They were very, very rich. I wondered what they had done to become so flush. Inherited probably, I decided as I was led down a richly decorated hallway. I looked at the freshly cut wild flowers, stacked impeccably in gleaming crystal vases that were sat precariously on slender stemmed glass tables. I debated accidentally throwing myself at one of them just so I could enjoy watching the damned thing shatter.
The scent of them was everywhere, making it impossible to distinguish between so many of them. At a guess I would have said more than fifteen lived here, or at least passed frequently through the mansion.
Rachel was shivering beside me, keeping her eyes on her shoes as we were herded forward. I grabbed her hand and offered her a reassuring smile but she couldn't even muster the strength to look at me. I could feel the tension rolling off her waves and I knew that everyone around us could sense it as well. I wondered if they sensed the same from me? I was trying to keep my fear in check but it was difficult to hide anything from weres.
"What do you think of your new home?"A young one asked us, sliding up beside Rachel and slipping her hand through the smaller females arm. Rachel flinched and tried to pull towards me but the girl refused to let her go. "Aren't you glad we found you?"
"We're ecstatic." I answered drolly, moving tightly to my sisters other side. Rachel shot me a thankful look beneath her long lashes.
The girl smiled at me in genuine amusement, causing small crinkles to appear at the corner of her caramel coloured eyes. "My name's Angeni." She said. "You haven't mentioned your names yet?"
The question hung heavily between us but I had no intention of answering her. I suspected she already knew. I'd already told their alpha and even if the information had not been passed on it was unlikely they knew my job and where we lived without knowing something as basic as our names. The girl shrugged, throwing her long shock of black hair over her narrow shoulder before falling back to so speak to one of the others females behind us.
"I've never smelled so many of them in one place before." Rachel whispered, looking a little hysterical as her head whipped back and forth. "They're everywhere. We're never going to get out Nicolas. We're never going to get out!" She shrieked the latter part and our escorts all turned around to look at us.
"What's wrong with her?" The one called Lilith demanded, the look on her face clearly showing her distaste for my sister.
"She's frightened." I said, trying to soothe Rachel as best as I could with so many of them crowding around us.
Lilith marched towards us and grabbed my wrist. She used her other hand to grab Rachel's shoulder and violently pushed us apart. Rachel started crying but when I tried to go to her Lilith refused to let me go. "Stay." She ordered, increasing her hold and she pointed her finger at Rachel. "You will pull yourself together. No one has hurt you so you've no reason to go on like that."
Rachel was really gearing herself up for a total breakdown. I couldn't really blame her. A few hours ago she was sat in the first secure home we'd ever had. It was a lot to process.
"You sort yourself out now girlie." Lilith demanded. Her hand wound in my hair and she gave it a painful yank. "Remember what Daniel said. Either of you misbehave and the other gets punished. You want me to hurt him? It'll be your fault."
Rachel let out one last shuddering breath before getting herself mostly under control. "Don't hurt him." She pleaded.
"Go walk with Angeni." She snapped. "Your brother is going to walk with me. You behave and I might give him back."
I didn't get a chance to see if Rachel was doing what she was told. Lilith pulled me alongside her, her strong fingers digging into my bicep. I resisted the urge to try and pull away. I was frightened she might do something to Rachel if I started to put up a fight. "You'll stay here." She said, opening a door and pushing me inside.
"Wait, what about-" A heavy wooden door slammed in my face. "Rachel?" I finished lamely. I tried the lock but it didn't budge. No real surprise there. The room was pitch back without even a window to light my way. I fumbled for a switch, starting to panic as I imagined the walls closing in on me. My hands pressed against something protruding the wall and I let out a ragged sigh of relief when a light clicked on.
It really was a tiny space. White washed walls with a grey coloured concrete floor. A single bed took priority in the middle of the room with a tiny sink and toilet in the far right corner. It was worrying that had an actual cell in their home. How many people had they held in here? I started to shiver. I could only imagine what Rachel was going through. I hoped they had put her somewhere better and I'd just drawn the short straw.
I took off my shoes and gently sat on the bed. With nothing else to do I lay down and stared at the single light. It was a long time before I finally fell asleep.
*********
When our dad left us he promised he'd be right back. Literally swore to us that he'd come for us as soon as he could. I should have known better when he dropped us off at a motel with enough money to pay for a month's food and board. If he was going to be right back why did he do that? Why not leave us a couple of bucks for lunch at some random cafe?
Rachel had been frantic and I wasn't really much better. I kept us both indoors the entire time, only leaving to get food and drink. It did us both harm being kept indoors like that, our kind weren't supposed to spend too much times indoors. We'd survived it by telling ourselves that it was just temporary. Our dad would come back for us, he always did.
It was about three weeks in that I realised he wasn't coming back. I had no idea what happened to him. Numerous scenarios used to run through my mind. He'd been kidnapped by another pack, or maybe even killed. Some government scientists had captured him and he was fighting to get back to us.
Lately I started to think that he had just plain abandoned us. Trying to look after us had likely become too much for him. He must have reasoned that he better chance of surviving if he went on alone.
I looked at my pale hands and wondered why the others coveted our kind so much. I supposed Rachel was beautiful in a quiet sort of way. Her strong features lent her an almost distant countenance that often drew stares. I'd seen many men approach her just to be rebuked by her cold eyes alone. My sister was not a warm person, at least not physically. I knew that I was the same. My face didn't draw people in. No one at the bar ever tried to unload on me. If anything they went out of their way to avoid me. It suited me fine. I just wished the other wolves felt the same way.
What exactly did they want? Breeding us wouldn't make more of the same, not unless they found someone of the same race, which was incredibly unlikely given the rarity of our breed. So were we simply trophies to them? Were they so self absorbed that they would ruin our lives just so they could put their hands up and declare themselves the best collectors?
I pressed my hands over my face and tried not to scream in frustration. I'd known this would happen. I'd deluded myself into thinking we could make it on our own but as much as I fought against it some inner part of me had known that in the end it was inevitable. There had been too many close calls to count. I suppose we were lucky to have lasted as long as we had.
I shuddered as I remembered the last time we'd been discovered by a pack. It was a little over seven years ago when Rachel and I were in Germany. We'd been travelling through Norway on our way to Britain in the hope that the rumours were true and there really weren't any wares in the UK. I was tired and hungry and didn't notice we were being stalked until it was too late. A couple of males cornered us at a train station, sticking a knife into my side and threatening to slice me open if I cried out.
The experience had almost ruined me and had left Rachel permanently scared. We'd been too young for them to rape either of us, even the wild ones had to live by the rules that governed our kind, but it hadn't stopped them describing in great detail what they wanted to do to us. We'd been treated little better than slaves. We had no freedom and no say in our own lives.
I used to get beat up a lot. The beta took a fierce dislike to me; I thought it was because his mate used to stare at me a lot. He obviously decided that her interest was my fault. There were a couple of times when I thought me might kill me. I don't think the other members approved but no one tried to interfere. I supposed the alpha was the only one in a position to put an end to it but I had the opinion that he thought me soft. Perhaps he'd expected the beatings to toughen me up, make me a proper wolf.
It was a fluke that allowed us to escape them. I didn't think we'd be that lucky again.
The sound of hushed voices on the other side of the door brought my mind rocketing back to the present. I tensed as the door opened and felt a deep feeling of dislike as the alpha stepped inside the cramped little space. His chocolate coloured eyes swept over me and his scent became strong with desire.
Despite myself I flinched back. I couldn't help myself. It was so much easier to be strong when Rachel was with me. When I had to worry about her it didn't give me the opportunity to fret about myself.
He stepped in and closed the door behind him. I so wish he hadn't done that. The feeling of helplessness intensified as he crouched down in front of and caught my eye. I didn't know if he was trying to appear less intimidating by coming down to my height but it sure as hell wasn't working.
I debated kicking him in the teeth. I honest to god was really considering it when common sense prevailed. No one had hurt me yet, not really anyway. I didn't think inducing the violence was my best chance of keeping things that way.
He grinned at me.
"What?" I demanded unthinkingly.
"One minute I think you're gonna wet yourself, the next I think you're gonna try to kill me and then you calm yourself down all in the matter of seconds. It proves for an interesting scent.
I tested the air tenuously and the stench of his arousal was still very strong. I reigned in my panic, trying not to let him smell my terror. "Are you going to rape me?" The words came out strong, much stronger than I thought myself capable of.
Something in his expression softened. Pity perhaps, or sadness. He reached out and tucked a lock of my hair back behind my ear. He probably meant for it to be tender but it just made me feel sick with unease.
