© 2012 Kiara Mais, All Rights Reserved
"Hmm..." Marie's hand reached out lethargically in her dream, searching for the offending alarm clock to mutilate the snooze button. The insistent warped conversation continued like an untuned radio station, coming in and out, fuzzy. Its contents overlapped, not making any sense. Several times she found herself blissfully wrapped back in sleep only to be pulled back into that same snowy-sound environment. Their voices were starting to drill a pain into her temple, each wake causing it to sting a little more until it could no longer be ignored.
The fight to open her eyes proved to be a little more difficult, leading her to believe she wasn't just waking up on a Saturday morning after a night out. But her mind wouldn't focus long enough to remember what had happened. Again the voices...but this time they were clear, only had a slight echo after them intensified by the migraine shooting through her brain.
"Is she awake yet?" That voice....sounded so familiar, it made her heart ache.
"No sir. Small noises occasionally but no movement." There was no mistaking Joseph's rough tone, though she was surprised at the formality in it. And why? He sounded so drastically different from the boy she grew up with. The immature, always hungry jock that couldn't string two intellectual sentences together.
"How much did you give her? It should be wearing off by now, especially with her blood." That phantom voice was even closer now, she felt his breath against her cheek just before his fingers slid across the smooth flesh to cup the side of her face. Their familiarity had her straining to move, to return a nuzzle into his palm but her body rejected that desire.
"She was fighting her hunter when we found her. We had to give her a little extra to be sure she wouldn't be able to fight us."
"Very well. Make sure you get me the moment she wakes up and is coherent enough to talk."
"Yes sir." His warmth left her skin and she felt instantly cold, screaming inside for him to come back. But her body wouldn't listen and he left, the soft closing of the door signaling his retreat.
Marie felt the bed shift beneath her, naturally rolling her body in that direction until a hand halted the progress with the capture of her shoulder. "Time to wake up Ri-Ri.." She hadn't heard Joseph use that nickname for her since they were kids. He'd given it to her when he admitted to hating her name. Saying it made her sound old. It was an older woman's name according to him. It had stuck with him through middle school and some of High School at which point he decided that Ri-Ri was too young and reverted back to Marie. To hear him say it now made her want to smile. That he was alive...wait...what?
It all came crashing down on her in a fury that forced her eyes open. Brown-hues, red and swollen from the drug, glared at him. He still had that toothpick lodged between his lips, a glimpse of a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth when he caught her looking.
"Aw, now don't go looking at me like that. I did what I had to do. You were too far gone. I warned them that putting you in that dog shelter for too long would warp you." Joseph's knuckles slipped across her cheek before he turned his hand to capture the tendrils that fell free from her tie and tuck them behind her ear.
"You're such a weak spirit. So easily swayed. So gullible." When his fingers reached the tie at her nape he wrapped his calloused appendages around the ponytail and tugged sharply forcing the quick sting of tears to her eyes. But she refused to let them fall and glared at him defiantly. "When I heard he marked you, I wanted you dead. But of course not...not his precious Marie."
"Joseph!"
Marie felt as if she'd been stabbed in the stomach when that new disembodied voice yelled his name. She couldn't believe it. Knew now that she hadn't been seeing things earlier when she'd spotted that blonde. The possibility that it was her secured itself when she watched that half-hearted backhand across Joseph's head, motioning for him to get up. Her body bounced on the mattress for a second as they switched spots, not dipping nearly as much when Christine took his place. But her old friend was still forced to brace her shoulder back with her hand to keep her from rolling into her.
"Hey there Marie." She saw pity in her friend's eyes, a struggle between who she obviously was and who she pretended to be most of their lives. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to keep you safe, help you awaken the hunter but it wasn't budging. The idea for you to go into that...place...you were never supposed to stay there as long as you have." Christine took up those same tendrils that Joseph caught, making Marie cringe expecting the same cruel treatment at the end. But it never came. A sad smile touched Christine's lips when she saw the recoil from her best friend. She would soon find out that she had no choice in the matter.
"I thought you two were dead....there were bodies...and your belongings...." Marie's voice cracked with her first attempt at talking. Hearing this, Christine hushed her and stood up, pouring her a drink from the pitcher nearby. Joseph stood watch not far from her. Always present, not daring to leave the two of them alone, though she didn't know why. She was the one at the disadvantage.
When he caught her looking at him he flashed that smug grin and swiped the toothpick across his lower lip from one side to the other. That malevolent smile remained, his dark eyes holding promise of what he could and possibly would do to her if alone again. The fear of that possibility pulled her gaze away and back to her ex best-friend.
"It was part of the plan." Christine answered. "Our team was waiting for the accident. The Alpha causing the crash was unexpected, but we worked with it. He'd been hit with a tranquilizer while we switched the bodies out." Being that her hands were still tied behind her back, Christine wrapped her arm around Marie's shoulders and helped her to sit up a little in order to drink. "They were always meant to find you. To bring you back with them."
"Why?" Finding out that her friends deliberately planned for her pain and kidnapping scarred her more deeply than their deaths. It was all orchestrated and for what? To release her hunter? Christine looked uncomfortable with her question but still answered.
"Because we thought they could waken you where we failed to. We believed that a direct connection with the supernatural would spark that first link. When it started taking longer than expected and we found you in the woods near death, we decided to make it happen." She watched that worried lip of her friend take hold between her teeth. A common habit with the blonde.
"The vampire...that was you." She didn't ask this time. She knew it was true and looking back on it now it was too much of a coincidence for it to not be.
"Yes, he thought it was necessary."
"Who's he?" Was he the one she heard earlier? The one who sparked something in her with his touch? She watched her friend shift next to her to look over her shoulder at Joseph, motioning for him to go. He did so after some reluctance, finally grunting with annoyance before leaving the room.
"Joseph is going to get him. He was supposed to let him know as soon as you woke up anyways." Christine fidgeted uncomfortably for a minute before reaching out to check the binds at Marie's wrists. "I'm sorry we have to tie you up. It's necessary until we figure out whose side you're on."
"I'm sure you are sorry." She didn't believe a word of it and when she saw the tears glinting in Christine's eyes she felt a stab of remorse. It just as quickly died when she remembered the pain from the accident and the torture endured afterwards. The only thing that made it all worthwhile was Greyson.
Thinking about him now caused an ache in her heart that quickly spread through her. She needed him. "Christine...you need to let me go. I'm not a hunter like you guys. I love Greyson, I love our pack. They need me right now. He needs me and he will kill everyone to find me."
"Don't say that Marie. You don't understand what they truly are. They don't need you. And he certainly will not get far now that you're separated." The blonde's voice dipped low in a near whisper as if she was afraid of what they were talking about. "You cannot go back. That mated mark will be removed and you will no longer feel the draw to the mutt."
"Stop calling them that! They are not mutts!" Marie fought against the bounds but they held tight. When she knew she couldn't break them she opted for butting her knees up quickly, knocking Christine off the bed.
"Stay away from me."
"Now now Marie....is that anyway to treat your best friend? You should be ecstatic that she is still alive and not dead as you originally believed." His voice was like a sweet caress over her body instantly pulling her gaze to the open door. She vaguely heard the sound of Christine scrambling to her feet beside the bed but she couldn't focus on anything else. It couldn't be.
"Daniel?..."
YOU ARE READING
Would Be Hunter - Completed
Werewolf"It is unfortunate that you had to come to me under these circumstances. I have been looking for you, for a long time." The kiss that followed was unexpected and made her stiffen in his hold; yet, she somehow wanted to melt against him at the same t...
