eleven
Norah stood stock-still in the middle of the bedroom and waited. Cate had crept away and was hiding in the walk-in closet, but Norah could not bring herself to move there. Cate had waved frantically urging her to come inside; Norah ignored her. Her eyes remained frozen on the open door. Her wolf whimpered inside her head. She didn’t need to be a dog whisperer to know that the whimper was both from fear and frustration. She could almost hear the mournful sound sing-song the wordIdiot. She didn’t disagree with the beast one bit.
From the sounds of the footfalls on the wooden steps, Norah surmised there were two men. She didn't need a super hearing to also know that the men had restrained Ivan. They must've hit him and knocked him out because he had been quiet for a while, but now she could hear his struggles from below stairs. Norah mentally cheered him on. If he could escape he would save them.
Still frozen in place, she listened to the men as they checked the various rooms on the top floor. The door to the adjacent bedroom opened and someone rummaged around the space. She could hear the man’s grumbles through the thin walls. He did not sound happy. It would not be long until he and his accomplice brought their unhappy selves in this room. An involuntary shudder ran through her body. Her hands clutched at her belly.I will keep you safe, little guy.
"Found her." The man standing in the doorway was large and dark. His long hair fell in disheveled waves across his forehead down to his shoulders. Norah looked at him. If she weren't so frightened and he wasn’t so uninvited, she might have found him attractive. Her wolf growled at that. No man who threatened a woman was attractive.
"Hey little lady, we ain’t going to hurt you. We’re lookin’ for the Queen." Norah stood her ground, unblinking. The second one joined the first at the entrance. He was shorter and wider. His thickly muscled shoulders were almost as wide as the door frame. Both men were dressed in bright yellow sweatshirts, worn jeans, and heavy leather work boots. Norah had seen this outfit before on the local telephone employees. She suspected that these men had acquired the clothes, and perhaps a short-term job to blend in and gain access to the little house.
"Where's the Queen, bitch?" The short man had spoken this time. Norah refused to speak. Inside her head she chanted,Do not look at the closet. Do not look at the closet. She did not want to physically give away Cate's whereabouts. Clearly, the men were looking for the Queen, not Norah. It was Norah's duty to protect her alpha and friend.
The second one inched closer. Norah couldn’t smell him over the scent of body spray that perfumed the air, but instinct told her he was a wolf shifter, like her. Her wolf growled and bared her teeth at the man. Norah tensed as he drew closer.
"Listen, lady, we don't wanna hurt you, we don't wanna hurt the Queen, neither. We just need to see her." Again Norah refused to speak. She looked from the first man to the second and back to the first. She had a sneaking suspicion that the first man was the more tolerant of the two. The second man truly frightened her. She silently willed him to step away from her.
"Give her just a second to calm herself, James." The first man pushed the shorter man, James, out of the way, then he placed his hands on Norah's shoulders. "Lady, we don't want to hurt anyone, we just need to see the Queen. We know she's pregnant, just like you. You wouldn't have that belly if it weren't for the Queen. We just need to know what she’s having. Is it a girl or a boy? The whole shifter community wants to know. It's really important that we find out." He stood back and looked at Norah expecting her to speak. She remained quiet, she would not give these men the pleasure of a reply.
The short man moved around the room. He walked over to the chest of drawers where the perfumes and body spray had been placed. "Were you the one that sprayed this shit? I can't smell nothing because of it. That's my gift to you know? A heightened sense of smell, but now I can't smell nothing because of you." The more agitated he became the thicker his accent. Norah could hear hints of Kentucky, perhaps Tennessee, in his voice. His accent reminded her of her kind grandfather who had grown up in the Appalachian Mountains. The man paced the room, agitated. He might sound like her grandfather, but she had a suspicion there was little of her grandfather’s gentleness in this stocky shifter.
The first man tried again, this time pulling Norah a bit closer and putting more pressure on her shoulders with his tight grip. "Listen, lady, I’m going to ask you one more time, real nice like. Where is the Queen?” He said the words in a staccato rhythm, emphasizing each one so that every word sounded like it’s own question. Norah raised her eyes to his and shrugged her shoulders indicating that she had no idea. A look of sheer anger unfurled across his face. In that moment, Norah knew true fear. She rubbed gently on the swell of her stomach.
"Bitch, you're gonna tell me where the Queen is. We know she's here, we been watching this house for weeks. This was our first opportunity to get in here. You only have one security guard this time." Norah looked over at the second man as he was rising from the floor. He must have been looking under the bed for Cate. He snarled at her as he stood.
"Maybe she's in the bathroom.” He walked across the room and opened the door to the restroom. "Shit!" He stepped out of the bathroom clenching his hands in frustration and anger.
"Is she having a girl?" he screamed at her. “Is our curse over or not?” Norah fought the instinct to shrink away from the man. She pasted a disinterested look on her face and shrugged her shoulders once again. She would not use her voice. Being quiet gave her and Cate more time to find a way out of this mess.
The short man stepped closer and shoved the taller one of the way. "We need to know. Boy or girl? The shifter community is not happy. We were sent here to find out even if that means we have to take the Queen to get an ultrasound. It's that simple."
Norah could almost understand their frustration, but kidnapping and threatening a woman was not the way to gain her sympathy. The shifter community had waited thousands of years for an end to the curse, they could wait a few more months. She cast her eyes down. She would not speak to these men. She would not look at the closet. She would not do anything that would give away Cate’s presence.
The second man grabbed her shoulders hard and shook her. "I don't want to hurt you, but I'm going to if you don't start talking. Now!" He shook her again, more violently than before. Norah had no time to react. Without warning the alpha launched herself from her hidden space in the closet and hurled something toward the man. A flash of purple flew through the air and smack hard against his head. His hands dropped instantly from her shoulders before he fell with a sickening thud to the floor. Blood pooled under his head.
Norah watched as Cate launched herself toward the purple ball. Norah could now see that it was a kettle bell, probably used by the previous owners for a quick workout session. The alpha scrambled across the floor trying to grab it so that she could protect them from the second man, but he was faster, he kicked it out of her way before he pulled Cate to standing position. Cate fought violently against him, scratching and kicking before he bound her tightly to his body.
"Stop that now, little Queen. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to know if you got a girl or boy in your stomach." The man spoke soothingly between Cate’s attempts to free herself. Norah glanced at the kettle bell lying near the short man’s body. Did she have the courage to use it? She had always considered herself more of a flight than fight person.
"You? Why would I tell you anything? You came in here and hurt my security guard, hurt my friend, and now you're physically restraining me. Fuck. You." Cate wiggled and squirmed in the man’s arms, but to no avail. The man was far larger. Cate kicked at him with her unbound feet.
Norah watched Cate thrust her feet backward in an attempt to make contact with the tall man’s shins. Then she watched as slim fingers scratched and clawed at the man’s face. Slowly she realized they were her own hands! She had not thought herself capable of fighting to protect herself or Cate, but clearly, that was untrue. When push came to shove she was capable of trying to rescue herself. She slapped at the man’s unprotected face. He could not hold Cate and stop Norah’s attacks at the same time.
Her hand arced through the air but missed his face. Was he stepping away from her, or was…Shit!The short man stood over Norah where she hand landed roughly on the bed. He had pulled her from the taller man when she was least expecting it. She had not heard him rise from the floor during her struggles. She moved to sit up, but he pulled back his fist.
"Don't touch her!" Cate shrieked. The man slowly lowered his hand, but none of the anger left his face.
"Blondie, if you know what's good for you, you will stay still on this bed. You won't follow us and you won't do anything stupid to get yourself hurt. Do you understand?" His voice was a low growl. Norah quickly nodded her head yes. She understood, but that didn't mean she was willing to agree. She was simply buying herself time to figure something out. The short man looked at the taller one. "Let's get her out of here before anyone finds her gone." He walked toward the taller man, still struggling to control Cate’s kicks, and bent low in an attempt to pick up her flailing feet. Cate managed to land one glancing blow on his shoulder before he captured her legs by the ankles.
Norah’s insides clenched at the sight of Cate, bound by the two men’s hands. She had to stop them somehow. The men began to walk slowly towards the door carrying a struggling Cate in their arms. The taller man had clasped his hands around her chest and the shorter man was struggling against her shoving feet. Cate was putting up a good fight, but she was simply no match for the two big shifters. Norah wracked her mind for an idea. She was not someone who was normally good under pressure, but she was Cate’s only help and she needed to act quickly.
She cleared her throat to get their attention. "Do not leave with her." Norah spoke slowly in a way she hoped sounded more confident than she felt. The men did not pause in their efforts to walk Cate from the room. She licked her lips and began again.
"You do not want to take her. You do not want to leave this place with the Queen in your hands. You do not want to harm her. You do not want to harm me. You want to go back to wherever you came from and forget this ever happened." Norah had no idea what made her think to speak this way, her ability to compel was meant for humans not shifters, but she was desperate. To her surprise, the men stopped. She thought for a moment that they were going to mock her efforts to compel them into doing her will, but then she saw the shorter man bend and gently place Cate’s feet the on the ground. The taller man unhooked his hands from under Cate’s arms and steadied her as she found her balance. He blinked twice before turning his face to Norah’s.
"You're right, ma’am. We don't want to hurt her. We do want to go back home. Thank you for allowing us here today. We hope we didn’t frighten you." Both men bowed to her as if she were the Queen, not Cate.Holy shit!She had done it. She had compelled them to leave!
The two women watched as the men walked away. When the first footfalls sounded on the stairs Cate rushed to Norah’s side. "What the hell was that? Did you compel them to leave?” Norah nodded dumbly.What just happened?
