Chapter 2 #2
“I’m going to keep an eye on them. I can tell where everyone is at any given moment when they’re around.
Say you were in the pack house talking to the head pack master.
Not only would I know that you’re there with him, but the conversation you’d be having with him.
Not to mention all the others that might well be in the room with the two of you.
It’s a magic that I’m going to use to keep them in line.
The first sign of someone taking what is not willfully given will be killed by removal of their head. I like how final that is.”
She was talking about him, and he knew it.
She was telling him that she would know when he was ready to die and that she’d be able to be there when it happened.
He didn’t know how that was going to work for her, but Sirous had a feeling that she’d use her considerable power and magic to make him suffer before he was dead, and there would be no one around to save him.
He was toast if he crossed the young woman, and there would be nothing he could do about it himself, either.
The rest of the evening, they sat around and talked about times before.
He mostly listened to what was being said and enjoyed some of the stories that were going around.
At midnight, Calla left them to their talks and went up to bed.
He could tell that Brew wanted to join her, but she had insisted that he stay with them as there wasn’t going to be much time left for them to be all together again. Again, she was singling him out.
Sirous wanted to confront her, but there were two things stopping him.
Brew was first and foremost in his mind.
Brew would kill him and make him suffer if he so much as looked at his mate in the wrong way.
He’d also make him suffer in ways that he had not thought of, too.
Then the second thing was that she was his queen.
Touching her or saying a cross word to her would bring down the council on his head, and while he’d be dead, he would suffer in ways that would make what Brew did to him seem like a walk in the park.
They had been around forever and had perfected making vampires suffer at their hands. Or so he’d heard all his life.
They enjoyed their evening, and he was glad for that.
While they’d been talking, Yosef had joined them, and they were all there now.
The six of them had grown up together and had fought in so many wars together that they were more like brothers than friends.
And he loved them more than he thought possible right now.
When he was shown his room, he was happy that he’d been told that he could enhance it in any way that he felt he needed.
All he wanted was to have more room when he paced and to have lighting when he read.
The bed was comfortable enough, but he changed it out for his own, knowing that he’d sleep better on it than the new one in the room.
He also brought some of his paperwork with him to the new room so that he could finish up whatever he had going before next week.
He had a hard time remembering why he wanted to do this when he’d been around his friends and brothers.
But as soon as he was alone, he felt the loneliness all over again, and it depressed him deeply.
Next week, he’d be dead, and he found that he wasn’t looking forward to it as much as he’d been before.
But knowing as soon as this trip was over, he’d go back to wondering why he was still hanging around if he didn’t do it.
It was for the best that he went through with this now rather than put it off anymore.
~*~
Tabby knew that the wolves surrounding the property weren’t wild ones.
She knew that they were shifters and an old lot of them, too.
But so long as they didn’t bother her, she didn’t bother with them either.
They had allowed her to get a much-needed good night’s sleep and had even shared their meat with her when they had it.
Today, she was going to venture out of the woods and try to find herself someplace that would keep her safe from her mother.
She was out to get her, and Tabby just wanted to be left alone.
“You’re not supposed to be here.” She knew the pack master for what he was and bowed before him. “You’ve been taught well, and I like that, but you’re not supposed to be here. My men said you’ve been hiding out for the last several days now, and I’m only just now hearing about it.”
“I meant them no harm, and it’s not their fault that I’m here.
I am hiding out and plan on finding myself other accommodations today when I make my way into town.
” He asked her who she was hiding from. “My mother. She has it in her head that I’d be better off dead than alive since she thinks that I have things and money that she could get off my dead body.
I assure you that I have nothing more than the clothing on my back, and some of it was given to me yesterday by the pack you have here. ”
“They also told me that they’d been feeding you when you didn’t have anything to eat.
Is that true?” She asked him to not blame the men around the land, as she’d been the one begging for a meal.
“So they said. I appreciate you being so honest with me, but for the third time, you’re not supposed to be here. ”
“I promise you what I’ve said to you is true.
I’m hiding from my mother.” He said that he believed her, but why in the woods?
“She’s deathly afraid of the woods and what might be inside of them.
The last time she tried to find me in some wooded area, she’d been nipped at by some animal, and now she swears that all woods are contaminated by wild beasts.
I believe she still holds the marks of the animal now, and it has marred her looks.
According to her, it’s all my fault and just one more thing that she wants to kill me over. ”
“I have a feeling that it’s more than that, but I’m afraid that it will have to wait for another day.
Today I’ll take you to a house that sits on the property that we rent, and you can stay there.
If she is so afraid of the forest and what’s inside of it, she’ll never find you unless you venture from it without my protection.
” She asked him why he’d go to so much trouble for her.
“I was hiding away at one time from someone, and I know what it’s like to have nothing but your fear to keep you company.
If you’d like a job too, I have some things around the pack house that you could do as well. I pay a fair wage.”
“I’ll take it.” He laughed, asking her if she wanted to know what it was. “Not if it pays a good wage. I’ll do anything to be able to support myself while on the run. I’ve been beaten up so many times that I’m fearful that I’m all scars and nothing more.”
“You’re quite beautiful, as I’m sure you know.
” She shrugged, telling him in her own way that she didn’t think that at all.
“I’ll take you there now, and we’ll see about getting you some supplies.
Like I said, so long as you stay in the wooded area around the building, you’ll be fine.
Beyond that, that’s the best that I can do. ”
They talked about the building that she was going to be using as they walked across the creek bed where she’d been hiding.
He told her that there was running water as well as a fireplace she could use to keep herself warm.
He cautioned her about using it until they had a chance to have a look at it, and she agreed with him.
There was no point in burning down the forest just because she wanted a warm bowl of soup rather than one straight out of the can.
It wasn’t just a building but an old house.
It had a good roof over it, and there was a wraparound porch that still had a couple of chairs on it.
The windows were all dirty and green, but she didn’t care so long as she could have a place of her own for a time.
Even the bed, which looked new to her, was something that she was looking forward to resting on.
She nearly hugged and kissed the big wolf, but didn’t.
She didn’t want her scent on him so that others might find her.
Her mother wasn’t above having others look for her while she was hiding.
After being left alone to her own devices, she took a much-needed long, hot shower and used the equally new towels that had been laid out for her.
The man must have worked very hard to have gotten the place ready for her, and she would forever be grateful to him for seeing to her needs instead of tossing her out of the first safe place she’d been in for years.
There was more to the story than her mother just wanting her dead and whatever she had on her.
While they both knew that there wasn’t any, it was the things that Tabby could do that her mother wanted her for.
She’d been born with the gift of sight, and her mother wanted to use it for her own needs, like the races and ball games that were being played.
She’d be able to bet on them and come out the winner every time if she were given the correct answers as to who won those games.
Not only was she able to see the games and who turned out to be the winner, but also other games of chance, too, like the lottery.
Her mother didn’t know about that just yet and was fearful that she’d find out sooner rather than later what she could do.