Surrender (Werewolf)

Chapter 23

But sadly we were not in that world, we were in this one. The one where everything was wrong and people were kidnapped. The one where mates rejected each other for other wolves and they are just supposed to smile and move on from it.

This was not the world I could love him in. It wasn’t even the world I could stand him in. He’d made his choice and I’d made mine. There was no going back from that. It was done and we were over; forever.

“You did well today. We should celebrate that,” he offered. “Let me take you somewhere.”

Let him? I doubt I’d have a say in the matter anyway. But I tried.

“I’m tired and sweaty. I’d rather get cleaned up and rest. Maybe another time.”

“Come Claire,” he pleaded, coming to stand just inched in front of me. “You’ll love it. Trust me.”

I took a cautious step back and shook my head. “No really, some other time, I promise.”

And promises were made to be broken. There would be no date. There would be nothing but training and my forced tolerance of him. That was all.

He lifted his arm with my eyes following him until his hand disappeared around behind my head. It slipped into my hair and twisted in around his finger, bringing all of it to the front of my shoulder and side of my head. His hand dropped.

“Just give me an hour. If you’re not having a good time by then you have my permission to ditch me. What do you say?”

He was persistent, I’d give him that. I just wasn’t interested in going anywhere with him. I’d much rather pull out all my teeth than sit through an hour alone with him. But if I was going to get free of him I was going to have to agree.

“Yeah. Okay. I’ll go.” I hated myself for saying it. I stepped back again putting some distance between us. “Just let me get cleaned up. I’ll see you in a couple of hours?”

He nodded and grinned. “Yes. I’ll see you to your room and I’ll be back to get you at nine.”

I frowned. “So late?”

He chuckled. “You don’t have to look so happy about it. It needs to be dark for what I have planned. It’s purely recreational, I promise.”

Alone in the dark with Daniel? That didn’t top my list of things I wanted to do in life. It sent unwelcoming shivers up my spine. And it was the bad kind.

“At nine then,” I forcefully agreed.

He walked me back to my cell where I gladly got cleaned up and dressed. By the time I was done I felt much more human than animal. The events of the day started to overcome my body with exhaustion just like all the previous days had so I settled on my tiny sofa with one of the books Daniel had brought me a couple days ago and flipped it open to my holding place.

The evening passed on peacefully and uneventfully until the knock sounded on my door. I knew it was Daniel even before the door was opened. I was expecting him.

The smile on his face told me he was much happier about tonight than I was.  I stood up from the couch, placed my book down, and followed beside him out the door.

The night air was cool, but not crisp. It was comfortable. It immediately woke me up from my sleepy state.

The woods became thicker and darker the longer we walked. When the sky disappeared altogether I felt a sense or worry overcome me. What could possibly be this far out in the woods that he wanted to show me?