I try to turn my head toward the person speaking, but I can’t force my body to do anything. It’s as if it doesn’t belong to me.
“My husband, her father…” Another voice. Scratchy. Scraping against my ears. “He said there were diamonds…he wouldn’t have lied.”
Words blend together into waves of sound that I can’t make out and don’t want to. They’re interrupting the heavenly blackness that’s become my serenity in a world of chaos. Colors warp in front of my eyes, circles of blue and yellow, red and radiant green. A kaleidoscope of sensation whirls through the void in my head, mixing with vibrant shades of the rainbow, and I’m swept away in relaxation again.
More sounds. Words become clear.
“You will bond with her, and the diamond mines will be yours…you’ll announce it now. They’re expecting you. They’ve already been waiting too long.”
Silence stretches through the room, and I’m grateful for the return of the stillness.
“What should I do about Snow?” the dark voice whispers. “I won’t force her to bond with me while she’s in this state. I want her to be mine, but not like…this. She can’t even open her eyes. Does the doctor know why she won’t wake up?”
My brain turns over like an engine, slow and groggy, replaying sounds and syllables over and over again until they begin to make sense. And then I’m reaching for the tones I recognize, forming them into words and sentences.
“No. He said it’s very strange, but he was only here a few moments before he got another call. We were talking about your impending announcement, and she just blacked out. Hit the floor hard, the poor thing. The excitement must’ve been too much for her heart to bear. The doctor says not to worry, that she’ll wake up soon and be better than ever.”
More silence, and now my chest feels weird, as if something inside it has stopped moving. I’m frozen inside my own body, unable to move, even if my thoughts are whirling at full speed, grasping every word being spoken around me.
“Don’t let this stop you. Declare her as your mate, Malcolm.”
Malcolm.
A spark of recognition flares inside me, and his face fills the blackness behind my eyelids. He’s come to check on me. To help, maybe.
Help! I cry out, my lips unmoving. What’s happened to me?
“Tell the pack that she’s fallen ill,” the female drones on, “and you will complete the bonding process when she wakes.” This voice is strangely familiar, raising the hairs on the back of my neck, but I can’t muster the will to figure out who it belongs to. “You two want to be together, so I don’t see any reason why you should postpone this further. You’ll find the mines eventually, grow your business and ours, and everyone will get the future they’ve dreamed of. Everything will work out. I make that my vow to you.”
“In your correspondence, you promised me the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and you delivered.” A never-ending pause stretches to infinity and back again. “But you also promised me lavish, unspoiled diamond mines. In my business, when people give their word, they mean it or they pay the consequences.”
Diamonds? That’s why Malcolm came to our estate? To get the mines on our land? My father mentioned diamond mines from time to time. He thought the entrance might’ve been somewhere in the forest to the west, but he’d never found it. At least, not that I’d ever heard.
“Is that a threat?” the female asks.
I wait for a response, a whisper of a word, but nothing comes. Suddenly, from out of the void, something clicks in the distance. A clock? No, maybe a door lock. And then I’m swallowed in silence once more.
Using every ounce of strength in my sapped muscles—which isn’t much—I strain, urging my eyelids apart. But they don’t move. I’m my own prisoner, trapped in my body where it’s warm and soothing. There’s no up or down, past or future. Static fills the blackness on the backs of my eyelids. Black and white dots shift and tweak, fuzzing in front of my eyes.
“Oh, my dear.” That sweet, fake voice fills my ears. It’s so close. Right beside me. “Your future mate may be charming, but he’s a complete imbecile. Does the doctor know why she won’t wake up?” she mimics, giving Malcolm her worst doltish voice. “Why would I call the doctor to check on you? He might suspect the drug I put in your drink.”
Stepmother.
As her words kerplunk into place in my brain, chills scamper over my skin, freezing the air in my lungs. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out. I force my arms to move, my legs, my fingers—anything.
It’s useless. Hopeless.
She drugged me.
And then her face is pressed against mine, cheek to cheek, as she exhales heavily. “In a few minutes, Malcolm will declare you as his mate. He’s made his choice to be with you for the rest of his life, and that decision will secure our future. I thought you’d be happy with that, but you wanted more, you selfish little brat.”
Something smacks me against the cheek. The back of her hand, I realize, as a bitter sting radiates through my face.
“Now you have a choice, too,” she seethes. I can sense her hatred as she twists her fingers through my hair and gives it a solid yank. “You can either forget about your flirting in the forest with Hunter and complete the bonding process with Malcolm when he returns…or you can remain in this state indefinitely. Believe me, I have the stuff to keep you knocked out for the rest of your life. The doctors won’t be able to explain what’s happened, and as your guardian, I’ll insist that no blood work be done.”
Indefinitely?
Fear washes over me. I try to move, to fight, to break free from whatever hold the drugs have over me, but I can’t. They’re too strong. It’s as if my body has detached from my brain and decided to stop listening.
“If you choose to cooperate and take Malcolm as your husband, the drugs will wear off in a few hours, you’ll wake up, and you’ll be happy. We’ll all be happy,” my stepmother continues, her voice going tight. “But if you don’t cooperate, you’ll stay in this state. Once Malcolm announces that you are his mate in front of the pack, he can’t back out unless you free him from that declaration. If you’re stuck in a drug-induced coma, you won’t be saying much of anything. He’ll be forced to move to the estate and care for us like his own family, and our financial worries will end. You won’t even need to finish the bonding process with him. You see, my dear Snow, I win either way.”
She’s sick. Delusional. I’d tell her that if my tongue were working properly.
“I know you can hear me,” she goes on, her voice twisting my stomach into knots, “and I know you’re trying to figure a way out of this, but there isn’t one. Now, I’m going to go downstairs and listen to Malcolm’s declaration, and when I return in a few hours, you’ll make your choice.”
She smacks me on the cheek once, twice, and then stands. I can hear her dress swish over the hardwood as she moves toward the door, and when it closes behind her, the clink-clink-clink of chains rattling against one another hits my ears.
She’s locking me in.
Even if the drugs wear off before she gets back, I’m not going anywhere.
I pinch my eyes closed, whisper a silent plea to Hunter, and as the dizzying effects of the drug overtake me again, I succumb to the dark.
Chapter Five
Hunter
I should stay away. Let Snow make her decision for herself. If she wants to be with Malcolm, I should let her. I’ve never been one to chase a woman. Especially one who seems hell-bent on leaving to be with another dude.
But damn, she’s got me twisted.
I lived without her just fine for the last five years. But now, after this weekend, I see her in a different light. Now, fuck five years. I’m not going to be able to live another five minutes without her by my side.
The guys have already high-tailed it out of the lodge. They’re probably at the White Estate by now with the rest of our pack, ready to watch the ceremony. I’ve been dragging my feet, contemplating whether I
should skip the ceremony all together and simply give her the gift from her father afterward. But those damn seconds tick, tick, tick away, eating at my insides until they’re raw.
I can’t stay away.
Before I realize what the hell’s going on, my feet lead me to the edge of the forest next to the estate. The harsh afternoon sun looms overhead, illuminating the peppering of wolves over the lawn, and the wide back porch where Snow and her stepmother should be standing, overseeing the induction. I can’t see them from back here, but I know the routine—it can’t have changed that much since I’ve been gone. A wave of heat washes over me, causing my shirt to stick to my back and beads of sweat to trickle down my temple.
I search for Snow on the back porch and in the sea of wolves in front of me.
She’s not here.
Movement catches my eye near the main house. Someone is shrinking into the shadows, pacing the porch.
Malcolm.
I slink closer, my heightened sense of smell picking up his pungent scent: earthy tones mixed with something feral and dark. His long strands of golden fur flatten in the wind as he edges toward the center of the porch and postures in front of everyone. Malcolm is burlier than I thought he’d be, but he’s still no match for me, and I’m itching for him to throw down a challenge.
Where’s Snow?
She should be here…
Creeping toward the rear of the pack as their attention is honed in on Malcolm, I shift into wolf form in stride. Clothes are ripped to shreds as strength pulses through my muscles. Letting the shifting energy snap through me, I drop to all fours and pad over the lawn, my claws digging into the soil. My senses intensify—if that’s possible—and everything becomes clear as crystal. The chirping of birds in the trees behind me. The scent of each of the packmates in front of me. The hard pounding of my heart as it calls to Snow’s.
Packmates, Malcolm says, facing his wolf brothers and sisters, projecting his thoughts loud and clear. Mrs. White will be out here in a moment, but first, I must thank her and Snow for their hospitality this weekend. It’s been an enlightening few days, at least on my part. As you all know, I haven’t been to the full moon festivities in years. I let business rule my life for so long, I forgot what it was like to have family around me. This weekend, you’ve reminded me of that, and I thank you.
As the pack goes wild, I slink closer, hovering along the far right edge of the lawn. Behind Malcolm, Mrs. White emerges from the main house, a lean, inky-black haired wolf with piercing blue eyes. She stands beside him, as if to signify a united front, and I’m still searching for Snow.
While we’re on the topic of family, Malcolm projects loudly, his gaze sweeping over the lawn from one side to the other, I have a special announcement to make.
If he says he’s bonding with Snow, if she’s agreed to this, I’m going to explode. The pressure on my heart is already too much to bear.
Where is she?
Malcolm paces from one side of the patio to the other. When I arrived Friday evening, I had a private meeting with Mrs. White. She informed me that the estate had fallen into serious debt.
Whispers spread through the thoughts of the pack.
Many of you may not have realized the strain the Whites have been under these last few months as they’ve scrambled to find a solution to their financial difficulties, but I can assure you everything is fine now. Or, rather, it will be very soon. Malcolm lifts his muzzle to the crowd, the magnanimous bastard. I have paid off all their debts, free and clear. The estate has been saved.
What. The. Ever-fucking. Fuck.
The wolves covering the lawn howl in excitement, padding closer to the patio, giving me a glimpse of Cash and Harley in the center. They’re watching the commotion skeptically, the arch of their backs curved high as if their bullshit meters are rocketing off the charts, too.
I search for Snow, seeking her out every way I can. I don’t sense her here or anywhere in the vicinity.
If that announcement isn’t exciting enough, Malcolm boasts proudly, I have another.
Snow’s stepmother sits back on her haunches beside Malcolm as if she knows exactly what he’s about to say. And if the skin crawling beneath my fur is any indication, I know, too.
As Malcolm’s voice drones through my head, I reach Cash and Harley’s side. J.D., Rocky, Goliath, and Diesel turn as I approach, nodding and lowering their muzzles before turning their attention back to the shit-show.
Packmates, Malcolm says, projecting so hard, he’s practically yelling in my head, I declare Snow White as my mate. From this day forward, our lives are entwined, two as one, forever together, never to part.
Fuck.
I can’t help but project the word and catch the unwanted attention of every wolf gathered around me. My heart stops momentarily before jolting back to its rhythm, flip-flopping in my chest. Everyone eventually turns back to the stage. Well, everyone except for the guys, who can sense the fury building inside me. I’m going to snap, I know it.
If Snow were here, if I could see the look on her face and know she was happy with this decision, that this was what she truly wanted for her future—a fuckwit who could offer her financial security and little else—I could walk away. I’d never get over her, but I could live well knowing she was happy.
But Snow’s noticeably absent, which isn’t like her. She wouldn’t miss this ceremony for the world. Nothing would keep her from this moment when she should be taking her rightful position in front of the pack.
Unfortunately, Snow has fallen ill and can’t be present to complete our declaration, Malcolm continues as if he’s read my mind. But we will conclude the bonding process once she is well.
His words rub me raw, scraping against my skull as I struggle to process them.
Something’s wrong.
I can’t pinpoint it exactly, but as I search the patio, my gaze hones in on Mrs. White. She’s shifting her weight back and forth, her tail curving slightly between her legs. And she’s giving off an anxious vibe that’s softly permeating the happiness of those around her. If everyone weren’t so flipping excited about the latest news, they might detect it, too.
As Malcolm steps back into the shadows and Mrs. White moves forward, I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s hiding something. I feel it in my bones, even as she talks about numbers and figures and future plans.
I know you’d all hoped to see Snow declared as Alpha this afternoon, she projects, but under the circumstances, that can’t happen today. We’re going to postpone the official declaration until further notice.
I need to find Snow. I push my thoughts to the guys. We’re going to spread out and search the estate, and we’ll meet up—
I cut my thoughts short as they turn my way slowly, measuring me beneath bushy brows.
Dude… Goliath’s voice scratches like a razor blade inside my head. You know I’m all for going balls-out to land a dame, but what’s the point? She picked someone else. He declared her as his mate. It’s over.
The hell it is. Blood lurches through my veins as the thoughts escape me, coupled with an audible growl. I was with Snow all weekend. I don’t care what that dipshit says, she isn’t sick. Even if she were, she wouldn’t miss this ceremony. Nothing would stop her from being here.
Doesn’t change the facts, my man.
Grumbling softly, Cash paws at the ground over and over again.
Got something to add, Cash? I press.
He exhales heavily and finally lifts his gaze to mine. If Snow knew Malcolm was going to declare her as his mate, and she knew you were coming to watch it go down, maybe she couldn’t stand up there knowing you were out here fuming. Maybe she ducked out.
But hiding out doesn’t sound like Snow. Not at all.
Pacing around the group, Rocky makes a stand behind me. If you’re gearing up to go against that asshat, you know I’m in. Haven’t liked him since the first moment I met him.
I can always count on Rocky to have my back, even if the battle is
n’t his to fight, and I’m thankful for it today.
Hate to say it, but I agree with Cash for once, J.D. pipes in, moving between Cash and Diesel. Snow’s our new Alpha. Marrying someone like Malcolm is the right move. It stabilizes the pack. Leaves you high and dry, but there ain’t shit you can do about it now. You’ll find another.
I search for Snow among the packmates lined up and staring at the house. There isn’t anyone else. Not for me. And there never will be.
The guys cough and gag, drawing the attention of the wolves around us.
Finally, Diesel sits back, sniffing the air. If he just paid off all their debt, it sounds like a deal Snow wouldn’t want to back out of.
Something she can’t, Goliath agrees, nodding quickly. You heard Malcolm. She’s his now.
I won’t accept that. Backing away from the guys, I pad toward the main house, weaving between packmates as Snow’s stepmother invites other couples to the porch. I’m going to find her with or without you guys.
Exasperated sighs echo behind me, but when I turn around, every single one of them is on my tail. As I knew they would be. Once we’re around the house and facing the front—in plain view of where I pleasured Snow on the hood of Diesel’s car—we split up. Rocky and Goliath search the perimeter, the forest, and then plan to circle back to the lodge to make sure Snow didn’t backtrack there.
God, I wish she would…
But I get the feeling it’s not going to be that simple.
Diesel and Harley head to the garage first, probably to scope out the rides while they’re searching, and then will meet up with Rocky and Goliath when they’re finished.
As I slip through the front door with Cash and J.D., they split off to clear the downstairs chambers, bar, kitchen, and dining room. The main house is empty, except for the staff bustling about, setting up the formal dinner that’ll happen later. Glasses clink as they’re carried together and placed on the white linen cloths. A few of the staff glance my way, nod and smile, and then turn their attention back to decorating the table. They’re the only packmates on the estate who remain in human form, though they’ll still be able to hear my mindspeak. Malcolm and Snow’s stepmother are too close to the back door for me to call out for Snow. They’ll hear and no doubt come inside to make sure I’m escorted out.
Snow's Surrender (A Snow White Werewolf Tale) Page 4