Moonsong (18 page)

“You wish, Ramone. If anybody’s doing the taking, it’ll be me,” Mickey replied, the smile never leaving his face. The men fanned out, effectively cutting her off from the door to the restaurant and the mouth of the alley.

Millie took a step backward and then another, until she found her back to the wall. “I’ll scream…” Somehow the threat felt empty; she had a feeling they’d be on her before she had a chance to make a peep.

Laughter erupted at her hollow threat. “Don’t make no matter to me, cupcake; I like a bit of a struggle in a gal,” Mickey winked at her. “Lilly,” he barked, without bothering to look at the petite blonde behind him.

The woman approached Amelia, head canted to one side as she studied her. Reaching out, she laid a hand over Millie’s abdomen, paying no attention as Amelia tried to slap it away. “It’s time. She’s ready,” she pronounced in a dispassionate voice, stepping backwards.

“Ready? Ready for what?” Millie demanded, real panic in her voice now.

“For the future, sweet cheeks; a glorious new future.”

Millie shrank away from the avaricious gleam to his eyes. Suddenly it looked less like a random mugging and more like pack business. She should have noticed it before, the way they moved with easy grace, herding their prey exactly where they wanted her. “Look, I don’t want any trouble…”

Lightning fast, his arm shot out and caught her by the ponytail. “You and me are gonna have plenty of time to get to know each other, sweet cheeks, but right now I gotta take ya.” Mickey looked almost regretful as he said the words, rubbing the rough pad of his thumb over her cheek with his free hand.

“Take me? T-take me where?” Millie managed to get out, barely above a whisper.

“Since this is Adele LaRoche’s territory, we’re not sticking around to say howdy do. Plan is, we’ll take care of business here in the alley while you’re good and ripe, then it’s bye bye shithole town and back to Texas for all of us.”

“To our own shithole town...” Ramone scowled, leaning against his motorcycle.

“You get tired of riding in this rodeo you can keep on stepping, but you’re gonna miss all the fun,” Mickey grinned.

The café employee door banged open, causing them all to jump. Mickey instantly pulled her tight against his body, one hand still fisted in her dark hair, the other at her throat. The other two bikers flanked them, crouched and ready to spring while Lilly hung back by the cycles.

Millie’s heart leapt at the interruption, thinking salvation was at hand, but just as quickly it sank as she caught sight of her young pack member Tyler, or was it Taylor standing there? She couldn’t tell the twins apart, but the boy was doing his best to be brave.

“Let her go!” The teenager’s voice wavered between a tenor and a bass as he stood up to the rival pack.

“No… Ty… Taylor, go get help!” Millie pleaded with him.

“Boy, you best go find another alley to play in, this here’s none of your concern.” Mickey’s brows drew together to a thunderous glare, the threat evident in his tone.

“I won’t let you take her.” Tyler’s chin came up a notch, and Mickey chuckled.

“You think you gonna stop me boy? You and who else?”

“Me,” a smaller voice chimed in as Taylor appeared at the other end of the alley, his face pallid and drawn. Raucous laughter filled the air and Millie’s scalp burned as Mickey shook with tickled delight, his fist still holding tight to her hair.

“I wanna thank you for that, kid; I ain’t laughed like that in a coon’s age. Now you two best get along, y’hear? Don’t make me get ugly.”

“Too late,” Tyler retorted with bravado.

“Don’t try my patience now,” Mickey growled, “Aw fuck it, Bo, teach that pup a lesson. Ramone, fetch his brother before he pisses hisself.”

Bo, the one with the dreadlocks, gave an unpleasant chuckle, grabbing Tyler by the shirt and hoisting him easily into the air. “Yell if this hurts,” he grunted around a mouthful of impossibly sharp teeth.

Quick as anything, Ramone had Taylor in a choke hold, forcing him to watch his brother’s torment, lips drawn back into a chilling grin of anticipation.

“Don’t hurt him! I’ll go with you!” Amelia cried out in fear for the boy.

“Don’t you worry, sweetness, we ain’t leaving yet. I said I had to take ya and I mean to, right here the first time. If Lilly is right… and she’s always right, you’re ripe for the taking right now and I don’t wanna waste the chance. We won’t hurt ‘em much, in fact, it’ll be good for ‘em to watch, make a man out of ‘em,” Mickey said at her ear.

Sickening dread filtered in and Amelia struggled to get out of his grasp, mouth opening to scream. “Ah, ah, ah… none of that, girly,” he clapped his hand over her mouth, instantly muffling her terrified cries.

A low growl came from the mouth of the alley way, and Millie’s heart felt like it might explode, it beat so hard and fast. Was it Chase or Cutter come to save her? But as the figure came into view, it was the far less impressive form of Jack from the Trading Post, made even less threatening by the fact that he arrived in a threadbare bathrobe and slippers.

“You gonna take me on?” Mickey showed his teeth.

“If I have to I will,” Jack replied, calm as a cucumber. “We all will.” Another body took shape behind him, this one low to the ground as a sleek female wolf padded into the alley way. “We take care of our own. Millie, if you get a chance, you get inside.”

“We’re not giving up so easy,
compadre
,” Ramon spat, shoving the boy he’d been holding into the dumpster, his eyes on the wolf.

Bo dropped the other boy. “Gonna take a lot more than the pair of you to even the odds.”

“Take care of ‘em boys. Lilly, you come with me,” Mickey barked out the order, moving Amelia bodily towards the employee entrance, intent on forcing her inside.

“No,” Lilly replied, her bright eyes vacant and staring. “Let her go,” she whispered.

“Don’t tell me my business; you do as you’re told,” Mickey snapped. Two more pack members approached from the street, and Millie almost wept with relief as she recognized Henry and Mitchell from the gathering.

“It’s not too late, let her go and you may still live,” Lilly warned, her gaze still unfocused. The café employee door opened behind them and two more people stepped out, pack members Ed and Sally Beacham from Beacham’s gas station joined them.

“Shit.” The odds were starting to stack against them but Mickey held tight to his prize.

Ramone looked around uneasily and even Bo lost some of his bloodthirsty grin as the numbers shifted. Still, they held their ground, unwilling to turn tail and run without Mickey’s leave.

A deeper growl came then from the street and the great black wolf stepped into the alley.

“Too late,” Lilly sighed. With a blink, she turned and walked to the café door. “Goodbye, Mickey. Some of it was fun, but I can’t say I’ll miss you.” The other two didn’t even merit a goodbye as she disappeared through the door.

Mickey looked over sharply at her words, a sliver of fear visible on his face at Lilly’s dismissal. “Hey now, we can be reasonable.” His hold on Amelia shifted, using her as a human shield while backing towards the café door. The black wolf advanced, jaws snapping powerfully in the air in warning. “Aw, fuck it. Look, you take her and good riddance, huh? Just set me and my people free.” Mickey let go of Amelia, shoving her towards the black wolf.

“We’ll set your people free,” Jack smiled. “Taylor, Tyler, take her inside, we’ll be along in a minute.”

Amelia stumbled off balance as he let her go. “You’re going to let them go?” she demanded. What was to stop them from trying something like that again?

“We’ll take care of it,” Sally gave her arm a soothing pat. “Go on inside where it’s safe.”

Tyler and Taylor flanked Millie, urging her inside. She paused at the door, watching as the packmates closed ranks around the outsiders. “Come on Millie, you don’t wanna see this,” Taylor tugged at her sleeve.

Nodding, she went with them, sinking onto a molded plastic chair inside the storeroom. “They’re not going to set them free, are they?” she asked in a small voice.

“Depends on how you look at it,” Tyler grinned.

A shudder went through her as the first scream reached her ears, and she rose from the chair. “I don’t think I can listen to this.”

“Whoa, Jack said to wait in here, you can’t go out there yet,” Taylor objected.

“I don’t want to go out there, genius. I just don’t want to sit in here and… listen to it all.” Another scream reached her ears and she bolted for the employee restroom, making it just in time before her stomach revolted. Millie stayed in there for quite a while with the water running, first to wash her face and then because she didn’t want to hear anything else.

When she started to feel a little dumb for hiding out in the bathroom, she cracked the door open, seeing a group of them in the corner of the storeroom speaking in hushed tones. The black wolf sat apart by the door, licking one of his paws.

Jack was giving instructions as she came into earshot. “Ed, you get your truck, take Mitchell and Henry with you. If you need another hand come and get me or see if Tobias is around. Leah, you go and fetch Chase, have him come and bring her home.” The men nodded and the reddish wolf gave a single chuff of acknowledgement.

Millie’s eyes widened in astonishment; that female wolf was Leah? But the girl hated her! “No, wait!” she called out. “Look, I’m grateful you all happened by, more than I can say. But I’m not going home.”

“Did Adele order this?” Amelia asked, wrapping her head around the idea that she was being watched at every turn and trying to spin that into a positive in her mind.

“She didn’t have to, you’re the One. We know our responsibility for the sake of the pack,” Sally offered with a comforting smile. “Good thing too.”

Sally was right about that; she could have been snatched right off the street in broad daylight without them there watching out for her. “Everywhere I go?”

“Not at Adele’s place, just here in town,” Jack added. “You really should head home though; Chase is going to want to hear about this, not to mention Adele.”

“I’m not gonna hide out like a frightened bunny over this. I have just as much a right as anyone else to work and be out and about in town. Especially knowing I have all of you here,” she gave them each a warm smile. “I really appreciate you looking out for me, I can’t thank you enough. But I’ll stay and work the rest of my shift before I go home.”

The black wolf growled at her, obviously unhappy with her response.

“Oh hush! I’ll be fine,” she scolded him, drawing a few surprised glances from her packmates. “I refuse to live my life in fear,” her chin came up in determination.

Leah slunk into the manager’s office, emerging a few minutes later dressed in a waitress’ uniform like Millie’s. “I’ll head out then, my shift at the restaurant starts soon.”

Millie caught her arm, drawing her aside before she could leave. “Thanks, for being there,” she offered her a tentative smile. Leah stared back at her, her expression unreadable and Millie’s smile faltered. “Why did you do it? Why did you help me?” Millie pressed. It was obvious the pretty blonde still harbored less than friendly feelings towards her. So why ride in to the rescue? If they’d snatched her, she could have had Chase to herself.

“We take care of our own,” Leah shrugged, leaving without a further word.

“So I’m beginning to understand,” Millie sighed.

* * *

The next day Cutter came to eat at the café, making no mention of the incident in the alley the day before. “See you tomorrow then?” Cutter dropped several folded bills on the counter as he rose from his usual spot at the counter.

“I have tomorrow off.”

“I know.”

Amelia looked up at Cutter in surprise, was that his passive aggressive way of saying he wanted to see her outside of the café? “Where do you imagine we might run into each other on my day off?” she asked carefully.

Chapter Eighteen

There was a hint of something in the air Amelia couldn’t quite identify, but a regular resident of Cutter’s Folly would recognize the bite of snow on the horizon as she entered the woods. Whatever it was, it made her pull her coat a little closer and shove her hands into the pockets, thinking again for the umpteenth time that she really did need to buy gloves before full winter set in. At least she had the warm cashmere scarf wrapped around her neck, the bright red color a beacon against the cool browns and greens of the forest.

Heading in the general direction of the cabin, she hoped she wouldn’t find Cutter in one of his black moods once she got there. She’d been so spoiled by his lighter moods of late; she hated to think things might deteriorate between them again, just because they weren’t on the familiar grounds of the restaurant with others present.

Pausing to catch her breath before the cabin came into sight, Amelia was distracted by a tug on her scarf. Thinking it must be caught on a bush, she turned to pull it free, only to find the end in Cutter’s hands as he toyed with the tasseled fringe.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he grinned, giving the scarf one last tug before releasing it.