Wolf's Promise (Caedmon Wolves) (7 page)

She hadn’t really taken a good look at him before, but she couldn’t help but study his features now.
His facial structure
and jaw line were well def
ined giving him a clean edgy look. His lips were well formed—
not too full and not too thin. He was far from the average male, and exceptionally handsome. He was nearly as twice as big as her, but from what she could see of his arms and chest, most of it was pure muscle.

He wore some type of cologne, or maybe it was just the way he smelled.
Almost like pine trees still wet from morning dew.

She smiled, thinking about the holiday season coming up. Spending it with family this time around was important for her. She’d never take family for granted again. They always complained that she never came to visit. Her excuse year after year was that her patients and clients needed her help
more
.

Selene traced the outline of his thick eyebrows with the tip of her finger. His skin color was similar in contrast to hers—a smooth tea-colored complexion. He’d shaved recently, but she still detected a hin
t of stubble along his jawline.

Suddenly, Nick opened his eyes. “Selene.” A slow grin spread across his face.

Her heart raced anxiously. “You’re awake.”

He groaned. “Awake…and feeling awful.”

“I’m sorry, I tried to stop the blood.”
She reduced so
me of the pressure to his side.

“No.” He placed his palm over her hand. “Keep applying the pressure.”

“I thought you would never wake up.”

Nick lifted his hand,
catching her off guard. His palm
was surprisingly soft as he stroked the side of her face. “You have dimples.”

“Yes,” she said, shyly.
A feature she’d inherited from her mother.

“I like them.” He continued to
study her face, while
his head
was cradled
on her lap.

“You didn’t have to do that for me. You could have been killed.”

“I’m
a man of my words, Selene. I intend to get you out of here
.”

“We’ll be separated soon.”
She frowned, as awareness finally set in.
How would she sav
e herself now from that sicko they called Darius. She hadn’t been thinking rationally when she’d agreed. All she wanted was for them to let Nick live.
“
They said they’d be back for me.”

“I won’t let them take you.” He lifted himself, cringing as he bent at the waist.

She steadied him. “Are you okay?”

“Dizzy, yes, but nothing I can’t recover from.” He removed the bloodied cloth from his side.

Selene braced herself again, not sure she’d be abl
e to take in the gruesome wound
again. But wh
en she looked this time, the deep claw marks were closed over with what looked like new skin. She gasped. Blood caked around the scar, but most of it was dry.

“How could you have healed that fast?”

“It was nothing,” he mumbled. “Just some scratches.”

“You didn’t see what I saw.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Only moments ago I could see your flesh. The cut was so deep that I didn’t think I could stop the blood flow.”

“Well, you did. T
hank you.” he replied.
“Now we have to get you out of here.”

“How can we escape this?” She lifted an arm, pointing towards the door. “Even if we did, how would we get past the guards out there?”

“I’ll worry about that,” he said, carefully. “But this is no place for a woman to be.
”

“It’s no place for anyone to be.”

“At least we’re out of the cell.” Nick stood and then held his hand out to help her up. “Come.” He led her to the small window near the opposite side of the room. “I’m going to lift you up and I want you to tell me what you see.”

He lifted her effortlessly using only his bare hands until she was eye level with the window.
His hands were strong and firm at her waist

She glanced o
ut across the landscape and
at the fields through which the guards had carried her.
The sun was high in the sky, allowing her a clearer view of the surroundings outside of the dungeon walls.

At first glance, the backdrop was beautiful. Had she not been confined, a view such as this would have been something she would have sat for hours looking at. Majestic mountain tops were as far as she could see. They were still dusted with the evidence of snow which had likely fallen the week before her visit. The ground and treetops were covered in frost. What was probably lush greenery was now a field of straw, hay, and crumpled grass.

“What do you see?” he urged.

“Nothing but fields
and mountains.”

He lifted her higher and the immediate perimeter of the building they were in came into view. “What about now?”

There were two men working just outside the shed adjacent to them. “I can’t see the guards, but there are others close by. It looks like they’re hauling wood.” To the right of them
,
two wolves lay in the clea
ring next to the field. “There are wolves.”

“How many wolves?”

“Two.”

When Nick set her down on the ground again, she sighed. “There is no escaping. They’ll know.”

“Have hope. We’ll do it tonight, as soon as the sun grazes the mountain tops.” He grabbed her shoulders. “I should tell you this…there is a long history between Darius and me.
I have no doubt that he’s holding me for something other than my trespassing.”

“A long history? What do you mean?” Did he know Darius personally?

“Darius has been very spiteful over the last decade. There are things that I can’t actually tell you, but know that I will get you out of here.”

“You’ve known him a decade?”

“I’ve known him longer than that.”

Nick moved to the bathroom stall and she followed. He splashed some water on his face.

“Then you know these people? They’re not strangers to you?”

H
e turned to glance at her, but did not speak. He seemed to be weighing his words, as his gaze shifted behind her.

“How can I trust you?” she asked.

“You can trust that I will keep
my word
.”

He sounded more hopeful than she felt
. S
he needed to get out of here and maybe worry about and consequences and repercussions later.

Selene slipped her fingers down into her bra and took out the key. “I grabbed this somehow.”

Picking up the key, he held it between them as they inspected it. “What happened to you before you came here? Why did Darius attack you?”

She swallowed. It wasn’t something she wanted to think about or rehash. “He tried to rape me.”

Nick’s face hardened in fury, and his lips were drawn taut. “I will kill him.”

“
No more stalling
around here
.” She grasped his wrist. “It’s enough. I just want to go home.”

The creases in his forehead disappeared. He opened her ha
nd, and pressed the key into her palm. “As soon as the sun
grazes the mountain tops…”

“Wait.”
Selene gripped Nick’s
forearm
just as he bent to adjust his boot straps.

She was anxious to be free of this dark
and congested space. Anxious to escape the
deserted town to be ba
ck in the city
she hated
for being so crowded and unsafe. She would have given anything to turn back the time, but now that the moment had come to
escape, doubt ran through her like a virus.

Would he see her safely back on the road toward her hometown, or would he discover that she was too much of a hindrance and leave h
er out in the middle of nowhere?

Nick
stood to face her, giving his full a
ttention. “You have hesitations.
”

“Those men seem
dangerous.” She swallowed. “I think we need a weapon.”

Selene thought she saw the corners of his lip upturn into a grin, but if he had done so, the expression was gone in an instant.

“Whatever happens
, Selene, you stay close to me.”

“I’m just scared is
all.”

“We have a clear shot now. You remember our initial plans…we run until we reach the forest.”

“
Right
,” she whispered, and handed him the key.

“You’re a strong woman.” He took her hand, and squeezed gently.
“You’ve made it
this far.”

Selene nodded. It had been a long journey. A journ
ey that she suddenly wished she hadn’
t taken alone. It was time to face the consequences. She’d gotten h
erself into this… “Let’s do it
.”

He le
d the way quietly up the stairs, and slid the key in the lock. It
fit perfectly in the slot, but when he pushed up on the ov
erhead door, it didn’t give
easily. From the way he applied force to it, she could tell that there was something else preventing the door from opening.

“What’s wrong?”

“They slid something over it
.”

Tu
rning back
, Nick pushed up again
, harder this time
. Dirt escaped the cracks as he lifted. T
he hinges creaked and the object
scraped the floor above them as
he
shoved.
Something crashed
and shook the stairs where they stood. The
door
finally gave way and banged int
o the floor on the second level above them.

Selene
took a deep breath just as Nick
grabbed her ha
nd and helped her up the stairs and out of the dungeon.

“Hey!” A big grisly-looking man emerged from the corner of the room and rushed them
. He had a canteen in one ha
nd and held the other hand up to stop them.

Selene’s
heart twisted in fear, and her gut feeling told her that they would not escape without
some serious
effort.

Nick moved to stand in front of her
and they back
ed
up toward the door. “Let us go and there will be no problems.”

Grisly
threw the canteen to the gr
ound
and some of the beverage splashed on the floorboards. The smell of strong liquor wafted under Selene’s nose.

“Oh, we defini
tely have a problem
,” he remarked, and then
rushed Nick in response.

It happened so fast she
barely had time to focus on the scene before her
. Nick captured the man, twisted him around, and snapped his neck. He fell to the ground lick a limp mummy.
She was frozen in place, until Nick took her hand again.

“Let’s go,” he said.

They made a break for it, dashing towards the fields. She could tell that she slowed him down. His long legs ate up the distance before him
, while her shorter one’s fought
to
keep
up. Not once did he let go of her hand.

Her lungs burn
ed
as though they were on fire. Her
throat was
dry as though someone had made her
swallow dust. As the wind picked up around them, dirt flew in her face and into her open mouth. She pressed her lips together, but that only caused her to lose her breath even quicker.

Selene thought she heard a howl in the distance, behind him, but it could have been that her ears were playing tricks on her. Her thoughts were incoherent.

Just run. Run.

She never wanted to see the scarred face Darius again. As soon as she reached the highway and a pay phone, she was taking the next bus out of here. Damn her old beat up Honda, purse, and luggage.
Her lift was worth more.

Her shoes connected with something hard on the ground and she toppled over. Her knees hit the ground and her hands came out in front of her to lessen the impact. She cried out more from aggravation than the pain shooting through her knee caps.

“I….” she panted, fighting to speak on rapid breaths.

“Selene.” Nick knelt down to help her. “I am so sorry. This was too much too fast.”

“I’m slowing you down.”

“No—”

A wolf howl sliced through the atmosphere around them.
She didn’t know what it was…maybe intuition. A warning…