by Leah Knight
Allison beamed with joy. She didn’t want to spend one more moment in that stuffy safe room. Michael heaved himself to his feet and pulled her along with him.
“Oh, wait,” Allison said. “Is there any way I can… freshen up?”
“Oh, damn,” Michael said. “I totally forgot about that. Of course. We have hygiene stuff in the cupboard over there, and I could send Logan after some clothes for you.”
Allison fumbled around in the cupboard and located a toothbrush still in the package, some toothpaste, soap, shampoo and conditioner.
“Have any towels?” she asked.
“Just bring that stuff with you,” Michael said. “You can use the bathroom upstairs in your room. It’s much nicer.”
“Room? I have a room?”
Michael chuckled heartily. “You do now!” he said. “Come on, let me show you.”
Allison followed him up the creaking stairs to the kitchen, then through an archway into a rundown foyer. They ascended another staircase to a hallway of doors. Michael opened a door and walked inside, flicking a light switch as he entered.
“It’s not much,” he said apologetically, “but it’s all we have.”
Allison’s eyes scanned the musty, gray room. The furniture was all covered in a thick layer of dust, including the bed, and the rug was dingy and ragged. Allison smiled.
“It’s just fine,” she said.
“It’s not, but we’ll fix it up for you,” Logan offered.
“That’s not necessary,” Allison said as cheerfully as she could manage. “It’s fine, really.”
“The bathroom is through that door,” Michael said, pointing across the room. “Logan will get you some towels.”
Michael turned to leave, but then he paused and turned back to face her.
“Oh, and Allison?” he paused to make sure he had her full attention. “Not that we don’t trust you, but my room is right across the hall, and Logan and Luke are on either side of me. Don’t even think of trying to leave.”
His lips curled upward, but it was more a warning grin than an actual smile.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Allison said gently, and Michael nodded.
Logan handed Allison a bundle of towels, and she took everything into the bathroom.
“Logan, go into town and get her some clothes,” she heard Michael order as she closed the bathroom door behind her.
Chapter Five
After taking a shower and brushing her teeth, Allison found a large pile clean clothes waiting on her bed, which had been stripped of its sheets and remade with clean linens. It was astonishing how quickly Logan had gone into town and come back with brand new clothes for her. Even more surprising, they were all the right size.
She chose a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and put the rest away in her dresser before heading downstairs to find the others. The stairs creaked loudly as she headed down them, and she followed the sound of voices into a large room with rows of dusty books standing on shelves. As she approached, the voices went silent.
“What’s going on?” she asked, and three pairs of eyes turned toward her.
“We’ve been discussing Victor,” Michael answered.
“I see,” Allison said. “And?”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” Michael said grimly, “but the others agree that you should know. I went to see Victor. It was a peaceful meeting, but he refused to relent. He says his pack saw you first, and they don’t intend to stop until they get you back.”
“Why’d he let you go?” Allison wondered.
“Victor and I… have a history,” Michael answered. “He owed me a favor. Letting me out alive made us even.”
Allison slid weakly into a chair. Then she asked, “Is this going to go on forever?”
“They will not stop until they get you back or they are all dead,” Michael confirmed.
Allison’s heart jumped, and her whole body began to tremble. Her head began to swim, and her stomach lurched. Clasping her hand firmly over her mouth, she sprang from her chair and rushed down the hall. She bathroom door banged sharply against the wall, and she collapsed to her knees in front of the toilet, retching violently into it.
She heard the sound of a clearing throat behind her, and she turned her eyes meekly toward it. Logan peered down at her with pity in his eyes.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
She nodded and rolled some toilet paper off the roll, swiping it harshly across her lips. She flushed the toilet and pulled herself into a standing position on wobbly knees. Her trembling hands turned on the faucet and rinsed her mouth, and then splashed her face. She fumbled with her eyes closed for a towel.
She felt softness in her hand, and her fingers instinctively closed around it. Wiping her face, she said, “Thanks, Logan.”
“You’re welcome,” Michael’s voice responded.
She pulled the towel away from her face and looked into the mirror above the sink, and Michael now stood where Logan had been moments earlier.
“You alright?” he asked her.
“I’m fine, I guess,” she said, turning around and hanging the towel on the bar on the wall beside the door.
“We’re not going to let anything happen to you,” he said. “You have my word.”
“What if something happens that you can’t stop?” she challenged him.
“Then it would mean we are all dead,” he said in a matter-of-fact way.
She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. Michael raised an eyebrow at her and the corner of his lip twitched, and then curled into a lopsided grin.
“Why, Allison!” he teased. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were worried about me!”
Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms defiantly in front of her. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, and with a roll of her eyes, she muttered, “Don’t flatter yourself.”
He chuckled and said knowingly, “I don’t have to. I’ve got you all figured out.”
He crossed his own arms and leaned against the doorframe, his head cocked sideways.
“You’re really full of yourself,” she commented.
“Am I?” he challenged. “Or is it just that you know I’m right.”
Her eyes flashed fire and she snorted. “Go ahead and fight Victor and the whole pack for all I care,” she said, thrusting her nose haughtily upward. “I’d barely even realize you were gone.”
Bemused, Michael smirked and said, “Liar.”
She slammed her shoulder squarely against his, pushing past him through the narrow opening he left in the doorway.
“Hey!” he called after her.
With her nose still high in the air, she breezed down the hallway to join the others in the library. She plopped heavily into a chair and crossed her legs, swinging one leg wildly and crossing her arms.
Logan glanced at Michael, who shrugged. Then he looked at Allison who shot him a look that told him to not even bother asking.
“Ohhhhh-kay…” Logan said. “So, what are the plans?”
Michael retreated into a dark corner and leaned against the wall. Only a shaft of blue-gray moonlight coming from a nearby window illuminated him.
“For now, nothing,” Michael said. “It’s up to them to make the first move.”
“I say we fight!” Logan argued, pounding his fist into his palm. “We should surprise them! Take them out while we can!”
“No!” Michael snapped. “It’s too dangerous. They could be planning an ambush. Anything could happen.”
“But, if we take the fight to them…” Logan started to say.
“I said no!” Michael snarled, his voice almost otherworldly in its viciousness.
Logan immediately closed his mouth, and his shoulders slouched forward in defeat. Then he looked over at Luke and said, “What do you think?”
“I think Michael’s right,” Luke admitted. “It’s too dangerous to go after them on their own turf. We’d be at a disadvantage. Plus, they could be just waiting for us t
o leave her unguarded.”
Logan frowned at his brother, but then he sighed heavily and groaned, “Fine, I see your point.”
“Then we stay here and see what they do,” Michael said, ending the matter.
“Who’s hungry?” Logan asked as cheerfully as he could manage.
“Me!” Allison gasped, her stomach suddenly gnawing painfully. “Wow, I didn’t realize how hungry I am until you said something.”
“I think we’re actually running low on food,” Luke commented.
“Why didn’t you pick any up while you were in town earlier?” Michael growled.
“Sorry, I didn’t know we were that low,” Logan admitted sheepishly.
Michael snarled and said, “Get going, and hurry back!”
“Wait!” Allison said quickly. “Isn’t it a bit dangerous to send Logan out alone in the middle of the night with all this going on?”
Michael paused, and then asked Luke, “Exactly how much food do we have?”
Luke shrugged, “I think we have a loaf of bread and a couple of apples.”
“That’ll do for tonight,” Allison interjected.
“Agreed,” Michael said. “You and Logan will go into town in the morning at first light. For now, Allison, you should get some sleep.”
“Um, she should eat first,” Logan reminded him.
“I’ll just take an apple for tonight,” Allison said.
“Logan…” Michael started to say.
“Got it,” Logan said and jogged out of the room. Moments later, he returned with an apple washed and nestled carefully in a paper towel.
“Thank you, Logan,” she said politely. “Good night, everyone.”
“Night,” said Luke and Logan. Michael merely nodded from the shadows.
Allison ascended the creaking stairs, sinking her teeth into the crisp, juicy flesh of the apple. Juice dribbled down her chin, and she licked it carefully away. Her head was filled with visions of fur flying and sharp teeth bared. The thought of the pack being hurt because of her…
It was then that her eyes turned upward and she saw two gleaming yellow eyes staring menacingly in the darkness on the stairs above her. A lip curled menacingly over two rows of vicious fangs, and a deep, guttural growl rolled out smooth and angry.
She opened her mouth to scream, but suddenly something closed over it. In a blinding moment, she felt hands grasping her from multiple directions. She was bound, gagged, and a bag was placed over her head. She struggled frantically, but moments later she was being whisked away as she kicked and clawed.
Eventually, Allison realized that fighting was futile, so she relaxed. She was being carried, and she could hear additional footsteps nearby. This must be Victor and his pack, she thought.
After a while, she heard the click of a door opening, and then another. Finally, she was placed on a soft surface. Her bonds were removed, but then she felt her wrists being bound again.
*****
“Victor, I assume,” Allison spat with a voice full of vitriolic disgust.
“You are our mate,” Victor snarled. “We claimed you first!”
“I will never be your mate!” Allison shouted, spitting in his face.
Victor’s hand flew into the air over his shoulder as if to backhand her, but suddenly the sound of splintering wood and shattering glass yanked his attention away from her. His head snapped backward, and in an instant, he shifted right before Allison’s eyes, leaping into the air and twisting his body to face the door.
Michael stood panting in the doorway, his eyes narrowed and his fists balled beside him. His bare chest heaved, and he gritted his teeth so fiercely Allison could hear them grinding.
“Not today, Victor!” Michael snarled through clenched teeth.
Victor lunged, and faster than Allison even thought possible, Michael shifted. Shreds of his jeans flew into the air and began to flutter around him, and he exploded into a raging ball of rippling muscle twitching beneath a blanket of dark fur. They connected, and curled into a snarling, snapping ball that rolled right out the door.
Victor’s cronies shifted and dashed out the door after them. She could hear the cries of canine pain from outside, and her heart began to pound, nauseating her. She lifted her head, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening.
“Shh,” someone whispered, and she quickly glanced to her right where she saw Logan smiling reassuringly as he loosened the ropes that bound her right hand.
She left someone loosening the other, and she turned her head to see Luke, who nodded a brief hello.
In seconds, her bonds were released, and she leaped to her feet. Logan grabbed her hand and pulled, and she quickly followed him out the back door, moving as silently as possible.
Once outside, Logan and Luke shifted. Logan, she noticed, was smaller and gray with a snowy white chest, while Logan was thicker and tan mottled with flecks of dark, rusty brown.
Logan lowered the front half of his body to the ground in front of her, his muzzle resting on the ground with his tail thrust into the air. For a moment, she stared at him awkwardly, and then she realized what he wanted. She swung her leg over him and grabbed two thick handfuls of the fur at the nape of his neck.
Logan rose and began to sprint, Luke dashing along beside him, occasionally looking over his shoulder. Logan sailed over a fallen tree and ducked under a low branch. Allison’s heart leaped into her throat and stuck there, choking her as she clung fiercely to Logan’s thick fur. They were moving so rapidly she could scarcely breathe, and the forest was a hazy blur of greens and browns. She screwed her eyes tightly shut and buried her face in Logan’s neck, hiding from her own terror.
Luke growled something and Logan barked a hasty reply. She could hear their paws rustling the leaves as they dashes away, two distinct sets of paws. Two.
“Michael!” she found herself gasping aloud, her eyes popping open. “Logan, stop! We have to go back!”
Logan yelped with distress, but he continued to dash through the forest. Her heart had already been pounding furiously, but now it felt as though it were about to explode.
“Logan, stop!” she demanded, ponding his shoulder with one hand.
He shook his furry head and continued to run, while visions of Michael being torn apart by Victor and his pack played through her mind like a horror movie.
Why wouldn’t he stop?
Luke continued glancing over his shoulder, keeping pace beside his brother as though the two were one. Unable to convince Logan, she shouted over to Luke and said, “Luke, we have to go back! We can’t just leave him!”
Luke’s ear twitched, and she knew she’d managed to reach him, but he continued to race beside his brother as if she’d said nothing. Defeated, she buried her face back into Luke’s furry neck.
Moments later, their paw falls began to slow, and they came to a stop. Raising her head, she could see they were outside a small cave. It was mostly hidden by a thick mass of brush and tree limbs, but the dark entrance was still easy to spot.
Logan lowered his body, and Allison took the signal, dismounting him. Luke and Logan shifted. Allison flushed at their nakedness and turned away.
“What’s to become of Michael?” she demanded.
“Michael knew the risks when we came to get you,” Luke said.
“So you’re not going back?” Allison shrieked.
“The plan was for Michael to distract them while we got you out and brought you to our safe haven,” Luke said. “It seems to have worked. I don’t think we were followed.”
“And you just left him there to die?” Allison shouted. Her rage had overcome her embarrassment, and she wheeled to face the brothers, her eyes narrowed and her body trembling with fury. “He’s your brother, how could you?”
The brothers glanced at one another, and Logan opened his mouth to speak. He quickly closed it.
“We had no choice,” Luke said coolly.
“No choice,” Allison muttered. Then more loudly, “No choice! Do you th
ink Michael would say he had no choice if one of you were back there?”
“I’ll not discuss this with you,” Luke said. “Get in the cave.”
“Don’t you dare tell me what to do!” Allison shouted. “You have no right to—“
“Have it your way,” Luke shrugged.
Then he snatched Allison up and threw her over his shoulder, pushing his way past the brush and branches and into the pitch-black cave.