Chapter Sixteen
Mary Anne
Marni was the only sane one of the bunch, and I'm using “sane” loosely. She was supposedly helping me find work to do around the house, but really she was babysitting me. I’m not sure how she got stuck with that job, but my guess is it had to do with her gender. Hunter didn’t seem to like leaving me alone with any of the other guys, and I also sensed he was trying to put me at ease. He was waiting for me to let my guard down so he could slip in. The thought sent shivers through me. Hunter wasn’t going to be an easy man to keep at bay. Wolf or not, he was all muscle and brute strength. He was also determined. He seemed like the type of guy who always got what he wanted. I wondered how he’d handle things if he didn’t. Probably not well.
“We could bake something.” Marni hopped up onto the old laminate kitchen counter top. “Hunter loves chocolate chip cookies.”
“Bake? I'm a girl, so I'm into baking?” Say gender stereotypes much? Besides, how was I going to bake with everything else going on?
“Would you rather be outside in the cold?” Marni nodded toward the small dusty window. “Does that really appeal to you?”
I looked out at the snowy terrain. “Not really, but it's not fair that Gage is stuck out there.” I gathered that the cold didn't bother the wolves much, but it would bother Gage. He’d been out there for over an hour already.
“Then let's make cookies. I always keep chocolate chips here.” She swung her legs. There was something so childlike about Marni. In another place and time I might have enjoyed her company.
“Do you have a kitchen in your house?” I’d yet to be allowed outside of Hunter’s home, so I wasn’t sure of the layout of the other places. I still didn’t quite understand how the homestead, or whatever it was Hunter called it, worked. The only thing I did know was that Hunter was clearly in charge, and no one seemed interested in challenging him. There was a hierarchy I didn’t quite understand, and I knew there were other members of the pack I still hadn’t met.
“Yes,” She hopped off the counter. “But we always cook and eat communally.”
“Why?”
“Why not? Who likes to do things alone? I can’t wait until I can move in with Chet. I'm tired of living by myself.” She got a far off look on her face.
“I love living alone.” At least I loved having a single room in the dorm. I’d have spent most of my nights at the library if I’d ended up with a roommate. And if I had one like Genevieve’s, the kind that came with a built in boyfriend, it would have been even worse.
“You like living alone?” She gaped at me like I had two heads. She was the one who’d admitted to being able to turn into a wolf.
“Yes.” I answered honestly. There didn’t seem to be any reason to deny it. What did I care if a wolf thought I was anti-social?
“I guess that means you didn't live with Gage.” Her lips twisted up into a smile. I didn’t like it. She had Chet. She needed to stop sending signals that she found Gage attractive. On top of everything else I didn’t need competition in the form of a peppy and sexy wolf.
“No. I live in a dorm.” My tiny dorm room sounded perfect at the moment. Or at least perfect if Gage came with it.
“Lived. You don't live there anymore.”
“I will again. You guys can’t keep us here forever. People are going to look for us.” I pulled the sleeves of my borrowed sweater over my hands. It was big on me, so I wasn’t stretching it out.
She shook her head. “No they aren't.”
“Yes they will.”
She pursed her lips. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to freak out?”
Promise not to freak out? That would be hard to do, but I knew that any information I could get was helpful, so I nodded. “Yes.”
“Yes, what? I need to know you’re serious.”
“I won’t freak out.” Saying the words was easy, but it only made me more nervous.
“Hunter took Gage to see something today.”
“Oh?” My stomach twisted. So this is what he couldn’t include me in.
“Hunter wanted Gage to realize how permanent your new living situation is. I think he should have taken you too, but he thought you'd get upset. Hunter is really protective of you.”
“What did he show Gage?” I waited with bated breath.
“Your truck.”
“What are you talking about? Did they fix it?” I was being delusional again. That seemed to be a running theme for me lately.
“It's not getting fixed.” She started pulling things from the cabinets.
“What does that mean? Just spit it out.” I was losing patience.
She set aside the flour and sugar. “He destroyed the truck.”
“Who did?” I knew exactly who’d done it, but I wanted her to say it. “Why?”
“Hunter. He burned it. And isn't the why obvious?”
“Obvious?” Nothing was obvious anymore. Nothing made sense or added up. It’s like logic went out the door the second the truck left the road. That even applied to me. Having sex with Gage like that? There was nothing logical about that decision.
“He wanted people to think you guys died.” She took out a carton of eggs.
“What?” My throat tightened, and I held onto the back of a chair for support. “No. No one's going to believe it.” The news explained Gage’s face. I knew he was hiding something. He’d seen something that scared him, and Gage didn’t scare easily. He knew we were trapped.
“They won't? They haven't heard from you since you two left the city. You already told us your phones didn’t work. Now the charred remains will be found, what else would they think?”
“Wait. Charred remains? Will they find bodies?” My chest clenched. Had they killed people for the ruse? I knew the wolves were ruthless, but I didn’t take them to be cold-blooded murders.
“They’ll find bodies, but don’t worry they were dead first.” She wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t upset. She was accepting what was happening to Gage and me way too well. I needed to remember that Marni wasn’t any safer than the others. She wanted us there just as much. For some reason she believed that if Hunter had me she could be with Chet. I didn’t quite understand it, but I did understand her thinking. A girl will go to desperate lengths to get the guy she wants. I knew that my happiness or security wouldn’t get in her way. We had no allies. We were all alone in a messed up situation, and I had no idea where we were going to turn.
After the initial wave of relief that no one was killed passed, the tears started, and I got dizzy. My parents couldn’t think I was dead. They just couldn’t. It would destroy them. I needed to get away from the wolves before they got the news. I couldn’t let either of my parents go through that. I shook my head. “No.”
“Yes. I didn't tell you to upset you.”
“Then why did you?” I didn’t hide the iciness in my voice. I was angry, and I wasn’t in the mood to play nice. No one was doing it for me. The baking cookies charade wasn’t for my benefit.
“So you'd accept that you're with us to stay. Even if Hunter hadn't wanted you, once you saw what we were you couldn't leave. It's too risky.” She pulled out a measuring cup and opened the flour. Evidently she wasn’t letting our conversation derail her baking plans.
“Then why show us?”
“Do I have to hit you over the head with it?”
I knew she didn't mean the large bag of flour in her hands.
“I still don't get it.”
“It doesn't matter, does it? I mean he wants you; he has you. You might as well get used to it and stop fighting. You're only going to make things harder for yourself and Gage.”
“Do you think Hunter’s going to hurt him?” Maybe Marni could be helpful. The only good thing about her attraction to Gage was that it was possible she’d want him to stay around, and to stay alive.
“If he gets in the way of what Hunter wants, and what he wants is you—then, yes.”
I shivered. “Ok.
Let’s make those cookies.”
She measured out the sugar. “I'm glad you get it.”
I decided to play the only cards I had. Our situation looked bleak, but I refused to let it get any worse. At least not for Gage. “Please help me protect him.”
“I'll do what I can, but it's mostly going to come down to you.”
“I know,” I whispered the words.
“Hunter’s not that bad,” She said almost as quietly.
“Not that bad? I beg to differ.” We had to find a way to leave, but until then I had to protect Gage. He was the only thing I had left.
Chapter Seventeen
Gage
Chopping wood wasn't a new experience, but somehow doing it under Hunter's watchful eye made it seem more like a punishment than usual. That says a lot since it was never a favorite on the long list of chores my father gave me in the winters growing up.
Still, there was something reassuring about the familiar, so I gladly picked up the axe and started splitting a pile of wood. I was mildly surprised they were allowing me to hold a sharp object, but they knew, as well as I did, that I wouldn’t be able to take out all of them, and I’d never manage to get to Mary Anne fast enough no matter what distraction I created. It was amazing how quickly my priorities had changed. Time and again I was giving up my chance to escape in order to protect her. At another point in my life I may have thought it made me weak, but now it made me feel stronger. There was someone else in the world relying on me, and I wasn’t going to let her down.
I threw the axe back again, putting my full energy into splitting up the wood. Despite my annoyance, there was something nice about building up a sweat. I was generally an active person, and sitting around wasn’t my thing.
“You can use an axe.” Hunter made it sound like he was shocked.
I chopped another large piece of wood and set aside the axe. “Why does that surprise you?”
“You aren't as much of a pretty boy as I had you pegged.”
“Pretty boy?” I was ready to pick up the axe again. That was a term that didn’t apply to me at all. Compared to most guys at Eastern University, I might as well have been a mountain man. I had the look to go along with the experience working outdoors. Mayville wasn’t exactly a glamorous town. I think it’s what made me so popular with the girls in Boston. I was different from the usual guys they knew even if I wore the same clothes.
He grinned, “You're easy to piss off.”
“And you can make a joke?”
“Sometimes.” He picked up his axe, but he kept his eyes on me.
We continued splitting the wood without talking. The forest was quiet except for the sound of the axe breaking through the wood. Even Chet and Falcon stopped arguing as we finished working. These wolves must have saved up all their wood chopping for the season, because it took a full hour to finish.
I tossed my last piece onto the pile and followed Chet into the shed to hang up the axes. I took in the inventory for future reference. Shovels, axes, rakes, a mower, and a pair of handcuffs. Handcuffs? What the heck did they need those for?
“I'd be careful.”
I turned to Chet. “Careful of what?”
“Pissing off Hunter. Do what he says and accept the girl's not yours anymore.”
“Why the hell do you care?”
He grunted. “I'd rather not have to clean up the mess.”
I eyed the tools again.
“Don't get any ideas,” Chet added. “You'll be dead before you have it off the hook.”
He was probably right, but he didn’t need to worry. I wasn’t planning on doing anything yet.
Chopping wood wasn't a new experience, but setting traps was. I was ready to go inside to check on Mary Anne, but Hunter told me I had to go with Falcon. My first reaction was that I was stepping into a trap myself. Go off into the woods and leave Hunter to go back into the house with Mary Anne? Besides, Falcon seemed like the loosest cannon of the bunch. I didn’t particularly want to be left alone with him.
I tried to come up with any excuse to stay, but Hunter didn't give me the chance. “The sooner you go, the sooner you come back.” He had a point, but not one I wanted to admit.
I grudgingly walked with Falcon through the snow. “Aren’t you wolves? Why set traps?”
He pushed me ahead of him. “We need a lot of meat. We can't hunt too much on our land, so between hunting trips we supplement with what we catch here. Hunter’s big on keeping things on the down low.”
“And you aren’t?” I mumbled.
“Don’t be a smart ass.”
I dragged the traps as we moved deeper into the forest.
Eventually he told me to stop, and I watched as he expertly set up the first trap in the brush. It was a snare by the looks of it. I wasn’t sure what animals they were hoping to catch, but I didn’t want to know. I didn’t plan on staying around long enough to have to eat whatever it was.
He moved back to standing and gestured for me to continue up the makeshift trail. I looked back down the way we came before doing what he asked.
“So how is she?” His voice came from closer than I liked. Couldn’t a guy get any breathing room? His question only made me angry, so I ignored him.
“Come on, she’s got to be good with the way you’re acting over her. I’d love to get a taste of those little tits of hers.”
Was he kidding? Because Hunter wasn’t enough? And to talk about her that way? It wasn’t happening. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”
“Hey now. What’s the problem? You’ve got to be used to guys wanting a taste of her.”
I spun around, coming face-to-face with him. “I don’t put up with guys trying that.”
“Well, Hunter will be getting his fill. He probably has already.” He grinned. “And I can’t wait to get mine.” He licked his lips.
I didn’t think, I just swung.
I realized my mistake as soon as my fist hit his face, and he was smiling and my fist hurt like hell. If I hadn’t grasped it at that point, I would have seconds later when his fist made contact with my face, and I ended up sprawled on my back in the snow.
Falcon’s laughter came from directly above me. “Weak little human. Just give it up. You’ve lost your piece of ass. Hunter’s got her. If I was in charge I’d have had her in front of you the second you walked into the house. That’s how to do things. Show the inferiors how powerless they are.”
I struggled to move, but my whole body hurt.
“What is it? No snarky comment this time? Just make it easy on yourself.”
I sat up. “No one is touching Mary Anne.”
He laughed, offering no assistance as I stood up. That was good. I didn’t want his help. Falcon was a piece of work. From what I gathered he hadn’t been with the pack long, and he seemed the most likely to want to challenge Hunter. I might be able to use him to my advantage later. Despite the massive headache and sore hand, punching Falcon had been worth it. No one was going to talk about Mary Anne that way. I may not have been as strong as the wolves, but they weren’t going to keep us down. There wasn’t a chance of that.
***
“What happened?” Mary Anne gently touched the bruising around my eye. She’d run right over when I walked in, and I didn’t miss the annoyance on Hunter’s face. I resisted the urge to grin at him. I wasn’t in the mood to add another shiner.
“Just got into an argument. Nothing big.”
I now had Hunter’s attention. “Not that I care about the kid’s face, but what happened, Falcon?”
Falcon shoved his hands into his back pockets. “He hit me first. I was just defending myself.”
Hunter shook his head at me. “You really are more stupid than I thought.”
Mary Anne watched me worriedly. “Could someone get me some ice?”
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. Was she really going to try to ice my black eye?
“If he wants ice he can get some snow from outside.” Hunter didn’t find her attention quite
as cute as I did. I wonder why?
“I’ll get it myself.” She stepped away.
Hunter moved to block the front door. “No you won’t. It’s cold out.”
“I haven’t been outside all day. I think I can handle a few minutes in the cold.”
A beeping sound went off in the kitchen. I tensed before I realized it was a timer. Understandably I was a little bit jumpy.
“Cookies are ready.” Marni walked into the kitchen. “Come help me pull them out, Mary Anne.”
“Cookies? You guys made cookies?”
“Chocolate chip. Hunter’s favorite.” There was something in the look Marni gave me that came across as a warning. She was trying to keep me away from Mary Anne too. When would these people realize that I wasn’t staying away? The more they pushed, the harder I was going to push back. Mary Anne was leaving with me, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Chapter Eighteen
Mary Anne
I couldn’t spend another afternoon making cookies or doing whatever ridiculous job Marni came up with for me. I also couldn’t stand being so close to Gage without being able to touch him. It wouldn’t have changed anything, but I still longed to hold his hand. The storm had passed, but it had left behind a hefty coat of snow on the ground, and the blistering cold wasn’t going anywhere.
Hunter continued to insist I spend my nights in his bed, and he continued to sleep on the floor. Gage only got that one night in the guest room. After that he was forced to stay at Chet’s. Evidently he’d taken a swing at Falcon, but he was the one who’d been knocked down. Long after his black eye started to fade he was still under close scrutiny by the wolves. For my part I was glad he’d punched him. Falcon just kept getting creepier with me. Hunter was annoying, but at least he kept the innuendo and looks to a minimum.
The highlight of my average day was my shower. As pathetic as it sounds, it was the one time that I could pamper myself, when I could pretend that things were normal. The first few times I worried about someone walking in on me, but Hunter kept the other wolves out of his room, and he was good at giving me privacy.
Dire (The Dire Wolves Chronicles Book 1) Page 12
