Moon Tortured (Sky Brooks Series Book 1) (5 page)

Ethan’s steel-gray eyes remained glued on me. Each step he took made my heart rate increase to the point it was erratic. The teenager and Winter stood on each side of him. Neither of them looked happy with me.

“Is anything broken?” Ethan’s gruff voice asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Good. Follow me and try to keep up,” he commanded as he began to run. My shoulder ached but I couldn’t show it. I followed them back to the house. The teenager stayed close, occasionally asking if I were okay and whether I needed to stop. Repeatedly I assured him that I was fine as I pushed to stay in pace with them step for step. The woods’ unleveled terrain jostled my shoulder, making each step painful and the journey back seem longer.

Sebastian opened the front door before we reached it. The look on his face couldn’t be classified as anger anymore. He had taken anger, dipped it in rage and left it to marinate for hours. No, the emotions on his face could make anger its bitch. He started to walk—or rather stalk toward me. When I recoiled, he took several deep even breaths, turned around and with great effort walked away.

“Anyone injured?” Dr. Baker asked, focused on Winter.

“Not really. You may need to check the problem,” she stated as she jerked her head in my direction. “Chase used her shoulder as an appetizer.”

He nodded. “Did everything go okay?”

Winter shrugged, “Chase really hates me now. He’s probably plotting his revenge as we speak—undoubtedly something long, torturous and bloody. I suspect if I tried to die too quickly, he would revive me just to prolong the torture. I win. I am clearly the one he hates the most in this pack,” she stated, proudly baring all her teeth in a grin.

“It’s not a competition and definitely not one you should be involved in. Winter, what did you do?” It sounded like it was a question he had asked far too many times.

“I broke Gabby’s arms in eight places,” she replied, looking away from his aggravated gaze.

“That was rather unnecessary,” he stated with a reproachful glare.

“It wasn’t my intention,” she responded with genteel pout. “I had no other options,” she turned toward him giving him a look of limpid doe-eyed innocence, which he didn’t believe for a second. He cocked his eyebrow and shook his head slowly, obviously irritated.

She sighed so heavily her lips rumbled from the force. “Okay, fine, they bug me! They are too weird even for vampires! Ugh, every time I see them I just want to break something on them. She dyed her hair this ridiculous burnt orange; she looks like a bruised carrot. He looks like a Goth Abercrombie & Fitch model,” she admitted as she flung her arms dismissively at the thought of them.

She sneered at me and did that weird eye thing once she caught me staring at her. I wasn’t sure if it were the fact that she really hated Gabriella and Chase or she had a genuine love for violence, but I saw the pleasure she gained from torturing Gabriella. It was sadistic.

The teenager looked down at my wound under the torn fabric. “Chase is an ass,” he stated angrily, with a troubled grimace marking his unassuming appearance. I glanced at the young man with the olive green eyes and deep dimples. He held a look of innocence that would dare anyone to think that he was capable of the level of violence I witnessed. Short copper-colored wavy hair and flushed cheeks added to the cute, youthful facade. Standing well over six feet with a slim build, it was hard to think of him as anything more than the cute boy next door whose hair you wanted to ruffle. But the intimidating scowl on his face dared anyone to do anything of the sort without a death wish.

“May I?” Dr. Baker asked. I nodded. He removed enough of the shirt to examine the area and keep me covered. He looked at it for a long time, palpating along it lightly. “It’s just a puncture wound, you’ll heal just fine,” he stated reassuringly.

Maybe it would heal without any problems, but it hurt like hell. Minimally focused on my painful shoulder, I eyed Ethan as he paced heatedly in front. With each step, he seemed to become more infuriated. When he finally wore a sufficient hole in the floor, he turned to face me. His cobalt eyes had shifted to an intense gray, a warning sign that the wolf was in the driver’s seat. If I thought I could have made it to the door, I would have tried to leave the room.

Stone-faced, he leaned into me. “What the hell was that? Weren’t you supposed to stay in the damn house?” he snapped, uncomfortably close to my face. His rage wouldn’t be doused by any answer I could offer, so I remained silent, hoping he would just go away.

He inched closer and the intense emotions that radiated off him made me uneasy. They physically affected me, making me feel queasy and anxious. I wanted him away from me. When he inched a smidge closer, I pushed him. He knocked my hand away.

Joan called his name in an even and calm tone but he ignored her.

“Why would you run when you knew the vampires were after you, especially at dusk? You cannot be this stupid.” He growled, barely holding on to whatever control he had left.

“Ethan,” Joan repeated in a much firmer tone. He whipped toward her, his face pulled tight into a frown, his eyes narrowed into thin lines.

“She chose to leave,” said Joan. “It is an option I feel she should have been given in the first place. She’s been through a great deal today. I don’t think yelling at her like an uncivilized brute is going to make her feel safe in a home in which we are asking her to be our guest.” Her face matched her voice, soft and kind, which just further enraged Ethan.

Ethan took several steps back and waved his hand toward me, inviting Joan to take over. He plowed out of the room.

“Skylar, I would like to ask that you trust us, but that would be useless. I don’t know what I can do to earn that trust. I assure you that we are here to help. But another stunt like today and the ending may not be as favorable,” she stated, guiding me back upstairs to the room I had run away from.

“I shouldn’t have left,” I admitted, shamed by my behavior. I had done the typical stupid B-movie girl mistake, running away from assistance and getting myself into worse trouble. I didn’t want to be that woman.

“No, you should not have run. Let’s try this again. Skylar, I am extending an invitation for you to stay here as the Midwest Pack’s guest and allow us to help you. Will you accept?” she asked gently. She was being very patient with me, but I could tell it was quite the task. The muscles around her lips tightened into a moue as she dealt with her own frustration.

I agreed without hesitation. Joan walked into the room in silence.

“Why is it so important to you that I am safe?” I asked before she could leave the room. I wished I could believe they were just good Samaritans but they didn’t strike me as the charitable type.

She sighed heavily, leaning against the wall. A pleasant smile covered her face but irritation was etched along the corners of her eyes and lips. They really didn’t like questions. “Regretfully, I can’t give you much more information at this time. If this were merely a case of Demetrius or a member of his seethe developing a blood-crush, it would be of little concern to us. We would not have intervened. However, the fact that Josh was notified of the vampire’s interest in you warrants our involvement,” she admitted. “You need reasons for our actions, and I assure you I understand. However, this is all the information I can give you. I hope this comforts your curious mind for the time being.”

No, it didn’t offer comfort at all. Thoughts of Gabriella and Chase flashed in my head. A seethe of people like them wanted me and no one was offering me answers. Extinguishing my curiosity was going to take more than a few soothing words from a kind stranger, as she told me that if it didn’t affect their pack, they wouldn’t otherwise care about my life. How do you find comfort in that?

Joan started out of the room then backtracked. “You may join us for dinner if you would like.”

“I’m not hungry.” I lied. I was starving but I would rather have Chase take another chunk out of my shoulder than dine with them. I would tolerate the hunger pains until they went away.

Her lips curled into a genial half-smile, “I’ll have Steven bring you something.”

Moments after Joan closed the door, the reality of the situation hit me. A compilation of emotions from fear to grief consumed me to the point where I felt suffocated. Tired enough to sleep, I closed my eyes but the darkness only provided the backdrop for reenacting the events of the past twenty-four hours. Grabbing my stomach as it rumbled, I turned on my side and stared at the wall.

When three abrupt knocks rattled the door, I went to the bathroom to wash away all evidence of the few tears I allowed myself. The knocks continued and by the time I walked out of the bathroom, the teenager from earlier poked his head in before stepping in, carrying a covered plate. He set it down on the table next to me and handed me the messenger bag I had dropped earlier. He buzzed around, arranging the silverware, laying out the napkins and filling my glass with water. “Steven?” I presumed.

He looked up abruptly and then smiled, his cheeks lightly flushed. “Yes, I’m Steven. Sorry that was rude. ” He extended his hands to shake mine.

He shoved his hands in his pocket and took his time making eye contact with me again. “I hope you’re hungry,” he stated, looking up briefly before focusing his attention back to the floor.

“Starving. The pillow started to look like a giant marshmallow.”

He laughed and immediately his gaze lifted to meet mine, where it stayed. “You really should have eaten with us. The food would have been prepared the way you wish. It’s a porterhouse, rare. Ethan prepared the food today, so it’s probably very rare but it should be good. He cooks for our guests far better than he treats them,” he stated as his cheeks sunk into a dimpled smile. I laughed. I liked Steven.

My mouth watered once I took the cover off the food and the enticing aroma hit my senses. He looked oddly intrigued as he watched me eat. “Does anyone ever call you Sky?” he asked as he took a seat in the chair across from the bed.

Oh great, he planned to stay for a while. “Not if they want me to answer.”

“I like Sky, it fits you. Can I call you that?” Dimpled enchanting smile and cherub good looks probably allowed him to get away with calling people a number of things without consequence. All he had to do was punctuate it with that infectious grin, genial emerald eyes and the lightly veiled Southern lilt, and he could get away with anything.

“I prefer Skylar.”

“As you wish, Skylar” he stated grinning and enunciating every syllable slowly.

I returned my attention to the food, doing my best to ignore his attentive gaze.

“You shouldn’t stay up here the whole five days. You’ll go crazy. It’s a huge house. We have a game room, library and a gym. You are welcome to use anything you like. Since you are going to be here, you might as well enjoy yourself.”

It was interesting the way he made it seem like I had a choice in staying. If I left, a weird androgynous orange-headed vampire would try to attack me again. If I managed to survive, I would be face-to-face with two very angry werewolves. I wasn’t sure which scenario was the least appealing. “I’ll be fine.”

“Joan won’t allow you to stay up here the whole five days.”

“You all sure have a lot of rules for your so-called guests to adhere to. Can’t I just stay up here and be left alone until this Josh arrives?” I snapped and immediately regretted it. It was pointless for me to take out my frustrations on the one person who definitely didn’t deserve it. “I appreciate the offer but I’ll be fine up here. It’s a really nice room,” I continued in a gentler tone. It would have been unnecessarily cruel to tell him that I didn’t want to be around the were-animals.

“She doesn’t want you to feel like you are being imprisoned.”

“What is Joan, the house mother or something?” I asked half-jokingly.

He didn’t even crack a smile. “No,” he stated tersely as he looked at me with impassive eyes. It was obvious he didn’t plan on elaborating.

“Let Joan know that she shouldn’t worry about me. I am okay.”

“That won’t stop her. It’s just her way,” He admitted with a half-smile.

I shrugged, too engrossed in my food to answer. He was right, the food was very good or either I was too hungry to care. It really didn’t matter; my stomach was speaking to me, and the food was just what it needed.

“Are you the coyote who came to my house?” I asked between bites.