“Are you all right?” Kristof asked.
Remembering how the curse magic was supposed to work, he realized the effect hadn’t gotten to the point of him wanting to die yet. “I’m fine,” he managed. The small lie didn’t take away the fact that inside he was collapsing. “Can we follow them?” He had to know the outcome, and couldn’t sit here waiting for a call.
“Can you run?” Kristof asked with a note of concern in his voice.
To prove he could, Ethan shoved away from the tree and took off in the direction he’d see the women go.
For what felt like miles, they ran. Or maybe it felt that way to Ethan because he had to hold his glasses up to his face so he could see. His arm was beginning to cramp, his jaw was throbbing and his legs burned. Trying to forget about how he felt, Ethan listened for any sound that would tell him they were getting closer. It distressed him that he couldn’t hear the howling anymore, but he kept going.
Like a ghost materializing before his eyes, another man suddenly showed up in front of them. Ethan was forced to stop so abruptly, he fell backward and crashed into Max. They toppled over like a pair of dominoes. Pushing up from off the ground, and from off of Max, he wanted to shout, “Stop doing that!” Instead he asked, “Did you catch them?”
Not looking him in the eye, the vampire shook his head. “The werewolves got to them before we did.”
Had they been killed? His legs went weak again but it wasn’t because he could see the vampire’s eyes. “Explain!”
“I believe they didn’t want to infect them with their curse, so they tossed blankets over them and hauled them off like that.”
“How did they get away from you?”
“There were too many of them for us to fight all at once. A couple of them snatched the girls while we battled with the others, and fled. We searched, but we couldn’t find them.”
“You couldn’t scent them?”
“We tried that.” The vampire shook his head. “They did something to mask it.”
Max swore.
“What were the witches doing behind the shrubs?” Ethan asked because he had to understand what had happened while they’d stood hidden in the trees.
“They were going to kill them.”
Max swore again.
“How do you know?” Ethan felt breathless.
“That coven has lived here for longer than many of us have even been vampires.”
Ethan gaped at that because he knew witches were mortal.
The vampire continued, “It is said, that they have some kind of ritual that makes them live longer and look as beautiful as they do.”
“And you believe that is what they were trying to do?”
“Yes.” A pause and then, “If the werewolves hadn’t come, we might have been too late to save them.”
“What?” Ethan asked, his insides churning so much he felt nauseated.
“The witches heard the werewolves coming and stopped their chant because of it. If not for that, they would have still been in the process of the spell and nearing the completion.” Pressing a fist to his mouth, Ethan tried to keep the fish soup down. The vampire went on. “When the werewolves did finally attack, the girls managed to escape in the confusion.”
“Were any of your men harmed by the witches’ arrows?” Ethan managed to ask, knowing he’d feel horrible if any of the vampires were killed trying to help them.
The vampire’s mouth twisted with an evil smile, revealing fangs. “No. We managed to get the bows away from a couple of the pretty creatures...” The unspoken death of those witches hung between them.
Chapter 14
Werewolves and Little Red Riding Hood
“Make sure you don’t scratch them,” she thought a werewolf said in the raspy voice of a beast.
Danielle didn’t want that either and she’d decided it was best not to struggle for that reason.
It felt like she was being hauled around like a sack of potatoes on her captor’s shoulder. Bound within a huge blanket or something, she couldn’t see at all, and what she could hear was muffled through the material. The moist warmth of her breath puffed back into her face with each exhale, and she was getting lightheaded because of it. Bent at the waist like she was, the blood was rushing to her head and that wasn’t helping her feel any less sick. If this creepy beast wasn’t careful, he’d soon have the contents of her stomach all over him. Danielle pinched her lips together—too bad her stomach was empty....
It was correct for her to have assumed they’d get a chance to escape if the werewolves showed up. When the witches had heard the howls, they’d run for their bows and arrows. And since she’d already pulled one hand free, she was able to unbind her legs and Nadia. They’d run into the woods and toward the street, praying to find someone who could hide them. Of course she hadn’t forgotten about the werewolves’ heightened sense of smell, and wasn’t surprised when they’d caught up to them so fast.
She could still hear Nadia’s screams of terror ringing in her ears when the werewolves had surrounded them. Her friend must have felt so incredibly vulnerable and fragile as a mortal woman being encircled by such hideous things. A cross between enormous men and monsters, they were the things of nightmares and she felt horribly guilty about Nadia being caught up in this mess with her. It was her they were after, not Nadia. Why hadn’t they just left Nadia behind like she’d begged them to? Thinking she’d seen a few vampires fighting some of the werewolves before something had been thrown over her head, Danielle believed Nadia would have been rescued.
Whoever had her didn’t sound like Lucas, but she knew she’d soon face him again. A sense of foreboding uncurled inside her stomach like a snake. Nadia hadn’t been the only one of them screaming.
As all of their hopes for freedom had crumbled around them, Danielle mentally grasped onto one glimmer of light. In the back of her mind, she believed someone would still try to rescue them. Because of the way Max had been forced to knock Ethan out, she didn’t think he’d give up on finding her despite the look on his face telling her he’d believed her lies. Ethan Deveroux was too stubborn and too possessive for that. If she ever saw him again, she would hug him for that blessed character flaw.
Danielle wasn’t sure if she’d fallen asleep or passed out from lack of air, but when her back landed against something soft and springy she was jolted awake. The blanket was roughly pulled out from around her and she blinked up at the man standing above her. Instinctively, she cringed away from the stranger. It must have taken them the rest of night to get to wherever they were, because sunlight was filtering in through the crack in the dark-green curtains behind him. She was also aware of the fact that Nadia was next to her, but she didn’t trust this guy enough to take her eyes off him just yet.
“I would assume you’re both hungry,” the guy said.
Startled by the friendly offer, she didn’t respond right away. Her gaze traveled over the blond man and the other three men with him. The guy who’d spoken to her was dressed in jeans and a plaid flannel shirt. The others were dressed similarly, like they were campers. His fairly handsome, but rugged face split into a smile, showing a pair of dimples in his cheeks. Danielle’s eyes rounded in surprise. He seemed friendly and harmless even though she believed these were probably the werewolves, just during the day without their curse surrounding them. He held out a bag of jerky for her. “I’m sorry, but this is all I’ve got at the moment. Jack is busy cooking up some eggs, bacon and boxty for you.”
As she wondered what the heck boxty was, her eyes landed on the bag of jerky and her stomach asked for it with a loud growl. Her fingers grazed along her stomach, her cheeks heating.
“Go on now,” he said, still grinning. “I can hear how bad you want it.”
When her gaze still shifted from him to the bag and back to the other guys, he frowned, reached inside and pulled out a piece which he held out to her instead of the bag.
“What do you want with us?” she asked, ignoring the food.
A groan drew her attention to Nadia on the bed beside her. Danielle only hesitated for a moment before she looked at her friend. Besides her hair being a mess and her clothes rumpled, it seemed as though she was all right, but Danielle reached over to check for any tears in her clothes anyway. She hoped her friend hadn’t been scratched by one of the werewolves by mistake.... Nadia’s black lashes fluttered up and once she focused on the men she sprang upright and scrambled backwards until she bumped into the headboard and couldn’t go any farther.
“Are you okay?” she asked Nadia.
Nadia blinked and nodded a mute reply.
Drawing a breath, she released it slowly. She could smell the food he’d just described being cooked, and her stomach responded with another gurgle. “What do you want with us?” she repeated because he hadn’t answered her the first time.
“We just want you to cure us.”
Danielle felt her jaw drop. “But I thought Lucas—”
His face lit up again. “Lucas said you could cure us like you did that vampire. Should we go get him for you?”
“No,” she snapped perhaps a little too hastily.
The guy’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not his friend?”
Shaking her head, she tried to decide if maybe they could trust these guys to turn on Lucas, especially if his lies were the reasons they’d kidnapped them. Danielle still believed Lucas meant her a great deal of harm, but the other werewolves seemed kind of nice.
“You can cure us, can’t you?” asked the guy. Had she noticed a hint of annoyance in his voice that hadn’t been there before?
“You don’t want to be werewolves?” she asked without answering his question because she really didn’t have an answer for him. Just as there were vampires who’d wanted to stay cursed, weren’t there some werewolves who wanted that too?
Hesitating for a moment, he just stared at her and she worried he’d noticed her hedge. “Why would anyone in their right mind want to be a werewolf?” he asked. “We’re prisoners every full moon, and—”
“And,” chimed in the guy with black hair, “my family is starting to ask why I disappear once a month.”
Yet, Danielle would bet on the fact that Lucas wanted to be a werewolf, and that’s what led her to her next question. “But don’t you have super powers because of it? And a chance to become alpha, or something?”
The black-haired guy belted out a laugh which was punctuated by a derisive snort. “We’re cursed men. There’s no such thing as alpha here. That’s a dog and wolf thing. We’re neither of those.”
The blond guy cocked his head to the side, folded his arms and narrowed his eyes further. “You didn’t answer my question earlier.” So, he had noticed.
Trying honesty, she said, “I don’t know how I could. Is there some prophecy about how it’s done?”
Not only did his eyes stay narrowed to angry slits, his eyebrows lowered, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. That’s when Danielle started to think that maybe these guys weren’t so nice after all. “What exactly are you talking about?” he growled.
“Well, with the vampires, there was a prophecy that said, ‘The one who gives himself to humanity will find the cure to the curse.’ So, Ethan asked me to bite him when he was under the influence of the curse and weak from thirst.”
Confusion clouded the guy’s expression. By now, anger was practically radiating off of him, and she worried that maybe she’d been too honest. “Who’s Ethan?” he snapped.
Apparently Lucas hadn’t told them everything. “Um, he’s the vampire I cured.”
His arms dropped from their folded position in frustration and he turned to the other men. “What do you make of this?”
Danielle’s gaze met with Nadia’s for a brief moment before she started assessing their situation. They were in some sort of cabin made out of logs. It was rustic and not really decorated, so she figured only men stayed here. Straight ahead was a window. To her left was an open doorway that led to an area with a sofa and a fireplace. Beyond that, she suspected there was a kitchen and that’s where Jack was, making breakfast. Her next thoughts were how she could get out of here, and what she could use as a weapon.
“We don’t know of any such prophecy. I say we have her bite us and see what happens.”
“Does it need to be done while we’re cursed?”
“Couldn’t that turn her? I don’t think she could cure us if she’s one of us too.”
Again the blond guy folded his arms, his boot tapping against the wood floor as he thought about it with an obvious air of impatience.
She wasn’t prepared for it when he spun on his heel and looked directly at her. He’d caught her staring at a heavy-looking lamp as she considered its usefulness at clobbering him over the head while he had his back to her. “You’re thinking about escaping,” he pointed out with a lift of his eyebrows.
She didn’t bother to answer that.
“Tie them up while we figure out what to do with them,” he ground out. “I’m going to ask Lucas about this.” Then he left the room.
She did not want to be bound with Lucas nearby and made the split second decision to fight them. Her biggest concern was that she didn’t know if these guys would be stronger than normal men without their curse or not, but she had to try. Casting a look at Nadia, she gave the signal of what she planned. The muscles in Nadia’s body tightened in anticipation even though she looked scared about what they were going to attempt.
The other blond guy reached for a pile of ropes on the dresser behind them. Dark blue eyes swung her way while he stretched out the length of it and stalked forward. When the black-haired guy reached for her wrists, Danielle grabbed onto his instead, yanked him forward, knocking him off balance, and kicked him in the kidneys. Hard.
He doubled over with a grunt of pain, but recovered way faster than he should have. Apparently as werewolves they were more resilient than mortal men. Danielle gulped.
Nadia had jumped to her feet and grabbed the lamp on her side of the room. She stood with her feet shoulder-width apart, the lamp turned upside down and ready, but she stared at Danielle in fear after having witnessed what she just had.
“Collin, are you all right?” asked the second blond guy.
“Yeah, I am,” replied Collin.
“How do you want to handle this?”
Collin considered Danielle before smiling with renewed determination. “I’m going to tie her up.”
Not if she had anything to say about it. She jumped off the bed and lifted her fists.
Collin laughed like he was pleased with the idea of a fight. Rolling his shoulders back, he came at her again. “Bring the rope, Darwin.”
He must have been too confident because she managed to punch him in the face three times without him doing much at all to avoid it. Each strike made his head snap backward before he simply shook it off. He kept coming, and Danielle realized that maybe he wasn’t too confident after all. With sable eyebrows drawn low in anger, Collin reached out with surprising speed and caught her in a headlock.
Dang it!
Danielle couldn’t escape his grip while Darwin wrapped rope around her wrists and ankles. Once she was securely bound, he lifted her up and tossed her back on the bed.
Nadia hadn’t fared any better than she had. The third guy had easily snatched the lamp from her hands and held her down while Darwin tied her up too.
When they were left alone, she couldn’t decide if she regretted picking a fight or not. She’d risked having them both beaten in retaliation. Luckily that hadn’t happened and again, she wondered if these guy were good or straddling the fence in that regard. They could have also punished them by letting them continue to go without food, but they hadn’t done that either. The werewolves had still fed them breakfast even after their defiance. Of course, they no longer trusted them and had s
ecured them to the bed to release their hands so they could eat, without the use of utensils. Starved as they were, they’d eaten the hot meal with their fingers, and Danielle had discovered that boxty were just Irish potato pancakes. She liked them. And for some reason, with this pregnancy, she wasn’t as sick to her stomach. The bacon, which was more like a ham to her, hadn’t made her nauseous and she’d eaten all of it except for the fat on the edges.
As soon as they’d finished eating, they’d been re-bound and left alone.
Danielle tried to get loose like she had with the witches, but the werewolves, being men probably, were better at tying knots. The scrape on her hand from the first time hurt like crazy when she’d attempted to pull her hand free of the ropes. She gave up on the endeavor and dropped her head back against the pillows.
“You can’t get out of it again, can you?”
“Nope.”
“I hate this,” said Nadia.
Danielle sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Would you stop apologizing?”
“But—”
“It’s not your fault!”
She didn’t believe that, but she kept quiet anyway. It wasn’t worth the energy to argue with her friend.
Time ticked on, and with nothing to look at besides the rows of boards making up the ceiling, she fell asleep knowing there were a total of twenty five boards slanting down from each side of it. Unconsciousness slid over her, and she was vaguely aware of the annoying fact that her hands were going numb and her feet were tingling.
Danielle snuggled closer into the cradle of his chest because, it seemed, she could never get close enough to Ethan. Her head was nestled against his chest as she watched in almost hypnotized wonder as his fingers traced caressing circles into the palm of her hand that drove sensation from there, along her arm, and to the middle of her spine. Unable to stop her reaction, she laughed as a shudder worked its way through her body. Then it was his turn to laugh, at her. At the reaction he was able to draw out of her so easily. His chest bumped against her shoulder with his mirth.
Forever (Book #3 in the Fateful Series) Page 22