***
After a few hours of sitting around doing absolutely nothing, Falcon finally got up. “Don’t move an inch.” He looked back and forth between us. “I’m talking to both of you.”
I nodded. “We won’t.”
He must have been satisfied by my response because he walked down the hall to the bathroom.
“This is it. Our only chance.” I kept my voice low even though Falcon had left the room. The wolves had insanely good hearing, and I wasn’t sure exactly how far the range went.
“I know. But how?” Mary Anne glanced at the closed bathroom door. “We’re lucky he didn’t leave the door open to do that.”
“There’s only one way. I don’t like it, and neither will you.”
She sighed and glanced at the fire. “I know what you’re going to say.”
“Do you?” I waited to see if she’d say it herself.
“I need to seduce him.” She cringed as she said the words.
“I’m glad you’re the one who said it out loud first.” I was relieved I didn’t have to suggest it. If our plan failed, I was putting her in a dangerous situation, but if we didn’t escape she might be in an even worse one. “And you’ll need the handcuffs from the shed.”
“Handcuffs?”
“Yeah, weird I know. Who knows who they belong to?”
“This isn’t going to be easy.”
“No one said it would be.”
The toilet flushed, and we jumped apart from each other. He’d only given us two minutes alone, but it was the first private conversation we’d had in days.
The door burst open. “Did I miss anything?”
“No.” Mary Anne shook her head a little too frantically. She needed to calm down. She couldn’t blow things when we were so close.
“Good. I wouldn’t want to have to invite you in next time, would I?” He checked her out again. What a sick bastard. I assumed he wasn’t talking about her watching while he took a shit, but who the hell knew with this piece of work? I didn’t want to throw her to the wolves—figuratively and literally, by making her do the dirty work, but I didn’t have any other ideas. Falcon wasn’t as sharp as the others, but we still weren’t likely to slip past him.
“I’m going to go upstairs and read.” Mary Anne patted the worn book in her hands. I figured it was one Hunter had given her.
“Oh yeah?” His eyes were on her chest and not her face. After a minute he turned to me. “And how about you? What are you going to be doing?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I could use some sleep.”
“Fine. I can arrange that.” I nodded, and he smiled. “Glad to know you’re being cooperative.”
“Do I really have another option?”
“No.”
We went upstairs, and Falcon followed me inside the guest room while Mary Anne walked into Hunter’s room. I wasn’t surprised when Falcon double checked the bars on the windows. Yes, bars. Hunter had them on every window in the house. I also wasn’t surprised when my door locked from the outside when he left. I was relying on that. Falcon wasn’t wasting his chance to spend time alone with Mary Anne. Maybe the seduction would be easier than we thought.
Chapter Twenty
Mary Anne
I knew Falcon was watching me from the hallway. I’d purposely left the door to Hunter’s room open just enough that he’d have a clear view while thinking I didn’t know. I stretched out on the bed, attempting to look sexy while pretending to read a book. I flipped my hair back and ran a hand down my chest. If I was going to play this game, then I was really going to play it.
I stared at two random pages in the book. I’d already finished Moby Dick, but Falcon didn’t need to know that.
I moaned. I figured adding some sound effects couldn’t hurt.
I heard a floor board creak outside the door. He’d know that I heard it too.
“You doing all right in there?”
“Sure. You can come in.” I braced myself. I could do this.
“Good book?” He gestured to the book in my hands. He stood in the doorway.
I held up Moby Dick. “Yeah. I didn’t expect it to get me so worked up though.”
“Worked up?” He stepped into the room, his boots clomping on the wood floor.
“Yeah. I don’t want to catch a giant whale, but I want my desires fulfilled if you know what I mean.” Oh my god. What was I even saying?
“Your desires fulfilled?” His lips twisted into a tight smile.
“Forget it. I understand that I can’t find what I need here.”
“Can’t find what you need?” He strode over to the bed. “And what is it you need?”
“Control.”
“Control in the bedroom?” He took another step closer.
“Yes. That’s why I haven’t given in to Hunter. He doesn’t get that I need to run things. At least the first time.” I sounded like a complete idiot, but miraculously Falcon didn’t seem to notice.
“Run things?”
“Yeah. I already told you I want to be in control.” I set aside the book. “Have you ever let a girl take control before?”
“No. I tend to dominate if you know what I mean.” He arched an eyebrow.
“I do know.” I sat up. “Maybe you should give the submissive role a chance sometime. I bet you’d like it.”
“Oh yeah?” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Would I?”
“Definitely.” I swallowed hard. I had to make this work. I scooted closer to him. “You’d love it.”
“Too bad you’re Hunter’s. I might have been interested in seeing if you were right.”
I stood up and moved in front of him. “Do you always listen to Hunter?”
“He’s Alpha. For now I don’t have a choice.”
“That’s too bad.” I stepped back. “I was even going to agree to take turns.”
He looked up at me through lidded eyes. “Hunter isn’t here.”
“No he isn’t.” I moved closer.
“How do I know you aren’t trying to get me in trouble?”
“Why would I do that?” I pulled my sweater off over my head. “Is it hot in here or is it me?”
“It’s you, but take off whatever you’d like.” His eyes zeroed in on the skin of my stomach exposed by my cami.
“So what’s it going to be?”
“What?”
“Are you going to let me take control? Let me show you just how much fun we can have together?” I ran a hand down my body. I hoped it came off sexy rather than strange.
“I don’t know. Defying Hunter is pretty big. How do I know it’s going to be worth it?”
“It’s going to be worth it.” I took a deep breath before pulling the cami over my head.
His breath picked up. “You’re fucking hot.”
“I already told you I was.”
He laughed. “How does this work?”
“I heard Marni talking about some handcuffs.”
“Marni? Handcuffs?”
Maybe using her name was a mistake. “Yeah. She said they were in the shed.”
“You really think I’m going to let you handcuff me?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Remember, we’re taking turns. Wouldn’t you like to do exactly the same thing to me?” I unbuttoned my jeans, unzipping them slowly.
“Aren’t you a little bit brave, hun? What’s going to stop me from having you on my terms first?”
“You play by my rules and Hunter doesn’t know. And who knows, if we have as much fun as I’m expecting maybe we can do it more often. I’ve noticed there aren’t too many girls around.”
“Not ones that look like you.” He cupped my breasts through my bra. I forced myself to moan instead of gag.
“So what’s it going to be?”
“I’ll get the handcuffs, but if you’ve changed your mind by the time I get back you’re going to have some trouble.”
“Why would I change my mind?” I started to inch my jeans down. “That is un
less you take too long. If you do I might have to take things into my own hands.”
He groaned. “Don’t go anywhere.”
As soon as I heard his footsteps on the stairs I unlocked Gage’s door. If things went wrong, I wasn’t leaving myself at Falcon’s mercy.
“Falcon? You coming?” I yelled it for Gage’s benefit. I didn’t want him opening the door and messing things up.
“Miss me?” Falcon appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Aren’t I allowed to be excited?”
“You’re allowed to be anything you want as long as the end result is me getting a piece of you.”
“Is that so?” I tugged on his hand, pulling him into Hunter’s room. “If that’s the case, start stripping.”
“Stripping?”
“Yes. I’m in control, remember?” I pulled the handcuffs from his pocket careful to let my hand brush against the bulge in his pants. “And I want your clothes off.”
“Will you be taking off the rest of yours?”
“Later.”
“Now. I’ll let you play the game you want, but I get something first.”
“Those aren’t the rules.”
He started to pull the handcuffs from me. “Yes they are.”
“Fine.” I reached around and unclasped my bra. I was doing this for my freedom, for Gage.
His hands were on me in seconds. “Such pretty little tits.” He started to lower his mouth, but I pushed him back.
“It’s your turn. Clothes off.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He was grinning. Taking off the bra had worked.
He pulled off his t-shirt, tossing it on the floor, before sliding off his jeans.
He started on his briefs, but I stilled his hand. “Not yet. That’s my job.”
“Oh yeah? Then do it.” He challenged me. His eyes were heated.
“Lie down.”
“Take off more clothes.”
“I’m already shirtless.”
“And I want to see what panties you’re wearing.”
“Lie down then.”
He lay down in the middle of the bed, and I slipped out of my jeans. I was already half naked and so close to getting him restrained, if I could only get him to trust me a little more.
“Pink. Nice.”
“Hands on the headboard.”
“You’re really going to handcuff me?”
“We both know you’re strong enough to break these anyway. Aren’t you?” I ran a hand over his bicep.
“Yeah. Oh course.” His forehead creased, and I got my answer. He couldn’t break them, but he wouldn’t admit it. Perfect.
I leaned over him while I locked on the cuffs. I was afraid that if I didn’t he’d change his mind. “Thank you, Falcon.”
“Thank you?” he looked at me with confusion.
“For being so cooperative.” I picked up my clothes and started getting dressed.
“You little bitch.”
“The little bitch with cute little tits, huh?”
Right on cue Gage opened his door. “Ready, babe?”
“Ready.”
Falcon struggled against the handcuffs. “I am going to fucking kill you, asshole. And I’ll have you too, you little twit!”
I didn’t wait. If he struggled for much longer he’d probably break the bed and free himself. I jumped into my jeans and accepted Gage’s out stretched hand.
Falcon’s screaming carried all the way down the stairs as we ran into the snowy, frigidly cold night.
“He’s going to be in a lot of trouble when Hunter gets home.”
“You mean because he’s almost naked and handcuffed to Hunter’s bed, or because we’re missing?”
“Both. Hunter didn’t want me looking at you. I can’t imagine how he’ll handle any excuse Falcon could possibly throw his way.”
***
The snow had started without me noticing. I was prepared for the cold and wind, but not for the swirling flakes of snow and sleet that stung my face as they made contact with my skin.
“We sure picked a great night to break out,” Gage squeezed my hand.
“It’s not like we had a choice.” We hurried through the cold night, trying not to look over our shoulder too often. We were both afraid that we were being followed.
“There’s no way we’re making it to town before daybreak.” Somehow I hadn’t thought this far ahead. Getting out of the house was the farthest I’d made it.
“We need to find shelter.”
“But we can’t stay around here. The witches might find us. They’re probably watching the highway.”
“Witches?”
“Oh. You don’t know about them?”
Gage laughed a ‘I’m losing my mind’ kind of laugh. “Nope. I guess I missed that fire side chat.”
His words stung whether he wanted them to or not. My talks with Hunter weren’t by choice. “There are scary psycho witches around.”
“Are you sure he didn’t just make them up? Maybe he was trying to scare you from running away?”
“If he did, it didn’t work.”
“No it didn’t.” Gage started heading away from the main highway. At least he listened. “There’s some abandoned railroad tracks this way, and I’m almost positive there’s another road beyond them.”
“They caused the accident; the wolves did.” It felt good to say it out loud.
Gage squeezed my hand. “I know. I just don’t know why.”
I refused to look at him. It was easy to do as we marched through the cold night. “They were going to give you to the witches, so they wouldn’t take an innocent local as a slave.”
“The rest of that comment aside, I wouldn’t have been innocent?”
“They thought driving through that snowstorm made you less worth saving I guess.”
“And you changed their mind?”
“Yeah. I look like his ex or something.”
“Hunter’s?” Gage picked up the pace slightly, and I worked to keep up. “Yeah. Because that’s not freaky at all.”
“No kidding… but he never told me what happened to her. Every time I brought it up he shut his mouth.”
“I’m sure he has plenty of secrets.”
“Do you think they’re going to hunt us down? I mean they do have our names, and they know where we are from.”
“I’ve thought of that, but we can’t afford to worry about that now. We’ve come this far.”
“I agree.” My hood blew off from a strong gust of wind, so I secured it on my head again.
“It’s freezing out tonight.”
“I’d have thought after all your time outside the past few days you’d be immune,” I teased. It felt good to tease him. Normal in a way nothing had been for days.
“Not at all, besides it feels even colder.”
“I know.”
“And darker.” There was only a sliver of the moon that night. We walked through the blackness, aided only by the faint glow of the moon. I repeatedly tripped over tree roots once we reached the woods, but Gage kept catching me before I fell face first into the snowy ground.
“I think we found the railroad tracks.” Gage bent down and started brushing snow off something.
“So we’re getting close.”
“Closer. Besides, maybe we’ll get lucky and find some shelter around here.”
“Luck? What’s that?”
He laughed. “I think we’re both due a little bit of that.”
The strong wind continued as we stumbled along. My feet ached from the cold, but I didn’t dare complain. All Gage could do was pick me up and that would just slow us down. Considering I’d just seduced a werewolf, walking a few miles in the snow shouldn’t have been so hard.
“What’s that?” I squinted my eyes, trying to make out a structure in the distance.
“I don’t know. Let’s find out.”
“What if it’s the witches?”
“If there are witches, and I say if, they’d find us no matter whe
re we are, right? Besides, what other choice do we have?”
“You do realize the last time you said that we saw the smoke and met the wolves.”
“True, but I don’t see smoke.”
“Let’s be careful.”
We walked as quietly as possible, but even so our feet crunched on the icy top layer of the snow. The tiny house looked decrepit, but it was definitely better than nothing.
“No one’s lived here in years.” Gage pushed open the old wooden door of the house. “This is an old railway house. It’s been abandoned as long as the railroad.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.”
“I’d tell you to wait here, but that might be just as dangerous.”
“We stay together. Remember?”
He took both of my hands in his. “Of course I do.”
After releasing one of my hands, Gage walked into the small house first, but I followed just behind him. The room was pitch black, and I wasn’t sure how much further in we should walk, when Gage turned on a light.
“You had a flashlight?” I asked with surprise. I was about to ask why he’d let me spend hours tripping over tree roots when the obvious answer came to me. A light would have attracted attention, which begged the question of why he had it on now. “And be careful with it.”
He laughed. “I love that I know exactly how your mind went through all that. I’m only using it to search the house. Once I know we’re alone and settled, I’ll turn it off.”
“Are we really staying here?” I asked, following closely behind.
“I don’t see another choice, do you?”
“We could try to make it to the road.” My aching feet didn’t exactly agree with me.
“It’s too late and too cold. We at least need to stop for a few hours to warm up.”
“This place is way nicer than it looked from the outside.” Despite a layer of dust, the room seemed pretty nice. In another time I might have enjoyed the old house for its history. Considering we’d just escaped wolves and all we had was a flashlight, it didn’t seem like the appropriate time.
Dire (The Dire Wolves Chronicles Book 1) Page 14