Chapter 9: Ruined Relationship

I followed slowly behind Timothy and Jamie as they walked down the stairs to the meeting hall. I sat in the back and was surprised when none of my men came to sit near me. I glanced at each of them and sat back in my chair with my arms folded. Most of them had made it a point to come see me today, but now they were all avoiding me. I gave up trying to figure out what I could have done to make them act that way.

Lee got up and walked past me on his way out of the room. I waited for a minute, before following him out. I glanced around and made sure nobody was in the hall before I slipped into the men’s bathroom. I locked the door behind me and Lee met my eyes in the mirror.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” he told me, with amusement on his face.

I crept closer to him. “Well, when you all act like I don’t exist and I have no idea what I did wrong.. I think I have every right to corner one of you.”

“And following me into the men’s room when half the town is in the other room was a good idea?”

I reached out to grab his belt and made him turn towards me. His eyes went to my hand, before he grabbed my wrist and backed me up to the wall. He put my hand above my head and leaned down to kiss my neck.

“I think that if you did something, we would be more than happy to teach you your lesson tonight when you lose, but seeing as you have yet to give us a reason, I think we will be satisfied with just hearing you panting and seeing your eyes roll back in your head.”

I trembled when he blew on the slight wetness on my neck. “Why are you all acting weird towards me then?”

He chuckled and licked my neck. “Be a good little girl and go back to the meeting.”

He released my hand and pushed me towards the door. I stopped and my shoulders slumped a little.

“I’ve had a really bad day, Lee. I don’t want to be unwanted. Already had one person tell me that today.”

I unlocked the door and left the bathroom before he could respond. I went back to my seat to wait for the meeting to start. I heard the doors open and I turned away from the door already knowing who it was. He knelt beside my chair with his head down. He hooked something around my ankle and used my chair to stand up. His finger slid across the exposed skin of my neck, before he walked back to his seat. I looked down at my ankle and whatever he had put there was hidden by pants.

I slowly looked around, before bending to scratch my ankle. I pressed my lips together when I saw the silver chain that held six small wolf pendants there. I raised my head up and found Jamie watching me. I flushed and sat back up, letting my pants slide back down. I watched him pick his phone up and type on it, before leaning over to Timothy to whisper in his ear. Timothy glanced at me, nodding. He went to the podium after the doors were shut and everyone fell silent. He looked around the room.

“The council has decided that these daily drawings are too time consuming, so we have decided to move to monthly hunting teams. As this will be the first month, we are asking for volunteers. As you are all aware, the team consists of 7 members. So, if you are willing to hunt for a month, please raise your hands. I will go on the first team since a leader should be fully willing to do what they ask their citizens to do.”

I watched as all my men raised their hands one by one. I kept my arms folded across my chest, knowing that nobody liked hunting. They had made me worry, so they could wait anxiously for me to volunteer myself. Timothy scanned the room and his eyes narrowed pointedly on me.

“Anyone?” His hands fisted on the podium. “Absolutely no one?”

I could hear the frustration in his voice. Jamie stepped up next to him and before he could say anything to him, I stood up. I glared around the room.

“Well, I suppose since nobody else wants to go and we all have to eat, I’ll just bite the bullet, yeah? As long as nobody has to go the extra step, right?” I rolled my eyes and started to walk out. “Lazy ass people,” I mumbled loudly as I exited.

I tried not to appear too eager as I waited beside the gun case. The meeting hall quickly emptied and I was forced to keep waiting. Finally, they came out of the hall and I could still see the aggravation on Timothy’s face. I smiled sweetly at him.

“Come on, guys, admit it, I did good. Now, nobody will suspect anything.”

Timothy unlocked the case and handed me a gun. He kept his hand on it and met my eyes.

“Run.”

My body heated at the almost threatening tone of his voice. I licked my lips and his eyes dropped to them briefly. He let the gun go and I wasted no time in taking off towards the woods. I paused at the tree line to look over my shoulder. The six of them were still waiting by the town hall watching me. I made a point of running to the right. I ran hard for a minute until I heard a gunshot ring out. I immediately shifted and ran to the left. I heard someone approaching me and I scrambled into a bush, clutching the gun to my chest. I waited until I saw all 6 of them pass me and I couldn’t hear their almost silent steps anymore, to creep out. I continued to run until I got to the stream that ran through our town and the majority of this side of the woods. I scouted the area and when there was nothing there, I knelt in a bush with two huge boulders behind me.

I made sure I was completely concealed and I got my gun ready to fire at the first chance I had to kill something. I saw Raul and Sebastian pass by me and it took everything in me not to burst out laughing. I was so glad my father had shown every nook and cranny of these woods. He had told me too many people had died on the hunt and he didn’t want me to be one. A twig snapping made me hold my breath. I slowly moved my eyes all around the area and I exhaled when once again there was nothing there. Another twig snapped closer to me and I held my breath again.

There was a small squeak and I turned my head to the right. A small black ball rolled out into the clearing. It unfurled and I smiled at the small bear that stood up. Fuck. Where there was a baby, there was bound to be a mama. I started to ease out of the bush to leave when a larger bear entered the clearing. I cursed silently and sat back down. I eyed the bears. I heard footsteps and I sighed. I raised my gun and pointed at the bigger bear. Bear meat would do in a pinch and this was definitely a pinch. I flicked the safety off and another bear came barreling out of the trees. It slammed into the female bear and grabbed the cub by its neck.

Suddenly, the bear stopped moving and lifted its nose into the air. It sniffed for a second, before it turned to stare at the bush I was hiding in. My heart started pounding and I lowered my gun. The female bear grabbed the cub and took off into the woods while the male started walking towards me. I put my gun on the ground and crawled out of the bush. The bear stopped moving as I approached it. I held out my hand as I continued to inch towards it. I vaguely heard my name being called, but it didn’t matter. I wanted to see how soft the bear was. Suddenly, I was grabbed around the waist and flung backwards. I screamed out and the bear roared. I rolled a dozen feet before I stopped. I looked up to see Raul and Sebastian standing between me and the bear with their guns aimed at it. I quickly scrambled to my feet and raced to stand in front of them with my arms out.

“Please, please, don’t hurt it.”

Raul glared at me. “Move, Tasha.”

I took a quick peek over my shoulder at the bear. He was watching me curiously. I tilted my head at the trees.

“Go, please,” I begged.

The sound of another gun cocking drew my attention back to the guys. Timothy and Lee had joined the other two. Timothy’s gun was aimed over my shoulder. I reached out to cover the muzzle. I looked into his eyes.

“Please,” I pleaded.

“Natasha, come here or I will shoot it,” he threatened.

I gave the bear a sad look and walked to Timothy’s side.

“If you kill him, I will leave town.”

They all stepped closer to me, caging me in. They forced me back. Jamie and Tony appeared behind the bear and I cried out.

“STOP! DON’T! LET HIM GO!”

Jamie and Tony spread out as they made their way slowly to us. They joined the others around me and the bear just stood there studying us all. He looked at me standing in the middle of the group with tears streaming down my face. He took a step towards us and Lee fired a warning shot at the bear. He bared his teeth and growled, before taking off into the woods. Timothy waited for a full 60 seconds, before engaging the safety on his gun and turning towards me.

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING? THAT WAS FUCKING A BEAR! IT COULD HAVE KILLED YOU! ARE YOU INSANE?!”

“I.. I don’t think he wanted to hurt me.”

He grabbed my arms and shook me hard. “HE’S A FUCKING PREDATOR! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS? HE EATS MEAT! HE HUNTS HIS PREY AND KILLS IT! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE? YOU’RE MEAT AND PREY ALL WRAPPED UP WITH A PRETTY BOW! FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, NATASHA! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH?”

I jerked away from him. “THE ONLY CREATURES IN THESE WOODS WHO HUNT ME ARE YOU GUYS!,” I screamed hysterically.

I turned around and took off towards home. I didn’t stop running until I reached my porch. I put my key in the lock and tried to turn it. It didn’t move. I frowned and pulled the key out. I double checked that I had the right key, before trying again. Still nothing. I knocked on the door and waited for my mother to answer the door. She hadn’t told me she was going to change the locks. I sighed and knocked again. A few minutes later, the door opened and my chest got tight as my mother peered at me from the crack the door chain would allow it to open.

“Mom? What’s going on?”

“I don’t want a whore in my house, Natasha. I packed you a bag. It’s on the back porch. Collect it and leave.”

She shut the door and I stared at it in disbelief. I was homeless. Homeless and unwanted. I had probably ruined everything with the guys, so I didn’t have them to turn to either. I walked around to the back to grab the small duffel bag. I sighed. There was only one place I could go tonight until I figured out where I could go tomorrow. I straightened my back and made my way to the stables on the east side of town. I snagged a horse blanket and made my way down the hallway to hopefully an empty stall. I chose one without a window in the hopes it would be a little warmer and curled up under the blanket. I pulled it over my head and gave in to my heartbreak. This day had rapidly gone from terrible to decent to shit then hell. This sucked and I couldn’t think of anything that could make it better. My thoughts went back to the bear and I fell asleep wondering if his fur would have been as soft as it looked.