by Jenna Aileen
“Dude, you find anything that remotely resembles a member of the opposite sex attractive. That’s not saying much,” Liam retorted dryly. Sawyer shrugged and continued to gaze longingly at Kathryn.
“Remind me not to leave them alone together,” I told Valko and Liam. Sawyer shot me a dirty look, while the others snickered.
“But seriously, how do you think Vladimir is going to handle her?” Valko asked, silencing us all. “He doesn’t exactly take any form of rebellion lightly.”
“Do you think he’ll just kill her?” Liam asked soberly.
“I don't think that was ever his plan,” I replied
noncommittally.
“He may choose to have some fun with her first…before he kills her. I mean seriously, can you remember the last time he had a woman around? Maybe he’ll share,” Sawyer added thoughtfully, with a somewhat hopeful tone. The rest of us just rolled our eyes.
“Yeah, you wish.”
“Oh shut up, Liam, you’re just—”
“Alright ladies, settle down, you’re going to wake her up,” I scolded.
Kathryn sighed in her sleep and rolled over onto her stomach, now facing us. Her eyebrows knit together tightly before she relaxed, and a somewhat peaceful look crossed her face.
An unfamiliar and unexpected feeling washed over me as I studied her. She looked so innocent.
Stop thinking like that Conan, we have a job to do.
“You think it’ll take two months to get back?” Liam asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“I have no idea. Once we get back into our territory, it won’t take very long to reach the rest of the pack. I’m just worried about running into rogues. We’ll be slower now that she’s with us. We’re not going to be able to cross through that cursed no- man’s-land in just a few hours like we did before. If they get their hands on her, I’m not sure what we’re going to do,” I muttered.
“We’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it. No sense in borrowing trouble,” Valko remarked.
“You’re right. Get some rest now; we’ve got another long day ahead of us.”
*~*~*
“Conan, I think we should take a break soon,” Valko said to me in a low voice, discreetly nodding at Kathryn. I glanced back to see her stumbling along, looking absolutely exhausted. Every step looked like a struggle, and I could tell she was in pain just by the way her nose scrunched up every time she took a step.
“She doesn’t look too good,” I whispered back.
“I think we should stop here for the day.” Valko responded.
“It’s barely noon!” I snapped back, a little louder than intended. The boys looked up at me, and I just coughed. “But we have been making good progress.”
“I’m afraid she’s going to drop dead if we push her any longer.”
I groaned louder than I wanted to. We were already behind schedule.
“Alright, we’ll stop here for a bit,” I declared, shrugging off my backpack and cracking my stiff neck.
“Already?” Liam asked with a questioning look.
“Yeah. You, Sawyer, and I are going to scout ahead. Maybe do some hunting,” I answered, twisting my body until my spine cracked. “Valko is going to stay behind with Kathryn. Howl if you need anything.”
Valko nodded, and Sawyer, Liam, and I headed out.
“So, what’s the real reason behind us stopping this early in the afternoon?” Sawyer asked casually.
“I told you, we need to scout ahead.”
“And I’m sure that this little scouting trip has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Kathryn looked like she was about ready to start crying,” Liam said dryly. Gritting my teeth, I began to take my clothes off so I could change into my wolf, doing my best to ignore their stupid comments about me going soft.
“C’mon, let’s go,” I snapped, just before letting my wolf take over. It had been a while since I had turned, and I wished I had done more stretching before shifting.
The animal immediately tried to take control. He was angry that I had kept him at bay so long. I didn’t want to give myself over to him right away, but it was a hard battle to fight.
It happened so suddenly. The sense of control was gone, yet stronger than ever. Power-hungry and bloodthirsty, the three of us took off in search of something to satisfy our desires. *~*~*
“Conan, we should probably head back now.” Sawyer stated, roughly shaking me awake. “It’s almost dusk.”
I sat up with a groan, my sore muscles protesting. “Oh shit, I completely forgot about the girl,” I muttered before turning back into my wolf. The animal was a little more subdued, although I was now starting to regret giving in to him. He was pretty content at the moment, but I knew it wouldn’t last long. He’d soon be calling for more, and this time it would be harder to say no.
By the time we reached Kathryn and Valko, the sun was almost completely behind the trees, plunging the world into darkness. I did a double take when I saw them both soaking wet and shivering by the fire.
“What the—”
“Don’t ask,” Kathryn cut me off as I gave her a questioning look. I could only imagine what had transpired while we were gone.
Chapter Thirteen, Kathryn
Conan seemed to think that I was deaf or something, but I heard every word that he and my other captors whispered to each other. And I have to say, I was somewhat surprised at his deciding to “scout ahead” so I could rest.
Now I was stuck alone with Valko, the lesser of four evils. For some reason, he didn’t seem as threatening or intimidate me as much as the other men—wolves— did. Which, I suppose is why I had absolutely no problem lying down to take a nap soon after Conan and the other two guys disappeared.
I’m not sure how long I was out, but I felt a little more better when I awoke. Valko was sitting across from me, his back against a tree. His eyes were unreadable as he studied me. I shifted uncomfortably, wondering how long he had been staring at me and how I could make him stop.
“So uh, you said that you’re a doctor?” I asked, trying to break awkward silence.
“Yeah.”
“So you, like, take care of people and stuff? In your little pack thing?”
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
I held back a groan and bit my tongue. The sudden burst of energy from my power nap had tons of questions stirred up in my mind once again, buzzing around like busy bees.
“Is it true that werewolves can be killed with silver?” I finally blurted.
“Yup.”
“So that’s why I didn’t kill Liam when I shot him?”
“Yeah, but you gave him one heck of a bruise,” Valko chuckled, shaking his head.
“I’m not sorry,” I stated boldly.
“I figured.” He looked up at me and chuckled again.
I just raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged.
“Do you miss it at all? Your old life?” I asked after a moment.
“Miss it? Sometimes…I miss certain aspects of it I suppose.” He rubbed his chin and looked at me. “I’ve been a werewolf for so long now that I don’t really remember a whole lot about what you would call normal life.”
Stupid wolfman couldn’t even carry on a conversation. Without saying another word, I got up and started walking away. I wasn’t in the mood to talk about my personal life with one of my kidnappers, even if he was one “nice” one.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Valko asked, getting up and following me.
“I don’t really know,” I muttered. “But I’ve never let that stop me before.”
The sound of rushing water reached my ears, and I looked down to find myself at the top of a s rocky incline that lead to a dark river below.
“Woah…” I mumbled under my breath, mesmerized by the churning waters.
“Careful, don’t fall,” Valko said, grabbing my elbow to steady me.
“I’m not going to fall.” I turned to glare at him.
“Mhmm. Just like you weren’t g
oing to fall out of that tree the other night either, were you?”
“Oh c’mon, that was ONE time. And I was a bit rattled from thinking I had killed someone.”
“Oh and how about the hot fudge display in Walmart?”
“Wait…you saw that?”
“Yeah, everyone did. They called ‘Clean up in aisle ten!’ over the loudspeaker and we all went running there. Might as well have said—Kathryn was here.”
“Whatever. My mind was a bit preoccupied with trying to escape. It’s not my fault they put those displays right in the middle of the floor.” I placed my hand and on my hip and stuck my jaw out.
Valko just laughed and gave me a funny look.
“You’re not like the others, are you?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
“What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know, you just seem…different.”
Valko’s lips twitched, and he shook his head. “I’m not that different.” There was an evil gleam in his eyes as he looked up at me, and I took a small step back. “In fact, we’re all pretty much the same once we let the animal have control.” He advanced towards me, and I backed up all the way to the edge of the mini cliff.
Valko stopped about an inch in front of me, and started laughing. Realizing that he was only trying to scare me, I growled and stomped my foot.
“Man, I got you good!” he laughed, smacking his knee.
“That’s not funny.” I growled and sat down in the soft grass, my feet dangling over the edge of the little cliff. Although I didn’t want to admit that he had fooled me, in that split second, I was afraid that he was going to kill me and eat me or something.
“I was not scared,” I mumbled half-heartedly. “Stupid wolf- men and your sixth sense.” There really was no point in trying to lie to them.
“Kathryn, be careful,” Valko cautioned, taking a small step toward me.
“Careful of what? I wasn’t dissing you, Valko. I’m just—”
“You’re going to fall if you don’t watch it.”
“No I won’t, I’m fine. It’s not even that far of a–”
I never got a chance to finish my sentence. The dirt beneath me crumbled, and in a split second I was plummeting toward the water, screaming as my body slammed against the rock wall. The pain took my breath away, leaving me gasping as I landed in the river. Water filled my nose and I smacked my head on a submerged rock, sinking down to the bottom.
The current pushed my body downstream, tossing me around like a rag doll. I soon found myself caught in something. The water was murky, so I couldn’t see what was holding me down. And I was so dizzy and confused, I wasn’t sure which way was up. My lungs burned, and I knew that I would have to breathe soon or I would drown. My awareness was fading as water began filling my nostrils. The pressure was too much for my head to take.
Then suddenly—air! I came to, and Valko’s mouth was on top of mine. I turned my head over, and threw up all of the water that I had sucked down. After sputtering some more, I wiped my mouth with my wet sleeve, and flopped on my back, gratefully sucking in the sweet air.
“Did you have to kiss me?” I rasped, when I felt like I had finally caught my breath.
“I was saving your life,” he replied. I glanced over and saw him smirking.
“I swear if you say anything to the others I will kill you.”
He just laughed and shook his head. “I think they’re going to find out anyway. There’s no way our clothes are going to dry before they return.”
I touched my forehead and my fingers came away red with blood. “Gosh, again?”
“Let me see.” Valko leaned forward, and I couldn’t help but flinch when he examined my tender head. “It’s not too deep, you should be fine. Although you’re probably going to have a headache for the next few days.”
“Well it’s not like that’s going to be anything new. This whole situation is a headache. How did I get into this mess?” My body trembled as I held my head in my hands, heart racing.
You’ve made it this far, Kathryn, don’t lose it now. I took a deep, shaky breath and glanced up at Valko, who was giving me a concerned look. “Let’s just go back.” I weakly suggested.
“It’s not as steep over there; think you can climb it?” Valko asked, helping me to my feet. I nodded my head and we set off up stream, back to where we had left all our supplies.
The shadows grew longer as the sun started to disappear behind the trees. I wondered if Conan would be back soon or if he had already arrived back at our little camp. Thankfully, they hadn’t returned, which gave me some time to think about how I was going to explain this to them without sounding like a total fool.
About twenty minutes after Valko started a fire, Conan returned with Sawyer and Liam.
The look on his face was priceless. I could just imagine what was going through his head right now.
“Don’t ask,” I said coldly. Conan smiled and shook his head.
“What the—”
“Don’t.” I glared at him. They all burst out laughing, while I just sat there holding my head. My whole body hurt from the collision with the rocks, and I was pretty sure that I had bruises and scrapes all over. It was a miracle I didn’t have any broken bones.
The temperature was dropping fast, and my clothes still weren’t dry. I grabbed a blanket to wrap around myself in attempt to stop my shivering body and chattering teeth.
“Hey! I need that!” I protested, trying to grab it back. He held it over his head and out of my reach.
“You’re going to get it all wet and then it’ll do you no good.”
“Well what do you want me to do, freeze to death?” I growled, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Take off your clothes, and wrap this around yourself. Then lay your clothes to dry by the fire.”
“There’s no way I’m stripping down in front of you!” I exclaimed, horrified. He rolled his eyes and gave me a condescending chuckle.
“Don’t flatter yourself, darling. You can go over there and do it. I promise we won’t look,” he said snidely.
“Like I can trust you not to do that.” I countered, crossing my arms over my chest self-consciously.
“You have my word.”
“The word of a kidnapper, that really puts me at ease.”
“Do it or freeze.”
“Fine!” I could feel myself blushing as I snatched the blanket away from Conan. All eyes were on me as I started to walk away from the fire.
“She’s going to run, just watch,” I heard Sawyer whisper.
“If she runs, then she’s going to have a lot more to worry about than wet clothes,” Conan threatened. I shot him one last glare before jumping behind a tree to strip down.
I left my underwear on, feeling too exposed taking everything off, despite the blanket covering me.
Even then it seemed stupid and awkward, and just not exactly the best idea. I didn’t want to take any of my clothes off, but Conan did have a point. What other choice did I have? It was either this or freeze in my damp clothing that would take forever to dry in the cool night air.
I wrapped the blanket around myself and clung to it as if it were my lifeline before picking up my clothes and walking back over to the fire. The men were all just lying in silence, the flames casting a light orange glow on their faces, softening their features and making them look less threatening. But knowing that they were a bunch of kidnapping werewolves, I sat down and self-consciously pulled the blanket down over my legs so they were completely covered.
Sawyer whistled when the blanket slid down and revealed too much shoulder. I gave him the coldest glare that I could manage as I pulled the blanket around myself tighter.
“So uh, what exactly caused all of this?” Conan gestured to me and Valko, whose clothes were now drying next to the fire along with mine. I glanced over at Valko, who was giving me a sly smile. I opened my mouth to protest but it was no use.
“Kathryn decided to go exploring, and took
a little tumble when she got too close to the edge.”
“Ah, so we like to push our limits and see how close we can push things to the edge,” Liam laughed.
“Well technically she was sitting when she fell,” Valko added, glancing over at me.
“Wait, how the hell did you fall if you were sitting on the ground?” Sawyer asked, raising his eyebrows and looking rather confused.
“No comment,” I mumbled, and they all starting guffawing again. Stupid wolf-men.
“Look on the bright side, darling, at least you smell better,” Conan noted.
I threw my other shoe at him, grabbed my clothes—which were dry enough—and disappeared behind a tree to put them back on. The men—wolves…whatever…my “companions” were still chuckling to themselves when I got back, and I refused to make eye contact with any of them. I lay down with my back turned to them and tried to get some sleep.
*~*~*
The days continued to pass slowly, and I lost track of time. Although it couldn’t have been longer than two weeks since I’d been taken, it felt like years had passed. I had to find different ways to try and motivate myself to keep walking. Despite my best efforts to concentrate on coming up with a plan of escape, my mind constantly wandered back to Abel.
He had to have told someone about my capture. Someone had to be looking for me. I silently wondered what he told my mom and George. Did they even care? Stephanie probably threw a party once she found out I was gone.
But what about my dad? Did he know about it? Did mom call him? It’s been eight years since I’d seen him. Did he even care anymore?
“What are you thinking?” Liam asked, pulling me back to reality.
“Huh?” I asked, snapping my head up and looking at him.
“You look upset.”
“Oh…I was just…thinking…” I mumbled.
“Probably about her boyfriend,” Sawyer said with a wink.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I said, rolling my eyes. Everyone but Conan turned and looked at me.
“So he was just some random stranger that stopped to help you and even though he failed you decided to thank him with a kiss?” Sawyer asked with a sarcastic tone.