Chapter Eight
Cassian
My kidnappers were so nice!
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly eat another, Greg,” I giggled and ate the rest of my muffin.
“Hush,” Greg said, handing me another one. “I baked them just for you.”
Again, so nice!
“I wish I could eat more,” I admitted. “But I need to watch my figure a bit.”
Rowan came back into the living room just as I said that. He stopped. “No way, Cass. You’re a catch!”
Blushing, I waved him off. “Oh, you’re just being nice.”
Rowan grinned. “Nah, I’m just being honest.”
They’d brought me here and asked so many questions about wolves.
It seemed they were searching for someone named Jeremy.
I’d concluded that they had to be some kind of countryside mafia gang and Jeremy was someone they either needed to kill, or like me, kidnap.
Their gangs were called packs and they called themselves wolves. It was sort of cool!
After an hour of their questions, which simultaneously left me curious and confused, they seemed to gather that I had no business with any mafia or this Jeremy person.
Then my stomach had growled. It must’ve been loud because Greg had declared he felt like baking.
Rowan had stayed and played cards with me.
That was when their other friend and leader, Silas, had left.
He seemed nice enough and assured me he wasn’t leaving because of me. He just had other matters to tend to.
It might’ve seemed weird to like your kidnappers, but I’d felt so lonely all day and with my confusion over Red being real or not, it was actually nice having company. It hadn’t been like the movies where they tortured me or anything, they’d just asked me things and I’d been truthful.
Accepting another muffin (this one was banana nut), I moaned and slid further into their couch, loving being somewhere without the lingering scent of mold.
“We need to drive Cass home soon,” Rowan declared, taking a muffin himself.
“I don’t want him to go yet,” Greg whined.
I nodded my agreement. I’d had way too much fun for this to be over.
“We were gonna have a sleep over,” I reminded them.
Rowan groaned. “We did agree on that. Fine,” he relented. “I’ll grab some pillows and blankets.” He went upstairs while Greg and I shared a victorious grin.
Once Rowan was back downstairs, we decided to cover the floor in pillows from the couch, making it real comfy.
“Action or comedy?” Rowan asked, turning on the TV.
“Comedy,” I replied instantly. I needed some fun in my life.
He picked a random one, but before it got started, the front door flew open, much like my own had done only a few hours ago. Maybe it was a sort of mafia thing to do, an announcement sort of deal.
Rowan and Greg jumped up from our cozy little cocoon and snarled. I’d never heard grown men make that sound before. It made my neck hair stand.
Six men came inside, looking around the house as if searching for something.
The man in front stole all my attention.
He was drop dead gorgeous. His hair was a light brown shade that almost looked reddish in the soft glow of the light.
His green eyes seemed to glow as they met mine.
Was that relief I saw reflected in his gaze?
Now, I’d seen a lot of handsome men, I could confidently say that, but never had I actually wanted to climb one like a tree, until now.
“Mine,” the gorgeous man stated, his tone growly.
“Hi,” I said, waving from the floor. “You interrupted movie night.”
That stopped the man, his posture changed, his head tilted like I’d seen dogs do. He looked utterly confused. “Movie… Night?”
“Yeah,” I grinned. “Are you friends of Rowan and Greg?”
“Um, no,” he replied, eyeing the men he came with. One I recognized.
“Hey!” I snapped, eyeing the silver haired man. “You’re the jerk who laughed at me!”
I quickly snapped my mouth shut. Red had just been a figment of my imagination. Had the laughing been real then? Oh. My. God! Had he laughed at me because I’d been talking to myself?!
Just kill me now….
“He laughed at you?” Greg demanded, ending the question with a snarl.
“Yeah, at least I think so,” I whispered, not knowing what was real or not anymore.
“Cass is coming with us,” the man in front demanded, ignoring the fact one of his men was a jerk.
“How do you know my name?” I inquired, more intrigued than worried.
He sighed, “Just come. We need to fix your front door.”
“He’s not going with you!” Rowan growled at the same time I blurted, “I don’t know you!”
Greg smirked at the stranger. “See, he doesn’t want to go with you.”
That had the stranger growling, before he seemed to come to some sort of decision and promptly started stripping.
“Hey, now,” I began. There was no reason to get naked!?
He simply winked and then, in a blink it seemed, gone was the lickable stranger, and instead stood….
“Red!” I exclaimed, sobbing as I flew up from the floor and then crushed the wolf into a big hug. Some of the men behind Red moved closer, like they wanted to stop me from hugging him, but to my surprise, the jerk from yesterday stopped them.
Red’s scent enveloped me, comforting me. He wasn’t some made up fantasy creature from my imagination. He was real! Knowing he was okay, that he truly was there, in my arms, had me crying even harder. It felt like I could breathe again.
“So, um,” one of the men who’d barged in said. “We’ll go. Let Silas know Jeremy needs a word with him.” It was said as a threat, and Greg and Rowan snarled in response but nodded their reluctant agreement.
“Come Cass,” the jerk said, his tone kind, but I just glared at him and hugged Red closer to me.
“I’m not going with you!” I gasped, offended he’d even think so lowly of me. He’d laughed and taunted Red yesterday. He could fuck off, for all I cared.
“We need to get you home,” he continued, his tone a tad pleading.
“Na ah,” I said, sounding all mature. “I’m going home with my Red, you can do whatever the fuck you want.”
Red seemed to huff with humor at that.
“For God’s sake,” the jerk muttered. “He’s not Red! He’s Jeremy, and I can’t just leave when you’ve just seen my son shift!”
“Red is your son?” I asked, eyeing him with suspicion.
He nodded, a tad exasperated.
“He’s clearly been brought up by his other parent then, for him to be such a decent wolf.” Maybe he was adopted?
“He’s not a wolf!” he snapped, clearly done with me.
I looked at Red, who was very much a wolf, then back at the jerk.
I whispered to the others, hiding my mouth. “Is he okay?”
The jerk threw his hands up in the air and left.
“Finally,” I sighed, closing my fixed front door behind me. “I thought your dad would never leave.”
Red had stayed by my side as we drove back to my place.
One of the men who’d come with Red and his jerk of a father, named Oric, had kindly offered to drive me home.
Then, as soon as we were here, he and another man helped me fix the door.
“You won’t disappear again in the middle of the night, will you?
” I asked, feeling too tired to keep my eyes open for much longer, but if he was a flight risk, I’d rather coffee it up and stay awake.
He shook his head.
“Good. Then it’s bed time,” I declared and walked up the stairs. It had to be past midnight by now, and I was usually in bed around ten.
Red followed me, like the protective shadow he was.
It made something inside me flutter with hope that he would stay for real this time.
I was kind of ignoring the whole man to wolf thing, for now at least. I felt like I’d met my quota of crazy shit for today, so that would simply be for Tomorrow Me to deal with.
The bathroom seemed less daunting with him in it and, as I brushed my teeth, I decided it might be painting day tomorrow. Back in the bedroom, I stripped down to my boxers and was just pulling the covers to the side, when Red decided this was the perfect time to turn back into a man.
“Nooo,” I whined. “I want wolf cuddles! Not hard muscles and whatever else you got going on.” I gestured to his very naked body.
He blinked. “I, um, I thought we should talk, you know, about everything.”
“Tomorrow,” I stated, getting under the covers and closing my eyes. It took way longer than I’d wanted before the bed dipped. I was glad to find Red was back, his nose sniffed around the bed as he got comfy next to me.
Smiling, I let my fingers brush through his fur. One thing was for certain. I needed Red to stay in my life. He just made everything better.