Eve stood and glared at Craig as she heard Arec pounding on the door behind him. “What do you think you’re doing, kidnapping Linda like this?” she asked.He chuckled and said, “I figured if I can’t have you as my mate, I’ll have your friend.”Eve’s lip curled up as she sneered at him. “That’s disgusting,” she said. “That’s not how mates work, and I would think you would know that.”Craig shrugged and said, “You never know. I mean, Linda could come to love me after spending some time together.”“Never!” Linda spat out. “I would rather die!”“That could be arranged, you know,” he said, staring at her with a calm look.Eve glanced around the room and said, “I don’t know how you think you are getting out of this. I highly doubt Arec is going to let you waltz out of here without tearing your head off.”Craig chuckled and said, “You don’t think much of me, do you, Eve? I’ve reinforced the door to withstand his Lycan strength. He’s not getting in here anytime soon.”Eve shook her head and
Eve and Arec joined his siblings in the kitchen in the morning. Michael stood at the stove, frying something in a pan, while Ray chopped vegetables at the counter. “That smells delicious,” Eve said as she and Arec entered the room. “What can I say?” Michael asked, turning from the stove. “I’m a good cook.”Ray stopped chopping to look at his brother incredulously and said, “Hey! I’m right here!”“You’re my helper,” Michael said before turning to the stove. “Helper?” Ray asked.“Yeah, helper,” Michael said. “Who else could chop those vegetables so well for me?”“Whoever’s doing the cooking, it smells delicious,” Eve said, sitting at the table while Arec walked to the coffee pot.He took down two mugs from the cupboard and poured coffee into both. He brought them to the table and set one in front of Eve before sitting beside her. Grabbing the sugar and cream from the center of the table, he poured the cream into their cups and followed it up with some sugar before stirring them. E
After Eve, Arec, and Michael had showered and dressed in clean clothing, they headed downstairs toward the living room, where Julia and Bella waited. “Ray said to tell you he’s going to be a few minutes late,” Bella told them once she saw them. Arec nodded and led Eve to a chair beside the fireplace. She sat and crossed her ankles, folding her hands in her lap. Bella and Julia sat on the couch, while Arec stood beside Eve’s chair. Michael paced before the fireplace as they waited for their brother to arrive.Finally, they heard the front door open, and Ray entered the room.“Sorry that I’m late,” he told everyone as he sat in another chair. “We can get started now.”“Glad you could make it,” Arec said, walking to the middle of the room. “We have a situation-”“Besides, Eve fighting Sabrina on the full moon for you?” Julia asked, raising one eyebrow.Arec scowled at her before nodding.“Yes, besides that,” he said. “Eve’s friend, Linda, was kidnapped by the same were who turned Eve.”
Eve stretched as she woke, feeling the warmth of Arec’s body still wrapped around her. She opened her eyes and saw another hairy figure with its back to her, staring into the trees. She smiled as she felt Arec’s strong arms cuddle her close, and his nose snuffed her ear. “Good morning to you, too,” she whispered, turning to look at him. He bared his teeth at her with a wolfy grin, then looked at his brother, who hadn’t turned toward them. He nuzzled Eve’s neck before releasing her and standing up. She stretched and got to her feet.“You want to know something? That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” she said. “You kept me nice and warm, and I wasn’t sleeping on rocks.”Arec nodded, then loped toward his brother. Eve watched them communicate before sitting on a log near the now-dead fire. When Arec returned, she said, “I hate to do this, but nature calls.”Arec grinned at her before nodding and loping toward the opposite side of the camp. At the bushes, he paused and looked at
After arguing with Michael about lighting a fire, Arec finally convinced him that Eve couldn’t eat anything they’d caught without it being cooked first. “Fine,” Michael growled. “But keep it small and smokeless.” Arec nodded and said to Eve, “Let’s gather some firewood while Michael looks for dinner.” After Michael changed into his Lycan form, Arec and Eve wandered into the trees, gathering fallen branches until they both had armfuls of wood. Carrying them back to the camp, Eve asked, “Will Craig see the fire and know we’re here?” Arec nodded and said, “Don’t worry. Michael and I know how to keep it from alerting him to our presence.” “Good,” Eve said. “Because I don’t want him to see us coming when we rescue Linda.”“He won’t,” Arec told her. “We’ll get her out before he even suspects what we’re doing.”She smiled at him and said, “Great, because I don’t want him to see anything until I’m in his face, striking him down for what he did.”Arec took her into his arms and said, “I
Eve stared at Craig as he walked out of the house’s back door and scanned the trees. She shrunk back before realizing they were deep in the trees and doubted he could see them. “He’s not able to smell us, is he?” she whispered to Arec as the thought hit her. Arec shook his head, not taking his gaze from Craig, who finally nodded and walked back into the house.“Now that we know he’s in that house, that must mean Linda’s inside too, right?” Eve asked, not taking her eyes from the door Craig had used to go inside the house.“Most likely,” Michael said, nodding once. “I did catch her scent around, though it was faint.”“I wonder if he’s keeping her in a basement room or something,” Arec mused, scratching his chin.“That’s possible,” Michael said, looking at the house. “It does look like the basement windows are blocked, at least on this side.”“So, what’s the plan?” Eve asked, finally tearing her gaze from the house to look at the brothers.“Let’s move around the house, keeping as out