by D. M. Shane
Every single terrifying moment, it was all real. It hadn’t been a dream. The only family I knew was gone forever, and now it seemed I was a captive in some strange man’s home. I had no idea where I was. I could be anywhere. I didn’t even know if I was still in Montana.
Hugging the pictures and the sweater to my chest, I cried and cried until eventually, the tears stopped, and I had nothing more to give. My life was now at the mercy of a man with glowing cerulean eyes that had seared their way into my very soul. He had done nothing to hurt me. In fact, he had saved my life last night, but that still didn’t mean I could trust him. Even if my body wanted to.
Eventually, I pulled myself up off the floor and headed for the bathroom. I was thankful for the lock on the door. At least I’d have some privacy in case Arkkadian returned to his room.
Carefully laid out on the counter were a washcloth, hand towel, and a bath towel, along with a fresh bar of soap, shampoo, a new toothbrush, and a tube of toothpaste. Huh. Who was this man? He could have hurt me, yet he hadn’t. He hadn’t even slept in the bed with me, and here he’d laid everything out so nicely. I had way more questions than answers.
Arkkadian seemed like a walking, talking paradox. Alluring, yet intimidating. A stranger, yet familiar. Hard, yet gentle. Why was I so drawn to him? Why did I crave him so? Being in his presence was like a thirst I couldn’t quench.
I let the hot water rush over my aching muscles, relishing in the warmth, but it didn’t take long for the violent memories of last night to invade my mind. Bile rose in my throat. I could still feel Kane touching me. Grabbing me. Licking me. Breathing on me. I felt so dirty and disgusting. I was sure I’d never feel clean again. So I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. I scrubbed every square inch until my skin turned red and raw, and still, it wasn’t enough. I didn’t stop scrubbing until the water turned to ice.
Back in the bedroom, I studied my surroundings. The plush carpet, a deep blue that reminded me of Arkkadian’s eyes, was soft between my toes. The king-sized, antique four-poster bed took front and center on my left, with its satin sheets and fluffy pillows. A closer look at the posts revealed an intricate design of hand-carved knots. I recognized the triple spiral of eternal life interwoven among the roots of the tree of life and wondered at its significance.
A large stone fireplace was built into the opposite wall on my right, framed by tall bookshelves and, next to it, the door. Two reading chairs faced the hearth. The master closet took up the space behind me, and the bathroom straight ahead. Other than that, the room was fairly sparse.
By now it was mid-afternoon, and I’d wasted much of the day. Curious, I padded across the floor to the window beside the bed and raised the blinds. Bright sunshine beamed in and blanketed me in its glorious warmth. A breathtaking view unfolded before me as I gazed out.
Situated on the edge of a large vale, Arkkadian’s cabin was surrounded by vast forests and snow-capped mountains in every direction. Gravel pathways lined with colorful wildflowers intertwined between the surrounding cabins. I spied a handful of people working in a community garden while children laughed and raced, chasing each other on the large lawn. Everyone looked so happy.
I studied the scenery, letting the sun’s warmth radiate through my body until my stomach rumbled. I was starving, but the last thing I wanted was a face-to-face with Arkkadian. Truthfully, though, I had behaved like an errant child, and he had done nothing except lecture me after I’d behaved so horribly. He’d saved my life, and I’d foolishly repaid him with a childish tantrum. No wonder he thought I was such an ungrateful brat.
I sighed and opened the bedroom door. I couldn’t hide in here forever.
12
Aislin
As I descended the stairs, Arkkadian appeared at the bottom. Even with the stoic expression on his face, he was still handsome. I froze halfway down the steps when I saw the obvious bulge in his pants, but I pretended not to notice. I was still embarrassed by my earlier behavior, but hiding upstairs would solve nothing.
“Hi,” I whispered, eyes everywhere but on him.
“Hi.” He raised his arm, showing the way to the kitchen. “After you.” When my stomach grumbled impatiently, he inquired softly, “When was the last time you ate?”
That wasn’t the response I expected. I’d come downstairs preparing to be lectured. Yelled at. Something. Anything but concern for my well-being. Maybe… maybe it was coming later.
“Not since dinner yesterday.” When I hesitated, Arkkadian entered the kitchen, leaving me to follow awkwardly in his wake.
Arkkadian pulled various items from the refrigerator and set everything on the counter. Then he turned and handed me a plate, telling me to help myself to the sandwich fixings he’d laid out.
“Thank you.” Why was he so calm? Shouldn’t he still be angry with me? Glued to the spot, I watched him fix his own plate, wondering what his intentions were.
“I won’t bite,” Arkkadian offered. “Help yourself. Whatever you’d like. I’ve also got a couple of apples, but I’m afraid water and coffee are all I’ve got to drink.”
His voice was low and smooth, no trace of the ire he’d displayed upstairs earlier. I didn’t know what to make of it. If he was still upset with me, he hid it well. I wished I could hide my emotions as well as he could and not get so upset so quickly. I often felt like my inability to do so was a curse I’d never be rid of.
“This is fine, thank you,” I said, still feeling contrite as I joined Arkkadian at the table.
“I’m sorry,” I suddenly blurted. I stared at my lap and wrung my hands.
“Sorry for what?”
Was he really going to make me say it out loud? Apparently, I couldn’t escape the conversation I’d been dreading after all.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you. It was rude.” I wanted to crawl into a deep, dark hole and never come out again. “I just… so much has happened and I’m kind of…” Unable to finish the thought, my voice trailed off.
“Hey,” Arkkadian said, reaching across the table to lift my chin. He spoke softly, a hard contrast from the authority that had previously laced his voice. “Look at me, please.”
When I slowly raised my eyes to his, he continued. “I know you’re frightened. A lot has happened. Despite the reprimand you received, you are safe and your safety will not be compromised. I mean that. But we have rules here, and there are punishments when the rules are disobeyed. You need to know that speaking to me in that manner is unacceptable, but because of the circumstances, I let it slide. I won’t let it slide next time. Do you understand?”
A small bit of authority laced his words once again at that last bit. I nodded my understanding. Punishments? I didn’t like the sound of that at all. My acknowledgment seemed to appease him, though, and we ate in relative silence for the rest of the meal. I kept my eyes downcast as I ate, though I could feel his on me the entire time.
When he took our dishes to the sink, I stared out the window and watched the people going about their day outside. When I turned back, Arkkadian was leaning against the counter, quietly assessing me. It should have made me uncomfortable, but it didn’t, and I couldn’t explain why. Minutes passed before he spoke again.
“I know you have some questions, but I have to meet with my security team. It’ll take me an hour or two at the most. Come, I’ll take you to my brother’s, and you can meet Sara. She’s his wife. I know she’d love to meet you.”
“What do you have to do?” I really didn’t care, but the last thing I wanted to do was visit with another stranger. What I wanted was answers.
What I wanted was a way out of here.
“I’m in charge here. My people look to me to make sure everything runs smoothly and safely,” Arkkadian explained. “Come. Let’s go meet Sara. I think you’ll like her.”
“Can’t I stay here? I’m still tired. I could use another nap,” I lied. A chance to search the cabin for clues to my whereabouts or a way to escape was the first thing on my agenda. Thoug
h no harm had come to me, I needed to find my bearings. I needed to get out of here.
Much to my disappointment, he shook his head. I couldn’t be trusted. Not yet. It stung, but I couldn’t very well expect Arkkadian to trust me if I couldn’t fully trust him yet.
“I’m sorry, that’s not an option. I can’t leave you alone,” he said with a knowing look. Dammit. A jolt of disappointment shot through me, knowing he’d seen right through my lie. I knew it wouldn’t work anyway.
“How long do I have to stay? I want to go home.” I faltered at the last, thinking about the fire that had taken everything from me. Who was I kidding? I no longer had a home. Where would I go? Where would I stay? I supposed that chintzy little motel across town would work for a few days, at least until I sorted some things out. Now that my home and family were gone, there was really nothing keeping me in Whitewater. I couldn’t stay, anyway. Kane saw to that with his obsession with me. I sure didn’t want to stay here either. Wherever this was.
“You can’t leave,” he stated.
My head jerked up at his response. “I don’t understand. Am I a prisoner?”
“No, you’re not.”
“Then why can’t I leave?” I asked. Anger and fear drowned out any bit of trust I might have had for Arkkadian. He reached for my arm, but I flinched away. “Don’t. Touch. Me,” I ground out, my last bit of patience gone like last week’s trash.
“I’m sorry, you just can’t. It isn’t safe. Kane is still unaccounted for, as is his partner. As long as they’re out there, you’re in danger. Kane is a sick individual. You know this. If he got a hold of you…” Arkkadian let the sentence die, and he looked away, unable to meet my eyes. Even though I knew he told the truth, I refused to give up the argument. It was stupid, but I just couldn’t help myself.
“I know exactly what kind of man Kane is, but I still want to go home,” I demanded.
Arkkadian’s face fell flat. “Need I remind you of your tone?”
Momentarily cowed, I shook my head. “No.”
“There is no home to go back to. All that’s left of the Black Horse and your apartment is a pile of cinder and ash. I’m sorry.” Arkkadian ran a hand through his hair, and his dark locks fell across his forehead. I refrained from reaching out and smoothing it back. Despite his ire, it seemed like he genuinely cared, but why me?
“And, whatever you do, don’t go wandering off with some half-baked idea that you can hike back home. It’s a three-hour drive at best and a three- or four-day hike at worst through old winding roads and heavily wooded forest, and that’s if you know where you’re going. It’s too easy to get lost out here. Not to mention the wildlife. The woods are full of apex predators. You’d never even see a mountain lion until it was too late.”
I collapsed back down into the kitchen chair in despair. My breathing turned erratic, and my chest hurt. I covered my ears and scrunched my eyes shut. I struggled to breathe as the weight on my chest increased. I was drowning under the onslaught of emotions cutting straight through my heart like a knife. I didn’t want any of this. I wanted my life back, but I couldn’t have it. Any of it. My life as I knew it was over, and nothing would ever be the same.
“No. No, no, no, no, no, no. This isn’t real. This isn’t real,” I cried, rocking back and forth in the chair. Paige and Carter were dead. My job at the bar was gone. My apartment was gone. My entire world had just disintegrated. The room tilted on its axis, and darkness swirled around the edges of my vision. I felt like all the oxygen had been sucked from the room.
Arkkadian caught me before I tumbled to the floor and helped me back into the chair. He crouched down in front of me and placed gentle hands upon my own. “Aislin, listen to me. Look at me. Look at me,” he said, pointing to his eyes, not taking them off mine. “Take a deep breath. Can you do that? Good. Now breathe out. You’re doing great. Just like that. Again. Just keep breathing, slowly.”
Once again, the curious and familiar warmth I felt whenever Arkkadian touched me radiated through my body. Only this time, my body seemed to recognize it, grab ahold of it, and suck it in. The energy was soft, almost like tiny waves lapping at the shoreline.
Almost instantly, I relaxed into his touch. When his strong arms wrapped around me, I leaned into him and rested my head on his shoulder. My breathing stabilized, slowing down until it matched Arkkadian breath for breath. Whatever this was—how he could pull me out of such a state?—I didn’t know, but whatever it was, it was a gift.
There were more pressing matters, though.
When I felt stable enough to speak, I pulled away from his embrace and faced him. “I want to see the news. I need to see it for myself.”
I couldn’t blindly trust him. Not yet. For all I knew, he could have been lying about the fire’s destruction. I didn’t want to believe it. I refused to believe it. I denied it even though I knew it to be true.
“All right, come on.”
I followed him into the den, and the television screen flared to life. I watched in horror as images of the burned building flashed by. My home. The bar. They were nothing but a pile of charred debris, tar-black and ruined. Devoid of everything but memories.
“They’ve been replaying the same story all day. No new details have been released,” Arkkadian told me. The sadness in his voice was tangible. I found his concern comforting, at least.
“Do the police know where I am?” I asked, fishing for information. Did they know I was there? Did they think I was missing? Dead? Various possibilities ran through my mind.
“Gideon took care of it. He called the police station in Whitewater this morning. He told them you were safe, and that you were away visiting friends. They said they’d let us know if they had questions,” Arkkadian answered and then turned off the television.
“How did you know I needed help?” Of all the questions I had, that was the one that had nagged at me the most. The last thing I wanted was another man as obsessed with me as Kane had been.
“Call it a gut feeling. I didn’t trust that Kane would stay away, and I wanted to make sure you made it home safe. So, Gideon and I watched for him, but it turned out he was already inside your apartment.”
“That was some gut feeling,” I huffed, but I still questioned his motive. “What now?”
I mean, I had nothing. Nothing but the clothes on my back and what I’d stuffed in those two bags upstairs in the closet. What little savings I had wouldn’t last long.
“Come on, I’ll take you to Sara’s. It’ll take your mind off things. I think you’ll like her.”
Just like that, the conversation was over, so I resigned myself to finishing it later. I still had questions that needed answers. Then Arkkadian took my hand and led me up a short path to another cabin close by. I stopped dead at the base of the steps when the memory of a giant black wolf resurfaced. I’d only seen it for a second, but I knew what I’d seen.
“You okay?” Arkkadian tried to tug me up the stairs, but I stood rooted to the spot at the bottom. I didn’t know what Gideon was, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“Please don’t make me go in there. Can’t I come with you?” I begged. If I mentioned the wolf, he’d probably think I was nuts.
Arkkadian looked down at me, compassion written on his face. “I’m sorry, but you can’t. I promise you’ll like Sara. Trust me?”
I didn’t want to, but when he squeezed my hand gently in reassurance, I faltered on my earlier decision. “But what if he’s here?”
“Gideon?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s not, but you’re safe here. My brother is a good man.”
Brother. Right. Screw it. I wasn’t nuts. I had to say it.
“He’s a werewolf, isn’t he?” I whispered, staring at the front door. Now that I’d voiced it out loud, it sounded ludicrous. Men didn’t turn into wolves. Or did they? Arkkadian’s face didn’t even twitch. Nor did he deny it.
The fuck? He knew. I’m wasn’t crazy, was I?
“We
have some things to discuss. When I get back, we’ll talk. But, you need to trust me. Sara is wonderful, and you’re in good hands. Now scoot,” he said, placing a hand on my back and ushering me up the steps.
It didn’t escape me that he never answered my question.
A petite blond answered the door. She was pretty, with joyful green eyes and a gentle smile. She wore a cute, flowery blouse and blue jeans, and her honey-colored hair was styled in a French braid. The rounded curve of her belly peeked over the waistline of her pants. She was pregnant. Several months along, if I had any guess. The smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies drew me in, making the home feel cozy and welcoming.
“Hi! I’m Sara. Please come in! Gideon mentioned his brother had a guest,” she said, wrapping me in a warm embrace. “I almost didn’t believe him. This big lug is a perpetual bachelor.” Her laugh was genuine, her voice bubbly, and her eyes shone bright with mirth as she teased Arkkadian.
Arkkadian laughed. “Hey now!”
The ease with which they joked with each other suggested strong ties. There was a friendship there. And the love of family. Sara trusted him and thought well of him. It went a long way toward easing my reservations about him.
“Oh, shush, you know it’s true,” she teased him. “Please come in and make yourself at home. Gideon’s at work, so it’s just me and you. Gives us a chance to get to know each other.”
I followed her into the house, blushing at the mention of her husband. I’d seen Gideon in his birthday suit last night, and he had an excellent physique, much like his brother.
