Chapter Sixteen

Elena and Roman glanced at each other before they simultaneously said, "We know."

I cocked my head, "You do?"

They nodded. It shouldn't have surprised me that they already figured it out, after all, they were their Packs.

"Who?" I questioned.

Again, they looked at each other before Elena said, "We have an idea."

Roman looked at his wristwatch and reported to no one in particular, "I should get back before he becomes suspicious." And then he walked back into the hotel.

I waited until the door swung shut, "It's Sasha then?" I deduced.

Elena nodded sadly, "It's a shame for someone that close to you to betray you."

I remained silent and thought (quite maddeningly) of William. "So what now?" I asked, before my traitorous mind could go any further.

"We go back inside and pretend this conversation never happened," she glanced slyly at me before gesturing me through the door she now held open.

We walked into the dining room to find it near empty save for Clayton and Jeremy. They both raised their heads from their conversation at our approach. For a moment, the three seemed to be having a silent conversation through their minds because they all stared at each other.

Then Clay spoke up, "You'll be leaving in a half an hour, it'll take you two to get to the gas station. We'll follow you there, and make sure everything goes according to plan. Understood?" he said in his usual gruff manner and Southern drawl.

"Yes."

"Good," Elena stepped in. "Why don't you go to your room and get ready?" It was posed as a question, but clearly it was a command. And for once, I had no energy to argue with authority, so (mark it on your calendars) I did as I was told.

On my way to my room, I passed Nick and Antonio's room. The door was open and I could see Hope and Karl in there too. I didn't know why, but I got the distinct impression they were making battle plans. But who knew?

I walked three doors down from their room to mine and Kat's. I pushed open the not quite shut door to see both Kat and Logan there. Kat was sitting on the padded desk chair and Logan on the edge of the foot of the bed. No one said a word.

When I crossed the threshold, Kat slowly stood up and- much to my surprise- gave me a light hug. I awkwardly patted her back. I wasn't a very affectionate person.

When she pulled back I folded my arms, "What was that for?" I asked.

She gave me a look that rivaled what I'd seen from her dad, "Just don't get yourself killed," she ordered. "You're the only one around here my age with two X chromosomes."

I stood at attention and gave her a mock salute, "Yes ma'am."

She shook her head and exited the room, though not before I saw a smile on Kat's face, shutting the door behind her.

That left me alone with the bane of my existence, Logan Danvers, in a hotel room. I crossed my arms again and slowly walked over to stand in front of him. His eyes tracked me the whole way.

"Any words of wisdom you wish to impart?" it was supposed to sound sarcastic, instead it was a whisper.

He stared at me for a long moment (I stared back) before tugging my hand so that I sat beside him. He looked right into my eyes and softly said, "No."

"Good, because I was going to-" he cut off the beginning of my shameful nervous rambling with one swift motion… of his lips.

The sad truth was that this was the first real kiss I'd ever gotten. I may have been seventeen, but don't forget I was the girl everybody was secretly afraid of for reasons they didn't know. The only guys I even hung out with were Emery and Nolan, and Nolan was in a relationship and Emery was more my brother than anything.

But back to the kiss.

My God it was amazing! As cliché as it was, when his lips touched mine, an electric current zinged through my body. Logan's lips were so soft and smooth. The kiss was short and sweet, but it left me wanting so much more. And again, you have to understand that I'm not into affection, so imagine how great that kiss just was.

Logan pulled back with a small smile that wonderfully lit up his blue eyes. Knowing my luck and lack of control over my expressions during times of nonviolence, I probably had a goofy grin plastered to my face. Then his face turned serious and he pulled me into a hug then quickly let go. He grabbed my upper arms and bent his neck so his face was level to mine.

"You will not get hurt, Kaine," he looked me square in the eyes. "You won't be stupid either. That mutt is going to try to hurt you physically, but when that won't work, he'll switch to mental torture. He's smart, he'll twist things around. Just don't believe it, okay?"

I had already figured as much. "I know."

Logan searched my eyes once more before letting me go and standing up. He pulled me up by my hands. "Don't know if they'll let you keep a bag of clothes, but you might as well pack your duffel." He released my hands.

I expected him to leave as I bent to get my bag from under the bed. Instead, he sat in the desk chair Kat had vacated and started quizzing me on random things. Question three: "When's your birthday?"

"November 16th," I answered, trying to stuff my sweat pants into the bag.

"That's next week."

I looked up, "Is it? I'll be eighteen." I said casually and went back to packing. I used to make a big deal of my birthday, but suddenly it didn't seem all that important. I had so much else to worry about.

Logan looked mildly concerned at my lack of enthusiasm, but moved on, "Favorite flower?"

I grimaced and laughed drily, "Used to be lilacs." Logan laughed at the irony too. "I guess its orchids now."

He nodded like it was one of the most important things in the world.

I zipped the bag and turned to face him, "What about you? What's your favorite color, flower, subject, when's your birthday?"

"Red, I'm a guy so I can't have a favorite flower, history, and July 7th." He ticked each answer off his fingers.

"Right," I absorbed the information and looked at the door regretfully. "I should leave now," I sighed.

Two hours later I sat in my (stolen) truck in the gas station parking lot. Clay, Antonio, Nick, Kat, and the Russian twins were piled into a rented SUV a mile away. A few assorted vehicles had stopped and gone during the fifteen minutes I'd been sitting here.

I'd already gotten the speech. Don't do anything rash or stupid. If something sudden happens, just say the word and they're there. Be smart. Be confident, but not arrogant and irritating. Mention nothing of the Russian Pack because they were the only wild card in the whole scheme.

I even got a special little add on from Kat. "Sasha is a mole; he already told the mutt our plans. The mutt thinks we'll be there in three days, no matter what information we get from you. Really, we'll be there sooner. We don't know when yet, and that's the way it'll be until we burst through those doors. Metaphorically of course, we wouldn't make such a noisy entrance."

At present time though a little voice buzzed in my ear, "Any sign of them?"

I sighed, annoyed, "No Nick. Just like I said a minute ago, I'll tell you when I see them." The necklace around my neck was what was transmitting my voice back to them. It was unisex, designed to look inconspicuous on anybody. I didn't really like the thought of having something someone could strangle me with around my neck, but I hadn't a choice.

Kat laughed, "Well Kaine, if you hadn't driven like a madman and gotten here a half hour early, we wouldn't be having this problem."

It was true, I'd received many cuss words through the comms unit in my ear on the way because Antonio couldn't keep up. We even had to pull over at one point so he and Clay could switch seats. Clay had no problem following me.

"Can't help it, I learned to drive on Need for Speed the video game," I answered distractedly as a silver Ford Taurus pulled up to a gas pump.

Someone chuckled, "Go figure."

The Taurus drove away. A moment later a monster sized black Suburban replaced it. It pulled to a stop in front of the store, two parking spaces to the left of my truck. Since my window was rolled down, I got a face full of werewolf when the passenger door of the SUV opened.

As quietly as I could, I whispered, "They're here. Black Suburban, it has a tiny scratch on the back left fender." I felt like a spy right from the movies. Hopefully, this would follow the honored plotline of the movies too. Heroine & Co. make plan, something goes slightly wrong, Heroine thinks all is lost, Heroine is wrong, Heroine & Co. escape with minor bruising. Of course, I could really do without step two and three, but it was better than the alternative where we all die.

Anyways, Kat responded with a, "Got it," and fell silent.

The werewolf that had emerged from the SUV sauntered up to my truck with the one wolfy from my previous capture that had attempted to talk to me in the vehicle. I couldn't help but smile when I saw his hand bandaged. Point for Kaine.

I opened my door and stepped down. The two men stopped within a foot of me, they tensed when I reached back into the truck silently to get my duffel bag. "Can I take this?" I asked, even as I hoisted it onto my shoulder and started to walk to their car. They scrambled to catch up to me and flanked me like it had been their idea all along. I grinned harder. A long as I kept in control of the situation, I was safe.

I reached for the back door of the SUV and opened it, climbing in. The guy with the bandaged hand and bruised ego slid in next to me, the other one took the passenger seat. I looked around the Suburban. Michael was driving again. To my left was another mystery werewolf.

In the tense silence, I leaned back in my seat and started humming. Ten minutes later the guy to my right shouted, "Bloody hell! Stop the humming!"

I voiced a few more bars before stopping. I swear I heard laughter coming from my comms unit.

The man growled and rubbed his bandaged hand. I noticed the bandage was turning pink, then red from more bleeding. I looked up at the owner of the hand, "I'd get that checked if I were you."

He started to raise his hand to slap me, I sat there staring, bracing myself but not flinching. Surprisingly, I was saved by Michael, his eyes flicked between the road and the rearview mirror, "Hey! Boris wants her unharmed! Leave her alone Angelo." Angelo slowly lowered his hand, an ugly sneer on his pale face.

A tiny smile formed on my face on cue. I turned to Michael. "So Boris is the mutt?"

Michael glanced at me through the mirror, he frowned as if trying to understand my aim, "He isn't a mutt, he's part of the UK Pack, but yes, that's who you're thinking of." His tone was part bitterness and part wariness.

I nodded, "Let me guess, he blackmailed you."

Everyone looked sharply in my direction. "What do you mean, 'blackmailed'?" Michael asked me angrily, although I detected a little bit of worry too.

"You do know what blackmail means don't you?" I asked sarcastically. "You're a vampire, I haven't been a part of his long, but vampires don't hang with werewolves. And you're doing his dirty work like tracking a seventeen year old girl, and escorting said girl. You're either being blackmailed, have an ulterior motive or are really, really, dumb."

Unfortunately, he was saved from answering by a ringing cell phone. It was my cell phone. I'd left it in my pocket. Everyone looked at me like I should know better than to bring my cell when I'm turning myself in. I looked at the caller ID and saw it was Emery. I held up my forefinger in a 'give me a moment' signal and answered, "Hello."

"Kaine?" he sounded so wonderfully familiar I almost cried, "I'd thought you had fallen off the face of the world."

"Eh," I glanced around, I really had fallen off one world, at least from my sheltered, ignorant human one, "something like that." I could have laughed at the expressions of the men around me. They varied from helplessness to fury to incredulousness.

"So what have you been up to the last month and a half?" Emery asked.

I laughed, "Nothing much, you?"

"Just training and school. Did you find a gym over there?"

"Yeah, classes start," I checked my phone calendar, "today." Guess I could rule out making it to that one. That was depressing. I heard a car door slam on his end. "Where are you?" I asked.

"Outside your door," I hear a doorbell ring on his line, when I should have heard right in my house.

"Emery, I wish you would have called. I'm not home," I felt bad. I suddenly remembered the text Logan had read about Emery stopping by this week. I should have remembered.

"No problem," he sounded kind of disappointed, "I'll wait for you to get back."

I sighed and shushed Angelo as he started to talk, "That's the thing, I won't be home for a while. A long while. I'm sure my parents will let you stay as long as you want though. "

He fumbled a little with his words, "Uhh, okay. I'll umm, see you sometime then. Bye Kaine," he said softly and hung up.

I hung up too and blinked sadly before remembering my surroundings. I replaced my confidence. "Sorry 'bout that boys." They all looked at me like I was insane. I sighed dramatically, "I suppose you want my phone."

The man to my left held out his hand and I placed it in it. The werewolf in the passenger seat spoke up for the first time, "Check her bag."

The same man who took my cell took my bag off my lap too. He unzipped it and sorted through everything. It was only clothes and toiletries. To my disgust, Angelo reached across me and grabbed a pair of my cotton underwear. He held them up to his face and inhaled.

"Bitch in heat, the best smell in the world." He continued to inhale.

I wanted to kill him so bad, instead I calmly said, "Hey, to each his own. If you prefer to masturbate with my underwear than go out and actually find a girl who'll lay you, good for you."

I almost think he would have let the comment pass if Michael and the guy searching my bag hadn't laughed. But they did, so Angelo threw my panties down with a snarl and slapped his un-bandaged hand across my face.

I smiled through the pain, probably looking like a madwomen but not caring because I had the satisfaction of seeing Angelo overcome with fury and frustration.

I wasn't the only one who noticed. The guy searching my duffel hurriedly shouted, "Get him out of the car! He's Changing!"

Michael slammed on the brakes and the man in the passenger seat jumped out and opened Angelo's door. He started to pull him out and I pushed Angelo's flailing form. He was dumped onto the ground, and only now did I realize we were at the beginning of a long gravel driveway, similar to the one that led to Stonehaven. The passenger seat sitter got back in the SUV and shut the door.

"Just drive," he said, "he can walk back to the house. Hothead…" he started muttering names and curses.

Michael continued down the driveway. I started humming again. Ten minutes later he pulled into a garage. We all got out and exited through a small door that led into a utility room. I was led through that room into a hallway. It was designed in a T shape. We came out at the corner of the cross section. We walked and weaved through a number of hallways that I committed to memory before we finally stopped at an engraved door. Michael pulled it open and I was nudged inside.

It was a living room. The carpet was very thick, white, and soft. A burgundy couch was placed along the far wall. A smaller matching love seat was positioned in front of the other one with about ten feet between them. A low wooden coffee table was also in that space. An armchair was on one side of the arrangement and on the other was a huge fireplace. The walls were tan. A lot of other little details made the room seem like something out of a home decorating catalog.

But I wasn't really concerned with what the room looked like, more of who was in it. Not really surprising was the mutt, Boris. He sat on the love seat with his feet propped up on the coffee table. His back to me, he didn't turn around as I walked in.

My attention though, was more focused on the scrawny little kid on the bigger sofa that used to be my brother. Oh, I still had hope I'd get him back, but that emotion was quickly failing as I saw the look on his face. Pure hate and disgust. He wouldn't even look at me. I'm pretty sure I whispered, "William," but no one responded.

The door clicked behind me. The three of us were alone.

"Hello Kaine, take a seat." Not a friendly request, no, a steely command.

"I prefer to stand if it's all the same," I mechanically resumed my sarcastic demeanor. The comms unit in my ear had been silent for a while now.

"Very well," Boris sighed.

I don't know how long I stood there, silent. I do know that I was not going to be the one to cave into the silence and break it. And I didn't.

Boris tossed a careless look over his shoulder at me, "I suggest you talk to brother now. This is what you asked for."

I almost laughed, of course I wasn't going to get any alone time with William like I'd stated to the mutt on the phone. I wasn't surprised one bit.

I stayed where I was… how to start?

Turns out I didn't have to, "Kaine, I am telling you now. I hate you. I will never leave with you. I am staying here now and nothing will change that. You can talk to me all you want, but I'll still be here when they cart your body away either from old age or murder." The way he spoke, so calculated and hate filled. I wanted to believe so bad that the mutt was holding a gun on him where I couldn't see, I wanted to believe anything other than what I'd just heard. But deep down, I knew it was all real, he meant everything he said.

"I'm so sorry…" A voice in my ear whispered, I think it was Kat.

I wasn't really focused enough to care. I stood there shell-shocked for another immeasurable amount of time.

"Well Kaine," Boris stood, and William followed suite, "I think that takes care of my side of deal. If you—."

I cut him off, finally coming to. "Where is the Alpha of this Pack?"

He tilted his head and studied me, "On holiday." His lips twisted ever so slightly.

"You killed him didn't you?" I accused, not really sure where I was going with this. I just wanted William to see how ruthless this man really was.

The man gave a slow calculated smile before answering, "No, William did."

For a second, I stared blankly at him, then I started to wildly shake my head. Shaking it to get all these stupid, stupid lies out of my head. William wouldn't kill anything bigger than a spider. He couldn't do it. He used to wake up before my parents to set the mice free from the traps in the barn. He wouldn't kill another person. Ever.

I didn't get to say any of this though, because I was knocked unconscious by a 2x4 to the back of my head.

I woke up handcuffed to a bed post and with a killer headache. Oh, and I can't forget the frantic whispering that seemed to be coming from inside my head. At first, I came to the completely rational assumption that I went crazy in the amount of time I was unconscious. Then I remembered the ear wig.

"Kat?" I moaned when I made sure no one was in the room with me. Then again, I could barely see the edge of the bed I was in it was so dark. The blinds were drawn, and no amount of light was seeping through. I thought it was night time.

"Kaine? No it's me, Nick." He sounded relieved.

"Oh," I mumbled, still trying to overcome the feeling my head was getting bashed in.

He laughed softly, "Don't sound so disappointed. What happened, kid?"

"Don't call me kid," I muttered automatically. "I got hit in the head with a piece of wood. Knocked out," I explained ashamedly.

Nick must have picked up on my tone, "Hey, we all have those moments of stupidity. Are you good now?"

I looked around again, my eyes adjusting to the dark. I could make out the shapes of furniture; a chair, dresser, desk, sofa, and table. From what I could see, it would be a sweet room if I wasn't being held prisoner. "Sort of," I answered finally, "I'm handcuffed to a bed post."

"Kinky," he said.

I couldn't help but smile a little. But then I got back to business. You'd think that they'd have learned after watching me break three inch wide steel bars, but no, they put me in handcuffs attached to a wooden post. Idiots. So with one swift, easy motion of my wrist it broke and I was free. "Well that was easy," I muttered, almost disappointed.

I climbed out from under the covers. I was still in my clothes from earlier. I walked over to the window- each step sending a throbbing pain up to my brain- and peered outside. The first rays of sunlight were sneaking up over the horizon. Next I hobbled over to the door on the far side of the room. I opened it to find a bathroom. I shut that without even looking inside.

I looked around and spotted another door. This time I flattened myself to the floor and stuck my nose up to the little crack between the door and the floor. I sniffed. Nothing. I grabbed the door knob and yanked, expecting it to be locked. It wasn't. The door flew open, but luckily I caught it before it hit the wall.

It was like they wanted me to escape.

I half expected Michael to be standing there, because he'd be a perfect guard since he didn't smell. But he wasn't. I looked around the hallway, nothing there either. This was just way too easy.

"Nick?" I spoke as softly as I could, trying my hardest not to break the eerie silence.

"Yeah?" his voice was so loud I flinched.

"Something's not right."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. Gut feeling?" I started to slowly stalk down the hallway, just picking a random direction since I didn't remember this on my mental map.

"Ah, well then be careful. Instincts are always right," he went silent again.

I didn't respond, instead I just kept walking, stopping every few yards to sniff the air. A minute later I hit a cross section and sniffed again. I instantly smelled the scent I associate with all male werewolves. Because now that I think about it, females do have a different scent, not the bitch in heat Angelo smelled, but definitely different than males. But more specifically, I recognized the smell to be the mutt's- and it was fresh. So, like the stupid heroine I always yell at on screen, I followed the scent.

I must have been tracking it for at least ten minutes before I came to a small metal door coming off the old kitchen. I'm talking brick ovens, a hand water pump, huge iron tubs for washing dishes, and one of those big rocks on a spinning wheel used to sharpen knives. Yup, it was old.

Again, I did the stupid thing and opened the door. It revealed a small flight of stone/dirt steps that I followed down. I expected to see a dusty cellar with bottles of old wine. Instead I saw plate lined walls, gleaming floors, fluorescent light fixtures, big steel tables and clear cabinets holding everything from Pledge disinfectant to scalpels.

I had to close my eyes for a minute to adjust to the new lighting, and in that time, something new entered the picture. Boris.

"I surprised it took you this long Kaine." Then he whipped up a gun from under his lab coat and shot me in my left arm.

Darkness swirled around me until I collapsed into the nothingness.