Talk About the Direct Approach...

Chapter Sixteen: Naked men and the Mafia

*Macy's POV*

Don't run, don't scream, don't trip, and don't touch anything that looks potentially poisonous, I chant in my head, as I scan the area and try to find which way I came from. All that I can see is trees, and they all look the same, therefore not helpful in my quest to find my way back.

The fact that what little light the sun had been casting is now stifled by the dark clouds isn't helping either.

I consider starting a fire to signal someone, but rubbing two sticks together never worked when I was little, so I doubt it would work now. I settle for wandering aimlessly around in the opposite direction I had been going, hoping that the few turns I took before won't be too much of an obstacle.

That tree looks familiar, I think.

Yea, so does every other tree you've passed, my never-present logical side shoots back.

After closely examining a rock I thought I passed before, the snap of a branch calls my attention. After a pause to see if I'm hearing things or not, I risk speaking.

"Hello?" No response. "Cayton?"

I go as stiff as a stick when there isn't a response, but another snap sound. "Cayton, seriously, I-if it's you, I'm going to kick you in the balls," I threaten, although it doesn't carry much power with my shaky voice. This time, someone steps out of the trees.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding when I find it isn't some wild animal. However, I stop breathing once again when a random man comes out, wearing nothing but a smirk. I kid you not when I say a butt-naked man just stepped out of the woods.

"Sorry, no Cayton here," Mr. Guy says.

"Uh..." Brilliant Macy. Seriously, award winning response there, I say sardonically in my head.

"What, never seen a naked man before?" Mr. Guy teases.

"Actually, I haven't... Well, uh, I think I'm going to leave now..." I start to turn to walk away.

"Hold on," he says, holding up his hand to stop me. For some reason, I stop moving, though I make sure to look anywhere but him. This definitely makes the top five most awkward moments in my life. "Are you with Alpha Cayton?" he asks.

"Who?" I ask. What does Cayton have to do with anything? And where have I heard Alpha before? While I'm trying to recollect the memory, Mr. Guy steps closer to me and... Sniffs me? Yes, I'm pretty sure he just sniffed me.

"Dude, what the hell?!" I scream, backing away from him. That just doubled the awkwardness.

"You are with him. But, you're only human. So the Alpha is having a fling, huh?"

"Ok, first, you're weird and I don't feel comfortable around you. Second, yes, I'm human. So are you. And that's a tree," I say, pointing to the tree to my right. "And lastly, I don't know what an 'alpha' is, although I'm pretty sure you're referring to a letter. And if you're implying that I'm having a fling with Cayton, then you're wrong."

Is whatever has happened between Cayton and I a fling? No, a fling is a one-night stand kind of thing, right? Hell, I know nothing about that kind of stuff. What if that's all I am, some fling?

I mean, Cayton admitted to things like that. Well, he didn't say it exactly, it was implied, but when I asked him about him and other girls while we were in the tree house. Who knows, I might just possibly be some fling.

However, unless he was so desperate for a random fling that he kidnapped me, I don't think that's the case.

"So, you aren't some fling? Are you Alpha Cayton's mate?" Mr. Guy asks, bringing my attention back to the situation at hand.