I am walking on the sidewalk when I get that pain in my stomach. I nearly double over. Marcus grabs me. “What’s wrong?”
Then he sniffs the air. The hair on the back of his neck rises. I smell him too. The wolf has been here or is close bye. The pack starts looking around nervously. Marcus is trying to haul me back to the truck. I am trying to see where my wolf is. I can smell him, and I can feel him in a way I never have another wolf. I stare out into the woods up on the hill behind the supermarket. I know he is there watching me. I just know it.
The pack gets in the truck and we head home forgetting the rest of the stuff father had wanted. When we are halfway out of town Marcus pulls over and the pack jumps out. He has them hunt for the intruder while he takes me on home.
When we pull up to the house the rest of the pack is loading into trucks. Their going hunting. Hunting for my wolf. No, they will kill him. I am in tears. Father steps up to me. “What are you crying about?”
“Father don’t let them kill him. Please don’t kill him.” He looks at me as if he understands what I am saying. He shakes his head and growls at me. It is a menacing growl. He is ready to hit me. Like it is all my fault that I feel something for this wolf.
“Get inside and you stay there. Marcus if she tries to go outside you tie her up. You, young wolf will not be getting anywhere near this wolf you hear me? I won’t have it. We will kill him if we find him. That will end this…this foolishness.”
He storms off. Marcus steps up to me. “What is that all about?” He stares at me then it must dawn on him. He looks disgusted. He pushes me inside the house. He doesn’t want to look at me. “Stay in your room. I will be up in a minute.”
“Marcus?”
“I will talk to you about it in a minute.” He has to cool off before he talks to me I can see it on his face. He wants to rip me apart. Zeke comes in and starts toward me then he sees Marcus’s face he stops in his tracks. He looks at me and I can tell he knows something is up. He starts to come to me when he is called outside. Father is telling him he will go with the pack to hunt the wolf. Then I hear father asking him how long he has known I had feelings for the rogue wolf.
I run for my room. I slam the door shut. I open my window. I will jump out the window and beat the pack to town. I can run through the woods straight for town. They will drive and the road will take them longer.
I don’t make it out the window before Marcus is pulling me back inside. He is angry. I can see the fire in his eyes. “You will not go running off. You fool. What do you think you can just go after them and, and what?”
“I don’t want them to kill that wolf he has done nothing wrong. Marcus, please let me go.” He doesn’t, his mistake. I haul off and round kick him. He is doubled over, but he still has a hold of me. I start growling and snapping at him. My face starts shifting my clothes are ripping. He jumps on me and holds me down. He stops me from shifting. I can’t shift with his weight on top of me. I struggle with him. He howls for Amos to come help him.
Amos runs in the room and sees us rolling on the floor. He laughs at first then he helps Marcus hold me down. “She was almost out the window. Ow! She bit me.”
I bit him all right. And I was trying to again. I wanted out to help my mate. I didn’t know it for sure, but I had a feeling the wolf I saw at the mall meant something to me.
By the time the pack returns some two hours later I am tied to a chair in the living room. Marcus and Amos are watching television. I thought Zeke had gone with the pack but apparently after father found out he knew how I felt about the wolf at the mall he was in trouble for not telling on me.
Father walks into the house with the pack following. He stops in his tracks and starts laughing at me. He knows I am a good fighter. He looks over at Marcus to see how many bruises he has then laughed louder.
I left marks up and down both his arms and bit marks here and there. Father heads to the office. I stare waiting for them to tell me what happened. Lucian comes over and starts untying me.
“Did you all… Kill him?”
“No Princess we didn’t find him. He was there for sure, but he had left by the time we got back to town. The others had lost his trail. He had a truck parked outside of town.” I relax a little then. I am so glad they didn’t find him.
Chapter 5
It’s Saturday morning and I am ready to go for a run. When I walk out the backdoor I am surrounded. I am used to them following me, but this is a bit ridiculous. I mean the whole pack is there. My father too. “What is going on?”
“If you are going into the woods we are all going. From now on till I say otherwise the whole pack will be going out when you do. I won’t have you running alone.”
“When have I ever gotten to run alone?”
“You watch it, you’re on my last nerve little wolf. I am the Pack Master and I say what we do. What you do. Who does it with you. You will mine me. I am not going to let you off anymore. You better be ready to jump when I say to.”
I just turn and shift clothes ripping away. I have had it. I hear the pack scrambling to shift and follow me. I hear father cussing then growling. They catch me and surround me. They stop and I am forced to stop. Father bites my neck and slams me to the ground. I got it. I pissed him off. He holds me to the ground and growls. It is a warning to let me know I have pushed the wrong button. He has never been one to force me to do things, but I think that has just changed.
He let’s go of me, but I don’t get up. He stands over me waiting to see if I am going to move. When I don’t he howls then the others howl. They are all on his side. When he starts walking off I stand. The others follow close. Rufus and Kyle walk beside me and Duncan behind me. Zeke is in front of me.
We hunt for deer and rabbit. Father likes to make sure we all get fresh kill. It is important for the wolf to eat raw foods. Raw meats build our bodies strength up.
We have run for twenty or so miles not one sign of a wolf other than the pack. I am glad. I don’t want to be around when they kill my mate. If he is my mate. Maybe what I think I felt when I saw him was fear. Maybe my body was warning me to stay away. Who knows.
We take down two large bucks. Then a handful of rabbits. The pack eats while I sit back off to the side alone. Well as alone as I ever get. Father eats then notices that I have not eaten. He comes over to me and growls then looks to the deer. I try to tell him I am just not hungry. He tells me I need to eat. I don’t move. He doesn’t force the issue yet. When the others are finished eating we lay around in the sun for a while. Then head back toward the house.
At home, I stay upstairs in my room. The one place I can be alone. Even if they can hear my every move they give me this space to be by myself. I have the door closed and the window open. I couldn’t get away if I tried outside my window there are several wolves lingering around.
I do my homework and listen to the radio. My friends call off and on. Eric calls and I start talking to him. My door is flung open. I look up to see Rufus standing there watching me. “Did you need something?”
He is huffing and puffing. He ran up the stairs the minute he heard me say hi Eric. I turn my back to him and keep talking. Eric is trying to get me to make it out without my brothers so we can go to the movies.
“Sorry, I can’t. I have a way too much to do today. Then tonight we are expecting company. Father won’t let me out of his sight. Plus, I am the cook.”
Eric talks to me a little while longer. I feel Rufus standing beside my bed now. He hasn’t said anything, but I know he is listening. He can hear every word Eric says. When Eric says, he loves me it is the last straw. Rufus yanks the phone out of my hand.
“You listen to me boy you stop calling her. You stop getting any ideas in your pretty little head or you won’t have a head you hear me?” Rufus yells into the phone.
I am trying to pull the phone away from Rufus, but he is tall enough he can hold his hand up higher than me. I am jumping and grabbing and screaming at him. The pack is at my door watchi
ng.
Father comes to my door and pushes his way in my room. He looks at Rufus then at me. He sees that Rufus is on the phone and that his stance says he is angry. “Rufus what gives?”
Rufus pulls the phone out of his ear and slams it shut. Then he looks down at me. He stares me down trying to get me to submit. I try to fight the urge. Father steps closer then stands between us. “Rufus, what is going on?”
“Her boyfriend called again. He tried to get her to sneak out. He wants to love her. He wants to touch her body all over. I will kill the human. If he thinks for one minute I will let him anywhere near you, he’s wrong! Your mine and I won’t have it any other way. You hear me Cara? Your mine!”
“I am not yours and I won’t every be yours. Now get out of my room. GET OUT!” Screaming at the top of my lungs didn’t move him in the right direction. He reached for my throat and father grabbed his arm. If father hadn’t stopped him I don’t know what he was planning to do.
“Rufus go run it off. The rest of you out. Cara sit. That is an order. Sit now.” I waited till Rufus was hauled out of my room. It took four others to pull him outside. Then I sat on the side of my bed. My father took my phone. I started to argue with him then seen the look on his face. I don’t know which one scared me worse Rufus or father.
“I will keep your phone for now. You will not be talking to your human males anymore, I forbid it. You will not even think for one second that you can run off. If you so much as get a thought in your head like that then I will take further control of this situation. I will give you to Rufus. You hear me?”
“I will not be his mate,” I say each word with force. I want it made perfectly clear I am not going to be pushed into mating with a wolf I don’t want.
“Furthermore, I do not trust you to stay up here alone. You will come downstairs and stay where I can see you. You will stay in the house with the pack. Tonight, there will be wolves guarding your window and your door. There will be no use in trying to get out of the house without us.”
I start to protest but no better. I stop myself from saying anything by biting my tongue. The taste of blood fills my mouth. Father points to the door telling me to move it. To move downstairs. I will be staying in the living room or his office. I try to sit on the couch and watch the television with the pack.
I can’t stand being still. I stand up and the pack is on its feet. “Relax I am just stretching.”
I start pacing back and forth along the wall. The one close to the hall. That makes them think I am going to run. I feel it. I stop and look at them. No one has sat back down. “Zeke, you want to help me in the kitchen? I think I should start working on dinner.”
“I think I can manage that.” Only he doesn’t come alone. Rufus and Kyle and Duncan come along. Damn it. I feel like I am suffocating. Father follows then to see what I am doing. I know he heard me say I was going to start dinner. It’s five now and we normally eat at six.
“I am just cooking. You can all stop this now. Zeke is with me; it isn’t like I am going to run off.”
“Yeah but you’re thinking about it.” Kyle says.
“Actually, no I was thinking more how I would like to kill someone. Any of you would work right now.”
Rufus steps closer just in case the others take me on. I turn around and start pulling stuff out of the fridge. I try to tune them out. Zeke starts pulling pans out for us to cook. He is good to help me in the kitchen. We work well together.
I pull out some ribs then some sauce. I put four huge racks of ribs on pans then coated them with barbecue sauce. I start making a salad. Then get out two very large pots and fill them will corn on the cob. I try to think what else we need. I am having trouble concentrating.
Zeke comes over to me and takes me in his arms he can feel the anger rolling off me. “Hey, you need to calm down or you are going to go all ballistic on me.”
“Zeke I am going crazy. This isn’t working. I can’t stand it anymore. Rufus wants to force me to choose him. Duncan won’t let up. Kyle is always in my way. Why don’t they leave me alone?” I know there still in the kitchen listening to me. I know they are watching Zeke hold me. I can hear low growls. Even though Zeke is my brother he is still a male and touching me.
Rufus steps closer and Zeke growls at him. The pack is on edge. Father hears the growls and comes running. The rest of the pack are right behind him.
Rufus and Zeke are now staring at each other growls and teeth all around. I step back from Zeke then pick up a large butcher knife.
Father growls at me. He saw what I had in mind. Rufus looks at me than the knife. He stops growling. Zeke doesn’t look at me he knows I would never stab him.
“Rufus I think you better step outside. Zeke, you out front Rufus you out back. Take time to cool off. Cara my office.”
“Why me, I didn’t do anything?” He looks at me and I slump. I head to his office. I don’t know why I am in trouble I didn’t do anything wrong.
Father shuts the office door then walks around me to sit at his desk. He watches me for a bit then motions for me to sit. “I know you didn’t do anything. You wanted to. You would have if Rufus made a move toward your brother. You would have been in the wrong. Zeke can defend himself. Princess we have got to figure out how to make everyone happy. If you’re not going to choose a mate, then I want to figure out how we can all live together. This fighting all the time isn’t going to work. Someone is going to get killed.”
“Then maybe Rufus should be kept outside.”
“Is that really what you want? Do you not feel anything at all for him?”
“Not when he is trying to force me to take him. I won’t be forced into loving him. Or the others either. I need some space. I need to be able to think. Father, they won’t give me two seconds of peace.”
“My daughter you must understand their fighting for the only female in hundreds of miles. It is natural for them to fight for you. Usually, the strongest male gets the female for his mate. If you don’t choose soon they will choose for you. I won’t step in when they try to kill each other. I am the Pack Master and I have to let them fight for their right to take you for their own.”
“Why does it have to be that way? That’s barbaric. Why can’t I fall in love with the one I want to live the rest of my life with? I don’t love any of them, father. I won’t ever love them at the rate things are going.”
“Does this have to do with the wolf you saw at the mall?”
“No, and yes. I don’t know. I have never had any feelings for any of our pack, not the kind they want me to have. As for the wolf at the mall, I don’t know him. I do know I felt weird when I saw him. I don’t know what it means. I just know I am not in love with Rufus or Kyle or Duncan.”
“What about one of the other wolves in our pack? Just because they’re the three who seem to be fighting the hardest doesn’t mean it has to be one of them.”
“I don’t want to take any of them right now. Why can’t I just finish high school? Why do I have to choose so young?”
“Because if you don’t the fighting will only escalate. You have this year and next before you’re out of high school. Almost two years they would kill each other before then. You’re a werewolf you know it is the way of the wolf to mate early. Your much older than a human of sixteen, you know we aged much faster than they do. By this time next year, you will be with pup. You will start a whole new generation of wolves to our pack. My daughter, please try to choose soon. I don’t want to force you to take the wrong wolf but as Pack Master and your father I can’t just keep letting this go on.”
“But father…”
“But nothing. You have one month to choose your mate.” He stands up and I know this discussion is over. I walk out feeling like the pressure just doubled. I go back to the kitchen to finish fixing dinner. Kyle is there alone. When I see him, I turn and start to walk out. He grabs hold of me.
“Cara you can’t run from us. One of us will be your mate sooner or later. Why don’t you
just chose one of us? If you would decide then we could all get on with life. I would make you happy I swear if you would just take me as your mate.”
He pulls me into his arms then kisses me. I fight him but I am powerless against the male wolf who is feeling horny. When he finally does let go of me I haul off and hit him hard. His head rolls to the side. He growls at me then goes after me. I am ready. I fight him.
The bad thing about that is wolves like things rough. To Kyle, this is like foreplay. To me, it is life or death. When the others hear the fight, they come running once more. This time, they don’t get in my way. Kyle may be strong and in need of things, but I am angry and have been holding it in for days.
The fight between us goes on for a time before my father steps in. He can see never of us wants to give up. I have ripped my claws out and slashed down Kyle’s face. Kyle has gotten his hands-on things he shouldn’t touch just yet.
Father is pulling at me and he has Marcus pulling at Kyle. When we have finally been pulled apart we are both covered in blood. Kyle is smiling about it. He is happy in more than one way.
“Cara what am I going to do with you. You can’t kill them just because they're trying to attract your attention. Kyle what were you doing?”
“I kissed her.”
My father rolls his eyes. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rufus come flying in the back door. He heard Kyle say he kissed me. The two of them go at it. By the time, they have been separated the kitchen is a wreck. Broken dishes everywhere, blood everywhere. “I want all of you out of the house. I don’t want to see or hear another fight tonight.”
I start for the back door hoping to run. Father yells at me. He says all but you, Cara. Damn it. I stop and turn. Zeke is shaking his head at me to keep me quiet.
One Princess One Pack One Villain Page 5
