“Boo!” Abby jumped out at me, and I jumped out of my skin. I shrieked and knocked my back into one of the boulders. Abby giggled until I shot forward and grasp her hand in mine.
“Don’t scare me like that!” I scolded her.
She shrank away and her lower lip trembled. “I-I didn’t mean to, Becky. I just thought we’d have some fun.”
I sighed and glanced around at the rock jungle gym. If by fun she meant breaking my neck there was plenty to be had here. “This isn’t exactly my idea of fun,” I told her.
“But there’s a whole bunch of neat caves in there!” she protested. “They go all the way back forever and ever, and you’ll never guess what I found in one of the caves!” She grasped my hand and tugged me toward a wide opening that led into a dark, spooky-looking cavern. “Come on, I’ll show you!”
I dug my heels into the ground and stopped her strong pull. She had a long of strength in that little werewolf frame. “Forever and ever is a long time. I don’t know about you, but I’d get hungry before I finished exploring all those caves, and wouldn’t you miss your mom and dad?” I reminded her.
“But I really did find something neat in there,” she persisted.
“And we really should be getting back,” I insisted.
Abby’s face drooped and she sighed. “I guess, but can we come back here tomorrow and I can show you what I found?” she pleaded with me.
“Sure.” If I lived to see tomorrow because if Luke found out I was gone I’d be dead meat.
“Yay!” Abby yipped.
“Come on, let’s head back to the trail.” I securely took her hand and led her away from the rock fun house and back on the trail. I decided we needed to turn around, especially when I glanced down the trail and couldn’t even see the villa. I worried we’d wandered out of the boundaries of the werewolf territory, if there was an end to their territory. “Uh, Abby, I think we need to go back before I get in trouble.” Luke’s meeting had been going on for nearly four hours.
“It shouldn’t take too long to get back if we transform,” Abby casually replied.
“Um, transform?” I squeaked.
“Yeah, you know, turn into a wolf.”
“Um, there’s a bit of a problem with that. I don’t know how to transform.”
She tilted her head and blinked at me. “You don’t? I thought everyone knew how to change.”
“I’m kind of new to this whole werewolf thing and haven’t really figured that part out. Or any part, really.”
“Oh. Then I guess we’d better get back before Mama and Papa worry about me.”
I frowned. “Worry? Don’t they know you were going to take me for a walk?”
She sheepishly smiled and shook her head. “I kind of snuck out.”
I sighed and took her hand to lead her back. “Well, I guess that makes two of us. Come on, before they send out a search party for us.”
18
We’d gone about a mile when Abby stopped and lifted her nose in the air.
“There’s someone coming,” she told me. I didn’t need a super sniffer to be told that because I heard the pounding of paws on the path ahead of us. A few seconds later I spotted a werewolf racing along the trail straight toward us. I picked Abby up intending to run away, but she only laughed at my fright. “It’s Luke!” she told me.
The werewolf skidded to a stop in front of us and those familiar orange eyes glared at me. If it was Luke, he wasn’t happy. I sheepishly grinned at him. “Um, hi.” The wolf growled and moved around behind us. He gave me a hard nudge in the butt and I stumbled down the path. I set Abby down, swung around, and crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you mind? I’m not an animal you can herd around.” He bared his fangs and snarled, and I cringed and held up my hands. “Moo?”
Luke flipped me around with his snout and marched us back to the villa in time for the setting sun to shine its last rays behind the western mountain peaks. Abby’s parents and Stacy met us at the edge of the villa park, and they were as happy as Luke. The worried parents raced up, and knelt down and hugged their child, then got down to the punishment part of the reunion . “Abigail Stewart, you are grounded for the rest of the trip!” Mrs. Stewart scolded her.
“But Mama!” Abby whined.
“No buts, young lady! Thank goodness Lord Laughton found your scent and his friend here found us with the news.” She gestured to Stacy, who smiled and bowed her head.
“I’m just glad this adventure has a happy ending,” Stacy replied.
Mr. Stewart turned to the werewolf. “We can’t thank you enough for your help for helping us with our daughter a second time, Lord Laughton.” The wolf shook its head, but Mr. Stewart persisted. “If you ever need our help we will always be at your service.”
Mrs. Stewart straightened and tugged on Abby’s hand. “Come on, Abby. You’re going to your room without supper.” The happy but angry parents strode off with Abby, and that meant my turn for punishment. I nervously glanced at the wolf.
“So, um, how did the meeting go?” I asked him. The werewolf growled and nodded toward the villa. I sighed and a trudged to my room with the werewolf chaperon close behind.
The halls were crowded with other werewolves who pointed and laughed at my predicament. I knew he meant to publicly humiliate me in front of the others, and it worked. It also made me mad. By the time we reached our room I was furious and stomped inside. Luke followed and shut the door behind us. I spun on my heels and faced my oppressor.
Luke lost the fur and revealed his naked self. He also revealed a scowl while he wrapped himself in a bathrobe. “What do you think you were doing out there?”
“Taking a walk. People do that with a lot of trails around,” I replied.
“This isn’t a joking matter, Becky. Our enemies won’t hesitate to catch you alone and kill you,” he insisted.
“So now I’m finally Becky and not a slave?” I wondered.
Luke walked up to me and softly grasped my upper arms. His eyes caught mine in an intense gaze. I blushed and turned away, unable to meet his serious look. “You were never a slave, and I apologize for treating you so horribly then, but I couldn’t let you leave. My Beast wouldn’t allow it, and truth be told I kind of liked your lively company. Alistair is a good manservant, but his companionship is rather stodgy.”
I glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow. “Just appreciated my company?” I scolded.
He looked down at my body and wagged his eyebrows. “Among other things,” he added.
“I guess I’ll accept that, but I still haven’t forgiven you for kidnapping me and I expect you to let me go back home and tell everyone I’m fine,” I insisted.
“I can live with that, and I promise I’ll let you see your friends again,” he promised.
“Good. Now what?” I asked him.
“After that little adventure there’ll be very little what and where for you,” he replied. “You’re going to stay by my side at all times.”
I cringed. “Even during the meetings?”
“Even during the meetings,” he repeated.
“That’s cruel and unusual punishment.”
“Then it’s very suitable for the scare you gave me.”
“Can’t I suffer through the dining hall food and stay inside the villa?” I pleaded with him.
Luke shook his head. “Not until you prove I can trust you to stay where it’s safe.”
I folded my arms across my chest and leaned on one hip. “Stay where it’s safe, huh? I’ll have you know I already ran into Lance on the deck.”
Luke stiffened and scowled. “What did he say to you?”
I shrugged. “Just asked me how I was related to you and I asked him how come he wasn’t at the meeting. He said he got a representative to go for him.”
“Yes, our old friend from the inn,” Luke told me. “I imagine he sent that man to mock my efforts to have him arrested in Wolverton. Did Lance say anything that caught your attention?”
I scrunched up my face and recalled one strange item from our conversation. “He did say something that I’d like to know about. What’s this about something being different about my smell?” I asked him.
Luke nodded. “Your scent’s changed to be closer to mine and alert others that you belong to me. Why?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him my best suspicious look. “Because that Lance guy sniffed me and said something about a betrothal. Care to tell me what that’s all about?”
Luke coughed to hide his guilty expression. “I meant to inform you sooner, but our adventures have kept me from proposing.”
“Proposing what?”
“To you.”
I blinked. “Come again?”
He got down on one knee in front of me and took one of my hands in his own. “As my mate you are considered my wife in werewolf society, so I’d like to be considered the same in human society.”
“Did you just-did you just ask me to marry you?” I asked him. He nodded, and my face shifted between flattered and uncertain. “Is this something I have to decide right now? I mean, a lot’s happened to me lately and I don’t think I can think clearly right now.”