Masquerade (49 page)

“
As leader I’m telling you
to leave town. Don’t come back.”

“
What if we don’t want to
leave?”

“
You don’t have a choice.”
His hands flexed at his sides as he waited for them to
argue.

I sucked in a breath. My
legs were shaking, and I reached around my neck for
the cord that held the whistle, thankful I found
it at the base of the tree after the fight was over.

“
Mind if we get our stuff
before we go?”

He shook his head.

“
Thanks for taking her
down. She was a real bitch.” The dark-headed roommate
said.

“
Stay out of trouble,” Sam
said, and I thought I heard the slightest hint of fondness in his
voice. It made me wonder if he regretted sending away the only
people he knew who understood what it was like to be a
hellhound.

“
Not everyone’s a hero like
you.” With that the two of them turned and walked away.

Sam didn’t respond, but stood and
watched until they were out of sight. A million questions raced
through my head, and I opened my mouth to start asking. But then he
turned toward me, and my words died on my lips. His eyes were hard,
but the weariness was undeniable.

He approached and held out his hand,
and I took it. We walked through the woods in silence.

The scent of peroxide filled my
nostrils as I doused a cotton ball in the bubbly liquid. Sam
watched me quietly as I leaned forward to begin cleaning the deep
cut on his skin. “You might need stitches.” I told him, as I gently
wiped away blood and dirt.

“
I’ll heal,” he murmured
as I went for another cotton ball to repeat the same process as
before. “I have to go back to work.”

“
Did you get in trouble for
leaving?”

“
No, but I need to go
back.”

“
Would you have killed them
too? Your roommates, I mean?” I asked, picking up a tube of
antibiotic ointment.

“
I would have done what I
had to do. If they had challenged me…I wouldn’t have had a
choice.”

I nodded and focused on
taking care of his injury. “I understand,” I said quietly even
though I didn’t really know what it meant for him to be ‘leader’. I
didn’t want to get into it now after everything that just happened.
I wanted to relish in the fact that my stalker was dead, and we
could finally relax, let our guard down, and just be us – even if
it was for only a little while.

Thank you for coming after
me.
I pushed at him, looking up into his
eyes to smile.

He grasped my hands and
kissed the tips of my fingers.
Always.

Once the bandage was
applied and I cleaned up the first aid kit, I handed him his shirt.
He accepted it but made no move to put it on. He looked down at the
kit in my hands and grinned. “I carried this thing around for
months, thinking that I might need it for you – praying that I
wouldn’t
–
but
wanting to be prepared if I did. I’m glad it’s only me who’s needed
it.”

“
You carried this around
for me?”

He laughed. “Do I look
like the kind of guy who would need to carry around some
Band-Aids?” He arched an eyebrow and looked down at me.

“
No?” I asked laughing,
injecting a bit of doubt into my voice.

He growled and came
forward, tackling me to the ground. “You would dare insult me after
everything I just went through for you?” He pinned me to the
ground, his eyes sparkling gold again, and I enjoyed the sensation
of his bare chest against me.

“
What are you going to do
about it?” I asked, breathless.

He lowered his head, his
full lips parting slightly, and my eyes fluttered closed. I waited
for that first moment when his lips would brush mine, that first
little brush of excitement before the fire he always lighted in me
took hold.

“
I sure could go for one
of those Bubble Teas about right now,” he said mere inches from my
lips.

I paused and my eyes flashed open.
“What?”

He laughed. “They’re
pretty good, and I’m hungry.”

I attempted his growling
noise, and he laughed. I pushed at him, but it was half-hearted.
Then he finally pressed his lips to mine. Laughter spilled through
his mouth and into mine. The kiss was full of swirling emotions:
happiness, fear, relief.

When he pulled back he
sighed. “I wish I could stay, and we could celebrate.”

“
You’ll be back later…” I
smiled. “We can go get one of those teas then.”

He grinned, a wolfish grin, and stood,
pulling me up along with him and reached for his shirt. I watched,
a little disappointed, as he covered up his spectacular
body.

“
I think when I get back I
want to be alone with you.” His deep voice dropped and goose bumps
raced along my arms. I hoped that the excitement I felt wasn’t
tinting my cheeks pink.

He smiled and caught my chin to look
into my eyes, “I’ll be back later.”

“
I’ll be
waiting.”

Sam

I could still taste her on
my tongue.
The metallic tang of blood
seemed to fill my mouth and stick between my teeth. I swallowed,
forcefully. It made me sick. Ripping China apart had been good,
exactly the kind of vengeance I wanted…but now that it was
over
–
it made me
sick. How she could destroy people like that and enjoy it was
beyond me. A flashback of flinging around her remains made my
stomach turn and the truck veered toward the side of the road. I
righted the truck and fought back the memory. Sounds of ripping
flesh and ragged breathing filled my head.

China had fought for her life…until
there was literally nothing left to fight with. I could still see
the look in her evil eyes when she realized that she was dead. I
shuddered and tried to blink the memory away. But it wasn’t
leaving. Her eyes…they had looked almost smug in a sick sort of
way. Who acted smug when they knew they were going to die? It was
almost as if she knew that she would haunt us even in death. But
that was impossible. Wasn’t it?

Even still, that hadn’t
been the worst thing about killing China. The worst thing was that
Heven had seen it
–
seen what I was capable of.

How she still looked at me with love
in her eyes I didn’t always understand. But I was grateful for it.
I wasn’t going to let anyone take her from me. China had to die;
she should have died a lot sooner than today. Refusing to give her
a single second more of thought, I turned my attention back to the
road and glanced in the rear view mirror.

Every mile I drove further away from
Heven felt like a knife in my chest. I had wanted nothing more than
to stay with her, just to reassure myself that she was fine and
that the threat to her was gone.

Even though I knew that there was no
longer a threat to Heven I still wasn’t able to relax. I guess I
spent too long protecting her for those feelings just to vanish. I
glanced at the clock and sighed. I still had two hours left on my
shift at the gym. Thankfully, we weren’t busy, so when I told my
supervisor I had to go home because a pipe had burst beneath the
sink, he let me go. But only after he told me to come back once I
shut off the water.

I pulled into the parking
lot of Planet Fitness and parked the truck.
Two hours
I told myself. You can do
this. Act normal for two hours. Forget that you just ripped apart
your roommate and claimed leader over the group. Forget that they
may not have listened to the order you gave them and you would have
to take action.

The two hours I dreaded so
much turned out to not be as bad as I thought. I thanked the
Mindbond that I shared with Heven for that. The sound of her voice
purring through my head throughout the remainder of my shift kept
me from staring at the clock. When I finally walked through the
parking lot toward the truck it was dark. The air wasn’t cold, but
without the sun it wasn’t hot either. I knew that Heven was fine
and safe at home, so I decided to stop by the apartment to see if
my roommates had indeed decided to accept me as the
leader…the
Alpha.

I would know as soon as I
arrived because if they were still in town I would know where we
stood. I had enough energy in me tonight for another fight, but I
didn’t relish the idea. I didn’t want to make good on my earlier
promise and rip them to shreds. But I would if I had to, so I
prayed they left
.
I didn’t enjoy killing, and while I might not like them…they
were kind of like family. They were the only ones that I knew like
me. Still, I couldn’t have them stay. They were loose cannons,
threats to Heven’s safety and really to the entire town.

As I turned onto the main
road I thought over the word that I really struggled to even
say
–
Alpha.
Being an alpha wasn’t really even something that seemed relevant to
me. To me an alpha controlled a pack; he was the strongest, most
cunning of the group. He could take on any challenge thrown at him
and win. An alpha was the term for a werewolf leader. I was not a
werewolf, nor did I think that any of the other characteristics of
an alpha applied to me.

Sure, I was strong and had
abilities. I was young, which up until this point, I think the
others saw as a weakness…they didn’t realize that maybe it was a
strength. But most of all, I think I was underestimated. They all
thought my attraction to Heven was a phase, was just something that
I played with. They hadn’t realized how deep my feelings for her
go…perhaps because they themselves are not capable of that kind of
affection. I think what gave me the advantage was that I was
incredibly
driven
. Driven to keep what was mine safe.

Did those things make me an
alpha? No. But if my roommates wanted to think that it did then I
wasn’t going to argue. I could use it to my advantage and run them
out of town. I could probably control Casey if they stayed. He was
violent and he liked to stir up trouble, but I could probably
convince him to lie low. But…Riley…he was a wildcard. I felt like
he underplayed his abilities and his strengths. At first I hadn’t
noticed, but the more time I spent with the group, the more
apparent it became that he allowed China to be leader. Really, if
we wanted to get into naming and calling alpha
–
I would have said Riley had that
in the bag. In fact, I found it curious that he let me strong-arm
them earlier today, agreeing to leave. That only meant one thing:
Riley had an agenda of his own.

I pulled up to the apartment and sat
in the dark staring out the window. I was tired. Not so much in
body but in mind. The events of the past year had been draining.
Worry over Heven’s safety and sanity had been all consuming. Now
that the immediacy of the threats against her was removed, I felt
as though I might be able to breathe easier.

I looked up at the apartment. A light
was on. The tension that I had been allowing to drain away just
moments before returned. There would be no relaxing while Casey and
Riley were still in town. Maybe I hadn’t been as convincing earlier
today as I had originally thought.

When I got to the apartment door I
paused. Then without another thought, I put a shoulder to the door
and sent it crashing in. It banged against the wall and bounced
back to slam behind me. I let out a growl and launched even further
into the room, catching Casey off guard. I slammed him up against
the wall and held him firm, ignoring whatever he dropped at my
feet.

“
I told you to leave
town.”

“
Chill,” Riley said coming
out of the bedroom carrying a large black duffel bag. “We were just
leaving.”

I looked at Casey. He nodded, so I
shoved away from him and looked down. There was a duffel bag at his
feet as well.

“
I thought you would be
long gone by now.”

“
We were just getting our
stuff together,” Casey said, bending to pick up the bag and swing
it behind his shoulder.

I glanced at the bedroom the two guys
shared. It was bare of all their belongings with just the old
wooden dresser and bed, which was switched down to the mattress. I
watched as Casey grabbed up a few other bags and went to the door,
then he turned back to Riley. “I’ll be in the car.”

Riley nodded. Casey’s gaze shifted to
me.

I wasn’t really sure what to say to
someone that I ordered to leave town. “Stay out of trouble,” I said
again to him, not sure he would take the advice this time
either.

Casey’s mouth tilted up. “As long as I
ain’t around here, what do you care?”

I shrugged, because, really, I
didn’t.

Casey’s small smile stretched to a
grin and then he walked through the door. I wondered if this was
the last time I would see him.

I turned to look at Riley. He looked
back with a level expression in his dark eyes.

“
Why did you stay here? Why
did you put up with China?” I asked.