Page 51 of Obsessed in Blood
“Do as I say. We only have minutes.”
I did as she asked and watched the lid shut. I wasn’t going to have air for very long, but then I noticed a spot of light. I twisted around, trying to find a comfortable position, and noted the back wall had three one-inch-sized holes. Air. I closed my eyes as the freezer was lifted and then pushed across something.
An engine started, and the vehicle—which I assumed was a truck or van—slowly began to move. The yelling continued as the truck inched its way along. My foot pressed against the freezer as if I were stomping on the gas peddle, forcing it to move faster.
Instead, the truck slowed and came to a stop. I heard a door squeal open, and a tailgate dropped. The sound of scraping nails and a shift in the truck bed made me smile. We’d just picked up the wolves.
The truck crept along for what had to be another fifteen minutes before it slowed again. The bright light from the air holes grew dimmer. Doors slid shut with a bang.
I heard something that sounded like grunting and whining. The freezer jostled as it was moved off the truck.
When the freezer was settled on the ground, the lid opened. I blinked against the light, dim as it was, and stared up at four faces—Harlow, Simone, and a man and woman I didn’t know. They were all smiling.
Then Harlow took a whiff and waved his hand against the putrid stink rolling off me. “Hello, luv. It’s good to see you in one piece, but there’s no way in hell you’re traveling in the same car as me.”
ChapterEighteen
I slippedinto the warm water until my head was completely submerged. After three steaming showers and now soaking in my second hot bath, the stench of my escape through the garbage bin had finally been purged. I sat up, the water streaming down my face, and breathed in the scent of oranges and spice. Ginger didn’t say where she found the bath salts, but I’d need a dozen more jars for the sheer sensual pleasure.
Lyra asked if I could join the Family for dinner if I were up to it, and I couldn’t see a reason to say no. I’d been through a trauma, and they understood, but they were vamps. If they had been in my position, they would simply accept what happened and carry on, eventually deciphering the wisdom of their journey.
Humans weren’t built to absorb emotional impacts as easily as a vamp. We had to stew on it, wondering if the entire experience could have been avoided if we’d only changed one element of our day. But second-guessing ourselves wouldn’t change the eventual outcome. It all boiled down to the individual—their past experiences, ability to talk about it, and so on. But then again, I wasn’t entirely human. And I couldn’t imagine Colantha hiding in her bedroom while she internalized her emotions.
After Harlow had opened the freezer lid, I’d been so relieved that I’d accomplished a job, which was how I’d viewed the escape. But there was more to it this time. I’d had my memories taken from me. My control. And while I seemed to have hidden it from everyone at the docks, it shook me to the core. But now, only hours later, I was mad, and the rage was building.
Maybe Simone had something to do with my enlightened focus. It had been a surprise to see her there. Ginger had shared in confidence that once the plan had been developed, Simone had demanded to be at the docks when the boat arrived. Once I was out of the freezer, she’d whispered, “It annoys me I feel the need to hug you. Thankfully, your smell forces me to keep my distance.”
I had to hold in a snort and almost kissed her when she handed me a set of gym clothes. I’d slid behind a stack of crates in the warehouse and stripped off the horrid floral pantsuit. The leggings and thin sweatshirt comforted me more than words. Most of all, my feet reveled in the woolly socks and tennies. Simone had my back.
My second surprise was meeting Elijah and Raquel, the alpha and beta of the Humboldt pack, who I’d met before, but not in their human shape. I knew them in their wolf persona as Mr. Black and Ms. Gray, the two wolves who’d helped me get into the papermill to find Devon and put his beast to rest. And while they didn’t comment on my oddball discussion with their wolves, the winks they gave me at our departure from the docks told me they remembered it.
“Hey. Are you decent?” Ginger’s voice rang through the bedroom and into the bathroom. “Are you still in the bath? You must be shriveled by now.” She pushed the bathroom door open. “Wow, it smells a ton better in here.” She carried a basket with flowers, a variety of lotions, and a woman’s magazine, which she dropped on the counter. Her nose sniffed the air again. “By the time you lather some lotion on, you’ll be presentable.” She picked up the magazine and sat on the toilet as she flipped through the pages. Her dark hair shone with red highlights and curled about her head. She wore a blue sundress with a huge yellow sunflower splayed across the front. Her persona rang of an innocent, which she continued to embody. No one would suspect that daily sparring lessons with her dagger made her a deadly adversary. It still shocked me at times.
“Lyra will be upset if we’re late. She’s still bummed out about the special dinner she’d arranged after you rescued Devon. And I know you had your reasons, but can you not disappoint her this time?” She closed the magazine and leaned toward me, her eyes sincere. “I feel bad that the cadre still looks to Devon for approval on most things. He should say something. If he didn’t want to take House leadership back, then he should tell the cadre to stop going around her.”
I could only stare. My mouth might have hung open. When had she become entrenched in House politics? “I’ll be ready in plenty of time.”
She sat back. “Oh. Okay then.” She glanced around the bathroom then stood. “I’ll find you something to wear.”
I considered her as she sashayed out of the room, and I pulled the plug on the tub. Ginger was known to get frazzled when steeped in high emotions. My kidnapping had to be a major event for her, and while we could talk about it, sometimes the nonverbal worked just as well.
After drying myself off, I kept quiet when she handed me clothes. I didn’t complain when she made me sit on the toilet as she blow-dried my hair and used gobs of gel to give it a spikey look. I had to admit, I looked ready to hit the clubs and snickered to myself at what Lorenzo would have thought.
I grabbed her hand as we stared at my hair in the mirror. “It looks great.” We stayed like that for a moment, then I added, “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Her eyes teared up, but she held it together and smiled. “For the first time, I had friends to help me through it. But I think Devon should put a tracker on you.”
I laughed and searched my closet for shoes. “I’m sure Lorenzo’s vamps would have removed it before taking me to the island.”
“I don’t mean something in your clothes or a piece of jewelry. I’m thinking one of those under the skin type.”
“You mean a subcutaneous implant?” I cringed at the thought of my every movement being watched.
“Yeah, that’s it.” Her words held a haughty tone. “And I think he’d agree with me.” She grinned before almost skipping out the door.
I followed her, giving my room a last glance. It was good to be home.
It was morea party than dinner. A long linen-covered table had been set up in the solarium, covered with fine china and crystal goblets. Floral arrangements had been interspersed between the candelabras. This gathering was more than Devon, Ginger, and the cadre.
