Capture

Chapter 21: Puppy

Chapter 21: Puppy

The beast's sudden weight bounced the van. The motion sent me to my knees, dodging the initial attack. With its back towards me momentarily, I rushed for the open door. Pain seared into my arms and back as thick paws with sharp claws ripped through my flesh, the momentum threw me face first into the van's metal under siding.

All of the beast's weight rested upon me. I released a muffled wail. Thrashing my legs, I made a feeble attempt to throw it off of me. My arms throbbed with every beat of my heart, I imagine trails of blood were making their way down my form.

A muzzle mused my hair away from my neck.  Hot breath and sharp teeth trailed down the top vertebrae of my neck. Saliva dripped, wetting my collar. Tensed, awaiting more pain.

Nothing. Just the beast above me sniffing and licking my head. 

"Bram, what the hell?" A natural yelled at the beast through the open down. It gave a returning grumble and continued to lick me. "Come on, man! Let the girl go. What is Maddy going to think about this?"

The beast crawled over me and existed the van. Me still laying on the ground, it turned to me, staring me down as if the dare me to leave. Then it disappeared from view. Oddly enough, I recalled the beast back on the territory being much bigger and brown.

A full grown Natural approached the opening. He was not the one from earlier, nor one I had seen in the cellar, but something was familiar about his face that caused my hair to stand on end. He gave me a smile, that I was sure a Natural way of being reassuring, but all I saw were pointy teeth. I scooted my butt to the nearest wall when he entered the confined space.

"Hey, Puppy," he said pleasantly enough. Hands quick as light, had me standing and then crushed into him. I whimpered at the fingers spaded into my fresh wounds. "Sh, you're fine."

He pulled back so that his face was against my own. "God, you look just like your mother." He whispered to himself. He took a big lungful of air. "Smell just like her, too."

The familiarity struck again, but this time I recognized him. This was the Natural who had stolen my mom, Maddy, as the other Naturals referred to her as. She probably had no say in what they called her, she always hated nicknames. And if anything, I took after my dad.

"Let's get you home, Puppy. We have been waiting for you for sometime now."

He didn't seem to want to kill me as he did those few years ago. If anything, the Natural seemed very pleased with himself. What he called me, puppy, was very strange. I had never heard of Naturals calling human after their word for offspring. 

The Natural, Bram, had my cuffs unlocked, under the promise to his authorizes that he would take me back to the territory and register me. I rubbed my raw wrists and examined the visible damage of my arms. The blood had congealed along the four long cuts on each arm. Either unaware of my injuries or ignoring them, the Natural had me pinned under his arm the entire time I was on the lawn.

He pulled a pair of keys out of a back pocket and forced me into a four door compact car. The minute he had seated on the driver's side, he hovered over me. Ultimately, he cuff my arm to the ceiling handle when I tried to fight against his fussing.

I was deeply unsettled by this Natural. He felt he had a right to touch me and talk to me about my mom. Laughing at his own stories, that weren't even that funny, he asked about me. Bram always made sure to avoid everything relating my father. I only answered him when the grovel of the beast inside him began to rear its head. The rest of the time I spent staring out the window, trying not to let my hand fall asleep.

"And they- ha- fell!"

He kept insisting on calling me 'Puppy' even when it became very evident that he knew my name. He wanted me to refer to him as Bram, or some weird version of 'dad' if I was comfortable. Bram was very much oblivious that that was never going to happen.

It had take Manu and I days to travel to the coven's hidden colony, but it only took Bram a few hours. Not only did he take the main roads, but he drove even faster than Manu does...did?
As hard as it is to believe.

We reentered the territory with ease. Bram flashed his ID without much hassle. The border guard gave a stare in my direction before Bram growled a warning at him. He muttered something along the lines of a patrol guard not being worthy of my neck. Not as if any of this was approved by me, but I think the Natural was staring because I was restrained. 

I was dozing off when the car came to a rolling stop on a illuminated driveway. The house before me resembled the one I grew up in, though by glancing around I knew that I was no where near my original underground hiding spot. Bram had me un-cuffed and marched into the house before I got a good look at the dark surroundings. The door slammed shout with a loud bang. Bram stayed behind to set the locks while I wandered into the living room.

True to my original assessment, the house was like my home, very much like my home. There were framed pictures of me and Emilee all over the walls. In photos, my dad's place was either ripped out or Bram's face was taped over it. It truly looked like he copied everything over from my life before the Announcements only erasing the existence of Dad.    

"Mate!" Bram called out once he had turned the key on about ten locks on the door. He placed the keys on a hook that hung from the ceiling, well far out of reach of me even if I were to stand on something. "Maddy?" He entered the kitchen when the sound of a crash rang out in the silence house. 

I followed after him, not as fast. Bram's frame was blocking most of her from view, but she was there. My mom. I felt tears rise in my eyes. I had missed her so much. Bram moved, allowing me to see her as he picked up pieces of glass, but her eyes didn't meet mine.

Her hair was mostly grey. Rebekah had told me how humans weren't allowed to dye their hair anymore and I remember my mother had grey prematurely, she just had hidden it. She wasn't as thin as the last time I had seen her, no longer living off of human rations, but there was a frailty that I had never equivocated to her. She looked so tired, her eyes dull.

Lastly, I noticed the abuse. A huge scar ran up her neck and down her shoulder, a claimed marks, as in more than one. Her nose had been broken and healed incorrectly. Large slashed scars shown on her exposed skin. There was a fresh cut underneath her eye that was weeping through the bandage there. I felt anger, more than I had felt in a long time. That sick bastard!

Bram returned to my mom after he was satisfied that all the glass had been picked up. "Mate? Maddy?" The Natural said in a singsong tone. "I brought you something. Don't you want to see?" He rubbed his hands up and down her frame, possible to be comforting but it looked more like molestation. Her only response was to cringe before looking off at the far wall.  

"Maddy, I got it just for you. I know it will make you very happy." Bram said in the same creepy voice while attempting to get her to look in his eyes. I felt a sharp fear when I saw the beast beginning to get frustrated. He glanced up by frozen position in the doorframe. "I brought our Puppy to you, Mate."

Confused, my mom followed his line of sight. Her eyes went wide when she saw me. Bram held her struggling form before releasing her with a sigh and she rushed me. Her arms wrapped themselves around me with more strength than I thought was possible. She was crying. 

"Natalie, my Natalie," she breathed into my hair.

Her hug was the most comforting thing that I had had in sometime. Other Manu had hugged me, as well as Topher, but back in my mind I knew that they were male and didn't get the connection. I could physically feel my stress leave my body. I think I was crying too. 

"Momma," I hadn't called her that I years, but suddenly I felt so young. 

I was pressed even further into my mom and a hot arm encircled the both of us. 

"My family," Bram hummed. "Just Mate, Puppy, and us." 

The man and the beast counted themselves.