Turned and Taken (Packed 1 & 2) (10 page)

Saki scrambled as far as she could go from the wolf. She knew she was in danger. She had betrayed Dax, and the wolf knew it. Saki‘s heart pounded as the wolf crouched, stocking its prey. Saki‘s chest locked. Unable to breathe, she watched as the wolf began to pounce.

The wolf leaped into the air toward her, and Lane threw his body toward the wolf. Unprepared, the wolf spun in the air, landing with its front paws on top of Saki. With it falling uncontrollably toward her, Saki turned to the side, escaping the wolf’s teeth and giving Lane enough room to again push the wolf forward.

Tumbling, the wolf fell over the front of the boat. The boat’s hull hit him with a thud and rocked over the wolf. The propeller engine shook as it, too, hit the wolf. Saki screamed as she ran to the back of the boat.

Saki peered into the darkness, frantically scanning for the wolf’s body. With the site of the accident getting further and further away, a body floated to the surface. It initially looked like a wolf, but very quickly, the tanned, fair skin reflected the light of the trailing boat.

Saki watched as long as she could. She was looking for a sign of life. She wasn’t sure, but as Dax was pulled out of the water, she could have sworn that she saw him move.
He’s alive
, she thought with surprise.

The other boat’s pool of light faded away. Saki looked around at the others, as they attended to Lane. She wasn’t sure why she so relieved to see that Dax was all right, considering he had just tried to kill her. Making her escape with this pack, she felt guilty for her sympathy, especially as she caught sight of Lane.

Saki grabbed onto the chrome railings and walked hand over hand toward Lane, as Scully steered the boat.

“Are you alright?” She asked, inserting herself between Torque  and Lane.

“I’m alright. What about you?”

In the excitement, Saki had forgotten to check herself for injury. She touched her chest and found a spot that stung when touched. Pressing down harder, she found it was just a scratch. “I’m alright. You’re bleeding,” she noticed, looking down at his wrist.

“It’s nothing. I’ll heal. What about him? Is he dead?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then he’s going to come after us again.”

“What do we do?” Saki asked, feeling lost.

“There is only one thing that we can do. There’s something that can stop him from shifting at will.”

“What’s that?” Saki asked, staring intently at Lane.

“You’ve seen it already,” Lane explained.

“The wolf medallion,” Saki confirmed.

“We need to steal it, and then we need to kill Dax,” Lane declared.

Saki allowed her eyes to drift away from Lane‘s.
Was someone going to die?

She knew that they had to do something. She looked back at Lane, wondering who it was that should die.

In a moment, she knew the answer. Saki looked back into the darkness toward where Dax had fallen. She looked back at Lane, as soulful brown eyes searched her face for answers.

Yes, someone was going to die. But she had to figure out how.

Chapter 10

Saki turned her attention to the night sky line of Nassau, Bahamas. It was beautiful as they entered the harbor. The dock looked like it was lit by Christmas lights, and each window of the many hotels glowed with a patchwork of color.

As the boat pulled up to the dock, Saki found it harder to look at Lane and the members of his pack. Looking at them now, she found it harder to believe that she had so comfortably stood in front of all of them naked. She had even begged to sleep with one of them. None of that was her.

The more she thought about it, the more humiliated she felt. When the others stepped off of the boat in silence, she was happy to follow.

“We’ll drop you at home first,” Lane said, trying not to make eye contact with Saki.

Saki acknowledged the statement and fell behind the group, which freed her to take a better look at them. As they entered and left the pool of lights, she felt like it was the first time that she had ever really seen them.

At school, this same group felt like a gang. From what she could tell, none of them were particularly smart, but the fact that they were always together made them seem intimidating.

Now, having seen them stripped naked before her eyes, she saw them as scared, vulnerable. They weren’t monsters at all. They were kids like her, who didn’t have the answers and had to struggle to figure out what to do next.

Torque  took the front seat while Saki squeezed in between Scully and the small light-skinned boy. She noticed Ben sat as far away as he could from Scully and never made eye contact with him. That made sense to her. Only hours earlier, she had watched Scully penetrate Ben.

Had they done that before?
Saki wondered.
Were they both gay? Did everyone else know that Ben was gay? And if he was, how was he able to do what he did to Torque ? Were they all bisexual?

It was a quiet trip back to Saki‘s house. No one spoke until they entered Saki‘s cul-de-sac, lit up with flashing red and blue lights. Lane pulled the car aside.

“They reported you missing,” Lane said, scanning the scene for cops. “They think you ran away or were kidnapped or something.”

Saki leaned forward, getting a better look. “I didn’t even think they would notice I was gone,” Saki retorted sarcastically.

“They did. You have to tell them you were with your boyfriend,” Lane instructed.

Saki reacted with venom. “I’m not going to tell them that,” she spit, assuming that Lane meant Dax. “My mom would never believe that. They know I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Then you’re gonna have to tell them something else. They can’t know about where we were. Do you understand me? No one can know. It’s all of our lives if someone finds out. You’ll kill us all. Do you understand me?” Lane questioned.

“Yeah, I get it. Don’t tell anyone. But what do I say?”

“Think of something,” Lane commanded, before signaling to Scully to let her out.

Saki stepped out of the car onto a soft patch of grass. It felt wonderful under her feet. As the car drove away, she noticed it wasn’t the only thing that felt different. Everything she looked at had a different feel to it. The houses seemed more pedestrian. The instruments of the families’ everyday lives, like their cars and their fenced in yards, suddenly seemed insignificant. It now felt like none of that stuff mattered. To Saki, they felt like the toys of children. With her secret, she was the adult.

Saki walked to the front gate. The more she looked around, the more sure she was certain that the cops weren’t there because of her. A crime must have happened. Maybe someone had broken in while she was gone. Why else would the cops be there? If someone broke in, was anyone hurt?

Saki moved a little quicker to the front door. It was ajar, and she pushed it open, scurrying inside. At once, everyone turned and looked at her, speechless.

“Where have you been?” Her mother said, pulling her large body to her feet faster than Saki had ever seen her.

Saki couldn’t get out a word before her mother threw her thick forearms around Saki‘s plump body. “We were worried sick.”

Saki was speechless. Looking around at everyone’s concerned faces, she realized that the cops were there for her. She couldn’t believe it. Was her mother trying to cover her own ass in some way? She must have been because no way did she care this much about her.

“Where have you been?” Her mother asked again, as she took hold of Saki‘s shoulders and stared into Saki‘s confused eyes.

“I was with my boyfriend.”

“Your what?” Her mother asked, with a mixture of disbelief and disapproval.

Saki hesitated and then said it again with less confidence.

“What are you talking about?” Her mother said, sure she couldn’t have heard what her daughter had just said. “You don’t have a boyfriend.”

Saki could feel her heart pounding. She swallowed, knowing that she had to speak. She didn’t know why she had said that because she knew it wouldn’t work. She was just caught off guard, and now she was feeling trapped.

“You don’t know if I have a boyfriend. You don’t know anything about me. You’re just putting on a show for all of these people. Like you care.”

Saki pulled away from her stunned mother, scanning the faces within the room. The twins seemed as surprised as her mother was. The two cops, who were now standing in front of the couch, stared at Saki. She was sure they were judging her.

“Miss, is this your daughter?” The young white cop said in a lyrical Bahamian accent.

“Yes, but I know that she ain’t actin’ like that,” her mother said, changing her tone. “You can’t be acting like this after you worried us like that.”

“Excuse me Miss, please allow us to talk to her for second,” the older dark-skinned cop said.

“No, I know my daughter ain’t actin’ like that,” her mother said with building anger.

“Miss, please let us do our job,” the younger cop requested.

“Young lady, can you sit down please,” the dark-skinned cop said, motioning to the couch.

Saki‘s heart raced as she approached the two uniformed men. It was all beginning to feel very serious, and as time passed, her breathing became more labored. Saki sat on the far edge of the couch, making her large body as small as possible.

“Now young lady…”

“Saki,” the younger cop corrected.

“Now Saki, your mother and your sisters were worried. That’s why they called us. Now we have to complete our job by finding out where you’ve been. You understand?”

Saki nodded her head.

“So, you think you could help us out with that?”

She again nodded her head.

“Good. So where did you say you were?”

Saki could feel her heart throbbing in her ears. She was doing her best not to panic. As she quickly considered the possible responses, her reply came out, “I just want to go home.”

Both cops looked around for clarification.

“She means North Carolina,” her mother offered, still upset.

The cops acknowledged a previous conversation and then turned their attention back toward the scared girl. “So where did you go?”

“I…” She struggled for words. “I just wanted to go back home.”

“And you were going to walk there,” the older cop asked without a hint of sarcasm.

“Yeah,” she replied without thinking.

“And you’re going to do it without shoes?”

Saki looked down at her bare feet. She didn’t know how to explain them.

“Were you with your boyfriend?” The dark-skinned cop asked.

Saki wrestled her turbulent mind trying to decide what she should say.

“And don’t lie Saki. You know you don’t have a boyfriend,” her mother interjected.

Saki corrupted. “You don’t know that! You don’t know anything. Yeah I have a boyfriend. I met him at the Fish Fry. You didn’t know that, did you?” Saki said venomously.

“And what, you spent the night at his house on the beach. Is that why you smell salty?” her mom asked.

“Please miss, let us do our job so that we can go,” the older cop implored.

“Do you go to SAC?” The younger cop asked, referring to St. Augustine’s College, Saki‘s high school.

“Yeah?” Saki asked taken off guard by his line of questioning.

“Are you aware that there were multiple students missing from class yesterday?” The younger cop continued.

Saki again began to panic. She knew who the missing students would be. It was both Lane‘s and Dax‘s packs. It was all of the werewolves. She didn’t want to be associated with them. Too many questions would pop up. Her body quivered with adrenaline.

“And, did you know that last night was a full moon?”

“Sean, please,” the older cop said almost embarrassed.

“No. Let me ask this.”

Saki, feeling her body spiral out of control, slowed her mind to come to a realization. The young white cop looked tremendously like Dax; he could easily have been his brother. Obviously, this cop didn’t know everything, but he knew something. And he wanted to know more.

“Did my mother tell you how much she hates me?” Saki asked, doing everything she could to change the subject. “Did she tell you that she hit me so hard that my nose was bleeding? Did she tell you that when she was saying how worried she was about me? Huh? Did she tell you about that?”

Both cops looked back at woman standing behind them. Her mother’s agape mouth was the only confirmation they needed.

“Ask her about that. Ask her about how she forced me to come here and leave my friends back home. I didn’t want to be here. I just want to go home. Why won’t you let me go home?” Saki pleaded, breaking down into real tears.

Burying her face in her hand, she remembered she had promised herself that she would never cry again. It was all too much, though. Everything about her life was too much.

The room fell silent except for Saki‘s sobbing. The two cops looked at each other. The girl had tried to run away or maybe she had just spent time with her boyfriend. Whatever it was, it wasn’t foul play and should be left behind closed doors.

“We’ve gotten what we need. You all have a good night, okay,” the older cop said to the dismay of his partner. “Let’s go.”

Disappointed, the younger cop followed him up and out the door. Left alone with her family, no one else spoke. She was no longer crying from the pressure of the moment; she was now crying about everything. She was now a wolf, or a werewolf, or Lycan or whatever she was. She was a monster.

The kids in her elementary school used to treat her like a monster, and thanks to being dragged back to this place, now she actually was one. She
was
angry at her mother for bringing her here. She was angry at the world for being what it was. She was angry at everybody. More than anything, she was angry at herself for reasons she couldn’t even begin to explain.

Saki sobbed in her hand as her mother and sisters slowly drifted to their rooms. Soon, she was the only one left in the empty space, where she balled endlessly. Pulling herself onto the couch, she wept uncontrollably until she finally fell asleep.