Beauties and Beasts Read online

  last night really—”

  “Yes,” I replied.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “So you all are

  werewolves, correct?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Which is why nothing happened when I shot him last

  night?” She said, nodding at Liam.

  “Not exactly nothing,” he said, pulling the collar of his shirt

  down far enough for all of us to see the big black and blue

  bruise on his chest.

  “Oh. Well, what do you want with me? I’m not a

  werewolf…are you gonna eat me or something?”

  I almost laughed out loud at the look of complete horror in her eyes. “No. I think you have us mixed up with vampires,

  sweetheart.”

  “They’re real too?” she gasped, covering her mouth with her

  hand.

  “No, vampires are just a myth.” I chuckled.

  “Oh, well excuse me for getting my mythical creatures

  mixed up with reality the night after I get kidnapped by

  werewolves,” she spat out defensively.

  She stood up and started to lose her balance, so I grabbed

  her to keep her steady. She glared at me and pulled her arm

  away, which made her fall hard on her tailbone. I rolled my

  eyes and helped her to her feet.

  I held onto her arm again as we walked to make sure she

  didn’t try to run again--or fall. She still limped, and I assumed

  it was from when that blonde girl had stepped on her foot the

  other day. She was quiet for the most part, but I could tell that

  her gears were turning. It was only a matter of time before the

  questions would start.

  “So where are we going now?” she asked tentatively. “Home.” I used the most hostile tone that I could to try and

  discourage any further questions. It didn’t work.

  “Where’s that at?”

  “Your grammar needs work.”

  “I didn’t ask for you to correct my grammar, I asked where

  we were going.”

  “And I answered with—'Your grammar needs work.'” “Stupid wolf-man,” she muttered under her breath. “Heard that,” I said, turning to smirk at her.

  She raised her eyebrows and stared at me. After that, she

  didn’t ask any more questions.

  I could tell the backpack we had given her was too heavy for

  her to carry. I tried to go a little slower and take more breaks.

  There was no sense in pushing her past her limits and having

  her pass out; or worse, have a meltdown and try to run away

  again. Catching her was easy, but the chase was getting old.

  Besides, I was afraid she may seriously hurt herself. She was already all bruised and scraped up from her fall last

  night, not to mention the huge gash on her forehead. The

  bandages on her hands were covered in dirt, and I was hoping

  that the cuts wouldn’t get infected.

  The guys would probably say I was going soft, but I needed

  to get her to Vladimir alive and as well as possible. I didn’t feel

  like dragging her there half-dead from exhaustion. It would

  make the trip much more pleasant, I’m sure, if she wasn’t

  completely beat from us pushing her too hard. This trip was

  already turning into a bigger pain in the ass than I originally

  thought.

  I was tempted to push and see how much she could take, I

  wanted payback for the little stunt she pulled at the store

  yesterday. It was a pretty gutsy thing to do, considering that

  fact that there were four of us and only one of her. Maybe now

  that she knew we were werewolves she wouldn’t try to do

  something like that again.

  I was surprised at how well she seemed to be taking all of

  this. Granted, she did bash her head against a tree branch

  when we revealed ourselves to her, but considering who her

  father was, she had to know what this meant. She had to know,

  that none of this was going to end well for her.

  Chapter Eleven, Kathryn

  Once we stopped for the night, the men —wolves—my kidnappers just drifted around, occupying themselves by not really doing anything. Daylight was fading fast, and I didn’t enjoy the thought of being stuck in utter darkness with my four werewolves.

  A cool wind blew through the trees, making the leaves rustle and hiss while sending shivers down my spine. I rummaged through my backpack and found a book of matches. After searching all of the backpacks further, I was able to find some alcohol and cotton balls. I cleared away some of the dry grass and leaves, and made a small dirt pit. I then wet the cotton ball with some alcohol and lit it on fire.

  Quickly dropping it on the leaves so I wouldn’t burn m y fingers, I began to pile some small sticks, gradually adding bigger sticks until I had a pretty decent fire going. I was too engrossed in my work to notice that all of the men—wolves— had stopped to watch me.

  “Where’d you learn that?” Valko asked, hi s eyebrows raised in what seemed to be amusement.

  “On a TV show,” I mumbled, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

  “Did you learn that on the same show that told you to try and climb through an air vent in a Wal-mart bathroom to escape kidnappers?” Conan asked his face completely expressionless.

  I shot him a dirty look and bit back all the colorful words that were waiting on the tip of my tongue. My face grew warm as the others started laughing at me.

  Don’t say anything, Kathryn, just keep your mouth shut. Don’t speak to them; just say nothing.

  “No, but I would do anything to get away from your wet dog smell,” I snapped back, no longer able to control my temper. Conan’s eyebrows knit together and I saw anger flash across his face while his companions snickered.

  “That’s no excuse for lack of common sense. You better watch yourself, girl, because I can make the next few weeks of your life more hellish than they are already going to be,” he said coldly.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked down. He had put me in my place, reminding me that I was no longer in control of my own destiny.

  “Weeks?” I questioned, my voice small.

  “Yes, darling, weeks. We have to travel on foot so we don't get our heads torn off by other werewolves if we cross into their territory. It's easier this way.”

  “Easier?” Despair settled in the pit of my stomach. I felt myself start to lose control of my emotions.

  Weeks? At least I knew they weren’t planning on killing me…yet. That thought gave me little comfort.

  I hissed as I pulled my shoes off. The air was cold, but my feet felt like they were on fire. I had to do something, or the blisters might get infected. It was almost completely dark now, and I couldn’t see very well, even with the firelight.

  I searched my backpack but couldn’t find any type of first- aid kit. Not even a single band-aid. I knew that Valko had had one when he was wrapping the cuts on my hands. Now I just had to find which backpack he had stuck it in. I crawled over to where the men had laid their backpacks and started to unzip one of them.

  “Hey!” I shouted, looking up to see Conan’s ever-present scowl. I stood, wincing as I put weight on my sore feet. No doubt he was still pissed at me about my wet dog comment. He didn’t strike me as the type to forgive and forget.

  “Need something?” he asked smarmily.

  “No, I was just searching the backpack for fun,” I shot back sarcastically. “Just give it back, please.”

  “Not until you tell me what you need.” He crossed his arms, the backpack still dangling from his hand.

  “Why do you care?” I asked, grabbing at the backpack. He turned, making the backpack swing out
of my grasp. The firelight cast an orange glow on his face, softening his features and making him seem a little less hostile. Maybe that was just the look of amusement on his face. It still didn’t make me feel any less intimidated by him.

  “Because, I like to know these things. What are you looking for?”

  “I want to find the first-aid kit.”

  “Why?”

  “My feet are bleeding and I need to wrap them in something. Now please, give me the backpack.”

  He shrugged, and reluctantly handed it over. “Is that why you keep limping?” he asked, his eyes looking me up and down.

  “Sort of,” I mumbled.

  “The first-aid kit is in Valko’s backpack, by the way, not that one,” He added, sitting down by the fire.

  “Well, which one is Valko’s?” I asked, staring at the four identical black backpacks in front of me.

  “Did someone say my name?” Valko asked.

  “Kathryn wants to know where the first-aid kit is,” Conan stated disinterestedly.

  “You okay?” Valko asked, getting up and walking over to me.

  “I’m fine, it’s just that I want to wrap my feet and put something on them. They’re a bit worse for the wear.” I subconsciously took a step away from him, despite the fact that he was the only one of my captors who had been somewhat pleasant and helpful.

  “Let me see them,” He suggested, pulling the first aid kit out.

  “No really, it’s fine. They look pretty gross…” I protested, feeling somewhat abashed.

  “I’m a doctor, sweetheart, not much fazes me,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Were you a doctor before or after you became a werewolf?” I asked quietly, forgetting that I was trying to only talk to them when completely necessary. He paused briefly, before continuing to search for the first-aid kit.

  “I was a doctor before I was a werewolf.” He stood up with some bandages and Neosporin.

  “Here, let me see,” he said, gesturing for me to come and sit by the others.

  “No, its fine, I can take care of it,” I answered, taking the Neosporin and bandages from his hand. I didn’t really trust him—not even with my poor, blistered feet.

  I slunk over to the fire—sitting as far away as possible from my captors—and started putting the antibacterial ointment on my cracked and bloody feet. The stupid bandages weren’t going to stick now that my wounds were slimy from the medicine.

  “Stupid band-aids aren’t sticking,” I muttered to myself, ripping them off and throwing them on the ground.

  Valko got up and gave me some of the gauze wrap that he had used on my hands yesterday. He offered again to help, but I just shook my head and started to wrap them myself. It was a little difficult with the bandages on my hands, but I managed.

  Conan sent Sawyer and Liam to get us something to eat, while he, Valko, and I just sat in front of the fire and watched the flames crackle and burn.

  The cuts on my hands and the bloody blisters on my feet were the least of my worries at this point. Conan’s threat still echoed in my mind. I can make the next few months of your life even more hellish than they are already going to be.

  What on earth were they planning? Why me? Why did they take me?

  My chest ached, and I felt tears burning in my eyes. I missed Abel so much that it hurt. There had been this constant throbbing in my chest ever since they drug me away from him. It was almost unbearable. And it was even worse at night when I was settling down and trying to sleep. I bit my lip and tried my hardest to hold back the tears, refusing to give them the pleasure of hearing me cry.

  Chapter Twelve, Conan

  The next few days of our journey weren’t quite as eventful, and for that I was thankful. Kathryn was surprisingly compliant and didn’t speak much. She followed along, taking everything in. I told the boys to be careful about what they said around her. It’s not like the few conversations they had were all that deep or confidential, but I still wanted them to be on guard. The topic of her father was completely off limits. Vladimir told me if she wasn't able to figure out why we were taking her, that we shouldn't tell her.

  “She's sort of fragile. At least, that's how I remember her.” I remember him telling me before we left.

  She didn't strike me as the fragile type. More like the bullin-a-china-shop-type, if you asked me.

  Occasionally, I would glance back to see her looking up at me with piercing gray eyes. She never kept eye contact for long, but I could tell the gears were turning inside her head. *~*~*

  There was a loud grunt behind me, and I turned to see her caught in a thorn bush. With a heavy sigh, I turned around and begrudgingly tried to help her. That didn’t go over too well.

  “Let go, I’m fine!” Kathryn snapped, jerking herself away from me. She pursed her lips, wincing as the thorns dug deeper into her arm.

  “You don’t look fine,” I replied flatly. Her nostrils flared, and she avoided eye contact with me whilst continuing to pull her way out of the bush. She growled in frustration just as she got herself more tangled.

  “Here, just let me help you,” I offered, reaching out to her

  “I don’t want your help,” she said coldly, shooting me a dirty look.

  “Yes, but you need it. Just hold still.” Her shoulders slumped, but she made no further protest as I slowly unstuck her clothing. There were a few small scratches on her face and arms, but thankfully no more serious injuries—not that one could seriously injure themselves by getting caught in a thorn bush. Although stranger things have happened, and if anyone could completely maim themselves by getting caught in a thorn bush, it’d be Kathryn.

  “Thank you,” she said half-heartedly, once I had gotten her free.

  I grunted in reply. We walked in silence for another hour or so before taking a quick break. For some unfortunate reason, Kathryn seemed to find her voice again and started to ask questions.

  “Um, Conan?” she inquired in a small voice.

  “What?” I answered, slightly annoyed.

  “Where exactly did you say we were going?”

  “Home,” I replied, hoping—praying—that she would stop asking questions.

  “Okay…where’s that?”

  “Planet Earth.”

  She gave me a look, but continued asking questions. “Are you four the only wolves—”

  “No, we live in a pack.”

  “Are you the leader…person—wolf of the pack?”

  “No. Come on, pick up your stuff. We need to get going.”

  She picked up her backpack but regrettably didn’t miss a beat, continuing to fire questions at me. “Who is your leader?”

  “Look, this trip is will be easier for everyone if you stopped talking.”

  “This trip would be easier if I knew who the hell you were and what you wanted from me!”

  “The discussion is over, keep walking,” I barked, turning my back on her. Valko shot me a dangerous look just as she stopped and grabbed my shirt, forcing me to turn around.

  “This discussion isn’t over. I want to know why you took me.” The fear in her eyes was gone, replaced by a fire that wouldn’t be easily put out.

  “You had better start walking now, girly,” I warned, looking down on her with as fierce a gaze as I could muster.

  “I’m not afraid of you.” She was bluffing. The fear had returned to her eyes, but the shadow of determination still remained.

  “You should be. Keep walking.” It took all that was in me not to smack her to put her in her place. But something held me back. I’m not sure if it was the small, tattered remnant of my humanity or just the fact that I knew it wouldn’t get me anywhere. Either way, I wouldn’t allow myself to strike her; it didn’t feel right.

  “No.”

  I stopped and slowly turned on my heel. She had already dropped her backpack and was now looking at me boldly, a challenging gleam in her eyes, her arms crossed over her chest. My jaw was clenched tightly as I strode over to where she stood. I leane
d down and stuck my face right in hers.

  “Pick up that backpack right now and start walking, or so help me—”

  “What are you going to do? Call me names? Threaten me some more? Apparently you need me alive, or you would have killed me by now. If you hurt me, that’s just going to slow you down even more. We’re too far away from my home for you to threaten Abel-- who is the sole reason I came with you without putting up more of a fight. You can do whatever you want to me, I’ve got nothing to lose. So whatcha gonna do, wolfy-boy?”

  “Nothing to lose? I don’t think you understand what’s at stake here, darling. You have a lot more to lose than you think.”

  We stood there and for a minute, just staring at each other. There was no way I could let her get away with that. I wouldn’t hit her and I couldn’t kill her, so I did the only thing I could do. I threw her over my shoulder, and kept walking.

  She was completely shocked at first, but soon started pounding on my back and screaming at me to put her down.

  “Sawyer, grab her backpack, and Liam, grab mine,” I shouted over her screams of protest. I carried her for about a half hour before her screaming turned into hoarse pleading and her pounding fists stopped. After another hour or so, she stopped talking all together and went limp. That’s when I dropped her on the ground.

  She glared at me, grabbed her backpack from Sawyer, and we continued on for a few more hours before stopping for the night. She collapsed on the ground and laid there for a few minutes, before forcing herself to get up and start a fire.

  After the fire was burning steadily, she put in her earbuds, and fell asleep not long after laying back down on the ground. I startled her so badly she almost punched my face when I woke her to tell her it was time to eat.

  “Yo!” I pulled my head back.

  “Sorry,” Kathryn mumbled, her voice still sounding rather worn from all the screaming she did. She didn’t look very sorry as she sat up and rubbed her eyes, but I let it slide.

  Everyone was quiet at dinner. Kathryn ate quickly, and returned to her little bed of pine needles and started listening to her iPod.

  “So, what do you boys think of our little captive?” I asked in a low voice, once I was sure that she was sleeping.

  “The girl's got some spirit in her. I find that attractive,” Sawyer said huskily, glancing over at Kathryn’s sleeping form.