Chapter 6
Ispun and glared at the room as if this was all its fault.
The room was functional but homey. The bed could fit four people, the frame made from oak with a moon and wolf pattern carved into it. It was a work of art. The windows were huge and gave me a beautiful view into the woods and beyond. Under different circumstances, I would have loved to stay here.
For right now I was stuck here, so I might as well make the most of it. I found a door leading to a rustic, ensuite bathroom. It was decided. A shower was my next stop.
First, I scoped out the dresser and found one drawer full of casual wear that was roughly my size.
Had Kole gone to the trouble of clearing a drawer and filling it with clothes for me?
The thought made me pause, then I shook my head, throwing the idea away.
The fucker had kidnapped me. I wasn’t going to think well of him just because he gave me some pyjamas.
I snagged a hoodie, t-shirt, and sweatpants and took them into the bathroom with me, not wanting to risk Kole catching me wandering around in a towel.
I locked the door and tried not to think about how arbitrary that lock was.
If Kole and his mad wolf wanted in, this tiny chunk of metal wasn’t going to keep him out.
I stood in the shower, letting the warm water fall over me.
For the first time in days, I allowed myself to weaken.
I knelt on the floor of the shower, forehead pressed against the tile as I tried not to hyperventilate.
Every time I tried to calm myself, memories of giant wolves and giant teeth gnawed at me.
My imagination tortured me, picturing what was going to happen to me in twelve days time.
No.
It wasn’t going to happen. I was getting away before then.
I had time to plan my escape, and besides, I might not even need to.
My call to the police had failed, but the staff at the motel I’d been staying at would notice I was missing eventually.
I was due to check out soon. When I didn’t, they’d go to my room, find all of my things there, my hiking gear, my camera.
They’d call the police. Or Patricia. She might call the police when I didn’t call her.
It had been two days already. She’d call them soon and they’d start a search. They’d find me. They would find me.
Not for the first time, I cursed how alone in life I was. If I had a family this would all be different. I shook my head. Cursing my solitary life wouldn’t help anything so I focused on escape.
Imagining it helped me feel better. I held onto the mental picture of police officers searching for me. I stoked that image into a burning fire that warmed and calmed me. I was getting out of here. One way or the other.
After I’d washed three days’ worth of dirt and grime from my hair and body, I dried off and got dressed.
The clothes didn’t fit me well, but I didn’t care.
My hair was a tangled mess and I spent a few minutes coaxing every knot out of it until the jet black was shiny and smooth.
I’d considered cutting it short many times, but as one of the few feminine things about me, I felt oddly attached to it.
I studied myself in the mirror. My blue eyes looked worn and wary. Sighing, I found a spare toothbrush and scrubbed my mouth within an inch of its life, running my tongue over my clean teeth when I was done. Despite everything, I felt better.
That changed when I stepped back into the bedroom to find Kole sitting at the small table by the window, a bowl covered with a silver cloche in front of him.
His expression was brooding, dark brows knitted into a permanent frown.
The line of his jaw was sharp enough to cut glass and when he looked at me, all I could see in those eyes was pure need.
He was painfully attractive and I hated him for it.
“Sit.” He gestured at the chair in front of him. I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but I was starving. One apple in two days hadn’t quite filled me up. I sat and reached for the bowl but he stopped me, moving the bowl away. I glared at him.
“Seriously? I let you feed me once. Do we really need to do this again?”
“My mother has already explained this to you.” His gaze was steady, unyielding. “You will eat from my hand to solidify the bond. Your body and mind need to trust I will provide?—”
“I’m twenty six years old, I don’t need you to provide for me!”
“I’m not going to debate this with you, Iona. This is the only way that you eat.”
The moment hung between us, a battle of wills. I gritted my teeth and sat back in my seat. I was going to have to play along for a while. He lifted the cloche, revealing a bowl of porridge. I couldn’t stand porridge.
He lifted a spoonful to my mouth and I eyed the beige sludge with distaste. I opened my mouth, welcoming the nutrients. His grip tightened on the spoon as he watched my lips close around it.
I pitied him that the so-called bond had so much control over him. I might be less powerful in every sense, but at least I had my faculties.
“So, what do you think of my pack? Of the town?” he asked and I wondered if he was trying to distract himself.
“Do you make small talk with every woman you kidnap?” He didn’t answer, only withheld the next mouthful from me.
I tried not to laugh at how predictable it was.
Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I answered his question to earn my food.
“I think you do a good job of blending in. Yellowstone to take care of your wolf side, a town full of amenities to take care of your human side.”
“We don’t have a human side,” he said, slipping the spoon into my mouth. I stared at him and gestured at his very human form.
“Don’t be fooled by our skin. We might look human, but we aren’t.
Never make the mistake of treating us like humans or expecting us to react like one.
” My blood turned cold. I was trying so hard to keep my cool in this place, but being trapped in a wolf den had me more terrified than I wanted to admit.
“Are you more or less dangerous than humans?” I leant forward for the next mouthful, my knee brushing his with my movement. I flinched and pulled away, but a fire lit behind his eyes and it burned bright green. He took another steadying breath.
“Depends on who’s asking.”
“Me.”
“How much of a danger we are to you depends entirely on your actions.” He fed me another mouthful and I swallowed. “I can make your dreams or your nightmares come true. Which way that goes is your choice.”
“My dreams have never involved a man kidnapping me,” I said pointedly.
“I’m not a man, Iona.” His eyes shone with amusement so beautiful, so surprising from this stern man, it stole my breath away. “That’s a pretty name, by the way.”
“Thank you.” I wanted to end this conversation now, before he sank any deeper under my skin, but I would continue to play nice. At least until my stomach was full. “I’m named after an island in Scotland.”
“A mix of Scottish and Irish, like us.”
“How long has your family been here in America?”
“A long time.” He looked pleased that I was interacting with him.
Good. Let him relax, let him let his guard down.
“During the 1600s, wolves were being hunted to extinction across Ireland and Scotland. Some were wild wolves, some were my kind. The ones they killed of our kind were the young ones, the small ones. Any hunters that came across a full grown werewolf didn’t live to tell anyone about it, but we knew it was only a matter of time before our luck ran out.
My people emigrated here towards the end of the 18th century. We’ve been settled here ever since.”
That was an impressive piece of history. It boggled my mind that there had been a whole other species living side by side with us, playing by entirely different rules, and we’d had no idea. I wondered how much else was out there I didn’t know about.
“Have you ever been to Scotland or Ireland?” I asked him, accepting another mouthful.
“No. I wanted to go but it wasn’t possible.”
“You have family there still?”
“No. Many of us go back to honour our roots but we don't stay. It’s too hard to hide a pack there and without wild wolves it’s difficult to connect with the moon. I’ve barely ever left the pack actually. I was supposed to tour when I was younger but the war got in the way of that.”
“Tour?” It was an odd word for him to use.
“It’s what the males do. When our mate isn’t in our pack, we tour every pack in the world until we find her.
My case was different, being the next Alpha of the Maclay pack meant that females – the ones from high ranking families with enough resources to travel – came to me, swarming as soon as I turned eighteen.
Then the war broke out and I couldn’t leave, but I sent others to search for you.
They took items of my clothes to every pack in the world to see if any of their females recognised my scent as their mate, but it was fruitless…
obviously.” He looked up at me then and the pain behind his eyes was unmistakable.
“I’ve waited my whole life for you, I’ve searched the world for you, and now you’re here… and you hate me.”
“Yes.” There was no point lying about it.
His jaw clenched as he returned the spoon to the now empty bowl. “You’ll adjust.”
I don’t want to adjust! I wanted to scream the words at him but instead I stayed silent.
“Stay here while I shower.” With that, he headed into the bathroom, leaving me staring at the empty bowl, wondering why one of my least favourite foods had tasted so good.
A moment later I heard the shower running.
I sighed. At least my belly was full now, even if my pride had taken a beating.
And the conversation hadn’t been fruitless.
I knew now that despite his treatment of me, I mattered to him.
I was important. Everything he’d said before hadn’t just been for show. That could be useful if used right.