by Mac Flynn
“But there’s a whole bunch of neat caves in there!” she protested. “They go all the way back forever and ever, and you’ll never guess what I found in one of the caves!” She grasped my hand and tugged me toward a wide opening that led into a dark, spooky-looking cavern. “Come on, I’ll show you!”
I dug my heels into the ground and stopped her strong pull. She had a long of strength in that little werewolf frame. “Forever and ever is a long time. I don’t know about you, but I’d get hungry before I finished exploring all those caves, and wouldn’t you miss your mom and dad?” I reminded her.
“But I really did find something neat in there,” she persisted.
“And we really should be getting back,” I insisted.
Abby’s face drooped and she sighed. “I guess, but can we come back here tomorrow and I can show you what I found?” she pleaded with me.
“Sure.” If I lived to see tomorrow because if Luke found out I was gone I’d be dead meat.
“Yay!” Abby yipped.
“Come on, let’s head back to the trail.” I securely took her hand and led her away from the rock fun house and back on the trail. I decided we needed to turn around, especially when I glanced down the trail and couldn’t even see the villa. I worried we’d wandered out of the boundaries of the werewolf territory, if there was an end to their territory. “Uh, Abby, I think we need to go back before I get in trouble.” Luke’s meeting had been going on for nearly four hours.
“It shouldn’t take too long to get back if we transform,” Abby casually replied.
“Um, transform?” I squeaked.
“Yeah, you know, turn into a wolf.”
“Um, there’s a bit of a problem with that. I don’t know how to transform.”
She tilted her head and blinked at me. “You don’t? I thought everyone knew how to change.”
“I’m kind of new to this whole werewolf thing and haven’t really figured that part out. Or any part, really.”
“Oh. Then I guess we’d better get back before Mama and Papa worry about me.”
I frowned. “Worry? Don’t they know you were going to take me for a walk?”
She sheepishly smiled and shook her head. “I kind of snuck out.”
I sighed and took her hand to lead her back. “Well, I guess that makes two of us. Come on, before they send out a search party for us.”
18
We’d gone about a mile when Abby stopped and lifted her nose in the air.
“There’s someone coming,” she told me. I didn’t need a super sniffer to be told that because I heard the pounding of paws on the path ahead of us. A few seconds later I spotted a werewolf racing along the trail straight toward us. I picked Abby up intending to run away, but she only laughed at my fright. “It’s Luke!” she told me.
The werewolf skidded to a stop in front of us and those familiar orange eyes glared at me. If it was Luke, he wasn’t happy. I sheepishly grinned at him. “Um, hi.” The wolf growled and moved around behind us. He gave me a hard nudge in the butt and I stumbled down the path. I set Abby down, swung around, and crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you mind? I’m not an animal you can herd around.” He bared his fangs and snarled, and I cringed and held up my hands. “Moo?”
Luke flipped me around with his snout and marched us back to the villa in time for the setting sun to shine its last rays behind the western mountain peaks. Abby’s parents and Stacy met us at the edge of the villa park, and they were as happy as Luke. The worried parents raced up, and knelt down and hugged their child, then got down to the punishment part of the reunion. “Abigail Stewart, you are grounded for the rest of the trip!” Mrs. Stewart scolded her.
“But Mama!” Abby whined.
“No buts, young lady! Thank goodness Lord Laughton found your scent and his friend here found us with the news.” She gestured to Stacy, who smiled and bowed her head.
“I’m just glad this adventure has a happy ending,” Stacy replied.
Mr. Stewart turned to the werewolf. “We can’t thank you enough for your help for helping us with our daughter a second time, Lord Laughton.” The wolf shook its head, but Mr. Stewart persisted. “If you ever need our help we will always be at your service.”
Mrs. Stewart straightened and tugged on Abby’s hand. “Come on, Abby. You’re going to your room without supper.” The happy but angry parents strode off with Abby, and that meant my turn for punishment. I nervously glanced at the wolf.
“So, um, how did the meeting go?” I asked him. The werewolf growled and nodded toward the villa. I sighed and a trudged to my room with the werewolf chaperon close behind.
The halls were crowded with other werewolves who pointed and laughed at my predicament. I knew he meant to publicly humiliate me in front of the others, and it worked. It also made me mad. By the time we reached our room I was furious and stomped inside. Luke followed and shut the door behind us. I spun on my heels and faced my oppressor.
Luke lost the fur and revealed his naked self. He also revealed a scowl while he wrapped himself in a bathrobe. “What do you think you were doing out there?”
“Taking a walk. People do that with a lot of trails around,” I replied.
“This isn’t a joking matter, Becky. Our enemies won’t hesitate to catch you alone and kill you,” he insisted.
“So now I’m finally Becky and not a slave?” I wondered.
Luke walked up to me and softly grasped my upper arms. His eyes caught mine in an intense gaze. I blushed and turned away, unable to meet his serious look. “You were never a slave, and I apologize for treating you so horribly then, but I couldn’t let you leave. My Beast wouldn’t allow it, and truth be told I kind of liked your lively company. Alistair is a good manservant, but his companionship is rather stodgy.”
I glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow. “Just appreciated my company?” I scolded.
He looked down at my body and wagged his eyebrows. “Among other things,” he added.
“I guess I’ll accept that, but I still haven’t forgiven you for kidnapping me and I expect you to let me go back home and tell everyone I’m fine,” I insisted.
“I can live with that, and I promise I’ll let you see your friends again,” he promised.
“Good. Now what?” I asked him.
“After that little adventure there’ll be very little what and where for you,” he replied. “You’re going to stay by my side at all times.”
I cringed. “Even during the meetings?”
“Even during the meetings,” he repeated.
“That’s cruel and unusual punishment.”
“Then it’s very suitable for the scare you gave me.”
“Can’t I suffer through the dining hall food and stay inside the villa?” I pleaded with him.
Luke shook his head. “Not until you prove I can trust you to stay where it’s safe.”
I folded my arms across my chest and leaned on one hip. “Stay where it’s safe, huh? I’ll have you know I already ran into Lance on the deck.”
Luke stiffened and scowled. “What did he say to you?”
I shrugged. “Just asked me how I was related to you and I asked him how come he wasn’t at the meeting. He said he got a representative to go for him.”
“Yes, our old friend from the inn,” Luke told me. “I imagine he sent that man to mock my efforts to have him arrested in Wolverton. Did Lance say anything that caught your attention?”
I scrunched up my face and recalled one strange item from our conversation. “He did say something that I’d like to know about. What’s this about something being different about my smell?” I asked him.
Luke nodded. “Your scent’s changed to be closer to mine and alert others that you belong to me. Why?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him my best suspicious look. “Because that Lance guy sniffed me and said something about a betrothal. Care to tell me what that’s all about?”
Luke coughed to hide his guilty expressio
n. “I meant to inform you sooner, but our adventures have kept me from proposing.”
“Proposing what?”
“To you.”
I blinked. “Come again?”
He got down on one knee in front of me and took one of my hands in his own. “As my mate you are considered my wife in werewolf society, so I’d like to be considered the same in human society.”
“Did you just-did you just ask me to marry you?” I asked him. He nodded, and my face shifted between flattered and uncertain. “Is this something I have to decide right now? I mean, a lot’s happened to me lately and I don’t think I can think clearly right now.”
Luke sighed and stood with a small, sad puppy-dog smile on his lips. “I suppose I should have expected that. After all, you haven’t forgiven me for tearing you from your old life into this strange one.”
“And speaking of that, how far did you tear me from my life?” I gestured around at the rough walls and rafters. “I’ve seen a lot of old-fashioned towns along this trip and no sign of a freeway or Starbucks.” And here I thought there was one every square mile on earth.
“I took you across several hundred miles and a state-line to reach my home,” he admitted.
My face twisted into disbelief. “How in the world did you even find me that far from where you live? Why in the world did you go looking that far when you had Stacy right here begging you to have her pups?”
“Our noses are very powerful and very selective, especially when it comes to choosing a mate. I merely followed mine to your city and rummaged through the scents until I found yours.”
My face drooped. “So you stalked me that far?”
“Yes, but don’t you think you’re worth it?” he teased.
“I’m worth at least a thousand stalking miles,” I replied.
He pulled me gently against him and wrapped his arms around me. I blushed at the heat of his body against mine, especially when the heat pooled between my legs. “You’re worth much more than that to me.” Then he let go and stepped away. The sudden loss of his hard chest caught me off balance and I fell face-forward onto the rock floor. “And that’s why you’re staying by my side all day tomorrow,” he added.
I growled and whipped my head up to glare at him. He somehow survived my evil eye. “You sure you shouldn’t be checked out for a split-personality disorder?” I wondered.
“Every werewolf has a split personality disorder with their Beast,” he pointed out.
“I think you’ve got an extra one in that head of yours.”
“My head is quite sound.”
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
“You had ample opportunity to examine my head last night.”
“Not through all that fur and furious sex,” I countered.
“Care for another examination?”
“Am I still stuck to your side like a Siamese twin tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
The argument could have gone on the rest of the day, but there was a knock on the door. “Who is it?” Luke called out.
“It’s me, sir,” Alistair’s voice drifted through the closed entrance. I’d forgotten about the manservant, and realized then that he hadn’t been part of the search party.
“Enter,” Luke replied. Alistair stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “What have you found out?” Luke asked him.
Alistair grimly shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s not good, sir. Lance and Simpling have convinced Farber to join their cause and Mullen is leaning toward them.” I raised an eyebrow. Apparently Alistair had been playing Secret Agent Man around the villa.
Luke frowned and paced the room. “Damn it,” he softly swore. “I hoped to at least have Mullen on our side. What about the others?”
“Baker refuses to join sides, and Stevens doesn’t believe there are sides to join,” Alistair finished.
Luke ground his teeth together. “That old fool is willfully blinded to what’s going on.”
“He hopes the differences can be settled amicably,” Alistair added.
Luke paused in his pacing, sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “That’s understandable. I was the same only a month ago. How’s the turnout for the vote?”
“A majority of Alpha members are present, but there are several trains coming from the Lone regions,” the manservant replied.
“At the very least we have some time on our hands before the vote at the end of the week. Any idea who’s going to put their names in for the High Lord position?”
“All of the lords are expected to put their names in, and the favorite is currently Lance.”
“Um, boys?” I spoke up. The two men glanced over to me. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Politics,” Luke told me.
I rolled my eyes. “I got that, but what’s this about putting names in and turnout?”
“I’ll explain in a second,” Luke promised. He looked to Alistair. “Anything else to report?”
“Nothing yet, sir, but I will keep my eyes and ears open,” Alistair swore.
“Good. Especially watch the accountant assassin. They may try something during the voting,” Luke advised.
“Very well, sir.” Alistair left on his new assignment, and Luke turned his full attention on me.
He gestured to the bed. “This may take a while.”
19
My face fell and I plopped myself down on the bed while Luke stood in front of me. “I believe I told you before that this meeting’s to decide the High Lord of the werewolves.”
“Yeah.”
“The decision is based off of a vote by all werewolves present here,” he continued. “On the second to last day the lords offer their names for nomination, and the last full day is the voting where we elect our new leader.”
“How does that work? Wouldn’t everybody from the regions vote for their own leader and make it a tie?” I pointed out.
“They often do, but sometimes the leaders don’t satisfy their people, or another candidate is better favored to unite all the regions,” he explained to me. “There’s also not an equal population in the regions. The boundaries were set based on the geography.”
I furrowed my brow. “So let me get this whole voting thing straight, starting with the lord people. You guys are elected to leader of a region, and anybody can be the leader but it’s usually from an important family, right?”
“That’s right. Baker himself is a commoner by birth.”
“And that vote happens how often?”
“Every three years.”
“And then every so often this meeting takes place-”
“Once every five years,” he told me.
“-and people come from all of the regions to vote on a new High Llama.”
“High Lord,” he corrected me.
“And the High Lordiness can only be one of the six-”
“Seven.”
“-lords who run the regions, right?”
“Yes.”
“So with Lance and Simpling kind of running things they’re going to make sure the vote goes their way?” I guessed.
“Unfortunately, yes, especially with Farber on their side and Mullen leaning in favor of them,” Luke added.
“Who’s Mullen?”
“Another lord of the region that specializes in research and development,” he told me.
“So how important is this High Lord position?”
“The High Lord has a large purse from taxes collected from not only his region, but all the others. That’s used to manage the basic administration duties such as region dispute mediators and such, but he can also decide where the money is funneled.”
“So it’s a racket?”
“If the High Lord is dishonest then it can be,” he admitted.
“This ever happen before?”
“A few times in our past, but never has the effort been so organized and the danger so high for all of us,” he told me. He sighed and ra
n a hand through his hair. “I hate to admit it, but Lance has a point about the humans. They’re encroaching on our lands and eventually there might come a point where we’ll have to decide to leave our lands or reveal ourselves.”
I groaned and fell back on the bed. “Just my luck to be stuck in this much trouble,” I grumbled.
Luke sat down beside me and there was a sad smile on his face. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“Did you want change for that ten cents?” I quipped.
He chuckled. “Is my apology worth that little?”
“Yep.”
He reached up with one of his hands and traced his fingers along the inside of my lower thigh. “I could apologize in other ways,” he suggested.
My body said yes with a flare of heat, but I wasn’t willing to give in, at least not immediately. I shifted higher on the bed away from his teasing hand. “Aren’t we supposed to be worrying about political intrigue and assassination attempts?” I reminded him.
Luke grinned and crawled onto the bed. Seeing him on all fours raised my body temperature another ten degrees and I was having trouble breathing. There was a clawing inside of me like an animal trying to get out and let him take me right then and there. I squashed it down, but only for the moment. “We’re safe so long as we stay in here,” he assured me.
“B-but I still haven’t forgiven you for kidnapping me,” I insisted.
He climbed over me and set his hands on either side of my arms. I lay down, and he leaned down and brushed his nose against mine. “Then let me make it up to you in whatever way I can,” he slyly replied.
“I-I think it’s a little early for bed, don’t you?” The sun had set, but in the mountains that happened early. It was barely past five. Apparently he didn’t think it was too early because he nipped at my neck. I softly gasped and he chuckled.
“It’s been a long day without play. Why not have a little fun?” he wondered.
I pressed my hands against his firm chest and felt the muscles slowly expand and transform. The Beast inside him was taking control, and that excited me. “W-we have to get control of ourselves. Someone might hear us,” I pointed out.
