Embraced By The Park

The buildings were a completely different style than the new, modern builds of the college town I lived in.

I passed by a wind chime with at least fifty shells and bits of sea glass hanging from it. It looked homemade, which was odd considering we were surrounded by the forest and mountains, and nowhere near the beach. The wind chime hung over the porch of an old building covered in what looked like newly-painted, sky-blue siding. The building was small and old, but charming and looked well taken care of.

Stopping out in front of the porch, I looked at the wolf beside me.

"You knew I wasn't walking back toward my school," I said, my voice flat.

He batted his eyes at me. I think he was trying to look innocent, but he was a wolf. He could see better in the dark than I could.

Which meant that he'd played me.

The damn wolf had played me.

Abduction is not averted.

I looked back at the door, weighing my options.

I could knock and hope there was someone sympathetic inside, who could give me some water, and maybe some bandages to wrap my poor, sad feet in. Maybe they'd give me a ride back to my dorm, too.

Or... maybe the wolf would kill them.

Yeah, not worth the risk to those poor, probably-nice people.

I resolved to keep walking until I found a police station. Or maybe an animal shelter. One or another of those places would have a way to get rid of my wolfy stalker.

And hopefully, a ride home.

I kept walking. My shoes were soaked on the inside, and I hoped they’d been soaked by pus from broken blisters, or maybe sweat. The alternative was blood, and that idea made me want to puke. The shoes were at least six years old, but the worn-down soles and holes in them hadn't done a thing to help prevent blisters while I was walking.

My phone was back in my locker at the sandwich shop, so I had no idea exactly what time it was, but it had to be pretty early in the morning. Yet, the town was surprisingly active.

That was also the opposite of my college town. The university and its students didn't seem to fully wake up until noon, even though there were early classes offered too.

The further I walked into the city, the more I found it strange that no one commented on the wolf following me.

Seriously, who wouldn't be afraid of a wolf walking freely around town?

I guessed maybe he could pass for a dog, but he wasn't on a leash or anything.

We stopped at a gas station so I could ask for directions, and I walked up to a woman filling up her car with gas. I selected her thinking she looked like she wasn't a murderer and looked nice enough that she wouldn't be pissed by me distracting her from her task and asking where the police station was.

I forced a smile. "Hi, do you have a second?"

"Of course." She smiled back, glancing at Jesse. Like the others we'd passed, she didn't look alarmed to see him.

"Do you happen to know where the police station is?"

"Oh, you mean the main alpha's house? Sure, if you keep going down this street, you'll run into a logged mansion. The main alpha lives there, along with his pack."

Main alpha? What the hell?

"Are you a werewolf?" I asked bluntly.

It seemed like the only logical answer, given her weird acceptance of the wolf beside me and her strange answers to my questions. And yeah, there was no tact behind my words, but I was exhausted and in pain and confused.

She laughed. "Of course. Everyone in this town is a werewolf. Welcome to Moon Ridge, honey." She gave me a big smile, and I took a step back. When I stepped back, I bumped into Jesse, who licked my leg again.

"I've lost my freaking mind," I mumbled, hurrying back down the road the way I'd come. The woman filling her gas tank yelled something after me, but my brain was too fried to listen.

It had taken me all night to walk to the werewolf town, but maybe I could get back to my dorm by the time the sunset. If I just kept walking and ignored my dry mouth and aching feet, I could make it.

What was the alternative; getting eaten by a damn werewolf or turning into one?

I'd take some foot pain and hunger over that any day.

The wolf realized my intentions and stepped between me and the forest before I got back on the dirt road. He gave a low, threatening growl.

"Get out of my way," I threatened back. My body swayed a bit, and I flung my arms out to try to keep my balance. I managed to remain standing, luckily.

Taking a step to the side, I tried to pass the wolf. He just jumped in my way again.

"Dammit, wolf, move!" I yelled.

Laughter erupted behind me.

I spun around, having no idea what to do with my hands if I was going to have to try to fight my way to freedom. Was I supposed to fist them? Or pull them up close to my chest, maybe?

There they were: the not-football team. Of course, those assholes were the source of the laughter.

That was just my freakin’ luck.

In the light of day, it was easier to separate the not-football players from each other. Five men of various ethnicities, sizes, clothing styles, and haircuts. Separate from each other in every way I could see, but with one thing in common:

They were all werewolves.

"I wish I could order my wolf around like that." Seatbelt Guy grinned. Now that I wasn't panicking, I got a better look at him. His skin was dark, his hair cut close to his scalp on the sides of his face and head. Slim, artfully-styled locs fell to the middle of his forehead. He was the tallest of the group, but only by an inch or so. They were all tall, and all built like the damn football players I'd assumed they were.

"We all do," another guy agreed. He strode toward me, offering a hand. He was tan, with a mass amount of fluffy, dark brown hair and a smile that would've set most people at ease.

But it just made me more wary.

I didn't take his hand.

"You assholes kidnap me, leave me with a monster, and want me to shake your hands and trust you? Yeah, right." I glared at the lot of them. "Take me home."

"Sorry, we can't do that." Smiley Guy pulled his hand away and gestured to the wolf behind me. "You've got a better chance at surviving the mating bite if you spend the weeks leading up to it with Jesse, at his place. We'll keep you fed and safe, but being alive is more important than being home."

I laughed, and the sound came out sounding slightly maniacal. I needed sleep, painkillers, and freedom. "Bullshit. All of this is bullshit."

Jesse stepped up next to me and growled fiercely at the guys. Their expressions faltered a bit.

He lowered his nose to my shoe, a wolf's way of gesturing, I guess.

"Is your foot injured?" one of the guys asked. I was pretty sure he had been the getaway driver, though that didn't help much because I didn't know any of their names.

"No," I lied, not wanting them to have an excuse to grab me again.

Jesse growled again, and it sounded like he was disagreeing with me.

Damn, wolf.

"Grab her. Let's get her back to Jesse's place so she's got some time to rest," Smiley Guy instructed.

"No, don't"

Seatbelt Guy tossed me over his shoulder once again.

I kicked and yelled as the guys walked back to Main Street, then turned down another street, and then another. They chatted amongst themselves and Jesse trotted behind me as they went, as if they weren’t dragging me along like a freakin’ prisoner.

Eventually, my throat got too dry for yelling, and my body too tired for kicking. And then I just gave up. I was carried along, draped over Seatbelt Guy's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and wondering what the hell I'd done so wrong to deserve being attacked and kidnapped by werewolves.

No one else in the town seemed to have a problem with my shouting for help or seemed to see it as a problem. I'd determined that werewolf towns were full of sick monsters who were completely okay with abducting innocent people… and probably murdering them, too.

The not-football team stopped in front of a row of townhouses and set me down, keeping a hand on my arm. In another situation, I would've thought the townhouses looked nice, maybe even cute. They were little two-story townhomes covered in siding, all of them painted differently with different accent colors and such, but all in the same shades of dove gray, dark green, and soft white.

They walked as a group to the house at the end of the row. It was mainly gray, with white as a secondary color and only hints of green. I liked the color combination the most on that one, not that I'd admit it out loud.

One of the guys typed the code into the garage door's keypad, and everyone headed into the house together. I eyed Jesse the wolf, who had started wagging his tail as we approached his space.

Wagging his freaking tail, after abducting me.

That wolf dude needed serious help.

Seatbelt Guy tossed me onto a dark blue loveseat, and said, "Welcome home, Teagan."