Chapter 14
Since the night I’d been taken, my body had become more and more familiar with Koles, betraying me in my sleep.
My shirt rode up, exposing the small of my back pressing up against the warm flesh of his stomach.
His hand slipped underneath the hem to rest on my belly.
The touches were always pushed away once I woke, but in sleep, my body moulded to his, content in a way that repulsed me by day.
Now, for the first time since I began sharing Kole’s bed, I slept badly.
My psyche swarmed with wolf teeth snapping at my running heels, of geysers that would drown me, bears that would maul me, starvation that would waste my body away.
I dreamed of old memories, harsh touches, ripped clothes, a blow to the head that rendered me unconscious.
I woke from each dream, heart pounding, fear coursing through me. Without waking, Kole would coil his body closer around mine, emitting that low, reverberating rumble that soothed me deep into my bones, sending me back to sleep before I could protest.
Despite my nightmares, by the time morning came, I felt rested.
I opened my eyes to find the trademark Maclay greens set in Kara’s kind face.
She sat in the window seat, hands folded in her lap.
She was effortlessly elegant in a dress that looked like it had come from Vogue rather than The Closet in town.
“Good morning, Luna.”
“My name’s Iona.” I sat up, pleased to find I was uncuffed. I rubbed my eyes, blinking the sleep away. “Where’s Kole?”
Kara stood, looking pleased that I’d asked after her brother. “Pack business. You’re stuck with me this morning. Do you know what that means?”
“I get to eat with my own two hands?”
“Yes,” she laughed and I shook my head at her. “Come on, get up.” She pulled the duvet off of me, exposing me to the fresh morning air. Waking up without Kole’s warm body wrapped around mine had left me cold.
I tried not to think about that. Instead, I thought about her.
Ever since Kole had kidnapped me, I’d kicked myself a thousand times for pulling over to help this woman stuck on the side of the road.
If I’d just kept on driving, I’d be free right now.
Still, it was done now and maybe she could be useful.
As far as I knew, she was the only one that had really stood up to Kole when he’d chained me up outside like a dog. Eavesdropping on their conversation had given me a small, perhaps foolish hope that she might protect me against Kole if I needed it.
“Don’t you have sick people to take care of?”
“I took the morning off. Didn’t want to miss your fitting. All the females in the family are supposed to be there.” Her smile quickly faded when she saw my expression.
What had she just said?
“My what?”
“Your dress fitting, for the ceremony? My brother didn’t tell you?”
“Clearly not.”
“Well, don’t worry. Mom and I will come with you and help. Allie and Lucy are coming too. It might be fun.” She didn’t sound convinced, if anything she sounded guilty.
“Yeah. Oodles of fun.” I groaned, swinging my feet out of bed. I guess my hope that she would support me against Kole really had been a foolish one.
The dress fitting was about as much fun as sticking hot pins in my eyes, but I let them get on with it.
I stood there on a round, fitting platform in a silk slip as the seamstress and her two assistants draped me in one fabric after another, pins and alien phrases flying around me.
A set of mirrors stood in front of me, giving me no escape from my reflection.
The seamstress, a small but broad shouldered woman named Alice, huffed as a pin once again got caught in the slip. “Luna, it really would be much easier to fit you if you were in your underwear. The pins keep getting caught.”
I gave Alice a withering look. We’d had this conversation already. The slip had been a compromise after many gentle encouragements from the other women to strip off and a lot of me standing there with my arms folded. I was not stripping down for these people.
Allie, Lucy, Kara, and Dinah sat on a long sofa behind me, sipping champagne. Allie was chatting excitedly, though Lucy and Kara seemed to be humouring her rather than joining her. Dinah watched me constantly. She knew I didn’t want to be here, and I was grateful that she wasn’t enjoying this.
Siobhan looked like she was having as much fun as me as she stood in one corner, watching but not participating.
Siobhan was the first and only female member of the Luna Guard, an impressive woman with intricate braids pulling her hair from her face and sharp, all-seeing eyes.
She was over six feet tall, her body lean but muscular.
She was the only person I had met in my time here that didn’t seem happy to meet me.
In fact, other than her introductory nod, she had yet to speak to me.
I’d been surprised by her presence but I shouldn’t have been.
Seeing as Konnor wasn’t allowed into the dressing room, this was Kole’s compromise.
If her entire job wasn’t to keep me imprisoned, I imagined we’d actually get along pretty well.
“So, what do you think, Luna?” Alice finished pinning the deep blue fabric at my waist. I looked at myself and, truthfully, I looked like an idiot. Pretty things had never suited me. I would look better in a suit of armour than a ball gown. All eyes were on me, waiting for my verdict.
I shrugged. “Whatever you like.” Alice looked disappointed.
“You don’t have an opinion?” she asked. “Humans have wedding dresses right? What did you imagine yours to be like? I could make something similar?”
“I never imagined my wedding dress. I didn’t have any interest in getting married.” I still don’t. I looked at myself swathed in fabric. It was pretty, but I felt ridiculous.
“Human brides wear white to their weddings usually, maybe you could try that?” Allie suggested. She had been trying very hard to be considerate this morning after yesterday's incident, and she’d kept a careful distance too, which I appreciated.
I shrugged again and the young girls acting as assistants busied themselves arranging an array of fabrics in cream and ivory. Allie fawned over them but Dinah hung back, her watchful eyes on me as ever.
Alice set about removing the pins from the blue fabric until I was once more in just the slip. She handed me a robe and I pulled it on gratefully.
“I went to a human wedding once,” Kara said as she sat sipping champagne, looking like every bride’s gorgeous best friend in every chick flick I’d ever seen.
I had a feeling they were all trying to recreate whatever human bridal experience they’d seen on television in an attempt to put me at ease.
None of this felt like something they did often.
“It was a lot of fun. You know, we could try to incorporate some of your human traditions if you like.”
“Yeah…I’m not really relishing the idea of Kole removing my garter with his teeth.” My muttered comment was met with stunned silence. “I guess that’s not a human tradition you know about?”
“No, but it sounds hilarious.” Kara laughed, the sound leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. Where was the woman who had staunchly defended me against Kole? Was she just putting a brave face on today?
“You could throw the flowers?” Lucy suggested.
“The bouquet?”
“Sure, we could make you one.” Not a chance in hell was my first thought.
Did they really think I was going to play along with this?
Act like exchanging rings or wearing a veil would change the fact their great leader planned to rape me in front of them in eight days?
I wanted to tell them all to go to hell, but I needed to be smarter than that. Besides, an idea occurred to me.
“Do you know what a hen party is? You call them bachelorette parties in America, I think.”
“Sure, I’ve seen them in movies and stuff,” Lucy said. “It’s a last night of freedom thing, right?”
“Yeah. We could do something like that…maybe.” I tried not to sound too hopeful. This could be the distraction I needed.
“The Alpha won't allow you off the pack lands, especially not to party.” This was Siobhan, her brow set in a stern line adding to her severity.
“We don’t have to go anywhere. We can party here.” Going to a bar or a club, somewhere with humans and a phone, would have been better, but this would be better than nothing. It would be a distraction I could use to my advantage.
“So, you’re volunteering to spend time with us?” Dinah asked.
“I’m volunteering to take the opportunity to blow off steam. Wolves run and hunt things, humans drink Sambuca and do the Macarena.”
Dinah frowned. “I don’t know what either of those things are.”
“Lucky you,” I muttered and she broke out into a smile. I bit my lip to stop myself smiling back at her.
“Do you think Kole will go for it?” Kara asked her mother.
“I think he would if his mate asked him very nicely.” Dinah looked at me, an eyebrow arched. “Do you think you can be nice, Iona?”
Was she…mocking me? I arched an eyebrow right back at her.
“There’s a first time for everything.”
“I’ll plan it!” Allie squealed, clapping her hands.
“I’ll help,” I offered and once more I was met with stunned silence.
I looked at Dinah, “You asked me to try, I’m trying.
” They didn’t need to know that the more I helped, the more I would be able to orchestrate the event to best suit my escape.
We’d need alcohol. And noise. And I needed to make sure I wasn’t wearing those damned cuffs.
Dinah nodded. “I’m glad to hear that.”
I looked over at the fabrics. I couldn’t tell one from the other so I selected one at random. I handed it to Alice. “I don’t know anything about dresses but I’m sure you can make something beautiful. Just keep it simple.”
Too many hours later I was back in Kole’s room, sitting on the bed, delightfully unchained thanks to my newfound friendship with Kallum, my mind spinning with every lie and false nicety I’d spun this morning.