How can he just stand there?
“No,” Cara said.
Aldrich towered over her. He was crowding her space trying to intimidate her to his will. Cara pressed her lips together as they too began to tremble.
Aldrich’s hand shot out taking hold of her long blond braid yanking hard and pulling her head back. Tilting her chin up so that she had to look at him. His rough hands groped her breasts as he breathed into her face.
“You need to see who is in charge, don’t you?”
Cara was terrified, but she couldn’t stand his hands on her body. Reaching up she raked her nails across his face and kicked him as hard as she could.
Only a small grunt sounded before his hand wrapped around her neck. He choked her, yelling in Cara’s face as she fought for air. “I’m going to teach you to obey, Cara Warden. You will be my wife.”
Her name on his lips was a death sentence.
Aldrich held her up in the air, her feet dangling. The whites of his eyes were bright as he bared his filed teeth at her. His sharp chin stabbed into her cheek as he pressed his face into her hair. He groaned a disgusting sound.
Cara continued fighting for air but wasn’t getting any. She kicked out wildly and caught him between the legs. It was all that saved her from Aldrich choking her until she was unconscious, or dead.
He dropped her.
Cara backed away scooting across the floor. Her breath was coming fast and ragged but she couldn’t get enough. Aldrich’s eyes were crazed with rage. Cara was certain he’d kill her for what she’d done. The scary part of it was that she hoped he would.
Instead Aldrich cradled his crotch with both hands as he glared across the space at her. When he was able to stand upright again he pointed at her.
“I’m going to break you, Cara.”
Her father came forward. He grabbed Cara by the front of her dress and hit her hard in the face. It hurt but fear of what would happen next was stronger. The room was tilting as she tried to see where Aldrich had gone.
Is he coming? Is my father really going to hand me over to him? Aldrich’s worse than any creature that could be outside the walls.
“I will come for her Thursday,” Aldrich told her father. “Make certain she is here and ready for me.”
When the door slammed, Cara relaxed. She stopped struggling against the dizziness and gave in to the darkness that filled her vision.
Her father apologized when she woke. It was strange for Cara, because he did actually appear sorry. It was the only time she’d ever seen real remorse in his brown eyes.
“Aldrich will starve us if we deny him. We would both die if I refuse him.”
“I’d rather starve to death than let Aldrich take me,” Cara told him.
“I know,” he’d answered. “But I wouldn’t.”
He didn’t lock her in her room or in the house because there was no where she could go. Nowhere to run away from Aldrich. No one would hide her. If Aldrich found her hiding with anyone, he would starve the entire family.
Her uncle Mortimer and his wife were the only good people she knew. Even though her father rarely let her see them, she loved them and their children. She loved them too much to have them starve for her.
Cara sat up on the mattress that served as her bed.
Thinking of Paulina in that house, looking out like she’d forgotten what the sun felt like, made Cara feel smothered. Even the thin worn blanket on her legs was too much. She pushed it off and onto the floor.
Cara needed to get outside. She needed to breathe in the cold air.
Pulling on her hand-me-down boots, she spotted her shawl on the hook by the door. Cara wrapped it around her shoulders. On an impulse, she grabbed the scissors from the tabletop as she passed by on her way out the front door.
As soon as she was outside she felt a little better.
The air was frosty. Her breath looked like smoke in the dark. Cara breathed hard, like she did after Aldrich choked her. She walked away from her father’s house. It was the first time in five years she’s been in the town without an escort. It was the last bit of freedom she’d ever get.
Cara walked through the small town finding herself on the main square. Aldrich’s house was up ahead. Cara looked up, spotting Paulina’s handprints still on the glass of the upper window.
Cara remembered Aldrich’s hand around her braid, his face in her hair, and his breath on her neck. Rage and revulsion burned up her fear until it was gone.
Raising the scissors, Cara chopped off her braid at the nape of her neck. Just like that she felt lighter. She knew her father would be furious, and she knew Aldrich would be too.
I’m done being afraid.
The town horn sounded, signaling a change of the guard. Cara spotted the guard climbing down the tall ladder to go report and trade places with the next guard on duty. She watched him with disbelief.
The guard tower is empty.
She’d dreamt of stealing the ladder enough times that as she watched the guard walk away Cara wasn’t sure if she were dreaming again.
Taking hold of the ladder, she tried to shift it to lean on the wall instead of the tower but it was too heavy for her. Before she could think better of what she was doing, Cara started climbing.
The sun was rising and the sky above was just hinting at the color blue. Excitement leapt in her chest. She wanted to see the mountains. She wanted to see the field and the forest. Cara kept climbing.
“Hey, hey you there,” someone called out. Cara climbed faster. Ten more rungs up the ladder and she would reach the tower. Her hands were wet with sweat and it was becoming more difficult to hold on. The ladder shook. Cara looked down to see a guard climbing up after her.
Faster, come on Cara
CHAPTER TWO
“The creatures are out there. You shouldn’t be on the tower,” the man called up after her.
“They can’t be any worse than the creature in here,” Cara said as she crawled onto the landing of the guard tower. Her adrenaline was pumping, her heart pounding hard, and fast. She couldn’t hear what the guard was saying.
Reaching Cara grabbed the railing and pulled herself up.
The sky over the east mountains was streaked with orange, pink, and purple.
Freedom.
The hand of the guard grabbed the top rung on the ladder. He’d almost caught up to her. He would try and stop her, she was sure of it. Cara climbed over the railing and turned toward the wall. It wasn’t a far jump but it was a long way down.
“Wait. What are you doing?”
Cara jumped landing easily on the wall ledge.
“Take my hand, I’ll pull you back onto the tower. You don’t know what you’re doing,” he said, his voice kind and full of concern. Cara looked back at him and could see recognition in his eyes, but she didn’t know him. Her father kept her away from most of the people in the town.
“Cara. Aldrich’s bride,” he said. His outstretched hand dropped. “You’re Mortimer’s niece.”
He knows my uncle.
Cara was afraid he was going to try and stop her again. She looked down onto the other side of the wall trying to see a way to escape without breaking her neck.
“I’ll tell your uncle that you got away,” the guard said.
Cara turned back, surprised by what he’s saying. “You’re not going to try and stop me?”
He untied a red pouch from his belt and held it out to her. “It isn’t much,” he said, his face solemn. “Good luck.”
Cara was still scared to reach for the pouch. Afraid it was a trick and he was going to pull her back onto the guard tower platform. She was afraid he would snatch away her one chance to escape.
“The… things that live out there. They’re dangerous. You’ll need this,” he insisted, holding the pouch out again.
Cara snatched the pack out of his hand and was surprised when he didn’t reach for her or try to catch her.
He really is trying to help me.
“Thank you.”
> “You should hurry. I saw Aldrich’s servants opening the house to prepare for your wedding. He’ll be coming to get you soon and discover you’re gone.”
The ledge was thin, and with the wind Cara didn’t know how long she would be able to stay on top of it. Kneeling on the wall she tucked the pouch under the thin bra that was one of the many Aldrich issued articles of clothing for the women. He was the only one with the connections to trade with the stronger cities.
Curving her hands around the edge Cara began to lower herself down the other side of the wall until she was hanging. Her feet scraped the stones as she tried to find a foot hold.
Her right foot caught hold under her toes.
I can do this.
Scraping her left foot over the surface, she struggled to find a hold. The wind blew so hard that Cara almost lost her grip on the wall. She couldn’t feel the grooves in between the stones with the boots on. Wiggling her foot, she felt the oversized boot fall free. Her toes ran over the cold stone searching and probing for a hold. Finally, she found a very thin ledge.
“Hurry, someone is coming,” the guard whispered in a hiss.
Releasing her hold on the top ledge with her left hand, Cara slid it over the sharp cold edges of stone until she found a place to hold on. Just as her other hand slid off the ledge, she heard him.
Aldrich.
“She was outside my house. This is her hair. Find her.”
“Yes sir,” someone answered him, a guard probably but anyone in Aldrich Town would do his bidding. Cara didn’t blame them. She knew what the consequences were for refusing Aldrich. Cara’s hands were starting to shake again.
So much for being fearless.
She lowered herself further down the stone wall, feeling her way as she went. Cara’s foot rested on a sharp ledge biting into her flesh. The descent was slow and difficult. Her muscles began to spasm and she had so much farther to go.
“You must have seen her. Where did she go?” Aldrich called out.
“I didn’t see her. She must have come by during the shift change. I didn’t see anyone,” the guard lied.
Cara gained another foot, but it was still too dark to see where the floor below began. If she let go she might suffer bruised feet, or worse broken bones.
Just keep climbing.
“What is this?” Aldrich’s voice sounded victorious.
Cara looked up, certain that he’d climbed the tower and was looking down at her. Her hold slipped and she slid down the wall, her nails scraping against the rock, and tearing away. She caught herself with her right hand, her arm jerking hard.
Biting her lip, she stifled a cry of pain as her feet searched out holds and grooves in between the stones.
“This is hers.” Aldrich accused. His voice sounded like it came from the tower. He must have climbed up while she was sliding down the wall. If he looked down, he might see her. It was still dark but the sun was continuing to rise.
“It’s the same shawl that all the girls wear. It’s the standard you yourself issue out to the women.”
“Are you saying it’s not hers? That this couldn’t be Cara’s?”
A muffled sound drew her eyes upward. Aldrich was smashing the shawl against the guard’s face. Cara watched in horror. She didn’t know what to do.
The guard fought his way free of Aldrich, he gasped for air as he leaned over the wall. His eyes were searching the darkness. He was looking for Cara, but he couldn’t see her even though she was only a dozen or so feet down the wall.
He mouthed the word, “Run.”
Aldrich slipped the shawl around his neck and shoved him over the wall. His pointed face leaned over the wall after he’d tied off the shawl to the tower. “You lied to me. You saw her. My Cara.”
The guard’s feet kicked, his heels scraping on the wall but they weren’t catching. He was choking. Aldrich wasn’t going to release him.
Cara reached up, climbing upward as fast as she could. The light caught her hand as she took hold of his shoe and pushed, trying to help him.
“No,” the guard gurgled out kicking her hand away.
I can’t let you die.
She reached up again as Aldrich pressed his face into the dying man’s neck. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to fuck her? To break her?”
He kicked her hand away again, only this time she lost her grasp on the wall. Cara pushed off from the wall with her feet, hoping to land on the other side of the mote around the outer wall.
Aldrich straightened away from the dead guard, blood dripped down his chin as he cut the shawl and turned away.
Water enveloped her into freezing cold darkness. The dim light from above cast a silhouette of the guard who saved her life and gave his own. He was floating on the surface.
Cara choked on water as she tried to crawl up from the depths of the murky liquid. She didn’t know how to swim, but her frantic movements seemed to be working though too slow to do her much good.
She kicked her feet harder, climbing faster. When she reached him, Cara pulled until her head broke through the surface. A deep breath of air filled her lungs. She coughed.
It was so loud, her coughing in the silence. Aldrich would hear her. Someone would hear her. The quaking of her body was so violent she knew her thrashing around in the water would draw notice.
Sharp rocks stabbed into her back expressing what little air she’d managed to get. The force pushed her back under the surface but she didn’t let go of her hero. She reached up again. This time her hand caught hold of a boulder.
Cara pulled herself above the surface again. She tried to climb, out but she couldn’t do it holding onto the dead guard’s shirt. With a silent sob, she let go and climbed out of the still water. Its slimy texture increased the difficulty of climbing out.
Cara’s body was still shaking too hard. Her teeth chattering like drums. The boots she’d kicked off were long gone, probably at the bottom of the mote.
She should go, run even, but Cara couldn’t leave him like he was. This man who saved her was floating face down in the filthy, still water. It was foul smelling, and with the sun continuing to rise Cara could see human waste floating along the surface.
Cara bent down and took hold of his jacket. She braced herself with her feet flat on the huge boulder and pulled. It was slow going pulling him up the rocky, muddy slope. When she stopped to rest, he started sliding back in.
No. No. Please, no.
Her arms shook with the strain to hold his head above the water. Using all the muscle in her legs she pushed against the boulder gaining another two feet of his body onto the slope. Cara climbed a step higher. She began pulling the dead weight from the water. It didn’t matter how many times she had to do it. Cara wasn’t leaving him to rot in filth. He deserved a hero’s burial.
I don’t even know his name.
CHAPTER THREE
The wind carried a new scent, waking Darian from a deep sleep. It was a delicious, sweet smell. It was strange because it didn’t just appeal to his wolf, he found the scent alluring in his human form as well.
Darian walked to the open window and looked out, trying to locate the source of the scent that called to him.
It’s coming from Aldrich Town? Nothing good ever comes out of that place. Hunters looking to kill my pack. The stench of desperation all over them.
I won’t stand by and let another one of them try and weed out my pack. Aldrich’s men won’t take another.
Darian, the alpha of his pack usually kept good control of his temper and the wolf spirit that shared his shifter body. This time he didn’t want to stay in control, he wanted to teach the hunters a lesson. He let the wolf spirit surge forward feeding on Darian’s anger.
His body began to shift from Darian’s human form to that of his wolf. His muscles stretched and grew. The pants stretched and ripped around his legs as they too grew and shifted. Bones cracking and extending his human body changed into that of an oversized white wolf.
The wolf
spirit, his wolf, was ready for the kill. He was ready to defend the pack and their home. Darian leapt out the second story window, landing in a run.
Limbs stretching, he charged down the mountainside and into the forest below. Animals raced to get clear of his path. He was all predator. Darian pulled his humanity back allowing his wolf, the alpha of the Rizer pack, to take the lead.
He knew he could trust his wolf’s instincts. If it was another hunter, he would die like all the others. No one would hurt his pack, not without going through him first.
The sun wasn’t up yet, but that didn’t matter. Darian could see well in the dark. He knew these woods so well he could traverse them with his eyes shut.
At full speed, he crossed the sixty acres of overgrown forest in just under ten minutes. Darian slowed as he reached the edge of the forest that opened into the clearing that led to the filthy water surrounding Aldrich’s Town.
His wolf found the movement right away.
The hair on the back of his neck and all down his spine raised up as a feral growl vibrated through his entire frame and into the earth under his feet. Darian left the shelter of the trees. He moved along the boulders and rocks staying low to the ground. The hunter was breathing hard, coughing.
Disgust turned his stomach. The hunter bathed in the infested sewage.
Is everyone who comes out of Aldrich Town so detestable?
He knew that he’d taste what the hunter had been swimming in when he killed him. It made Darian hate the hunter all the more.
The path he was taking put him on higher ground than the hunter. Every step he took was silent. Darian was intent on getting right over head of the hunter.
The murderer won’t even see me coming.
There was blood in the air. He’d already made a kill and from the smell of the blood, it was one of his own kind. A human. Darian wasn’t surprised. He was one of Aldrich’s people, why wouldn’t they be every bit as blood thirsty as their leader?
He leapt onto the white rock that leaned in toward the water. The hunter had his back to Darian. He was small. In fact, he was very small. A teen boy, most likely. At first Darian thought the boy was drowning the man in his arms the way he kept dropping him in the water. As the boy struggled, grunting, and praying, Darian realized the boy was trying to pull the dead man from the water.
The Alien Surrogate (The Klaskians Series Book 1) Page 16