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Rob cleared his throat. “Um, yeah. I don’t know who your other friends are, but when someone sends a horde of angry wolves after me, I’m not thinking they’re a friend. We call that foe where I’m from.” He moved close, but stood out of arm’s reach as if scared I might hurt him.
“I think he’s trying to help me.”
“Do you know him from your past? Something you’re not telling me?” Michael spoke through clenched teeth, his eyes lighting up the space in front of him with their brilliance.
I didn’t want him hurt. He was my future, all that I wanted in my life. I slipped my hand into his and pulled in closely to him. “No! I just met him, but he’s promising to help us. He seems to want Bentos dead and gone as much as we do. I’m sure he’s sick of being controlled by him. I’m supposed to be the only thing that can stop him. It’s a viable option.” I shrugged as he glared down at me.
“And he would rather be controlled by you?” Michael bit back. “Maybe that’s what he’s looking for – a female Alpha just for himself.”
I climbed in the back of the Explorer now covered in scratches and dents and motioned for him to come with me. He stood frozen until Rob poked him in the back. Reluctantly he crawled into the car and sat beside me. I moved toward him, sliding my hand into his and pressing my cheek to his shoulder. “I’m not trying to control anyone. I’m trying not to use my power. Every time I do I send off a flare for Bentos.”
“And you don’t think what this guy just caused you to do sent over a whole fireworks show?” Michael scoffed, his tone demeaning and hurt.
“Of bloody course it did! I bet he’s trying to show his power as an Alpha, Michael. He doesn’t control his pack, but he sure as crap had a very large one following him. Have you ever seen anything like that?”
Michael gave a curt shake of his head.
“If that’s his army, and Bentos has a larger one, we’re screwed. Or if we can use his army against Bentos, we might have a fighting chance. Maybe I’m the lesser of the evils in this world.”
I pulled from him as Rob turned around in the seat in front of us. “She has a point. I don’t like it either, but being controlled by another person, especially one with nefarious intent is worse than walking through hell.” Rob shrugged but didn’t turn around.
“Nice choice of words. Made you sound uber-intelligent,” Seth piped up from the front seat.
“Thanks, man. I try. I try. I didn’t get the fancy ed-du-cation you Hunter folks got all the time for. Once around the sun man, that’s all I have.”
Seth chuckled. “Once around the sun is a year, dummy.”
I rolled my eyes, and then stared out the window by Michael so I could see him as well. “This place in Florida, is it a stronghold? Could it protect us?”
“It’s a fortress. I helped build it.” Seth elbowed Grace. “Wait till I show you my lair.”
I ignored their banter and hoped we could just get to Florida without ten more stops where anything and everything came pounding out of the forest to devour us. The stranger threw me. It was like he was trying to court me cave-man style. I shook my head trying to clear the confusion. I sure as heck didn’t belong to the wolf behind us in the woods, but I wasn’t so sure I belonged to the man next to me. I loved him, but to what cost?
What would he be willing to sacrifice for us? He said everything and yet every other utterance from him was so derogatory toward my kind. How long before he finally admitted I was a Grollic? How long before he began to hate who I was inside? The Grollic blood was mine now and forever. I couldn’t change that.
I finally let it all go, the need for sleep leaving me achy and angry over things I had yet learned to control. I was tired of thinking and sleep seemed the only way out of it.
––––––––
“Rouge, wake up. We’re almost there.” Michael shook my shoulder, his voice next to my ear as he leaned against me. Guess a night of not talking calmed his jealous anger toward me.
“Almost there? We were nine hours away when we got back after...” I let my sentence trail off, not wanting to bring the Grollic Joshua up.
“Yep. You’ve been out like someone drugged your ass. You all right?” Rob turned around, his smile reaching from ear to ear. His hair was a mess and I couldn’t help myself from reaching up and trying to fix it.
Michael tugged at my arm, rolling his eyes at me. He was moody... fantastic.
“Leave him be. Nothing you can do with that mop.”
I pulled from him and leaned over, reaching up and brushing Rob’s hair with my fingers again. He stuck his tongue out at Michael. I swatted the back of his head. So much for trying. “I really slept for nine hours?” I yawned, which felt ridiculous, but too much sleep was sometimes as bad as not enough.
“You did.” Grace now sat in the passenger seat beside Seth who was driving. Rob shifted to face her, Grace’s smile widening a little. I’d have to ask her what was up with them when Michael wasn’t around. I glanced over at him to see if holding his hand was a possibility. Nope. He was pissy at best and I wasn’t in the mood.
I ran my fingers over his Siorghra necklace that sat around my neck. I was almost surprised Rob hadn’t asked me about it yet, but he seemed to be wise beyond his years. He most likely understood very well what it meant. I leaned forward and laid my cheek on the top of the bench seat in front of me.
Rob glanced at me from the side. “What’s up?”
“Do you know what this is?” I held it up.
He looked away, as if annoyed it was on my neck, finally he nodded. “Of course. It’s a ball and chain.”
I rolled my eyes and Michael huffed beside me. For having angel blood inside of him, he sure spent a lot of his time acting like an ass. Must be his dark side.
“Hunters share these with those they plan to spend forever with. Do Grollics have something similar?”
“It’s not an external sign like that. It’s internal.” Rob shrugged as if the idea of bonding with another held no desire for him.
“Explain.”
Michael sat up, taking my attention and pulling the conversation toward him. “Supposedly, the Grollics have mating in their DNA.”
I glanced at him in surprise. I had no idea. Not that the conversation had ever come up to talk about.
“We do like the hump-n-bump.” Rob lifted his hands in the air and danced a little. I laughed as Grace looked around and wagged her eyebrows.
Michael watched them and then continued. “Each wolf has a mate created for them and when they find that special hairy beast to share forever with, their hearts are as much connected internally as what we would consider with our Siorghra necklaces.”
“And it just happens? You just meet that special wolf one day and boom?” I clapped my hands together for effect. It sounded a lot like Hunters.
Rob turned and lifted his eyebrow at Michael. “How about you let a Grollic tell it? Like listening to someone who’s never gotten drunk describe being a lush.”
“Whatever...” Michael turned and looked out the window as Seth moved the car toward a large ten-foot iron gate. I leaned to look out my window, the property just beyond the gate nothing more than an acre of land. There was a small building sitting in the middle of it, but nothing else other than the fence.
“When you find that someone they are the opposite of you. Where he’s bossy and controlling, you’re docile and kind. Where you’re angry and have fits of rage, he soothes you.” Rob shrugged. “The mating doesn’t take effect usually until you make love the first time, but... in stronger bonds it can happen sooner.”
“And what happens if you mate with a Grollic?” I turned from the window as Michael coughed loudly. My eyes moved to him. “What? I’m just curious.”
“But why are you curious? This has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me. I’m not interested in mating with anyone, but I want to know what happens to the people I belong to, what happens to my brother.” I narrowed my eyes at him. I lowered my voice, “You’d better get in a decent mood. I’m tired of this walking on eggshells around you.”
“Me too,” Rob added.
“She’s right. You’re being an ass,” Grace called from the front as Michael shrugged.
Rob must have sensed the tension and decided to take the stage to give Michael some space. “You want me to tell you about the birds and the bees? What sex is?” He puffed his chest. “Or how real men do it. Grollics, that is.”
“No... Please no.” Seth turned and chuckled, all of us except Michael breaking into a chuckle. He held his resolve, his arms moving to tightly wrap around his chest.
Seth stopped the car and we all piled out. I moved near Rob, still curious what he had to say.
“I’ve mated with female Grollics, but I haven’t found my match yet, I guess.” He moved to help grab our bags out and walked toward the small shack ahead of us.
Worry creeped up inside of me. There wasn’t much in the way of coverage around us and the beach sat just a stone’s throw away from the small structure. I’d have to ask Rob about the whole linking of the DNA thing another time. It seemed too similar to Hunters. It’s a shame the two races couldn’t get along as they might actually see how good it could be.
“It’s an elevator. Stop worrying.” Michael moved past me, his words for me, but his eyes not giving me a second glance.
“Hey Robbo,” Seth said, trying to sound jovial but I sensed a deeper undertone in his voice. “If you mate with a Grollic and she dies, do you feel that loss forever? Is your heart broken for all of time until you die too?”
“I don’t know myself. But a part of you dies with her. Some even die then and there. If the bond is too strong. Some are asses and have no respect for women. Some...” Rob lugged his bag over his shoulder and nodded. “We can talk later. Mister-I’m-in-charge is getting his panties in a wad. No more talking about doing the dirty with a wolf-man for you, Missy.” He ruffled my hair.
I laughed and Grace did as well, moving to walk on the other side of Rob.
“I’d like to talk a little more about that subject,” she whispered, probably not thinking I would hear. She winked at him as Rob’s shoulders stiffened.
His grin turned wickedly sly. “Would you now?” His voice dropped slightly, the sound of it almost attractive.
“I can still hear you guys.” Michael turned back to pin us with a healthy dose of ‘shut the hell up’. “Cut it out now.” He pointed at Rob. “You are not touching my sister.”
“I don’t care what you hear.” Grace moved up and pressed the numbers on the keypad, turning and motioning for Seth. “We have to get everything in fast. The door can only be opened for a minute before the alarm starts going off. It’s highly secure here, so we should be good.”
“So that’s why the shack. Rob whistled. “Hide the truth.”
“It’s an elevator down to the facility.” Michael moved to open the door, walking in first and almost letting it shut behind him.
I growled softly, so tired of his moods and yet unable to offer him anything but more worry and more angst. Maybe he was struggling with something he wasn’t telling me. That would be nothing new to call home about.
“I’m coming, sorry.” Seth jogged up, his handsome face filled with mischief. “I am so going skinny dipping in that water.”
“There might be sharks... or piranhas.” I walked into the small hallway.
Michael frowned, leaning out of the elevator with a pensive look on his face.
“Sharks maybe, but nothing else. I doubt a shark is going to swim in the shallow parts of the ocean.” Seth laughed and moved into the small elevator as we all squeezed in tightly. He stood in front of me, looking down and smiling.
“I’ll go.” I could be dead when this was all over. What if I never got the chance again to skinny dip? The way things were between Michael and me, it might be the only fun I’d ever have again.
“No you won’t,” Michael responded, shaking his head as I looked back at him.
I turned and looked up at Seth winking and mouthing, “I’ll go.”
Seth chuckled and quickly made his expression unreadable as he looked back at Michael. “What’s up with you? The lack of fighting earlier on the trip leave you restless and needing to let off some steam?”
“My life leaves me restless.”
I turned to see what expression accompanied his truth, but got nothing. He closed his eyes and laid his head back, the elevator stopping before I asked.
“We each get our own room. Get off...” Michael muttered and moved past me toward the hall.
He was pissed and I wasn’t exactly sure why. What had I done now?
The scary part was, I wasn’t sure if I cared at the moment.
