Taken by the Beast (The Conduit Series Book 1) (9 page)

Thinking it over, I couldn’t decide whether that was cute or pervy.

“H-hello?” The word scraped my throat.

No answer came.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood, taking the rose in my hand. I cleared my throat. “Is anybody there?”

For the first time, I had a chance to really look at the house I had broken into. It was plain, the walls free of picture or painting and the furniture sparse and nondescript.

A pair of slippers waited at the bedside beside my high heels, which were now cleaner than they had been before I took my unplanned trip through the forest.

At the thought, I froze.

I hadn’t worn those shoes in the woods. I had thrown them off the instant I saw the first creature. That meant whoever put me in this bed went all the way to my car, got my shoes, and brought them back here.

All that, but they clearly hadn’t called the police … 

Suddenly, a new dread—a more human one—seeped into my soul. I grabbed my heels and made a beeline out the door.

I was on the first floor. Evidence of the fight lay strewn all around me; chairs and tables had been smashed in a way that reminded me of The Castle after the looting.

I had never met this person, and he had just saved my life, but I wasn’t about to take a chance on dodging a wolf-shaped monster bullet just to end up like Clemp’s backwoods bride.

I shoved my feet into my heels, wincing against the pain, and darted toward the front door, chancing only the slightest glare in either direction. When I got to my exit, though, I found a note hanging from the handle.

Leave this place. Don’t tell anyone about it or anything you saw here, and don’t ever come back.

Of course, I took the advice.

***

It took me an hour to find my way back to the main road, stumbling over hills and valleys on my heels so hard that I soon wished I had reached for the slippers instead. Lord knew the damage from running barefoot last night was enough on its own to slow me down.

I must have come out of the woods at a very different spot than I left it, because my car was nowhere to be seen.

Sighing, I brushed the hair out of my eyes and started the long trek back to New Haven.

I had been gone all night, and I didn’t even have any furniture to show for it. How would I explain all this? Something told me the truth wouldn’t go over so well.

So, a monster chased me into a weird house where another monster attacked it. I hit my head, and then I woke up with turn-down service.

Yeah, not so much.

A mile of hot asphalt later, I had my heels in my hands and two throbbing, bloody feet. But nothing was worse than the head full of questions I would never get the answers to.

New Haven appeared before me, as quaint as ever. Still, even a hick town like that was a beautiful sight for eyes that had witnessed what mine just had.

I looked down, instinctively primping myself. Just because I had been through hell didn’t mean I had to look like it. But there was no way I was putting those heels back on.

“Hey!” a voice called out from behind me.

I jerked, my entire body trembling. The whole experience must have shaken me up worse than I thought.

“Hey, you!” A kid, maybe seventeen years old, came darting out of the woods toward me. “Get over here!”

Panicking, I flung my shoe at him. My Gucci knocked him in head.

“Goddamn it!” he shrieked, grabbing his skull. “What’s your problem, lady? I’m trying to help you.”

“W-what?” I asked, suddenly feeling pretty ridiculous. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re the model, right?” He looked me up and down. “Dude! The whole town’s looking for you!”

“Did you just call me dude?” I asked before registering the rest of what he had said.

“Are you hurt or something?” he asked, scratching his head. “I mean, you don’t really look hurt …” he started, but then his gaze continued down to my feet. “Shit, do I need to call an ambulance?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer his question. I
had
been through a traumatic experience, sure, and maybe I was in shock … but I doubted there was much a hospital could do for cut up feet. And I certainly didn’t feel like having some doctor poke and prod at me all day. I just needed some Advil, a lot of bandages, a warm bath, and my own bed to crawl so I could try to forget everything.

Of course, if the entire town was looking for me, then it definitely wouldn’t be that easy.

The boy waved his hand in front of my face then grabbed his phone. “I’m calling somebody to help you, ‘kay?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head.

But it was too late. The kid already had emergency services on the phone, and within ninety seconds, the sirens blared toward us.

I wasn’t surprised to see a patrol car cresting the hill, blinking lights shining from the cab. And, when it screeched to a stop in front of me, leaving skid marks on the pavement, I wasn’t surprised to see Dalton jump out of it, either.

But the look on his face—the pain mixed with unimaginable relief and hesitant hopefulness—pinged at me. It was the sort of look you only get when someone you
really
cared about was in trouble.

“It’s her,” he said, slamming the door shut and sprinting toward me.

He scooped me up into his arms and squeezed me just enough to let me know I was really here … really alive. And, for whatever reason, I instantly hoped he would never let me go. That he would tuck me away somewhere safe, where it would just be him and me.

The way it should have been last night, if only I had done what I told him I was going to do.

“Thank God,” he muttered, his face pressed against the crook of my neck. “We thought you were …”

“I’m okay.” I breathed against his chest, nearly crumbling in into his embrace. “Just a little shaken up. And tired. But I’m definitely not … well, you know.”

He set me down and started to turn away, but not before wiping a tear from his cheek. Meanwhile, Lulu lugged herself out of the backseat of the cop car. My guilt over not being where I should have been doubled at the sight of her, then tripled at the sight of her overripe belly.

She was
so
pregnant. So. Damn. Pregnant. And here I was, blowing out the tire on her car and disappearing into the woods.

“It’s all right,” I said, tears burning behind my eyes. “I’m fine, really I am.”

I stepped toward her and hugged her the same way she had hugged me after Mom’s diagnosis.

Her whole body was trembling. “They found the car—”

“I’m sorry about the car,” I said.

“Shut up about the stupid car,” she said, wiping her eyes, smiling through her tears. “What happened? Where were you?”

My mind flickered back to last night, to running through the woods away from monsters and finding myself mysteriously moved inside a seemingly abandoned house. Then I thought about all the girls who had disappeared, all of the girls who looked just like me. And the note on the door of the house, warning me to keep my mouth shut.

My lips parted, though I was still unsure what to say. It wasn’t so much the note that gave me pause. After all, I was free of whoever wrote it. But, even if I told the truth, who would believe me?

Monsters running through the woods at night? Wolves that stood on their hind legs like men? It was one thing for people to make up stories about missing girls and wild animals, but it was another to say you knew those outlandish stories actually had merit.

None of it made any sense, and it would have likely either branded me a lunatic or an unreliable witness. Or, ya know, maybe they would eat the story right out of my hand—this was New Haven after all. But did I want to take the risk? Once I said it, there would be no taking it back.

So I did what any woman would do when faced with a similar situation: told as much of the truth as possible without making myself look bad.

“The tire blew out, and then I heard some weird noises …” I started, trying not to pause too much as I made up my story on the spot. “My phone didn’t have service, and I saw a … dog or something on the road. It started chasing me, and I headed out into the woods.” I swallowed hard. “I got lost out there. It took me this long to find my way back out.”

“Oh, my Lord. You poor thing,” Lulu said, taking my hand.

“You didn’t hear us?” Dalton asked, cocking his head to the side. “After we found the car, a few of us went out into the woods with hounds, looking for you. We weren’t quiet about it.”

“I … I must have been a long way out,” I answered. “Not that I was in the mood to come running toward the sound of dogs.”

“Understandable,” he muttered.

“There’s a house, Dalton,” I said, my stomach twisting in knots. “Out in the woods, there’s an old house. It looks like someone might live there.”

Someone who wanted to protect the secret of what was really going on in those woods, I thought. But I couldn’t say that—not without explaining more than I cared to.

For a long moment, Dalton glared past me and into the woods. I wasn’t sure whether he could tell I was withholding something, but it was clear that a bit of his ease melted away.

His teeth ground together, and his jaw set. “I’ll look into that.”

***

Although Dalton and Lulu insisted on me going to the hospital, the choice was ultimately mine. They settled for me heading back to Lulu’s house with both of them to keep an eye on me.

On the ride home, I learned that I wasn’t the only person who went missing last night; there was one other woman—a real estate agent and mother of three—who disappeared while walking her dog a few hours before they found my car. Her name was Rachel, and judging by Dalton’s description of her, she looked a lot like me.

Of course.

We pulled up in front of Lulu’s house, the events of the previous night chasing so close behind me that I shivered at the sight of the woods stretching across Lulu’s backyard, just past the fence Dalton had parked in front of. He came around to my side of the car and opened the door, while Lulu let herself out and headed up the path to unlock the front door.

“Things are kind of falling apart around here,” he said, taking my hand and guiding me out of car much more than I actually needed. “This is the third woman, not counting you, who’s vanished in the last month.” He shook his head. “Throw in the woman found in your nightclub and the lady from the next county over who was mauled to death, and people are understandably on edge.”

“Well, that’s why you’re here, right?” I asked as he led me up the front steps and held the door open for me.

“I’m afraid it’s bigger than me now, Char,” he said. “People want to feel like they’re in control, especially when they’re not.”

He guided me through the door, as careful as if I was made of glass. Lulu was in the living room with Ester, the two whispering as not to wake Jack, who was sound asleep on the couch. Some cartoon movie about a genie and a magic lamp emanated a soft glow from the screen.

Great. My disappearance had completely uprooted Lulu’s quaint family life. I was supposed to be a help, not a burden. Ester glared at me as she carried Jack past us and up to his room.

“So now what?” I asked, turning back to Dalton. “You have to do something.”

He nodded emphatically. “We are, Char. I promise you. They town council held an emergency meeting this morning. Some of the townsfolk had concerns, and we’re going to institute a curfew for the woman in town.”

“What?” I asked, pulling my arm back from his gentle grasp. “A female-only curfew? Are these idiots living in the stone age?”

The idea of it, of basically segregating people because women weren’t strong or capable enough to fend for themselves, rubbed me every way but the right one.

“Perhaps.” Dalton winced, then added, “The notion passed nearly unanimously.”

I scoffed. “What kind of idiot would even suggest something like that?”

“The same kind that would hire you, I suppose.” His gaze slowly shifted from looking out the front window to my face. “It was your boss.”

Abram did this? Had he lost his mind?

“No. No he didn’t! He wouldn’t!”

What sort of chauvinistic asshole was I working for anyway?

“Char, please try to relax,” Dalton said, reaching for me once more. “You’ve been through enough.”

I huffed and stepped back. “Would you stop treating me like the five million dollar bra for a second?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if that means—”

Ester strode right between us, a smug look on her face, and exited through the front door. Dalton glared after her, then shook his head and returned his attention to me.

“If that means I value you, then the answer is no,” he said. “No, I will not stop treating you like ‘the five million dollar bra’.” He smirked and stepped to close the distance between us. “You’ve been through hell. You’re dehydrated, you might be hurt, and you’re definitely in shock.”

As much as I wanted to be angry, right about now, I didn’t exactly mind the idea of a knight in shining armor swooping in to rescue me. And damn if that wasn’t what Dalton was trying to do.

He put his hand on my arm. “Now, I know you can take care of yourself. You wouldn’t have made it through half the crap you have if you couldn’t, right? But I’m a guy,” he said, moving even closer, “and my pride is at stake.”

I wanted to tell him he need not measure his manliness by his ability to protect me, but I was too distracted by the heat radiating off his body at this close proximity. I couldn’t form words as the warmth soaked into my own skin next. With everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, I was in sensory overload, and every time Dalton moved, every nerve in my body tingled in response.

He brushed my cheek with his fingers. “My girl was in trouble, and I couldn’t save her.” He leaned in closer, and my breath caught in my throat. “So, for the sake of me and my fragile, manly pride, let me take care of you now. Okay?”

“Okay,” I whispered, just barely managing words.

He leaned in closer and pressed his lips against my ear. “Good. Not let’s get you some rest. You can battle the townsfolk over that curfew after a good night’s sleep.”