A/N: Sorry that it took so long for me to update! I haven't had too much time to write between work and well... work. I would like to have some comments and votes before my next update!
Chapter 24:
“Were you not alerted to Sean’s presence in your house before you entered?” The court representative asked me as she sat across from me at the table. I shifted uncomfortably on the hard wooden chair, my back side aching. The woman had been interrogating me for the last three hours, so far just asking me stupid questions about my past history with violence and if I had had any incidents of violence at work. She seemed not to understand why I of all people would have a weapon on me. I knew that is why she probed so deep into my work history. She hadn’t found anything though. I was a model human slave. I never had placed so much as a toe out of line.
“Yes, my sister informed me that someone was in the house.” I replied.
“So you were not startled by his presence when you entered?” She asked searchingly.
“Confused, angry and frightened but not startled.” I admitted. She scribbled something down on her notebook. I had determined by her expression that she was writing down what she didn’t like about my answers. She had filled three pages now. I guess I was doing well in the flunking department. I had pretended to be asleep for half the night while I tried to come up with a plan to “flunk” my hearing without making it obvious I was trying to. The idea came to me at about three this morning and I had practically slept like a baby since.
I would just be myself.
If that didn’t get me to stay on house arrest these werewolves were a lot dumber than I had originally gave them credit for.
“Did Sean try to hurt you in any way Miss Olden?” She asked. I frowned.
“Yes, he chased me down and torn into my flesh with his teeth.” I answered. She narrowed her eyes and looked at me with a distasteful and irritated expression.
“I am talking about before you pulled the gun on your mate, Miss Olden. Marking you does not constitute as a violent act.”
I folded my arms over my chest and glared at the werewolf interrogator with contempt.
“Have you ever had a beast lock its jaws around your throat Ms. Glenn?” I asked, a hint of starchiness coming out in my voice while I looked at the smooth unmarred skin around her neck which told me that she was not mated. She narrowed her eyes and clicked her pen with a bitter expression on her face.
“Answer the question Miss Olden.” She practically snarled at me. I had to hold myself back from rolling my eyes at her.
“He made a move toward me and I reminded him that I am allowed to defend myself if he tried to touch me.” I informed her in a clipped tone. I did not like this woman. She had beady eyes and a disgruntled face that made me want to stick my tongue out at her. I didn’t though.
I bet Carlos would consider that part of the “too obvious” category.
“And when did you start threatening him with a gun?” she asked. I crossed my arms over my chest.
“When he called me his mate.”
Her expression tightened like she was hearing a crazy person speak.
“Why would you do that? Being claimed as a human is a great honor.” She told me in a haughty tone that reminded me too much of my sister.
“I’m afraid of achievement.” I jeered back forgetting the freaking obvious category for a moment.
Again she scribbled in her notebook.
Something told me this wasn’t going well. I guess that was good?
“And what provoked you to shoot a live round at your soul mate?”
There was that haughty voice again. Because shooting blanks doesn’t kill anything. Tone it down Juniper, you can do this. Don’t fall for the haughty voice.
“I was frightened.”
“Frightened by your soul mate?” she asked, the scoff was implied.
“Frightened by a werewolf.”
She looked at me then with a curious expression but it was quickly covered back up with her blank clerical face.
“Where did you get the firearm?” she asked.
“It was my father’s.” I answered.
“And where did he get the firearm?” she asked.
“Don’t know.” I answered.
“How long ago did he acquire the weapon?” She asked.
“Six or seven years ago.”
“So around the time that werewolves revealed themselves?” the monster woman asked a look on her face that assured me that I would get more notes in the book if I confirmed her suspicions.
I shrugged and then had to keep a grim smile off of my face as I heard her click her pen and scrawl some more into her notebook.
“What does your father do? Where is he assigned to work?” she asked.
I felt my heart drop into my stomach and my eyes narrowed into slits. She knew everything about my work history but didn’t even know that my father was deceased?
The bitterness that had already hardened my heart intensified.
“He’s dead. So I guess you can say that he was assigned coffin duty at the cemetery on fifth and main.”
Her face was priceless.
“When did he die?” she asked.
I looked at the clerical werewolf woman with a hard expression. It almost made me physically sick to even think about discussing my father with one of these monsters.
I wasn’t going to do it.
“That is a matter of public record. I’m sure you have access to that information already.” I informed her. Her shock turned into annoyance.
“Just tell me.” she instructed.
“I don’t see how revisiting the night that made me an orphan has anything to do with this hearing other than satisfying your need to make me uncomfortable. If you want to know look it up.”
She looked at me blankly for a moment and then clicked her pen to start writing again.
“The bullets that were in the gun were coated with silver jackets, did you know this?” she asked, apparently dropping the father subject.
“Yes.”
Her eyes rose from her paper and she looked at me with a hard expression.
“How were you aware of this?” she asked.
“Because I loaded the gun.”
“Where did you get the ammunition?”
“My father bought the bullets when he was still alive.” I answered.
“Why would he have bought silver bullets?” she asked, her nose wrinkling.
“Because regular bullets just didn’t have that wow factor he was going for.”
Ok, so I guess not making my flunking to obvious had been thrown out the window. Surprisingly the werewolf woman just stared down at her notebook, not even seeming to react anymore.
“And why did you violate your house arrest last week?” She redirected, seeming to be frustrated by the former line of questioning.
“Because I thought he was going to hurt me.” I answered honestly. She looked up at me through narrowed eyes. God, if she narrowed them much more she wasn’t going to be able to see.
“Sean is your mate. It is impossible for him to hurt you.” she rejoined. I just rolled my eyes, not even caring enough to justify myself to this horrible woman. “It says here that you had to be taken down with a tranquilizer?” she asked, her eyebrow’s rising.
“I was tackled by the guard and drugged within seconds of stepping out the door. The whole situation had unnecessary force written all over it.” I replied, my voice coming off as accusing.
“You have a history of violent behavior, they might have thought you were armed in some fashion.” She asserted, looking firm in the belief that I had to be at fault. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared back at her.
“I think it was pretty obvious I was unarmed…I mean…because I was naked and all. But you never know, I might be able to shoot lasers out of my ass.”
And for a moment, that statement truly seemed to shut her up. She was just sitting there staring at me like I was some sort of saber toothed cow.
“I think I have heard all I needed to hear.” She finally informed me, standing abruptly.
Thank God.
She had been here for nearly four hours. I wouldn’t put it past her for staying this long to purposely make me uncomfortable. Practically the first words out of her mouth after she had thoroughly convinced Sean that he couldn’t be here during the proceedings had been to tell me how much I should be ashamed of my actions to my loving mate.
Yeah. Loving.
She opened up her brief case and put away her files and papers, before raising an icy glare to me.
“I don’t believe that you are quite ready to ingratiate yourself with pack life.” She snipped while a murderous snarl slipped into the look in her small eyes. “I will recommend to the Alpha and council that you remain on house arrest until further notice…if not indefinitely.”
Even though I knew that I was supposed to flunk this particular test, the threat that she had issued had made part of me want to cry. To be forever stuck in this apartment with the Monster, to never be able to run barefoot in the grass, curl my toes in moist dirt or even hug a freaking tree was sort of a nightmare of mine.
But somehow I was able to smile up at the bitter werewolf woman with a calmness that surprised me.
“Do you lock up everything in life that frightens you?” I asked her, hearing a cool edge in my voice that I had never heard before and that quite frankly surprised me. “Because sometimes you should be careful of what you put in a cage.”
The monster woman actually started to snarl at me then, her huge canines extending into full view and her eyes darkening with the nature of the beast that hid behind a human face.
“And you should be careful of whom you pick fights with.” She growled out, her already beady eyes narrowing into slits. “Just because your mate can’t hurt you, doesn’t mean another wolf won’t.”
And with that she left, slamming the front door behind her as she left me alone in the Monster’s apartment once more.
As soon as she was gone I slumped against my seat and pressed my forehead to the cool wood of the table.
I had gotten what they wanted of me right? Shouldn’t I be happy? Shouldn’t I feel something other than…numbness.
I closed my eyes and sighed.
I had flunked the test. I was stuck in this apartment with the Monster. The monster that had hurt me. The monster that had…that had…
Before I could even think about it I was out of my chair and practically running through the apartment, straight through the Monster’s bedroom and onto the balcony. I hung over the railing, breathing so heavy that I thought I was going to throw up.
I had to get out of here. I had to get away from him. I had to…I had to…
Damn it I was hyperventilating. It felt like the walls were closing in and my heart was going to beat out of my chest.
Suddenly the doors opened behind me and the Monster stepped out onto the balcony, staring at me with an expression that border lined panic. His dark hair was messed up like he had ran his hand through it too many times and his eyes were frantic as they locked onto my panic stricken face. Before I could protest he was wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his chest.
“Shhh….it will be ok. Just breathe.” He whispered in my ear, the hot stickiness just making me more panicked and numb.
“I c-can’t.” I stuttered, barely able to form words. I wanted him to let go of me but I couldn’t seem to make my body cooperate long enough to get him off of me. He of all creatures would just make it worse. He ran a hand through my hair and rocked me back and forth in his fettering grip as if he were trying to comfort me like a child.
“I’ll try to set up another hearing.” He told me, still stroking my hair in a soothing motion. “Just breathe. Please mate breathe.”
“T-they won’t let me out.” I stammered, surprised by the fact that I was even talking to him. I knew that I should have been neutral and calm but I just couldn’t be. I was trapped legally and physically in the claws of a monster and all I could do was cry about it at the moment.
“They will, you just need to be patient.” He whispered. “I promise.”
He promised… just like he promised that he wouldn’t hurt me.
His promises didn’t mean anything. They meant nothing to me and never would.
“L-let go.” I stammered though breathless lips, my body finally starting to struggle. My plea however just seemed to make him grip me tighter.
“I can’t. Not when you are freaking out like this.” He whispered, his voice was deep, soft but it wasn’t soothing to me. It made me angry…it made me scared.
“D-don’t t-touch me.” I managed to half scream.
He let go.
Surprising me enough that I actually started to breath in huge gulps of air and the pressure in my chest seemed to calm. I was gripping the railing of the balcony for support while I breathed. I finally managed to look back up at the Monster and almost flinched at the image I saw.
It reminded me of how he looked right before he half shifted and ripped the crap out of himself in the bathroom. His eyes were so dark and so full of pain and some sort of emotion that I did not understand. His stance was so rigid and shaky that I found my mouth working before I could think through what I was saying.
“You were gripping too tight. C-couldn’t breathe.” My voice gasped toward the horrified looking Monster that held me captive. His stance loosened slightly with my words but his eyes didn’t shed the look of disgust hiding behind frustration.
“I’m sorry. I just thought that-well when Tania’s mate has panic attacks he calms down if she holds him still and- I thought…I’m sorry.” He stammered, rubbing his hands through his already messy black hair. Carlos? He was talking about Carlos. Well, the brain damaged Carlos he thought he knew.
“Are you saying that I remind you of someone with brain damage?” I asked with raised eyebrows on my still recovering face. His eyebrows rose with a startled expression and he shook his head quickly.
“No. I didn’t mean that. I just was…never mind.” He ended up grumbling toward the end. I slid down and sat on the concrete of the balcony with my back to the railing. On any other occasion I would be terrified of the height issue, already going through the calculation of the velocity someone of my weight would be traveling if dropped from this height with the air resistance of this altitude when I smacked into the ground below if I fell. I guess my fear of heights had gotten moved much further down the ladder on the hierarchy of fear list.
The monster sighed and ran his hands through his hair once more before pulling what looked like a cell phone out of his pocket.
“I had invited my friend Craig to go out to dinner with us if you got off of you house arrest because I thought you might like his mate. I’ll call and cancel. I don’t think we’re up for company tonight.” He told me even though it sounded more like he was talking to himself.
And I should have kept my mouth shut. I should have just let him make the call. But some sort of desaveu made the curious cat within me stir.
“Who is she?” I asked.
“Her name is Norma. Norma Rodgers.”