Adrienne saw the signs that she had made a terrible mistake in not listening to her men. She had made many mistakes in her twenty three years, and they worked out. But this time she had a feeling that maybe it wouldn’t. But nonetheless, she drove off the compound headed for town with Mena. After the shopping trip, on her drive home, she realized that it was another major mistake.
One mistake was when she agreed to let Paul have his frat brothers over for a beer party at their off campus apartment they had shared since their first year in college. She never liked his arrogant rich frat brothers, and they knew it, but she wanted to please Paul. She vowed since then that she would please herself and not give in to the wants of men.
His frat brothers thought they had a right to any woman they saw. Their money and influence controlled their behavior and actions with women. She had heard rumors about them on campus. They were notorious for sharing women without the woman’s consent. When a scandal broke about them with a freshman girl, the frat brothers’ parents squashed the rumors with a lot of money, and a noticeable absence of the freshman the next year.
Her second mistake could have proved fatal. She took off in the middle of the night in her broken down car, after leaving Paul, because she couldn’t take one more day of his insufferable cold attitude toward her. His frat brothers had raped her, and he along with her parents, tried to keep the whole ‘incident’ as Paul called it, ‘our secret.’
That mistake turned into the best thing that had happened to her. She met Wilder and then agreed to live and marry into the Samsa family. Now her family. She now had too much to live for, but she realized that she had done something reckless, and in character, because of her stubbornness, and her dislike of men telling her what she should and shouldn’t do.
Realizing too late, she may have made the biggest mistake of her life, because as she turned into the highway heading home, back to the Samsa’s compound, she looked in her rearview mirror, and a large white Ford pickup truck was barreling down behind her.
Relief settled over her for a moment until she saw that it wasn’t Lycell. Lycell’s truck is silver and new. This one is old and white.
“I think we’re being followed,” Adrienne says to Mena trying to display a calm demeanor. A natural reaction was for Mena to turn around. “No don’t turn, Mena,” Adrienne said touching Mena’s arm. “I don’t want them to know that we’re aware of them.
Adrienne hit the accelerator and the car shot forward. She’s driving over one hundred miles an hour but the Mercedes feels as if it’s coasting at sixty. The highway is wet and if she had to come to a stop they couldn’t, and they would likely die from such a maneuver. Adrienne glances in the mirror for the second time, and then at Mena, who is visibly shaken by the acceleration of the car, is holding on to the seat, where she has ripped the leather with her sharp nails.
Mena twisted around. “I can’t see anyone now,” she says in a calm voice. They both let out a sigh of relief. Mena closed her eyes breathing heavy. At first Adrienne thought about calling Drayton, but he had been asleep and he was probably still sleeping because he didn’t stir when she looked in on him before she stole out, and took the keys to the Mercedes.
“Maybe they weren’t after us,” Adrienne said turning to Mena giving out a wide nervous grin and continuing driving home. She turned up the radio to relax. A country and western station was programed, and the music blasted from the speakers. They sung in harmony to Miranda Lambert’s song, Crazy Ex- Girlfriend.
“We’re just paranoid because we stole away from Drayton and Robert. Now we realize what could happen,” Mena said after taking a watchful look back.
“Yeah. I’m never going to do that again. Well not soon.” Adrienne slowed the speed, and when she saw the entrance to the highway she turned the steering wheel to the right. As she turned up hill to the left, someone appeared in front of her car, and she hit her breaks hard to keep from running over the man.
The car slid a few inches and came to a hard stop. Instead of continuing on, she stayed there for a few minutes to catch her breath, and when Adrienne glanced over at Mena, Mena’s eyes were closed, and she was clutching the seat with one hand, and with the other, she was bracing it against the dashboard.
“Did you hit him?” Mena asked when she opened her eyes.
“No. But I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t see him anywhere.” They both turned around looking for the man. “We need to get out of here. This has been a strange day.” Before Adrienne could back up and turn to the highway, the man appeared again. This time he was on the driver’s side of the car. Adrienne hit the button, and the window lowered before Mena could warn her, and before the man reached in and opened the rear door.
In one quick second he was in the back seat.
“Are you alright?” A concerned Adrienne said turning to meet his blue eyes.
“He’s alright, Adrienne, he’s a werewolf,” Mena said shivering.
“What do you want with us?” Adrienne said, her voice appearing calm, but inside she knew he was not the kind of werewolf like Wilder and the others. She could tell by the look on Mena’s face. She was frightened and only another werewolf could frighten a werefemale.
“I want you and that she wolf over there. Now drive until I tell you to stop.” His eyes glared at her and she turned around and started the car.
“We could drop you off somewhere and we won’t charge you. I could take you back to my ranch and let her husband tend to you. You look like you could be hurt,” Adrienne said to the werewolf.
“I’m not hurt.” He glares at Mena. “You, tell her to shut up.”
“You don’t have to talk to me like I’m not here,” Adrienne said peering at him in the mirror.” Mena touched Adrienne’s arm to let her know he was serious.
Adrienne had made another mistake when she opened the window, but she thought the tall blond stranger with the blue eyes had been hurt.
“Back up and get on the highway. When you do that then I’ll tell you where to go next.” Adrienne’s one hand held on to the wheel, she looked at the rearview mirror, put the car in reverse and did as she was told. “Now drive down to that clearing and stop.”
“I don’t want to do that.” Adrienne tried to sound convincing. She tried to be assertive, but that only worked with Wilder, Lycell, and Drayton. They loved her, but this werewolf looked and acted as if he would rather rip her throat apart, than argue with her.
“Trust me you do.” His voice is deep and his tone is dark and menacing. Adrienne looks over to Mena for affirmation, and Mena is shaking her head yes do what he wants. Adrienne continues driving and stops in a clearing near a tree.
“Leave everything here, your phones, your shoes, and your clothes.” He steps out of the car after taking the keys.
They hesitated before they undressed. “It’s too cold out here if you have something vulgar in mind. I prefer to die before I take off my clothes. It’s cold.”
“You will probably die, but the she wolf won’t. If I had something in mind for you, the cold wouldn’t stop me.” The blond werewolf sniffed at Adrienne’s neck and she moved away slowly unbuttoning her blouse.
“What are you going to do with us?”
“Shut up and do as I command. Take your clothes off. I’m not going to ask again.”
“Are you kidnapping us? I’m worth a lot of money to my husbands. Let Mena go. She’s not worth anything. Her husband works for my husbands.”
“Why do you keep saying husbands? Are you trying to say that you’re married to all three of the Samsas?” With that question Adrienne understood it had something to do with her family.
“In a way.”
“Then this is better than I thought. I have all three willing to do whatever it takes to get you back.”
Another mistake Adrienne inadvertently made. She knew that she talked too much and couldn’t be controlled, but she didn’t know that now it may cost her life.
“Now what?” She turned to look at the werewolf. The truck that had been following them earlier pulled up behind her car. The blond werewolf walked over to the truck and reached in and in his hands were two fur coats. He ambled back to the Mercedes to check on Adrienne and Mena. They had done what he asked.
“Here, put this on.” The wild eyed young werewolf in his late twenties threw two fur coats in the car for Adrienne and Mena to wear. They glared at the werewolf as they covered themselves in the warm coats. Adrienne glanced at Mena.
“I’ve always wanted a Lynx coat. These are Russian.” She smoothed her hand along the sleeve ruffling the thick fur. “But not like this.”
Adrienne glanced up at the blond werewolf, “You know these animals are on the endangered species list.”
“And you will soon be, too. Now you two, go to the truck. We have a long ride ahead of us. And I don’t want to hear any more of your smart mouth. You must think you’re going on a vacation?”
“I think you should know that Mena is pregnant.”
“If she behaves herself, we won’t kill her and her pups. We have something special planned for her.” He slides his nose against Mena’s neck and she cowers. She knows what the werewolves are capable of if they aren’t kept under control. They will rape the female, plunder, and kill a female’s pups, and then try to impregnate a fertile female to create their own pack.
There haven’t been many fertile females for years, and when they find one, they will pass her around to the young and old werewolves, hoping that they impregnate her, and when this does happen they will continue the practice until there is nothing left of her.
“Don’t worry, Mena. Your father is waiting for an answer from us. Now get into the truck. We’re sending you home. You’re going to Alaska. We promised him that you wouldn’t be harmed. But that one, the one with the big mouth, she’s fair game.” He pushed Adrienne in the direction of the truck and the door opened and she entered.
Mena sat down beside her and then the blond entered and sat next to Mena. In the front seat was two other werewolves. Two dark long haired men who had thick eyebrows and beards. They appeared to be brothers. But that wasn’t uncommon for a pack of wolves. They were probably all related in some way.
“My husbands will never let you rest if you kill me.”
“Who’s talking about killing you? It’s the Samsas that we will kill. Now we don’t have to worry about one coming after you. They all will be looking for their little human. After that, our Alpha Bane, will have you to himself.” The werewolves took delight in that statement, and they howled with laughter and taunts.
“If my husbands die, then my son’s will hunt you, and kill all of you.”
“I don’t think we will have to worry about that yet. It will take time and how many could a woman like you have. You are too skinny to bear more than two at a time.”
“I have eight sons,” Adrienne said proudly. She realized all too late that she probably shouldn’t have said that, but since she was making mistakes today, and big mistakes, she might as well add the biggest one of all.
“I’m pregnant, too.” Mena leaned forward and smiled at Adrienne. By telling them that, Adrienne hoped that they wouldn’t hurt her, and give Wilder, Lycell, Drayton, and Robert time to find them.
Adrienne prayed that they believed in the hunter’s law about harming females and off-springs. No hunter kills the female and then her small off-springs. But then that’s man’s creed not werewolves’ laws. They’re voracious hunters and will kill at will, and kill because they are hungry. They will kill if the new born is not their own. Since they hate the Samsas they might kill the babies in her womb. Or kill her when they learn the truth—that she’s not pregnant or so she thinks.
The werewolves hadn’t taken the time to blindfold them when Adrienne noticed that they were turning off Interstate five heading for Oakridge, Oregon. The roads were bumpy, the forest still green and ominous with snow dotting the landscape as far as they could see. She didn’t know how long it took to arrive at a compound surrounded by pine trees because she was too busy trying to remember the landmarks leading into the thick of the forest.
What difference did it make? She wasn’t a woods and hunting kind of woman. She didn’t like the rough life, hell, she never even hiked, or slept in a tent, or saw a cave until she met Wilder. Oh Wilder, where is he? Doesn’t he know that she’s been kidnapped? Her mind thought. He had once said that he would be able to find her anywhere, and he would know if any harm came to her. Although she hadn’t been harmed she was in imminent danger. If ever she needed Wilder, it would be now.
There was one road leading in and one road leading out of the wooded area, and it was extremely narrow, bumpy, and muddy. The white snow had turned to dark mud. You could see for miles if anyone drove a truck or car in, but a truck was more like it, because of the mud-covered graveled road. The road looked like it had been used by several heavy vehicles.
The truck bounced side to side shaking Mena and throwing her close to the blond werewolf. He appeared to like Mena being near him, and he took advantage by placing his arms around her to stabilize her from falling forward. Mena held her belly because it had grown in size in just a day. There was movement in her stomach, and she held on to it as she braced it from being tossed around.
“I bet you live like a queen in that stately house of yours, while we have to make our homes out of lumber we cut from this forest. Wilder and those brothers even dictate how much lumber we can cut and how many animals we can kill. But that will end once Bane is declared Alpha over all of the Americas and Europe. He will kill those brothers, and he will take you and anyone, human, or werefemale he wants. They will bear his next generation of werewolves. There will be no restrictions on us. We will be unstoppable.”
Mena and Adrienne are listening with panic and alarm. They both turn and look at each other and then watch at the small cabins lined up circling a large log cabin like a horse shoe. A large wooden cabin with pillars of boulders and rocks set in the center.
“These log cabins have been here since my father’s father came here in the nineteenth century from Europe.”
“Spare me the history lesson. I’m tired and hungry,” Adrienne quips. The blond wolf shoots her a threatening glare.
“If I were you, I would keep that big mouth shut in-front of Bane, and do what you’re told. He’s not as easy going as I am. He just as soon gut you, and take those babies out of you for his own amusement.”
Adrienne thought that the blond wolf was trying to scare her, and the Alpha of the pack wouldn’t be so simple minded, as his beta wolves. Surely he was a werewolf who knew the consequences of his actions, and once she explained to him that he was outmatched with Wilder, Lycell, and Drayton, then he would send her home in the same shape she came. At least those were her expectations.
The truck drove slowly into the clearing. There were dim LED lights on the path to the main house. When the truck came to the entrance of the cabin it stopped. The two werewolves sitting quietly in the front seat said nothing, just jumped out, and walked on to the porch of the log cabin, and stood on both sides of the door like guard dogs or body guards.
“I guess that’s where your all mighty leader lives. It appears he’s living a lot better than you, and your buddies. I guess one of those huts belong to you,” Adrienne says her tone irritatingly familiar to the blond wolf. For some reason he didn’t answer her then. He glanced over to her and smiled as if he was guarding a secret. Mena pulled Adrienne’s sleeve and whispered.
“Quiet Adrienne. They aren’t used to females talking to them that way. And human females, they have little or no respect for. They do respect some werefemales because they can almost match their strength. You can’t begin to understand what these rogue werewolves are capable of. They can make it bad for us,” Mena whispered as they were pushed and nudged to the door.
“How much worse can it get?” Adrienne whispered back.
Wilder and his brothers are different. Their mother was human. She taught them about respecting women. Many of the Alpha males didn’t know their mothers, and they were raised by their fathers who treated females like nothing but servants, concubines, and vessels to carry their pups. They are taught dominance over females and they only respect the dominant Alpha.
“If she knows what’s good for her, then she had better listen to you, Mena.” The blond smiled at Mena. He made her skin crawl, but she didn’t know what was in store for her, and how long they would remain as prisoners. She had to think of her unborn pups. She had to protect them if it meant her cozying up to the blond. Since he had interest in her, she would try to keep him attentive for as long as possible, in hopes that Robert and the others would find them soon.
Their long walk from the truck came to an end in front of Bane’s door. They stood, and the two werewolves who stood guard, opened the door to the cabin, and Mena and Adrienne cautiously walked in. The blond werewolf closed the door behind them and he stood outside.
The log cabin looked nothing like the rustic outside façade. It was comfortable and the entire wood floor was heated, but Adrienne didn’t know how that came into being. Fur rugs were thrown in groups the entire length of the room. One large brown bear rug lay in front of a wide fireplace made from several boulders. The cabin had no electricity, only lamps filled with oil. From all the light the lamps gave off, and the warmth of the fireplace maybe there was no need for electricity. Adrienne found herself wondering about the plumbing. She needed a bath what with the smell of fur on her and the long ride.
Inside the great room set handmade furniture fashioned from trees. A large sofa and four chairs had cushions made from the fur of animals. This was used to upholstery the furniture. Adrienne glanced at the mantle over the fire place.
She didn’t expect to see pictures of women or children, and there wasn’t any. It was bare as well as the walls. The entire room was simple. Yet she had the impression that if Bane wanted more he could afford it. After all, he was the Alpha to his Oregon pack, but that would change once Wilder discovers what he has done.
The cabin resembled the cave belonging to Wilder. It was comfortable, but she wouldn’t want to live there forever. Adrienne and Mena stood holding hands waiting for the Alpha known as Bane to make his appearance. Just when she was ready to sit, a dark shadow appeared in the doorway.
He wasn’t what she believed. He wasn’t the hideous monster she had conjured in her mind listening to the blond werewolf. He looked nothing of what she summoned in her thoughts. What did she think? Would he have fangs and blood red eyes? Would he drool and attack her at first sight?
Bane stepped out of the shadows. He’s tall about six two or three. Tall as Drayton, and has the body of an athlete. But then all the werewolves Adrienne’s had seen had been muscular, beautiful specimen of men. But they were not men entirely, and none as handsome as Wilder, and his two brothers, and none could compare in body shape and visible strength or looks. None but this one.
The room was well lit, but he stood in the shadows casting his own looming over them, and Adrienne couldn’t see his eyes. She had to see his eyes. His eyes would tell her how much peril she was in. But then just being in his company signaled that she could be in mortal danger.
“Sit. Have you had anything to eat?” His voice is low and easy, lyrical. Not threatening as she gathered from the blond werewolf’s description.
“I’m hungry, sir,” Mena said lowering her head and eyes out of respect.
“Don’t call me sir. You have been with humans too long and I have been informed that you had married one.” Bane’s voice accusatory, harsh, and severe. Mena didn’t answer because it wasn’t a question, and she would have to wait until the Alpha directed her to answer him.
“I’m hungry, too,” Adrienne said. Bane turned to Adrienne and she met his gaze locking eyes with Bane’s grey eyes.
“And what else do you require arrogant disrespectful female?” His tone emotionless and tough.
“A bath would be nice.” She shot him a smile and he didn’t react. He didn’t look at her, and then he did.
Bane’s eyes burned through Adrienne, but through the heat of his eyes she saw maybe softness. Maybe someone she could reason with. Mena didn’t see the same thing and her eyes swung to Adrienne signaling that she should be careful. She had heard stories about him from other werefemales sent to him by her father.
“Some clothes. I could use some clothes.”
“Come with me.” Bane led Adrienne and Mena to a large dining room. On the table was all kinds of cooked meat and vegetables and fresh fruit. “We plant our own food and kill our meat. We are meat eaters, but the vegetables and fruit, we cultivate to sell at a large farmer’s market in Portland. We have smoked salmon if you have a taste for that?” The stern look in his grey eyes are replaced with a softness and Adrienne thinks she sees a smile.
But that smile won’t appear now.
Adrienne and Mena rushed to the table. They hadn’t eaten since nine that morning before they left shopping, and they hadn’t drank any water since then.
“When you’ve finished eating, then I will show you where you will sleep. There you will find some clothes. Both of you will stay in my cabin for now. You’re not safe outside of this house. There are few werefemales on the premises, and the ones here are old.” Bane glances at Adrienne.
“It would be well advise to stay here and don’t try to run away. After all, where would you go? Into the woods where there are worse animals than us? And the young werewolves would track you down. I guess there’s nothing more to say about that. You know what they will do, Mena. You need to inform the human female,” Bane’s says as his eyes follow Adrienne, “what we are capable of when it comes to females who don’t listen and disobey me.”
Bane is watching at Adrienne. She looks up and they lock eyes. Adrienne knows what he’s thinking.
A hungry Adrienne reaches for a large piece of roast duck. It was the best thing she had tasted. It could be because she’s so hungry. Mena ate cautiously. She glanced around and saw that there were bars on the windows. She wondered about that. But then Alphas never could get a sound sleep, with constant attempts on their lives by betas, hoping to overthrow the reigning Alpha if they couldn’t match them in a fight. They would sneak up as the Alpha slept, then bludgeoning them to death, and take over their pack and their females. But this occurrence was rare and only with the very old Alphas.
However, it isn’t that easy to kill the reigning Alpha. Alphas are hunters and fighters at an early age. They are larger, more muscular, and have hunted and killed bears and other larger stronger, and faster animals. There were good reasons they were called Alphas, and there were good reasons the beta werewolves respected the Alphas. Only a fool would try to creep up on one in their sleep. The Alpha would probably smell and hear them before they entered the compound. That’s why Alphas lived longer than most subordinate werewolves. That was the reason why Mena’s father had lived so long. The older they are the more they have seen and the craftier they have become.
Bane was the age of Wilder and his brothers. They had trained together and lived together once. Whatever friendship they may have had and whatever deference Bane had for the Samsas disappeared when his brother was killed by Lycell.
Since then Bain orchestrated how to get to the triplets. When he discovered that their weakness was a human female, then he set up betas to destroy them, and take the female for his own. But when his brother was killed by Lycell, he had to devise another plan. This time he would capture all of them at once, after they came for their female. Then the werewolves would understand who the true Alpha is. One that is brutal, who takes what he wants and will not give quarter. And if a female resists, then he would take her against her will, and wear her down into submission.
Bane would show all the Alphas how they should treat the human females even if it was against his instincts to attack one.