Moon Tortured (Sky Brooks Series Book 1) (12 page)

“Well done,” he stated appreciatively as I walked past him. Since I was the reason for the injury, helping him didn’t seem to warrant appreciation.

“How’s the shoulder,” he asked Ethan before he walked past him.

“Still here.”

“Meet me in my office. I still would like to look at it,” he called after him.

Ethan nodded heading toward Sebastian’s office, but he was out the door before Ethan could knock. His lips curved into a half smile, giving the shoulder a once over. “It’s been a long time since you’ve felt the tinge of silver on your flesh,” Sebastian stated.

“It’s a pain one never forgets. I don’t need a reminder of it anytime soon.”

“Skylar, I see that your daytrip was quite eventful. You now see that the vampires don’t have to take a stroll in the daylight to get to you,” he stated contemptuously. “There won’t be any more trips for you until this is over. So don’t ask again.”

I started counting from a thousand giving myself time to cool off before I ended up telling him what I thought about having to ask permission to leave the house. I missed several numbers in the process—too angry to concentrate. It’s not that I didn’t agree with him because it was quite tiring getting attacked every time I left the house. But would it have hurt him to ask me like an adult rather than commanding me as though I were a child?

“Being attacked every time I go out of the house really makes for a bad day. And because of the ever-so-sweet way you asked, I think I can comply with that,” I stated in a cloying tone. His eyes narrowed into a glare before he directed his attention back to Ethan.

I started up the stairs but didn’t miss him telling Ethan that Josh had returned. By the time I backtracked down, they had disappeared behind the office door. Since fighting with a controlling Alpha wasn’t on my to-do list, I abandoned the idea of knocking on the office door.

By the time I had showered and eaten dinner, once again alone in the bedroom, I had grown impatient, waiting for them to let me speak to this Josh. I hadn’t seen or heard anything from Ethan since we had pulled up to the house three hours earlier. Pacing the room wasn’t helping either. I wandered through the house, which had become suspiciously quiet since his arrival. Did he have the same effect on them that I had when I first came to the house? Did everyone just scatter? Blindly, I searched through the house, listening for an unfamiliar voice, tracking an unfamiliar scent, looking for that unfamiliar person. Each room I passed, I placed my ear to it, listening for anything—voices, screams, even a wicked cackle. I didn’t care; I just wanted something.

My final stop was by the room Ethan stayed in, which turned out to be a bust. This Josh had to be somewhere in this house because I could sense something amiss. The problem was he could be anywhere in the maze of rooms and hallways of this absurdly large house.

Maybe it was a good thing I hadn’t found him. He clearly wouldn’t be alone. What would I say?
Hey, Josh, I was just stalking you. Can we talk?

“Did you need something, Skylar?” Surprised, I looked in the direction of the sound. My ears easily identified him before I could see him.

“Ethan.” I called out into the dark hallway.

“Are you lost?” His crisp voice asked as he appeared in my line of sight.

“No, just looking around.”

His eyes narrowed as he leaned against the wall, “What were you looking for Skylar?”

“You. I was looking for you. I hadn’t seen you since earlier and I wanted to make sure you were alright,” I lied. I didn’t care for lying to people but I didn’t want to tell him I was stalking Josh, either.

“I’m fine,” he said. “You did well today. It is greatly appreciated.”

I smiled. Before I could walk away, he stepped closer, forcing me against the wall. His palm rested on the upper part of my sternum keeping me firmly in place. He leaned in close, inhaling as he ran his nose along my jawline until his lips rested against my ear. I scowled.

He whispered but it came out as a growl. “You’ve lived so long in your human world that you have not developed the skills to successfully lie to a were-animal. Do you hear it—your heart rate; it’s beating too fast—and your breathing’s changed; it’s irregular.”

“Perhaps my heart is beating fast and my breathing is irregular because a scary werewolf has me cornered in a dark hallway,” I said, sounding calmer than I felt.

He pressed closer into me, “I really hate to be lied to.”

I challenge you to find a person that enjoys it.

“Tell me; what were you looking for?” he asked again.

“I want to talk to Josh,” I admitted, trying to push myself up from the wall, but he pressed in harder, keeping me in place.

Too much time passed as he stood staring at me. “No. Not today,” he asserted.

“Yes. Today, and preferably now if you can make that happen.” He let me push my way past him, but he held me a few moments as a reminder of who really was in control.

“No.”

I was fuming by the time I turned to face him. He looked amused by my anger. If only he knew the many ways I was contemplating wiping that smug look off his face, it would have vanished quickly. “If he’s here, why do I have to wait until tomorrow? Why can’t we just get this over with tonight?”

“Because.”

Was he kidding me with this! I never understood the answer: “because I said so.” I realized many people grew up in households like that, but my mother worked on logic. My household wasn’t a dictatorship. There was a reason for everything, which I was always given. I needed a reason. “This is bullsh—”

“Skylar, you will speak to him when it is time. Throwing a tantrum isn’t going to change things. Go to sleep.”

Screw you!
I may not have said it, but the hate-filled glare I casted in his direction said it far better than words could.

Harsh eyes shot back at me. The amused grin disappeared, replaced by a clenched jaw and scowl. “Go to the room or—”

Or what? Was he going to drag me there kicking and screaming? There was a tense, long silence between us; I was seething and he was infuriated.

Something changed; I think his anger tipped just a little too far because he looked like he was working hard to control it. It was obvious he wasn’t used to many people defying him, and he wasn’t handling it well now. My autonomic nervous system was yelling at me to run. Instinct urged me to get away from the irate wolf, but I refused to listen.

He sighed and spoke in a very calm voice, “Okay. You can speak with him tomorrow morning. Goodnight.” He turned, and with a lot of effort, he walked away.

Did I just win?
I think I had but as I walked back to the room, I didn’t feel victorious. There wasn’t an urge to do a chest bump or a fist pump. Ethan had agreed to let me speak with Josh tomorrow, which was what he wanted in the first place. It was a hollow victory. I may have only shortened the time to speak with Josh by a couple of hours or so.

I trudged back to the room only to find Steven sitting in front of the door with a textbook in his hand. He looked up and smiled. I still had a grimace on my face from my encounter with Ethan and couldn’t force my face to relax into a smile to greet him.

“Hey Sky … um, Skylar, how’s it going?” he asked in a low drawl before he returned his attention to the book.

“Fine,” I muttered.

He looked up again, “Sebastian or Ethan?” he asked with an amused smirk.

“What?”

“Which one did you have your little encounter with? Seems like each time you speak with one of them, you have that look on you face,” he acknowledged.

“Ethan,” I admitted stepping past him to go into the room.

Catching hold of my leg, he said, “You’ve been in this house four days. You’ve eaten with us twice. The rest of the time, you’ve been in this room hiding. You may have to be here a couple more days, so you might as well enjoy the amenities of the house. I can’t let you continue to stay in your room like a prisoner; it’s inhospitable. Joan will have my neck for it if it continues.”

“No, thank you. The room’s fine," I responded, shaking free of his hold.

“Come on Sky,” he urged, rising to his feet. I didn’t cringe at him calling me that as I usually did. It was probably because he said it with a slight Southern lilt. A Southern accent always seems to soften the harshest things. Add a pair of dimples, and I just couldn’t correct him. Taking my hand, he led me down the hallway. We went down two flights of stairs and a corridor before entering the largest room in the house, the entertainment room. Equipped with a pool table, air hockey, several game consoles, foosball, darts and a television so large it was as if we were in a movie theater.

“That’s practical,” I stated derisively, nodding my head toward the television.

“It’s an indulgence. Makes sports more interesting and video games unbelievable,” he stated enthusiastically.

He slowly turned, waving his hand toward the various things in the room like a game show host. “So what holds your interest,” he asked with a grin.

Nothing. Can I go now?

He pointed to the video games; I shook my head. Then he pointed to the pool table; I shook it more vigorously. When he point to the air hockey, I sighed and agreed. He wasn’t going to give up until I decided on something. The dimpled coyote wasn’t being hospitable; he was here to keep me from stalking Josh again. Fine, I will go along and play their stupid games.

We played five games, of which he won three. Once we finished, I stared at him bored, wondering when he was going to stop holding me hostage and let me go back to the room. His face lit up as he went to a cabinet and pulled out a chess game. I smiled, which prompted him to set up the board.

“So was this your first kill,” he asked as he studied the board, waiting for me to make a move.

I nodded once.

“The first one is always the hardest. It gets easier,” he assured me casually.

I looked up from the board. My eyes widened in horror as they met his, “I killed someone. I don’t want it to get easier. I want to feel bad about taking a life.”

“Would you have preferred it be you or Ethan?” he asked in a level tone.

“No," I breathed out.

“Skylar, things will probably get a lot worse before they get better. I don’t want you to let things like that get in the way of you doing what is necessary to keep yourself safe.”

“Things like murder?” I asked astonished. I hadn’t gotten to the point of trivializing life.

“Yes, things like murder,” he repeated his tone losing its usual pleasant accord. His face held a coldness that I wasn’t sure he was capable of. For a brief moment, I got a glimpse into what others saw in him before they took their last breath, pure callousness over whether they lived or died. Then he smiled, with that one sweeping act, he quickly shattered the image of the callous killer. Once again, sitting in front of me, was the adorable coyote with the boyish charm.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt, Skylar,” he acknowledged.

“I don’t want to get hurt either. I just need to stay safe without taking another life,” I admitted, wishing my voice didn’t pick this time to crack.

He pressed his lips together, holding back whatever he wanted to say. He nodded his head slowly and directed his attention back to the chessboard.

We played several more games of chess, and I agreed to play a couple more games of air hockey, which I won. When I heard the front door close, I looked at Steven with a small knowing smile.

“He’s gone. I guess you can stop running interference now.”

He laughed. “I was just keeping you busy. You were roaming the house like you needed something to do.”

“Why is this Josh guy being so well-protected?”

He was still smiling but it held a different quality to it—more reserved and astute. “It’s the information that is being protected, not Josh. We’ve shared quite a bit of our pack’s dynamics with you, and I urge you to practice some level of discretion,” he admitted. “What you are allowed to know is censored.”

“Even if the information is about me?”

He nodded. “You’re an outsider. I am sorry, but that’s the way it is. Believe me; limited information is a good thing. You’ll be safer that way,” he stated as he lingered over the words as if they held special meaning.