Fate's Intentions (20 page)

Scarlett pulled him as she stepped. "Come on, it's fine." With that she began to run and although Aaron wasn't liking running toward the frightening sound, he ran after her.

Chapter 22

They walked in the front door and no one was in sight. "Hey!" Scarlett yelled into the large empty space.

A few seconds later Ashlynn came into view on the balcony. "Scarlett, we have to move out tonight! The guys think it's too risky to wait any longer!"

Scarlett's heart sunk. She turned to Aaron and saw confusion written across his face. "I have to leave Aaron."

Aaron frowned and his eyebrows scrunched together. "Where are you going? And what guys?"

Scarlett sighed. "I'm kinda on the run. You can come with me, I dont know how long we will be running, our lives may be turned upside down.  I'm not trying to pressure you into it but, if you don't come with me there is a possibility you may never see me again."

Aaron smiled. "Where you go, I go baby! Till death do us part!"

Scarlett smiled back at him and closed her eyes as she leaned in to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. Their lips met and Scarlett felt like she was floating. She thought she would never again feel the touch of his lips on hers or the feel of his arms around her. She missed it even more than she realized. In his arms everything felt so right. She leaned back and parted their lips. She whispered as she opened her eyes, "As much as I'd like to stand here and do this all night, I don't have much time, I have to pack."

"I'll help you." He smiled at her. She ran up the steps and he followed. She opened the door to her room and walked in to the closet. She pulled out her suitcase and flopped it onto the bed. She grabbed shirts hanging in the closet and tossed them to Aaron and he put them into the suitcase. When the closet was empty she moved on to the dresser. She grabbed handfuls of clothing and shoved them into the suitcase. "Where are we going?" Aaron asked.

Scarlett continued stuffing clothing into her bag, "I don't know."

"Oh, that makes sense." Aaron snickered.

"Do you have any bags?" She asked him as she zippered up the suitcase.

"I have one in the trunk of my car." He answered. She pulled her bag from the bed and started to the door with it when Aaron grabbed it from her. "Let me get that!"

She didn't argue, she opened the door and walked out into the hall. "Could you put that by the front door for me?" She smiled at him.

"Sure. Can I do anything else for you?" He asked.

"No, that's everything besides from a small bag I have in the bathroom." He started down the stairs and she turned and knocked on Ashlynn's door.

"Come in!" A voice yelled from the inside.

Scarlett opened the door and found Adam looking a little overwhelmed as he tried to help Ashlynn pack. "Scarlett, would you please tell her that we don't have time to pack everything she owns!"

Scarlett giggled. "Oh Adam, you poor thing! All of the things she brought with her here is her idea of packing lightly. This is only a one digit percentage the things she has in Illinois. So good luck getting her to part with any more of her dear wardrobe."

Adam shrugged. "I suppose I could save more time by just helping you pack it all rather than arguing with you. Am I right Love?"

Ashlynn smiled a wicked smile. "Right you are, Honeybun!"

"Adam, I can help her if you are afraid of the wrath you will face if you wrinkle anything." Scarlett laughed.

Adam gave Ashlynn a stern look. "You know we need to hurry, right?"

"Of course I do! So less talk and more action!"

They all resumed packing Ashlynn's things and then Aaron appeared in the doorway. Adam heard someone approach and met him at the door. Aaron looked at him and then held out his hand. "I'm Aaron."

Adam took his hand and shook it. "I'm Adam."

Aaron felt a little awkward but then spoke again. "Do you guys need anything else?"

Adam laughed, "We could use a U-haul for all of Ashlynn's clothes."

Everyone laughed except Ashlynn who gave him a dirty look. "This was the last of it Mr. too funny for his own good! Well, except for my things in the bathroom."

Adam smiled at her and then turned back to Aaron. "You mind helping me load the luggage?"

"Happy to help." Aaron answered.

Adam turned back to the girls. "We are going to take these things down, you two grab your things from the bathroom. Just hurry Love, we need to go."

The girls nodded and Aaron had a strange look on his face as he watched the exchange between them. Apparently a lot had happened since the girls arrived here. Adam walked out of the room with some of Ashlynn's things and Aaron grabbed the rest and followed.

Ashlynn and Scarlett scurried to the bathroom and gathered the things they each had in there. They hadn't really unpacked anything so the few things that were sitting on the counter, they stuffed into their bags and walked out into the hall. They came down the steps and met Aaron and Adam who had just stepped back inside. Adam took the bags the girls were holding and looked around the cabin. "I wonder if Ben needs any help."

Just then a voice came from the hallway. "Adam, I packed some of your things from the lab. I hope I grabbed the important stuff!"

"Shit!" Adam blurted. "Thanks Ben, I never even thought about that stuff! I just wish I could bring it all!"

Ben stopped when he saw Aaron standing next to Scarlett. "What's he still doing here?" When nobody answered he walked toward the door where everyone else stood and stared at Scarlett. "What is he still doing here?"

Scarlett's voice quivered as she answered, "He's coming with us."

Ben shouted. "Coming with us! Does he know?"

Scarlett shook her head. "No, I haven't told him yet."

Aaron was puzzled as he turned to Scarlett. "Told me what?"

"Tell him!" Ben said firmly.

Scarlett turned to Aaron. "Remember I told you a lot had happened since I left Illinois?" Aaron nodded, but didn't speak so she continued. "I'm a werewolf now."

Aaron laughed. "What do you need to tell me Scarlett? I don't think now is the time for jokes!"

"I'm serious Aaron." She said unwavering.

Aaron looked around to everyone else and when none of them laughed his expression changed and he looked scared.

Ashlynn gave Adam a little shove and patted Ben on the back. "Why don't we go on outside and give them a minute?" Adam followed her but Ben hesitated for a moment. Adam spoke his name in a low, gentle voice, asking him to come with them, then he finally stepped out as well.

Scarlett pushed to door shut and stared at Aaron. "I am a werewolf."

Aaron shook his head. "Have you gone mad since you left?" Scarlett pulled her shirt up over her head and threw it on the floor. Her bra came off next, and then her shoes, pants and underwear. "What the hell are you doing Scarlett?" Aaron was unsure how to react to what she was doing.

"I'm just going to show you." She said in a determined manor.

Aaron raised his eyebrows at her standing naked before him. All of a sudden she was gone and a gray wolf stood at the door. He almost fell over at the sight. Scarlett transformed back and stood quietly waiting for his reaction. He stuttered a little as he spoke. "You wer- weren't kidding?"

"No, I'm not kidding." Scarlett said as she began putting her clothes back on. "I'm sorry to force you to decide your future the second I slap this on you, but we really have to leave right now!"

Aaron stood breathless for a moment. He looked down at the floor as his mind raced but then his head snapped up at her and he said, "I love you Scarlett. For better, for worse, or for weird."

Scarlett giggled and as she pulled her shirt down and slipped her shoes on and then she flung herself into his arms. "Aaron, I thought I was gonna die without you! Actually, I almost did." She added sarcastically.

Aaron petted her hair as he held her tight, "What do you mean you almost did?"

Scarlett shook her head. "Let's not worry about that right now. It's a long story and we need to go now."

She took Aaron's hand and opened the door. They walked down the steps to find everyone in Ashlynn's car. Everyone was already inside. Adam was behind the wheel with Ashlynn in the passenger side. The windows were tinted but Scarlett assumed Ben was in the backseat. Adam rolled the window down, "If he is coming with us, I think you should follow us in his car. If anyone finds it here, he's going to be connected to all this whether he wants to be or not. That's why I thought we should take Ashlynn's car."

Scarlett turned to Aaron, "Is that okay with you?" Aaron nodded.

Adam nodded also. "Okay, well I'm not sure where we are going, planning to find a motel in a nearby town and sort things out tomorrow."

"Okay, well we'll follow you." Scarlett replied.

They got into Aaron's car and as they followed Adam out the driveway, Aaron glanced over to Scarlett. "Okay Scarlett, I think you have some explaining to do."

Scarlett grinned, "I was waiting for it. Do you want the long version or the short version?"

Aaron smiled at her, "Well, it's hard to tell how long we are going to be on the road, might as well slap me with the long version."

Scarlett nodded. "Well, as you know Ashlynn was coming up here to attend college, I planned on staying here with her a couple weeks to get away. One night we were in town, we met some local girls who invited us to a party at a campground and of course Ashlynn thought she just had to go, so she drug my pitiful ass with her. At said party, the girl we came with ended up too drunk to drive so some of the other people there gave us all a lift. The two guys that volunteered to take me and Ash back to her car wanted to freak us out by stopping on the way to show us some wolf den by the river. We objected but they wouldn't give, so we were trudging through the field when the one guy, Cody, asked me to walk back up to the truck with him to grab some beer. I figured it would prolong my little journey to see the wolves, so I went with him." Scarlett paused in her story. She couldn't decide how much detail she should give him. She didn't like the idea of reliving it all and was certain he wouldn't like the story either so she left out a few things. "Cody started acting like a jerk and we were arguing and he drew back to hit me, then all of a sudden this big gray wolf came swooping in and attacked him. He got freaked out and took off in the truck and blah blah, we had to get another ride."

Scarlett paused again. This time Aaron wasn't quietly waiting, he could tell something was wrong. "What's wrong Scarlett?", he asked placing his arm around her.

Scarlett embraced the feel of his arm around her. She was happier than she had ever been to have him here with her. When he nudged her she began to speak again. "Well, I wasn't going to tell you everything, but I guess for me to tell you the rest of the story about what happened and how I ended up a wolf, and why we are on the run, I have to tell you. Cody wasn't arguing with me when we stopped on the way back that night. He was drunk and attacked me."

Aaron was immediately angry. "What do you mean he attacked you?"

Scarlett mustered all the nerve she had in her to tell him the rest. "He tried to rape me." She held her head down feeling ashamed and dirty.

Aaron was frozen in thought. He fought the outburst that was trying to tear its way out of him and sat quietly for a moment then he pulled her tight against him and kissed her head. "I'm so sorry that this has happened to you, I feel like it's my fault for throwing you out."

"It's not your fault Baby." She whispered back. "I'm just glad Ben was there."

Aaron looked down at her. "Ben? The other guy with Ashlynn?"

Scarlett nodded. "Yea. Ben and Adam are werewolves too.  The wolf that scared him off was Ben."

Aaron was confused again. "Both of them?"

Scarlett sighed. "Yes.  So, the next day I went to the police to tell them what happened and when Cody found out they had placed charges against him, he showed up at our cottage that night and kicked the door in. Once again, Ben and Adam rushed in and chased him off."

Aaron interrupted her. "Why were they outside your place?"

"Ashlynn asked the same thing. I guess after what happened in the field that night with Cody, Ben was watching him and followed him to our place that night."

Aaron sighed. "I'm sorry for cutting you off again. So how did you end up a wolf?"

Scarlett started where she left off. "They invited us to stay at the cabin with them so we didn't have to worry about Cody coming around, but somehow he found us there too. Two days ago I was standing in the kitchen, cleaning up after breakfast and the next thing I knew, I was waking up on the couch. Apparently Cody had been lurking outside with a gun and tried to shoot me. Well, he did shoot me and as I laid there bleeding to death, the only thing Ben could do to save me was to make me a werewolf so I would heal. After turning me, Ben chased Cody down and killed him. He and Adam moved the body down near the campground and staged it to look like a wild wolf attack. It was in the newspaper, they believed it to be a wolf attack. Today, Adam and I went hunting in wolf form, and ran into a group of people in the woods looking for the wolves responsible. Ben and Ashlynn found out about the mob and came to warn us. Ben ended up shot trying to shield me and almost died and we are pretty sure some of the people saw Adam and I transform. "