Chapter 19
“So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.” – Paulo Coelho
Rose's POV
“Boss said we weren’t to touch her!” exclaimed a gruff voice.
My head was pounding as consciousness slowly returned to me.
“Oh come on, Ray. He wouldn't know. We won’t hurt her.” A second, cajoling, voice pierced the fog in my skull.
He sounded like a spoiled child begging for sweets. I focused on keeping my eyes closed and breathing even as everything came flooding back. I’d been kidnapped.
“Bobbin, ya know we won’t get paid if ‘e finds out!” snapped the gruff voice who, I assumed, belonged to Ray.
The pounding in my head just kept increasing.
Maybe I had a concussion. The smell of cigarettes and beer was strong.
Lights from above were piercing through my closed eyes and adding to the intense pain in my head.
I hoped they’d stay away from me as long as they thought I was asleep.
My hands were tied behind my back as I lay on my side over a hard mattress.
Bobbin grumbled something indiscernible.
“Go stand guard outside,” Ray demanded. There was more grumbling from Bobbin before there was the slamming of a door.
I distinctly realized that the smell of cigarettes decreased somewhat.
I could discern their smells, I realized.
Opening my eyes a crack, I saw the kidnapper, who was Ray, standing with his back to me.
His back stiffened, and he turned to look at me.
I quickly shut my eyes. They needed to think I was still asleep.
But I was so scared, it was hard to regulate my breathing into a normal pattern.
Scolding myself to calm down, I tried to think of a viable plan of action.
Being afraid wasn’t going to help, and it wasn’t going to get me out of here.
I tried to think rationally. I couldn’t open my eyes, but I had developed a keen sense of smell, so I took stock of my surroundings using my nose.
The faint smell of dirt and trees hit my nostrils.
I didn’t know how much time had elapsed, but I was pretty sure I must still be in the woods next to the road.
Oh goddess, were they planning to rape me in these woods and then leave me to die?
But no… Boss…they had a boss who wanted me in one piece. But why?
My mind was careening every which way, quaking in fear but at the same time urging me to figure a way out of this. I was no warrior. I wasn’t like Layla. But one thing I knew was that the mind was a powerful thing.
“You can stop pretending to be sleeping. I knew you were awake the moment you started breathing all fast.”
Ray’s voice was matter of fact, slick like oil rolling down a hill. He had no qualms whatsoever over kidnapping a young girl.
I opened my eyes. A middle-aged man with sagging cheeks and a potbelly looked back at me. He didn’t seem like a werewolf. Werewolves were usually fit.
“Please let me go,” I croaked out.
Ray shook his head.
“No can do. Boss said we were to keep you here until he came back.”
Back? So was it their boss that had been the huge wolf who had kidnapped me? He had been so big…bigger than even Aiden or my father’s wolf. I shivered at the memory of the bloodlust in the wolf’s eyes. Whoever he was, he was powerful.
“What’s he going to do to me?” I asked fearfully.
Ray shrugged, as my eyes flicked to a small side table next to my head. It was littered with empty beer bottles…
“Look, we just following orders, girl. Bobbin and I, we need some money and Boss was willing to give it to us in exchange for helping him keep an eye on you. We ain’t supposed to ask Boss any nosy questions.”
I struggled experimentally. I felt a pain shoot up my leg and winced. I’d forgotten about the injury. It seemed to be healing but the werewolf’s teeth had sunk deep into my leg. It would still take time for it to heal completely. That is, of course, if it didn’t get an infection first.
“I’m hurt. I need to see a doctor,” I tried again.
Ray looked down at my leg warily. My leg was covered in blood. It really did look worse than it was thanks to the fact that no one had bothered to clean me up.
“If I don’t show it to someone, it could get infected. I might need to get it cut off!” I exclaimed earnestly.
“Stop bluffin’,” Ray said, puffing out his chest. “Boss said it was just a scratch. You'll be aight.”
“Does it look like a scratch?” I challenged. I moved my leg and winced. “Something bit me. At least untie me so I can take a look at it.”
“You're one of them shapeshifters like Boss,” Ray said decidedly. “He said we can’t untie you.”
OK, so that meant these guys were human, but they knew about werewolves. If I had to guess, some rogue wolf was trying to get revenge on my pack by harming me. I gulped as a cold sliver of fear sneaked down my spine. What was he going to do to me?
“I’m human,” I choked out. “I can’t shift. Whatever he told you is a lie.”
There was a crack as Ray’s hand fell flat against my face. A searing pain rattled me and then I felt blood trickle down my lip. He’d slapped me. He’d slapped me so hard that he split my lip.
“Shut up! I ‘ave my orders, you bitch!” Ray had lost his temper and was raging at me now. “You dunno what it’s like…I have a family to look after and no money! People don't like employing convicts. Boss...Boss is gonna help me! I just need a little start-up money to turn my life round. I ain’t gonna let you ruin this for me.”
I gulped and spoke again. “How would your children feel knowing that you destroyed an innocent person’s life all because of them?”
My voice was even and cool even though my emotions were raging inside. Keep him talking. As long as he kept talking, I could get as much information as possible out of him.
Crack!
He slapped me again and this time, I saw stars.
Bobbin entered the room.
“You say we ain’t to touch her!” Bobbin exclaimed, distraught.
“Look after her, I need some air,” Ray snarled.
“Boss ain’t gonna be too happy about this,” Bobbin said hesitatingly.
Ray’s response was the slamming of the door.
“But what the boss doesn't know won’t hurt us,” Bobbin whispered maliciously, licking his lips, eyes on me.
I looked at Bobbin warily. It seemed like I was out of the frying pan and into the fire.
A shiver of fear coursed through my veins.
This was an altogether new situation now.
One I was not at all equipped to handle.
Bobbin walked over to me like a predator stalking his prey, beady eyes fixated on me. He was bald and fat. Another human.
“Please don’t,” I whispered, afraid. I tried to scoot towards the headboard, but my leg was still injured. Bobbin licked his lips again, eyes trained on my heaving chest. He climbed onto the bed. I bit back the desire to beg him to stay away.
“I won’t hurt you, sugar,” Bobbin said in a saccharine sweet voice.
A hand came out to pat the side of my head.
“No…no…it won’t hurt as long as you don’t fight me. I’m not going to hit you like Ray. I know how to treat a lady.”
His eyes were dark pools filled with lust. His cold, slimy tongue snaked out to lick over the dark freckle on my slender neck, and pudgy sweaty hands came up to rip open my button-up shirt.
The buttons fell with a clatter as Bobbin pulled back to look at my chest in a white cotton bra, eyes gleaming maliciously.
I was frantic with fear as overwhelming despair engulfed me.
No one was here to save me. No one was going to come, and Bobbin would have his way with me.
“I’m a virgin,” I sobbed out, begging him to spare me.
There was no room for my ego in this stifling room. I’d thought my first time would be with someone I loved…
Bobbin’s eyes seemed to light up at my words. He hungrily observed his prey shaking in fear. I felt like I was going to faint from the terror seizing me.
“Sugar, don’t worry. I’ll make it good for you.” Bobbin’s sickly-sweet voice made bile rise in my throat. This man was despicable!
He reached out to fumble with the rope behind my back, breath hot against my shoulders. I tensed for a moment, eyes flitting to the beer bottles next to my bed before letting out another sob.
I was injured and quaking in fear. Bobbin looked at me happily.
“Good. You’re scared. The more afraid they are, the more likely to comply. It’s the ones that fight back that one has to be wary of. Now, I need to untie your hands to put you in the proper position. I’d have to hold you down at first but soon…soon you'll stop struggling.”
He was practically drooling with anticipation and said in a whisper into my ear, “They always learn eventually it’s better not to fight me.”
My hands fell away from the ties and Bobbin gripped them, forcing me onto my back and pinning my hands above my head as he leaned down over me. My eyes took on a firm steely resolve.
Whack!
I head-butted Bobbin straight in the nose.
“BITCH!” he screamed, clutching his bleeding nose.
I grabbed a glass bottle of beer from the side table and slammed it over his head.
It broke in my hand so that I held the neck of the bottle, its edges now jagged and deadly.
Bobbin fell off the side of the bed, unconscious as his head bled out onto the dirty wooden floor.
Breathing fast, I slammed the door to the room open to find myself outside in the woods.
I looked around frantically, sniffing for the scent of beer.
Ray wasn’t nearby. I began to run. I ran in the opposite direction from where the faint smell of Ray was coming from.
I had to get far away before their boss came back or before Bobbin woke up.
I shivered at the thought of what could have happened if that monster hadn’t untied me.
He’d been overconfident and consumed by lust.
One thing was for sure; Bobbin hadn’t expected me to be strong enough to hurt him.
And if I had managed to hurt him, it was only because I was part werewolf.
It was also because my quick thinking had come in handy.
I felt rage consume me as I ran for my life.
How many innocent girls had he forced himself on in the past?
I felt myself becoming winded, my lungs burning and threatening to burst from too much exertion. Ignoring the pain, I kept pushing myself from strength born of pure dread. They couldn’t find me. They couldn’t. My leg hurt, and I was limping, but I kept going, lungs on fire.
Out of nowhere, someone grabbed me. Someone with a muscular and very naked chest. I screamed. I screamed and thrashed, kicking and scratching. They wouldn’t get me. I wouldn’t let him get me. Whoever it was fell to the ground, arms clutched around me as I struggled wildly.
“Rose…Rose…Rose…”
Someone was calling my name…someone familiar. I had to get away…
“Rose, calm down. I’ve got you.”
No, I needed to get away. I fought harder.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!”
Aiden…Aiden was here. The growl, the scent, the anger. It was Aiden.
“He’s going to…to…don’t let him touch me!” I screamed as I fought against my captor. Aiden would save me. The arms around me went slack. Someone else touched me…no, not just anyone…Aiden. But I instinctively flinched back.
“She’s in shock!” a new voice spoke up.
It was Layla. And it was the feminine voice that seemed to calm me more than anything. Layla knelt down next to me, gripping me in a tight hug.
“Rose…we’re here. We’ve got you. Look, Jake and Aiden are here too. It’s OK. We aren’t going to let anyone get you.”
Layla’s voice seemed to bring me down from my adrenaline rush and the blinding terror within me subsided. I whimpered.
“Layla…Layla you have to find them. He…he’s a monster! Goddess knows how many girls he’s forced himself on. We…we can’t—” I started to shiver, teeth chattering. I couldn’t breathe.
An overwhelming sensation of dizziness engulfed me, and my eyes rolled into the back of my head as the feeling of being doused with ice water engulfed me. I tried to take in big gasping gulps of air, but my mouth didn’t work.
Layla tightened her arms around me. “She’s having a panic attack!”
But before I could tell them it wasn’t a panic attack, I was stronger than that, my world went black as I slipped into unconsciousness.
Aiden's POV
I looked at Rose, unconscious in Layla’s arms and my heart constricted.
The girl that had run into a burning tent to save my sister and mother was beaten up.
Her leg was covered in blood and only the goddess knows what type of severe injury she had.
Her smooth porcelain skin on her face was developing an ugly bruise over one eye.
There was a handprint on one cheek and blood was crusted over a cut on her swollen lip.
I hesitantly walked over to her. I could only smell a very faint trace of someone…
my hands fisted. Someone had kissed her neck.
Someone had ripped open her shirt. Someone had physically and sexually abused her. They were dead.
“Get her out of here, Layla. Take her to Dr. Danvers. I have a trace on him. We’re going to make him pay,” I gritted out.
And then I was off, changing back into my wolf form with the rest of my team.
Jake followed me. I snapped my teeth ferociously at Jake, still upset over how Jake had gripped Rose.
As if Jake had any right to! Jake had scared Rose, jumping out of nowhere like that.
I was just thankful that my team was able to pick up her scent running through the woods.
They had arrived within mere seconds of Jake finding her.
When I began screaming at Jake to stay away from her, I’d seen the recognition in Rose’s eyes. She hadn’t recognized Jake, but she’d been able to recognize my voice. The way she’d begged me to not let another man touch her...
I pushed myself faster towards my destination, following Rose’s footprints.