position would
have been caught unaware by her deceit.”

“
But, your majesty, I
honestly don’t believe she is—” There must have been some hand
motion or look, because Talley cut off instantly. There was a
scrapping noise, like a chair being pushed back and then soft
footfalls.

“
You know it cannot be
natural for a woman not of Shifter blood to make the Change.” The
Alpha had moved in closer to where Talley was.

“
I know, but—”

“
Our enemies have long
been looking for a way to infiltrate our ranks. And they almost did
it. She’s the perfect Trojan Horse, is she not? A lone female wolf
when we lose almost all of the young born to us. As Seers, we want
to protect her since we have been unable to save the others. And
the males. The entire species is drawn to her, looking for a mate
of their own kind. The Strategos tell me her scent is absolutely
intoxicating, nearly impossible to resist. No wonder Hoplite Hagan
looks at her with such admiration. The poor boy is a victim of
biology.”

“
I don’t
think—”

“
And the way they placed
her with your Pack when she was so young, letting the child become
like a part of your family. It was smart, strategically speaking,
but so cruel to your family.”

“
But Scout
didn’t—”

“
That, of course, is the
reason the Hagan Pack isn’t facing charges of their own,” she said,
her voice infused with a touch more strength. “I did not think it
was fair to punish the entire Pack for something that was obviously
committed against them. Don’t you feel the same, Seer
Matthews?”

Blackmail. Awesome.

“
You’re very kind and
wise, my Alpha.” Talley sounded choked, and I knew it was because
she felt guilty for not defending me. She shouldn’t have. I
understood, and would have been angry if she had said anything
else. There was no need in all of us going down with the
ship.

After that there was some more conversation,
but mostly of the “So, how are you liking Kentucky?” variety as
opposed to manipulation by The Man. A few minutes later there was
an influx of feet moving about, and then a television flicked on
and my ears flicked off.

The rest of the day passed without much in
the way of excitement. Hashim brought me lunch and dinner, both of
which were pretty good for prison food. The television stayed on
upstairs, blocking out any conversations. Since I had nothing
better to do, I fretted over the whole intoxicating scent issue.
Neither Jase nor Charlie had mentioned that I smelled especially
sexy, but the theory did explain a few things, like that moment
with Travis and Makya in general.

On second thought, nothing really explained
Makya.

But what if she was right?
What if I was throwing out a
come and get
me boys
scent? Did it develop with my
first Change, or had it always been there? The first time I met
Liam he smelled me and asked Jase what I was. Could it have been
because I already smelled like a female Shifter? And if I did, what
did that mean in terms of Alex and Charlie? Did they really want
me, or were they simply acting on animal instinct?

After many miserable moments, I decided that
train of thought was both unhealthy and unproductive. To distract
myself, I attempted to figure out how many people where in the
house. Since I was locked in a concrete basement and the cabin was
the size of the White House, it wasn’t an easy assignment.

My Pack was the easiest to pick out. Talley
and Jase spent most of the day on the third floor with each other.
Charlie, on the other hand, seemed to be stationed near the top of
the basement stairs. I tried to remember what could be holding his
interest for so long up there, but couldn’t come up with anything.
As best as I could recall, the stairs were located in a super-huge
pantry which came off the kitchen. Unless he was put on dishwashing
duty, I couldn’t think of a single reason for him to spend the day
up there.

Stefan and his three henchmen were almost as
easy to pick out as Jase, Charlie, and Talley. Not only was I
already familiar with their scents, but I could feel them somehow.
It was like they were so Dominant they leaked power, and that power
was an actual tangible thing floating through the air. Even without
the aide of my super-powered hearing and smell, I could point out
any member of the elite guard at any given time.

After that, it got harder. There were other
males in the house, I could hear their heavy footfalls and smell
their boy smell, but keeping up with the exact number was hard.
People were constantly moving, and the stupid TV blasted CNN
Headline News at full volume all blessed day. I knew there were at
least three other guys on a level below the Strategos on the power
structure, not including Akay. There were possibly others, but no
more than six.

The females in the house were actually a bit
easier to peg, thanks to the very profitable body wash, shampoo,
and lotion market. Not counting Talley or the Alpha Female, I
caught four other distinctive scents. There could have been more,
but I didn’t detect them.

That left me in a house with, what? At least
a dozen probable enemies? If any delusions remained about breaking
out of this place, that promptly shattered them. I had better odds
at winning the Miss USA crown, landing the lead role in a Wonder
Woman movie, and hitting the lottery all in the same night.

Still, I listened and smelled and brain
stormed. It was either that, or stare at the blank walls and go
crazy. By the time I drifted off to sleep after all the motion
upstairs stilled for the evening, I had a pretty good layout of the
house and was starting to recognize different unknowns by their
scent and the sound of their footfalls.

The next morning my breakfast was brought in
by Mandla, the NBA guy. Along with the heaping plate of eggs,
sausage, and toast, he sat a stack of books down on the end of my
mattress.

“
The one who owes you a
life debt insisted you have these,” he said in that smooth voice.
“He claimed it was cruel and unusual to leave you without something
to stimulate your brain.”

I glanced at the stack, which was comprised
mostly of Nora Roberts and James Patterson paperbacks. Not a whole
heck of a lot of brain stimulation going on there, but still…
“Thank you. I was going kind of crazy with nothing to do.”

“
Thank not me, but the
Alpha’s generosity. She is giving you much comfort considering what
you are.” I made a split-second decision not to waste my breath on
restating my innocence and slammed my lips back together. “She will
be coming to see you shortly,” he continued on. “I suggest you show
her the respect and reverence she deserves, Thaumaturgic.” With
that, he turned and strode back to the door, leaving me alone with
the high calorie breakfast I wasn’t going to be able to eat thanks
to the awe-inspiring things that bit of knowledge did to my
belly.

It’s not like I expected any sort of
physical altercation with Stefan’s mate. No, if anyone other than
the Alpha Male himself was going to leave me bruised and battered
around here, it was one of his Three Amigos. The threat from a Seer
wouldn’t be physical. Instead of upper-cuts and side-kicks, you had
to worry about what she was going to pull out of your brain. Could
she See what was knocking around up there, like Talley? Or maybe it
was what your weaknesses are or how to break you from the inside
out. No one ever bothered to cover the complete scope of Seer
powers with me, but I was under the impression they were so various
and many you couldn’t really keep up with them all.

Since the basement lacked a clock and
someone confiscated my phone just an hour after I arrived, I had no
way to know for sure exactly how long it was before someone else
came downstairs. Judging by the fact I made it through twenty-four
chapters of a James Patterson novel, I estimated it at around
thirty minutes after I gave up on breakfast.

Three women came through the door along with
Mandla, Hashim, and Travis. Mandla and Hashim took up post just in
front of the door of the cell while Travis lounged against the
basement door.

“
You are to stay at least
two feet away from the bars,” Mandla informed me.

I took an exaggerated step backwards.

The three girls, all of which looked to be
in the high school to college age range, stood clustered together
in the middle of the non-caged half of the basement looking at me
with the same fearful curiosity you would a lion in a zoo.

“
So, are you a good witch
or a bad witch?” The one brave enough to speak was a black girl
with some very awesomely done purple extensions. And while I’m no
expert in dialect and accents, I would put good money on her being
from Brooklyn.

I threw a hand over my heart and did my best
Judy Garland. “Me? Why, I’m not a witch at all. I’m Scout Donovan
of Kentucky.”

“
And your little
dog?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, I guess I’m
that, too. Although, truth be told, I’m not all that little.”

There was a moment of complete and utter
silence and then Brooklyn burst out laughing. “I like her. I vote
we not kill her.”

“
True!” exclaimed the girl
with hair the color pumpkin juice and more freckles than I knew was
possible. “Don’t be so horrible.”

“
I’m not being horrible.
I’m saying I want to keep her alive. That’s the exact opposite of
horrible. It’s nice and thoughtful. Right, Sabrina?”

“
I’m feeling the love,
Pythia.”

“
See, funny and smart. She
could totally hang with us.”

“
She’s not one of us,” the
older girl, a blonde Amazonian, said. Her accent was similar to
Stefan’s but not exactly. I decided she was either from a different
part of Russian or one of those countries that used to be back in
the USSR when John, Paul, George, and Ringo were doing their thing
together. “She Changes during the full moon without the aide of
lineage, upsetting the balance and natural order of things. It
would be a good idea for the two of you to remember
that.”