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Jackson narrowed his eyes and studied me for a few moments. He nodded slightly and then turned his back on me.
“If you want to see your friend you’ll come with me.”
I didn’t want to do as he asked, but I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Mel or to get out of this room. I followed him down a narrow hall. One direction led to a wider room. I could hear the sounds of a TV, and see the soft glow. I heard a laugh, which I imagined must have been Logan. Jamie didn’t seem to be in the mood to laugh. We didn’t go in that direction though, rather we walk down the narrow hallway to another room, much like mine. I knew from seeing it outside that this cabin was large, and I wondered about how much there was left for me to explore, if I was even given the chance to live outside my small room. I thought about running, but with three of them against me I knew it was unlikely that I would escape.
Jackson led me to a room and opened the door. I peered inside and saw Mel. She looked unharmed. There were no bruises, but she did look bedraggled and tired. Her makeup had smeared and she was shivering. She looked up at me and an expression of horror came upon her face. She started to shake her head and backed into the door.
“Your time here has ended,” Jackson said. He walked into the room and grabbed her arm. I shouted at him to stop, but he turned towards me. “Are you not glad your friend has a chance to be free?”
I didn’t understand why he was willing to let her go. Surely it was better for them to have many women? As he pulled up Mel I noticed that she didn’t seem to be harmed at all, and I wondered why they had brought her here in the first place. I stepped back as they came through the door and looked at her with confusion.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked. Jackson didn’t offer me any answer, but Mel was able to focus for an instant.
“They only took me because they wanted you. This is all about you,” she said, and as she was dragged away with me I was stunned, unable to move. My mind crashed in on itself. Was she right? Was this all some ploy to get me here? But how could they have known I would come? My mind was reeling with questions and I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of me. I tried to come to some sort of understanding about the nature of this plan but I just couldn’t. I watched Mel being taken away and I chased after her, asking her questions, trying to get her to stay. Jackson took her outside and flung her into the open air.
“And remember, don’t you dare tell anyone about us,” he snarled. Mel cowered and was so shaken in exactly the same way that Amy had been. I remembered that girl’s words. ‘They’re monsters’. What had they done to her?
Mel glanced at me and I saw sheer terror in her eyes. She mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ and then turned on her heels and ran away into the night, melting into the darkness. I felt my heart crumble, for I had come all this way to save her, and at the first sign of escape she had fled. I had betrayed my own beliefs and cared too much about another person. Now, it had led me here and I was at the mercy of these men.
“What do you want with me?” I asked Jackson.
“Get back inside. I wanted you to know that your friend was safe. We returned her to her life. You don’t have to worry about her.”
“That doesn’t answer my question. Why am I here? What did Mel mean? Why did you just use her as bait?”
“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” he said.
I wasn’t about to accept that. I screamed and ran as fast as I could away from the cabin, hoping that I could at least lose them in the forest. Somehow they had tracked me down before, but I wouldn’t let them do so again. I just had to find my bike and get back to the city. I had to tell the cops, I decided, this was too big for them not to know, and even if they didn’t care I might at least prevent someone else from being harmed. I still didn’t know what they wanted with me, but I was willing to sacrifice the answer to the question for the sake of escaping.
I kicked up dirt as I ran into the darkness and managed to retain my balance even when I caught my foot on a stray rock. My lungs burst and sweat prickled against my brow. I couldn’t hear anything behind me. Branches whipped my skin and tore at my clothes but I didn’t care, I just had to get out of there.
I’d gotten maybe fifty feet when I heard a growl and saw the familiar sight of the wolf stalking before me. Its lean, powerful body barred my path. I stopped in my tracks and breath caught in my throat. The wolf bared its teeth, jagged pointy things, and its eyes gazed at me, unblinking. I swallowed my fear and tried to move to the side, but to my horror the wolf followed the path and seemed to not want to let me pass. It was guided by an intelligence that went beyond animal instinct and I was baffled as to how it could know what I was doing. Surely Jackson hadn’t trained this wolf that well?
It snarled at me and I realized I had no choice but to turn back. I trudged back in the direction from whence I came and saw Jackson waiting for me, his thick arms folded across his broad chest. I looked up at him, for he towered above me, and he arched an eyebrow. He then looked past me.
“Good job,” he said to the wolf. The wolf whimpered in response and then scampered away.
“If you’re going to keep me here the least you could do is tell me why I’m here. You never know, I might even like it,” I said, trying to change tack and be a little more playful. They seemed to have responded well when Mel had been her flirty, seductive self in the Rainbow Bar, and clearly being resistant wasn’t getting me anywhere. Sometimes the only way to get what I wanted was to pretend to want the same thing as the man.
“All in good time. Get some rest first,” he said, and walked away, not even bothering to show me back to my room. He seemed to think that I was simply going to stay there. I gazed to the woods around me and was tempted to run off again, but instantly I knew it would be futile. The wolf was out there, and it wouldn’t let me leave even if I tried. There may not have been bars around this area but it was a prison all the same, so I returned to the cabin in the vain hope that I might at least get some answers.
I had a grim look on my face when I went into the lounge and saw Logan there watching TV, as though he didn’t have a care in the world. He didn’t seem to be bothered by my appearance. In fact, he didn’t seem to take much notice of me at all.
“What are you watching?” I asked.
“Oh, just some old show,” he said.
“Are you allowed to tell me why I’m here, or do I have to just go and sit in that room until you all decide to come and see me?”
Logan tossed a glance towards me and smirked. “This is the beginning of an adventure. You’ll never be able to guess the wonders that await,” he said, and I noted the hint of sarcasm in his voice. I looked down the hallway towards the door that led to my room and
I sighed. I wasn’t yet ready to go back meekly into that room. I needed answers, and I needed them now. I cocked my head coquettishly and swayed my hips as I walked, sliding down gracefully onto the couch beside him. His eyes were locked on the screen, but he noticed me with his peripheral vision and his gaze fell to my rounded figure. I leaned forward slightly, giving him the view that all men wanted.
“What kind of wonders would they be?” I replied in a breathy voice. His mouth fell open and he shifted his body to face closer to me, opening himself up. He seemed to be the more exuberant of the three brothers and I had no doubt that he would be the easiest to manipulate with my body.
“Ones that will totally change your perception of the world,” he said as if in a daze. I giggled a little and threw my hair back, exposing one side of my neck. I traced my hand along my shoulder and chest, playing with the edge of my top. I breathed in deeply, making my chest rise, and with it I knew his arousal was rising as well. I leaned in closer and whispered conspiratorially.
“I’m sure you can tell me a little of why I’m here, or are you always the obedient brother? It must get so frustrating having to bow at his whims just because he’s the eldest. Especially when I get the feeling you’re the type of man who likes to take the initiative.” I looked at him with wide eyes and rolled my lower lip under my teeth, hoping that his will was much weaker than Jackson’s. I think it may have worked as well, had not Jackson come in at that moment.
