His face screwed in apology before the words even came out, “I didn't think you'd need me today. You rarely ever really seem to need me.”
“I suppose you're right.” I tried not to be agitated. What a little sneak he was? “Are they really letting you double up on job points like this?”
“They said I could if you said it was alright.” Devon cowered a bit, and his large brown eyes turned to doe eyes of pleading.
“Funny, I don't recall saying such a thing.”
“Please, Taya. Please don't say anything. I've been an omega for so long. I deserve a better life, and I'm not going to get an opportunity like this again,” he begged.
Most of the time, Devon just escorted me to meals, and that's where his job ended. It made sense that he would try to pick up extra work with so much free time at his disposal.
“Well, I was going to go visit the lone wolves again and see if I can get my interviews from them,” I said.
“Can it wait until after lunch? My shift isn't over until then. I can cancel out my other one afterward.”
I knew damn good and well that the compound would let Devon leave his job in the garden if I requested it. He obviously just didn't want to go, the same as last time. Not wanting to hear him whine about it, I decided to let him off the hook.
“No, just keep on working,” the agitation in my tone was clear again. “I'll go by myself.”
“I don't think they're going to open the doors to you this time either, if you want me to be honest.”
Devon was looking less and less honest in my eyes by the second. Perhaps I was wrong to think of him as a trusted friend.
“Well, I suppose I'll find out,” I told him.
“Do you remember how to get there?”
“I think I can find my way.”
“Alright. You might want to get a walkie talkie from the guards, just in case.”
“I appreciate your concern,” I said sarcastically, and he cowered away from me again.
“I'm sorry, Taya. I really am. I hope you understand.”
“Oh, I do understand, though I'm not quite sure if I approve.”
Devon looked around to make sure that no one had heard me. “Thanks, you're a real friend.”
“I know,” I sighed, thinking that I was, but he wasn't.
It was easy enough to get the compound to lend me an ATV again, especially since I only needed one this time. They asked why Devon wasn't going with me, and out of the kindness of my heart, I told them that I had allowed him to work instead. Who knows what they would have done to him if I told them the truth?
Since I was making the trip alone, the compound was more than happy to issue me a walkie talkie. They also gave me a map of where I could find the homes of the lone wolves and a compass to guide my way. It seemed like I was all set for the journey.
As I took off from the base of the reservation, I spied Chris walking from one housing unit to another. It appeared that he had gotten the maintenance position he had applied for. I cast a smile in Chris's direction, but he chose to avoid my eyes, causing my face to sink into a frown. Whatever, I thought as I revved the engine and took off into the woods.
The trip to Bartholomew Ryan's house was a lot more uncomfortable without Devon by my side. Where the forest had been a welcome change of scenery before, warm and inviting, it now seemed like a threatening thing with its isolation and mystery. A few times, I thought about turning back and waiting for Devon to get off of work, but I didn't want to seem cowardly. And so, I pressed on through the hills and the valleys, beneath the towering trees and along the small stream the flowed almost up to Bartholomew's doorstep.
Like the first time I came, there was no answer at the door. Bartholomew was obviously inside. I could hear him walking around and something making a soft clanking noise. He even peaked out the window, but once he saw the color of my yellow jumpsuit I was forgotten.
“Mr. Ryan, I've come a really long way. You would be helping out the werewolves' cause by giving me an interview.” My pleas fell on deaf ears, and after several minutes of standing on his doorstep, exasperated, I gave up.
The next house didn't produce any better results. Chris Ross was legitimately gone though. After an hour of waiting, I figured it was time to move on.
Rex Willows' home proved to by just as vacant. I waited for him for an hour as well, but there was no sign of his return. This would be the last time I came out to try to interview the lone wolves. They obviously weren't interested in telling their story, and I couldn't afford to waste anymore time and resources on them if they weren't going to cooperate. Still, I refused to go home completely empty handed. Maybe, just maybe . . .
I opened the door and peaked inside. Just like all the doors in the reservation, there didn't appear to be any locks on this one either. Perhaps that was a stipulation for allowing the lone wolves to live so far away from the main base.
The inside of Rex's house looked like something from an old western show. Furniture was sparse and all handmade. For a bed, there was nothing more than a simple cot with animal furs layered on top of it.
My hand reached for my camera absentmindedly, and my breath hitched when I felt a warm hand closing around my wrist. I spun around just in time for Rex to catch me by both arms. His green eyes stared down into mine with anger.
“What are you doing in here?” he nearly spat in my face.
“I came to interview you,” I stuttered out, trying to pull away. Rex had an iron grip on me though and wasn't showing any signs of releasing me.
“I'll let you interview me,” he snarled, and the way that he said it was a clear indication that I was in big trouble.
CHAPTER FOUR
Everything was dark. While I knew I should be frightened, I somehow wasn't. My eyes were blindfolded, and my hands were fastened in front of me with a length of black cloth. Rex hadn't twisted it around them very tight, perhaps not wanting to leave marks.
Surely, he couldn't keep me captive for long. If I didn't return for dinner time, the werewolves would start wondering where I was and send a search party out after me. Compound staff would be at Rex's doorstep in a matter of hours. I was fairly certain I could expect a safe release. Then again, I didn't know this man at all. Who could really tell what his intentions were?
“I don't much see the point of a blindfold since I know who you are,” I told Rex.
“You'll want the blindfold, trust me,” he said in a low voice.
The implications of his words made the first real shiver of fear roll through my body. What was so bad that I couldn't see? Or, did he plan to . . .
“What do you want with me?” I asked.
“The same thing you want with me. To bring awareness to the lycanthropy disease.”
“Holding me hostage isn't going to make a strong case for werewolves.”
“I don't plan to hold you hostage.”
“Then what do you plan to do with me?”
“I plan to bring the issue a bit closer to home.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“You'll see.”
My breath hitched as Rex lifted up one of my feet, working to remove my sneaker. At first, I had no idea what he planned to do, but when both shoes were off, and he pushed me onto the bed to pull down my pants, my heart began to pound against my chest with a fierceness I had never felt before.
“You don't want to do this, Rex,” I told him. “Think of what they'll do to you if they find out.”
“They won't find out,” he assured me.
“What makes you think I won't tell them?”
“Because then you'd be stuck here like the rest of us. I thought you were smarter than that, Taya.”
Trying to get away from Rex, I kicked at him, but my efforts were fruitless. In fact, they only seemed to aid him in taking off my pants faster.
“Making me a werewolf won't do anything to help your cause. It will just make you look like blood-thirsty monsters incapable of living in norm
al society,” I insisted.
“Well, once your report is out, people read it, and then find out that you were turned into a werewolf while inside the reservation, I think they'll be more interested in sending aid for a cure. This report will be what skyrockets your career, no? Hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people will read it. You'll surely be interviewed on television because of it. Your face will be well known. And when the general populous discovers that it's the face of a werewolf, you'll become the poster child for the cure.”
“If I'm a werewolf, then my first shift will be the night that I leave the reservation. I won't have time to turn my report in. Before I can even gain this fame that you're speaking of, I'll be placed back on the reservation. They probably won't even publish my report if that happens, because they'll think that it's bad publicity.”
“I'm going to help you.”
“I don't see how you could.”
“My home isn't too far away from here. A days drive. If you left first thing in the morning, you could make it there before the moon. I built a pen in the back, a cage of sorts . . . to contain me during the shift. If you locked yourself inside, you'd be fine until morning.”
I was speechless with thought. There was no question that Rex had planned the whole thing out, and the worst part was that it wasn't even a bad plan. Still, I had no intentions of becoming a werewolf.
“How long have you been on the reservation?” I asked, hoping to keep him distracted with conversation.
A soft laughed escaped his lips as his fingers curled around the waistband of my underwear. “Are you trying to interview me now?”
With my best calculated effort, I kneed the air as hard as I could, landing the blow, though I wasn't sure where. Rex stumbled away, coughing, though he had managed to pull my underwear halfway down my hips. Hurriedly, I fought to pull free of the loose cloth binding around my wrists. It was easy enough. But before I could remove the blindfold, Rex was on me again, pinning me to the bed.
“Despite what you may think, I have no interest in hurting you,” he breathed.
“You're hurting me right now,” I shrieked, though scaring me would have been a more accurate thing to say.
Immediately, he loosened his grip. “I didn't think it would be this difficult.”
“What, you've never raped a woman before?” I nearly spat at Rex.
Strangely, I could almost sense that he cringed from my words. “I don't know how else to change you, and I don't want to hurt you.”
“Don't change me then,” I told him. “I've already sworn to become an advocate for your cause. I want to help you. I want to help all the werewolves. If you do this . . . it could ruin everything.”
“This is the only way I can guarantee that you'll really help. How am I to know that you won't just leave this place, forget about us, and go back to enjoying your life?”
“All I can do is give you my word.”
“I'm sorry, Taya, but your word isn't good enough,” Rex said finally, holding my wrists above my head with one hand while he used his other to pull out his manhood.
The instant Rex let go of my hands to tug my underwear down even further, I took the opportunity to rip off my blindfold. He towered above me on his knees, a picture of threatening exotic beauty. I might have been aroused by Rex under different circumstances, but not like this. His green eyes bared down on me with a mix of annoyance and pain. For the first time, I truly believed that he wished there was another way.
After a second's pause caught staring into each other's eyes, I tried to struggle away, but Rex grabbed my inner thigh, forcing himself on top of me to hold me down. Our faces were only inches apart, his lips so close to mine than I could feel his breath. My body stilled involuntarily, and in that moment, Rex took advantage, moving to place himself inside of me.
The world seemed to stand frozen as my body reacted to the intrusion. Rex didn't move, and there was more anguish on his face than pleasure. My only emotion was fear.
“I don't want to hurt you,” he told me in a whisper, and his eyes softened as our bodies came together completely.
There seemed to be a great surrender then, as if my body decided to stop fighting, my soul defeated. I simply laid there, feeling Rex move on top of me. It was the strangest sex I had ever had. All the while, I wondered if it was too late. If I managed to pull away from him and escape, would I still be infected, or was the sheer fact that he was inside of me enough to do it.
Rex was surprisingly gentle, more so than most of the consensual men that I had been with. As I watched him thrust, I couldn't help but wonder if he was getting any pleasure out of it at all. His eyes never met my face, not even when he was finished.
I laid there as Rex got off of me, leaving me in a puddle of mixed emotions on his bed. If there had been any question in my mind before, there was none now. He had infected me with the lycanthropy disease.
“Can I . . . get you anything?” he asked hesitantly.
“No,” I replied, trying to muster the strength to sit up.
My mind was dazed at best, trying to cope with what had just happened. There were so many strong feelings coursing through me. Anxiety, fear, anger, disgust, hatred, sorrow, confusion. Where did I go from here?
Quiet, as if nothing had happened, I pulled up my underwear and pants, grabbed my notebook and pen, and made my way to the door. Rex held it open for me, and when I looked up into his eyes for a final time, there was a sense of remorse. I felt nothing for it.
“Come back before you leave so that we can talk,” he said to me as I mounted my ATV.
My voice couldn't find a reply, and so I revved up the engine and headed back into the forest toward the base of the Blackfoot Werewolf Reservation. The cool air blowing against my face felt as icy as I did inside. Part of me wanted to drive up to the gates of the reservation and flee, never to turn back, but I knew that I couldn't. If I tried to leave now, it would look too suspicious. My only option was to pretend that nothing had happened, but how could I expect to do that when I was so traumatized?
When I got back to the reservation and dropped off the ATV, I decided to return to my room before dinner. There was still an hour left, an hour that I planned to spend crying and feeling sorry for myself. I had held it together in the face of the compound staff, telling them that I didn't come in contact with any of the lone wolves and had decided to spend the day exploring instead. How I hoped they didn't have hidden cameras throughout the forest. Being caught in a lie would look even more suspicious.
Depression took over once I got into my room, and I cried while I showered off Rex's scent and seed, keeping my sobs at a low in case I could be heard. Once I was toweled off, I curled up on my bed and slept. It wasn't until after ten that I awoke, my stomach churning painfully from lack of nourishment. Crap, I had slept past dinner.
For a moment, I sat on the side of my bed wondering if I could handle waiting until the morning to eat. Unfortunately though, since I had slept for so long, I wouldn't be going to bed anytime soon, and that meant the pangs would probably be coming regularly until I had to sleep again. No, I was going to have to find something to eat.
I sighed, knowing my only real option of acquiring food at such a late hour. Whether I wanted to or not, I was going to have to go see Emmett, the alpha of the pack. Since he received thirty free job points a month, he stocked up on a reserve of snacks and beverages. It was a smart thing to do, now that I thought about it. Perhaps I should consider doing the same. Even if I only kept a couple of bags of chips around, it would ensure that I wouldn't wind up in a similar situation again.
Reluctantly, I pulled myself out of bed and got dressed before heading out the door. Hopefully, Emmett would be kind and give me something to eat without any trouble. I wasn't in the mood to play games.
As I walked up to his door, I paused at the sound of moaning coming from inside. My eyes involuntarily rolled when I realized what was going on. For a moment, I thought about leaving and retu
rning later, but then I realized that it might not be such a bad time to bother him after all. If Emmett was busy with someone else, he wouldn't want to deal with me for any longer than necessary.
I knocked on the door and waited. Voices could be heard inside as the moaning stopped. One of the voices was eerily familiar, and I had to smirk in contempt when I figured out that the female voice belonged to Sasha. Slut.
Emmett opened the door wearing nothing but a pair of blue pants. Sweat glistened on his broad chest and thick shoulders. His black hair was plastered to his forehead, and his expression was a mix of exhaustion and annoyance.
“What?” he asked, obviously bothered by my presence.
“Do you have a bag of chips and a soda that I can have? I missed lunch and slept through dinner. I'll pay you back tomorrow,” I said.
“Yeah,” Emmett replied, disappearing for a few minutes only to return with the requested items.
“Thanks.” I smiled at him before he nodded and hurriedly closed the door to return to business.
On my way back to my room, I tore open the bag of chips, devouring them before I was even halfway there. As I reached the stairs, my eyes were met with an unpleasant surprise, one that I typically would have been elated to see under any other circumstance.
“Hey,” Chris said from the top of the stairs.
“Hey you.” I stifled a sigh. Out of all the times he could have picked to visit me, now was the worst one.
“You weren't at lunch or dinner. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright.”
“Thanks for caring,” I replied sarcastically before brushing past him to open the door.
“You're not still mad at me, are you?” Chris furrowed his brow at me.
“I never was mad at you, Chris. I just don't feel well right now. So, if you would please excuse me.” I closed the door behind myself, pressing my back against it. As I heard his footfalls going down the stairs, my eyes began to water. The truth was that I needed support, but I couldn't handle talking right now without breaking down. Besides, I was worried that I would disclose things to him that I knew were better kept to myself. No one could know what had happened to me. Not if I expected to make it out of the reservation once the month was up.
A Month with Werewolves (The With Werewolves Saga Book 1) Page 10