Riley's Torment, A Moon's Glow Novel #2 (9 page)

We had
travelled for about ten minutes, hugging our arms to our bodies
against the brisk wind, following the faint light without luck.
There were still no other houses or cabins around. The question
that continued to pop into my brain was—where were we? We could see
across the lake in the moonlight. I had a bad feeling that we were
on an island, and to make matters worse, we were alone without a
phone or food. Just the thought of food made my stomach rumble. We
didn’t have breakfast this morning or anything to drink. The cabin
had running water, but food was another story. How long could we
survive without it?

"Look," Lauren
said, pointing the flashlight to the edge of the trees just as a
gust of wind whipped around us. It blew my hair into my face,
blocking my view. When I tucked the offending locks behind my ears,
I saw what she was referring to. It was flat ground. Out of breath
and tired, I pulled her hand and half dragged her towards the
trees. When we were almost there, my treadless left shoe slipped
and caught between two large rocks, twisting my ankle. A burning
pain shot through it.

"Damn it," I
yelped, hobbling the rest of the way. We tumbled onto the ground,
and I held my sore ankle in my hands.

"Does it hurt?"
Lauren asked.

Instead of
sobbing like I wanted, I pulled all the strength I could muster and
stood up. I cringed as I leaned on the sore foot.

"It's fine,
let’s go. If we don't find anything, we should head back to the
cabin before we freeze to death." Another shot of brittle cold air
blew at me. We had to get warm soon.

"We're on an
island; look." She had pointed the flashlight ahead of us where we
could see only water. "And not a very big one. I think we're alone
here." Lauren sobbed. "She left us here to die."

"If it wasn't
so cold, maybe we could swim across. We're not far from the
mainland." I pointed behind us because we had rounded the bend and
now could only see water, no land.

She breathed in
deeply, trying to calm herself. "I'm not a good swimmer, even if it
was warm. How's the ankle?" she asked.

I tried to
ignore the constant throbbing, and if I limped, it was bearable.
"It's fine," was all I said. I was about to add that I'd live when
the sound of a howl erupted in the night sky.

Lauren tensed
next to me, squeezing my hand so hard that she cracked a few
knuckles. I winced, but didn’t protest. She was scared, and
frankly, so was I.

"Do you think
that's Charlotte, noticing that we're gone?"

I really hoped
not. Charlotte was scary enough in human form. She had done a lot
of damage as a wolf. One of which was killing my ancestor, and
others in that town. She liked to kill humans. But that was over a
hundred years ago. I just hoped she had evolved.

"Nah," I
scoffed trying to ease her mind. "It's probably just a normal
wolf."

"That doesn't
make me feel any better," she grumbled as we rounded the bend and
started for the long stretch again. There was still no sign of
other life. This side of the island was even closer to land. I
really wished it was warmer. I'd make a go of it and tow Lauren if
I had to.

We walked for
about another hour feeling exhausted. My ankle was extremely sore,
and we were freezing. The trail we were following had thinned, and
we were being assaulted with sharp branches. I wanted to give up;
there were no other cabins around. Thankfully, Lauren’s flashlight
revealed a boat. Although I was pleased to see it, I didn't get too
excited because it was the same one we had seen earlier. I was just
glad that we would be able to get in, out of the cold so I could
rest my foot.

Just as we came
up on the pebbled beach, we heard another howl. This time it was
joined with others. Lauren gasped and gripped my hand again so hard
I thought she'd break it. We quickened our pace and rushed up to
the yard as the howling got louder. I froze as a reddish-brown wolf
broke from the trees and stared at us. It was fifty feet away, but
I could hear the growl. I gulped, but couldn't move. I was frozen
with fear. Lauren was able to gain her composure before I did, and
she pulled me along, walking slowly toward the cabin. The lights
glowing from the windows were a beacon to safety. After a few more
steps, another wolf appeared next to the first one. This one was
light brown, almost tan. Once again, we froze. I blinked, now there
were five wolves. Was I imagining this, or was I so exhausted that
my mind was playing tricks on me? The first one growled again, and
took a step closer. With the light from the cabin, I could see that
the color was more rust than reddish brown. It was very close to
the color of Charlotte’s hair. For some reason, I recognized her as
this wolf and knew she hadn’t left. She wasn’t finished with us
yet. I didn’t even want to think about her plans for us or why she
had changed into her wolf form. Even more disturbing, was the fact
that she recruited an entire pack of werewolves just for us, which
was odd since we obviously weren’t much of a threat. The tan one
stood next to her, while one black and two brown wolves lingered
behind them. While their coats were all a different color, the one
thing they had in common was their sharp teeth. All of them were
snarling at us, baring long pointed fangs. I couldn’t help but
gulp, as icy, clawing-fear slithered up my spine.

This time, I
was the first to gain my composure and pulled Lauren forward as we
took off into a run. In retrospect, this probably wasn't a good
idea because the wolves did the same. Thankfully, we had a shorter
distance to go. They were right on our heels, growling and
snarling. My heart was in my throat as we made it to the cabin
steps. As we opened the door, the wolves jumped up on the porch,
snapping their fangs. We slammed the door on them and stood against
it, feeling relief and the warmth from the room. My skin prickled
as I began to recover from the chill.

As I stepped
further into the cabin, a thud rang out, and the wooden door shook.
I spun around to see Lauren still leaning against it, her eyes wide
with fright. Another thud, and the door shook again. The wolves
were slamming into it, trying to get in.

I swung around,
looking for something to put in front of the doorframe and spotted
a thick cabinet. It looked heavy, but it wasn't far. "Help me move
this!" I yelled.

We both took an
end, while the door shook once more. I counted to three,
and...nothing. The thing wouldn't budge.

"Again,"
I yelled just as a wolf snarled through the tiny window. Its lips
were pulled back, showing pointed jagged teeth. The light from
inside the cabin reflected off of its glassy yellow eyes that were
filled with hunger. I gasped and jumped back. Another thump sounded
against the door, making the frame shake. The sound of a whine made
me smile.
Poor wolf hurt himself trying to kill us
.

I leaned
forward, channeling every ounce of strength I had. I thought
angrily of everything Charlotte had done to us. She knocked us out
twice, kidnapped us, and left us with no food in the middle of a
freaking island where I sprained my ankle. And now we were being
attacked by wolves. If we ever got out of this, I’d seriously give
her a piece of my mind.

I don't know
where the spurt of energy came from, whether it was fear or
adrenaline, but this time, the stupid shelf moved. It scraped
against the wood floor with a loud screech. Lauren pulled while I
pushed with everything we had, until it finally covered the door
frame.

We stepped
back, out of breath and panting as we watched the cabinet shake
when another wolf rammed into the door. It moved slightly, but
thankfully the wood was thick and sturdy. We were safe for now.
Exhaustion set in, and I fell into the sofa, lifting my aching foot
up onto the cushion.

Lauren went
into the bedroom and returned with the checkerboard quilt, which
she covered me with.

"Thank you," I
gasped, out of breath from all the strenuous and terrifying events
we'd been through.

She nodded
before moving to the sink and filling two glasses with water. She
brought them back to the couch, handed me one, and took a drink
from her own glass. I took a long gulp of the tepid, odd-tasting
liquid, having never felt so thirsty in my life. My hand shook,
spilling water as a howl pierced the air, setting off the rest of
the wolves. I wiped the water from my sweater with the blanket and
set the glass beside Lauren's on a small table beside the
furniture.

We held hands
and curled up on the couch under the blanket, trying to ignore the
howling and snarling of the wolves. "I'm sorry, Lauren. If you
hadn't been at the cottage, you wouldn't be in this mess."

She huffed,
giving me a dirty look that was visible from the glow of the lamp.
"Don't be stupid. This is Charlotte's fault, not yours." She
squeezed my hand, and I swallowed the lump in my throat. I was
tired, freezing, hungry, terrified, and in agony from my ankle, but
above all of that, I missed Nate. We hadn't been apart for this
long since I moved in with him. I suddenly felt the need to talk
about the guy I loved.

"Nate proposed
last night," I blurted. I hadn't meant to tell her that. It wasn't
the time, but we might not make it through the night, and I
couldn't die with this secret.

She gasped, her
eyes alight with happiness. "He did?" She leaned over, careful of
my foot and hugged me. "I'm so happy for you."

I smiled,
about to say thank you, when a wolf jumped up to the window and
scraped its claws against the glass. The high-pitched sound
reminded me of nails on a chalk board. The wolf snarled at us,
baring its jagged teeth. We jumped at the sudden noise and waited
for the window to break. Nothing happened and the wolf disappeared
from sight, but we could still hear them on the porch howling and
snarling. We huddled together with the blanket, watching the door,
making sure the shelf didn't move. That was how we stayed all
night.

"We had
to check." Joseph reassured Nate for the third time. They were
inside the car patiently waiting at the ferry dock. Nate had been
quiet since they had turned back to their human form, and his
silence was overwhelming in the small space.

"They're fine.
We will find them," Joe said again, sounding eager to break the
silence.

Finally, Nate
turned his head. The expression on his Nate's face could only be
described as defeat. But his eyes were a different story. They were
glazed and wide with a frantic look. The men had been searching for
the girls for hours, and the separation from Nate's mate was taking
a toll on him.

"You don't know
that. Maybe she will kill them." Nate finally spoke; his voice was
low and filled with dread.

Joe's face went
hard. "Stop it, Nate. You can't think like that. We’ll find them.
You just need to rest. We've been searching for eight hours
straight, and we're tired. We're no good to them this way." He
paused, waiting for Nate to argue. When he didn't and just simply
sat staring out through the car window at the lake before them, Joe
went on. "Once we get some sleep, you'll feel better, and ready to
find them. And we will find them."

Nate’s first
reaction was to balk at the idea; they couldn't rest until they
found the girls. But he needed to do what was best for Megan. And
after searching for hours on the island with no results, he had
turned back human feeling beaten, and ready to die. If their search
ended badly, how could he live without her? And when he realized
what direction his mind was heading, he knew Joe was right. He
needed to rest. He could not let his mind take such a dark path.
They would find the girls, they had to.

When the ferry
tooted its horn in the distance, Nate nodded his head. "I agree, we
need to rest." He didn't say anything more as they waited, or when
they drove up onto the boat. They were the only vehicle on the
deck. It was after two in the morning, and the ferry that had just
arrived seemed eerily silent. Or it was in Nate's head? He felt a
weight settle on him, smothering him.

Nate went
through the motions of nodding his head when Joe spoke, and noted
their route with half a mind when they departed the ferry. Before
he knew it, they were pulling into a rundown building with a
flashing red sign in front that read 'vacancy'. He stayed in the
car as Joe went to check them in for the night. He was still silent
when he exited the vehicle once he saw his friend return.

"You alright,
Nate?" Joe asked, as he pushed the door of their rented room open.
It appeared to be clean but smelled of old urine, perfume and an
underlying scent of lemon fresh cleaner that did nothing to hide
the foul odors. But they were so tired that the stench wouldn't
affect their sleep.

"I'm fine,"
Nate answered robotically. "Just tired." As soon as the words were
out of his mouth, he fell onto the bed, causing dust particles to
bounce into the air from the puke-green blanket. He closed his eyes
without uttering another word to Joe, hoping for the oblivion that
sleep would bring.

The sound of
deep breathing woke Nate. Opening his eyes and glancing around, he
discovered he was in a room that he now remembered to be a hotel.
There were two beds with matching quilts. The other bed was
occupied by Joe who was still sleeping. Nate himself was about to
close his eyes again until green eyes flashed in his mind. The urge
to find Megan came with a crushing need. He jumped up and spun
around looking for a clock. He cringed when he saw the time—it was
eleven in the morning. They had wasted valuable time sleeping.

"Joe, get up,"
he called as he headed to the washroom. There was only a faint
groan in response.