Tracey leaned back against the bar and rested her elbow on it. “Wolves. Some are rogues, some are from neighboring packs, and the rest are from the Crimson Pack.”
“What happened to the lockdown?” I couldn’t help but ask. It must have taken a lot to get Rafe to come off of it.
Tracey chewed on her lip as she looked at Rafe over my shoulder. As soon as we had made our way to the bar, he had abandoned his post and went to the other side of the room. He was such a party pooper. “It’s still in place. We have a few of the Guardians here and that’s the only reason it was permitted. Plus Mav has a soft spot for you and he told Rafe he was going to initiate kidnapping you if he didn’t let us go out. We all needed this.Youespecially.”
Another good song blasted through the speakers and I found my body moving to the beat. Tracey put her hand in mine and yanked me right back to the dance floor. The lyrics wrapped around me and my body kept to the beat. Growing up, I had always watched the dancers and wished my parents had put me into some kind of class. I had watched countless music videos and YouTube videos to learn as much as I could growing up. I was glad I had because I knew Rafe was watching as I rolled my hips and dropped to the floor. I rolled my neck and threw my hair and when I looked up, he was right there. I swallowed hard but kept to the beat as his hands found my hips and he pulled me to him. I didn’t know what had changed. I didn’t know what I did to get him on the floor but I wasn’t mad about it.
Yes, I was perfectly okay with making myself happy and doing things for myself. But a small thrill still went through me at the spicy scent that washed over me. The scent of whiskey was stronger than usual, but the pine had something else wrapped around it. Something sensual that was fueling me on.
Sweat rolled down the side of my face as I flicked my head back and rolled my body down Rafe’s. His fingers trailed up my arm as he kept up to the beat with his dancing against my back. The trail of his fingers up my arm was intoxicating. But there was nothing like the feeling when those fingers ran across my collarbone and up my neck. The callused joints wrapped around my neck and my knees went weak. But it was his breath on my ear that was my undoing.
“I don’t know why I’m here, but I couldn’t stay away. You make it impossible for me to keep my hands to myself.” His voice sounded strained, tortured. When I looked up at him, I could have sworn his eyes were no longer yellow, but instead a light brown. But it could have been a trick of the light when he blinked and they went back to yellow.
I ran my body up against his as I turned in his arms. He bent low and his nose ran up the side of my neck. The motion made me freeze, then it brought back all the painful memories before he forced a change on me. I jerked back and stumbled over my heels. This was silly. How could I have let him get close to me like this again? I couldn’t deny that he made me curious and he was hot as sin. But that’s what he was, a sin. Something forbidden that was going to get me hurt all over again. He reached toward me but then a body at my back had his hand falling back to his side. I stumbled once again, stupid heels, and the smell of Mav wrapped around me. He smelled like citrus and peppermint. It soothed something inside of me.
His hands wrapped around the top of my shoulders while he guided me back to the bar. Tracey’s straw hung from her mouth in shock. “What the hell was that? I mean, it was hot as hell, but like, what happened?” I didn’t think I had ever heard her so flustered before.
I shook my head before I looked back at the dance floor over my shoulder. Rafe was gone. “I have no idea.” I couldn’t have kept the disappointment from my voice even if I tried.
* * *
The rest of the night was filled with the laughter I needed to soothe my soul and confusion about what happened with Rafe. Tracey kept me on the dance floor for the rest of the night, dancing away my blues. But it only kept the blues away for so long. I didn’t see Rafe again for the rest of the night. Even when we said goodbye to the guys and Tracey handed me her keys, he was still missing. Mav and Knox promised to follow us back to my house, where we would be staying. Tomorrow was Cabin Clean Up day and I was anxious.
Everyone said you could see the cabin from the Manor but I sure as hell couldn’t locate it. I was anxious to see where my new home would be. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel as Tracey hummed.
“Are you excited for tomorrow?” Tracey’s head lolled on the headrest. A few of her corkscrew curls had escaped their bun and were spiraling wildly around her face. Her skin glistened in the glow of the streetlights I drove under.
“Yes, though I am a bit nervous. Alice said it was in need of a lot of work.”
Tracey winced beside me. “It’s pretty bad off, I won’t lie to you. The kids dare each other to go in there.”
I rolled my eyes. “What are you gonna do? Warn me that it’s haunted?”
Tracey snickered. “Definitely not, Granny already ridded it of the spirits.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. “I hope we have enough cleaning supplies.”
Tracey closed her eyes before she yawned. “I doubt we do. We will be making many trips to the hardware store this weekend. You’re gonna need paint too, have you picked out a color scheme?”
I shrugged. “I’m thinking black with gold accents.”
Tracey cued. “I like the sound of that.”
I smiled and was about to reply but I didn’t get the chance. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as our car was hit from the side. I barely registered the sound of crunching metal as my head bounced off of the steering wheel. Before my body could register the pain from that, my seat belt was ripped tight across my body as the car flipped once, then twice. I lost count as we went over and over. My head smacked the headrest and my neck burned from the seatbelt as the car came to a jerking halt upside down. My vision was blurry and something was dripping down the side of my face. My limbs were too heavy to reach up to touch it. All I could do was turn my head and try to grab Tracey but no matter how hard I tried, my body wasn’t working the way I needed it to.
“Tracey?” My voice sounded foreign and far away.
She was unconscious and blood was flowing from the bottom of her chin. The wolfsbane in her system wasn’t going to let her heal quickly either. What was wrong with me though? Why was everything still so fuzzy and heavy? I pulled at my seat belt as much as I could with my fading strength but it was no use. My head was too fuzzy. I must have gotten a concussion when my head hit the steering wheel the first time.
The sound of crunching glass gave me hope. The Guardians had followed us home. They were here! My tongue felt swollen in my mouth as I tried to yell to them. “In here! We are okay but hurry!”
The door was yanked off of the side of the car and my seatbelt was cut. Before my body could hit the glass, strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me from the wreckage. My head lolled back in relief until I realized the scent wasn’t right. Something smelledwrong. It was the same wrongness from the rogue in my class just a few days before. I pushed away from the body carrying me and tried to blink my eyes open. What was wrong with me?
“Who are you?” My voice was slurred before I felt a pinch on my backside. I felt the liquid heat in my blood and for a horrifying moment, I thought of the night Rafe had forced me to into this life. But that wasn’t what this was and they couldn’t turn me again. No, they injected me with a vial of wolfsbane. They drugged me.
“None of your concern, love. We are going to make sure you get taken care of.” My ears were still ringing and I could hardly understand what he was saying. By the grace of God, I understood what the others said.
“Are you sure she’s the one?” someone else asked.
