trip. He’d ruin it if he brought hell down on me for sneaking away because my
guards were assholes. They should have the same standard as a prison if that was
going to be the case. Guards were not encouraged to taunt prisoners; it makes them
want to do all kinds of bad shit, but if you treat them nicely and with respect, you’ll
have a much more compliant prisoner.
As we strolled, I kept a good grip on Camaro’s leash. We walked for a good half
hour before we finally came close to the trees. I’d adhere to some of Darren’s rules
and stay within my boundaries. I’d have that to barter over later, if it even
mattered. A few minutes later, Camaro started barking at something moving
around in the snow. And the moment I turned to look at what it was, I slipped on
some hidden ice beneath me and crashed to the ground. My hand instantly
loosened around the leash, and that was when Camaro took off running into the
trees.
“Shit! Camaro, no!” I shouted, clutching my side and running after her. The
snow was deep and thick, but Camaro was light enough to run through it while my
footsteps sunk deep in the snow, making it difficult to keep up. “Camaro, stop!”
We were deep in the trees now as I tried to catch up to her, running as fast and as
hard as I could. If I lost her out here, I didn’t know what I would do, but I didn’t
want to find out. Eventually, she finally stopped at a random tree to bark at the
damn critter as it climbed up the tree.
“Camaro!” I yelled, gripping her leash and pulling her to me. “No! Bad!” I yelled
as I clutched her to my chest, attempting to catch my breath. She squirmed in my
arms for a moment before she finally relaxed and licked my face. I sighed. “Please
don’t cause any more problems for me. You’ve done enough already.”
I turned my back and headed toward the house, but the sound of a low deep
growl had me stopping right in my tracks. I felt my blood freeze in my veins, and
my senses went wild as a second growl reverberated through my entire body.
Slowly as possible, I turned my head to the side, and my knees nearly buckled.
Behind me was a very large, very angry looking pack of wolves. There were six of
them in total, most of them a mixture of gray fur while the alpha displayed a heavy
coat blacker than night. Teeth bared, ears back, and eyes directly on me, the alpha
of the pack gave every indication it was officially on the hunt. It snarled as Camaro
cowered in my arms, and I felt myself stumble back.
“Oh. Fuck.”
The alpha wolf approached slowly, that same dark approach I recognized in
another predator I knew so well. I could actually smell the death on its hot breath as
it came closer. I backed away as slowly as I could, barely able to breathe myself as I
kept Camaro tightly in my arms. The remaining wolves snarled and dug their paws
into the snow as they advanced with their alpha, reminding me of how
outnumbered I was.
Suddenly, I felt more stupid than I ever had in my life. I had no weapon, nothing
I could use to fight them off other than my bare hands, and zero backup that
usually came equipped with fire power. And here I was, about to die a very horrible,
painful death by my favorite animal, all because I wanted to see my asshole guards
six feet under. And now, I was about to take their place.
I was such a fucking idiot.
Staying out of the trees as Darren had said suddenly made sense now, but I
would have actually heeded his warning better if I had known there were fucking
wolves out here! I probably wouldn’t have gone outside in the first place! Fuck!
I took another step back, and the growl that left the alpha’s mouth had me
shaking in fear. I’d never regretted sneaking out more in my life. Taking several
steps toward me, its big paws pressing into the frozen ground, my eyes made the
mistake of noticing the giant claws that cut through the snow. My heart was ready
to beat right out of my chest, right onto a silver platter for the pack to feast on. I
wanted to run, but for once, running was definitely not an option. They would rip
Camaro and me to shreds. On the bright side, I’d finally be rid of Darren, but I’d
also be dead as fuck, so that didn’t really help the situation.
For the first time ever, I actually wished Darren were here to help me. And
wasn’t that the all-consuming thought before I died?
Deciding I wasn’t just going to stand here and die, I gently placed Camaro on the
ground and loosely tied her leash to one of the belt loops of my coat. If she took off,
the other wolves would definitely chase her and then she’d be done for. I kept the
tie loose enough so she could get away if I wasn’t able to fight them off.
Considering it was six against one, I doubted I’d last very long.
Expanding my arms to make myself look bigger, I leaned forward and snarled
back at the wolf, hoping my aggression would hinder theirs, but it just made them
jump and snarl more. Camaro barked and whined behind my legs, and it only made
the pack bark back. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, making my body shake
with terror as I strategized internally on how to survive this. I came up with shit.
On its last snarl, the alpha wolf finally took off in a run and leaped into the air,
teeth and claws headed straight for my face. Instinctively bringing my arm up, the
wolf’s teeth latched onto my arm, its jaws clamping down with enough pressure to
make my scream cause an avalanche. Pain electrocuted through my forearm as its
teeth sunk into my skin, even through the thick barriers of my coat, and no matter
how many times I bashed my fist into its head and neck, it never let go. It was going
to kill me. I was going to die by a pack of fucking wolves. Fuck.
But the piercing sound of a bullet ripping through the air suddenly silenced
everything. The weight of the wolf fell over my body, and the sounds of more shots
echoed through the trees quickly followed by the sounds of yelps and crunching
snow. Immediately shoving the now dead wolf off me, I watched as blood drained
from its side, a bullet wound the size of a golf ball burst from its thick black fur. Its
belly rose and deflated several times before it stopped, and a final breath of hot air
left its snout.
I clutched my bleeding arm to my chest, hearing the sound of footsteps quickly
crunching through the snow, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the dead wolf.
My name echoed in the background, but I couldn’t focus on where it was coming
from or whose voice it was. All I could do was stare at the dead wolf that had taken
my place.
“Jaden!” I heard someone call, and it was only a few seconds more before I was
hauled to my feet and shaken back to reality. “What the fuck are you doing out
here!?”
My breath caught in my lungs as I looked up at Darren’s extremely livid face. I
couldn’t find my words. His hands were gripping my upper arms, keeping me
steady, but it didn’t stop my body from shaking in absolute terror.
“Where are your bodyguards?!” he shouted, making me wince, and I tried to
focus on forming words.
“I … I don’t know,” I whispered.
“Look at me,” he
ordered, but his gloved hands wrapped around my face, tilting
my head up and gave me little room to argue. “Are you hurt?” His eyes scanned
wildly up and down my body, searching for injuries until he finally saw the blood
seeping through my coat.
“My arm,” I murmured.
And then two more shots reverberated off the trees, making me jump. Darren
remained unfazed, his eyes only focused on my arm.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath as he gently took my arm in his hands.
And then he went back to being angry. “Why are you alone? How the fuck did you
get out here?” he asked. He was furious. I could feel it coming off his skin and
seeping into mine like venom, and I had to fess up to that.
“I s-snuck out,” I mumbled quietly before turning my eyes away, unable to take
the heat anymore. Fuck, my arm hurt.
“Goddammit,” he murmured under his breath and pulled me to his chest. My
instinct was to hold him tighter, but I could barely move. My eyes looked up toward
his shoulder and came into contact with the rifle strung over his back. And that was
when I realized Darren was the one who fired the shot. He’d actually saved my life;
something I never thought in a million years would ever happen. What the fuck had
I done?
“I’m sorry,” I said, my tears now filling my voice as I released my fear through
my eyes.
He sighed heavily and then released me.
“I got two more,” I heard another voice say in the distance. It must have been
Scott. “Lost the rest when they crossed the river.” That was when I looked over a
noticed two more dead wolves laying in the snow.
“We’ll check the area later for more. Right now, I need to get her back. Here,
take the dog,” Darren commanded, reaching down for Camaro and handing her to
Scott after he’d lifted the dead wolf over his shoulder.
“No,” I replied quietly in protest. I didn’t want to give her up. I was afraid she’d
be gone for good.
“Quiet,” Darren ordered sternly, shutting me up without argument. “Put
Romero and Alex in my office and find their replacements. I’ll deal with them after
I’m done with this one,” he said nodding at me.
I sucked in a breath. I knew I was fucked.
“Come on, we need to take care of your arm. Keep it elevated,” Darren said and
began to guide me back to the house. My eyes stayed on Scott who carried Camaro
in one arm while the dead wolf laid draped over his shoulder, its bloodied tongue
hanging from its mouth.
I didn’t say a word as Darren nearly dragged me back to the house, his fury so
evident I shivered because of it. My tears had dried down my face in frozen rivers,
and I had a feeling there would be lots more to come. The pain of what was likely to
come was far greater than any wolf bite.
39
TROUBLE
W hen we got back to the cabin, Darren took me back to our room, the posts of
Romero and Alex replaced with two more new faces, ones I didn’t even bother
to look at. It would likely just make things worse. Yanking the door open, he nearly
threw me inside, and I almost went face first into the carpet if I hadn’t caught
myself. Slamming the door behind him, he nearly tore off his own coat and dropped
it to the floor. I felt the coward in me come alive as he stalked toward me, eyes like
ice that pierced my courage.
“Darren, I’m sorry. Please, I’m sor—”
“Not a word,” he said, his voice deadly calm as he began to gently peel off my
coat. I shut my mouth and grimaced as the fabric moved against my stinging skin,
and when he softly pulled the sleeve of my bloodied sweater up, my stomach
instantly twisted in my cut. The dark imprint of a canine’s bite was torn into my
skin, dark bruising surrounding the punctures as blood clotted over them.
Darren sighed and pulled me toward the bathroom before lifting me onto the
counter and rummaging through the cabinets for a first-aid kit. He pulled out a
bunch of antiseptics, coated his hands in a heavy-duty sanitizer, and ripped some
kind of wipe from a packet. Darren then placed his back to me and took my arm
between his arm and side and locked me in place.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice almost panicked.
“This is going to hurt,” he said, and then the sting of a thousand bees enveloped
my arm as he wiped it down.
I gasped loudly, unable to stop myself from attempting to jerk my arm away
from Darren’s grip, but he kept it in place. I pressed my forehead into his shoulder
blade as he continued to gently wipe my arm down over and over, cleaning the
blood and disinfecting the bite. I didn’t cry, but the pain of Darren cleaning me up
had me groaning and biting my lip until I thought that was going to start bleeding
too.
Darren sighed again. “One of your puncture wounds is going to need stitches.”
I groaned.
Rummaging through the kit again, Darren pulled out a second, smaller box
containing a needle and thread.
“Wait, you’re doing them?” I asked.
“I’ve stitched myself up many times, Jaden. This is no big deal.” Darren then
took a small tube, squeezing a dab of clear cream onto his fingertips and gently
rubbed it around the entire bite mark. “This will help numb the pain.”
As the pain in my arm slowly faded, I watched while Darren threaded the needle
and then moved to put my arm back into locking position.
“Wait, I need to see,” I complained. I needed to know what he was doing.
“No, you don’t. Close your eyes and breathe.”
I pressed my forehead into Darren’s back again and felt my skin tug slightly
until the needle slipped through my flesh. The pain was manageable, but that
didn’t make it comfortable.
In less than five minutes, Darren was finished, and two small black stitches
it heavily in gauze. He then grabbed a pill bottle from another cabinet, filled a
disposable cup with water from the sink, and handed me the cup. When I took it, he
then popped two capsules in his palm.
“Open,” he ordered, and I complied. “Swallow.”
I sipped back the entire cup of water, effectively swallowing the pills, and set the
cup down.
When everything was cleaned up, Darren placed his hands on the counter,
leaning against it, his head down and sighed heavily. I could tell he was trying to
reign in his rage, and it was making me nervous.
“Tell me how you got out,” he said. His voice was too calm for comfort, and the
fact that he wasn’t even looking at me made the blood rush through my veins
again.
My stomach dropped, while my eyes inadvertently wandered over to the still
filled bathtub and then up to the window I climbed out of.
“Climbed out the window,” I mumbled.
Darren lifted his head and sighed again.
“Why?”
“I was mad at them. Romero wouldn’t let me go outside after you said I could. So
I just … left.”
“You just left?”
He made it sound like I did something impossible. I guess it should have been,
&nb
sp; but it wouldn’t be the first time I’d done the impossible.
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Maybe thirty minutes?”
Darren released a heavy breath, closed his eyes, and ran his fingers through his
hair. I watched as he walked away from the counter, his chest rising and falling and
further quaking my nerves until he finally looked at me. For the first time ever, I
actually saw fear in his eyes. Fear and pain.
“Jesus, Jaden, I almost lost you today. You would have been killed. Do you realize
that? You’re lucky I was there to intervene.”
“Yes, I realize that.”
“Then why the FUCK did you disobey me and go beyond the trees?!” The anger in
his voice made me jolt inside, but it didn’t dull my own voice. I felt the shock of my
near-death experience begin to lift. How the fuck could I know the trees meant
wolves?
“I didn’t mean to! I slipped on some ice, and Camaro got loose. She chased after
some animal, and I went after her.”
“And you didn’t think that maybe there was a good reason why I wanted you to
stay within proximity of the house?”
“I wasn’t just going to let her run off and get lost!” I shouted at him. “I had no
idea there were wolves out there!”
“Neither did I! Which was why I went hunting with Scott earlier to make sure the
area was safe!”
“Well maybe you should have disclosed that first! I might have actually listened
for once if you had better intentions other than being a controlling asshole!”
“Watch it, little girl,” he growled. “None of this would have happened if you’d
gone with your guards like you were supposed to.”
“And I would have if they weren’t total dicks! Romero wouldn’t even let me go
outside after you said I could and that’s bullshit! I have no one, Darren! The least
they could do is be nice to me!”
Darren regarded me for a moment before his gaze suddenly intensified, his arms
folding across his chest as he squared his stance.
“And what made Romero rescind on my order?” he asked, the accusation in his
tone evident.
I bit my bottom lip and glared at him. “Probably had something to do with the
fact that I kicked him in the ribs and knocked him on his ass.”
I could see the amusement flash in his eyes, but it was gone in a second.