Rouge

Chapter Four

“She will be mine, Michael. I swear by the Moon Goddess….”

Meanwhile, Maren found herself collapsing onto her bed a few hours after Michael had dropped her off. They hadn’t talked during the ride, save for a few seemingly empty threats on his part. When she got out of the car, he had followed her, just to have the door shut in his face. Her family’s house, her domain. No freaky wolf-people were needed, nor were they wanted.

She changed into pajamas and got back in her bed, curling up into a ball. She was warm and nobody would change that. Maren began to doze off but heard a few knocks on the door.

"Maren?”

"Ugh.... What?!"

"Can I come in?" Elijah asked. He sounded tired. Maybe he had been screwing Riley and hadn’t even noticed she was missing. She wouldn’t be surprised.

"I’m tired, Eli. Can it wait until tomorrow?" Maren was having a very hard time keeping her eyes open. She couldn’t get Adonis or Isaac out of her head – for completely different reasons – and also couldn’t help but wonder why the two looked alike. Surely they couldn’t be related. She also wondered why nobody could maintain eye contact with her. Even Mr. Headstrong, Isaac himself flinched under her gaze.

Elijah stood outside Maren’s bedroom, wondering if it would be best to tell her about his will to leave now or later. Riley was his everything, his soulmate, and his sister – with her clingy personality - was holding him back. With a sigh, he responded. "Yeah, it can wait.... Goodnight, Maren.”

After Maren heard Elijah walk away, she tucked her head under the blanket, reveling in the warmth. With a soft moan, she wrapped herself into her blanket as if together, they were a burrito. But still, a part of her craved to be held. By whom, she was not sure, but.... So she pulled one of her arms closer to her chest, lying on the other. Perhaps she would be left to her own devices in the morning.

It seemed like only minutes had passed from the time her head hit the pillow to the alarm on her phone that had started to cry out in an annoying tone. With a groan, Maren rose, stripping of her clothes in order to take a shower. As she walked passed the mirror in the en suite bathroom, she noticed her eyes were nearly bloodshot, the gray duller than she had ever seen it. Blinking away her fatigue, she turned on the hot water and proceeded to enter the shower.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The noise was quiet, but even with the shower on, Maren could hear it... and a part of her was almost certain it wasn’t her brother. He would just walk into her room, even if she was in the bathroom. Her parents were away - the last postcard had been from Macau - so they surely couldn’t be interfering with her peace. Perhaps Isaac and Michael hasn’t been joking the night before….

Maybe Elijah was with Riley, unaware of the potential danger his sister was in. Maybe he had been incapacitated, incapable of controlling the household. Maren’s eyes widened.

"Oh my god, my brother’s dead," she whispered, tears beading in her eyes, her imagination overreacting just a teensy bit. She shut off the shower, slowly walking to the bathroom door, closing it gently, locking it. With only a towel around her naked body, she pressed her ear against the door, listening for footsteps. The tapping had stopped and the door had opened.

"Maren? We’re leaving soon. Harriet’s waiting to clean your wound," she heard Michael say gently, making her pull the door open, momentarily forgetting that she was only in a towel. Maren reached forward, slapping Michael’s arm repeatedly, in rapid succession.

"What’d you do to Eli, you sick bastard," she exclaimed, continuing her assault on him. By then, he had closed his eyes - which had darkened from when she opened the door.