The car stopped, jolting me forward in my seat. My eyes scanned the darkness of the dense forest around me while I tried to contemplate where I was. This was unfamiliar terrain though. A cloak of uneasy darkness spread across forests, I had never been in.
Yet, this is where Caleb brought me.
He drove for hours and refused to stop under any circumstance. The irritation over his behavior and my situation grew by the second.
Just as I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, the car came to a stop and I was faced with the idea of where our destination was.
Moving quickly from the car, he opened my door and grabbed me by my arm, and roughly pulled me to my feet. The cold fresh air hit my face, as I stumbled on the rooted ground. There was no gentle touch from Caleb, instead, his firm grasp pulled me further and further up a trail towards a small wooden cabin overlooking a bluff.
“You’re hurting me.” I whimpered as he tugged on me again. His cold eyes darted towards me before looking back on his set target.
“Stop whining. If you listened and moved faster, I wouldn’t have to treat you like a child.”
Unsure of what awaited me in the cabin, I pushed into him causing him to stumble, and ripped my arm from his grasp. Moving quickly, I tried to break free but only managed a few feet before he yanked me back.
“Let me go!” I cried out before I was thrown over his shoulder kicking and screaming.
“Scream all you want, Ivy. No one is going to hear you out here.”
He moved from the dirt path up to the porch, carrying me as if I weighed nothing. The door opened and a cool voice I hadn’t expected to flow freely in the air.
“It took you long enough to get here.” Mandy’s voice replied causing my eyes to widen.
“Mandy?” The gasp that left me caused her to chuckle, and I realized that her friendship with me had been nothing.
“Surprise!” She called out as Caleb dropped me down onto an old worn-out sofa with a grin on his lips. “I have been waiting for this moment for a long time.”
“I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
Her eyes seemed to shimmer in the dim light of the fire as if t w i n k l i n g with a desire to let me know everything that they held secret. “Give it time, and I will tell you everything you want to know.”
“No, you need to tell me now. What the f u c k is wrong with you both?!”
The slap across my face was unexpected, but the sting was ever so present. My eyes swirled for a moment as I focused back on what was in front of me.
I had always considered Mandy to be a quiet and sweet girl, but to my surprise, she was a devilish demon in disguise. “Now look what you made me do.”
Her cold words matched her glare before she walked away to the kitchen. My eyes shifted towards Caleb. I tried to search for any part of him that felt remorse, but instead, all I saw was lust in his eyes as he stared at me.
“Caleb, I know you hate Damian but this isn’t how you get revenge. I have done nothing to you.”
His lips formed into a thin straight line at the mention of Damian. “This isn’t about him… well not exactly.”
“Then will one of you please tell me what the hell is going on?”
Silence followed the open statement hanging between us. I wanted answers, and I wasn’t going to give up. But something told me that with the way they were both acting, I wasn’t going to like what they had to say.
“We are saving you, Ivy.” Mandy finally replied, stepping back into the living room with a porcelain teapot. “Giving you a chance to change your future.”
“Change my future?” Nothing she was saying made sense. “How can you change my future?”
“This is one thing I hate about the four of them. They didn’t have the common respect to tell you the truth about who you are, and what you will do.”
“To be honest, it doesn’t seem anyone wants to tell me anything anymore. Including you.” I snapped, frustrated with the riddles she was spewing.
Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
The sound caused my anger to bubble as she stepped closer, “tell me, Ivy… how do you like your tea?”
Tea! Was she being f u ck i n g serious right now?!
“If I tell you, will you start talking?” I replied through gritted teeth.
Perhaps, I would have to play their game in order to get questions.
Her eyes cast off for a moment before she looked back towards Caleb, who had taken a seat in the chair across from me. He quickly glanced at her, shrugging his shoulders causing Mandy to smile.
“Of course. That sounds fair to me.”
Rolling my eyes I sighed, “two sugars and a splash of milk.”
“Wonderful. I will be right back.”
Trying to maintain my composure, I leaned back into the sofa and stared at Caleb. To think that for weeks I spent time getting to know him and helping out in his class.
Even staying the night at his house!
Only to find out he had been playing me the whole time. That his goal had been this from the beginning, and I fed right into the lies he was creating. I was a fool to trust him.
“Here we go,” Mandy replied with a smile as she brought in a pot of tea and a few cups. “Now, why don’t we start… Caleb, do you want to tell her or should I.”
“Shut up, Mandy.” He snapped quickly with irritation, “stop acting like your in charge of anything.”
Her eyes widened at his temper as did mine, both of us looking at him as if he had lost his mind.
“Excuse me? If it wasn’t for me they would have caught you by now…”
A growl of anger left his throat as his eyes turned black. I had seen Damian get like this a few times, and from what I assumed, it was the beast inside him that was ready to break free.
“It’s okay…” I muttered staring at him, “Please Caleb… you can tell me.”
Mandy glared at me, not pleased with me speaking, but she didn’t dare to open her mouth.
“Mandy was right.” Caleb finally said after he took a deep breath, and leaned forward on his knees. “I am trying to save you, Ivy. Give you a different life.”
“A different life?”
“Yes,” sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose, “you wouldn’t have to be mated to them and would be able to choose who you want to love.”
Caleb’s words weren’t words that I was expecting. I didn’t think that there was a way to undo what had already been done. Hale said it was for life, and if it was, then nothing Caleb said was making any sense.
“That isn’t possible.”
“Oh, no… maybe not for normal wolves, but you are human. Your bond to them isn’t complete without Damian.” The glint in his eyes caught me off guard.
“You’re happy about this?” I stated, making my observation known.
A laugh left him as he before a grin slid across his face, “yes. Because when the Harvest Moon peaks in two days… the bond will break with the other three, and you will be free to be claimed by another wolf.”
The bond will break.
The idea of my attachment to the other guys severing was horrific. Yes, we had our problems but I didn’t want to leave them… did I?
“That doesn’t make sense… why would I want another wolf if I let them go?”
“You don’t have to want anything, Ivy.” Mandy smirked, “but it will be pleasant to watch Damian fall when Caleb claims you for himself.”
My chest tightened at her revelation, and everything slowly began to make sense. Caleb wanted revenge on Damian, that was obvious. So, therefore, I became the object he would use to do so.
“But why?”
Standing to his feet Caleb’s eyes met mine, “to make him suffer the loss of a mate, just as I had to endure with him.”
