Growl

by Elaine Pierson

  Zack raised his brows. He knew Lacey was hungry and she wasn’t going to be of any use to him if she was weak from starvation. “Eat or else!” he threatened and walked out to stand guard outside the door.

  As soon as he left the room, Lacey grabbed the tray. She was starving and she couldn’t deny it any longer. She dug into the mashed potatoes, green beans and chicken like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. She ate so fast that she began to feel a little sick. She slowed down and took her time with the rest of the food but the sick feeling didn’t go away. It got worse.

  She stopped eating and pushed the tray away as a thought came to her. What if they poisoned the food? The thought had barely formed in her mind when her stomach cramped and she ran to the bathroom and bent over the toilet. All of the food she had just eaten came back up.

  Lacey turned the water on in the sink and splashed her face with it. She felt hot. She looked at herself in the mirror. “I should have known better than to eat anything they gave me” she said to herself.

  Feeling weaker now than she did before she ate, Lacey grabbed a towel from the rack by the door and wiped her mouth with it. The chain around her ankle snagged on the bottom of the bathroom door as she tried to make her way back to bed and she tripped and fell to the floor. The thud of her body hitting the floor echoed in the empty room. She tried to get up but her stomach cramped again, the pain prevented her from standing up. She laid on the floor in the fetal position as the cramping got worse and worse with every passing second. Her insides felt like they were on fire. Not knowing what was wrong with her and being in too much pain to help herself up, she did the only thing she could do. She called out for help.

  Zack opened the door and stuck his head inside the room. “What?” he asked.

  Lacey’s teeth were gritted so tightly that she could barely speak. A sharp pain hit her in the stomach and she screamed out loud. Zack looked over his shoulder and yelled, “Boss, something is wrong with the girl!”

  A door slammed from down the hall and Cole came running from his room and pushed past Zack into Lacey’s room. He stopped when he saw her lying on the floor a few feet from the bathroom. He looked at her for a minute, unsure whether or not she was faking. But then she turned her head toward him and he saw that her face and hair was soaked with sweat and she looked pale. He ran over and scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. “Lacey, what’s wrong with you?” he asked as he watched her dry heave.

  She shook her head at him. “Like you don’t know...what the hell did you put in the food?” she asked weakly.

  He stared at her like he had no idea what she was talking about. Then he looked at the empty tray sitting on the chair by the bed. Lacey tightened her arms around her stomach and groaned as another pain hit her. Cole looked at her as anger ripped through him that someone had went against him and tampered with her food.

  He knelt down by the bed and tried to comfort Lacey by rubbing her arm. He didn’t know what else to do. He had never tried to help someone feel better before. He was usually the one causing pain in others.

  Lacey pushed his hand away and glared at him with glassy eyes. “Why don’t you just kill me?” she shouted as a tear slid from the corner of her eye and rolled down into her hair.

  Her outburst struck a nerve with Cole. He jumped up and stormed from the room. He grabbed Zack by the collar and dragged him into the room and forced him to look at Lacey. “Who poisoned her food?” he yelled.

  Zack looked at Lacey then at Cole and shook his head. “I don’t know. Josh brought her tray to me and I gave it to her like you told me to.”

  Cole narrowed his eyes at Zack then pushed him out of the room. He stood in the doorway unable to take his eyes off Lacey as she whimpered in pain.

  “Get out!” she screamed.

  Cole took one last look at her and shut the door, leaving Lacey alone in the room. He turned to Zack. “Don’t let anyone near her” he ordered and walked off.

  He stomped through the living area and into the kitchen. Several of his pack members were sitting at the table eating. Cole stood in the doorway with a look on his face that said he was ready to kill someone. “Who the hell poisoned Lacey’s food?” he growled, his voice echoed in the room.

  Everyone turned to look at Cole like they had no idea what he was talking about. Everyone except for Sasha. She was leaning over the counter with a smug look on her face. He walked over to her and grabbed her by the arm and squeezed it. “What did you put in the food?” he snarled, his upper lip curled in anger.

  Sasha smiled and pulled her arm from his grip. “I told you that I would kill her if you brought her here. You should have listened to me.”

  Cole growled out loud and backhanded her. She stumbled backwards and fell against the wall. She steadied herself quickly but not quick enough to avoid being struck again. She hit the floor and glared up at Cole. The rage on his face scared her. She had never seen him so angry and he had never hit her before.

  Cole’s eyes narrowed. “You better hope that Lacey doesn’t die because if she does, I’m going to kill you” he said and left her lying on the floor and hurried back to Lacey.

  When he opened the door to her room, he was stunned to see that she wasn’t on the bed anymore. He heard the water on in the bathroom and went to check on her. What he saw when he pushed the bathroom door open, shocked him.

  Lacey was in the bathtub curled in the fetal position with the shower turned on. Her lips were a light shade of blue and she was shaking violently. Cole quickly turned the water off and picked her up and carried her back to bed. “What the hell are you doing? That water is ice cold” he yelled at her. But then he saw that the sheets on the bed were soiled with vomit and he knew that she had been trying to get herself clean. He grabbed the sheets and threw them across the room into the corner and yelled for Zack.

  Zack opened the door and stuck his head inside. “Yeah, boss?”

  “Bring me some blankets now!”

  Zack closed the door and Cole looked down at Lacey, she was still shaking. He tried to take off her wet clothes but she fought against him, slapping at his hands and trying to kick him. After a few minutes, she gave up and let him undress her. She was too tired to fight. Zack ran back into the room and handed Cole the blankets.

  “Now get out!” Cole yelled at him and turned his attention back to Lacey. He quickly wrapped her up in the blankets. But that didn’t stop her from shaking. Not knowing what else to do, he crawled into bed with her and pulled her into his arms to warm her up. Lacey rested her head against his shoulder.

  Cole’s body stiffened at how cold her face was. He tightened his arms around her. “This isn’t what I wanted. I wanted you to trust me” he whispered against her hair. He couldn’t help but feel bad for what she was going through.

  When Lacey didn’t respond, Cole looked down at her and saw that she was asleep. He gently lifted his hand to her cheek. Her skin was still cold. A tiny pain hit him in the chest at the memory of how fragile she had looked when he opened the bathroom door and saw her shivering in the tub. He tightened his arms around her, not because she still needed the warmth of his body but because his cold heart needed the warmth of hers. He couldn’t bring himself to move away. He wanted to be near her and he knew that the only time he could be was when she was asleep.

  *****

  Cole never once left the room while Lacey was sick. He stayed with her all day and night while she slept like she was in a coma. And by sunset the next afternoon, he was so anxious for her to wake up that he tried to wake her up himself. He got a wet rag from the bathroom and rubbed it over her face. It took a few minutes but she finally opened her eyes and looked at him.

  “How do you feel?” Cole asked in a rough voice. He hadn’t slept at all since Lacey fell asleep and he was fighting to stay awake.

  “I’m tired” she mumbled and rubbed her eyes.

  “You must be starving.”

  Lacey cocked her head to the side and gave him a go-to-he
ll look before rolling her eyes. “You have got to be kidding me. I’m not eating anything that you people give me ever again.”

  Cole grimaced. He wanted to reassure her that it was safe to eat, but the look of determination on her face told him that it was pointless to say anything. She wasn’t going to believe anything he said and after what had happened, he couldn’t blame her. He moved from the bed and sat down in the chair and left her alone.

  *****

  Over the next couple of days, Lacey was in and out of consciousness. Cole figured her condition was a combination of the poison and exhaustion. At least that’s what he hoped. He put Kevin in charge of fixing food for her but she wouldn’t eat anything. Cole knew that she wouldn’t live much longer if she didn’t start eating. And he was beginning to think that he was going to have to force feed her.

  He grabbed the bowl of chicken noodle soup from the tray on the floor and sat down on the bed. Lacey turned her head to look at him. Her eyes appeared sunk in and she had dark spots under them. Her skin was pale and her lips dry and cracked.

  “Lacey, you have to eat” Cole said and held the spoon out to her.

  She turned her head away and closed her eyes. Cole put the bowl on the chair and put his hands under her arms and lifted her up in the bed. He propped the pillows up behind her before retrieving the bowl. He held a spoonful of soup out to her again. “If you don’t eat then I’ll have no choice but to force you” he said in a tired voice.

  Lacey looked at the spoon then at Cole. She had no doubt that he would force feed her if he had to. And she didn’t want that to happen. Besides, the truth was she really was hungry. With the hope that she wasn’t making a mistake, she opened her mouth and allowed Cole feed her.

  “Do you like it?”

  Lacey nodded and reached for the bowl but her hands were too shaky to hold it. Cole moved closer and held the bowl near her chin and continued to feed her. Neither of them said a word while she ate. From time to time, they made eye contact but they both quickly looked away. When she was finished, Cole took the bowl over to the door and gave it to Zack. “Bring her some more” he ordered.

  Zack took the bowl and left.

  Lacey wanted to tell him that she didn’t want any more but she was still hungry so she stayed quiet and waited for Zack to return. When he did, Cole took the bowl from him and shut the door without saying a word. He reclaimed his seat on the bed beside Lacey and started feeding her again. She felt weird having him take care of her, especially since she knew that he wasn’t a good guy. And most likely, his kindness was going to end as soon as she got better. But she was going to let him care for her as long as he wanted to while she built up her strength to fight against him.

  Once she was full, Lacey held up her hand. “That’s enough.”

  Cole set the bowl down on the floor and gave her a napkin to clean her mouth.

  “Thank you” she whispered.

  Cole looked at her, surprised by her gratitude. “You don’t have to be polite. No one here cares about manners.”

  Lacey laid back in the bed and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She felt much better now that she had eaten. Her stomach was full and she didn’t feel as weak as before. “What are you going to do with me?” she asked in a small voice.

  Cole started for the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. “I’m not going to lie to you Lacey, I am interested in your powers. I think that we could work together. No one would dare go against me with you and your powers at my side. I’ve considered changing you but I’m afraid if I do, you might lose your powers. So in return for your help, I’ll give you protection. I’m sure you already know about the rule you’ve broken by learning what we are. And you are going to need all the protection you can get once word gets around that you know our secret.”

  Lacey raised her head. “What are you talking about? What rule?”

  Cole turned around and walked back over to the bed. He looked down at her, stunned. “Jesse didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me what?” she asked with a hint of aggravation.

  “Ahh. What was my brother planning to do with you? He obviously wasn’t planning on changing you if he didn’t tell you about the rule that’s been broken. But I have a hard time believing that he was going to kill you. So he must have had something else in mind” Cole wondered aloud.

  Lacey glared at him. “He was going to take me out of the city to some place safe.”

  Cole shook his head. “My brother is a fool if he thought you would be safe simply by moving you to another city. Eventually, someone would have found you and they would have killed you. So you see, you’re safer with me.”

  “Why? Why am I in danger?”

  Cole sat down in the chair. “We have unwritten rules that we live by, some more than others, but there is one rule that everyone must obey. That rule states that any human who discovers the truth about us must either be killed or changed. It is imperative for our survival that humans don’t know we exist. I’m sure you can understand that.”

  Lacey’s mouth dropped open. She shook her head. “No, I don’t understand. How can you kill innocent people for stumbling onto your secret or worse, change them into monsters like you? If your secret is so sacred to you then why are you risking being found out by hunting humans for sport? Shouldn’t you isolate yourself away from civilization or something?”

  Cole jumped up from the chair and leaned on the mattress mere inches away from her. “My hunts are none of your business! And there is no such thing as an innocent human” he growled.

  Lacey moved back a little to put distance between them. “Why do you hate humans so much? What did we ever do to you?” she asked. Her eyes met Cole’s and she held his gaze, daring him to be the first to look away. She tried not to flinch when a sharp growl escaped through his parted lips.

  Cole glared at her for several seconds before averting his eyes to the floor. He reclaimed his seat in the chair and decided to change the subject. Talking about his personal life with her was not something he was interested in doing. “How did you spend your time with Jesse? You obviously didn’t spend it talking since you don’t seem to know anything about my kind.”

  Lacey crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s none of your damn business how we spent our time together.” The fact that Cole didn’t answer her question didn’t get past her. But she decided not to push him, at least not now. Sooner or later she was going to find out what he had against humans.

  Cole let out a manly chuckle. “No, I guess it’s not. But I am still curious. Jesse really should have told you more than he did. Has he spoken to you about our parents? Or about our past?”

  Lacey looked at him with interest. “No, he never mentioned his parents and the only thing he said about you was that you were a very bad man.” She shot him a mean look and pursed her lips. “I definitely agree with him about you.”

  Cole smiled and lifted his shoulders in a small shrug like her opinion of him meant nothing. “I’ll make you a deal. If you tell me about your powers then I’ll tell you about my parents.”

  Lacey thought about it for a minute. She didn’t want to talk about her powers but she did want to learn as much as she could about Jesse and his family. She reluctantly agreed. “Okay, but just because I tell you about my powers doesn’t mean that I will use them for you.”

  “Fair enough...You go first” Cole said and leaned back in his chair.

  “Fine. To answer your earlier question, no I’m not a witch. I was born this way. My powers are connected to my emotions. When I get angry or I recently learned, excited, I feel a tug in my head. I don’t really know how to describe it. It feels like electricity surges through me and I can move things with my mind. All I have to do is concentrate on what I want to move and it moves. At least that’s how it is most of the time” Lacey said and bit down on her bottom lip as memories of all the times that she’s lost control of herself passed through her mind.

  Cole noticed the slight change i
n her posture as she avoided looking at him. She looked as if she was ashamed of something. “And at other times, how is it then?” he asked with curiosity.

  Lacey lifted her head to look at him. Cole could see guilt written all over her face and it touched a nerve with him. He wanted to know what she felt so guilty about. “Lacey?” he prompted her to respond.

  “What!” She yelled defensively and got out of the bed and started pacing around the room. “What do you want to know? Do you want to know my weakness? Fine. I can’t always control my powers. I’ve never been able to fully control them. And sometimes people get hurt around me. People that I care about, people that I love.” Her voice broke when she thought about her mom and dad. She quickly looked away from Cole before he had a chance to see the tear that was threatening to slip from her eye.

  The pain in Lacey’s voice ripped at Cole’s heart. He got up from his chair and started toward her. She turned around and leveled a death stare at him. “Don’t come near me. I don’t need your sympathy. I answered your question, now you answer mine. Why do you hate Jesse so much?”

  Cole stopped a few feet in front of Lacey and studied her face. She was trying to hide her feelings from him but he could see through her brave façade. There was a lot more going on with her than he knew. He stared at her a moment longer before returning to his chair. “We’re brothers... isn’t that reason enough to hate him.”

  Lacey narrowed her eyes at him. “No it’s not.” She made her way back to the bed and sat down with her arms crossed over her chest. She looked down at the chain locked around her ankle and gritted her teeth. “Just tell me what he did. Did he steal your girlfriend? Did he break your favorite toy when you were kids? Was he your parents favorite? Did he get all the attention and now you’re pissed at him for it? You need to grow the hell up and let it go.” Lacey knew that she was pushing Cole, but at the moment she didn’t care. He had her chained to the floor like a dog and her own temper was starting to rise.

  Cole growled a warning at her. She flinched before straightening her back, composing herself and glaring back at him defiantly. “What? Did I guess right? Are you just an overgrown brat with a grudge for something that happened when you were a child?”