A Night Claimed

by Domina Alexandra

  I felt ready to get out of the house. I went for a run and then stopped at WinCo’s to buy a Gatorade. It was a local grocery store that kept all of my favorite snacks in stock. I absently browsed the counter in the deli, intrigued by the selection of prepared foods. I took two pastrami sandwiches, wolfing them down before I made it to the counter to pay. I kept the containers in my hands as I approached the check-out line.

  A woman with her toddler and two teenaged boys walked by holding a basket filled with food.

  “Mom, please! Can we please get some soda?” The eldest of the two boys begged.

  “You ask me one more time and I’m going to take those bags of chips out this basket,” she replied.

  I smiled at this scene, forgetting myself for a moment.

  I didn’t notice there was anyone near me until I was forced forward a couple of feet. I turned and shook my arms, wanting to get a look at whoever had bumped into me. It was a man, solidly built. There was no apology. He simply glared at me and then kept walking, as if the entire incident had been my fault. I muttered some obscenities under my breath and then edged closer to the counter. I handed the empty containers to the cashier and then froze. There was something, something that I needed to get to.

  Desperate to find whatever was causing me to feel this immediacy, I left my stuff at the register. I sprinted past each aisle until I heard a commotion. Hunger devoured me. My vision blurred. My hands were sweating. I couldn’t move. I could smell blood. Rich, sweet blood. It was spilling out from underneath a man who was sitting on the floor, his hand pressed to a wound on his thigh. He was groaning in pain.

  He saw me. “A man…he…I don’t know what happened.”

  Somehow, I managed to regain my composure when I saw his distress.

  “I’m a paramedic.” I spotted the woman with her kids. Her oldest kid was wearing a belt. I pointed to it and shouted, “I need that! Tourniquet!”

  He removed it quickly and handed it to me. I secured it above the laceration on his thigh. It was deep, nearly two inches long. As I labored to control the bleeding, I ordered the woman to call 911. I wondered how this happened to him. A random stabbing? That’s really strange.

  I heard the sirens and heaved a sigh of relief. The bleeding was slowing, and I was able to wrap the man’s wound in a thick towel supplied to me by a member of the store’s staff. There was nothing more I could do, but I kept him calm as the paramedics rushed in to take over. I stood up and stared at my hands. They were painted with blood – it was even under my fingernails. A foreign ache rose in my body from my stomach to my throat. It was burning. Something was off. I stared at my hands a long time.

  “I need to wash my hands.” I had said it aloud, but I wasn’t actually speaking to anyone but myself.

  I barely made it into the restroom before I began to fall apart. There was a lot of blood. My mind flashed back to the wolf on top of me and I cringed. Sweat dotted my neck and slid down my back. I was suddenly hot. My eyes burned.

  I gritted my teeth and slammed my fist into the mirror. Scared and alone. That’s how I felt that night. I never wanted to feel that way again. Hot tears burst free from my eyes, and I ran. Ran out of the restroom and through the crowd of people. My mind dissipated. There was only each movement of my limbs, every flutter of my heart, the sensation of the cool wind against my flesh. I couldn’t remember how I got home, but when my mind returned, my body was leaning into the spray of hot water from the showerhead. I immediately thought of Rosemary.

  *

  I was disappointed to see Rikki at my door when the bell rang. She was holding out an aluminum container of hot tamales in front of her. A peace offering. My mouth watered. Now I didn’t care that it was her and not Rosemary that had come. I stepped aside and gestured for her to come in.

  “I know you must be disappointed not to see Rosemary, but I thought it best if I came instead. I wanted to explain. And apologize.” She put the container on the coffee table and sat down on the couch, adjusting her position to get comfortable.

  I took a seat in the chair across from Rikki. I snatched the container from its place on the table and opened it, greedily gobbling up her peace offering.

  Rikki beamed with satisfaction while I ate. “Look, I’m not here to cause you distress. I only want to help you understand what’s happening to you.”

  I set the container down once I had finished. “Okay.”

  “How about we start with why you texted Rosemary today?” Her hands rested on her kneecaps. She gazed at me intently.

  I recounted all that I had experienced since the incident. I watched her as I talked, searching for some change in her demeanor, but she remained motionless and disturbingly calm. Her eyes never left mine. I was certain she would think I was crazy. Any normal person would think so. Hell, I think I’m acting crazy. But she kept listening. And part of me knew she would continue to listen and not judge me. I knew that Rosemary wouldn’t either. That’s why I’d been so drawn to her since waking in the hospital.

  When I finished, she relaxed her hands, moving them up to lay atop her thighs. “I have to tell you something.”

  It was my turn to listen. I worried that I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear.

  “This is…difficult, to say the least. I’ve never been in a position like this.” Rikki rose from her spot and began pacing across the living room. Her hands balled into fists and she turned to face me. “Since I first saw you in the hospital, thoughts of you have distracted me.”

  You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. “Excuse me?”

  She shook her head, almost as if she were trying to discard what she was thinking. She decided on a different approach. She moved closer, kneeling nearly a foot away.

  She spoke with sincerity. “Among my family, I am called Alpha.”

  No. Nope. No. No. No. “I’m not calling you that.”

  Still kneeling, she continued, “I will be your Alpha and your ma—”

  What the hell was she talking about? “I think you need to leave. This…whatever the hell this is…well, it’s a little too much for me.”

  She stood, a pained expression on her face. “Perhaps it should have been Rosemary that came here today. I-I am not myself and I don’t think I can explain things very well right now. Please, allow Rosemary to bring you to my house again tonight.”

  I was still in a state of confusion over what had just transpired, but I couldn’t go any longer without answers. “What about your groupies?”

  Rikki snorted. “They will keep their distance.”

  “Then I’ll be there. But I expect a clear explanation about what’s happening to me. After that, we can revisit this whole Alpha thing.

  Her smile was sincere. “I’ll be waiting.”

  Chapter Six

  “I’m glad you decided to come.”

  I shut my eyes and faced the window in response.

  Rosemary was seeking to fill the unpleasant silence that pervaded the air inside the car. It was the first time either of us had spoken since she picked me up at my house after I had spent the better part of the last few hours arguing with myself about whether I should text her or even continue down this insane path. I had written several drafts of texts that I planned to send, but I ended up deleting them all. Ultimately, I ended up calling her. She was at my front door not long afterwards.

  Letting Rosemary take me back to that house and those people did not mean that I wanted to be involved with their family. The only reason I was returning to that den of weirdos was to finally get the answers I needed. I had to know what was happening to me. I had to. I also had to find out what exactly was the deal with Rikki. She was stranger than the others, and her visit left a bad taste in my mouth. I had no clue what she was after, and nothing she said to me made sense.

  “Something is clearly bothering you.” Rosemary’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel. Something was bothering her too.

  “Besides the obvious?” I replied dry
ly. “I’m not exactly looking forward to this, and you know that.”

  “I’m sorry, but it will get better. You’ll understand once you hear what we have to say.” Her voice was gentle. She reached over the center console and touched my arm gingerly. “Relax.”

  She would make a great mother.

  I smiled, but not without reservation.

  The longer we drove the more nervous I became. I couldn’t be sure how my life would change after tonight. I wasn’t even sure I wanted it to change. But it would, so there was no point in resisting. I opened my eyes and watched the scenery transform as we drove – the beautiful green of the landscape was swallowed up with the black, grey, and blue hues of night. The shadows falling across the road conjured the memory of the incident that had started everything. Those yellow eyes were ever with me. I shuddered.

  “Bonnie. We are here.” Rosemary’s honeyed voice pierced the silence once more.

  The familiar grounds did nothing to allay my misgivings. There were less cars in the driveway tonight, which was a little comforting. The smaller the audience, the better this will be. There could be nothing worse than doing this with a large group of people who hated me.

  Stepping out the car, I immediately noticed Rikki and Tato standing on the porch together. They were deep in conversation, and from the looks of it, it was something grave. Both of their postures were rigid, almost as if they were statues. If I hadn’t seen their lips moving as they spoke, the image of them on the porch could have fooled anyone into believing they were clay sculptures. I leaned against the car. There was no way I was going to interrupt this conversation.

  Rikki caught sight of Rosemary and me from the porch. Only her head turned, her body didn’t move. “You should take Rosemary.”

  Tato scowled. His gaze remained fixed on Rikki.

  “She has a good sense of things,” Rikki stressed. “You know it too.”

  Tato scoffed. He shot an annoyed look at Rosemary. “I like to hunt alone.”

  Rikki took hold of his arm. Tato winced and then lowered his head, but Rikki kept her grip firm. “You will take her with you.”

  Tato grunted in surrender, and Rikki released his arm.

  I was struck with the realization that I was going to be alone with Rikki. Great. I watched as Tato practically vaulted off the porch and sprinted toward the tree line without pausing to allow Rosemary to catch up to him. She chuckled, and then gave chase, disappearing into the thick brush. Neither of them had weapons when they left, nor were they remotely dressed for hunting in this cool weather. This is too weird. I wanted to leave. I definitely wasn’t ready for this much weird.

  “You are free to leave at any time,” Rikki remarked.

  Somehow, that didn’t sound so reassuring. I combed my fingers through my hair agitatedly. I scratched my jawline and stared vacantly at the spot where Rosemary and Tato vanished. I wanted to avoid looking at Rikki for as long as I could, but I simply couldn’t look away for too long. I was drawn in by her presence, and the intriguing slopes of her body. Even though I still didn’t like being in this place or the general attitude of the family, I could at least enjoy looking at Rikki while we were left alone together.

  Deciding not to delay the inevitable, I strode over to Rikki and she led me behind the house to a small shed almost completely hidden by the trees. The gnawing sensation in my gut resurfaced as I scanned the chipped paint and the rotted boards of the structure. Surprisingly, the door made no noise when she pulled it back to reveal a converted studio apartment. I gasped audibly. It was beautiful – a picture utterly contrary to its outer appearance.

  A kitchenette was the first thing I saw as we walked through the doorway. To the right, a retro couch hugged the wall next to a small dining table surrounded by three chairs. A flat screen was mounted on the wall over an electric fireplace facing the couch. Toward the back of the shed was a decent-sized bed that had a comforter with a colorful pattern.

  “This is where you sleep?” I asked with genuine amazement. I was also a bit curious as to why she didn’t sleep in the house.

  She nodded.

  This cozy place didn’t match the demanding and stiff woman standing in front of me. This place looked as if it belonged to a bubbly socialite, not this angular seductress who was studying my movements closely.

  “Hard to picture me in here?” she asked, but I believed she already knew the answer to her own question.

  “Do you really need to ask?” I grinned. “But why the shed? Why not the house?”

  “The house belongs to my family. Here, I am not disturbed.” Rikki closed the door and walked to the modest refrigerator. “Would you like something to drink? Anything to eat?”

  I plopped down on the couch. “Just something to drink.”

  Rikki took a glass canister from the refrigerator and set it out on the counter. She then retrieved two cups from the cabinet and filled each cup with the contents of the canister. Sauntering over to me, cups in hand, I noticed the smoothness of her skin for the first time.

  She handed me the cup and I took a sip. “Mmm, I love cold tea. This is really good.”

  “Brewed it myself. I like using my own ingredients,” she explained as she sipped idly.

  I straightened in my place as I watched how her lips brushed against the cup as drank. It was quiet save for the distant chirping of crickets. Rikki was stunning, to be sure, and I was beginning to see the softness in her edges. The silence between us wasn’t awkward, but I needed to talk. I needed the answers for which I returned to this house.

  “Listen, thank you for the hospitality, but you know that I didn’t come here with you and sip tea.”

  She clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes at me, suddenly serious. “How wild is your imagination?”

  “If you told me now that you saw a mermaid once, I’d be inclined to believe you.” I tapped the side of my cup. “Have you seen one?”

  She took a sip of her tea. “Unfortunately, I have not. They have been extinct for some time. Sorry.”

  Not sure whether to take Rikki’s comment as a joke, I left it alone. I put my cup down on the little table next to the couch. “I’m in no mood for games or cryptic questions. I want to know what’s happening to me.”

  Rikki bit her lip. “It’s not so easy to say, and it’s certainly not easy to know.”

  My hands balled into fists in my lap. “I don’t care! Ever since I was attacked, nothing has been right. Nothing has been the same. I came here because Rosemary told me that there were people who could help me, and so far, I’ve only been getting jerked around. It’s enough! Now, tell me what I need to know.”

  Rikki’s hand reached out and brushed my cheek, catching me off guard. When her thumb grazed the corner of my mouth, I tried not to bite her finger. She was sexy and for a split-second, I forgot I was supposed to be angry. I squeezed my thighs together.

  “You had something at the corner of your mouth,” she said, her gaze still lingering on my lips.

  “Oh.” That was all I could say.

  I was failing at keeping my composure. I licked my bottom lip when her hand moved away. She watched me.

  “What is this?” I asked softly.

  “What do you want it to be?”

  I wasn’t going to answer that. “I thought I was coming here for the truth.”

  “You are learning the truth,” Rikki said, then took another sip of tea.

  It was hard to do, but I finally pulled my eyes away from the trap of her mesmerizing gaze. I looked around, taking a deep breath. While I was doing that, a thought popped into my head.

  “Is this a date?” I asked, only half-serious.

  Her hazel eyes locked with my own. “This–”

  A desperate shriek tore through the night air and Rikki rushed out of the shed and into the black of the night.

  Chapter Seven

  The front door of the house was open. Visceral cries emanated from its center, echoing down the network of hallways. I hurried be
hind Rikki, my heart thumping wildly against my ribcage. I had no idea what we would discover when we arrived in the living room, but I especially wasn’t prepared to encounter Rosemary lying naked on the floor, the skin of her leg buried beneath soupy webs of blood. Tato was kneeling near her shoulder stroking her matted hair. Another person I didn’t recognize was crouched near her stomach, his hands grasping hers.

  “Damn it!” the unfamiliar man bellowed. “I don’t think we can get it out.”

  “Rosemary,” Rikki whispered tremulously.

  “Move,” I barked, my paramedic instincts kicking in.

  Tato and the stranger looked at me and then to Rikki, who said nothing. Her eyes scanned Rosemary’s wound and anger flickered across her face. The two men moved away from Rosemary but remained in the room. She shivered as beads of sweat formed at her pores. Her eyes were closed.

  “Are there any medical supplies here?” I looked to everyone in the room for an answer.

  I heard someone leave the room. My attention remained on Rosemary. It was difficult to see her in this state. I mean, I was always sympathetic to the suffering of those I treated, but lately it had become harder to deal with the pain of others. It was much worse with Rosemary. I lightly brushed her cheek with my fingers.

  The stranger reappeared with supplies. I ripped through them in the space of a heartbeat and retrieved what I needed. Once I managed to wipe away some of the blood from the site of the wound, it became clear it was caused by a gunshot.

  “Call 911.” I went straight to work tending to her injury.

  No one moved.

  Carefully, I slid my finger inside the broken tissue to locate the bullet. Not an action generally performed in the field, but the unwillingness of the others to call for help told me that I was alone in my efforts. The bullet lodged itself not far from the surface of her skin. No artery was severed. I breathed a sigh of relief. I moved with renewed determination, wanting to get the bullet out as quickly as possible without causing Rosemary any unnecessary pain. My index finger trailed along its smooth surface. In one swift motion, I pulled it from her thigh and let it drop on the floor next to me.