“Owww, what the… hey where am I?” I hissed, blinking my eyes rapidly.
My arms were bound behind my back and my feet were tied to a chair. I tried wiggling around for a bit but it only made the ropes dig deeper into my wrists and ankles, causing a deep burn.
“Would you knock it off!” shouted a croaky, bossy voice.
I stared at the entrance and listened for the voice again. An older woman walked in carrying a tray of food. My stomach made an audible growl and she shot me an angry glare.
“Yeah like I can control my stomach,” I snapped, my nostrils flaring.
“Will you shut up already? You’re going to wake the children. If I hear one cry from them I’m going to make you rock them all back to sleep.”
With each word she spoke she dug her finger deeper into my chest. I tried pulling away and let out a sigh of relief when she finally took a step back.
“Rocking them would be impossible if you kept me like this.”
She bent down on one knee and untied the ropes, shaking her head in anger. I could feel the blood begin to flow back to my achy arms and feet. I grabbed my head as a searing pain shot through it. My head felt like it was going to explode.
The lady let out a small chuckle. “Kalmin did say you hit your head pretty hard last night. The lump healed but I figured you’d have a bad headache.”
She placed two small pills and an ice pack on the food tray. I glanced up at the lady with a raised eyebrow. Did she really think I was that stupid?
I pushed the tray aside and folded my arms. “Where am I?”
“Oh honey you’re in our territory now. You jumped the fence last night and ran into a tree. We couldn’t just leave you there to die."
I bit my lip and glanced around the room anxiously. My dad was going to kill me if he found out I was here. I needed to escape now before too much damage was done. There was one window in the room and if I could just get through this lady…
“Oh honey,” said the woman, laying a gentle hand on my leg, “You won’t make it very far. We have four of our best men guarding the house. Plus, you really don’t look like you have it in you to run right now.”
My stomach growled again and that seemed to answer her question. She picked up the tray and handed it to me again while quietly leaving the room. This time I took it gratefully and began to devour the food. It was amazing! She had given me something that looked like a small roasted chicken with a whole loaf of bread and some thick vegetable soup. I had eaten the entire meal within a matter of minutes. Now there was just one more thing to take care of. I glanced nervously at the two pills and felt a jolt of electricity run through my brain.
“Oh what the hell," I sighed.
I popped both of them into my mouth and downed the entire jug of water. I let out a sigh of relief when I noticed that after the longest minute of my life, I wasn’t dead. Brownie points for the old lady.
I looked around again and began to observe my surroundings with a more clam attitude. What I saw was shocking. This bedroom was way too nice to belong to the vicious other pack. There was a large bed in the center of the room with two beautiful lamps next to it. The shades were a dark blood red that matched the nice fluffy carpet. There was a desk and two chairs…one of them I had been tied to.
I walked over to what I thought was the closet and looked at myself in the large mirror. Wow, totally different from yesterday. I looked like hell. There was dirt matted in my hair and a few twigs that were lodged in my shirt.
There was a small knock at the door that abruptly brought me back to my senses.
“Excuse me, are you decent? Can I come in?” said an anxious voice.
I really had no other choice. “Sure.”
A girl my age came into the room. Compared to her I was hideous. This little thing had chocolate brown hair and bright green eyes. Her skin was pale but lovely in contrast to her hair. I grabbed my stomach and suddenly felt fat and ugly.
“Hi I’m Rachel,” she said shyly, not offering me her hand.
“Hey, I’m Whitney. Can you please tell me what I’m doing here?”
“My Uncle Kalmin said he wanted to talk to you about something,” she said, pulling at a string on her shirt.
“Okay and then can I go? My parents will start to worry and I can’t miss school.”
Her face suddenly lit up. “You go to school? I’ve always wanted to go but my family says it’s for the city wolves. They said there’s nothing that we can learn there that they can’t teach us here. I don't really believe them.”
“Hmmmm,” I said tapping my chin. I was angry and upset that they were holding me here but I wanted this girl to stay and talk. She seemed nice and eager to offer information.
“There’s a lot of literature and advanced math that you can learn in school. I’m sure your pack is smart but they probably don’t have the resources for that.”
She gave me a sad look and sat down on the bed. This girl looked almost as pathetic as Ashley but I wasn’t about to say anything. She was being nice to me and that’s all that mattered.
“Hey don’t worry Rachel,” I smiled, giving her shoulder a pat, “Maybe when I go back you can come with me and check it out.”
I lied to her. I felt guilty about seeing her upset so I lied. I’m almost certain that her pack would never let her come to the city. They hated us and we hated them. There was no in between.
“Rachel,” I said, offering her the sweetest smile I had, “I was under the impression that your pack hated ours. Why are you being so nice? Is everyone as nice as you?”
She looked at the door nervously and then back at me. “No, all the girls think I’m stupid and weak. They tease me behind my back but are nice to my face. The rest of the pack is really rough around the edges. I’m not sure how they’ll act around you. We haven’t had an outsider for a few years now.”
I wanted to judge her pack members but they acted exactly how I did, selfish and eager for attention. It was a hard thing to admit but I needed to act out of character for Rachel to like me.
“Anyway,” Rachel said interrupting my thoughts, “I came to give you a change of clothes so you can meet with Kalmin later.”
I looked down and realized I was wearing long baggy pants and a plain white shirt. I had forgotten that I shifted and destroyed my precious clothes. Alcohol really makes you do awesome things…not.
“Thanks,” I said taking the small bundle from her.
I unfolded it to find a pair of jeans and a small black tank top.
“Are these yours?” I asked, holding the top up to my chest.
“Yeah, I figured we were the same size so I gave you a pair of my jeans and a shirt.”
My friends would never do that for me. One time I had even shifted when I lost my temper with Shannon. Ashley and her thought it would be funny to make me run across her house naked to get my change of clothes. Let’s just say that I think I scarred her little sister for life and maybe even the dog.
I threw on the tank top and jeans. I didn’t care if she was in the room. The clothes that I was in smelled like mold.
“Perfect fit,” I said smiling at her. I pulled my fingers through my hair and made myself look as decent as possible.
It was the middle of October but luckily shifters ran extra hot. To me it was perfect weather for a tank top.
“Okay so let’s get this over with so I can go home.”
Rachel hesitated before speaking. “I’ll be honest with you Whitney because you’re nice to me. I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. It’s not my place to know the business of our pack but I think we’re in some kind of trouble. I’m pretty sure they think the solution is you.”
“Listen Rachel,” I said, flicking my hair in irritation, “I just barely turned eighteen. I really have nothing but money to offer your pack. My dad would be willing to pay for my safe return. And I know this may not seem like a big deal but I’m the captain of our high school volleyball team and we have our first game tomorrow. I can’t miss that.”
“I don’t know what to tell you…” there was a knock the door which caused both of us to jump.
“I’ve said too much. I have to go. Good luck Whitney and it was nice to meet you.”
She opened the door, bowed, and left in a hurry. A tall muscular man stepped in. He sniffed the air and gave me a hungry look.
“You’re a pretty little thing. No wonder the pack leader wants to meet you.”
I’m guessing tall, dark, and stupid was supposed to take me to the pack leader. It seemed the look in his eyes was saying otherwise.
I stood up and gave him my best seductive look. I could sense his excitement as he was trying to keep his wolf at bay. He ran up to me quicker than he should of and I landed a swift kick to his balls.
He fell to the floor and howled in pain. “Why you little…ow!” he howled as I landed another kick to his side.
“Name calling is uncalled for,” I said, wagging my finger at him. “I already know what a jerk I can be.”
I gave him a smile before stepping over his limp body and entering the hall. My feet barely made any noise as I crept towards the stairs and checked to see if anyone was coming. Looked like the coast was clear. I crept down the stairs and was almost at the bottom when a small body slammed into mine and went flying backwards.
I looked over and saw at least ten children running around a large open room. Some of the boys were wrestling while the little girls were playing with dolls and pretending to cook. I hated a lot of things like loud gum chewers, annoying people, ugly boys, and spicy food but the one thing I did love was children. I looked down at the boy and saw tears in his eyes.
“Come here,” I said holding out my hands, “Let me see.”
He slowly approached me and held out his arm. I looked down at his palm and saw a tiny scrape. My eyes scanned the room for a small emergency kit. I finally found it sitting on the top shelf of a bookcase. I pulled out some peroxide and a colorful band aid. The little boy watched me with wide eyes as I cleaned it and put the cool bandage on.
“Look at that, all better!”
“Yeah!” he said, giving me a hug and running back to play with his friends.
I smiled as I watched the little boy play. During the summer I worked at a daycare and during the school year I went in when I could. It was my dream to open up multiple daycares. I loved children and everything about them.
“Well he seems to like you,” said a voice from behind me.
I winced and waited for someone to club me over the head. They must’ve found the body by now. Maybe kicking him in the balls was a little too much. I turned to find the old lady from earlier staring at me. She gave me a sweet smile.
“You’re good with children. I’m surprised that a brat like you could be good with precious things like this.”
I rolled my eyes. She sounded just like my mother who thought every eighteen year old was irresponsible. Just because I liked to have fun did not mean that I would put a child’s life in danger. That would be just plain stupid.
“I run a daycare facility in my city. I like being around children. Except for my little brother, he sucks.”
She gave me another smile. “Well come on, I’ll take you to our pack leader. It seems the guys can’t keep their hands off of you. I had to shoo the guards out yesterday. They could smell you from a mile away and were trying to get inside the house.”
“You’re not mad about the guy upstairs?” I asked, slightly confused. For being a prisoner this lady was sure treating me with kindness that I wasn’t familiar with.
She let out a chuckle, “Who Tim? No, he deserved it.”
I was starting to like this lady. I needed to get out of here soon before I became too comfortable.
We walked outside into a large clearing. I thought about running but there was no point. There were about a hundred eyes watching me.
Cute little wooden houses lined the forest and in the center was a beautiful lake. Most of the people were dressed in normal clothes. Jeans and a shirt were common but some people were wearing shorts and skirts. For some reason I pictured all of them walking around wearing little to nothing and making grunting noises to each other.
“By the way, my name is Katherine. Please call me Kate.”
“I’m Whitney. I’m sure you already know that.”
She nodded her head and I watched her grey bun move up and down. Kate was much older than most of the people here. I could tell that everyone looked up to her and showed her great respect.
We made our way to a large building. There were two menacing men standing outside. They both smiled at Kate and gave me a perverted look as we walked into the building. Instead of stepping into a house we had entered a large room that looked like a meeting hall. There were rows of tables that had chairs stacked on top of them. There was a large red carpet going down the middle of the rows and lamps hanging on the left and right sides of the walls.
We approached three men that were deep in conversation. When we came a bit closer they all looked up and sniffed the air. Okay, this smelling thing was getting to be a bit old. What the hell was so great about my scent anyway?
The bigger of the three slammed his fist down on the table. They each let out a whimper and looked down at their feet.
“You can leave now. I need to speak to the girl.”
They got up and practically ran without saying a word. The third man took a good look at me and smiled. I could tell I wasn’t going to get along with him. He eyes were cold and his face was expressionless besides the stupid smirk. The one thing I could say though was this guy is smoking hot. He was wearing lose tan shorts that almost hugged his muscular legs and a white T-shirt that was about to burst off his hard chest. He put Tommy to shame.
“Thank you Kate. If you could please wait outside, I’ll only be a few minutes.”
His voice was deep and husky. This guy really made Tommy look like a child. He gestured towards a chair. I took my seat loudly and folded my arms across my chest, trying to wipe the desire from my thoughts.
“Whitney, it’s nice to meet you while you’re conscious.”
I glared at him but he continued to speak anyway.
“We’re going to need your help.”
“Right,” I laughed, “let me just help my kidnappers. Sounds like a great idea.”
He gave me a devilish smile and leaned in closer to me. “I’m sorry I should’ve made myself more clear. You really have no choice in the matter. You will help us or I’ll kill you and your family. Does that sound better?”
I laughed louder which caused him to back up a little. He looked at me with a puzzled face before anger flashed across his eyes.
“Why is this funny?” he snapped.
I leaned back, draping my arm around the back of the chair. “You really don’t know who my father is, do you?”
“No, what does that have to do with anything?” he spat.
“My last name is Moon. Does that ring a bell?”
This time it was his turn to shock me. He gave me a dazzling smile and reached for my hand.
“Ms. Moon that makes it even better. Let me introduce myself, I’m Kalmin, Alpha Male and pack leader of these wolves.”
I could feel my smile falter a bit as my anger was replaced with fear. What the hell have I gotten myself into?