Finally, we reached a car parked on the side of the road, and Corwin came to a stop, so I did too. We shifted back in to our human form. I didn’t see Bess sitting in the car.
“Where’s Bess?” I said, puzzled.
“We don’t need Bess.”
Corwin stood there, naked, and I was horrified to realize that he had a massive erection now. He moved towards me, and I leaped back.
“What the hell?” I yelled. “What are you doing?”
“You know we were meant to be together,” he said, his eyes shining strangely.
“You’re in love with Bess!”
“I never loved Bess. It was always you. One stupid misunderstanding, and my pack was forcing me to marry that bitch and telling me that if I said no, they’d kick me out of the pack and I’d be a lone wolf.”
“I saw those love poems you wrote to her! You two were all over each other!” I protested.
“I wrote those poems for you. Beautiful eyes, shiny hair? All you. I never wanted to marry her. I got this call from my pack and they were all excited because their pack Alpha had called to say I could marry Bess. It was supposed to be some big honor. Because their pack is so special, and we’re scum. I tried to tell them I didn’t want to marry her, I wanted to marry you, and they shut me right down. Said I had no choice.”
“But you were all over Bess! All the time!”
“I wanted you to be jealous. To see that you should be with me.”
His eyes shone with a crazy light I’d never seen before. We were all alone in the middle of nowhere, and fear swelled up inside me, choking me. “Where is Bess? What have you done with her?” I screamed.
He pulled open the car door. He came out with a tranquilizer gun.
“I was afraid you might react like this,” he sighed. “It’s all right. You’ll learn to love me, in time.” As I turned to run, he shot me with the tranquilizer dart.
I woke up lying in the back seat of the car, bound hand and foot…and I could hear furious pounding and muffled sounds coming from the trunk. It sounded like a woman who’d been gagged and was trying to scream.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I yelled furiously. “Let Bess out! Let her out!”
“We need to get rid of her,” Corwin said dreamily from the front seat. “You and me. I’ll put the knife in your hand, and guide your hands. We’ll do it together.”
I struggled to shift, but I couldn’t. Whatever he’d sedated me with was too strong. I wouldn’t be able to shift until it wore off.
“You’re crazy! Let me go!” I screamed at Corwin.
“My mother used to say that to my father, all the time,” Corwin said. “He locked her up so that she could learn to love him, but he was weak and careless. She wouldn’t love him, and it made him sad, so he started drinking. I won’t do that. I’ll be vigilant all the time. I’ll always watch you, until you learn to love me.”
Corwin was crazy. His father had been crazy, and Corwin had clearly inherited the crazy genes. I’m sure that a childhood of watching his father keep his mother prisoner, and beat her, and also Corwin, hadn’t helped much either.
“Max won’t let that happen! He’ll find us!” I was terrified.
“He’s not coming for you. He’s fucking that other girl. He loves her. He doesn’t love you.” His voice had gone high and sing song, and every word was like a dagger to my heart.
We pulled off the main road, and the car began bumping and rocking over a dirt lane.
Finally we came to a halt. He climbed out of the car and walked to the back, and popped open the trunk. A minute later he came to haul me out of the car, and dumped me on the ground like a sack of potatoes. I still couldn’t shift; I gritted my teeth and cursed at him.
Bess lay on the ground, bound hand and foot. There was duct tape on her mouth. Tears streamed down her face, and I could see that her face was bruised, where Corwin had hit her.
Corwin reached into the front seat of the car, and pulled out a knife.
“No!” I screamed. “I’ll go with you! Leave her here! I love you, I swear, you don’t need to hurt her!”
He shook his head sadly. “No, you don’t. Not yet. You’re lying to me, and I’ll have to punish you for that later. I should mark up your face. That will also make sure that nobody but me ever loves you. Right now, we need to get rid of Bess. Then, it will just be you and me, sweetheart. It will be so beautiful. After I punish you, I’ll nurse you back to health. My daddy always did that for my mommy, but she never appreciated it, the ungrateful whore.” His face went from delighted to enraged in a split second.