by Noelle Marie
“I don’t know,” she bluffed, glancing coyly at him from under her lashes and playing shyly with a loose thread on her sleeve.
She successfully prevented a flinch when her wrist was abruptly grabbed and the man dragged her closer to him. He leaned into her until his body was pressed against hers. Stale breath hit her nose as he whispered huskily into her ear. “Let me convince you, dollie.”
Knowing that she’d been given the opening she’d been looking for, Katherine swiftly kicked the man in the shin. He yelped in a mix of surprise and pain and she quickly snatched the phone from his loosened grip before turning and running back toward her car. She’d just reached the driver’s side door and was working to unlock it when the man caught up to her. Large hands seized her arms and in one swift motion, he turned her around and slammed her against the car, the side mirror digging painfully into her back.
The sense of déjà vu was strong.
So was the nausea the jarring action had caused.
She felt the vomit rising, but could do nothing but clench her eyes shut as foul liquid burst from her mouth and nose and splattered on the gravel and the shoes of the man holding her. When she opened her eyes, her vision was a little fuzzier than it should have been, but she could still clearly see the rage-induced flush covering the bandana-clad man’s face.
“Ya shouldn’t have done that, princess,” he hissed. “I was gonna make this fun for ya, but now you’ve asked for it.”
Still clutching the phone in an unyielding grip behind her back, Katherine tried to focus on the words the man in front of her was saying. But the pounding in her head was rapidly getting worse and she couldn’t concentrate. The man’s features were growing blurrier as well. No, she thought desperately, not when I was so close to getting help.
Before she could make herself to react – to somehow escape the clutches of the threatening thug – she heard it. A car engine. A vehicle was on the highway. She and the men surrounding her looked to the source of the sudden noise and Katherine nearly died of relief when she saw that it wasn’t a black BMW, but a huge green SUV. The man holding her against her car backed off a little as the vehicle turned into the gravel lot of the station, though he was still much too close for comfort.
To Katherine’s shock, she immediately recognized the man who stepped out of the SUV. Tall, muscular build. Wild black hair. Intense blue eyes. It was the stranger she had run into outside of Miller Road. The same man who had rescued her at her house. He was okay!
But… what was he doing here?
The man – as young as he looked Katherine couldn’t bring herself to call him a boy – didn’t hesitate in making his way over to them. The tense manner in which he held himself and the way his arm muscles strained gave him away. He was furious. “What’s going on here?” he asked coolly.
One of the men – the scrawny one with the rat-like face – sneered at him. “None of your business. Now get out of here, boy. There’s another gas station twenty miles up the road.”
The man ignored the thug completely, choosing instead to focus his attention on Katherine, who was still feeling rather lightheaded. “Are you okay?” he asked gently.
Gently? The last time he’d spoken to Katherine, the man had been downright cold towards her. But then he’d rescued her from those delusional men who’d hurt her parents. And now these ruffians.
Exactly who was this man?
Katherine wetted her lips and opened her mouth to respond, but the bandana-clad man still standing next to her roughly grabbed her wrist, stealing her attention away from her rescuer.
As it so happened, however, she didn’t need to answer Blue Eyes – she still had no idea what his name was – because as soon as he saw the man grab her, he quickly stepped forward so that he was nose-to-nose with the thug. “Let go of her,” he ordered.
The man scoffed in response and refused to relinquish his grip on her arm. “Oh yeah, and what are you gonna’ do about it?” To emphasis the control he thought he had over the situation, he tightened his hold on her arm and yanked her closer to him. The unexpected jerk caused Katherine to stumble and another wave of dizziness washed over her.
Before she could even regain her bearings, Blue Eyes had physically removed the man’s hand from her arm by throwing him against her car. The strength behind the shove dented the Chevy’s hood. “I said to keep your hands to yourself!”
The man was clearly surprised by the attack, but quickly recovered and shoved Blue Eyes back, a disgruntled expression on his face. “Mind your own business, boy, or blood’s gonna spill,” he threatened crossly.
Katherine felt her nausea return at the mention of blood, the last time she’d seen her father once again flashing in her mind. She almost missed it when her rescuer glared contemptuously back at the man and spat out, “Only yours.”
The man chuckled at the response. He glanced at his friends before turning a sardonic grin loose on his challenger. “You guys stay outta this,” he commanded his gang. “I wanna take this smartass down myself.”
Katherine stood silently by her car door, uncertain as to what she should do. The phone was still tightly clasped behind her back, but she couldn’t use it with the bandana-clad man’s friends still surrounding her. Should she try to help Blue Eyes take the man down? She had a feeling if she did that she’d be more of a hindrance than help. Before she could decide for sure, the thug threw the first punch – or tried to, at least – and the fight started.
It became obvious that the man most definitely did not need her help.
Blue Eyes took the other down easily. He was swift and brutal in his attack, sending powerful jabs to the man’s face and stomach before pouncing and instantly knocking him to the ground. Once he had him on the gravel, his hands immediately went for the man’s throat. His arm muscles bulged as he squeezed. The man underneath him flailed and struggled to take in air. Soon, however, the thrashing stopped and the he lay limp. If Katherine couldn’t clearly see his chest still rising and falling, she’d have thought the man was dead.
Blue Eyes picked himself up from the ground, showing not a bit of remorse over his actions. He looked to the man’s friends, who suddenly seemed to have lost their swagger. “Who’s next?” he demanded, a dark edge to his voice.
The grubby men bolted, leaving their fallen comrade where he lay on the gravel.
As soon as they’d run off, Blue Eyes turned his attention back to Katherine who was still watching the scene numbly, unsure how she was supposed to react. Thank him, her conscience insisted. You’re supposed to thank him. But her thoughts were fuzzy and her mouth was refusing to work. Blackness, too, was slowly creeping into the sides of her vision.
“Are you alright?” the man asked softly, repeating his earlier inquiry.
But Katherine never heard the question. The pounding of her head became too much and she felt the sensation of being caught by strong arms before everything finally went black.
CHAPTER SIX
Blue eyes again. A dark and blazing azure that threatened to consume her very being. Except – the eyes were no longer hard and demanding, but sad. Apologetic.
As awareness flooded Katherine’s sore body, she was conscious of little but her aching head. A sort of haziness blanketed her thoughts and she couldn’t quite conjure the energy to open her eyes. Instead, she devoted herself to lying as still as possible to avoid jarring her head.
As she lay there, she slowly became more cognizant of her surroundings.
She was resting on something soft and though she felt somewhat cramped, she was comfortable enough. Something warm – probably a blanket – covered her body. She was aware of the multiple aromas permeating the air around her too. There were many, but the sweet smell of sugary vanilla was the strongest.
And then – voices.
As the thick haze that seemed to suspend her thoughts lifted, the clear sound of voices rang though. Katherine didn’t recognize the noises for what they were at first. They were merely muffled
, jumbled sounds. After struggling to push the pounding in her head away, however, she could focus and identify the strange sounds for what they were. She realized at once, though she didn’t physically react, that she didn’t recognize them.
"-don’t understand why we’re going through all this trouble. Look at her. She’s a runt – basically worthless to us." The voice was distinctly male and its owner sounded furious.
Another voice, this one just as angry, but obviously female, was quick to counter. "She needs us! She's a part of us now whether you like it or not so get used to it."
Katherine vaguely wondered who the she they were talking about was and felt her heart jump when she realized that it was probably her.
"She's only a girl, Markus." Another voice, Katherine thought dazedly. Who were these people? And how many of them were there?
Markus revealed himself to be the owner of the first voice she had heard when he heatedly responded. "Shut it, Caleb. No one asked you. And she isn't only a girl. She's damn trouble. All she’s going to do is attract the wrong sort of attention."
"Like you care about attention! You're just looking for an excuse to dump her somewhere." It was the female voice again.
"We wouldn't have to dump her anywhere if we would have left her where she was!"
"And what do you suggest we had done, Markus? Just leave her there with those men?"
That seemed to have done the trick as silence was this woman's only response. For a moment at least.
"She took care of that hunter just fine."
His remark was met with an indignant gasp. "You're heartless," the woman spat.
"And you’re pathetic," the man flippantly responded.
There was more silence as a sort of invisible tension began to grow. Even Katherine, whose eyes were clenched tightly shut, could feel the air thickening.
"He has a point, Sophie. The odds of her even surviving…"
The new voice – there's at least four of them, Katherine thought numbly – didn't get a chance to finish before another one – five! – interrupted.
"That’s enough."
It wasn't a yell, but certainly wasn’t spoken gently either. And its power – for the voice couldn't be described as anything less than powerful – demanded immediate obedience.
Silence followed and Katherine realized that she was holding her breath, waiting for someone to dare disobey what was obviously an order. No one did and she feigned unconsciousness for what seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, before anyone risked speaking again. And even then, it was the same powerful voice – a low timbre that sounded oddly familiar – that broke the quiet.
"You’ll wake her if you keep yelling like you do." The words were spoken softly this time, but the roughness in his voice still promised violence to anyone who dared to disregard its owner.
Katherine heard a derisive snort. "As if a stampede would wake sleeping beauty back there," Markus mumbled under his breath.
If anyone else heard the comment, they declined to respond.
More minutes passed, though they were distinctly more comfortable than the last. Katherine had almost allowed herself to lower her guard when she felt the breath on her ear.
"I know you’re awake."
Katherine, though startled by the voice, refused to open her eyes. She tried to keep her breathing even, hoping to convince the owner of the voice – who she believed to be the one they had called Caleb – of her continued unconsciousness.
"There’s no use in pretending. It's only a matter of time before the others will know you’re awake too."
Figuring the jig was up, Katherine braced herself before slowly opening her eyes and tilting her head up slightly to look at the man who had addressed her. He wasn’t what she expected. But then again, what had she expected? Some mean-looking brute?
How cliché.
No. This man's face matched his voice – he looked kind. Dirty blond hair sat atop his head in a sloppy-looking cut, but his wide brown eyes looked honest and only the slightest hint of stubble covered his cheeks. He's young, Katherine realized with a jolt. He looked about the same age as her. Maybe only a year or two older.
Despite how non-threatening he appeared, however, she still immediately sprang back when the man attempted to lay his hand on her forehead.
"Don’t touch me!"
Katherine's nerves were shot and despite the instincts that urged her to remain calm, she was anything but. Her memories of the past twenty-four hours were slowly coming back to her and she forced her aching body to move and pushed herself as far into the corner of the back seat – she was in a vehicle of some sort, Katherine numbly took note – as she was physically able.
Her panicked shrill and hurried movements immediately caught the attention of the rest of the passengers. Her eyes shot from face to face and she quickly realized that as the voices had indicated, there were five other people in the spacious vehicle. Like Caleb, they all looked young. She could feel their eyes on her as well – pinning her into place.
She immediately recognized the driver as her eyes connected with the intense blue of his.
"Who are you?" she demanded, addressing her entire unwanted audience, but keeping her eyes locked on the familiar stranger's.
When she didn't receive an immediate response, her agitation only grew stronger, brought on no doubt by a deeper emotion – fear.
"Who are you?" she asked louder, clutching the blanket that had been covering her closer to her chest. "Why have you taken me? What do you want?"
The muscular, brown-haired man sitting in the seat in front of her snorted and she immediately recognized him as Markus when he opened up his mouth. "Cut the dramatics, princess."
Princess.
Images of the disgusting men from the gas station hit her full force. She remembered their grotesque appearances. What they had wanted to do to her. Being slammed against her car – no wonder her head hurt so much – and the man arriving to help her.
Katherine kept her gaze fixated on the driver, who seemed torn between watching her and the road in front of him. "Have you been following me?" she demanded, unsure whether she should be angry or frightened. Or even... flattered. She immediately shot that thought down, deeming it ridiculous.
But the man didn't even deign to respond. Markus, however, snorted at the question. "That's one way of putting it."
Katherine struggled to wet her suddenly dry lips. "Are… are you with those men? The ones that attacked my house?" Visions of blood and a dismantled dining room table momentarily obstructed her vision. Her stomach lurched.
"No," the driver immediately spat defensively, turning hard blue eyes on her in obvious anger.
The only other female in the vehicle turned her own glare loose on the man before turning around from the passenger seat to offer Katherine a more sympathetic gaze. "We're not here to hurt you, honey."
Katherine was taken aback by how Amazonian the woman appeared. She didn't even acknowledge Markus’s next comment. “Speak for yourself, Sophie."
Katherine hadn't gotten a good look at her until now and even sitting, she could tell the long-haired blonde – this Sophie – was tall. And her solid body, though obviously feminine, spoke of strength and athleticism. If her eyes weren't radiating warmth, Katherine would probably have been more afraid of her than the four men in the vehicle.
She knew how vicious females could be after all.
While Blue Eyes, Markus, the other nameless male, and even Caleb – who was noticeable scrawnier than the others, but a far cry from puny – had powerful bodies, Katherine was far more impressed by this woman.
What was with these people? Why were they all so strong and... good looking? Being in their presence was making her feel small and truthfully, down-right pathetic.
Still, she wasn't one to let others intimidate her – at least, not let them know that they did. "I'm only going to ask you once more," she bit out steadily. "Who are you?"
The question hung in th
e air. Katherine could vaguely feel the painful sting radiating from her palms as she fisted her hands and dug her nails into the skin there, waiting tensely for a response.
She watched as Blue Eyes made eye contact with Caleb, the man she was stuck sharing the back seat with. Katherine realized bemusedly that the smell of vanilla was radiating off of him. She forced her own eyes to turn away from blue and meet brown. The man took a breath before exhaling out, "We're your pack."
Caleb seemed to want to put his hand on her shoulder as he announced this, but kept it cautiously by his side when his first attempt led to her flinching away from him. Katherine was sure that her turbulent emotions must be playing out across her face.
First, bewilderment. "My what?"
But, of course, Markus had no patience for her utter confusion. "We're your pack," he spoke slowly as if talking to a small child. "Your unwilling and resentful pack, but your pack nonetheless."
That hardly helped ease the confusion. "Pack?"
Finally, the nameless dark-haired, dark-eyed man spoke up. "Werewolf pack."
Katherine's racing thoughts stilled.
"That’s not funny," she managed to choke out.
"It wasn’t meant to be," was the man's calm response.
And then came the denial. "Right," Katherine managed, stressing the disbelief in her voice. "You're werewolves."
"No. We're werewolves."
And then she could feel the beginning of panic build up in the pit of her stomach. Because even though it was so ridiculous... it also made so much sense. It was the same absurd idea that had been plaguing her for the past week. Ever since that gigantic wolf had seen fit to take a bite of her ankle.
Suddenly, Katherine found she couldn't talk around the lump that had formed in her throat.
Markus had no such problem and spoke up, a definite sense of mocking present in his voice. "Been experiencing any weird changes lately? Changes you can’t explain?"