APOLLO RISING (The Apollo Saga, Book 1) (6 page)

Hours later, a victorious Allie returned across the snow to the cabin, her hunting prizes slung over her shoulder – twin bundles of grey and brown fur.

The snowfall had slowed to flurries by the time the cabin came back into view, and the fluffy white mounds coating the whole area had settled, giving each footfall a satisfying crunch beneath her feet. She let the illusion that she was the last person on earth linger a moment longer as she paused by the back of her jeep and kicked some of the excess snow from her boots. She sighed softly. It was refreshing to think how easily she had slipped back into old habits after a year’s time, feeling right at home in the woods today.

The last intoxicating fragments of her solitude slipped away when a loud squawk from above startled her, and a clump of snow fell past her face. Allie spun and looked up at the overhang, holding a protective hand over her rabbits. A black-billed crow peered down at her and squawked again, ruffling its feathers.

Removing one of her gloves, she reached into one of her pockets, “They left without you, huh?” She pulled out a handful of winterberries she had picked earlier along the trail and scuffed her boot across a space at the edge of the porch. “I know how you feel.”

Allie showed her empathy by dropping a few of the berries down on the ground. “Help yourself,” she winked, then turned and opened the door.

The warmth of the cabin’s interior struck her palpably – she hadn’t realized how cold she had been until the prickly sting on her face and neck made her frown. Grand Moll would’ve wagged a finger at her for staying out so long without proper winter wear.

She was just about to place the rabbits in the sink to prepare them for dinner, when Tyler appeared in the doorway, his face pale with concern.

“Fuck, you were gone a long time!” he said, panic tainting his voice.

Tossing the gloves on the small table, she held the two rabbits up by their hind feet. “Bugs here kept me a little busy,” she joked, but her tone changed when she saw that he was generally anxious. Something about him, in fact, seemed genuinely
off
. “Shit, Tyler, are you all right?”

He looked as if he had been throwing up, his face was covered in a faint sheen of sweat. Allie’s first thought was of an infection – or maybe something else, internal bleeding, something she couldn’t have seen. She dropped the rabbits into the sink and crossed the floor in a dash, while he leaned on the doorway for support. “You shouldn’t be up,” she began, but he cut her off.

“It’s not that,” he said, wincing in discomfort. “I should have…” he clenched his teeth, pain evident in his expression, and continued. “I should have left.”

“And gone where?” she mocked, holding him by the arm and turning him back towards the couch. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere, it’s not safe for you out there.”

“It’s not safe for
you
in here,” he said through gritted teeth. He pulled against her, tilting his head back towards the bedroom in the back. “But
I’m glad you’re here
and now I… I need to ask you something.”

She arched an eyebrow at him, a flurry of nightmarish possibilities crossing her mind. She glanced briefly back to the main room, taking note of the shotgun still placed where she had left it.

He was looking into her eyes when she turned back to him. “No, you won’t need that,” he said. “But you might need some rope.”

Allie yanked her hand away from him. “What kind of sick…?” she began, ready to shove him backwards, but he held up both hands towards her, pleadingly.

“No, look, I’ll explain everything, I promise,” he swore, turning and walking back towards the bedroom. “I just need you to trust me.”

She heard herself laugh out loud at that. “What? Why should I trust you?”

But he turned around and looked at her, sincerity burning past the pain in his face.

“Because I’m trusting
you
.”

He looked away from her as he made his way back into the room and stepped out of view. Allie paused for a moment before setting down the leather case that held her bow and arrows. Against her better judgment, she decided to follow him; her overall concern for his wellbeing superseding the reluctance she felt toward finding out what this man was really involved in.

Slowly, she walked towards the doorway, her boots making little sound on the worn old rug that covered the wood floor. A hard line formed between her brows when she turned the corner to the bedroom and saw its state of disarray.

“What the--?”

The bed and all of the other furniture had been pushed to the far side of the room, and Tyler stood against the nearest wall.

“What I’m about to ask you is going to be….
weird
,” he said, powerfully self-conscious of his words. “Really fucking weird.”

Her eyes rose to the ceiling, where a pair of leather belts hung down over the rafters. “
What
…is that?!”

Tyler frowned, shaking his head. “It’s nothing kinky, I promise. I was trying to figure out how to…well, I’m just not good at tying knots.”

Images of Tyler hanging himself flashed across her mind. How dare he, she thought, after all she did to save him. What an ungrateful prick! Anger boiled up inside her, surprising her enough to slip through the control she normally maintained. “You really are trying to kill yourself, aren’t you? I should’ve known. People don’t just jump in front of moving cars in the middle of the night.” She paused, long enough to catch her breath and fold her arms, before adding, “Naked!”

He straightened abruptly, as if she’d struck him across the face. “No, no - my god, no.” He exhaled in frustration. “It complicated.” His arm twitched, sending a spasm of pain up across his features. He looked quickly out the window and back at her. “I’ll explain everything, we just need to hurry.”

Allie still had too many questions to jump when he told her to jump. She froze.

“Look, you just need to tie me up, okay? Rope, duct tape, whatever you have, whatever you can find. I was going to look myself, but…” He blushed faintly – a gesture which, in spite of the extremely bizarre conversation they were having, Allie found charming.

“I don’t know what you’re into, Tyler, but--”

“
Please!
” His fists were clenched at his sides, but not out of anger – there was something else Allie didn’t quite recognize behind the efforts to mask his turmoil.

She was too empathetic to let him suffer any further. “Tell me why,” she sighed, accepting that she was probably going to give in to his request, no matter how absurd his reasoning.

Something in his expression changed suddenly, as if he had finally come to a decision. “Because it’s the full moon,” he said, his eyes pleading at her to believe him. “And I’m a werewolf.”

“A…werewolf?” She nearly laughed out loud. “Oh, thank god.”

He blinked, confused.

She waved her hand. “I thought you were going to tell me you were a junkie or something. Okay, werewolf, fine. What’s the deal, then?”

“You believe me?”

“I believe that you believe it,” she answered honestly. 

“Good enough, I don’t have that much time,” he said urgently. “I can feel it coming, maybe fifteen minutes, give or take. Look,” he added, pointing at his arms and his face. “It’s already started.”

Allie leaned forward, squinting. He didn’t look much like a werewolf, but upon further inspection, her eyes widened with surprise. His bruises were disappearing.

He nodded. “First thing that happens. Even the hole in my leg feels better, now.” He emphasized this by shifting to his other foot without flinching.

She paused a moment to let it all sink in, deciding, only after going through every possible consequence, that she better do what he asked. “Fine,” she said. “Get your clothes off while I get something to tie you up with.”

“My
what?
”

She gave him a shrug. “Your clothes,” she repeated. “Take them off.” She glanced at him long enough to show him she meant business. “I don’t suppose they’ll fit you when you’re a wolf, will they?”

He blushed again, and started unbuttoning the plaid shirt as she turned and left him.

“Boys,” she huffed, walking quickly to the generator shed. “They only wanna get naked on their terms.”

When she returned a few moments later, he was standing in front of the bed, holding a bathroom towel around himself. The bruising was almost all gone now, and she found herself looking at his body a fraction of a second longer than she was comfortable. The warmth rose to her own face now.

Embarrassed, she mumbled under her breath, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he told her, a level of comfort in his voice. “Most women find me attractive.”

Allie shot him a look, yielding his continued efforts to flirt. She set the things she had collected on the floor by his feet – a rope she used to swing from, a chain for towing trucks out of the mud, and a canvas bag of climbing equipment.

Draping the rope up and over the rafters took a couple tries, but with the help of a chair she eventually got it looped over so that both ends hung down low enough to be useful. “We’ll tie off your wrists with these,” she explained, gesturing for him to come over and stand in position.

He did as she instructed, and she secured his wrists snugly, checking with him to be sure they weren’t too tight. He flinched as she touched the metal chain against his bare skin, causing Allie to stop and look up at him. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, quickly, beads of sweat forming on his brow. “It’s just cold,” he smiled weakly.

She managed to get the chain fastened around his waist, winding it down around his feet and securing it to the legs of the bed. She hoped it would hold.

She could see the strain and concern on his face too; he was worried – he was afraid, she realized. Allie safeguarded her efforts, locking the chains around his waist with one of the D-rings from the climbing equipment. She used the rest of the straps from the bag of climbing gear to hold his legs apart, and finally reached up to tie the rope close above his wrists, to keep him from having leverage to move his arms around. Doing so brought her body close up to his. His breath was warm against her neck and did terrible things to her concentration.

“Too close for comfort,” he joked.

She ignored him, annoyed that he seemed to have a desire to always point out the obvious,
and finally stood back to appraise her work. He was mostly immobile, held taut against the wall.

“Anything else?” she asked, tugging hard on his restraints. “Does that feel tight enough?”

He pulled as hard as he could against each of the bonds, finally nodding to her. “No, they’re really tight, actually.” Tyler dared his persistent flirtatious tone, adding, “You’re really good at this.”

She arched an eyebrow at him, finally addressing his remarks, “Really? Jokes, at a time like this?”

“You’re just…taking this awfully well,” he stuttered.

Allie moved the chair back over beside the bed and sat down, flexing her fingers. “Well, I see it two ways, Tyler. Either you’re a werewolf, or you’re crazy. Either way, I should probably tie a man up when he begs me to do it.”

He laughed softly. “No, you’re right. I don’t blame you, I’d do the same thing if I was in your position.”

“I’m surprised you never have been,” she taunted. “None of your groupies ever asked?”

Tyler sighed. “I’m sorry about that, it was a stupid thing to say.”

“Yeah, it was,” she replied. She followed his gaze out the window. It had been growing steadily dark, but now a soft blue light was cutting through the trees, casting the room in an increasingly deep shadow. Her eyes shifted back to him.

Frightened, he affirmed, “It’s time.”

His breathing accelerated, and his head drooped to his chest. Sweat made its way down his skin now, and his hair was plastered against his head from the moisture.

Allie rose to her feet, and walked slowly towards him, cautious of every step. She could tell he was in a great amount of pain, his muscles shivered as if trying to hold back a great weight. She reached up and raised his chin, lifting his face so she could look at him.

His eyes fluttered open, and his lips parted, but his throat seemed too clenched to speak.

She shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “Don’t be afraid.”

A moment of peace was all his face expressed, followed instantly by the ravages of the change.

His muscles began to convulse of their own accord, and his jaw dropped open in a blood-curdling scream, a mixture of agony and rage.

Allie stepped back.

The bones of his largest joints – his shoulders, elbows, hips, knees – popped and creaked as the tendons pulled in shockingly inhuman ways. They twisted and deformed, while his skin darkened, the hair on his skin thickening and growing even while she watched, unblinking.