Run (Caged Trilogy Book 1)

by H G Lynch

  Des stared at me for a long time. He let out a breath. “Wow. Okay. So…you chose Spencer.”

  I nodded.

  He frowned. “No wonder Dom threw a fit.”

  Unsure what to say, I just nodded again, feeling miserably guilty. Then I said, “Not that any of it matters, because Frank found out about me and Spencer, and he forbid us from being together.” My voice cracked, and I swallowed.

  Des sighed, putting his hand over mine sympathetically.

  With a bitter laugh, I said, “That’s not even the worst of it. You know about the ritual for the pack joining?”

  He hesitated, and then nodded. “I know there’s supposed to be some sort of marriage thing, but it’s an old rule. I don’t think—”

  “Well think again, because your dad is implementing the rule…and he’s making Spencer the groom,” I said angrily, and a spike of ice went through my heart. I closed my eyes, trying to unclench my jaw. Just thinking about the stupid pack joining, Frank’s anger, and Lilac’s pretty face, it all made me want to scream.

  For a long moment, Desmond silently stared at me, and then he practically leapt to his feet, so quickly and violently that I yelped in surprise. He strode to the fireplace and slammed his hands on the mantle.

  “Dammit!” he yelled.

  I almost smiled. I’d said the same thing when Spencer told me about Frank’s plans for him. I hadn’t expected Desmond to be so furious on our behalf, though. The brunette boy shook his head, and I saw his knuckles turn white from gripping the mantle so hard.

  “I knew my father was capable of being a dick, but I didn’t think he could be plain cruel. He’s gone too far this time. Him and his damn obsession with the rules, with having only pure relationships,” he spat the word pure with bitterness and contempt, and made a noise of disgust.

  He turned his head, and I saw a mix anger, sadness, and sympathy in his eyes.

  “It’s not right, Tilly. This isn’t how the wolves are meant to be. Our kind aren’t all like Frank. It’s just…he’s so blinded by what happened with Spencer’s mother, he loses sight of the boundaries when it comes to Spencer.” He sighed.

  I heard the disappointment in his father in the sound. There were tears in my eyes, and I whispered, “Frank’s ordered him to marry the other girl.”

  For half a heartbeat, Des said nothing, and then he said, “If you ask me, Spencer would leave the pack in a heartbeat…if he had a reason to. And now you’re his reason. The orders are Frank’s way of making sure that doesn’t happen.”

  I nodded. “Spencer said he’d try to fight the orders.”

  At that, Desmond whistled, a low, impressed sound. “Well, if anyone can fight the alpha’s will, it’ll be Spencer. But God knows what it’ll cost him to do it. Frank could have him banished or beaten for disobeying the alpha’s orders. Or worse, he could find a way to force Spence to stay with the pack, and kick you out instead.” With a heavy sigh, Desmond put a hand on my arm and squeezed. “I’m sorry, Tilly. I really am. But if anyone can find a way out of an arranged marriage by alpha’s orders, Spencer can. And no matter how angry my brother might be with Spencer, Dom cares about you too much to let anyone make you unhappy. Even if what makes you happy is another guy.”

  After the serious conversation, Des and I finished the chores, with him laughing while I sang along to classic rock songs on the radio. He was apparently more of a country kind of guy. We played a game of Chess, and then Annie and Chris came along to ask if we wanted to play Stick-in-the-Mud with them. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon playing games with the kids.

  After that, I spent the rest of the day trying not to think about Spencer. I collapsed onto the sofa in my cabin, fully dressed, at a little after nine pm, exhausted from all the running around, and quickly tumbled headlong into a heavy sleep plagued by dreams of Spencer’s blue eyes and his lips on mine.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  ** Tilly **

  “Tilly! Tilly, wake up! Please, Tilly, get up!”

  I jerked awake at the sound of someone shouting my name and a rapid pounding on the door that echoed loudly through my dark cabin. The abrupt movement landed me facedown as my elbow smacked the floor I yelped, pushing myself to my feet, and rubbing my elbow. Looking around dazedly, I realised I was in the living room, and I must have fallen asleep on the sofa. It was no wonder my neck ached when I turned it to look at the clock in the kitchen to see it was half past two in the morning. Ugh.

  The rapid pounding on the door came again, and a frightened sounding voice called my name. I stumbled to the door and threw it open. Sarah was standing on my porch, looking panicked. Her red hair was a tangled mess, as if she’d been running through the trees and had snagged it on branches, and there was a scratch on her cheek. Her eyes were wide, and she was pale. She grabbed my hands as soon as I opened the door, and began dragging me out.

  “Oh my God, Tilly, you have to come with me! Dominic’s in trouble! We went out for a run, and he…. There was a trap or something…. And the witches…. And Dominic’s hurt! Come on! I need your help!” She spoke so fast, her words blurred.

  I had to focus to make sense of it. “Whoa, Sarah, slow down! Calm down and tell me, what’s wrong with Dominic?” I asked, but she was already pulling me down the porch steps.

  Her grasp on my wrist was tight, and she was too strong for me to fight, so I stumbled to keep up with her as she dragged me into the trees, gasping and half-sobbing. My heart hammered fearfully, worried about Dominic.

  Panting as we ran, and I asked breathlessly, “Sarah, what happened to Dominic? How badly is he hurt? Shouldn’t we get Frank or Kat?”

  I didn’t know why she would need my help if Dominic was hurt. I wasn’t like Jasmine. I wasn’t a healer. Maybe it was just that my cabin happened to be closest, but then, Spencer’s cabin was only another hundred yards away, and surely he’d be a lot more useful than I would. I hadn’t the first clue about werewolf first aid. And if Dominic was hurt badly enough to need help, if he couldn’t heal himself…. But if it was silver, nobody else would be able to touch it.

  “Sarah,” I gasped. “Sarah, is it silver? Is he hurt with silver?” I stumbled over a root, and nearly fell, but Sarah’s hand yanked me back up viciously, pulling me on. “Ouch! Sarah, you’re hurting me!” I cried, but she didn’t stop.

  We emerged into a clearing I recognised, the one where the hunters and Olivia had ambushed the wolves the night of the full moon. Finally, Sarah stopped pulling me along. She jerked my wrist hard, and I fell to my knees, scraping them on the rough dirt. With a cry of protest and pain, I looked up at her and my stomach flipped over nauseatingly.

  She was smiling. No, laughing. Cold, harsh laughter that made the hairs on the back on my neck stand up. There was a wild look in her eyes, replacing the fear and worry I realised had been faked.

  Behind me, a voice rasped my name, and I whirled. At the edge of the clearing, Dominic was slumped on the ground, thin silver chains binding his wrists and ankles. There was blood leaking from under the chains, tinting the shiny metal red. There was also a streak of blood running down the side of Dom’s face from a head wound, but the wound seemed to have healed. His hair was a mess, some of the curls matted to his head with sweat and blood. Lines of pain etched themselves into his face, making his dimple stand out like a deep gash in his cheek. There was fear in his eyes, turning them to the gold-green of his wolf.

  With a cry, I started toward him, but Sarah brutally pushed me down. I hit the ground hard, a twig digging a gash into my arm, and I was knocked breathless. While I was down, gasping for air, she launched a savage kick into my side. I tried to scream as I rolled over, clutching my side, but all that came out of my mouth was a thin whistle. I heard Dominic call my name in an agonised voice, and Sarah laughing loudly over me.

  Lifting my head, I glared up at her through strands of hair darkened by dirt. “Sarah, what’s going on? What do you want?!” I rose to my hands and knees, one hand still grippin
g my bruised side. God, it hurt.

  Sarah looked down at me with a smile like a knife’s edge, her eyes wilder than her hair, and she tilted her head. “What do I want?” she sneered. “I want to hear you scream, bitch.” She kicked me again.

  I did just what she wanted—I screamed. A second too late, I bit down on my lip, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. From the other side of the clearing, Dominic growled and thrashed. When I glanced over, I saw him shaking with the Change, but the silver was preventing the transition.

  My head spun, and I felt like puking. Struggling for breath through the lancing pain in my side, I turned my attention back to Sarah. “I don’t understand, Sarah!” I choked, feeling tears rolling uncontrollably down my cheeks.

  Standing over me, she looked terrifying and beautiful at once, haloed from behind by the moon hovering in the black sky just above the jagged treetops. With a snarl, she swiftly slapped me across the face. So hard my head snapped aside, and I saw stars in front of my vision.

  “Don’t lie to me, you stupid little bitch! I warned you!” she yelled, pulling back her foot to kick me again. I whimpered and fell to the side, and she scoffed. “Pathetic,” she spat, curling her lip. Under it, her teeth were long fangs. Her eyes glinted yellow, and when she raised a hand to push back her hair from her face, I saw her nails were claws.

  Terrified, I whimpered again. Curling in on myself in case she decided to land another kick, I rested my forehead against the dirt, trying not to heave up the contents of my stomach. Almost without meaning to, I whispered, “Spencer.” Where was he? Where was my wolf, my protector, this time?

  Sarah suddenly grabbed a handful of my hair and wrenched my head back, snarling right in my face. Her eyes glowed with primal rage, and her voice was thick with a growl. “Don’t you darrre say his name! I warrrned you to stay away from him! He’s mine! Spencerrr is mine!”

  She tore her hand free of my hair, pulling out strands by the roots, and she kicked even harder. I swore I felt a rib crack, and I screamed in agony. I tasted blood in the back of my throat, and then bile. I rolled over just in time to throw up, shuddering and heaving.

  Suddenly, everything made sense. Sarah’s warnings about Spencer, her glares the night of the full moon when Spencer had called me ravishing, the way she’d snapped at me the other day, maybe even the way Olivia had stopped the hunter from shooting Spencer on the full moon. I glowered up at her, tasting the salt of my tears and the coppery tang of my own blood.

  “You told Frank about Spencer and me,” I hissed.

  She smiled viciously. “I did.” Her smile turned into a grimace, and she bared her teeth. “But that wasn’t enough, was it? He was at your cabin last night. He was in your bed, wasn’t he? Did you have fun? Did you let him screw you, like the filthy little slut that you are? I bet you did. Was he good, Tilly? Did he make you scream?” She lashed out with the back of her hand, her claws slicing across my cheek.

  I bit my lip so hard, I tasted a fresh wave of blood and gagged. But I swallowed it and the cry of pain rising in my throat. I refused to let her hear it.

  I looked over at Dominic, who had gone scarily silent. He was still, but his eyes were open, locked on me and blazing purely green. When I met his eyes, he looked away, and I couldn’t stop the whine that escaped my throat.

  “Dominic, I didn’t–” I started, not sure why it even mattered what he thought of me anymore. I was pretty sure Sarah was going to kill me. She had a murderous light in her eyes, and I could sense her wolf howling for more blood.

  She laughed again, looking from me to Dominic. “Aww. Didn’t you want him to know you were banging his brother? Oh, sorry, half-brother. Wait. Were you banging Dom, too? Oh, you really are a dirty little slut. I know you were playing with him. I saw you making out with him at the pack gathering. Hell, I’m sure you would’ve gone after Desmond too if he wasn’t batting for the other team.” Sarah shook her head, a look of disgust and contempt crossing her face. I stared at her and she caught my expression. “Oh, yes, I know all about Des and his dirty little secret. It’s a shame really. He’d be hot if it weren’t for that. Waste of a good looking guy, if you ask me.”

  I hadn’t thought I could hate her more, but right then, hearing the revulsion in her voice as she spoke about Desmond as if there was something horribly wrong about him, I hated her with an intensity that took me by surprise. It was toxic, and I felt the Darkness inside me boiling up like acid, crawling over my skin and flooding my veins with a feeling of power that was both repulsive and wonderful at once.

  I knew it was wrong, that I shouldn’t let it take me over, but it felt so good. It made me feel stronger than I ever had, as if I had the power to crush Sarah like a beetle with just a flick of my wrist. I pushed it down, fighting the Darkness. No matter what, I would not be Dark.

  In my head, I heard Jasmine’s voice from the day Spencer had taken me to get my protection Charm. She’s actually pretty lucky, to have a choice like that. But she has to be careful. With the kind of power she has, it’s easy to lose sight of what is right and wrong.

  I had the choice. And I was choosing to be Light, whatever it cost.

  “Spencer. Doesn’t. Love you,” I ground out between clenched teeth. Every breath I took was agony, sending bolts of pain up my side from my cracked rib. “He never did,” I spat.

  I watched Sarah’s face transform into something not entirely human, but not entirely wolf. There were horrible cracking and popping noises as the bones in her face shifted. Her nose stretched flat and wide, her jaws extended, and her eyes changed shape. A low growl rumbled from between large, ivory fangs, and her joints dislocated as she leaned down onto her hands, snarling foul, hot breath in my face. Her saliva dripping fangs were inches from my nose, and she twitched and twisted as her limbs lengthened, her ribs expanded, and her ears grew long and pointed.

  Then there was a soft laugh from the trees, and Sarah dug her claws into the dirt, sticking somewhere between human and wolf. I twisted around in time to see Olivia sweeping out of the shadows of the trees, smiling delightedly, as if she was witnessing two children playing a game, instead of a psycho werewolf threatening to rip me apart. The sight of her made everything inside me turn cold with fear and loathing, and my stomach turned over so violently, I nearly threw up again.

  “Sarah, tut-tut. Remember what we talked about,” Olivia said gently, but reprovingly, like a mother chastising her child, and Sarah growled. “You wouldn’t want to break our deal, now would you?” Olivia pursed her lips.

  Sarah, reluctantly, backed off. Her eyes came back to me, though, and stayed there, glaring and full of a thirst for my blood. It wasn’t just homicidal rage, but jealousy. She was jealous of what I had with Spencer, and she’d tried to ruin it, and she’d failed. If I hadn’t been so afraid of her right then, I might have felt a little pity for her. She was clearly in love with Spencer, probably had been for a long time, ever since they’d gone out. She’d never gotten over him, but he just wasn’t interested in her. Then I’d come along and stole what she thought should have been hers—Spencer’s attention. It was all very sad, in a way, and completely twisted, of course.

  “Your deal?” Dominic croaked from the other end of the clearing.

  I’d almost forgotten he was there. He looked livid, and was shaking so badly, I thought he might Change despite the silver.

  “You made a deal with them to make sure they didn’t kill Spencer. And what did you do in return, Sarah? You sold out the rest of your pack? Fed the witches information? Lured Tilly here for them?”

  There was hurt in his voice as much as anger, and I realised this must have been even harder for Dominic. He’d known Sarah for years. They’d been friends and pack mates, and she’d turned him over to the witches to be killed, just so they wouldn’t kill Spencer. Everything was about Spencer.

  Sarah looked at him and a flicker of remorse showed in her eyes before she clamped down on it and sneered. “All of the above. I’d do anything for S
pencer. He doesn’t care about the pack anyway. He probably hates you most of all, Dom. And once Tilly is out of the way, I’ll be the one who’s there to comfort him. He’ll fall in love with me, just as he should have two years ago.”

  Dominic turned his face away from her, from both of us, but not before I caught sight of the pain on his face. The pain had nothing to do with the silver chains, and everything to do with being betrayed, his life traded for his half-brother’s. Guilt sprang up inside me. Sarah wasn’t the only one who’d chosen Spencer over Dominic.

  I glared at Sarah. “And what about Frank’s orders? He commanded Spencer to stay with the pack and marry Lilac, the girl from the other pack. Even if he ever did fall in love with you, not that he ever would, but if he did, he couldn’t really be yours, could he?” I was plunging the knife into Sarah as much as twisting it in my own heart.

  Sarah just smiled at me, cruel and condescending. “Once Olivia kills Frank, the alpha’s orders no longer apply. The orders die with him. And then it’ll just be me and Spencer, and we’ll start our own pack. Our own family.” A slightly dreamy look came over her face.

  I stared at her. I decided that, as much as I hated her, I could still feel pity for her. She was out of her mind. Full on crazy, and completely delusional.

  “Oh, come on now, pet. Don’t look so scared.” Another voice I recognised floated out of the darkness, and I whipped my head around. A woman who looked like Snow White made real stood next to Dominic, her pale fingers buried tenderly in his curls. Her red lips spread in a soft smile, and she shook out her shoulder length black bob. Her eyes were as black as her hair—eyes that sometimes saw the future.