83: Ugh, Who's Next?

My nerves are on edge and I fumble over my words as I invite her further in and ask her to sit. Is this a setup? Is this Marcus sending a wolf here to see if we’ve learned our lesson? I can’t say no now. Not to mention that Gretchen should be very well aware of the situation considering she’s the one scheduling all my clients.

All I have to do is keep it simple and be very vague with my words. Shouldn’t be too hard since I really don’t know what I’m doing to start with.

“Alli, right?” I ask and she gives a sharp nod. “What are we here for tonight? Guidance, advice, sheer curiosity?” I ask, silently praying for it to be the last. Curiosity I can handle. Guidance or advice could be a little tricky without crossing a line.

“I want to know if I’m where I should be. If I’m becoming who I’m meant to be.”

Oh shit. There’s a nervous chill that runs down my back. “Well, I’m not a fortune teller, but let’s take a look.”

She lays her hands out, palms up, across the table. And as I take one of her hands in my own the small talk begins. Gretchen is so loved because she gets to know her clients. “Do they know you’re here?”

Her eyes don’t meet mine as she speaks. “Not exactly.” She catches my flinch. “Is that a problem? I can go. I don’t-”

I trap her hand in mine keeping her in the chair. “Wolves don’t scare me and if you’re going to become one with a pack, they shouldn’t scare you either.” But in actuality, I know this isn’t good. “Which pack?”

“Midnight Harrows.”

A snide chuckle gurgles in my throat and she questions me. “Are you familiar with them?”

“You can say that. I’ve had my fair share of encounters with Marcus.” I can hear Monty’s mocking words, who’s the idiot now. How is it so easy to dig myself into a hole. Can it get any deeper?

I peer down at her palm and trace the lines desperately trying to move the conversation onto something else. Some lines are deeply etched, others fairly short. What I least expect is to catch a glimpse into the dream realm. Something is trying to be heard. Something that lines won’t be able to tell me. The pull is so strong that it quickly overtakes me.

Suddenly I’m in a wolf den. Not Midnight Harrows because nothing about this place is familiar. They all look the same though. In the middle of nowhere, clusters of cabins, wandering wolves pacing the space.

I weave around bodies that don’t see me, but I come to screeching halt when a scream bellows throughout the woods. Not a single person bats an eye, pauses or looks in the direction it came from. This is typical behavior in a den. Follow the alpha, abide the alpha.

I follow the scream that still has my ears ringing. It leads me to a dilapidated shed behind some cabins that are nearly along the treeline. The wooden walls quiver from the howl that erupts from inside. A part of me knows this isn’t real, but that doesn’t stop my legs from shaking as I take step after step, slowly approaching the shed.

The flimsy door is unlocked and rattles on its hinges. With numb fingertips, I open the door inch by inch only to twist around and stumble away from it as fast as I can when I catch a glimpse inside.

My jolt nearly tips me off my chair. The two front legs snap back down onto the floor with a loud crack. The girl’s wide eyes stare at me, confused and frightened. She asks if I’m okay, but I’m not.

“Did you have a sister?” I ask.

There’s a flash of shock and pain on her face. Her mouth moves and she tries to speak, but nothing but gibberish comes out. The only word that makes sense is ‘how’.
“Do you know what happened to her? At the den. By the den.”

At first one single tear runs down her cheek, but two three four more soon follow. “How do you know that?” She asks as she swats away her tears.

“I have a more prominent specialty than palm reading.” She stares at me expecting more of an explanation, but I don’t give her one. There’s more important things to discuss. “Why was your sister tortured by wolves?” This is why she wants to know if she’s where she should be.

It wasn’t Marcus or any of his wolves. It was their rivals, Scarlet River. I got a clear view of the wolf that was slowly killing the frail woman. Shackled and bleeding, barely able to hold her head up. It was the same wolf that was seated at the table speaking to Gabriel at the bar.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that she didn’t leave that cabin.

“I’m with a pack that can help me bring justice for my sister, but…” I let her have silence with her pause and don’t urge with her to get her words out. “...but I’m not sure this den…”

“Cares?” I finish for her. I grind my lips together. I know for a fact that Marcus doesn’t care and won’t waste pack resources or endanger pack lives for some personal vendetta. Marcus is heartless and the words are just about to come out when the shop’s front door swings open and the bell chimes throughout the entire store from the force.

Maybe I don’t have to tell her, because she’s gonna find out for herself.

“Stay.” I tell her as I take slow calculated steps to the sales floor. The second I come to Monty’s side, my eyes land on the very same wolf I saw torturing my Alli’s sister. His beady black eyes scan the room only stopping on Monty for a second or two before his gaze shifts to me.

Great.

“Ladies.” He says into the room. His face is cold, stern and emotionless but voice is like honey. Sweet and smooth. But honey comes from bees and some bees sting. And this wolf no doubt bites.

“Are you boys just browsing?” Monty asks.

“You can say that. I’m looking for a girl. I was supposed to meet her here.” There’s the slightest twitch as he says that they’re supposed to meet. That’s a lie.

“What’s her name?” I blurt out.

“Oh, you’ll know her without a name,” he lets out an abrupt chuckle, “she’s a wolf and she belongs to us. Not seeking advice from witches.”

“Ouch.” I fake hurt. His words mean nothing. I’ve been called ‘witch’ in the tone of calling one a bitch, so many times that I hold no feelings over the accusation. I’m becoming quite proud of it actually. “Unlike wolves, we witches actually care about people.”

His mouth spreads wide in a manic smile showcasing his sharp teeth. “Ah, so feisty.” He takes a step forward, then another and another. “But you should know better than to taunt wolves considering you’re familiar with a pack, the Midnight Harrows. Marcus and his filthy wolves.”

“Have to agree with you on that.” I say through pressed lips. Marcus is scum and most of his wolves are too.

He tries to use his charm on me, but I saw him for what he really is. There’s no being charmed by that type of monster. “Then you won’t have a problem handing her over.”
“Now that I can’t agree with.” His smile falters at my words. “I might look past the filthy part of wolves, but I don’t look past murderers.” I keep my voice low and my eyes locked onto him.

“That’s a shame...for you, but for me, I just found my new pet.” His hand latches around my arm, my still freshly burned arm. I barely hold back my yelp, which gives him a boost to his ego. Already causing pain with just a simple touch. He snaps his fingers in the air and other two wolves descend into the shop looking for the girl.

Gretchen finally comes running out, but she’s too late and easily blindsided. One of the wolves lurches out from behind a shelving unit and backhands her so hard she flies through the air and crumples with a loud thud onto the ground. I listen for her to shuffle, but she doesn’t. Hopefully, she’s just knocked out and not dead.

I don’t hear the bell ring a second time as the blood rushes to my tippy top of head, deafening me. But I do hear the familiar voice. “Let her go, Jeffrey.” Caleb bellows into the shop.

Jeffrey releases my arm and I nearly collapse on the floor. “ Ah, I should’ve known that you would show up. Are you here for the witch too? Or the worthless omega girl?”

“Both.” One of the wolves with Caleb says.

A ear piercing scream echoes throughout the shop, the sound of furniture and glass and books scattering and shattering soon follow. It only lasts seconds before one of the Scarlet River wolves comes out of my room with my Alli in his grasp.

Her legs barely hold her up as he chimes with delight into the room, “got one.”

That’s all it took for Caleb and his two wolves to become feral. Claws out, teeth bared.

“Hazel.” Caleb growls letting me know what I already know is coming. A fight.

But I can stop this before it destroys the entire shop. After seeing that girl locked up in a shed, being murdered, a hatred comes over me. A defiance that might not be my own. “From dusk to dawn, no hair-” The incantation is cut short as Jeffrey’s hand swats through the air and smacks into the side of my face. The sheer force of it has me stumbling backwards.

Jeffrey’s hand latches onto me once again when he yanks my crumpling body upright. “We’ll be going now.” He pushes me forward and my strength is nothing compared to his.

Caleb stands right in our path, but his fellow wolves stand back. The girl and myself hold no merit, no worth to the pack. Alli is technically a member of Scarlet River and I’m not Marcus’s favorite person. He wouldn’t permit his wolves putting their lives on the line for me.

There’s a silent staring competition between Caleb and Jeffrey. I can feel the static charge that thickens the air.

“Not that one.” Caleb hisses.

Jeffrey’s fingers snap once again and his wolves quickly pounce. Only one, the one that isn’t holding a struggling Alli, rushes across the room to Monty. He has his hands wrapped around her throat so fast that with a single blink of my eye he’s across the room with her in his grasp.

“Eenie meenie, miney moe. Which witch goes?” Jeffrey laughs at his own little rhyme.

I don’t give anyone the chance to answer or negotiate. “I’ll go.” I hear a whimper of protest from Monty, but I won’t be the reason she dies. Caleb knows me too well to know that I’ll offer myself up and he glares down at me for opening my mouth.

“Brave and smart.” He whispers in my ear. “I think I’m going to like you.” His lips graze the side of my cheek. His knees bump into me from behind forcing my legs to take steps.

I plead for Caleb to stand down, to trust me. I can get out of this. I have to.

“Take a stroll through the shop. Stay awhile.” Jeffrey says implying not to follow us.

And as we walk out of the shop, Jeffrey smiling, me with wide eyes on Caleb, I whisper a plea, “help Monty,” to Caleb. I can only hope he listens.

Time stands still. First demons and now wolves. Ugh. Who’s next?