APOLLO RISING (The Apollo Saga, Book 1)

by Sage Arroway

“Boys,” she huffed, walking quickly to the generator shed. “They only wanna get naked on their terms.”

  Chapter 11

  When she returned a few moments later, he was standing in front of the bed, holding a bathroom towel around himself. The bruising was almost all gone now, and she found herself looking at his body a fraction of a second longer than she was comfortable. The warmth rose to her own face now.

  Embarrassed, she mumbled under her breath, “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” he told her, a level of comfort in his voice. “Most women find me attractive.”

  Allie shot him a look, yielding his continued efforts to flirt. She set the things she had collected on the floor by his feet – a rope she used to swing from, a chain for towing trucks out of the mud, and a canvas bag of climbing equipment.

  Draping the rope up and over the rafters took a couple tries, but with the help of a chair she eventually got it looped over so that both ends hung down low enough to be useful. “We’ll tie off your wrists with these,” she explained, gesturing for him to come over and stand in position.

  He did as she instructed, and she secured his wrists snugly, checking with him to be sure they weren’t too tight. He flinched as she touched the metal chain against his bare skin, causing Allie to stop and look up at him. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded, quickly, beads of sweat forming on his brow. “It’s just cold,” he smiled weakly.

  She managed to get the chain fastened around his waist, winding it down around his feet and securing it to the legs of the bed. She hoped it would hold.

  She could see the strain and concern on his face too; he was worried – he was afraid, she realized. Allie safeguarded her efforts, locking the chains around his waist with one of the D-rings from the climbing equipment. She used the rest of the straps from the bag of climbing gear to hold his legs apart, and finally reached up to tie the rope close above his wrists, to keep him from having leverage to move his arms around. Doing so brought her body close up to his. His breath was warm against her neck and did terrible things to her concentration.

  “Too close for comfort,” he joked.

  She ignored him, annoyed that he seemed to have a desire to always point out the obvious, and finally stood back to appraise her work. He was mostly immobile, held taut against the wall.

  “Anything else?” she asked, tugging hard on his restraints. “Does that feel tight enough?”

  He pulled as hard as he could against each of the bonds, finally nodding to her. “No, they’re really tight, actually.” Tyler dared his persistent flirtatious tone, adding, “You’re really good at this.”

  She arched an eyebrow at him, finally addressing his remarks, “Really? Jokes, at a time like this?”

  “You’re just…taking this awfully well,” he stuttered.

  Allie moved the chair back over beside the bed and sat down, flexing her fingers. “Well, I see it two ways, Tyler. Either you’re a werewolf, or you’re crazy. Either way, I should probably tie a man up when he begs me to do it.”

  He laughed softly. “No, you’re right. I don’t blame you, I’d do the same thing if I was in your position.”

  “I’m surprised you never have been,” she taunted. “None of your groupies ever asked?”

  Tyler sighed. “I’m sorry about that, it was a stupid thing to say.”

  “Yeah, it was,” she replied. She followed his gaze out the window. It had been growing steadily dark, but now a soft blue light was cutting through the trees, casting the room in an increasingly deep shadow. Her eyes shifted back to him.

  Frightened, he affirmed, “It’s time.”

  His breathing accelerated, and his head drooped to his chest. Sweat made its way down his skin now, and his hair was plastered against his head from the moisture.

  Allie rose to her feet, and walked slowly towards him, cautious of every step. She could tell he was in a great amount of pain, his muscles shivered as if trying to hold back a great weight. She reached up and raised his chin, lifting his face so she could look at him.

  His eyes fluttered open, and his lips parted, but his throat seemed too clenched to speak.

  She shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “Don’t be afraid.”

  A moment of peace was all his face expressed, followed instantly by the ravages of the change.

  His muscles began to convulse of their own accord, and his jaw dropped open in a blood-curdling scream, a mixture of agony and rage.

  Allie stepped back.

  The bones of his largest joints – his shoulders, elbows, hips, knees – popped and creaked as the tendons pulled in shockingly inhuman ways. They twisted and deformed, while his skin darkened, the hair on his skin thickening and growing even while she watched, unblinking.

  His face, too, transformed, the audible cracking of the bones beneath his skin wrenching her heart and nearly causing her to reach out to comfort him. But when his eyes opened again, the orbs that looked back at her had lost their kindness, their humanity. What stared back at her was a creature of power and unearthly appetite.

  When his mouth extended, two rows of elongated teeth now protruded from his gums. He inhaled, a ragged, gurgling mess of air and saliva, and his breath burst back out in a ferocious scream that twisted into a long and painful howl.

  Allie watched the entire transformation, saw the man vanish into the skin of the creature, and did so without visible reaction. It was a thing that happened, she told herself, it was true, and this man she had rescued from the snow was in fact a werewolf.

  It licked its teeth and howled again.

  She looked towards the rope and chains – the knots held. The werewolf tugged with all its strength, but they did not yield. It howled a third time, a hint of surrender in the sound.

  Allie poised in awe—rather than fear—and a shrewd thought occurred to her.

  “Stay,” she said, pointing her finger as she slowly moved backward through the doorway, then turned and ran to the kitchen. She swiped up the two rabbits from the sink and hurried back to the bedroom, hoping she would find the creature just the way she left it.

  Thankfully, the werewolf still struggled against its bonds, still snarled as she returned to stand before it. It was larger now, nearly two feet taller than Tyler when he was human. His eyes followed her as she came into the room, and she held up the rabbits, drawing its full attention.

  “Please, she begged, “don’t hurt me. I’m just trying to help.”

  Though confidant in the security of his restraints, she walked towards him cautiously. He leaned as far forward as he could, sniffing excitedly at the air.

  “Down,” she scolded, hiding the rabbits behind her back. A deep breath later, she shifted her weight and stood assertively. “Look, Tyler, if you’re in there, I need you to listen.” Allie settled into a more nurturing tone, searched his eyes for a tinge of human-ness and whispered, “It’s going to be okay.”

  She held out one of the rabbits and immediately its ferocious mouth nipped at her, tripping her back a few steps. Determined, she regained her posture and tried again, but not without reprimand.

  “No!” her voice cracked. “Just eat,” she insisted, “the rabbit. Not me.”

  This time, she waited for its eagerness to subside before she placed the animal delicately into his waiting mouth. He snapped it up, just after he paused long enough for her to pull her hand clear. In a few quick crunches of his powerful jaws, the rabbit was gone, and his mouth opened again.

  Allie placed the second rabbit inside. This time, he chewed more slowly.

  “Good boy,” she praised, and impulsively reached out a hand and placed it over his chest. Surprisingly, he let her and inside she found his heart beat furiously. Powerfully.

  Allie smiled at the rhythm under her fingertips. For even through the thick muscle, bone and fur that covered him, it was the familiar sound of a human heart that raced within him.

  In spite of it all, she reasoned, he was still a man and she
now felt compelled to help him with this condition he had revealed to her. Something told her, that despite his arrogance, Tyler was helplessly flawed, and if not in danger of those who shot him, most markedly, he was a potential threat to her safety, as well as his own.

  “We’ll get through this,” she pledged, unsure of how, but decidedly resolute. “I promise.”

  Chapter 12

  Tyler opened his eyes, slowly.

  It was near dawn, just before or after, and the light that filled the room was bright but not blinding. He was still standing up, and Allie sat across the room from him, her chair pushed back to the bed. Her face was turned towards him, eyes open, with the shotgun resting across her legs. She didn’t look angry, or afraid. She looked…patient.

  He cleared his throat – it felt dry. “So…” his voice lingered, “have you been sitting there all night?”

  She pointed her thumb out toward the window where the sun was rising. “All night.”

  “And did I…?”

  She nodded.

  He pulled on the ropes; they were still tight, but he could see that they had been pulled on hard during the night. “And..I’m still tied up,” he observed.

  Allie nodded once more, a hint of a smile appearing upon her lips.

  “I’m glad you find this funny.” It was then that he felt a cool breeze against his bare skin; a bleak reminder of his state of nakedness. “Well, this is awkward,” he said, glancing around the room and letting his gaze rest at last back upon Allie.

  Her expression was unreadable.

  “Can you untie me?”

  Allie tapped her thumbs against the barrel, glanced out the window and back as if contemplating, but answered matter-of-factly, “Not yet.”

  “Oh, okay. Well…do you happen to know when?” he asked, fumbling to cover any part of his body with other parts of himself; to no avail, “because I’m feeling a little vulnerable over here.”

  Allie laughed aloud.

  “At least one of us is enjoying this,” he half-smiled at her, twisting his hips to shield his most private of areas from her direct line of sight. “No, but seriously,” he pleaded, “this is kind of embarrassing. Can you please untie me?”

  She didn’t return the smile. Her body language was hard to read and talking to her was proving to be a challenge. It didn’t help that he felt so exposed, physically and otherwise. He tugged at the wrist restraints one last time, hoping to see mercy in her otherwise blank expression. “Please?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I can’t un-see what I saw last night, Tyler. I think you have some explaining to do.”

  “No problem,” he responded, all too eagerly. “If you help me down, I can get dressed and we can sit and have some coffee or tea, or even some of that soup you like, and have a civilized conversation about it.” His eyes moved to her lap, “Without the shotgun. That thing is making me nervous.”

  Allie giggled under her breath, “Civilized? That’s funny coming from you, Tyler.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  She seemed to like being in control. “I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to figure you out.”

  Tyler sighed. He could only imagine what might be going through her head about him. The way she was holding the shotgun suggested that she didn’t quite trust him, but it didn’t seem like she was completely terrified of him, either. A deep groan fell from his mouth and he finally gave up the fight, “Fine. Ask me anything.”

  Her head raised slightly. She looked as if she hadn’t slept all night, and he was sure she had a lot of things she wanted to ask him. Her first question wasn’t one he was expecting and she asked it almost too casually: “How long have you been a werewolf?”

  He flexed his fingers; they were a bit cold. “Since I was seventeen,” he admitted, a weight immediately lifting as the words came out. It was the first time he had disclosed any details of his condition.

  She seemed genuinely interested. “Go on.”

  “Seriously? You really want to hear this?”

  Allie’s all-too-familiar nod got him talking again.

  “Okay. I was dating this girl,” he began, clearing his throat again and taking a long, deep breath—it wasn’t going to be easy to tell her, “we were with some friends at a campground in Northern California, you know, drinking…sitting around the campfire. I got up to take a piss. I was only gone for a minute, maybe two, but on my way back I could tell that something wasn’t right. You know, like a gut feeling. I couldn’t hear anyone talking anymore.”

  Allie leaned in, a curious look on her face.

  “But then I did hear something, something strange – growling…eating. I ran to check it out, but by the time I got there, it was too late.” He swallowed hard. He hadn’t told this to anyone before, and the memories were hard to relive.

  “Too late for what?”

  Tyler paused, the details were painful. “It killed them all, so fast. There was so much blood, I couldn’t even tell who was who – I don’t think I even looked. I just stood there, I couldn’t run,” his voice dropped to a little more than a whisper. “And then it saw me.”

  “Omigod. And then what happened?” She was sitting on the edge of her seat.

  “I don’t know. I think I scared it, or something. I thought I was next. I really thought I was a goner.” Tyler could feel the fear crawling just beneath his skin, the way it had the night of his attack. He tried to shrug it off, but the memories were so powerful. “And then it came at me.”

  “And that’s when you were attacked?” Allie seemed to be pressing him to get to the point.

  He didn’t want to say much more. He would rather spare her the not-so-glorious details of his encounter, but after a long moment, he continued, reluctant to say it aloud. “No,” he sighed, feeling disappointed that his story probably wasn’t going to be glamorous enough to impress her. “I was never attacked. It pushed me out of the way and ran back into the woods.”

  “What?!” Shock was evident in Allie’s eyes. He could see the wheels inside her brain turning. “Then how’d you--?”

  Tyler cut her short, deciding to save her the strain of trying to get from point A to point B.

  “I got scratched, okay. I know it’s not the bravest story, but it’s the truth. I’m no hero. When it pushed me, its claw dug right into my thigh.” His eyes motioned toward the unnatural mark on his right leg. “Right there, you can still see the scar.”

  There was a brief moment of silence before Allie burst into laughter, doubling over the shotgun.

  “What?!” Tyler questioned, feeling even more ridiculous than he already did. “It’s true. You wanted to know—”

  She held up her hand to stop his words and catch her breath, “Stop. Stop, stop, I can’t—”

  “Great,” he rolled his eyes, “just great.” This is why he had never told anyone. Frustration began to build in his veins, but the blood rushed to his cheeks instead. He couldn’t possibly feel more vulnerable.

  It took Allie a few more seconds to make eye contact again. Biting her lips, she strained to set her mouth in a hard line “I’m sorry,” she chuckled under her breath, fanning her flushed cheeks. “Okay. Whew! So…it pushed you—” she seemed to be having a hard time keeping it together, “and then what?”

  “Nevermind.” If Tyler’s arms were free, he would’ve crossed them.

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized, trying to hide her grin. “It’s just—”

  “Not believable, I know,” he interjected. “That’s why I’ve never told anyone since then.”

  Allie’s eyes softened, she seemed endeared by his admission. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’m listening now, go on.”

  “There’s not much more to tell,” he reminisced. “Everyone pretty much reacted the same as you just did. No one believed me. The police decided it was a bear, but I know what I saw.”

  “So when did you know for sure?”

  Tyler swallowed hard, memories of his first painful change flooding his
mind. “About a month later.”

  Her voice took on a slightly more serious tone, “You changed? Like last night?”

  He nodded.

  “And you never saw the thing that attacked you again?”

  Tyler shook his head, and wondered quietly if he would ever meet his maker again.

  Chapter 13

  Allie’s face softened completely. “I believe you,” she said with a look of authentic compassion, her eyes resting on his longer than ever before. “So tell me, what does it feel like?”

  Tyler frowned. He couldn’t tell yet if she was interested in him, or his story, and as the first person to ever dig into his past, she was digging a little too fast. “Why are you asking me so many questions?”

  “I’m just curious.” Her eyes narrowed another time, “Are you gonna tell me?”

  He wanted to trust her, but instead he tested her, “Are you gonna untie me if I do?”

  She smiled—at least she wasn’t laughing at him anymore, “Maybe.”

  “Well,” he started, realizing that his only chance of release was to open up, “I don’t really have any control when the wolf takes over. I’m still me, you know, but more like a car, and when the change happens, the wolf’s driving.”

  She leaned forward in her chair; her brow was furrowed. “Does it hurt?”

  “At first, yeah. Especially when I fight it.” Surprised at how easily he’d said that, he carried on, “There’s never been a welcomed change, that’s for sure.”

  Allie nodded in agreement, “Makes sense.”

  “But after that, I’m just idle and it does what it wants and then I come back. It’s not really complex, it just wants to do what wolves do.”

  By this time she was sitting on the edge of her seat. “And what do wolves want to do, exactly?”

  “They’re animals. They like to kill, they need eat, they want to…” he paused, feeling a powerful wave of awkwardness come over him.

  “They want what?” she pressed.

  This is why I don’t like talking about this, he thought. “I’d rather not say.”