by L. A. Boruff
She spotted some guys from school sitting on wooden logs near the fire. They were passing around a bottle of something. Everyone had made the effort to dress up as something—Scream masks, a skeleton costume, even an Egyptian Pharaoh. But nothing was quite like the wolf heads of the half-naked men.
“I don’t like it. Those men look like they’re wearing real wolves’ heads.”
Both my friends looked to me like I was crazy.
Ava widened her eyes in disbelief. “Seriously, Tegan. They’re not that real.”
I forced myself to look again, and something jolted inside me, like a small piece of my universe had been realigned. Yes, the men were half naked, cavorting around the fire, but the wolf heads I’d believed I’d seen were now no more than cheap, fake werewolf masks that you could buy in any dollar store at this time of year.
My mind blurred. “I… I thought I saw something else.”
Ava laughed. “And we haven’t even had a drink yet.”
I didn’t think I’d be drinking that night. Something told me I should be keeping my wits about me. Saffy was already heading over to the group of guys she’d spotted. She had full flirt mode on, swinging her hips as she walked, her blonde ponytail bouncing. I hunched my shoulders, wishing I was somewhere else, and followed. It wasn’t as though I could even just leave. There was zero chance of me walking back through the forest, alone, at night. On Halloween.
I was able to put names to the guys Saffy was now talking to; Ryan, Chris, and Ollie. They were nice enough, but I’d never really been able to relate to any of the college boys. They seemed like overgrown kids and their interests in football and basketball did nothing for me. One of the guys handed Saffy the bottle they’d been drinking from and she took a swig before passing it on to Ava, who did the same. Ava handed it to me, but I only pretended to drink from the lip before passing back the bottle. It was easier to pretend than be ribbed all night for refusing.
Their easy banter quickly lost my attention, and my gaze was drawn back to the inhabitants of this little community. There were several women and children around, all smiling and looking like they were having fun. The kids toasted marshmallows over smaller bonfires, and the women, who I assumed to be their mothers, helped them to make smores from the gooey mallow. Were any of these women the wives or girlfriends of the half-naked men with the wolf masks?
They all appeared relaxed and as though they were having fun, so I pushed my initial fears aside. My eyes had obviously played tricks on me. It wouldn’t have been the first time either.
Things had always been a little on the strange side for me. Sometimes, if I thought about something too hard it would happen, and my dreams had an annoying habit of coming true. I could be sitting at my desk, staring down at a pencil, and the damned thing would start to move, spinning around and around until I slammed my hand down on top to stop it. Thinking men were wearing wolf heads was only a sliver of weirdness in my everyday life.
My parents had both died in a car accident when I was younger, and so I’d been raised by my maternal grandmother. She’d always been aware of the odd things that happened around me, but she reassured me that everything would be okay. I just had to make sure I didn’t give the weirdness any more of my power—which largely meant me trying to ignore it—and to make sure no one else noticed.
One of the men around the fire took off the wolf mask. My heart stuttered as he caught me watching and he locked me in his gaze. Even in the firelight, I could see his short, thick hair was dark red. His eyes were a deep amber, like nothing I’d ever seen before. Freckles covered his nose and cheeks, and they would have looked cute if the rest of him wasn’t so damned intimidating. More freckles dusted over a set of broad shoulders, and my gaze drifted down to a smooth chest and washboard abs.
As we stared at each other, the man with the tattoos also pulled off his mask, revealing short black hair and blue eyes. He hooked his arm around the redhead’s neck as though getting him to wrestle. The action diverted the man’s attention from me and it gave me a moment to gather my thoughts. The redhead had been one of the Hesling brothers, I was sure of it, and the dark-haired man who’d wrestled the redhead was another.
They’d vanished around the other side of the bonfire. My curiosity was piqued. I’d sensed a jolt of something when I’d locked eyes with the redhead, but I didn’t know what.
Several other small groups of people from college had gathered around the clearing. I recognized a few of them. Ava and Saffy were both deep in conversation with Ryan and Chris, and while I noticed Ollie giving me awkward glances, as though he thought we should be automatically hooking up because our friends were, thankfully he didn’t have the courage to do anything about it.
Pretending I was going to chat with some of the others, I got to my feet, dusted splinters of wood off my butt, and then stalked to the outskirts of the clearing. I didn’t want to make it obvious that I was trying to check out the Hesling brothers.
I was acting out of character, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Something about the man with the amber eyes drew me to him and I wanted more. I wasn’t normally the girl who got herself into danger.
Lowered voices came from behind a tree, distinctly male. I just caught the end of what they were saying.
“…recognize it anywhere.” One male voice.
Then a second. “But one wouldn’t just walk right into our home.”
“No? That looks exactly what’s happened to me.”
“Do you think she knows, and that’s why she’s come here?”
I stiffened. Know what? And was the ‘she’ they were talking about me? Or was I being completely paranoid. After all, there were a ton of other girls and women around. I might be eighteen, but I wasn’t like some teenagers who thought the entire world revolved around them.
But something about this conversation set my nerve endings on fire, and not in a good way. An internal alarm sounded inside me, ringing out danger, danger! I needed to get back to my friends, and then I somehow needed to persuade them to leave. I had my work cut out for me as they were clearly having a good time. Perhaps I could lie and tell them I’d been sick. They’d assume it was from the alcohol, even though I hadn’t actually drunk anything. I hoped my acting skills were up to the performance.
Without catching the final words of the conversation, I turned to head back the way I’d come. My attention was still diverted to the two men, so I didn’t notice the third man until I collided directly with his bare chest.
“Oh!” My nose pressed against smooth skin, and two hands caught either side of my shoulders. He smelled of the bonfire and something musky, and his scent was intensified by him being naked from the waist up. It was the end of October. Why the hell didn’t the men around here wear more clothing?
“I’m sorry.” My cheeks heated, knowing I’d been caught snooping.
I lifted my gaze to a set of emerald green eyes that stared back down at me more with curiosity than anger. Curls of blond hair flopped over his forehead as he frowned at me.
“What are you doing here?”
I glanced around awkwardly. “Oh, uh, nothing. I came with my friends. It was all over school that there was a party out here tonight.”
He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “You made a mistake.”
“I’m sorry,” I squeaked again. “I’ll get my friends and go.”
“Your friends are fine,” a second voice growled from behind me. “You’re the one who needs to leave.”
I twisted in the blond man’s grip to see both the redhead and the dark-haired man had emerged from behind the trees and were now standing behind me. It was the redhead who’d spoken.
“What?” I didn’t understand. “Is it just because I listened to your conversation. I didn’t hear any of it, I swear. Or at least I didn’t hear much of it, and I have no idea what you were talking about.”
The man with dark hair—who was also the one with the tattoos—spoke up. “We don’t want you to leave because y
ou were spying. We want you to leave because of what you are.”
I blinked in surprise. “What I am?” What the hell was he talking about.
His blue eyes narrowed. “Yeah. We don’t allow witches on our territory.”
I glanced down at my dress. I’d completely forgotten about it being Halloween. These guys sure did take it seriously. “Err? Really? You’re making me leave because you don’t like my outfit?” Where three seconds ago I’d been scared, now I was pissed. “What are you, the clothes police?”
It was a crappy comeback, and even I knew it.
But the three men exchanged confused glances.
“Your outfit?” said the one with dark hair. “No, we’re—” Then something dawned on his handsome face. “Oh, your outfit.”
I lifted my eyebrows and altered my tone to make it sound as though I was talking to a five-year-old. “Because you understand that just because I’ve dressed up as something doesn’t mean that’s what I actually am.” I gestured to the mask dangling from his fingers. “I mean, it’s not as though you guys are actually wolves, is it?”
The men exchanged looks I couldn’t quite read.
I put both hands up in defense. “Look, if you want me to go, then I’ll go. I never meant to step on anyone else’s territory. I’ll just get my friends and I’ll leave.” I took a step to the side to get past the blond currently blocking my way, but he moved toward me and suddenly the redhead was on my right, also preventing me from leaving. Naked, glistening, muscular male torsos suddenly surrounded me, pressing me in from each side.
“She doesn’t know what she is,” the redhead said.
Flutters of panic stirred at my insides. This wasn’t a good situation to be in. We were far enough away from the party that it was unlikely someone was just going to stumble across whatever was happening here, and the combination of music, laughter and the roar of the fire meant even if I screamed it would be unlikely anyone would hear me. Their body heat washed over me, and I realized I wasn’t cold anymore, despite the time of year. Jeez, all three of these guys pumped out heat like they were saunas.
“I… I… don’t know what you’re talking about. Please, just let me go.” I tried to dart around them, but they pressed closer. Naked skin almost touching mine. They were so tall, too, each of them towering over me. I swallowed hard, my heart beat so fast I could hear it.
I recognized the dark-haired one as the man I’d seen riding a motorcycle in town. He had a tattoo of some kind on one of his biceps and another on his pectoral muscle, right above his heart.
“You’re the Hesling brothers, aren’t you?” I didn’t know why I was starting a conversation with them. Perhaps I thought that if I got them chatting, maybe so they could see I was a person and not just a piece of meat in a short skirt, then they’d let me go.
Redhead frowned at me. “Yeah, and you’re on our turf, witch.”
“I’m really not a—” I tried, but the glare he gave me made me clamp my lips together.
“Leave her be, Ace,” said the blond. “Maybe she doesn’t know.”
“Right, Jason,” he scoffed. “How many of her kind get to her age and not yet know.”
So, Jason was the blond.
“Know what?” I pleaded. “I really don’t know anything.”
“She might be able to help us,” tattooed guy said.
The redhead, Ace, cocked his eyebrows. “Help us? Since when have any of her kind helped ours, Draven?”
I tried again. “Please, my name is Tegan Wallace. I’m eighteen years old and I’m a college student in town. I have no idea what any of you are talking about. I didn’t even want to come tonight, but my friends talked me into it. I swear I won’t say anything about any of this to anyone if you just let me go now.”
Draven laughed. “It’s not that easy. Not now we know.”
I wanted to cry in fear and frustration. “Know what?”
“You’re a witch, Tegan Wallace. Has no one ever told you that before?”
Despite my fear, laughter burst from my lips. “A witch? Are you guys insane?”
Jason, the blond, looked at me with something like kindness in his eyes. “So, you never have things happen to you that you can’t explain.”
“Err… well, this current experience is ranking pretty highly on my strange radar.”
I wasn’t going to admit to him that strange things did happen around me. Sometimes, if I was freezing cold, something would burst into flames beside me. Or if I was thirsty, I’d walk into a room to find the faucet already running. So yeah, weird stuff did happen around me, but there was no way in hell I was telling any of these three about that.
He folded a pair of well-muscled forearms across his chest, making his biceps bulge. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Ace’s lips twisted. “Maybe she didn’t have anyone to train her?”
Draven narrowed his blue eyes. “I guess not. She’s clearly clueless.”
They were talking about me over the top of my head and I didn’t much appreciate it. “Hey, now. I don’t know what you think I am, but I promise you I’m not. Now please just step out of the way.” My phone was still in my purse which was slung across my shoulder. Could I use it to call my friends and get them to come looking for me? I didn’t want to get them in any trouble, but maybe they’d bring the guys from school with them. I was sure the minute I tried to get my phone out, these three would take it away from me, however. Perhaps I needed to bide my time and wait until they weren’t looking. Problem was, I had no idea when that would be, and how much trouble I would be by then.
“If no one’s taught her,” said Ace, “that makes her a clean slate.”
I glanced between their faces. “A clean slate for what?”
But Jason shook his head. “No, we can’t. It’s not right.”
Ace warmed to his topic. “We could train her. Imagine how powerful our pack would be if we made her ours.”
My pulse raced at his words, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. I wasn’t going to admit to any of them about the strange things that had happened around me my whole life, but I couldn’t help but feel they knew something. Besides, being surrounded by three, gorgeous, half-naked men had done something to my insides. I didn’t doubt for a second that they were most likely dangerous, but there was also something alluring about that danger.
Me, the girl who never took a step wrong, for fear of exposing myself as being someone different—though I didn’t yet know what that difference was—was actually considering not running from these guys.
“What are you talking about? What pack?”
The image of them dancing around the bonfire when I’d first arrived flashed into my head. What I’d seen was nothing like the wolf masks they now held, and I knew it. They hadn’t looked like costumes at all, but instead seemed to have wolf heads instead of their own. Even the point where their fur-covered necks had reached their bare shoulders had blended seamlessly with their own skin, and it hadn’t been a trick of the light or my bad eyesight either.
And now here they were talking about packs? There was only one kind of pack that sprang to mind, and it tied in perfectly with what I thought I’d seen.
No, I couldn’t actually be considering this, could I? I must be losing my damned mind.
I remembered what Saffy had said about them keeping women down in their basements to be shared between them, and my core tingled and tightened. My breath caught in my lungs. Obviously, that wasn’t what I wanted, and yet being surrounded by the three men had muddled my thoughts. I’d grown light-headed from their body heat and masculine scent.
“We’re not going to hurt you.” Draven’s blue eyes narrowed as he regarded me, as though he was still trying to figure me out.
Jason stepped in. “You can’t promise her that.”
Ace gave a strange kind of smile. “Well, it won’t hurt much.”
I looked between them, widening my eyes in a combination of fear and curiosity.
My instincts told me to run, but my head wanted to understand what was happening here. My body was reacting to them, too, my nipples tightening beneath the cheap polyester material of my Halloween dress.
“You need to come with us.” Ace grabbed my upper arm.
The motion snapped me out of my daze. “Help! Someone help me!” I pulled back on him, but the other two men closed in behind me. No one would hear my yells. The party was too loud.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Back to the cabin. Relax. We’re not going to hurt you.”
I pulled on his hold on my arm again. “No? Because it certainly feels like you’re hurting me.” He relaxed his grip on my arm but didn’t let go.
They bundled me between them, pressing me through the forest, increasing the distance between us and the party. Ava and Saffy would start to wonder where I was soon, wouldn’t they?
Not if they’ve had too much to drink and they’re caught up with the guys.
Seemed like I was caught up with guys of my own.
The thought made my insides squirm in a not unpleasant way. I had to be honest with myself—if these three were overweight, bearded men in their fifties, I’d have been screaming blue murder right now—but all the smooth skin and muscles had gone right to my head.
And they weren’t normal, either. Just like I’d carried that feeling around inside me my whole life. A part of me recognized that, and even though the sensible part wanted to shriek out that this was insane and they were talking nonsense, I also knew there was a chance they really did know something.
I stopped pulling back on Ace’s hold on me.
In front of us, through the trees, emerged a log cabin. It looked well maintained and light flooded through the windows onto the forest floor outside.
Ace kicked open the front door, and I found myself inside with three strange men. Quickly, I glanced around. It was clearly a man’s home, free from the female touches of vases of flowers, or scatter cushions, or framed family photographs on the walls. Which of the brothers did this cabin belong to? From the way Ace had led the way, I guessed it was his. Unless they all shared, of course.
