APOLLO RISING (The Apollo Saga, Book 1) (13 page)

She laughed softly, throwing Allie brutally across the room. “I’m afraid you’re only half right, handsome,” she said, nodding to the men at the door.

One of the brutes – who moved too quickly for Tyler to notice which one – struck Tyler across the head, and darkness crashed around him in a blur of wooden floors and Allie’s screams.

Allie’s ears were ringing.

Vanessa had thrown her, hard, toward the kitchen, and she had struck her head on something on the way to the floor. She blinked, trying to clear her vision enough to see what was going on around her. After a moment,
she could see again,
and saw Vanessa standing over her, one hand extended down.

“I do apologize, that wasn’t very delicate of me,” she said, a hint of danger in her voice.

Allie took the hand and rose to her feet, while Vanessa gestured toward a nearby chair. “Have a seat, Allie” she said.

Allie gritted her teeth, tried to relax herself enough to unclench her fists. She reminded herself of the hunting discipline that Moll had tried to instill in her from a young age.
Slow breaths, be still, watch and listen.
She took the offered chair and focused past the pounding in her ears. Moll would have told her to count to ten. She counted to twenty.

The two large men picked Tyler up and dropped him unceremoniously on the couch. They had caught him off guard, clocking him across the temple. He’d be out for a bit, but he’d survive, she reasoned. For now, though, she needed to focus on Vanessa, and try to understand what was going on here.

Vanessa’s third companion, the tall man with the oily black hair, walked in, looking curiously about the room before closing the door behind him. His dark eyes made the briefest of contact with Allie; other than that, he remained a quiet observer. His appearance stood out starkly against Vanessa’s other two men – they were large, broad-shouldered and tough-looking. The dark-haired man looked frail, his skin was pale and clothes
seemed
to have been made for someone much larger, or as if he had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time.

“You’re surprised to see me,” Vanessa said. It was more a statement than a question.

Allie paused before nodding her head slowly. “It’s been…awhile.” She couldn’t even remember exactly how long it had been.

Vanessa half-smiled. “Awhile?” She laughed at that. “I was twelve, Allie. I’d say it’s been longer than
awhile
.”

Images of balloons and glittering presents flashed past her mind. The last time Allie could undoubtedly recall seeing her was at Vanessa’s twelfth birthday party.

“Thirteen years?” Allie said aloud, doing the math while trying to remember if she had seen her since.

Vanessa nodded. “That’s the last we ever saw of each other, you know that? And then you were off to live with Molly. Gone…” she snapped her fingers, “just like that. You forgot about your friends, Allie. But we never forgot about you.”

“I’m sorry,” Allie expressed. “I know it must’ve been hard for you, Vanessa. It was hard for me, too. But my family—”

“Don’t give me that shit about your family,” Vanessa argued, her voice rising with emotion as her clinched fist lingered dangerously close to Allie’s face.

Allie flinched, and Vanessa carried on.

“You were like a little sister to me.
We
were family! Didn’t that mean anything to you?!”

More memories came back to Allie, long-buried thoughts of her childhood. Their parents had been close and the two had spent a lot of time together. Then, one day, it all went dark and Allie moved in with her grandmother, and life changed. She remembered crying about the unfairness of it all, but those tears felt now like they had belonged to someone else.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Allie said.

“You could’ve called,” Vanessa continued as if Allie hadn’t said anything, “…written, even. But I never heard from you. Not a word. You just went on with your life, like I never meant anything at all!”

Allie fought back tears. “That’s not true!” she
disputed - because it wasn’t. Vanessa had been her very best friend—her
only
friend, in fact—until more than a decade later when she met Blake. Allie’s life until that point had been riddled with loss; losing Vanessa, her parents, and ultimately, Grand Moll.

But Vanessa would never understand what she had been through. She had always been too caught up in her own feelings. Even now, as she stood over Allie, yelling, her only concern was that of her own pain.

“I always wondered what happened to you,” Vanessa persisted, walking circles around her. “Perfect little Allie.
It was never easy to live in your shadow—especially when you were there. Why couldn’t I be more like you, everyone always asked. Do you know how hard that was?”

Again, Vanessa only paused for breath, her question unanswered.

“And when you left, it was expected of me. They all wanted me to fill your shoes. Try living up to
that
your whole life.”

“I had no idea…” she began, but Vanessa scoffed.

“How would you?” Her voice was shrill and packed with anguish. “You abandoned us, Allie! All of us! And that’s not the worst part. I kept tabs on you, knowing one day I’d come for you and bring you home. So when Moll died, I went to the funeral—”

Her admission surprised Allie. She hadn’t seen Vanessa there.

“You were there?”

Vanessa shrugged, “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that after she died, you never came back. You chose a new life. You’ve changed, Allie.”

Allie remained still, not sure what to say to that.

Vanessa kept her eyes on Allie a moment longer before changing her tone and taking in the cabin with a sweeping gesture. “I haven’t seen this place in years,” she said casually. “You
want to
hear something funny? The whole way up the mountain, I was telling Deacon, here, it couldn’t be the same cabin. There’s no way. What were the chances that my Tyler was up here, at Moll’s old place, shacked up with my old friend Allie?”

She half-turned to the bony man, and they exchanged grins.

“Isn’t that right,” she said, looking now to the two thugs who stood beside the unconscious Tyler. “And what did you say to me, Jonesy?”

The smaller of the two brutes shrugged. “Astrological,” he answered.

Vanessa nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly what you said. Astrological.”

The other thug elbowed Jonesy. “
Astronomical
, you git.”

“Same thing.”

“Is not.”

Vanessa turned back briefly and silenced them both with a look.

“Anyway, I told Deacon,” she repeated, gesturing back toward the gaunt man at the door, “and he assured me we’d find Tyler here with a woman. And Deacon’s never wrong.” Vanessa stopped in place, and took a slow, deliberate breath through her nose.

“That’s what I get for believing in coincidences,” she said at last.

“Why were you looking for Tyler?” Allie asked, abruptly.

Vanessa looked at her as if she’d just asked why the sky was blue.
“Because he’s mine.”

Allie’s eyes glanced scornfully over at Tyler and she played their conversations over in her head. It couldn’t be true, she thought. Why would he lie to her? If he was with Vanessa, then how did he end up here, with her, at
her
cabin?

Flashes of her jeep, the accident, his injuries, flooded Allie’s mind and the answer rode in on the last wave.

“You’re the one who kidnapped him, aren’t you?”

Vanessa confirmed her suspicions with a shrug. “
Kidnapped
is a cruel word, Allie. We had drinks, he came with me willingly. More or less,” she amended.

“You could have killed him.”

With a curt nod, Vanessa began to pace again. “True, but I didn’t,” she bolstered. “Tell me, Allie, what has he told you? You’ve been up here a few days, surely you must have talked at least once or twice, when you weren’t doing…
other
things.”

“I know enough,” Allie admitted. Her eyes flicked back to Tyler again, unsure how much he would want her to reveal. “Why?”

“Did he tell you he’s a werewolf? It’s been a full moon, I’m sure you must have figured it out by now, right?”

Allie shrugged nonchalantly.
“I know what he is.”

“And?” Vanessa pressed.

“And it doesn’t matter,” Al
lie told her.

Vanessa squinted at her. “It doesn’t matter…?” Her eyes widened as her lips parted in a deep bout of laughter.

She wasn’t sure what Vanessa was getting at. Allie inquired further, reluctantly, “What’s so funny?”

It took a moment for Vanessa to regain her composure and find her words again.

“So let me get this straight,” Vanessa finally addressed, “you run up here to hide, to escape Apollo and the werewolves who took your family, and yet…” She paused, turning her attention to Tyler as Allie’s eyes followed. “And yet, you wind up here, sharing your bed, with a werewolf? And it
doesn’t
matter to you?!”

Allie’s eyes dropped to the floor. If ever there was a moment that Vanessa had the upper hand, it was now.

“Oh my god, Allie!” Vanessa shrieked, as if a thought occurred to her. “He doesn’t know, does he?”

“Shut up!” Allie hissed. “Look, it’s complicated, and there hasn’t been a good time—”

“Oh, no, clearly,” the other woman scoffed. “You were obviously too busy fucking him!”

The room fell silent. Vanessa took a long, deep breath and calmed her tone.

“Nevertheless,” she proposed, “I couldn’t think of a better time to tell him.” She motioned to one of the thugs, “Becket, wake the man.”

“No!” Allie cut her off. “Vanessa, please. Don’t.”

“Why
shouldn’t
I? Hmm? Are you afraid, Allie? Worried that Tyler, here, might think you’ve been hiding something from him this whole time? Worried what he’ll think of you once he knows about your family?”

Allie sat, motionless…
e
motionless; afraid to answer, afraid to reveal how much she truly cared for Tyler. Even more so, she was frightened of how Tyler would take the news.

Vanessa, growing visibly impatient, snapped her fingers at the two thugs.

“No! Wait!” Allie begged, but fell silent after her plea. It was apparent that she was merely stalling while trying to decide what to do.

Vanessa placed her forefinger on Allie’s chin, lifting it forcefully until their eyes met.

“You love him, don’t you?” Vanessa presumed.

Allie lowered her voice, “Why him, Vanessa? You could have anyone, why Tyler?”

“Why
not
?!” Vanessa cackled. “Apollo City needs a new leader. A young, vibrant leader,
someone all the other wolves will follow.
It’s been chaos there, Allie, you wouldn’t understand – but it’s time.”

“And you think he’s the one?”

For a moment, Allie was confused. Tyler could barely control himself with her. Was there something he hadn’t told her?

“No, he’s just a man,” the woman exhaled softly, shaking her head. “A handsome one, yes, but nobody knows him, no one would ever follow him, even if he
was
capable.
”

“So, who…?” Allie began, but her question stopped short, the answer coming to her mind on its own. “You?”

She thought Vanessa might strike her. But, instead, with a slight nod, she confirmed Allie’s guess.

“Then why do you need Tyler?”

Vanessa mocked her, “I would’ve thought that Moll taught you better, after what happened to your parents and all.”

Allie cringed. Vanessa was never known to shy away from a low-blow.

“Most of the wolves are still traditionalist,” Vanessa informed her, seemingly rather annoyed by the thought.
“They’d never follow an unmated woman.”

Allie flinched at that. “So you’re just…gonna use him?”

Vanessa nodded. “Yes, simple as that. I chose him. He’s mine, and together we’ll unite Apollo City’s wolves into a single pack.”

A groggy voice came from across the room. “Don’t I…uh…get a say in that?” Tyler stuttered as he sat up slowly, holding his head. “Ouch.”

Allie wondered how much he had heard.

Jonesy and Becket each took a step closer, holding out their hands to keep Tyler from standing up. He looked at them through half-closed eyes, then back down at himself.

“Oh, great,” he muttered to nobody in particular. “I’m naked.” He reached for a small sofa pillow to cover up.

Vanessa reached into the inner pocket of her coat and pulled out a silver collar. She tossed it, and it clunked heavily
on the floor in
front of Tyler. “Put
this
on.”