by Jones,Skye
Then, five years ago, she’d left. He’d sensed the moment, a strange splintering in his psyche telling him Ali had moved on. Wolfen believed souls were reborn, and he’d become convinced she lived somewhere in the physical world once again. Where remained a mystery, and he wondered, if he came across her, would some part of their souls recognize one another?
According to their beliefs, she’d have been reborn to do something important. Once a shifter died, they spent time, sometimes months, sometimes decades, in the spirit world until once more they were called back into a physical body to begin the whole cycle again. Each time they either learned something new, or they did something important in their time within the physical realm. Boyd was glad she lived once more, but he missed catching her scent or the faint echo of her laughter.
He shook his head and tried to dislodge the morbid line of thinking. He needed to focus on the bastards in front of him and what they were doing. His wolf agreed with Boyd’s human side and wanted to take them out right the fuck now. Gods, to be able to rip them limb from limb. Okay, there were four of them, but he fought like a mean fucker when he wanted to, and he’d take the odds.
One of them paused and looked up. Grunting, it scented the air. They all walked on two legs, like any human, but they were covered in short gray fur. One of them had a dark stripe of black down its back. Their oddly shaped hands ended in yellowed claws. One of them drooled as it carried wooden slats into the cabin. They all looked like some nightmare apparition come to life.
Why most rogues ended up looking like some sort of horror film freak show, he didn’t know. But he’d only met a couple who still looked human. Most lost too much of their human side and became the grizzled monsters in front of him.
What the fuck were they doing in there? Why take a cabin? Most rogues lived out in the woods and hills, settling in the old caves dotted around the mountains. Some of them resided in old, stone cottages, but the kind without any doors and windows left. They seemed to need to be amongst the elements. Perhaps part of their rogue nature. So seeing four of them seemingly playing house in a wooden cabin complete with doors and windows disturbed him. A lot.
He worried for Laura. Despite not wanting to, he thought of her often. She’d left and returned to her life in the city, and he didn’t believe it was safe. Some nights, he found himself waking up from tormented, erotic dreams of them tangled together under the covers, kissing, exploring, and doing so much more. His body wanted her, even perhaps his heart, but his mind hated the fact. So he had pushed her away, kept her at arm’s length. But seeing the strange rogue activity, he second-guessed his behavior toward her.
He settled down in the undergrowth to watch the rogues. Once they were finally gone, he crept out. The night began to descend, and birds sang to herald the end of the day. Boyd loved the night and the dark. Felt more at home than in the bright, cheery glare of day.
Upon nearing the cabin, he changed into human form and pried open the closed door. It creaked and squeaked, and he held his breath. They’d been gone a good ten minutes, but they still might be lurking nearby. Once inside, he stopped short. In the gloom, he made out a single bed, a bucket, some ropes, cloth, and a pail of water. Some food lay off to one side by a camping stove.
He let the weird scene sink in, and the bad feeling in his gut grew. Either the freaks were setting up home…or they intended to bring someone here. Fuck. He needed to get back to the pack and warn them to go on lock-down. Unless in groups of ten or more, no shifter should head out of the compound alone.
He thanked the gods Adam had listened to Drew and seen sense about letting some of the pack females train as enforcers. They were going to need the extra help. He shut his eyes, dropped to all fours and changed back into his wolf before heading back home at a run.
Chapter Six
I spent the next few days in the strangest mood. Paranoia became my constant companion and I became convinced someone followed me, but each time I looked around, I saw nothing untoward.
Still, the strong sense of being watched hung around me, a fog of unease ever present in my otherwise humdrum life.
“Hey, Laura. Turns out you got the Paris shows!” My colleague and frenemy, Chantelle, sauntered over to my desk. Her white blond hair brushed her shoulders, falling in straight lines like a sheet.
“What?” Okay, I should be excited. Super excited. Instead…nothing. I needed to get a grip. This news proved huge, but the weird cloud I’d been living under didn’t disperse; it simply settled more heavily around my shoulders at the thought of having to pack and sort out travel arrangements.
“So jealous.” She smiled, but I saw the green-eyed monster peeking out. Her smile turned into a frown as she watched me. “Aren’t you happy?”
“You go instead.” The words were out before I could stop them.
“Sorry?” Her pretty mouth hung open.
I didn’t blame her for the slack jaw; no way would the same offer have been made even two months ago.
I held my foot up and shrugged. “My tendon still hurts a lot. I don’t fancy either the flight or taking the Eurostar. I have so many physio appointments, too. You go. Talk to Deanna, and if she says yes, you can do Paris.”
Deanna, our boss, would think I’d lost the plot!
“Okay. Erm, thanks.” She leaned down and gave me a stiff hug.
We didn’t hate one another. In fact, we quite liked each other, but our positions in the firm as buyers meant our rivalry at times bordered on fierce.
She skipped off down the office, looking back two or three times as if waiting for me to call her back and laugh in her face.
I sighed when she disappeared around the corner.
Maybe I’d become a bit depressed or something, but clothes didn’t seem important to me anymore. Things existed that most people didn’t know about. Some of those things were very bad indeed, and I sensed them hovering around the edge of my world. I wasn’t empathine, so I had been assured by Jake and others in the pack that I should be fine.
Firstly, when it came to my safety, I wasn’t a huge fan of the word should. Secondly, something weird happened to me when it came to the wolfen.
I might not be able to share their emotions or have the sense of closeness that Izzy and Brooke did, but something about them called to me, and I dreamed of them over and over. I also dreamed of other things. Of the rogues and their brethren. My realistic, scary as fuck nightmares had become more frequent. I awoke repeatedly, dripping in sweat and fighting off an immense sense of impending doom.
I glanced at the time on my computer screen and sagged in relief when it read past five. Home time. I clicked off my computer and started to gather my things. I wanted to get out of there before Deanna came looking for me to discuss my reluctance over Paris. I’d face her in the morning, but I needed some rest first.
I’d been tired for days. I should book that doctor’s appointment. Perhaps I had some thyroid issue or something. Sneaking out of the office and down the stairs, I practically ran out of the glass doors and out into the weak autumn sunshine.
Not wanting to face the hustle and bustle of the city, I decided to make a right and walk toward the Old Town. The tenement buildings rose tall and dark above me, and a wind whipped through the narrow alleyways. Suddenly yearning for nature, I decided to head toward Holyrood Park and take a walk there. The restlessness within me built to a crescendo, and I couldn’t face the thought of the four walls of my small flat.
As I approached the park, from down a quiet side street, a vehicle slowed to a crawl by me. I glanced at it, and my heart sped up.
It stopped, and the back door swung open so hard it caught my leg. I cried out as pain ripped through me. A hand on my shoulder had me looking up, and my throat constricted when I recognized the man from the shop a few nights previous.
He pulled me toward him, then turned us around and pushed me into the car. The door slammed closed behind me, and I looked into red-rimmed, faded brown eyes. Eyes set in a h
ead straight from a horror film. Wide, thin lips peeled away from a long muzzle, and the thing in the car leaned in and sniffed at me.
“Oh, she’s perfect. Drive.” Its voice gurgled, as if it spoke through a thick layer of mucus. I tried not to gag.
Heart pounding, I glanced around the car in panic as it pulled away from the curb. The driver looked human, totally normal, but as ugly and hard-faced as I’d remembered from our brief encounter in the store. He caught my glance in the rearview mirror and looked away.
Next to the horrible creature by my side sat another, and in the front seat yet another. They all breathed heavily, and their stench filled the car.
“Take us to the agreed destination,” the one next to me gurgled.
“Smells good.” The one in the passenger seat turned around and sniffed the air. “So good. I like.”
“Keep your hands off her. She’s for Ronsin.”
“Ronsin,” the one in the front breathed.
It seemed he didn’t speak half as well as the one by my side. They were rogues, I knew as much. Fucking hell. They took a massive risk coming here, into the city, amongst humans. And all for me?
I tried to take in a calming breath but couldn’t. Nausea rose sharp and acrid in my throat, and tears stung at my eyes. Please God, don’t let this be happening. What did they want with me?
I glanced down and wished I hadn’t. The one next to me wore no clothing. Thick fur covered him around his groin, but I saw his manhood underneath and fresh panic hit me. I’d rather die than one of these things take me.
“We don’t want you for that, little one.” He ran a long, clawlike nail down my cheek. “Your heart beats so hard in your chest, I fear you might faint. I think you should sleep.”
He placed his massive, disgusting hands on my face and pried my jaw open, popping a pill into my mouth. “Swallow. You don’t, and I’ll force it down your throat or chloroform you.”
Too terrified to argue, I swallowed.
“She did it.” The rogue sitting by the far door fixed cold, gray eyes on me and grinned. “Good girl, did as it told.”
The thing couldn’t even speak properly.
Oh, fuck. I turned away. Never religious before, I closed my eyes and began to pray like crazy to a God I suddenly, fervently, hoped existed.
Please God, help me. Please don’t let them rape me. Even if they kill me, don’t let them hurt me or rape me first. Please help me. Please, please help me.
Tears fell from my eyes, and the words began to jumble themselves up in my mind. I didn’t seem able to keep things in order. They stopped making sense. As my eyes drifted closed, one word escaped my mouth. “Boyd.”
“Wake up and don’t cry.” Something jostled me, and I tried to ignore it at first, wanting to go back to sleep. “Girl, wake up.”
Pain in my upper arm forced my eyes open, and I saw the rogue who’d given me the pill pinching my arm, hard.
I scowled at it and rubbed my arm.
“Go lie on the bed and keep quiet. He will be here soon.”
Who? Another rogue? Swallowing hurt, and my mouth and throat were parched. My tongue seemed too big for my mouth.
A quick glance around the room ramped up my despair. A half-falling-down shack, there was rope in the corner in a pile, some rags, a bucket of water, another bucket, and a small camping stove, with some tins piled by it. A rudimentary fire had been built in what looked to be an old hearth, beside which stood an oil lamp, and a first aid kit sat off to one side. My eyes kept darting back to the damn green box with the cross on it. Why did they need it? Maybe it showed hope; they meant to keep me healthy, or perhaps they’d use it to patch me up after God knew what horrors.
Tears filled my eyes again, and one of the rogues clicked its teeth and muttered, “Don’t cry. Crying bad. Stop crying.”
I nodded and bit my lip hard as I rubbed my knuckles against my eyes, trying to stop the flow of tears.
Heart heavy as a rock in my chest, I made my way to the bed and lay down on it. The leader came over and methodically began to tie me up in the ropes. After about five minutes’ work, he stood back and huffed out a pleased breath. I must look like some sort of bug in a chrysalis. The rope went all over and around me, weaving in and out of my arms and legs. I couldn’t move an inch, but he hadn’t tied it so tight it hurt.
The bastard held up a dirty rag and waved it in my face. “Keep quiet. I don’t want your talking and noise. You make noise, and I will shove this in your mouth. Understood?”
I nodded and forced every single sound I wanted to scream out back down. I didn’t want the tattered, filthy cloth anywhere near me.
How I found the strength to lie on that bed and be quiet and not cry proved to be a mystery. Inside, my feelings swirled and tossed from one extreme to the other. Panic one moment, terror the next, then anger, before swinging to a deep sorrow. I felt like a person in a dinghy during a massive ocean storm, buffeted by the wild emotions and only able to cling on and hope to survive. How so much could rage within a body and not break out amazed me.
Sweat beaded my forehead, and my heart pounded hard. I tried to keep quiet, but every now and again, the panic escaped in the form of a harsh breath in, followed by a ragged exhalation.
Time seemed to drag on, and still, no one came. As twilight settled itself over the land, a new terror filled me. I didn’t think I’d be able to bear a night in this horrible, dank space as the forest fell dark around us. I’d rather the one they were waiting for came right now and did whatever he planned. This waiting, the not knowing, killed me a little more with each minute that passed.
A howl hooted out in the woods, and I shivered. The sweat on my body started to dry in the cool air, and a chill swept over me.
The door to the cabin burst open, and a huge creature stood there, blocking out the last of the day’s light.
“She been good?”
“Yes, sir,” the leader said. “She’s been good.”
“Smells nice.” One of the others grunted as it shuffled near me and took a sniff.
“Step back.” The massive thing snapped out the order, and the rogue moved away, chuffing out weird little noises under its breath.
As the large creature walked into the room, I bit back a cry. Another rogue, this one seemed different. Bigger than the others, it also looked more human, apart from its eyes. They glowed a weird, unearthly yellow, with the whites more of a pinkish red. It still retained this weird mix of wolf and human, but the same coarse hair didn’t cover its body. Instead, it looked like an extremely hirsute man. It had more human-looking limbs, too, with normal hands except for the long, yellow nails. Its face resembled that of a human, except it had a tiny bit of a snout going on. The minute it laid its eyes on me, I shrank back.
The thing…man…whatever walked over to me and reached down with one long arm. It brushed a strand of hair back from my face, and a whimper leaked out from between my closed lips.
“So beautiful. Such a pity you are not empathine, or we might be able to put you to other uses. As it is, you’re simply here to help us find some things we’ve lost. You can relax, pretty one, no one is going to touch you. Unless you want them to.” It grinned then, and huge, white teeth flashed in the dim light.
This creature wore no clothes like the others, but because it stood straighter and had a lot less hair, I, unfortunately, saw its private parts clearly. I looked away, not wanting him—because whatever the fuck else it might be, this thing was male—to think remotely in the direction of sex.
Wanting to distract him from any possible sexy thoughts, I swallowed down my fear and spoke. “What do you want from me? What do you want me to find?”
“Empathine.” His one word made my blood run cold. “We want you to find empathine. We can’t risk another attack on the village. Not that those backward bastards scare us, but we will risk bringing down the wrath of other packs and maybe even the Warriors, and this won’t do. We have plans. Don’t need the attention.”
“I don’t think I can help you.” I forced the words out through shaking teeth. God, they rattled so hard I thought they’d break.
“Oh, but you better hope you can because, if not, then you become expendable, and I’ll leave you to these boys here.” He gestured around the room, and one of the rogues smacked its lips with a long, purple tongue.
“You have certain talents,” he went on. “Talents even you most likely are not fully aware of. You’ve sensed the way we are gathering. We know this as we have one of our own like you, but he isn’t as strong. He can only sense vague things about you. He’s also somehow…locked out from finding the empathine. Maybe because we’re rogue? But you are not. If you focus your not inconsiderable powers in the right direction, you should be able to find what we need.”
My mind whirled. I had no clue how to go about finding empathine. None at all. As if he read my mind, the rogue spoke.
“It’s simple. You’ll spend a few days here reading about the empathine. Their history, their family trees. The way they once lived and breathed as part of our society, before the stupid pact we made and the Warriors ruined things. Then, you’ll focus on the energy of some things we have, and you will tell us where these special humans are.”
He turned to the leader of the little pack of three. “Go bring the things in.”
The monstrosity shuffled out and returned with a large chest moments later, carrying it as if it weighed nothing. It set it down and opened the lid.
“You are to begin tonight. I’ll be back in the morning.”
“No!” The word shot out. He gave me a sharp look. “Please, don’t leave me with them. I’m afraid, I think they might…they want…”