Beauties and Beasts Read online

  A few employees came running over to see what had happened, but I wasn’t sticking around to explain.

  I had almost reached the door when I thought I saw one of my kidnappers. I dove into a clothing rack and tried to slow my breathing in case he walked by.

  My heart stopped when I heard the sound of someone’s shoes squeaking on the waxy floor. I counted to twenty, trying to breathe deeply but quietly, before jumping out from behind the clothes and through the automatic doors.

  The parking lot was huge, but I sprinted all the way to the tree line, ignoring the throbbing pain in my toe and my bleeding hands. Even when I reached the woods, I didn’t slow my pace at all, which is why, it hurt ten times worse when one of my kidnappers stuck his arms out to clothesline me. He knocked the wind right out of me, and I fell to the ground gasping for air and clutching my stomach.

  The younger blond guy that had chased me down last night hovered over me with a big smirk on his face.

  “You seriously thought you could—”

  I kicked his left shin and pulled myself to my feet, wincing from the stinging cuts in my hands. Me, being the stubborn person that I am, tried to run past him, but he grabbed me and slammed my body up against a tree.

  “Let me go,” I demanded through gritted teeth.

  He just snorted and gave me a cocky halfsmile. “C’mon, let’s go tell the others we found ya.” His fingers wrapped tightly around my wrists and he pulled me away from the tree.

  “Look I don’t know who you are or what your name is—“

  “I’m Sawyer.”

  “Whatever. Let me go, please. I haven’t done anything to deserve this,” I pleaded, trying to pull myself free from his iron grip.

  “What happened to your hands?” he asked in disgust.

  “Don’t touch it.” I attempted to pull away once more, and he abruptly turned to glare at me. His eyes softened, and I swore I saw something dark and sensual in them. I shuddered and turned away. I tried to dig my heels in as he tried to drag me, but he was too strong.

  “Knock it off,” he snapped before continuing to drag me back into the store. My hands stung and burned, the blood continuing to flow out of the cuts as he squeezed my wrists tighter and tighter.

  It only took a few minutes to find the others, who had split up and spread across the store to try and find me. Conan was the last one we located and I had a hard time not feeling a little smug when I saw the big red lump and light purple bruising on his forehead. His cold blue eyes seemed to boar into my very soul, but I held my head high and did my best to not look as scared as I felt.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” he said his tone dangerous as he pointed his finger at me. I met his gaze, unmoving. “She does not leave my sight, got it?” The men all nodded their heads and I stuck my jaw out in defiance. Even though I had failed, I was able to scrounge up a small bit of satisfaction for at least causing a panic.

  Sawyer, the guy who had caught me running, kept a firm grip on my arm the rest of the time that we trekked through the store. We definitely were an odd looking group, but I'm sure Wal-mart has seen worse.

  This felt like a nightmare. The other day when I was with Sara, I had wished to get out of here as quick as possible, that I wanted adventure. Now I was wondering what kind of cruel trick fate was playing on me.

  I caught Sawyer staring at me, and gave him an icy glare. He smirked, and winked at me. My stomach turned, and I shifted uncomfortably. If one of them were to try something, I wasn’t sure what would happen. It wasn’t like the other three would have any good reason to stop it from happening. Which begged the question, why had they taken me? Why were they going to all this trouble, just for me? It made absolutely no sense at all. Maybe they had mistaken me for someone else.

  After paying for their merchandise, we walked back outside, across the parking lot and back into the woods. It had to look so sketchy, I wasn’t sure why nobody had stopped and asked me if I needed help. My appearance alone screamed help me! But luck had never been on my side. Why count on it now?

  The men dropped their goods on the ground, and started putting it into five big backpacks. The shorter man, whose name I did not know, came over to clean my wounds. I pulled away from him at first, but he just gently took my hands pulled out a big bottle of something.

  “This is going to sting a little,” he said, dabbing my hands with some sort of disinfectant. I winced, but tried to remain indifferent as he continued to clean the wounds. Thankfully the cuts weren’t extremely deep. I was surprised at the man’s gentleness as he bandaged my wounds with gauze wrap.

  When he was done, Conan handed me a backpack. I took it, and my arm dropped right to the ground, the weight of the supplies catching me off guard. The backpack had to weigh at least thirty pounds. I liked to think that I was in good shape, but I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to carry it. But I couldn’t complain or ask them to lighten the load. I just grit my teeth and somehow managed to pull it on my back.

  After about an hour of walking I wanted to die. Kidnapped, starving, sleep deprived, and lugging around a heavy backpack. Nobody could blame me for wanting to curl up and die.

  “Can we please just take a quick break? I need some water,” I croaked, licking my dry lips. Conan rolled his eyes and dropped his backpack and the others did the same. I sat down and rubbed my face, trying not to cry.

  For some reason, it all seemed to hit me right then. Memories from last night played over and over again in my mind’s eye. Blood seeping through Abel’s pants. Brown eyes wide with fear as they pulled me away. Conan smacking his head against the pavement. Too much, it was too much.

  Get it together Kathryn, you can’t lose it now. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about Abel. Dear, sweet Abel—he had tried so hard to save me. What if he had bled out before anyone had found him? Or what if Conan lied and really had killed him...

  “I think this is yours.”

  I jumped, when I looked up to see one of my kidnappers kneeling in front of me. It was the guy who had bandaged by hands up. He was holding something out for me to take, expectant look in his eyes.

  It took me a minute to realize that what he held in his hand was my most prized possession, my iPod. I stared at it a moment before looking back up and giving him a wary look.

  I timidly reached my bandaged hand out and took it from him. He looked at me with kind eyes, and doubt immediately invaded my mind. This was probably an act, but I was at least glad to have my iPod back.

  “Thanks…” I said quietly, figuring I might as well play along.

  “I’m Valko by the way.”

  “I’m Kathryn, but you already know that.” I replied in a small voice, feeling stupid as soon as the words left my mouth. He just nodded and stood up.

  “How are your hands?” he asked.

  “Oh they're...uh, fine,” I mumbled, unzipping my backpack and taking out a water bottle and granola bar. I chugged the water down in three big gulps and had a hard time trying to savor the granola bar, which I ended up devouring in two bites.

  When Conan said it was time to go, it was a struggle to force myself to pick that backpack up and carry it for the rest of the day. It took all that was in me not to just drop it and start crying my eyes out.

  In an attempt to distract myself, I counted everything. The trees, my footsteps, and leaves until that got tedious and I began to ponder the numerous violent things that I wanted to do to Conan.

  When the sun started to set, Conan dropped his stuff and said that it was time to stop for the day. I almost cried with relief.

  “Sawyer, go find some dinner,” he barked. Sawyer gazed at me with lucid blue eyes that caught me off guard and winked, giving me a cocky smile. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of me since they had kidnapped me.

  I ignored him and continued taking my shoes off, tempted to chuck one at his head. Maybe that would wipe the smirk off his face. Once my shoes and socks were off, I examined my aching feet. There were bloody blisters o
n my heels and on the side of my foot. And my broken toe looked even more swollen than yesterday. My feet felt a little better out in the open, though I did regret my choice in shoes last night. I wore my Converse sneakers almost everywhere, but I was now finding out that they weren’t the best hiking shoes.

  I scooted my butt back until I was resting on a tree trunk and, I drew my knees to my chest, watching the men meander around to get firewood. It felt so good to finally rest.

  I closed my eyes for what I thought was just a moment, but before I knew it, someone was shaking my shoulder. I flinched and squeezed my eyes shut tighter.

  “Kathryn, wake up and come eat.”

  I opened my eyes to see Valko kneeling beside me. The others sat in front of a roaring fire, speaking in low voices.

  The night was pitch-black around me, save for the ring of orange light surrounding the flames. Shadows danced on the trees as the fire crackled and burned. I got up and slowly made my way over to where the men were sitting, to grab some food.

  There were no plates or utensils, so I ate the greasy meat with my bare hands, sitting as far away from them as possible. Eating slowly was nearly impossible, considering the fact that the only thing I had eaten today was a granola bar. I wasn’t even sure what I was eating but I didn’t care.

  Once I was finished eating, Conan handed me a water bottle, which I drained in three big gulps. I choked on the last bite and started coughing.

  Oh my gosh…what if they drugged the food. I thought as I was gasping for air. Was this how I was going to die?

  When I was able to breathe normally again, I glared at Conan.

  “We didn’t drug you,” he said coolly, as if reading my thoughts.

  I shook my head and moved back into the shadows— a comfortable distance from my captors, but still close enough to feel the warmth of the fire.

  I closed my eyes, but I didn’t allow myself fall asleep again. I wanted to stay aware of my surroundings and see what they would talk about if they thought I was asleep.

  I lay there for what seemed like an eternity, until the flames turned to glowing red embers and all the men were sleeping. I was a bit surprised that no one stayed up to make sure I didn’t run away again, especially after the little stunt I pulled at the store today. It seemed a little suspicious to me, but I decided to take the risk. I had almost gotten away earlier, maybe I would actually make it this time.

  I quietly laced up my shoes and crawled over to the guy with the dark hair that had shot Abel and carefully took the gun from his holster.

  I swore they could hear the blood pounding in my ears as I crept away. My hands were shaking from fear that they’d wake up and shoot me. I managed to walk quietly since the ground was soft and wet. A branch snapped loudly behind me and I froze for a moment.

  Slowly, I turned my head around to see that…no one was behind me. I sighed and turned back around. A dark figure stood in front of me and I held back a scream as I shakily pointed the gun at him.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked me, sounding annoyed. I wasn’t able to see his face, but I recognized the voice. It was the guy whose gun I’d stolen.

  “Stay away from me or I will shoot you.” I threatened, my voice somehow sounding a lot more confident than I felt. He chuckled and stepped forward.

  “C’mon, girly, we both know you won’t—”

  I squeezed the trigger and stumbled back a bit.

  Run!

  I stumbled away, not bothering to look back. I didn’t want to see my captor’s bloody corpse in the moonlight. It wasn’t long before I heard someone running up behind me. Thinking on my toes, I quickly found a tree with a low enough branch and started climbing up, the gun still in my hand.

  “Kathryn!” Conan called my name.

  They would surely kill me now, especially if I had shot one of their men. I stopped climbing after I was about halfway up the tree, trying hard to control my heavy breathing and calm my frantically beating heart.

  “Kathryn, get down here!” Conan shouted below me.

  “No!” I called down, scared to death of what they’d do to me if I went back down there.

  “Kathryn, get down here right now! You’re going to fall!”

  “No I won’t—” I lost my balance mid-sentence, dropping the gun and falling face first toward the ground. The thin branches of the tree did little to break my fall.

  “Catch her!” Conan shouted. I heard the soft smack of metal hitting flesh.

  “Got it!” Sawyer exclaimed triumphantly holding the gun in the air as I landed next to him with a thud. I moaned and held my head, feeling dizzy. When I looked up, I realized that Conan was standing right in front of me. With a gasp, I tried to move away from him, but he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back to where I was.

  “I’m sorry. Please don’t kill me,” I whimpered, shielding my face with my arms.

  “We’re not going to kill you, Kathryn,” he grumbled. Confused, I slowly lifted my head and saw not three, but four men standing before me. The clouds had disappeared, and I was able to see all of their faces in the pale moonlight.

  “What—but—I shot you! How—did I miss?”

  “You didn’t miss,” he grumbled, rubbing his chest.

  “Then how? Oh my god, I must be dreaming…or I’m going insane!” I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “You’re not insane, Kathryn; just listen to me for a minute,” Conan said. I looked up at him, my lip wobbling as I fought back tears.

  “No! Not until you tell me why you took me.” I pushed myself impossibly closer to the tree.

  “We’re just going to have to show you, aren’t we? Sawyer, go change.” I turned to Sawyer who smirked and pulled his shirt off. He unbuttoned his jeans, and I quickly averted my gaze, blushing.

  “Sawyer! I said go change. That means go somewhere else, not do it here.” Conan mumbled something I couldn’t make out as Sawyer shrugged and started walking away.

  We waited for about a minute, then a ginormous wolf emerged from behind the trees. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped.

  This can’t be real. It makes no sense.

  “Sawyer? No…no…no, this can’t be happening,” I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut.

  “Kathryn, listen to me—”

  “You’re werewolves? All of you?! This isn’t real, it can’t be real. I’ve gone insane,” I said, standing up and backing away from the three men and huge wolf.

  “Kathryn—”

  “No, don’t touch me!”

  “Kathryn!” Conan shouted. I turned to try to run away and my head collided full force with a low hanging branch. I vaguely remember falling to the ground before the world went black.

  Chapter Nine, Abel

  Cold rain pounded against my aching, drawing me back to consciousness. My head was throbbing like I had been smacking it against the wall for an hour. Searing pain shot up my leg, and when I looked down I saw blood everywhere. Then, it hit me.

  Oh my gosh, Kathryn! Where did they go? My eyes scanned the wet road, but I didn’t see the men, or Kathryn.

  I grabbed onto my truck and pulled myself up. Immediately, my head started to spin and my leg buckled. It was hard keeping a grip on the slippery metal, but I was able to make my way over to the open door. My hands were shaking uncontrollably as I dialed 911. I could barely suppress the panic that rose in my chest.

  God knows what they were going to do to Kathryn. I needed to find her, fast. It wasn’t helping things that my vision kept going blurry, and I had a hard time putting a sentence together.

  About three minutes later, I heard sirens and the police came, along with an ambulance. I was trying to tell them what happened to Kathryn, but my words weren’t coming out right. Before I knew it, I was on a stretcher in an ambulance, and on my way to the hospital. The world spun in slow motion and purple and black dots danced before my eyes.

  Getting frustrated at myself for being unable to communicate only made things worse, but I did my best to cal
mly explain what had happened.

  *~*~*

  “I swear I shot the one guy when he tackled me…but he wasn’t fazed by it at all. It’s like he wasn’t human.” I rubbed my face and sighed.

  “How many men did you say there were?” The one cop asked. He seemed a bit more interested in my story than the other guy. I groaned and shook my head.

  “I want to say there were at least three.” The details were still fuzzy. All I knew was that Kathryn was gone, and I needed to get her back.

  “Can you describe any of them?”

  “It was hard to get a good look at them. I was lying on the ground and was a little more preoccupied with trying to save her than I was with trying to see who they were.” The fact that I had let them get away with her infuriated me. If she was really gone, I’d never be able to forgive myself.

  “Can you give us any description at all? Were they tall? Short? Fat? Skinny?”

  “Um, the guy that attacked me was about the same size as I am, maybe a little bigger. I think he had brown hair…a little bit of a beard maybe.” I let out a long, frustrated breath that I didn’t realize I was holding in.

  After a few more questions, they left me, alone, immobile, and even more irritated than before. I used the phone next to the bed to call one of my friends to come and pick me up, seeing as I didn’t have my truck and probably wouldn’t be able to drive anyway. I also asked him to bring me another pair of pants, seeing as mine were cut off by one of the paramedics in the ambulance. Once he got to the hospital, I carefully put my clothes back on and signed myself out.

  “Dude, you look horrible,” Josh said to me as we slowly made our way out to his car. I had only used crutches once before in my life and apparently was not coordinated enough to be able to make my way along very quickly.