Hunted and Tormented

Chapter 13: Bizarre

The street I walked along was, frustratingly, vacant. In fact the entire block was deserted. The wind blew down the alley ways like the whispers of ghosts and my footsteps were so loud they sounded like an avalanche. It may have just been me being paranoid, but I felt particularly not stealthily tonight.

My hotel had just come into sight when I heard the footfalls behind me. The wind didn’t need to blow for me to know who it was. Quickly, I walked purposefully around the block, past the hotel and then swerved; backtracking through an old street so thin I had to leap over the trashcans filling the space. The paving was wet and I was faintly aware of a pipe puffing smoke behind me and water trickling down the slimy bricks to my right. None of that seemed to matter. All I was aware of was the footsteps.

At the end of the alley, I vaulted over a chain mail fence with the utmost precision not to rattle it and then walked behind my hotel. Where I walked now could hardly be classified as a backstreet at all, more like a forgotten rickety track, which curved and bent and reminded me oddly of a spider’s leg, yet had once deserved the effort of being covered in concrete. I shook the thought off and counted the line of windows up the wall until I found mine.

I stood, squaring my feet for good balance and jumped.

Thank God the window was open. If it hadn't been, things could have gone awfully differently.

I slipped through the window and landed on my feet smoothly, surveying the room automatically. Only then did I wonder why I’d come back here. It was stupid really. A rookie mistake. I hadn't left anything here of importance, I’d left nothing here at all. In all this time it had taken for me to get back, I could have run for it. This Pack couldn’t get me if I crossed into unclaimed territory.

I wanted to hit something. The door, the sink, my face, anything. Instead I just stood there – and swore. Creatively. I had no weapon, no allies and I could feel four beings stationed around the hotel that totally couldn’t be a coincidence. Whilst I’d been stuck, mulling over my self-pity and general lack of luck, I’d become surrounded.

The knock on my door though, seemed quite civilised.

“Come out now,” the deep, assertive voice said. “And we won’t make you pay for the damage.”

I stayed exactly where I was. There was no point in running anymore. Sure, once I could have fought them off and won. But my wolf . . . her heart had been torn out. Mine too. The energy for that kind of activity was long gone.

There was a sigh on the other side of the door. “You asked for it.”

Suddenly the door flew off its hinges, banging like a grenade as it smacked into the far wall. Dust that clouded the doorway cleared as a huge silhouette formed the appeared of a man. Yes, I recognised him from the bar. Something told me that it was his footsteps I’d heard too. And he was definitely the one who’d been looking at me. I wouldn’t forget those eyes.

Like most male werewolves, he was tall and defined and of course muscular. His hair was the colour of warm caramel and his eyes, well, were startling to say the least.

“I’ve never seen a man with brown hair and grey eyes,” I said absently. It was an odd combination, even in my world.

He sent me a quizzical look. “I come here, smash down your door, threaten to hurt you and yet you say that. Bizarre.”

“Well,” I said, “you haven’t threatened me yet.”

“I was getting to that.”

“I see.”

“You understand,” he continued carefully, “that now I have gone to all the effort of breaking your door that you have to come with me. You’re trespassing on claimed land and even though you are a woman, you are still a rogue and I have to take you in.”

I cocked my head to the side. Admittedly, I was shocked but I’d become so good at hiding emotions that to my ‘captor’, my face appeared a mask. He didn’t know who I was. He didn’t recognise me. It was extremely odd, since I’d been under the impression the entire country was out for my blood. It made me feel worse somehow, knowing eventually he would find out and look at me like everyone else. With contempt. Holding me at arm’s length. It puzzled me why that concerned me so much. I didn’t even know the guy.

“Oi!” he said sharply. “Lady! Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, I completely understand.”

He motioned impatiently for me to move to his side. For some reason, I stepped back, shy of him and his utter sureness. Just the way he carried himself, the way he looked at me like he was taking the time to think me over told me he had it all figured out. It was scary for me, being someone who didn’t even know herself. I felt like a stranger in my own body sometimes. The things that I’d done . . .

So many different personalities I had to perfect over the years, I seemed to have lost myself along the way. If I had ever had known it in the first place.

A strong, warm hand closed around my arm and my eyes met stormy grey ones. “I will hit a girl,” he said as if it was enough and he wrenched me out of the corridor. I don’t know how we got out really, seeing as by my job description I’m supposed to me observant, but he led me down some stairs to a fire exit and pushed the door open with confidence. I waited but no alarms went off.

As we rounded the corner back to the spider alley, three other werewolves approached, all as intimidating as the next. The scowls on their faces all matched, the laughing, bantering boys façade I’d seen earlier disappeared behind the instinct of their wolves – to protect. No matter what.

“That didn’t take long,” one of them said and he nodded at my captor. “Good job, Jason.”

“Is anyone else with you?” a dark haired one asked me, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes to slits.

I shook my head. “Just me. But I really think –”

“We should get her back quickly. The Alpha has already been notified and he wants to see her immediately.”

Oh great. Another Alpha.

“She can ride with me,” my captor – Jason – said and he walked off, instantly moving onto the next thing without a second thought, as if it was so easy. His iron grip on my arm never faltered as he dragged me back the route I’d taken, only pausing to open the chain mail fence – which I now assumed he’d jumped too – and to kick away the trashcans. On the street, a black Caddy sat, humming. One of the others must have parked it after I’d rounded the corner.

“Are you sure?” the one that had congratulated Jason asked, frowning slightly. “I could ride with her in the back, keep an eye on her while you –”

“It’s fine, Wes. But thanks.”

I was shoved roughly into the passenger’s seat and the door was shut with a slam. I absentmindedly ran my hand over the soft, supple leather of the seat as Jason slid in, turned on the engine and pulled away from the curb.

“Okay,” he said, “here’s how it is. You try to escape, you try to get out of this car and I will gag and tie you up and you can ride in the boot like a dog, okay? Try anything funny and you’ll have four of us to deal with.”

I nodded wordlessly, my eyes on his large hands on the steering wheel. How easy it would be to punch his neck, open the car door and watch him tumble out, hitting the road with a satisfying crunch. How easy it would be to take the wheel, push the car to 90 and whizz off into a different state. I knew I could all those things. Hell, I could do them now. But my heart wasn't in it and the thought of harming Jason just . . . wasn't as fulfilling as I thought it would be. Hmm.

Must be the eyes.

We sat in silence for a good few minutes before I found my voice. “Are you really gonna make me pay for the damage?”

It may have been a trick of the light or wishful thinking, but I was sure I saw his lips twitch with amusement. “You make me come in after you like some dramatic narcissist, kicking the door in then yes. Every bit of it, sweetheart.”

I couldn’t help grinning a little myself. “Perfect.”

Hey, everyone! I’m sorry the ending isn't very exciting but I’ve been away all week and I felt I had to update so …..here it is.

Vote, comment, fan – if I deserve it. Thank you for reading! Xxx <3