Once Bitten (An Anya Maynard Novel)

Chapter Twelve

“Let’s go,” someone I hadn’t seen before ordered as the door swung open again, “time for you to earn your keep.”

I blinked my eyes open against the bright glare of the room. It had been some time since Nikko and Brad left- hours maybe- and I had closed them a long time ago. Not to sleep, but to concentrate on communicating with what was inside me. We needed a plan, to figure out how we could work together to get out of this.

We practiced it over and over again till it was as effortless as a breath. No more tremors, no more blackouts, now when she took over I was aware of her just as much as she had always been of me. Now we were one working together, not two fighting for control.

It was my wolf who answered the man, “my keep?”

He pulled a set of shackles out of his pocket as he strode over to me. “You think the boss is just keeping you around to keep his pet company,” he nodded to Jess, “not quite.”

I spared a glance at Jess that was ill timed but necessary for my peace of mind all the same. She had improved a lot over our time in this room- it was how I knew we had been here for so long- and she was merely sleeping now versus her earlier bouts with unconsciousness. The chills were the easiest part to get through, next came the dry heaves- dry because she told me in between that she couldn’t remember eating, not since the pizza we ate her house on Halloween night- and then the screaming when she said it felt like her skin was trying to rip itself off of her.

It was hard to sit there, helpless as she writhed in my arms. It hurt me to see her in such pain, knowing that there was nothing I could do. The fact that I knew there were others that could hear her cries, who knew how Jess suffered and refused to help, that infuriated my wolf.

It wasn’t Brad’s death she wanted now, but his own suffering, at our hands.

The man reached to pull Jess out of my lap, but just like the last time I growled and moved her away from him.

“The boss only wants you hunny, not her. Now come on, let’s go.” Cutie, sweetie, now hunny, what was with the pet names? Ah, right, pet.

Again he grabbed for her but I snapped my own hand around his arm before he could touch her.

“Don’t touch her,” I snarled and began pushing his arm back.

My quick movements woke Jess from her slumber, “Anya,” she called sleepily before she saw what was going on and then quickly moved out of my lap, “what’s going on?” she asked with panic in her voice.

Without Jess I rose to apply more pressure on the man’s arm, pushing him down as I rose above him. “He wants to separate us.”

“No,” she whimpered.

“Let her have her,” I snapped my head around and bared my teeth at Nikko. “Careful Anya, I’m trying to be nice, but if your wolf continues to threaten me and my staff like that I might be inclined to return the favor.”

Something was bothering Nikko. His casual cheerfulness was gone, replaced by a restlessness that had him moving around anxiously.

I eyed the man with the restraints one more time and pushed him away from me sharply, sending him stumbling to the floor, “so she can come with me?”

“With you yes, but not with your wolf.”

“But she’s defenseless without me,” I argued.

I couldn’t deny this new partnership had its benefits, if that was me in the forefront and not my wolf, I’d be…well I’d be shaking in terror as she tried to come forth.