Chapter 10: Fagua

I loved my room, don’t get me wrong. I’ve never had anything as nice as this. From the king sized bed with bed posts, to the silk sheets, and the en-suite, which had a separate bath and shower. The bathroom alone was at least twice as big as my room back home.

Four long days had passed and I hadn’t seen the brothers. Not that I wanted to see them. Winter, I wouldn’t mind seeing. Sky was a possibility, but by no means did I ever want to see Husk again. I’ve marked a line on the wall to mark how long I’ve been here, like a prisoner. The same way they did in the movies. I did it partly so I would know how long I’ve been here and the other part was just to wind up Husk. Anything to get under his tail. The idea of it all made me laugh, knowing I’d rocked his boat so hard he didn’t want me to sit at the table with him and eat.

Typical alpha.

They walked around as if they owned everyone and everything around them. It was as if they thought the world belonged to him. This was the life I was trying to get away from, and somehow I’d landed right into the middle of it.

I kicked at the couch out of frustration.

Damnit!

Pain shot up the ball of my foot.

There was a knock on the door. I hopped on one foot and glanced at the crystal antique clock on the wall. It wasn’t breakfast, lunch, or dinner time. Those were the only times I put on a shirt and pants, so no one knew I’d been in my pj’s all day. I had nowhere to go, and it seemed weird being in a bedroom and not being in my pj’s. Especially, seeing as for the last four days, I’d done nothing but stay here. Luckily, they had Netflix and Prime, so at least TV wasn’t too boring. I had enough series and Netflix to binge, and I’d been eating too much. Every meal consisted of at least two or three options. Maybe this was their plan, to keep me here for thirty days and fatten me up and turn me into a zombie. If it was the plan, then it was working. There was nothing to do. I couldn’t even access the pool or hot tub from this room. Damn, I really had wanted to try out both.

“May I come in?” Winter asked as he knocked harder against the door, and my heart skipped a beat.

“One minute.”

I made a quick dive to the bathroom, my pants and shirt for the day hung in there. Whenever there was a knock on the door at one of the meal times, then I would dash in here. Change, smile and thank him. Until now, I had resisted the urge to ask him questions or plead to be released. But even my stubbornness was chipping away from being bored out of my mind and without human contact aside from him dropping off three meals a day, I did a quick check of my hair in the mirror. Well, it was as good as I could get my straight, dark hair without any utensils other than a brush or hair product. All they had in this bathroom was soap, shampoo and conditioner. Seeing how there was nothing else I could do, not even dab on lipstick or mascara, I moved swiftly to the door and opened it.

“Hi,” Winter said, standing as if he were nervous. He wore a blue suit which highlighted his sapphire eyes and white hair. He looked like a modern-day Viking with a haircut and always clean-shaven, while Husk acted like a damn Berserker whenever someone ticked him off.

“Come in.” I stepped aside and waved an arm out. “After all, it’s your suite.”

“Yes, and we want you to feel comfortable.” He entered and left the door open behind him. “You don’t have to lock yourself in here. That wasn’t the plan.”

“What was the plan then? Lock me in here for thirty days and hope we'll all be mates and live happily ever after?” I laughed. Then the idea of what I’d said knocked me over because Winter didn’t even flinch. Me? Be mates with all three of them? No, this was crazy. Maybe they hoped one of them would resonate with me. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s not how this thing works. We need to feel a connection, and the only connection I’ve had with you guys is Husk telling me to eat in my room alone. Sky acts as if I’m a leper and you…”

He crossed his arms and nodded for me to go on.

“You tricked me into getting into the elevator with you. Put some spell on me to make me do what you wanted.”

“You’ve been living among wolves for so long, but you’re not one. I just didn’t. Well, we didn’t think you would know one wolf from the next.” He offered me a smile. “We’ve never met someone like you before.”

I shrugged. “I’ve never met anyone like any of you before, and I didn’t mean what I said about you guys being animals.”

I avoided meeting his stare.

“Yes, you did. You meant every word of it.”

I chuckled. “I suppose I did.”

An uncomfortable silence grew between us, and I didn’t know what to say.

“I think you need to get to know us better. Individually. If you like we can spend this afternoon by the pool.”

Was he serious? I held my breath because maybe this was a dream brought on by boredom of staying here alone for four freaking days.

“Do you think we could start again?”

I slumped onto the couch as I weighed up the options. I could go back home. The place where everyone would laugh at me after the humiliation of not only returning married with no husband, but the way I left. I didn’t even have the courage to tell them face-to-face. Just a note I left by my bedside. They’d want to know what happened to Keith. It’d only been a week, yet he’d married me and left me the next day.

No, I couldn’t do that. The idea of going back there was too humiliating, but then what did twenty-six days mean here? I could put up a front, and then it would drag out, and I’d still end up going back home anyway with my worn-out suitcase and broken heart. Well, it wasn’t as broken as I thought it would be when I had been told Keith had sold me. I was angry more than anything because it meant I would be stuck here. Honestly, I hadn’t planned on marrying him. It just kinda happened. It had been a miracle when Keith and I had crossed the town’s border. I hadn’t wanted to go straight back.

I kept waiting for the feeling I always had when I got this far. The overwhelming nausea or desire to run as fast as I could back home, but it never came, even when we crossed into Vegas. So when Keith asked me to marry him, I didn’t even think it through, believing we had come together by fate. What a joke. Especially finding out he's done it to someone else. Taken her money and lied to her. I didn’t even understand why he was even on my mind. He should be the last person I thought about!

I was on my own. I had no choice but to come up with an escape plan, even if the three werewolves weren’t treating me like a prisoner. If anything, I was the one was acting like it.

The pros and cons were too much, and they hurt my head. I had waitressing skills. I could get a job. I didn’t have to go back home. I was selling myself short.

“I’ll leave you to think about it.” Winter moved towards the door, ready to leave.

He wanted me to have fun and the only thing I could think about was escaping.

I shrugged. “Fine. We can have lunch together.”

“Good.” His smile was electric. “I was hoping you would say that. I’ll meet you by the tub in an hour.”

Really? It was time already?

“No. I don’t know how to get there from here, I haven’t left this area since I got here, and this place is like a white maze.”

“I’ll come and pick you up in an hour.” He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

“But, I don’t have a swimsuit.” I had been in such a hurry to leave town with Keith I had forgotten to bring one.

“Everything you need has been ordered for you and will be delivered shortly,” Winter said. “I’ll pick you up in an hour.”

****

True to Winter’s word, about ten minutes after he left, a knock sounded on the door. Three women showed up with smiles, each carrying several bags overflowing with items.

“Would you like us to hang these up for you?” one of the women asked.

“No, that’s okay, I can do it.” It felt weird to have them bringing me clothes at all. “Let me get you all a tip.” I rushed to my purse.

“That’s okay, we’ve already been more than compensated,” another woman said. “More clothes and shoes will be sent up later.”

“Thanks.” Just how many things had Winter ordered for me?

After the women left, I started pulling things out of one of the bags.

The first was a beaded black cocktail dress for evening wear, followed by sportswear, casual wear and even three bikinis and two swimsuits. Everything was in my size. I checked them all. They were all size six, and everything still had the tags on it, even the underwear. I could be wearing silky and lacey underwear instead of my tired cotton knickers. I felt excited like a kid in a candy store as I threw them on the bed trying to think of which one to try on first.

I had a shower because it was such a big deal trying on so many new clothes. They all looked and smelled expensive, not the type of clothes I would buy from the local store.

Hell no! Some of them had designer labels such as Gucci and LV. This was every woman’s dream.

Then I opened the other bag to see purses, jewelry like I’d never possessed in my life. A box, which had rings, necklaces and earrings. Expensive-looking with real diamonds and rose-gold. Everything in here felt unreal, as if they couldn’t be mine. I picked up the earrings and without hesitation tried them on, then everything in the jewelry box. I assumed if I tried them all on, then they couldn’t return them. I wanted them all for marrying a jerk and for having to live with these three wolves for twenty-six more days.

I felt silly, they’d fed me, given me a nice room, and I acted as if they were animals. I sighed as I thought about the way I’d treated them, when really Keith was the real jerk in this story. He’d lied and told me he had a big win. He could have told me the truth so we could run away together, but he didn’t. He was too busy conning the next woman. My judgment had been clouded by wanting to leave the town I’d known all my life. The people I’d grown up with, who’d never treated me badly, and I’d thrown it away from some stranger who promised me the world and gave me nothing in return.

My head hurt. Too many things running through my mind and I had all of ten minutes to get ready. They were rich. The kind of people who could get anything they wanted by the snap of their fingers. I should stop worrying and just enjoy it.

I’d been watching the lives of the rich and famous for the last few days, and now I was living it for the month. I should embrace it, instead of rejecting it.