by LeAnn Mason
“You need to learn how to use that thing better.” The words were harsh. Not a taunt, more of an admonishment. I peeked from behind tightly closed eyelids to see Hunter’s jaw—the beautifully sculpted and strong jaw—tense like he clenched his teeth. Why? I couldn’t be sure. Though, I was sure that the wolf had retreated.
Instead of taking advantage and securing his victory, the wolf had disappeared. Had Hunter forced him back, or had he gone willingly? I was still having a hard time getting my breathing back under control. Space. I needed space. He smelled too good. Like animal and wet leaves. Who knew I’d like that? With a quick mental reproach, I tried to leverage myself away from his solidness. Again.
“Nuh-uh. Not just yet.” The arms wrapped around me banded a little tighter. I wasn’t dense enough to need the physical support of his words. I couldn’t stuff the annoyed huff that escaped my mouth as I slapped at his chest, a feeble attempt at this distance, and I swore I heard a deep chuckle in response. “Now. What the hell were you freaking out about, huh? All I did was attempt to lead you out of the forest. I do believe I was a complete gentleman of a guide. Fulfilling my duties quite aptly, if I do say so myself. I’m pretty good at tracking.”
“I bet you are. That’s why he sent you. Though, honestly, his stupid wolf knows me so well, he could probably find me in his sleep.” I tried again to pull back. Hunter let me, to an extent. I was still within reach, and he still had a grip on my arms in case I made a move for the fallen knife.
“Just who do you think sent me?” It got hard to make out specific details of his face. The sun’s dying rays were splashing the forest with wild and undulating waves of orange so intense we looked to be standing amidst an inferno. The light blazed so intensely from behind Hunter that everything else could only be a shadow of itself, ashes in this blaze of fiery glory.
“Seth. The leader of the dark coven in Winchester?” I ended in question as Hunter’s eyebrows scrunched closer and closer together in confusion, creating a crease between his eyebrows with every word I uttered. Nothing in the red of his aura indicated he deceived me. At least, not that I could tell. He really had no idea who I was talking about? “He didn’t send you? You don’t know who he is?” I couldn’t shake my disbelief that easily.
A slow and deliberate shake of his head, one that dislodged no hairs of that blondish-brown crown, was my answer.
“Why should I believe you?” I couldn’t. I’d been burned too many times. I’d just gained my freedom, and I’d hurt someone to do it. My fist tightened, missing the weight of the knife as I internally freaked out. He could disarm me without effort. He’d already demonstrated as much. Should I make a run for it? Take my chances in the woods like I’d debated earlier?
“I can see that you want to bolt, Red. How about this?” Hunter spoke like he soothed a wild animal, soft and slow so as not to spook me. I imagined myself with too-wide eyes that flitted every second to scout a new location, a possible route of escape.
Slowly, he reached into a pocket, leaving his free hand up and open in a sign of surrender. I watched warily, still in fight or flight mode, eyeing my knife where it lay between us, as he withdrew what looked like a braided shoestring.
Now, I was truly confused. “Why do you have shoestrings in your pocket?” My eyes dipped briefly to take in his shoes, which looked like a cross between hiking boots and running shoes. There were laces. Maybe he worried about breaking them?
“They’re handcuffs.”
I snorted. “Uh huh, sure. Maybe the kinky kind,” I scoffed and scooped the blade up.
“It’s true.” He displayed the item, so I could see it held together at the middle and looked like a figure-eight. He wasn’t worried about the knife, apparently. “They’re stronger but more flexible than either zip ties or metal cuffs. I’ll let you cuff my hands as I bring you into town. That way, I can’t stop you if you decide to make a run for it. Does that work?”
I chewed my lip as I mulled over the offer, nodding once I landed on agreement. I watched as he looped the weird handcuffs around his wrist. “I can’t handcuff myself behind my back. I could probably do it in the front, but… that’s not as safe for you.” He shrugged like he didn’t care.
Cautiously, I stepped forward, again resembling that wary animal he worried about spooking, and looped the remaining cuff. Noting the tightening mechanism, I pulled to secure them before stepping back quickly. I still didn’t trust him.
“Feel better?” Hunter asked as he turned to face me again, an indulgent smirk on his pretty face.
I thought about it. “Okay. Let’s go, then. March on, leader! I wish to see this Grimm Hollow of which you speak,” I sassed, twirling a hand dismissively to indicate my willingness to proceed as if nothing had happened. As if I hadn’t just freaked out and swung a knife at him. As if he wasn’t in handcuffs.
CHAPTER 6
I t was well after nightfall when we finally cleared the cover of the trees. Hunter was extra cautious with every step, making sure his attention never fully left me. I couldn’t blame him. I seemed like some deranged girl, one purposely left in the woods while they hoped she’d perish, and they’d be free of her.
A fairly accurate assumption… if he indeed had that thought, which I didn’t know if he had. I couldn’t read minds. That would have saved me several years of fear and pain. I would probably be a lot softer, definitely more trusting… My eyes slid to my trussed-up guide.
“Are you done with your starry-eyed daydreaming? I’d like to get home before midnight.”
Hunter’s rude question pulled me back to the present, to the outskirts of the full-blown town spread before me as we stepped further from the woods I’d wandered for the past day. I looked back over my shoulder, double checking that the forest was, in fact, where I was coming from. This all seemed too surreal to exist deep in the middle of a dense forest—like a mirage.
“How… what? How is there a town here?” I spluttered, my feet pulling me closer without conscious effort. “It’s literally a whole town. Is it surrounded by the forest on all sides? Is there a road out?”
“If you get moving, I’m sure some of the elders will still be up, and you might have a place that isn’t leaf-ridden and wet to sleep tonight.” He didn’t wait for me to agree, just started walking across the neatly manicured grass toward the lamp-lined street closest to where we stood.
The town could be described as something from a typical small-town-USA television show. Cute. Clean. Picturesque. There was a main drag, and the town seemed to sprawl outward from there. The buildings were mostly brick, which I knew was typical of the area, but I didn’t think they really existed. The reality was supposed to be grittier, darker, right? I wanted to ask Hunter about it, but he seemed to want to be rid of me as soon as possible—probably because he was cuffed—and kept a brisk pace as we trucked toward the large, white-columned building situated smack dab in the middle of the town.
Every once in a while, a car would roll past, so I guessed there was a road that led in and out of this little bubble-town. There were many more people meandering afoot than by car. The late hour didn’t seem to deter many. There were flares of color as people passed Hunter and me along the sidewalk—a walk free of cracks and weeds—the bright wisps of color like a living thing that expanded and contracted with its person. Grasping wisps that seemed almost like searching fingers reached for me.
Those were the curious people. The ones who could tell by my slack jaw and constant circling that this was not my home. Not that I had a home. This place wouldn’t be any different. How could any town be normal for a girl who saw auras and knew that witches weren’t just things seen on television? I was just passing through, needing to take a breath, gathering myself before I continued trying to find my place in the world. But where was such a place? I was a newly emancipated sub-adult who had been raised by shape-shifting dark witches. Where did I fit in the world?
“Hey.” Hunter nudged me from my musings roughly. “Pay attent
ion. We’ll be meeting the elders now. My suggestion? Don’t lie. They’ll know. They don’t forget and don’t always forgive.”
With those harsh words, he snapped the binding of the nylon cuffs, rubbed his wrists, and threw me a smirk. “Oops.” He shrugged before turning on his heel, thrusting himself onto the threshold of the mansion-like building, and pushing the door open wide. If the low grunt was any indication, then the door was real, solid wood and quite heavy. No one had doors like that anymore. What is this place?
The door gave way to a large, open foyer with what looked like marble tiling mostly covered by a large ornate rug. The area was brightly lit by a wide chandelier dripping sparkling crystals. Further into the space, a wide staircase of gleaming, dark wood led up to a second floor, which had an open walkway lined with a banister of the same dark wood. “Who lives like this?”
“Come on, Red. I’d tell you to leave the slippers here because they’re filthy, but so is the rest of your… outfit.” He shrugged with indifference.
“I remember you being nicer when we first met,” I grumbled petulantly as I trailed behind him into a room I hadn’t seen, tucked behind the staircase. There wasn’t much point in turning tail at this moment. I had nowhere to go. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, it seemed.
“You pulling a knife on me kinda killed the pleasantries.”
Touché. “Fair point,” I admitted as we pulled up to another set of dark wood doors. He didn’t acknowledge my comment, let alone my presence, as he drew himself up just a little straighter and planted his feet. I wasn’t sure if it was respect or bluster. Either way, my feet felt glued to the floor, refusing to move further into the room until a pleasant voice rang out around me.
“Ah, so glad she was able to breach the enchantments. Aren’t you?” A stunning woman, the owner of the voice, moved to greet Hunter with a brilliant smile, perfectly cultivated with bright red lips curled to show too-white teeth. The statuesque woman had supermodel good looks, boasting a tall, curvy figure and glossy dark hair styled with a mild wave to hang between her shoulders.
With looks like that, I would have expected to see an elegant and sparkly dress showcasing her curves, but she stood before me in a loose blouse—ivory with big roughly sketched black blossoms—and a black pencil skirt. Red heels, the same shade as her lips, completed the ensemble. An aura of bright reddish-orange radiated from her body. This woman was powerful and driven.
“Gloria, this is… well, I call her Red. She hasn’t been very forthcoming with information. Maybe you can get more out of her.” This dude definitely held a grudge. Probably for the best. I would be finding my way out of here soon, and I’d be leery of everyone I came across from now on. I’d learned my lesson.
“Well, hello. My name is Gloria.” A well-manicured hand reached out and waited. Dark eyes moved from me to her hand and back.
After a tentative moment, I gave in. Shaking her hand and giving her my name couldn’t really hurt, could it? I’d need a few days and some supplies before I moved on, so best to play nice. “Allya.”
“Allya, what a lovely name. Don’t you agree, Jason?”
“Jason? I thought you said your name was Hunter.” Of course, he’d lied to me. It seemed there was no escaping that anywhere. Remember that, and keep your guard up, Ally. I chided myself as I narrowed my eyes at the broody man standing in the room without a lick of remorse.
“I said I was Hunter. And I am. I am a hunter and am so nicknamed. My given name, however, is Jason.”
“I see a little tension between you two. Anything I should know about?” Gloria asked. Sugar laced with steel coated her words. This woman may project a lovely picture, but underestimating her would be a huge mistake.
Jason and I shook our heads without saying anything. It seemed enough to appease her, and she nodded once before continuing. “Well, it’s too late to ask another house to put you up for the evening, so, Allya, you can stay here tonight. I will have Sasha show you to an available guest room.”
“Th—thank you, ma’am.” I stumbled over the words. I hadn’t slept anywhere but in a closet-sized room at the coven house for over ten years. I didn’t know how to react or how to proceed, but a slender girl in a comfy-looking sleep set appeared behind me in the open doorway, apparently ready to take me to a room.
Jason turned to leave now that his job was fulfilled—only to collect me and bring me into town—but Gloria called after him. “Jason, they found a dead wolf outside the perimeter this morning. Were you aware?”
“No. How did it die?”
“No obvious wounds. She seemed young, in good health. Very strange, the body smelled of magic.”
“Magic? I didn’t see anyone in the woods except for her.” He pointed a stern finger my direction. I halted my retreat in the doorway. “I’ll bump up patrols. We’ll get to the bottom of it. Where is the wolf?”
“She wasn’t moved in case her pack come looking. Her body will give them closure. Shame; she was a beautiful creature. Black with tan tips.” Gloria clucked her tongue and shook her head, remorseful.
I couldn’t move. A black wolf was found dead in the woods this morning. A female black wolf. My black wolf?
“What is it, Allya?” Gloria’s concern broke into my spiraling thoughts.
“I’ve seen that wolf. She’s—she had been following me. I… I saw her right before Hun—Jason announced himself at the stream this afternoon.” But she was found dead this morning. How the—
“You saw this wolf? Today?”
“She did ask me if I’d seen a black wolf,” Jason answered, confusion coloring his tone. “She’s smelled a little off since I met her. Like a wolf, but also… not.”
“I’m not a wolf.” I shuddered with many a horrible memory. “I’ve lived with… wolves, though. Maybe that’s why. Seth is a wolf. Like you,” I spat at Jason, once again remembering that he, too, carried a beast within. He’d be no different from Seth, even if they didn’t know each other. Being here, in this place, suggested that Jason was not working to bring me back to Seth. I had that going for me, at least.
Gloria’s “Did you say ‘Seth is a wolf’?” and Jason’s “How do you know about my wolf?” hit me at the same time. Both of them crowded toward where I still stood in the doorway. I didn’t know who to answer but figured with the power emanating from Gloria, her orangish aura now pulsing, I’d acknowledge her status.
“Yes. I’ve been a captive of Seth Morgan for ten years.” I rolled my lips inward in a physical effort to keep myself from saying any more. I didn’t need to spill my life’s story to these strangers. I’d already said too much.
Gloria stumbled backward a few steps, far enough to hit a chair with the back of her knees and fall into its paisley cushions, a pensive look plastered to her lovely face, her entire focus now inward as she took in my words.
Well, this is awkward.
“How do you know about my wolf?” Jason pressed again, now that Gloria was not pushing for her own answers.
“Uhhhh…” I really didn’t want to give all of my secrets away. A girl needed to keep those aces up her sleeves…
“Tomorrow, we will speak further with the rest of the Elders. Allya, we can inform you more about our town and our people then. Tonight, get some rest. Jason, if you could stay for just another moment?” Gloria waved her manicured hand, a signal that I had been dismissed, and Sasha turned to lead the way to my overnight accommodations. We walked back to the grand wooden staircase, ascending to the second floor of the mansion before she hooked a left and continued down a wood-floored walkway. The smaller girl stopped at the second door on the right before swiftly opening it when I pulled up to her side.
Sasha didn’t make eye contact as she shuffled into the large room, making sure everything was acceptably tidy and appropriately stocked with toiletries in the attached bathroom. I finally took a moment to glance at her as I followed her into the space and did a double take. When she was satisfied with the setup, she gave a mee
k “good night” before exiting and pulling the solid wood door closed behind her.
I walked a slow circuit through the room, running my hands over the plush plum-colored comforter before grasping a corner of the iron poster bed frame. Feeling my feet depress into deep carpet, I toed off the ratty flats and squished my toes into the thick, light grey fibers. I’d never felt carpet this amazing. I’d probably be more comfortable laying on it than I had been on my cot at the coven-house. Forcing myself to continue my perusal, I moved into the en-suite—something I’d definitely never had.
I’d gone days without a proper shower and, more often than not, had to evacuate my body out at the head of the woods that backed the house. Not tonight. I forgot all about exploring the room, about being cautious of my surroundings. I forgot everything but the glorious steam shower in the back corner of the large, marble-clad room. There were several shower heads and a couple more knobs of unknown functions along the walls of the enclosure. I was pulled into the room with the promise of being truly clean, of scrubbing the last couple of days from my skin, if not my mind.
Hell, I’d love to scrub away the last decade. I’d forget everything about my life with Seth. Except for Mae. I couldn’t forget her. I didn’t want to. I felt a tear track my cheek as I realized I’d probably never see my best—and only—friend ever again.
CHAPTER 7
S howering was cathartic. I scrubbed my body until my skin took on a rosy hue, and the hot water pricked my newly sensitized surface. I reveled in the sting, reminding myself that not only had I survived, I’d escaped and could now take every effort to be who and what I wanted to be. Never mind that I had no idea who that was or where I would go.
Something about the water and the revelations soon had me choking back sobs, and after crying enough tears to fill a bathtub, I was wrung out. After turning off the water, I took a moment to collect myself before pushing the door open and releasing the steam, thus bursting the little bubble I’d been wallowing in. Only after stepping out into the cavernous space and feeling my flesh pebble from the drastic temperature change did I realize that I didn’t have any clothes other than those I had literally peeled off my back.