by Amy Richie
Everyone was talking all at once, so it was hard to keep straight who was saying what crazy thing. The only two in the whole nest that weren’t saying anything was me and the dark haired girl. I caught her eye now and she smiled a little—again.
What would happen I if I went over to talk to her? Would she say anything to me or keep that haunted, yet calm, look on her face? I decided not to go find out.
I pressed my face into my knees again, trying to drown the others out. When I closed my eyes, I saw the face of Paris Letrell. So serious, but with a hint of mischief in his eyes. That was probably why Liza didn’t like him.
No, I decided in the next second. The reason Liza didn’t like him—why none of the sisters liked him—was because he was a Letrell. I still stood by my earlier thoughts that Damien had done them a favor by bringing them together, but I understood their mistrust. I raised my head sharply when I heard scratching noises on the wall behind me. If the wolves really wanted in, a few bushes and half formed rock weren’t going to keep them out.
“Did you hear that?” A pale girl with mousy brown hair whispered.
“Hear what?”
Her impossibly wide eyes grew even wider. Dark half-moon shadows made it look like she had two black eyes. Her skin was pale—almost too pale to be natural—and she was shaking until her teeth clattered together. What had they done to her to make her so afraid?
She reached a bony hand out to grab my arm. “The wolves; can’t you hear them?” she hissed.
I looked behind me to be sure no wolves were in our nest. All clear. “They’ve been here, but we’re safe.”
“I can still hear them.”
I could, too. “I don’t hear anything.”
A particularly vicious sounding snarl sent the girl scurrying for the comfort of the others. I would have felt better out in the open and not trapped in this little circle, but the wolves still weren’t in. Maybe it would be smarter to stay away from the makeshift walls, though.
I raised myself up and crawled towards the middle. If only worked for a few seconds, though. As soon as one of the other girls tried to hold onto my arm, I pulled away again.
I sighed deeply, not quite with the group, but not all the way against the wall anymore, either. The calm dark haired girl hadn’t moved at all and was watching me with an intense flatness.
Maybe I could just lie back down. Gloria had told me to get as much sleep as possible. I lounged out against one of the fallen trees, not laying down or sitting up all the way. Just as I was almost comfortable enough to relax, someone screamed again.
I rolled my eyes and sighed again. There wasn’t much point in trying to lie back down, these scared little pets would just keep waking me up. I pulled myself to a better sitting position and tried to distance myself again from the others. I would rather chance the wolves.
I had never seen the appeal of being a vampet. Most of them didn’t even last more than a few months. What kind of life was that? Most of the pets here looked terrified and half starved. I hadn’t been fed enough food these last few days, but as least my blood still flowed freely through my veins.
My stomach rumbled stubbornly at the thought of food. They probably had something here for the others. Or maybe it was just an individual thing. I searched for anything that would be edible, but the place was pretty bare.
The sisters weren’t likely to think about bringing me food. Besides that, there weren’t likely to be any restaurants nearby. Even if they did think about it, there wasn’t much they could do.
A sudden flurry of movement caught my attention towards the entrance. I was kind of surprised to see Melody coming towards me. Did that mean we were leaving?
No.
She sat down swiftly, creating a small burst of air. “You doing ok?” she asked too loudly to really mean it.
“Yeah.”
“Here.” She thrust a few thick slices of bread into my hand.
I smiled at the meager offering, grateful for her thoughtfulness. “Thanks.”
We sat in silence for several long minutes while I ate and her quick eyes took in the nest. Even after I was finished, she stayed silent. Why weren’t we leaving?
“Hey.” She nudged my arm roughly.
“Hey.” I kept my eyes on her face, trying to see behind the fake smile. Melody always smiled, no matter what she was feeling. Maybe it was her way of trying to make me feel safe. It didn’t work.
“The wolves,” she flung her arm out vaguely, “they are everywhere.”
For a moment, her smile faltered and I realized that maybe that smile did actually make me feel better. Seeing her fear was worse. I shuddered and wrapped my arms over my chest.
“We’re safe here, though. They won’t attack such a large number.”
Her eyes darted to glance at the large number of human females that came with the vampires. My throat suddenly felt dry. “No,” she patted my knee, “we’re safe here, nothing to worry about.”
I pulled my chin back to my neck. Yeah right. It was worse here than if we had stayed out on our own. The wolves had herded us in here. I wasn’t exactly scared, but I didn’t like the position we had put ourselves into. This made the whole ‘escape plan’ a little trickier.
“Obviously we can’t just… take off.” She smiled again.
“There are too many wolves,” I stated the obvious. A young girl with bright red hair leaned closer to hear what else Melody would say.
Melody shifted slightly, but now that she knew we had an audience, she was reluctant to say anything else. “I’ll just leave you to sleep,” she said, abruptly standing up.
“We’re leaving in the morning?” I had to be sure.
She didn’t answer, just stared at me with her wide eyes. Then she smiled wide and left.
“We’re going to die,” the girl with the bright red hair screeched.
I shot her a look of disgust but held my tongue. There was no point in saying anything to them anyways. They weren’t listening to reason—they wanted to be scared.
I rolled my eyes again and accidentally caught the eyes of the dark haired girl. Her lips turned up slightly at the edges, but it couldn’t be considered a full smile. I nodded in response.
Once again, I got the impression that she was different than the other pets. There was a calmness about her. I could see the fear in her eyes, but she didn’t show it in her face like the others.
I wanted Melody to come back. While she was here, the others had been calmer, but now they were beginning to panic again. In a familiar way, I made myself calm down. There was no reason to be irritated by the others or scared of the wolves.
Fear of the wolves had never really entered my mind. Perhaps it should have, but I knew that if they really wanted in, they would have already. They were waiting for something. Maybe there were more pets they were herding in. It didn’t matter, though, we were leaving soon.
I glanced up at the sky. It was hard to get a clear view through all the trees, but I could still make out a few stars. “Sleep,” I whispered sternly. “Just close your eyes and sleep.”
It amazed me that I was able to sleep on the back of Gloria while she ran through the woods, but I couldn’t even close my eyes with all these terrified faces all around. The girl with the bright orange hair, the mousy girl who was too pale…
I stood up abruptly, suddenly tired of seeing the strain and worry on their faces. If the wolves were going to attack us, they would have already. It was no use telling them that, though.
The nest wasn’t that big, but I managed to find a different place where no one else was sitting. It wasn’t exactly quiet, but I could lay down here and pretend I was somewhere else.
I lowered myself to the ground and shed my jacket from my arms. It wasn’t very cold here and I would rather use it as a pillow. I jumbled the worn material into a bundle of sorts and laid it on the ground.
Just before laying down, I looked back at the other pets. It didn’t look like a single one of them would s
leep while the wolves were close. But, who knew when they would leave?
I laid my head on my makeshift pillow, determined to get some rest. Instead of allowing myself to think of anything, I started counting to myself. “1, 2, 3, 4...”
Chapter 11
Before I could fall asleep, I felt the air move beside me and suddenly he was there, right next to me. Paris Letrell. I hadn’t even seen him—or heard him—come in. That wasn’t unusual, though, and I didn’t even blink. Living among vampires had taught me not to be surprised by anything.
His tongue shot out to moisten his dry lips. I couldn’t tell if he was nervous or just thirsty. He stood above me, not smiling or saying anything. What was he doing?
“Can I sit?”
As if it would matter what I said. I sat up slowly, keeping any betraying excitement from my face. I didn’t think I would see him again before we left. Liza’s threats earlier should have kept him away. I wasn’t as disappointed as I should have been at seeing him now.
“What are you doing here?”
He sat down quickly and entirely too close for comfort. His thigh brushed against mine, but I didn’t jump away. “I just came to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“This sisters,” he shrugged. “You.”
“I thought you said you knew me.”
“I only know what my brother told me.” I saw his neck bob with his swallowing motion. When he turned his gaze on me, I almost couldn’t breathe. “I expected to find a child,” he admitted.
“A child?” My voice cracked slightly, but he pretended not to notice.
“Yeah. The way Damien described you; I thought I was coming here to save a little girl. But…”
“I don’t need anyone to save me.” His words finally broke through the thump of my heart.
“I don’t know about that. I mean, you’re not a little girl, but…”
“You really shouldn’t be here,” I glanced at the entrance fully expecting Liza or one of the others to come in here to make sure he wasn’t talking to me.
“Why? What are you afraid of?”
My back went rigid at his words. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“No?” He tilted his head just enough to make him even more attractive.
“No.”
Something in my face must have surprised him. “You should be afraid,” he murmured.
“Why? Did you come here to kill me?”
“The wolves did.”
“The wolves are looking for mates, not meals.”
His mouth fell slightly open as he regarded me thoughtfully, then he shook his head with a chuckle. “Not what I expected,” he said again.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Oh, no, not disappointed.”
I shifted uncomfortably under his intense stare. I really wished he would go away. “I need to sleep. We’re leaving in the morning.”
“It’s almost morning now.”
I glanced back at the sky, but it still looked just as dark as before. “Even more reason for you to leave so I can sleep.”
“You can sleep now, I won’t let anything hurt you.”
“I don’t need you to protect me.” Besides, Liza had told him not to talk to me. True, if I was sleeping, we wouldn’t be talking, but I was pretty sure him watching me sleep wouldn’t make her very happy.
Paris watched my face carefully, looking for something. “You need someone to protect you,” he insisted.
I was just as insistent, though. “No, I don’t. I can look after myself.” We had been in dangerous situations before. In the morning, we’d get out of this valley.
“You like running with the sisters?” he asked, leaning back slightly.
I bit the inside of my lip, not sure if I should answer him or not. Why did he want to know? If seemed innocent enough, but how did I know how his mind worked? I didn’t.
“Yeah, I do,” I finally answered.
He smiled and looked away from me. Obviously, he thought I was lying. “You don’t have to say that,” he confirmed my suspicion.
“I know.”
“You’re trying to protect them.”
My lips clamped tight on denying his claim. If he thought they needed protecting, he wasn’t here for anything good. I certainly wasn’t going to say anything else about them. Not to him anyways.
He smiled again, almost turning it into a full blown laugh. “Ok,” he conceded, “we don’t have to talk about them. We can talk about something else.”
“Why?” I blurted without much thought.
“I just like to hear your voice.”
My eyebrows furrowed low on my forehead. That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. “My voice?”
“It’s soothing.”
“That’s…”
“How long have you been with them?” He cut me off.
“Ten years.”
“Completely human?”
“Of course.”
“Do they feed off of you?”
“No.”
“Not ever?”
“No.”
“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”
“What?”
He laughed at my shock. “Four beautiful women traveling together, you must attract all the guys.”
“We keep to ourselves.” I didn’t like when he laughed again.
I tried to shift away from him, but we were already in a cramped space, so there wasn’t far I could go. The way he made my heart flutter made me uncomfortable. And his smile. And the way his eyes lit up when he talked about his brother.
I shook my head quickly, causing his eyes to narrow. “You ok?” he asked with an arched brow.
“I would feel better if you went out with the other vamps.” I didn’t exactly growl the words, but I wanted him to know that I was serious.
“I’m having much more fun here.” He winked.
My neck felt too hot. “Trying to get information from me?”
“No.” His face softened momentarily.
“Then, why are you here?”
“I need to speak with the sisters.”
“Then, why are you in here with me?”
His face turned sober at my question. “The wolves are circling the camp, trying to find a way into the nest.” I was glad he kept his voice low so the others didn’t hear.
“Of course they will. The vamps put a bunch of human girls in one place and expect the wolves to stay away?”
His eyes widened. “I want to keep you safe; so I’m staying close.”
“I won’t be safe until I’m out of the valley. We’re leaving at first light.”
“I won’t let the wolves get you.” His words were fierce and protective. I was more annoyed with my own reaction than his actual words. I didn’t need Paris, but I couldn’t help but be warmed at the idea that he wanted to protect me.
“We have company,” he commented lazily.
“Oh!” I was surprised to see Liza standing directly in front of us.
I looked up into her angry, beautiful face. Fire blazed in her eyes. I knew she wasn’t worried about me, she was just angry that he hadn’t obeyed her words form earlier.
“I told you to stay away from her,” she hissed in a low voice.
“I already told you I wasn’t going to.”
What did Paris even want with me? If he was coming to check up on us, why didn’t he just talk to the sisters? He already knew I was still alive, which was what Damien had ordered. Why did he care if I was happy?
Maybe he did just want to make sure I made it out of the valley without becoming a wolf mate. The sisters wouldn’t let that happen either. They were faster than the wolves. We would get away.
“Come on.” Liza kicked my shoe.
I moved to obey, but Paris put his hand out to stop me. “Why? She’s fine here.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
She glared for all she was worth, but he glared right back—refusing to back down. In a
gesture that completely shocked me, Liza looked away first. “The wolves are getting restless.”
“Which is why I came in here to sit with her.”
“She’ll be safer out there with us, in case we have to leave quickly.”
Well, at least they weren’t planning on leaving without me. I almost smiled at that, but not quite. Not with Liza and Paris still glaring like they were.
Liza spun on her heel and almost disappeared from my view. I lurched forward to follow, pushing Paris’s hand away in the process.
Liza went too fast for me to stay behind her; she was gone before I could even get fully to my feet. I slipped in my haste and almost fell back down. Strong hands shot out around my waist to steady me.
My face flamed red and I tried to push his hands away. They felt too hot against my skin, too tight of a hold. It wasn’t like I really fell. Did he think he was helping?
“Don’t touch me!”
“I didn’t want you to fall.”
“I didn’t fall.”
We were both distracted from each other at the sounds of more wolves behind us. Liza’s words echoed back to me. The wolves are getting restless. I wasn’t afraid of the wolves like the vamps were, but I still didn’t want them to get in here.
“You should be afraid,” Paris said suddenly. I turned my eyes back to him. “Of the wolves, I mean.”
I shrugged. “They won’t kill me.”
“It’ll be worse.”
“The sisters won’t let that happen.”
“If the vamps are scared, you should be, too.”
“I don’t think the vamps are scared,” I said slowly.
“You just said…”
“I didn’t say that.” My eyes widened with sudden realization. “You can hear my thoughts?”
“Only some.”
I supposed it shouldn’t have been so shocking. The sisters could hear each other’s thoughts; and once in a while even mine. But the thought of Paris knowing my thoughts was…not welcome.
I whirled away abruptly, needing to get away from him. My eyes fell briefly on the dark haired girl. She watched me with curiosity. When I started for the entrance, I noticed that Paris was following.