Alpha Blood Box Set(10)

“Neither are you,” he countered.

I scoffed and gestured down at myself. “This looks pretty normal to me,” I countered.

“I already proved that outward appearances can change, but I was speaking of your character,” he explained to me.

I shrugged. “I don’t really go for that feel-good, inner beauty stuff.”

He smirked. “I thought not, but I still hold to what I said. You’re not normal. You wouldn’t be here if you were.”

“Then I wish I was normal. . .” I muttered.

Luke frowned, and his eyes traveled down to my bandages hands. They were stained green from my vine-climbing earlier that day. “How are your wounds?”

“Wounded,” I quipped.

Luke ignored my snarky comment and took one of my hands in his. He carefully unwrapped the bandages and inspected the cuts, but I faced away from him. “They’re healing well. Did you want to see?” I frowned and cast a glance to my right at my hand. My mouth fell open when I saw that the deep cuts were now very shallow. There would be scars, but they would be a third the size I expected them to be. Luke chuckled. “You’re surprised, but you shouldn’t be. Your change has already started.” I scowled and yanked my hand from his. That is, I tried to. He held my fingers firmly in his hand and pulled me against him. His hot body warmed me in ways I hated to admit. “Only one more night and you’ll be mine.”

I shuddered and turned away. “I’ll never be yours,” I boldly argued.

He chuckled, and I felt the vibrations run along his firm chest. “A day is a long time to change your mind, and the nights are even longer.”





9





Our heated conversation was interrupted by Alistair. “We’re nearly to the station, sir,” he informed us.

I broke from Luke’s seductive spell and glanced out the windows. The scenery changed from forest to small country town. Old clapboard houses popped up on either side of the road with their backs nestled against the thick woods and small gardens in their front yards. The road widened and sidewalks sprang up in front of two-story shops with quaint window displays. I felt like I was in a different world than the one I’d known, one that was about eighty years in the past. Nothing was familiar except the stars above us, and the stars and I weren’t acquainted enough to be useful to one another.

Most of the shops were closed, but there were a few restaurants open and people mingled on the sidewalk. People. I would be saved if I could get to them. They’d get up a pitchfork and torch-wielding mob and drive these monsters from the area, and most especially from me. I tried to pull away from Luke, but he firmly held me against him. “I know you what you’re thinking, pet, but these people won’t help you. Their livelihood thrives on the train, so without our kind they wouldn’t survive.”

I saw what he meant when we reached the train station situated at the end of the main road. I expected a simple platform with one set of tracks, but instead there was a long, low building that comprised the waiting room. Inside through the wide, tall window panes I could see diners feasting at a small restaurant or warming themselves on the opposite side beside a huge rock fireplace. The platform was covered by a roof to shield from the rain, and long, elegant metal benches sat on the platform against the wall of the waiting building. There were two sets of tracks, one that ran past the station and a side track that veered off to a small, simple platform on the other side. The place exuded opulence and comfort, and I noticed there were several stacks of fresh, roughly hewn logs waiting to be placed on the coming trains.

This was very different from the concrete jungle of the city. “Where are we?” I asked Luke.

“My domain,” he replied.

“Who died and made you king?” I quipped.

He smirked. “My predecessor died, and I was made the leader of the werewolves in this area. This town is called Townsend, and is peopled by humans who know of us, but who won’t reveal our secret.”

Great, everybody was against my escaping. “So you lord over them like you do me?” I mused.

Luke’s smirk slipped off his face and he shook his head. “No. They obey me because they believe I’m a fit leader.”

“Sounds like a whole village of idiots. . .” I mumbled.

“Those idiots will be under your care once you’ve changed,” he shot back.

I blinked in bewilderment. “Come again?”

Luke’s lips pursed together and he glanced away. “We’ll speak of this later.” I scowled, but he was unmoved by my glare of death.

Alistair parked the car in a garage park not far from the station, and we got out. Luke held onto my arm so I couldn’t bolt and led us onto the platform. A clock sat on the wall above the double doors that led into the waiting room, and the time read fifteen minutes until six. Far off I heard the whistle of a train, and two dozen people moved from the waiting room out onto the platform. Many of the people caught Luke’s eye and bowed their heads at him in respect. I wanted to gag.

Some of the people were dressed in the same elegance as Luke, but others wore shabbier clothes with patches and worn colors. There was a family close beside us with a mother, father, and a little girl of about five. She had long golden hair whipped into a braid, and wore a simple white dress. The little girl caught my eyes and smiled at me, and I managed a smile back.

With such a crowd around us and the train fast approaching, I chanced one final rescue. I pulled hard against Luke’s unwavering hold and frantically looked about at the other platform occupants. “Somebody help me! This guy’s kidnapped me and-”

Luke wrapped a hand around my mouth and stifled my words. He smiled at the shocked crowd. “She’s a new one,” he explained to them. I was horrified when many of them smiled, nodded, and looked away. They weren’t going to help me. Luke pulled me hard against him and leaned down to whisper into my ear. “You’re only embarrassing yourself,” he scolded me. He nodded at the crowd. “These people are all werewolves and won’t help you to escape. They don’t want to risk their lives by having a new werewolf escaping,” he explained to me. Luke removed his hand from my mouth but kept me pressed against him.

For my part I felt numb. Everything I tried had failed, and miserably. There was nothing to do but except accept whatever terrible fate these monsters had in store for me. The train, the vehicle to my destiny, slipped into the station. It was an old steam engine with twelve cars. Luke guided us into the front cars. We had the entire car to ourselves as the usual cramped space was opened to create a large sitting room with narrow bedrooms and a bathroom off to one side.

Luke set me down on the short couch that sat opposite the doors to the bathroom and bedrooms. The windows looking outside were just to my right, but I didn’t glance out them. I sat limply on the cushion, too depressed to care as the two men made themselves comfortable in our temporary home. The train whistle blew a last warning for late passengers, and in a few minutes the engine jerked forward and carried me away to some unknown place, and at a few minutes before six. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered.

“Cold?” Luke asked me. I glared at him and turned away. My entire being was filled with hatred for him, and we he’d done and was doing to me. Luke went into one of the narrow bedrooms and returned with a thick wool blanket. He wrapped it around my shoulders and stood over me. “Better?” I refused to reply, and he sighed and knelt down in front of me. His eyes tried to catch mine, but I refused to look at him. “This won’t last forever. I promise you you’ll see your friends and home again, but there are a few more important things to deal with first.” I didn’t answer him, but at his promise hope sprang up inside me.

Our fuzzy, feel-good conversation was interrupted when the door swung open and the little girl from the platform rushed in. She swung around, shut it behind her, and giggled. Her breath was ragged as though she’d been running, and her cheeks were a rosy red color. She didn’t appear to notice us until Alistair spoke up. “Can we help you?” Alistair asked her.

The girl jumped and swiveled around. Her eyes widened when she noticed all of us staring at her. The girl glanced around the room and her eyes stopped on me. She raced past Alistair and sprang into my lap, toppling Luke back with her wild limbs. I instinctively grabbed onto her to keep her from falling, and she wrapped her arms around my sides. She tilted her head up and gave me a big, wide smile. “Hi!” she yelled. Her voice reminded me of the ringing of far off church bells that signified a joyous occasion.

“Hi,” I laughingly replied. Her good humor was contagious.

“I’ve never seen you on the train before. Are you new?” she asked me.

“I-um-” I stuttered.

“Very new. She’s not quite a werewolf yet,” Luke answered for me as he righted himself to a seated position on the floor. “She needs one more night.”

The little girl’s face lit up with joy. “And then we can run in the woods together around the Sanctuary?” she pleaded.

“Uh, I don’t know about that,” I hesitantly replied. This girl was adorable, but she tossed out the werewolf topic more easily than Luke.