Protected by the Wolves: Paranormal Biker Reverse Harem Romance Read online

  I clutched my arm again. In the faint moonlight I could already see the bruises start to bloom upon my skin. Jack had marked me, and the thought of it made me tremble.

  Chapter Five

  I felt at my lowest ebb as I returned to my cell. My head hung and my feet dragged across the floor. I wished that I could have been braver and stronger. I wished that I could have had the strength to fight, but my mind had cracked and every time I thought of resisting, I was filled with fear. I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything like that when there was so much against me. It felt as though the world had caved in on me and there was no hope of escape.

  But as I walked, I passed a door, and behind it I heard murmuring conversation and soft music. There was a clink of glasses and some people were louder than others. Without Jack accompanying me I was free to linger and press my ear against the door to try and glean whatever information I could.

  “Do you think she’s the one we’ve been waiting for?”

  “I hope so, we’ve been waiting for long enough.”

  “We’d better make sure to keep her hidden. We can’t let the Hunters get wind of this.”

  “We won’t. The Hunters are just arrogant upstarts who think they know more than they really do. We’ve dealt with their kind before and if they try anything we’ll slap them down into place.”

  “I still think we should have asked her. This kidnapping business doesn’t sit right with me.”

  “What would you have done? Told her the truth?” There was a lot of laughter at this comment. “Good luck with that. This is the best way. Jack knows what he’s doing, and you care too much. We need her and that’s the end of it.”

  It felt as though there was going to be more to the conversation, but at that point footsteps came near the door and I got scared. I squealed a little as I didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping and find out what punishment would wait for me. I skipped back into my small room and closed the door, and then I retreated to the bed.

  Even though I couldn’t hear properly, I was certain that two of the voices I heard were Buck and Matt’s. There were a couple of others I didn’t recognize, and it was unclear exactly how many members the motorcycle club had, but at least there was one person who wasn’t in favor of the way they had treated me, and I hoped that it would provide a window that I could take advantage of. But the way they spoke of needing me…it just didn’t make any sense. What kind of thing would they need me for? I didn’t understand…I needed answers. I needed to know what was going on and why they thought I was so important.

  And what were these Hunters? Perhaps they could provide my salvation if they were the enemy of Jack’s group. My mind whirled as I clutched the flat pillow and sobbed myself to sleep. It was soon wet with my tears and I wished that I was anywhere else. At least when I slept I could be free of the horror that pervaded my mind, although I was terrified of my dreams too.

  *

  I awoke feeling lethargic and aching. I checked myself as the daylight streamed through the narrow window. It was so bright that it illuminated every corner of the room, and highlighted how dreary everything was. A copper pipe reached down in the corner and led all around to a metal radiation. The bed frame was cold and sturdy, and the blanket was scratchy and stained. I preferred it when it was shrouded in darkness. I wiped my eyes and caught sight of the bruises on my arm. I hadn’t realized Jack had gripped me with such strength. I gently brushed my skin and winced. There were three round bruises, and I wondered how many more there would be by the end of this.

  I rubbed my face and swallowed. My throat was dry and my stomach rumbled. I hoped that someone would be along with some breakfast soon. Now that I could see better, I tried to clamber up the pipe and reach the narrow window. I thought that if I could reach it I might at least be able to squeeze something through, but it was to no avail. It remained tantalizingly out of reach. I could feel some of the warmth of the air outside and I could see the blue sky, but it might as well have been an alien world.

  Eventually the door opened and Matt was there. He brushed his long hair away and his clothes hung off him like a cloak. He glanced towards me and there was kindness in his eyes, and a hint of regret. I was certain that it had been he who expressed reservations during the conversation I had eavesdropped upon and I was keen to exert some influence to exploit this.

  He set down a tray that had upon it a glass of juice and a bacon sandwich. It wasn’t my usual breakfast of choice; I much preferred something more nutritious and healthier, but clearly I didn’t have a choice. He went to leave, but I couldn’t let him. Not yet.

  “Wait…Matt…isn’t it?” I asked. Matt paused. He stood halfway in the room and had his hand on the door handle, ready to close it at a moment’s notice.

  “Do you think I could eat this somewhere else? This room it’s…it’s not very nice and I just feel so dirty,” I winced and rubbed my arms, casting my gaze away from him, to appear even more vulnerable than I felt. My request lingered, and the more time he stayed the more chance I thought there was of him granting my request.

  Eventually he sighed. “I can take you somewhere else, but we can’t stay for long,” he said, and held the door open. I picked up the tray and followed him out into the hallway. The juice sloshed inside the glass. We passed the door I had eavesdropped behind and then went into one beyond that. It was a small room, a lounge area with a couch, TV, table and chairs around it. There were cards strewn about the table and empty nut shells that had been cracked. The room had the stale smell of beer, peanuts and grease, as though these smells had been imbued into the walls and the ceiling. A triangular banner hung on the wall, pointing at an angle. One word was depicted on it; ‘Howlers’.

  “Is that the name of your club?” I asked as I took a seat on the couch. I turned my nose up at the stains and the torn leather, but I had sat on worse. Matt placed the tray beside me. I took the food and tried not to wolf it down. I didn’t want to betray my desperation. The bacon was crispy and the bread was soft. It was a good sandwich and I immediately felt better, but I was still on my guard.

  “Yeah, it is,” Matt said, looking up with reverence at the wall. There were other pictures hanging on the wall, and as I looked more closely I saw that they depicted the club through different eras. When it began in a bleached photo from another era there were dozens of them, and over time that had dwindled down to today, where there was just a handful. “There used to be so many of us,” he said.

  “What happened?”

  Matt’s head dropped and he pursed his lips. “It’s just the way of life. A lot of people don’t have much time for it anymore. Sometimes I think we’re a relic of a bygone age but, hopefully our time will come again.”

  “I’m sure it will, I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a part of a group that kidnaps innocent people?” I snapped, and then swallowed a mouthful of juice. Unlike Jack, I didn’t get the sense that Matt was as confident or as domineering, but I wanted to test it. By his reaction, I knew that I was right.

  “I’m sorry about all that,” he mumbled, averting his gaze because he couldn’t dare look at me. The corners of my lips twitched. It seemed as though I had found the weak link, although I was still on my guard and wasn’t going to get ahead of myself. But I hoped that he at least might give me some answers.

  “Are you? Really? My mother always said that if you were truly sorry about something then you wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”

  “I am,” Matt said, “but I didn’t have a choice.”

  I let out a dry laugh. “That’s the excuse you’re going to use? Okay…I can see the type of people I’m dealing with here. Of course you had no choice other than to kidnap me. I guess I’m just the most important woman in the world,” I threw up my hands in frustration and rolled my eyes. It worried me that Matt didn’t say anything. He had a strange expression on his face and seemed afraid to look at me, and yet he couldn’t stop. Whenever I lifted my gaze he alway
s averted his. There was something sweet about it, really. I finished the sandwich and wiped the crumbs away from my mouth. I felt the tang of cold juice as I finished up the drink and set them on the couch beside me. I pushed myself up from the couch and dipped my head, swaying my hips in a way that always got the attention of men. I played with the ends of my hair, twirling it around my fingers and walked up to him.

  When he noticed, he stepped back, until he was pressed against the wall. He smelled of the earth and of the forest. I looked up at him with alluring eyes. I wasn’t at my best, but given the surroundings and the way he looked at me I doubted very much if he had many women acting this way around him.

  There were barely inches between us as I lifted my bright eyes and pressed my hand against his chest.

  “Is that true Matt? Am I the most important woman in the world?” I asked softly, the words dripping off my tongue like honey. I could feel Matt’s body grow rigid with tension and his heart quickened. His breath came out in short bursts and still he could not look at me directly, as though I was the sun and he avoided looking at me for his own safety.

  “No…this…it isn’t time,” he muttered, and then pushed me away. He ran his hand through his hair and turned his back on me. “You’re tired, you need to rest. You should sit down. You’ve been through a lot,” he said quickly. I arched an eyebrow, surprised at his reaction. Evidently not every member of the Howlers was aggressive, but I was intrigued by his words. I decided to return to the couch and folded my legs underneath me. I kept my voice low and soft, and spoke slowly. I remembered what Jack had said about songs being a spell able to enchant people, and while I didn’t want to give anything he said any credence, I did try and think about the way I could use my voice and body language to manipulate Matt.

  “What did you mean by ‘it isn’t time’? Time for what exactly?”

  Matt licked his lips and chewed the bottom one nervously. He paced the floor before me.

  “How was your walk with Jack last night?” he asked.

  “It was fine. Although he’s somewhat mysterious and a little frightening, and his grip is hard,” I said, rubbing my arm. A little fear crept into my voice as I remembered the way he held me. Matt looked at me with concern and walked over. He pulled my sleeve up and looked at my arm and then cursed under his breath.

  “Was this Jack?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “I’m sorry,” he said in a long breath. “I’m sorry for all of this.”

  “Then at least you can tell me what it’s about. I’ve been going stir crazy not knowing what you’re going to do to me, just waiting for the worst to happen. I don’t like being at the mercy of dangerous men, Matt, and if you’re going to do something awful then I wish you would just get on with it already. It’s bad enough that you had to bring me here against my will, but then you’re cruel enough to leave me to stew in my own worry. I’m losing my mind, Matt. It’s only been one night and I’m already going crazy.” I reached out and placed my hand on his arm, squeezing it gently. “Please tell me,” I begged.

  I could feel his resolve weakening, like a dam that burst under a torrent of water. He tried to resist. He stood up and walked away, putting distance between us, but I could tell that, against all odds, he had a good heart. His regret was genuine and I could sense that he really wanted to help me, that he really believed he’d had no choice, and if that was the case then I could try and turn it to my advantage.

  “What did Jack tell you?” he asked.

  “Not much really. He told me some story about the moon and then complimented me on my singing, said something about how magic did exist in the world and singing was an example of that. Frankly it didn’t make much sense.”

  “I see.”

  “Do you? Because I don’t.”

  Matt exhaled deeply. “I can’t tell you anything until Jack decides it’s time. I’m sorry.”

  My eyes darkened. “Matt, please, I’m going out of my mind with worry. All I want is something to hold onto, something that might make a little sense out of all of this. There’s so much that I don’t understand. Why did you kidnap me in the first place? Why me out of all the others? Just tell me, please, and if you don’t, then just give me one of those magic potions you come up with and knock me out again. I’d rather be asleep than have to deal with all of this.”

  Matt smiled wryly. “They’re not magic potions, they’re just blends of natural herbs and flowers that have different effects. It’s a skill that was passed down to me from my mother,” he said. I nodded, acting interested even though I didn’t really care all that much.

  “So can you make me another one to knock me out so I can be at peace? I can see there’s no point in me fighting. I might as well just sleep and you can do whatever you want with me. I know I’m going to end up dead anyway…I just wish you would all get it over with,” my voice trailed away as I got to the end of the sentence and pure sadness came through. This whole situation was so difficult and there were moments when there was nothing in my mind but bleak despair. I was certain there was no way out for me; they might as well just have drugged me up and used me like some kind of doll. At least if I was out of my mind I wouldn’t have to deal with any of it.

  I started to wonder if, actually, Mom had been my tether to the world all along. Once the flame of her life was extinguished there was no place for me in the world and fate had to correct the imbalance. If my life was an aberration then perhaps it was time for me to die after all. I just hoped that when it came, it came quickly.

  But Matt reacted horribly to me saying that. He gasped in shock and shook his head dramatically, raising his hands in surrender.

  “That’s not what’s going on here at all. We don’t want to put you in danger Trish. We don’t want to hurt you.” He seemed genuinely wounded that I would ever think otherwise.

  “Then why did you bring me here?” I asked, my voice almost a growl. I glared at Matt and I could see him wilting. He looked to the closed door and he swallowed his nerves.

  “I can’t tell you everything. That’s Jack’s place. But I can tell you that you are special. You might not believe, but…” he blinked for a few moments and collected his thoughts. “There is a lot of history in the world and there have been a lot of dynasties. Some of them have purer bloodlines than others. You are the result of one of these bloodlines and we need you to make us strong again…” he trailed off. I looked at him with my head tilted to the side, and then I threw my head back and laughed.

  “You think my bloodline is pure? Mine?” I almost collapsed on the couch at the thought. If mine was one of the few pure bloodlines in existence then the human race was in more trouble than I thought. “I think you’ve made a mistake.”

  “There can be no mistake,” Matt stated. My laughter died as I noticed the terse way he spoke and how his jaw was clenched. He fully believed in what he was saying and I finally realized that I was in the grip of a cult. The color drained from my face. The talk of making the group strong again…that could mean only one thing…breeding.

  My mind caved in on itself when I thought about the ramifications. They wanted to take my body away from me, take away my choice and use me as some kind of vessel for their entire group, to bring forth a new generation of, what, bikers? It seemed too ridiculous to be true, and the way Matt acted made it seem as though it was the most important thing in the world. I thought back to the previous night and to Jack…he was evidently their leader and his mind wasn’t in the right place. He spoke of so many strange things. Oh God…what had I gotten myself into? I had to escape, and as soon as possible. I couldn’t stay there and let them breed me, with this strange talk of a bloodline. What could they possibly know about my bloodline? I was just an ordinary girl who had been a failure in life. There wasn’t anything special about me, and I wasn’t about to let their misunderstanding ruin me. I wasn’t going to be used to breed their children in some kind of weird cult.

  I shu
ddered and nausea churned in the pit of my stomach. My skin crawled with revulsion at the thought of being taken and used for this horrid purpose, my body just a tool for one single purpose. My heart sank and the world seemed to blur around me, when I realized that tears had filled my eyes. But now was not the time for sadness. I had to try and make my escape. I had to try and be strong for a little longer. I wiped my eyes and inhaled deeply, in an attempt to keep myself composed.

  “That’s…that’s a lot to take in Matt,” I said softly. He relaxed when I stopped laughing. “I’m sorry for laughing. I just didn’t know how to react.”

  He walked over to me and took my hand, placing it between his palms. “I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more. I promise that you will understand before too long, you just have to be patient with us. But this isn’t a bad thing Trish. In fact it’s quite wonderful. You’ll see, I promise.”