Sacrificed Soul

Chapter Twenty

"Are you going to Mate Night?" Fran asks from the doorway of the breakroom as I shoulder my lunch bag. My locker shuts a little harder than I meant for it to, but she ignores the loud clang.The clinic has been busy today, tapering off after four until my time to leave at five thirty. In the last week, I've managed to not only stay out of trouble, but avoid the more dangerous members of the pack that have made their way through here. I'm sure it's by no little help from both Fran and Dr. Kessler. I haven't missed the intent behind their eyes as they took over my duties. I'm sure that they saved me from many harsh encounters.

I want to tell her the truth, that the leaders are forcing me to show up to these parties, as they call it, but I refrain from doing so and add a chipper tone to boot, "Yeah. I'm gonna stop by the clan house first and Lenora will drive Junior, David, and me there."

Dr. Kessler makes that his moment to barrel through the door, "Mate night," he says, "What a load of shit."

"Mate," Fran chides, smacking him on the arm.

I stifle a chuckle, asking, "What's that mean?"

"Oh, I'm sure the leaders meant well when they started them a few years ago, but all it's become is a chance for you youngsters to get involved in orgies. The pack meetings after are always hell. Smells like piss and sex," he complains, and apparently rightfully so.

"Thanks for the warning," I say, and truly meaning it. I'm not sure what I expected to walk into tonight, but it surely wasn't that.

"Just keep close to Sweet-girl and Victoria. They'll keep the more... dominant admirerers away from you" she says, confirming my earlier suspicions.

Dr. Kessler sits down hard on one of the comfy chairs, a red and beige checkered one that smells suspiciously like beef stew, "I don't know what it is about this week, but all the males have been running me ragged trying to get near to you."

"She's an available female, Love," Fran says, petting the soft looking down of her mates hair, turning again to me with a small smile, "You smell good to them, a little sweet, too, if you catch my drift."

I grimace, knowing exactly what she means. It wasn't only my mate that was causing certain needs, "On second thought, I'm feeling a little ill. Maybe I won't go after all."

"I'll write up a doctors note for you—,"

"No," Fran says, cutting him off. She sighs, approaching me with her hands up as though to gentle a wild beast. She corners me against the lockers, fingers massaging my shoulders to keep me calm and quiet, "Leanne, you need to go. Siobhan and Mark have been a thorn in our sides since you started, and I don't believe either of them have good intentions. Show up, make your appearances to soothe their worries, and then get home safe."

"If they don't trust me, why are you telling me this?" I ask, pulling my bag to my belly for protection. I doubt either of them have knives hidden beneath their clothes, but it never hurts to protect squishy innards.

Dr. Kessler looks away, mumbling something unintelligible, but neither Fran nor her second soul shy away from my question, "This isn't the only pack that's had a berserker run through it, dear."

Her ominous words trample my brain, and I mindlessly find my way into the cab of the jeep. For a long time, I just sit there wondering if it's her home pack that she speaks of, or someone else's... But my phone chimes with Lenora's demand of where I am, and so I start the engine and head up the mountain.

I make a quick trip home, showering and changing out of my scrubs and into a pair of jeans and sleeveless top that smells more like Lori than Lenora, which makes me think the latter stole if from the former. Shrugging into them, I leave my hair to air dry in the wind as I drive. I give my bed a plaintive look, wanting to scream as I close my den into darkness and away from sight.