I want to go home.
She nodded to Ippy. “I do, too.”
“What’d he say?”
Hannah wasn’t sure if Ippy would want all of his thoughts shared with Caelum like she did for the most part with her dads when they were together, but she could do a bit, at least. “He said that he wants to go home.”
Caelum nodded. “I wish you hadn’t come.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Gee. Thanks. Fantastic thing to say to someone who was trying to save your life.”
Caelum flinched and turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. “What I meant was that if you hadn’t come to rescue me, you both wouldn’t have been captured.”
Alright, so that sounded a little better. But not coming had never been an option. “Least now you get to escape, too.”
He looked surprised. So did Ippy, for that matter. She wasn’t sure why neither of them had any trust in her.
“How are you going to manage that?”
Hannah shrugged. She didn’t have an idea yet. But staying here wasn’t going to be an option for the kidnappers. Not when she and Ippy would have an entire pack out looking for them by nightfall. “Think my dads know we’re gone yet?” she asked Ippy.
Ippy nodded and she smiled at him. “Good. I hope the pack tears those guys apart. Gets all werewolfy on their butts.” Ippy smiled and she was glad to see the expression on his face. He didn’t smile much at all. Not because he wasn’t happy, but because the gesture didn’t mean as much to him as it did to everyone else. She’d worked with him for months on helping him with understanding the facial expressions of everyone else. They’d watched a lot of movies. Well, more than they usually did anyway, since movie nights were one of their favorite things to do together.
Hannah sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “Why a selkie? And why a werewolf? If they hadn’t caught us we wouldn’t have known you were here.”
Collectors?
Shivering with the thought of Ippy’s suggestion, she tried not to think about it. Caelum didn’t offer any insight and so she thought about other reasons. Ones that didn’t involve the horror movie type scenarios that were constantly flying through her brain. When none came to mind, though, she quickly gave up trying. Why they’d been taken wasn’t all that important. What mattered was that they had to get out of here.
She turned to Caelum. “What’s their schedule like? When do they go to bed? Any visitors?”
He shrugged. “Late. The lights in the house turn off after midnight. Nobody comes to the house. Ever.”
Hannah bit her bottom lip. “What time do they get up?”
“Late morning. The times vary. Sorry I’m not more helpful.”
She was about to smile at him until she realized that he couldn’t see her expression. So she gave one to Ippy instead. He didn’t return it. “If we are able to escape, will you come with us?”
Caelum shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Again with them finding your family? You just told me they kidnapped you from it. And they beat you—like seriously beat you. Really, you still want to stay here with them after that?” Hannah snapped at him, getting frustrated.
He trembled and she wished she hadn’t gone off on him, but whatever, she couldn’t really change that now. His answer, when it came, was nearly silent in the small room. Ippy probably heard him just fine. But she had to strain to hear his voice.
“No. I don’t want to stay here. But I can’t leave without my fur.”
She frowned at the back of his head. “You’re wearing it. Like werewolves do. Aren’t you?”
Caelum shook his head. “No, what I was getting at when I was talking about selkies is that we can come out of our fur and it stays with us. Like a coat. Or a blanket. But I need it. I haven’t had it in years. I miss it. Without it, I can’t be a selkie. I’m not anything. Just a guy.”
“Well, that sucks,” Hannah grumbled.
Ippy nodded. Where is it?
“Ippy and I both want to know where it is. Do you know?”
Caelum turned and looked toward the house, just barely visible through the window above their heads. “Its in P’s bedroom. In a small trunk at the end of the bed. I saw it there just last week when I was cleaning the house. He had it out and was polishing it. I don’t like when its touched. I can feel it.”
Hannah cringed, not liking the sound of that at all. “Alright. So if I get your fur, will you escape with us and go back to our pack?”
Why do you have to go? Why can’t he? It’s his fur. Make him go. Not you.
That was a good question. “Can you go get it?” she asked Caelum. “If we get you out of here?”
He slowly shook his head. “They don’t let me inside alone anymore. Not after the one time I tried to take it away from them.”
“Well, shit.”
Ippy gasped and she closed her eyes, ready for him to reprimand her. But it didn’t come and as the door opened she looked up at the two men standing in the doorway, nearly blocking out the light. She waited for them to act, her breath catching in her throat until they stepped more into the room and tossed plastic wrapped sandwiches in front of each of them.
“How are we supposed to eat with our hands tied?” she snapped irritably at them.
They paused, looking like they hadn’t quite considered that as they turned to back to the door. “Figure it out,” P said gruffly.
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Why are we even here? If its money, my dads can get you that.”
P turned back to her, looking interested now as he approached her. He rested a calloused hand on her check and she resisted the urge to bite him for touching her. Behind him Ippy was making anxious noises in the cage. He didn’t like when people touched him, but he also didn’t really like it when people touched her either. Especially when he knew she didn’t like it—which was most of the time.
“And who is your dad?” he asked her.
“Dads,” she corrected him quickly. “I have two of them. And one of them is second in command of the largest and most powerful werewolf pack in this area. You want money, they’ll give it to you. For us, of course. You don’t just get it for free.”
The other man came up behind him. “Suppose we can’t just kill her now.”
Hannah swallowed thickly at the threat in the man’s words.
Caelum lifted his head beside her. “She’s a hunter, too. You can use her. Don’t need to kill her.”
The men looked even more interested now and Hannah narrowed her gaze at them both, wondering what they were thinking as they looked down at her. “That right?”
She shrugged the best she could with her hands bound above her head. “Don’t know about all that. But I can see shape-shifters. I thought it was just the werewolves until I saw Caelum when I was a kid. Guess I can see more than I thought.”
“Think you could show us where that werewolf pack is?”
No!
She ignored Ippy’s fierce warning. “I could. Inside, if you’ve got a map. There are a few names I wouldn’t mind being taken off the pack roster. Long as my dads weren’t hurt.”
P smiled and shook his head. “Course not. I’ll bring a map out here for you. Then you can show me.”
“Nope. No can do. My friend can’t lie. If you attack and these people are gone I want to make sure they didn’t know I wanted them gone. I won’t say their names in front of him,” Hannah quickly said.
The man behind P turned his attention to Ippy. “If we’re getting more, we don’t really need this one. Could just kill him now and be done with it.”
“Touch him and I’ll never help you,” Hannah warned them both. All she needed was to be able to get inside. That was it. Yeah, it was more dangerous since they were awake, but maybe this was their one chance. If she could do it, then they could go. She wished she could tell Ippy her plan so that he’d stop looking at her like she was planning to betray them all, though. That wasn’t going
to happen. Not now or ever. The pack was her home, her family. Getting these men to trust her just this once felt like it might be her only chance. She had to do this.
P seemed to be considering her words for a long moment as his hand wound in her hair. “Sure. I’ll let you into the house. But if you betray us, I’ll kill you and your friend. Slowly.”
Hannah tried not to let her fear show as she nodded. “Deal.” She was released and sitting up on the bed a moment later. Ippy whined at her as she followed the men to the small farmhouse and she touched the bars of his cage, trying to let him know she’d be back as soon as she could. It didn’t help and his protests were loud as the men locked the door behind her, sealing Ippy and Caelum inside and away from her. It was another complication, but she’d figured that might happen. She quickly glanced back to see where they were and realized they’d been in a small shed at the edge of the property.
“How many have you killed?” P asked her as he led the way inside the house that lay at the front of the property along a gravel road and a good five minute walk from the shed. It was musty and stale and Hannah paid attention to the layout as P kept walking until they were in an office.
“How many what?” Hannah asked him as she put a hand on her hip, looking unconcerned by his question.
P gave her a dark look. “Wolves. Bastards like your friend there. And all the others like him.”
None. She’d never killed anything in her life. But she wasn’t sure if that was the right answer or not, so she chose to avoid the question altogether. “Why do you have a selkie?”
P didn’t answer her, but the other man behind her did. “Too tempting to resist taking him. Normally would have killed him, but figured his skin would make a nice display when he’s older. Too young to kill then. Almost there now.”
Hannah tried not to show how much she wanted to puke. “So you skin them?”
P smiled at her, but there was no warmth in the expression. “Show her.”
“You sure, boss?”
P nodded and Hannah found herself being led upstairs to a bedroom, which already made her nervous, but once she saw the heads mounted on the walls around the small twin size bed she couldn’t help the tears that spilled down her cheeks. The werewolves were easy enough to tell, but there were so many other creatures on display there that she had no idea what they all were. She walked toward one white wolf’s face and tried not to cry out when she realized it reminded her of Evangeline, who was safely back at home in the pack. Before she could get to the wolf’s mounted head though she tripped over a trunk at the foot of the bed.
“Ow,” she said, bending down to rub her bruised shin. “What’s in there? Its heavy.”
“You’re impressed by all of them, huh?” the man asked her.
Hannah played along, nodding even as she wanted to scream at him for his cruelty. “Um. Yeah. Sure.”
He knelt in front of her. “Then you’ll really like this.” He opened up the trunk and pulled out a shiny pelt. He laid it over the bed and pulled another out, followed by yet another.
“So many,” Hannah commented dryly. She caught sight of one that was different as he laid it on the bed. It looked wet and nearly dark brown. It was Caelum’s. She was sure of it.
“Never met a woman that was a hunter before. Stay here, with us, we’ll train you up right. The wolves, they’ve brainwashed you. They’re beasts. Monsters. Nothing like us. We’ll be good to you.” He was looking at her like he really hoped she’d say the right thing. Like when her teacher asked her a question that she should have known. But unlike the times when she wasn’t paying attention in class, she knew what her answer was here.
She smiled at him, hoping it would relax him long enough for her to do what she needed to do. She leaned forward and put a hand on his arm, hoping she looked innocent. “Really? I could stay here with you two? And you’d show me everything?”
His expression softened and he nodded. “Sure. Whatever you wanted. You’d be the best hunter this side of the Mississippi. I know you would. Pretty girl like you, they’d come to you. The beasts are drawn to girls like you. They—”
Hannah grabbed the keys out of his pocket and pushed him over, quickly jumping to her feet and picking up Caelum’s fur as she did. She was down the stairs a heartbeat later. P came out before she was at the front door, blocking her path.
“Hey! What—”
Hannah pushed him aside, using her speed and momentum to get him off balance as she bolted for the shed. She could hear them running behind her as she unlocked the door. Only two keys made it easy. Their mistake. Ippy’s cage was next and then she and Ippy started on Caelum’s ropes, but she felt the men behind her, blocking their way out even before they got Caelum untied.
“Bad mistake, you stupid little girl. Now you’ll die first,” one of them said. She heard him step into the shed and bristled.
“Caelum,” she whispered, looking down at him as he sat up, his hands freed. “I have your skin now. Help us get away. You don’t need to stay here. Not anymore. We can help you.” He got to his feet without saying anything to her. “You promised!” she hissed at him when it looked like he wasn’t going to do anything but stare the men down.
She shouldn’t have doubted him, though. She realized that a moment later as P charged toward him. Caelum’s movements were jerky, but he was strong as he fought back against P. Hannah ran at the men, too, shrieking as she pummeled one of them and kicked at another. She wasn’t very good, but she’d had some training and she was fast. They had the men down, but for how long she didn’t know as she grabbed Ippy’s hand without asking and pulled him and Caelum out of the shed by their hands. They took off to the woods, a place she felt comfortable in despite not knowing these particular ones, and kept running, the guys behind her, until her lungs burned and sweat made her shirt cling to her back. Only then did she stop and turn back to them.
“We did it,” she gasped out, grinning at them both.
“Not safe yet,” Caelum reminded her, killing her brief moment of joy.
Hannah rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Ippy. “You okay?”
You lied.
Nodding, Hannah figured he might catch onto that. “Yeah. I did. I had to get them to trust me. Forgive me?”
He shrugged and she thought that would have to be good enough for right now. “Alright, Caelum, here’s your skin. Now what’s around here? We need a phone. I’m going to call my dads.”
He took it from her hands, looking grateful as he clutched the small scrap of stiff leather tightly to his chest before lifting his shirt and stuffing it into his front pocket. It hung out a bit, but he tucked the top into the side of his shorts, too. She figured that when he was all healed up it would be a lot larger than it was now because there was no way that the skin, no more than a few feet across, would be able to cover him otherwise. “There’s the diner.”
Ippy shook his head. Look for us there first.
“Ippy says they’d look for us there first. He’s right. No roads, no major places.”
Caelum frowned. “Then we might be walking for a while.”
Hannah nodded then quickly pulled them both down next to her behind a rotting log when she heard a twig snap in the distance. “That’s fine,” she whispered, wishing they hadn’t taken her phone.
Deer. West.
She nodded to Ippy, glad his sense of smell was much better than hers.
“How do you know it’s a deer?” Caelum asked.
Hannah was about to snap at him that Ippy just did, but then her mouth fell open and she could only stare up into his nearly black eyes. “You…how did…But he…”
They both turned their attentions to Ippy, who only shrugged. Wanted to talk to both of you.
Hannah grinned. “I’m going to hug you now. Okay?”
He didn’t look too excited about that idea, but didn’t move away from her, either, as her arms came around his shoulders. She didn’t squee
ze him, just wanted to let him know she was glad he’d figured out a way to talk to both of them at once. Or even just another person. She felt a moment of jealousy and uncertainty, like maybe he wouldn’t need her anymore. But she quickly brushed it aside. He didn’t really need her now. Not really, anyway. And now that he could talk to another person, maybe his parents would be next. And then their teacher and Samson, too. He could actually talk to them instead of her talking for him all the time.
Hannah was ecstatic until Ippy said, Not a deer, startling her into pulling away from him.
“What isn’t?” she asked him, looking around to see what he had heard or seen.
He lifted his hand just as she spotted the men coming for them. Caelum ran first and Hannah grabbed Ippy’s hand, making sure he was close behind them before she took off running as well with the men screaming at their backs.
Chapter Six
They found shelter a good mile later behind an old barn, but didn’t stay long out of fear that the men would easily be able to get them again. They avoided roads and other people, but kept heading east because that was the way Hannah knew their pack was. By the time they did stop to rest it was dark, their stomachs were growling and Hannah’s feet badly hurt from all the blisters forming on them. They found a spot behind a thick patch of trees a good ten minute walk from the nearest road and sank down in the old leaves.
This sucks.
Hannah nodded, easily agreeing with him. She turned onto her side and put her arm under her head, feeling miserable and like she’d let him down along with everyone else in the pack that was likely worried about them. “I’m sorry, Ippy,” she whispered. Her stomach hurt and she laid a hand over it. From beside her Ippy didn’t respond and she closed her eyes and tried not to think about how cold it was or how much she missed her dads, her alpha or Evangeline. They were her family and she’d really screwed up. The leaves crunched behind her and she opened her eyes to look over her shoulder as Caelum as he lay down behind her. He draped an arm over her side and Hannah looked up at Ippy, wondering what she should do. She’d never lain next to anyone besides Ippy, and this felt a lot different than when she was next to him. But she didn’t want Caelum to move, either. Not really, anyway.
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