Ensnared

Chapter 12

"Why can't they just fuck already?" Sasha's probably spat out the same incredulous question twenty times or more on her way to the cabin, and she still doesn't have an answer. She's done everything she can think of short of stripping them both naked and locking them in a hotel room together, but in the end, it's up to them. She doubts Becky will use the keycard she gave her; Becky would probably consider it an intrusion. And Seth won't go over and knock on Becky's door, because he's so damn worried about what everyone else will think. It's like playing chess and knowing exactly which moves need to be made, but someone's glued the pieces to the board.

She thought about calling her fiance or even Roman or Charlotte, but Sasha knows this problem is uniquely theirs. It's a strange blend of sex and love and family they have and it's not one most humans could understand. Sasha loves both Becky and Seth with all her heart, but those equations don't add up to marriage or kids or any of the other milestones she wants out of her personal life—and that's fine by her. The idea of having one person be her everything has never appealed to her. Once she's married and has children, then things will change, and that's her blind spot, the wall she's not ready to climb. That's why she's been so patient with Becky and Seth, she figures: she knows what it's like to have an obstacle of your own making, and those are a hundred times harder to overcome than the ones the rest of the world puts in your way.

Here. Safe. Sasha sends the text to both Becky and Seth after she's parked at the cabin they abandoned. Traffic was even lighter so late at night—or, she supposes, so early in the morning—so it was a quick drive to the park and once she reached the border of the forest, she didn't encounter any other drivers. Still, she doesn't want a repeat of Seth's accident with the snare, especially since she's alone, so she does a quick circuit of the area to make sure she is indeed alone and that there are no other traps to contend with. When she's reasonably assured, Sasha takes all of their things out of the cabin, dumps them in a large garbage bag to sort out later, and cleans up any traces of blood, fur, or plasma. Anything that's stained goes in a second bag along with the syringes from the car, and within minutes the cabin looks even better than when they arrived. Then she goes to where the snare was set and tidies up that site as well, even though she hates to touch the metal again.

After stowing the bags in the SUV, Sasha glances down at her phone. She has different notification tones assigned to Becky and Seth and she didn't hear either of them while she was cleaning. It's not like them to not at least reply with okay or an emoji, so she tries again, doing another walk-through of the forest while she waits. When she doesn't get an answer in ten minutes, she dials Seth's number first; Becky doesn't always answer right away when she's out of sorts, but Seth will. When the call connects after three rings, Sasha breathes a sigh of relief. Becky and Seth may be infuriating, but they're hers—her wolves, her lovers, her friends. With very few exceptions, there's no one in the world who means more to her. "Seth, why didn't you text back? You were so worried about me going alone and then you don't even bother to answer?"

"Hey, Sash." Seth sounds out of breath, as if he had to run to grab his phone. "Sorry. I was in the shower and. . . ."

Seth's still talking, but there's another sound on his end of the line that catches Sasha's ear, a soft mewling she knows very well. "Is that Becky?" She tries to keep herself from crowing joyously, so she's glad it's not a video call; at least Seth can't see her triumphant grin.

"What? Uh, yeah. She . . . uh, thought it would be better if I had company because of the drugs and . . . uh, yeah, so she's here with me." There are small groans underscoring his words that Sasha recognizes as well.

"With you or with you?" Sasha teases. Between getting the cabin site cleaned up and hearing Seth and Becky together—in whatever capacity—all the tension that was keeping her going drains away, and she slumps against a tree, grinning like a madman. When Seth doesn't answer right away, Sasha adds, "Are you clothed?"

There's another moment of silence on Seth's end, followed by a hint of Becky's bashful chuckle. "Sort of?" Seth replies.

Sasha's gleeful laugh rings out in the early morning stillness, startling some birds in the distance. "Don't wear her out too much, okay? We have a tag match tonight and Hunter will blame her dopeyness on me." A wave of relieved delight washes through her and she does a little happy dance, blowing kisses up to the moon. Part of her wants to rush back and join them, but she knows Becky and Seth need time on their own to figure out how they fit together and what their connection will be. "So that means if I wanted to hang out at the cabin for a while and go for a swim in the lake," Sasha adds, "you two will be fine without me?"

"Be careful." Seth's voice has sobered up a bit, and Sasha doesn't want to keep him on the phone much longer; Becky deserves his undivided attention after waiting so long. "If someone comes to check that snare—"

"No one's going to check a snare at this hour." Sasha is already running towards the lake. She would love nothing more than to shift back to her wolf form, running and howling with unabashed happiness, but she knows solo runs can be dangerous. "I'll stay human and I'll text every . . . thirty minutes or so? Just send me a thumbs-up so I know you're alive. Love you guys."

Sasha disconnects before either of them can protest; they need to concentrate on each other right now. Her senses are still heightened enough that she can tell there are no humans nearby, so she disrobes and leaves her clothes, phone, and car keys in the hollow of a tree near the shore before jumping in the water, splashing around with abandon. Just hours ago, this had easily been the worst full moon of her life; now it's become one of the most fulfilling. She would gladly take the snare out of the equation if she could, but as she swims, basking in the water and the caress of the full moon, Sasha wonders if there's some way to repurpose it, transform it into a gift, the same way this night became a gift for all of them.