thoughts I have disappear like snow in the underworld when that fearful look returns to her warm brown irises.
I hate that I’m the reason for it.
I rake a hand through my hair again and back up another foot. “Shit. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even be telling you this. It’s going to be hard enough getting you back to your home with that flat tire, but since you’ve already seen so much the SF will be after you now.”
“SF?” she squeaks.
“Supernatural Forces. They’re like the military and law enforcement combined into one in the supernatural community. They’re currently hunting me, but so far, I’ve evaded them, but once they discover that I took you, you’ll be on their list too.”
“Wait. What? Why? What did I do?”
“Nothing,” I say wearily. “Other than being aware of our existence that is. Humans aren’t supposed to know about us, unless they have family connections.”
If I thought her look had been frightened before, she now looks damn near petrified.
Fuck a duck, Ward. Can you screw this up any more?
I sigh and try to say in a soothing tone, “It’s okay, really. The SF will take you to their headquarters to have the sorcerers wipe your memory of this entire experience, and then you’ll go back to your normal life. And this—” I wave at the cabin then me. “It will be like it never happened. You’ll wake up with a bad headache and won’t be able to explain why you can’t remember the past few days, but you truly won’t remember anything.”
She sits up straighter. “Wait, you’re serious. You’re really going to let me go?”
I try not to be affected by the eagerness in her tone. Something inside of me withers, and I know whatever chance I had of making her feel this crazy irrational attachment to me that I feel toward her, was gone the moment I abducted her.
Of course you don’t stand a chance, you stupid shit. How did you ever think anything good would come from this?
I hang my head before forcing a tight smile in her direction. “Yeah. I’m going to let you go.”
Chapter 6 – Brianna
He says he’s going to release me, and I try not to feel too eager because I’m not stupid. I know that at any moment he can change his mind.
Wolfman stands by the chipped kitchen counter, going through supplies.
My stomach churns with unease as I watch him, but I also know that I need to eat—feeling weak from low blood sugar isn’t going to help me if I need to make a run for it—so I sit quietly in the corner of the cabin munching a new granola bar after he insisted on tossing the first.
It has to be early afternoon by now, and I still don’t know what to think of the past twelve hours. I do know that 2 p.m. is coming, and when I don’t show at the library, Macy will try to reach me.
I finish off the bar and take another drink of water, then close my eyes and think of my friends. I’m assuming none of them know I’ve been abducted, but by this evening, after missing practice, my library date with Macy, and my shift at work…
Someone will start asking questions.
I take comfort in that and open my eyes, settling more onto the hard floor while leaning my back against the musty smelling wall. I’m not full, but at least my stomach isn’t growling anymore. And for the first time since being snatched off the street, my heart isn’t beating painfully.
Still, flashbacks of the moment he abducted me keep clouding my thoughts. I don’t want to remember that terrifying moment when he’d lifted me from the ground and clamped a hand over my mouth, so I concentrate on what else I’ve learned.
Werewolves. Sorcerers. Some organization called the Supernatural Forces.
They all exist. They’re real.
I mean, seriously, WTF?
If I hadn’t seen my abductor shift right in front of me into a wolf, and if I hadn’t seen his glowing eyes on numerous occasions, I would know for certain that he’s a complete psychopath who obviously doesn’t live in reality, but now…
I’m not so sure.
He seems genuinely remorseful about my violent abduction, but I also know that I can’t trust him. At any moment, those glowing eyes could emerge, and that vicious beast could return.
I shudder when I picture his golden wolf with snapping teeth lunging for my neck.
When he’d shifted, I’d thought for certain I’d gone crazy—the stress of my kidnapping manifesting