by Mia Rose
Chapter 17
Pull
“Have you ever felt like this for anyone?”
Noelle dragged the pad of her thumb across the scab on her forehead. She’d been able to take the bandages off as of last week. It was something that had finally broken up the routine that she started last week. Each day, she’d pull herself out of bed, ignore the way her muscles seized in pain as she moved about the house, and hand write a list of errands that she’d complete by the end of the day. Noelle had made more trips than necessary to the grocery and hardware stores, and taken on more mundane projects around their four-bedroom ranch home than she had in years.
Her daily errands and invented tasks kept her away from the questioning gazes of Abigail and Garrett. They had been relentless in showing their concern since the night that she learned that Declan was one of them. Late that night, she had walked through the door, bloodied and dirt covered, and Abigail and Garrett had chosen that night to stay up past their eleven-pm bedtime to re-watch a couple of old movies. She’d walked past the family room, pressing her hand against the center of forehead with a thin trail of blood winding around her arm. Garrett and Abigail tripped over themselves to meet her before she could reach her bedroom.
She’d fought with it until her vision blurred, and she could hardly make out their faces. Noelle fed them a story that she was suffering from a brutal run in with a buck, and that she’d mistaken it for the massive form of a werewolf in the dark. Her protests fell on deaf ears, and Noelle spent the second half of the night in the ER.
Noelle eased onto her bed, her hands clenched around the edge of the mattress. Her legs felt like heavy, wooden logs. She’d never gone more than a weekend without going out to the woods, and searching for werewolves. Due to the ever-watchful gazes of Abigail and Garrett, she refused to risk the possibility that they might tail her, and that she’d lead them right into Declan’s hunting grounds.
I don’t know if I could forgive myself if Declan were there. However, I also can’t stand by and let an entire pack run wild for much longer.
Noelle sighed, and rose to her feet. She pulled out her most convincing smile and stepped into the hallway.
“Mom? Dad? Do you guys need anything?” Her feet slid across the floor as she headed toward the kitchen.
She stepped into the kitchen, Abigail and Garrett sat across from each other at the kitchen table. The bright, glowing screen of the laptop between them caught her eyes.
Garrett sat back against his chair and looked at her over his glasses, “You’re awake. No, we don’t need anything today, you’ve been doing so much around the house lately while you recover. How are you feeling?”
“Better every day,” Noelle reassured him.
“Good,” Abigail said, and gestured at the laptop screen, “we’re going over some details for the family reunion next week. Why don’t you grab a cup of coffee and chat with us?”
Noelle walked around Garrett’s chair and pulled out the third chair that faced the silver back cover of the laptop.
“What family reunion?”
“We’re hosting a couple of family members next week as part of it, just some members of the family that were concerned about a few… odd things happening in Cripple Creek and other parts of Colorado.”
Noelle tapped her fingers against the back of the laptop and said, “Other hunters. What’s the big deal? We’ve been careful about this region.”
Abigail shook her head and said, “You can’t honestly believe that the three of us alone are doing a fine job of eliminating every werewolf in the area?”
I can promise you that we’re not. I even let one go last week.
“Of course not, but I didn’t think that things were that bad.”
“It’s just to kind of touch base,” Garrett interjected, “to share ideas about any suspicious happenings going on. Then, we’re going to be going on a group hunt while everyone is in town.”
Noelle’s heart fell into her stomach and she smiled at her father, “A group hunt? That should be fun, hopefully I’m feeling up to it by then. Where were you guys thinking?”
Abigail pushed her chair back and walked over to the counter. The espresso machine hummed with new life, and she returned with a steaming cup of black espresso.
She pressed the cup into her daughter’s palm and said, “You’re going to need this. So, we thought we’d start in some of the more rural areas, definitely on the outskirts of a few farms…”
“They’re tearing into livestock, costing farmers thousands in lost wages,” Garrett said. He shook his head and commented, “We’ll just have to clean everything up, if they’re going to run around, causing a complete mess.”
Noelle tried to picture Declan, ‘causing a complete mess’ and she couldn’t imagine seeing his graceful form stoop down to all fours, and wreaking havoc on a local farm. If only the rest of the werewolf population could follow his lead. However, that’s what was so special about Declan, besides his ability to make her feel more insane and love struck than she’d ever felt before; he operated as if he were a man. For years, her family had referred to werewolves as, “Beasts in masks made of human skin at best,” but it felt like the beast was secondary for Declan. A beautiful man, plagued by his werewolf abilities.
Noelle took a long sip of her espresso, and the caffeine smacked her sleeping neurons into action.
She placed her elbows on top of the table and said, “So, what else are we thinking?”
Abigail smiled and replied, “Well, we’d like to scout the area that you like to hunt in,” she placed her hand on top of Noelle’s arm and said, “I know that you’re confident that it was a buck, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. We know that once you’re back on your feet, you’re going to be out there again.”
Noelle nodded and smothered the scream welling up inside of her with another sip of espresso.
I have to warn Declan.
Her last encounter with Declan still sent an uncomfortable shiver down her spine if she thought of it for too long. The menacing way that he snapped his jaws together on top of her, and turned back into the man that she’d found herself falling for these last few weeks.
“Sounds like a good plan, guys. Do you need any help preparing the house for guests?”
Garrett scoffed, “If they want a luxury stay, they’re more than welcome to throw in a little elbow grease.” He placed his hand on Noelle’s shoulders, “You’ve done more than enough these last few months.”
Noelle looked into the dark depths of her mug and smiled.
Declan tore his eyes away from the computer screen, and leaned back against the chair. He’d been scanning news sites all afternoon, hoping to catch a valuable snippet of info about the new wolf that he and Gabriel bailed out two days ago. He sighed, the news of this new wolf had kept him distracted from everything else that swam around his head. His efforts to bury himself in his work had been completely shattered, and his problems with Noelle were going to have to be faced.
He struggled with himself, knowing that if he chose to, he could drive back to the woods and wait for her. He could take her down, and wrangle the cure for Cassidy’s injury out of her in no time. Declan wanted to keep her relatively unharmed, because the head wound that she inflicted upon herself was enough to make him shy away from the idea of attacking her. There was a part of him that didn’t want to see her hurt.
The piercing sound of the phone ringing snapped Declan out of his thoughts. It was the Clifton Towers’ business line, and not his cell phone. Declan narrowed his eyes and reached to the phone.
A moment of silence passed as he lifted the headset to his ear, he spoke into the receiver, “This is Cliffton Towers, Declan speaking, what can I do for you?”
“Declan!”
Declan froze, the phone hovered in place but her voice came through its speakers; crystal clear like perfection.
Noelle cleared her throat and said, “Declan, it’s me. Noelle.”
Declan clenched
the phone tighter in between his hands and said, “I know. What the hell are you calling here for? What do you want?”
On Noelle’s end, the sound of a door shutting could be heard.
“I need to see you.”
“You can’t honestly believe that I’m going to keep doing… whatever we’re doing, after last week? I’m not playing any games. If you want to come after my pack, then you’ll have to come after me first.”
“I don’t want to come after you. Listen to me, you’re in danger. I can’t go over everything right now, they might be listening.”
They? The rest of the hunters?
Declan’s eyes flicked towards the door before he said, “Don’t waste my time, Noelle.”
“Declan, I’m serious. Meet me on the south side of town. I’ll be near the Crawford Hotel, waiting for you later today.”
“I’m not coming, Noelle.”
“If you care about the lives of your pack mates, you will be.”
The line disconnected and Declan was left to listen to the rhythmic sound of the dial tone. He set the phone back on the hook.
My pack mates? What the hell has she got planned?
Declan slammed his fist on top of the desk. He propped his elbow on the desk and allowed his head to rest on his closed fist. The door opened, and Cassidy stepped inside. She leaned against the wall, the length of her thin body was stretched against the wall. She’d been losing more and more weight recently, and while she’d always been slender, the drastic weight loss probably had more to do with the silver wound on her back.
“What do you need?” Declan asked, pretending to have plenty of work to attend to.
Cassidy shrugged, and said, “I thought that you’d like some company. You won’t let me hunt, or do much of anything, so I figured that I could at least be of use that way.”
Declan sighed and said, “I don’t need any company. I’m just sorting through some bills for the building.”
“It takes you all day to sort through bills? Maybe you could use some help.”
Cassidy walked around the desk, and stood over Declan’s pile of work. She reached into it, plucking out a receipt from a cleaning service. Declan’s hand shot out and grasped her arm.
He narrowed his eyes, “Cassidy, I don’t need any help with the bills.”
Cassidy wrenched her arm free and replied, “You don’t need help? Then why is this the only thing that you care about lately? Are you so fascinated with your work all of a sudden, because I’m dying?”
“You’re not dying, don’t say that.”
Declan looked down at the stack of papers in front of him, and picked one up. He pretended to read the small print on the page but Cassidy snatched it out of his hand.
“Wake up, Declan! When have you ever seen an injury like this and knew that everything was going to be alright?” Her voice cracked and she said, “Nothing is going to be alright! My own mate won’t talk to me, my pack members won’t stop giving me sympathetic glances, like I’m not even Alpha anymore.”
Her shoulders shook, and tears rolled down her cheeks. Cassidy had never been one for public displays of emotion, she’d always been insistent upon proving to herself and anyone else that she could hold it together because their pack needed solid leaders.
Declan sighed, and wrapped his arms around Cassidy’s waist. He pulled her onto his lap, her small body fell onto it with little resistance.
He buried his face into her shoulder and said, “It’s okay. I promise you that everything is fine.”
He pressed his lips into her skin and in between sobs, she said, “How can you be sure? This thing is rotting my skin, Declan.”
Declan frowned and pulled his arms tighter around his waist. The silver bullets reappeared in his mind. Four identical death sentences.
Declan ran his fingers against the wound on her back and mumbled, “We’re going to be fine. I’ve got Gabriel looking into what we can do for you. I’m looking into some things too.” He looked over at the phone, and rubbed small circles on Cassidy’s back.
“Everything is fine. I’ll make sure of it.” He reached down by her side and squeezed her hand.
Crawford Hotel.
Declan pulled up across the street from the Crawford Hotel. People moved about on the sidewalk, and traffic thrived beside him. He sighed, and turned his car off. Declan leaned back against the seat and scanned the crowd moving along on either side of the street. There had been no sign of Noelle yet, and a part of him wanted to put the car back into drive and head back to the apartments before he spotted her.
What are the odds that she actually has any information that could help my pack? Is this what it means to be Alpha? Screwing everything up just to try and make it right again?
He peered across the street and watched Noelle get out of a taxi. The wind whipped around strands of her hair, and she shielded her eyes from the sunlight that bounced off of the windshield of the taxi. Declan slid his phone out of his pocket and checked the time, it was just after two. Declan opened the door and navigated cars and bikes in the street. He made it over to the other side where Noelle waited outside of the Crawford Hotel. She peered ahead, and then behind her. She held her purse strap close to her, hoping to fade away from the bustling scene going on around her.
Declan maneuvered a group of mothers pushing their children in strollers, and reached out to Noelle.
Noelle whipped around and her eyes widened upon seeing him. “Declan,” she said.
Declan watched her appraise him, running her eyes over his arms and legs. She wouldn’t find any bruises from last week, but the scab on her forehead told him that her injury had been worse than he thought. He resisted the impulse to raise his finger, and touch the scab. He couldn’t afford to show her any tenderness, and he couldn’t give into the impulse. Noelle gestured at the glass double doors behind her that led to the lobby.
“Let’s go inside. I have a couple of friends around here, and they’ve given me a room.”
Declan followed behind her, he kept close to her and whispered, “We didn’t need a whole room together. I just came to find out whether or not you would tell me anything about a cure for Cassidy.”
Noelle ignored him as she approached the front desk.
She waved hello to the receptionist behind the counter and said, “Noelle Scott. I called ahead.”
The receptionist pecked away at her keyboard and said, “Ah, Miss Scott, you are good to go. Here’s your key card.”
Noelle took the key card and she and Declan moved to the elevator. While Noelle watched the light move lower on the elevator, she turned head to Declan and said, “Did you tell your pack that you were coming?”
“What?”
“Does your pack know about me? Are you going to tell them?”
The elevator doors opened and Declan said, “They don’t need to know unless they’re going to be coming after you.”
They stepped inside and the doors shut. Noelle leaned against the wall of the elevator.
Her voice cut through the tense silence between them, “I was serious when I said that I wanted to help you. I don’t want us to be against one another.”
She turned to him and took a step forward. Declan tensed and she took his hands in hers. His skin was warm, and she gripped it tighter to savor the way that his skin felt.
“Declan, have you ever felt like this for anyone else?”
The elevator doors opened and Declan snatched his hands out of Noelle’s. He stepped into the hall first, and Noelle followed. Her feet moved quickly across the forest-green carpet. They stopped in front of a door that had been painted white, and slid her key card into the slot. The door opened, and Declan stepped into the hotel room; it had been modeled to look like an ordinary apartment.
Noelle set her bag down in the foyer, and moved into the kitchen. There was a quick succession of thuds as she opened the cabinets and let them fall shut. Declan leaned against the wall next to the kitchen. He watched her take out two glass
es and fill each one with water.
“Glass of water?” Noelle asked, holding the cup in his direction.
“Noelle.” Declan said, and stepped into the kitchen.
He snatched both of her petite wrists in between his hands and the glass was sent clattering to the floor. She winced, feeling a stray piece of glass fly into her leg.
“What do you have to tell me?”
Noelle wriggled her wrists in Declan’s grip, but it was to no avail.
She sighed, and said, “My family is a family of hunters.”
“Keep talking.”
“The rest of my family is coming to town, soon. I didn’t want them to get to you.”
Declan released her hand and moved into the living room. He eased onto the sofa and said, “So what do you plan to do? Are they suddenly going to have a change of heart about werewolves?”
Noelle rubbed her wrists and moved over to the sofa. She sat down next to him, and leaned against him. Declan craned his neck towards her and said, “What are you doing?”
Noelle ignored his question and said, “No, no one is going to stop hunting werewolves. We can’t. But I can tell you to stay clear of the woods that you normally go to. I can keep you safe for now.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you. How do I know that you won’t ambush the apartment building?”
She shrugged and turned toward Declan with a cool look in her eye, “Because I can’t catch a fish that big right now. And for now, no one needs to know that I know about a new pack.”
Declan turned toward Noelle and bit down on his lip. His eyes traced the curve of her cheekbones, and he leaned in closer to her. She parted her pink lips, pressing herself closer to him.
“I need to know what I can do for Cassidy,” he whispered.
“I can look into that,” Noelle said, and relaxed against Declan’s chest.
“I can help, for a little while. Until we have to put a stop to everything.”
Declan sighed, and slid his arms around Noelle’s waist, “It’s going to have to stop now…”