by Amira Rain
When each of them returned to the fire, I watched to see whether or not they'd make some effort to clean their hands before resuming eating, despite the fact that it hadn't appeared that either of them had actually touched a Husker during killing. I didn't even know why I was curious to see. I just was.
It turned out that neither of them made any effort to clean their hands before resuming eating. I figured that I should just be pleased that they'd both taken an alcohol-soaked hand sanitizing wipe from a tub I'd offered while Nick had been filling my bowl with peaches before the meal.
Once the three of us had nearly cleaned our plates, Blaine looked up at me from scooping up one last bite of lentils-and-rice. "Where'd you get that Olympic medal in your bag?"
After setting my plate on my knees, I dabbed at my mouth with the side of my shirt collar, since I didn't have a napkin, before answering. "I won it. Figure skating."
With the firelight revealing a look that almost resembled triumph or satisfaction on his face, Blaine grunted. "Makes sense now."
Sure I was frowning, I peered at him across the fire. "What does?"
"That you're kind of an ice queen."
Whatever goodwill Blaine had fostered by serving me unexpectedly delicious and non-guilt-inducing rabbit had been obliterated by that single comment.
After dabbing my mouth with my collar again, I looked him dead in the eyes. "Better an ice queen than a mud bucket."
He just said maybe and went back to the remaining few bites of food left on his plate. Nick said nothing.
However, after setting his plate on the ground and picking up a water bottle, Nick soon piped up, asking me where exactly down south I was headed, and why. Realizing we were surely getting into his planned "getting-to-know-you-better" part of dinner but not wanting to participate in it at all, I told him that where exactly I was going was none of his business.
"If the two of you are going to hold me captive, I can't stop you, so I really don't have a choice. But I do have a choice to keep my travel plans to myself, and I'm going to."
Silently, Nick just studied my face for a few moments before speaking again. "Is there someone in particular down south you're trying to get to? Like a family member...or a boyfriend or a husband?"
Thinking, I reasoned that there wasn't any reason that I shouldn't answer honestly. "I don't have a boyfriend or a husband. I'm trying to get to my two sisters...and I have been for almost two years."
Blaine and Nick very briefly exchanged glances, the movements of their eyes so slight and fast as to almost be imperceptible. But in the warm glow of the fire, I hadn't missed the fact that they had indeed exchanged glances, no matter how briefly. Which made me think that I'd been foolish to say that I didn't have a boyfriend or husband, and I didn't even know why I had.
Now it was clear that the admission had gotten Nick and Blaine's wheels turning, as if they were very interested or pleased to learn that I was decidedly single. This really shouldn't have surprised me. Of course they'd wanted confirmation that I was single, I thought. They'd probably wanted to make sure that I didn't have some fierce shifter husband down south who would come looking for me if I didn't eventually come down to find him.
After a few moments spent regretting what I'd said, a different thought soon occurred to me. Talk of boyfriends and husbands had made me wonder about girlfriends and wives, in regards to Blaine and Nick. Clearly they'd abducted me to serve as a wife or concubine for someone, but that didn't necessarily mean that that someone was one of them. And suddenly, I had to know. I had to know if one or both of them were single, or if they planned to hand me over to one of the other men in their community.
Trying to act like I really wasn't that curious, even though I was, I cleared my throat and stared into the fire, avoiding Nick and Blaine's eyes, while I spoke. "So, this group up the road that we're going to be meeting up with...do you each have a wife or girlfriend in this group?"
Considering that men so vastly outnumbered women, I thought it unlikely that they both had female partners, but then again, I wasn't going to be stunned if they did. It was pretty clear that Nick was the leader of a community of people, apparently in a place called Helena, and it was also pretty clear that Blaine was probably his right-hand man, or even perhaps a co-leader of sorts. So, it just stood to reason that they might have immediately had rights to "call dibs" on any or all women in their group.
However, after exchanging glances with Blaine again, Nick surprised me. "No...neither of us has a wife or girlfriend in the group...or anywhere else. Neither of us has ever been married. We'd like to be, though...and hopefully sooner, rather than later."
He'd said that last part while looking directly into my eyes.
Suddenly incredibly uncomfortable, I turned my gaze from his face and looked into the fire again. "Well...I hope you each find someone. Good luck with that."
After an awkward second of silence that felt like an hour, during which time I could almost just feel Nick and Blaine exchanging glances yet again, I abruptly stood.
"I'm going into the forest to the use the restroom, and neither of you had better follow me. I'm not going to try to escape. You're shifters who can probably track me by scent; I get it. So, I'm not even going to try."
Not right then, anyway. But very soon I would, maybe once we got to Helena, wherever that was. I'd find some way to escape without Nick and Blaine knowing until I was long gone, heading south once again.
CHAPTER SIX
Nick and Blaine didn't follow me to the truck, where I grabbed a length of toilet paper from a roll in my backpack, as well as a clean t-shirt to change into, because I'd noticed with disgust that the front of the one I was currently wearing was stained with a bit of Husker gore from the fight earlier. Nick and Blaine didn't follow me into the woods, either. Somewhat surprising me a little, they were both still sitting right by the fire when I emerged from the forest. Apparently, they'd believed me when I'd said that I wasn't going to try to escape.
After they'd each made their own brief trips into the woods, we set out down the road on foot, heading north. I'd taken my backpack from the truck and had slung it over my back, and Nick had grabbed my duffel bag wordlessly, eliciting a quiet thanks from me.
In the pale moonlight, the three of us walked in silence for a few minutes, until Blaine mumbled that I didn't have to walk if I didn't want to. "I could shift, and you could just ride along on my back if you wanted."
Although I couldn't deny that his offer was kind, I was still more than a bit salty with him about his "ice queen" comment, and I figured this was the perfect time to express that.
Staring straight ahead at the darkened, crumbling paved road, I spoke without even glancing at him. "Thank you for the offer, but I think I'm going to decline. Being that I'm such an ice queen, I wouldn't want to freeze your back."
"Hey...I shouldn't have said that. Sometimes I just talk without thinking."
I didn't say anything in response. I did, however, glance over at him, meeting his eyes, and though it was hard to tell in the dim light, they appeared to be holding a look of complete sincerity. Which, maybe a minute or so later, made me feel the need to issue a vague semi-apology of my own, though without even looking at Blaine while I did.
"The rabbit you cooked was pretty good."
In response, he just grunted, and I continued.
"I shouldn't have flipped out how I did. I think I was just hungrier than I realized, and it was making me not think very clearly."
Again, Blaine just grunted, but several seconds later, he actually communicated with words. "Just let me take you on my back. You've been walking all day, and you probably want to get off your feet."
Both those things were true. In fact, currently my feet were aching, protesting the fact that I'd made them move again after propping them up on a stone during dinner.
"All right. I guess I'll take a ride on your back. Thanks."
A short while later, Blaine was in tiger form, and I was
riding on his back as if he were a horse. Still carrying my heavy duffel bag over one shoulder, Nick walked alongside us.
Although riding on the back of a wild animal was definitely a new experience for me, I found it was one I didn't exactly dislike. In fact, even though he wasn't padding along very fast, I found riding atop Blaine's gold-and-brown striped back to be kind of an exhilarating experience in some way, even though I kind of didn't want it to be.
Maybe it was just something about feeling so much power and muscle beneath my hands, which I'd put on his back for balance. With each step he took, I could feel muscles rippling beneath his fur.
For maybe a mile or so, Nick, beside us, didn't speak, but then he asked if I'd mind sleeping in a tent that night. "We have proper homes in Helena, of course, but I expect that the others we'll soon be meeting up with aren't going to want to continue on the additional several miles tonight. They've been out for a couple days, scouting around for new members to add to our community, and I imagine they're all pretty tired and ready to sleep, like I'm guessing you are, too."
I briefly wondered if "scouting around for new members to add to our community" really meant "kidnapping women to hold against their will." I also wondered if I'd be offered a tent of my own to sleep in, or if someone else would be in it.
"I don't mind sleeping in a tent...because that sounds a lot better to me than just sleeping out under the stars in the woods, like I usually do every night...but I'd prefer to sleep in a tent by myself."
I'd expected Nick to protest, saying that wouldn't be possible or something, but to my surprise, he just nodded.
"That's perfectly fine. I think there are enough tents for you to have your own with no problem."
Quietly, I said good, and we both fell silent.
Not too much further up the road, I began smelling the scent of cooking food and a campfire, and Nick said we were almost to the spot where he and Blaine had arranged to meet up with the others. "Won't be too much longer now."
It wasn't, and a few minutes later, I found myself dismounting Blaine's back not far from where a group of maybe a dozen people were sitting on logs around a campfire, most of them eating from tin plates similar to the ones Nick, Blaine, and I had used.
Once Blaine had shifted, he and Nick led me over to the group, who'd all whipped their heads around to look upon hearing our approach. Two of the men present had moved their free hands to their hips, as if reaching for weapons of some kind. Now, however, seeing who it was that had approached, these two men returned their free hands to their plates of food.
After greeting the group and seeming to do a mental head count to make sure everyone was accounted for, Nick introduced me as Evangeline Blake. "Evangeline tells me she likes friends to call her Eva, though she's not too sure who her friends are right now, so please make her feel welcome, everyone."
Most everyone in the group piped up, saying hellos and welcomes, although I noticed that one of the few women, a middle-aged lady with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair didn't say anything. In fact, she was just staring at me, eyes slightly narrowed, biting her lip.
However, with her eyes almost appearing to become suddenly shiny in the firelight, she abruptly stood, saying that she needed to head into the woods for a minute. "I'll be right back.”
Not knowing her, I wasn't entirely sure if she really had been narrowing her eyes at me, or if a narrow-eyed sort of look was her natural expression. For all I knew, I figured she could have even been experiencing a stomach pain or something right then, and might have just been wincing before dashing off into the woods.
At any rate, I didn't care if this woman was happy about my presence in the encampment or not. I certainly didn't plan on staying with the group long. Hopefully, I would be able to plan some sort of an escape once we reached Helena.
Once the woman had left, several members of the group told me their names, saying that it was nice to meet me, and I politely said the same back, though without really feeling the sentiment.
The last person to tell me their name was a young woman about my age, maybe just a few years older. "I'm Tracy, and I'm new, too. You can sit by me if you want."
Smiling, she patted an open spot beside her on the log she was sitting on, and I took my backpack off and had a seat, smiling a little in return in spite of myself, having a sense that us recently-abducted women should stick together.
No matter that Tracy seemed a heck of a lot happier to have been abducted than I was. Although, I figured, maybe she hadn't yet even figured out that she'd been abducted. Maybe the group had told her that if she came with them, she could leave whenever she liked or something.
Having shifted back into his human form, Blaine had a seat on one of the several logs around the fire, and Nick came over and extended a hand to Tracy.
"I'm Nick Hardwick."
Tracy all but leaped up to take his hand and shake it. "I thought you must be. I've already heard so much about you from the others. I'm so grateful to your group for finding me. I've been holed up in a falling-down farmhouse for months...hiding out from men and Huskers...so, so lonely for other people...I didn't think I'd ever be rescued."
Oh, good Lord, I thought. She saw her abduction as "being rescued." Although, I figured, maybe it had really felt that way to her, considering the circumstances she'd been in. And who the hell was I to judge. I figured that if I hadn't had a one-track mind for making it to Nashville, maybe I would have considered being taken in by a group with food and supplies and homes to be "being rescued," too.
Nick told Tracy that it was wonderful to meet her and that she was very welcome as a new member of the community, then introduced Blaine as his second-in-command, which Blaine acknowledged with a grunt, already enjoying his second plate of dinner for the night, which someone had handed him.
Nick soon had a seat next to him, and a tall, slender woman named Elisa handed Tracy and me mugs of warm mint-scented herbal tea she'd poured from a kettle hanging above the campfire. Still not entirely trusting Nick, Blaine, or the other members of the group, I might have wondered if the brew contained some sort of a sedative or something, if I hadn't seen Elisa pour a mug for herself and already take a large drink of it.
Actually grateful for the warm tea, since the night was getting kind of chilly, I cradled the ceramic mug with both hands while different conversations started up around Tracy and me.
After a sip of her tea, she turned and spoke to me in a very quiet, low voice, though one kind of crackling with obvious excitement. "Isn't all this just...so great? They say they have a community called Helena not too far from here...with houses, electricity from generators, a good supply of food, running water, and the water is even heated, too, and they even have some kind of a fence around the community to keep Huskers and bad people out. We'll be completely safe there."
Realizing that Tracy and I were seeing things in a way that couldn't be more different, I just gave her a polite little smile and spoke in a voice as equally quiet and low as her own. "All that sounds nice, but...you know we can't leave, right? Nick and Blaine wouldn't let me go, anyway...wouldn't let me go on my way even when I demanded to be released."
Drawing her light brown brows together, Tracy frowned. "Well...why would you want to go on your own way? This community means safety, and protection...and a whole new semi-normal kind of life, from what it sounds like. Elisa and Kathy seem nice, and as far as the men...well, I can already tell that they're not the kind of men who just take what they want from women, if you get me.
“Kathy even told me they're not, when she was trying to get me to come out of the farmhouse, and for some reason, I believed her. She just has really honest eyes. She's the lady who went off into the woods, by the way."
Kathy, I thought. The woman with honest, possibly-glaring eyes.
After another sip of her tea, Tracy continued in a quiet voice while the conversations around us grew louder. "You know what else Kathy told me when we were walking to this camp? She said tha
t a lot of the men in Helena are still single and really desperately wanting wives. You and I will be two out of only eighteen women, and there are at least a hundred men. So, basically, we'll have our total pick.
“Kathy said most of the men would be so glad to have a wife that they're not even hung up on looks. Kathy says the vast majority of them are just wanting a woman with a good heart, which...well, I think I have a pretty good heart. Which will hopefully make up for my looks...or, the lack of them, rather."
Tracy definitely wasn't the supermodel type of woman, not that I was, either. She was also decidedly on the heavier side, and her physique, which was thick around the middle, might have been considered fifty or so pounds overweight.
In response to what she'd said, though, I offered her a little smile. "Don't sell yourself short. You have a very pretty smile and beautiful eyes."
Both those things were absolutely true. She did have a very pretty smile, which revealed straight, white teeth, and though I couldn't tell for certain in the firelight, her dark eyes appeared to be a rich chocolate brown and were fringed with long, curling lashes.