Red Ridge Pack 1 Pack of Lies (21 page)

Katherine continued, “The council has agreed to wait until the estate has been thoroughly searched before we contact the local authorities. We are calling for an immediate, mandatory curfew following this meeting. During that time, every home will be searched by one of our search teams.”

That was completely crazy! I didn’t want people snooping around my bedroom. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The pack seemed to erupt in disagreement. Katherine’s voice was drowned out by the crowd. Finally, Marcus stood and demanded their attention.

“This isn’t an option nor shall it be discussed. You will cooperate. You will let the search parties into your homes. If this were your son, daughter, brother, or sister, you would want the same done for your family.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my own mother stand up and call out over the crowd, “Marcus, this is ludicrous. Are you really accusing one of us? This is not only an invasion of privacy, but the fact that you actually suspect that one of us has anything to do with this is unbelievable. What is it about this girl that would cause you to show such distrust in your own pack?”

Marcus stood there for a moment before Katherine said to him, “Marcus, you need to tell them.”

“Alright, the fact is that Allison Wright is my son’s true mate.”

That was all it took for the entire room to explode into conversation.

“Kendall, omigod! Are you okay?” Shari asked, her face full of pity.

At that point, I didn’t know what to do. It didn’t occur to me that the entire room would suddenly turn and stare at me to see my reaction to the news. I did the first thing that came to my mind. I jumped up from my chair and ran out of the Lodge pretending to sob. I figured that Becca and Shari would follow me, but I didn’t stop running. I needed to get the hell out of there.

Chapter 50

Allison

I have been sitting here, watching this asshat play Madden all freakin’ day. And to make matters worse, he really sucked at it. I could totally kick his ass, and I had only played it with Aiden a few times. The most annoying part was that every few minutes, he would ask, “Hey, did you see that play?”

I almost would rather he just killed me now and end this horrible suffering. If I could just figure out a way to get free, I could get out of here. Honestly, he seemed too stupid to be able to stop me. All I needed to do was change. It sounded so easy, but since my last attempt, I had been too afraid. Since that wasn’t going to happen, I decided to try plan B.

Before he started his next game, I asked, “Hey, can I play? I’m bored, and I’ll behave. Promise.” Then I smiled innocently, hoping that if he was a big enough moron to untie me, I would have a chance to run.

“Seriously? You want me to untie you?” Dylan asked.

“I won’t try anything. Honest. I’m just sick of sitting here doing nothing. And my arms are starting to cramp. You don’t really think that little ol’ me could overpower you, do you?”

That comment seemed to do the trick.

Dylan shook his head and said, “Of course you couldn’t. But… you can’t tell Kendall, okay?”

I smiled in triumph. He really was a schmuck.

After making me promise once more that I wouldn’t try to get away, Dylan put down the Wii controller and untied my hands. Thrilled to finally have them free, I sat up and stretched a bit.

“So, how about we bowl instead?” I asked, hoping if he said yes, I could convince him to untie my feet also.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, bowling’s fun.”

“Bowling’s gay.”

I put on my best pouty face, hoping that he wouldn’t be able to resist.

“Fine.”

Reluctantly, Dylan put in the new game, walked to the bed, and bent down to untie my feet. Seizing the opportunity, I grabbed the lamp off the bedside table and smashed it against his head as hard as I possibly could. I had hoped that this would be my chance to make a great escape, but the bastard just shook it off. He stood up, touched the fresh cut on this forehead, and said, “Damn girl, why did you have to go and leave a mark? Kendall’s gonna have my ass. And now I have to tie you up again.”

I just sat there for a moment staring up at him. Finally I said, “Oops, sorry. I didn’t mean to cut you.” I had meant to knock his ass out. Guess he’s tougher than I thought.

“Great. Now we can’t play the game,” he pouted.

He re-tied my hands and feet and went to the bathroom to get a bandage for his head. A few minutes later, he was back at the end of the bed playing Madden like nothing had happened.

Chapter 51

Cade

We were organized into two search parties to scour the estate. I volunteered to lead one of the teams, but was shot down immediately by my father. No big surprise there. He claimed that I was too “emotionally wrecked” to get the job done right. I did demand to be in the same party as Allison’s family. It may sound ridiculous, but being near them, somehow made me feel a bit closer to her.

It was decided that we would search half of the estate tonight and the other half tomorrow morning. According to our “fearless leader,” no stone was to be left unturned. I was eager to get going and see what we could find, though my gut told me that she was no longer on our property. For some reason, I had a feeling that if she were here, I would have been able to sense her presence. I tried to convince the elders that we needed to be looking elsewhere as well, but, again, the idea was dismissed.

As we walked out into the night to begin our hunt, Allison’s mom stopped me to ask, “Cade, are you sure you are feeling up to this?”

“I have to help! I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”

“But, you don’t look so good. Are you feeling okay?”

I hadn’t stopped to think about how I was feeling. All I could think about was finding Allison. But now that Lily had asked, I did have a bit of a headache. However, she didn’t need to know that. It would only add to her concern for her daughter. If I was already feeling bad, Allison must be as well.

I gave her the best reassuring smile that I could manage and said, “I’m fine, really. Just worried.”

“I’m worried too, Cade. But we are going to find her. Let someone know if you start feeling ill. Okay? You look a little pale,” she said.

“I will,” I agreed with a small smile, and then I hurried to catch up with Aiden.

***

Midnight was quickly approaching and we had turned up with absolutely nothing. The disappointment hung in the air like a thick cloud of smoke. I was beginning to notice all the looks of absolute pity thrown in my direction from the older members of the pack. They must be ready to give up for the night. Luckily for me, Aiden suggested that we finish this side of the lake tonight and pick back up on the other side in the morning.

We only had two houses left, Shari’s and Kendall’s.

Shari’s mom, of course, was the ultimate hostess. She’s always been one of the more matronly members of our pack, and she must have known that we were near because she had a pot of hot coffee brewing and some fresh pastries waiting for us. As we headed to our last stop, I had a feeling that we might not receive such a welcome in the next home.

Man, I couldn’t have been more right. Kendall’s mom, Claire, was definitely not awaiting our arrival with home-baked goodies. She had the you-are-not-welcome-in-my-home look down pat. I hesitated at the front door, not sure if I should even step foot inside the Stuart home, but when Claire walked up to me and said, “Oh Cade, get in here. It is so good to see you. I’m afraid Kendall’s not here right now, but you get in here out of the cold.” I figured that everyone but me must be on her shit-list. Kind of unbelievable that she was still holding out that Kendall and I had a chance. She must think I’m a real fool if she thought that I didn’t realize that was the only reason she was being nice to me.

After she dragged me safely inside, Claire gave the rest of the crew a stone-cold glare before she rattled off, “You know how unnecessary this all is? I can’t believe Marcus is allowing this nonsense to go on. As if any one of us would be responsible for that girl’s disappearance.” Then, she had the nerve to turn her attention to Mrs. Wright and say, “Did you ever consider that she ran away? You know a lot of unhappy teenagers run off. I bet she shows back up in a few days.”

Mrs. Wright stopped what she was doing and replied, “You know Mrs. Stuart, this will only take a few minutes. Why don’t you go have a seat, and we will be out of your hair shortly.” And then she smiled smugly. It was clear that she wasn’t going to let Claire get under her skin. It was hard to believe that she was holding it together as well as she was, under the circumstances.

Claire took the hint and surprisingly stayed out of the way while our team finished our search of their home and vehicles. Before we headed out, Mrs. Wright reminded Claire, “Mrs. Stuart, we were hoping that Kendall would be here, with the curfew and all. Please let us know when she gets home. We will need to search her car as well.”

We were done with our search for the night, but there was no way in hell I could just go home and go to sleep. I wouldn’t be able to get a good night’s rest until Alli was back. On the way back to the Wright’s house, I thought I picked up on Alli’s scent. For some reason, I didn’t tell anyone. Not yet. I wanted to check it out for myself. I thanked everyone for their help and quickly said my goodbyes. I didn’t want to be rude, but I couldn’t afford to lose her scent.

As soon as I was out of sight of the others, I transformed and dashed off into the night.

Chapter 52

Allison

I knew I couldn’t have been asleep for more than ten minutes when the door opened and a blast of frigid, November air blew through the cabin, immediately sending chills deep down into my bones. Kendall came in already yelling up a storm about the “ridiculous search” that was going on at the estate. It made me feel a little better about the predicament I was in knowing that people were out searching for me. Kind of gave me a renewed sense of hope.

“Can you believe that they are actually going to search everyone’s homes? And Cade is actually… holy shit, Dylan, what happened to your head?” she asked sounding genuinely concerned about the fresh cut on Dylan’s forehead.

Dylan reached up and lightly touched the small gash as if he had forgotten it was there. Smiling sheepishly, he said, “Oh this? It’s nothing. We just had a little accident.”

With her hands now on her hips, Kendall said, “What do you mean we? What the hell was going on here while I was gone?”

Hoping to cause a rift in their little alliance, I admitted, “I convinced Dylan to untie me, and then I smashed a lamp over his head so that I could escape. If it makes you feel any better I didn’t mean to cut him. I meant to knock him out. Anyway, it didn’t work. He’s tougher than he looks.” Then I grinned and waited for the fireworks.

Kendall turned toward me, and I could literally see the rage building in her eyes.

“You, don’t even speak to me,” she yelled, and then turned to Dylan.

“Dylan, I am only going to say this once. You better open your god-damn ears and listen. If you untie that bitch one more time, I will gut you! You stupid dog. Jesus!”

Dylan just sat there completely shell-shocked. I think that for the first time since I’ve met him, he was speechless. He remained there a moment longer just looking at Kendall with eyes full of fury, then got up and left the room. Kendall shot me one more death glare before she followed him into the living room.

Even from the other room, I could hear their conversation thanks to my super-were ears.

“Kendall, I know that you are upset, and you have every right to be, but you will never talk to me like that again, understand? I’m not Cade. I’m not going to put up with that shit. Yeah, I’m the first to admit that untying Allison wasn’t the smartest decision I have ever made, and I promise that it won’t happen again, but I really thought she was harmless. Well, until she smashed my head in.”

There was a moment of silence before Kendall apologized. I couldn’t believe my ears! Kendall, stone-cold were-bitch, was admitting she was wrong.

“I’m sorry, Dylan. I just had a horrible day. Marcus announced to the entire pack, in front of all my friends, my family, my freaking crazy-ass mom, that Allison was Cade’s true mate. I was mortified. Seriously, I wanted to die right there in front of everyone. They all turned and stared at me like I was some kind of freak. Dylan, I didn’t know what to do, so I ran. I literally ran out of the Lodge. It was horrible,” Kendall whined.

Marcus told everyone about me and Cade? Did that mean that he would accept our relationship? That he would allow Cade and me to be together?

Dylan changed his tone after Kendall’s little breakdown. “Baby, come here. It will all be over soon. You don’t need Cade. You have me now. And as soon as we get Cade and Marcus out of the picture, you will get back on top. Speaking of Cade, how did he look? Did he look sick, yet?” I heard Dylan ask.

Just hearing Cade’s name made my head and my heart ache. If only I could find a way out of here. I looked around for like the hundredth time hoping to see something that I could use to escape. After my first failed attempt to flee, Dylan made sure that not only my arms and legs were tied together, but that I was tied to the bed as well.

I was just about to give up, when Kendall told Dylan that she thought their plan might really work out because the pack was only searching the estate. She said that Cade looked awful and that it served him right. Hearing that Cade was already feeling sick instantly made me panic.

I remembered Dylan saying that it would only take about a week for Cade to be sufficiently weakened, and I had no clue how long I have been here. I had to get out of here. I needed to help Cade, and I certainly didn’t want to die in this stupid cabin. So, with no better option in mind, I started screaming for help and yanking on the ties so hard that my wrists began to bleed.

I saw Dylan and Kendall rushing toward me, but I didn’t stop. With Dylan close enough to reach, I managed to kick him in the face with my tied-together feet. Again, the jackass didn’t seem too fazed. Then, I saw Kendall coming at me with a syringe filled with God knows what. I thrashed about trying to stay out of her reach, but Kendall was able to hold me down, and the crazy bitch actually smiled when she jabbed the needle in my neck. Seconds later, my world went black.