The Taking

Chapter 9

Greyson tossed me another clean shirt from his closet to change out of the peanut butter spread I currently had on. Much to his disappointment, I changed in the bathroom. When I got out, I ran my hands down the dark blue graphic tee and grimaced at the print. An image of a woman in a black bikini, black fishnet stockings and red heels, straddling a flaming Harley Davidson. Underneath it said Ride 'em.

Greyson is wearing a different shirt as well. Not as provocative as mine, but he looked good none the less. He notices where my attention has drifted off at. "It's a gift from a friend. I never wore it out."

Excuses, I thought, rolling my eyes at him.

He sees my reaction and smirks. "Don't like it?"

"Why couldn't you have given me one of your polo shirts? You have a drawer full of them."

"They're folded neatly in the drawer, if you haven't noticed. My mom insists I wear them, but I don't like looking like life-size Ken. I keep them nicely folded and untouched for a reason. Besides...I think that shirt looks great on you."

In an instant my face is warm again and I looked away to hide the obvious flush.

"So what's next on my kidnaper's agenda?"

He walks across the room to stand by the door and leans his back to it, crossing his hands.

"You make me sound so evil." The frown on his face makes me feel like the bad guy.

His whole physique screams bad boy! And I don't think me pointing it out would enlighten anyone when one glance at him makes it plain and obvious.

But if he's that clueless, I'll explain it.

"For one thing, you turn into a carnivorous beast and you kidnaped me!" I remind him again.

He rolls his eyes as if it were no big deal. "It's for the good of the community!"

"What part?!" I shoot back.

How does the community benefit from him taking me away from my family? The only logical explanation my head could think up is the food chain and it involves him turning into that ginormous dog and eating me alive for the sake of the ecosystem.

He shits me out, the bugs are happy, the rats can live their lives, larger rodents can crawl happy knowing their previous meal was delicious, and dogs like him can eat good meat and kidnap defenselessly girls --like me--all over again.

It's the circle of life--in a messed up PG-13 reality.

Greyson shakes his head. "A lot of things." He opens the door and surprisingly, no one is eavesdropping on the other side. I expected a gaggle of people with cups against the door. "Come on, we're going to meet some eager people. We have time to meet a few."

Following behind him, I scurry like a rat because he walks in large hurried steps. "Are they part of your cult?"

He looks over his shoulder at me weirdly. "How many times do I have to tell you? It's not a cult. We are called a pack."

"Like a pack of wolves?"

"Yes."

Yup. Definitely a cult, which practices voodoo witchcraft. That's why he can transform into large gigantic dog. Their pack is going to make me their sacrificial bride, or something and he will eat me alive like red riding hood. Didn't that happen in King Kong too? The girl is offered by the tribe people to the massive animal as a sacrifice so that the beast won't go ape shit and kill them all?

My face must be transparent because he knew exactly what I was thinking. "You're not going to be sacrificed, or killed. I would never allow that. From now on you will trust your life to me."