The Vow: Dangerous Suggestions Book 1 (4 page)

Mason hurried out of the car after me.
“Wait, you can’t leave yet. What if he doesn’t take me
back?”

“
He’s your brother. Don’t
families forgive and forget, or something like that?” I asked as I
walked around the car to the driver’s side.

“
No, you obviously don’t
know what a family is like. You have to go in there with me. He may
not be as quick to kill me if you are with me,” he said sounding
panicked.

“
I said I would get you
here. You are here, so it is time for me to go back to my life,” I
said firmly. I didn’t want to go into the bar. The longer I was
with Mason, the further away from my life I was getting. He was the
opposite of what I was used to, and I wasn’t willing to accept this
new reality.

He stood in front of the car door
refusing to move. “You barely have a life. How can you just go
through your life like a ghost? Don’t you want friends or
something?”

“
I am happy with my life.
Unlike you, I don’t enjoy being chased by people looking to kill me
because I’m an idiot. I like how I live. I never had a problem,
until I met you,” I said trying to sound as confident as I could. I
didn’t want him to think I was even considering the possibility of
staying with him. I had actually considered it, but only briefly. I
momentarily had a notion he could help me learn more about who or
what I was, but I decided he was more of a hindrance then a help to
me.

He crossed his arms defiantly and
glared down at me. He was going to continue arguing, and I knew it.
He was a pain that way. If he didn’t feel like he was getting his
way, he persisted until he did. Somehow every time he did this I
gave in, and it was beginning to get to me.

“
What the hell are you
doing here Mason?” an angry male voice growled before Mason could
begin to argue.

The voice was coming from directly
behind me. Fear filled Mason’s eyes as he moved, so I was directly
between him and the man.

I turned to see who was behind me. I
was face to face with a bigger, meaner looking version of Mason.
This man’s hair was longer, and his eyes were blue instead of
brown. He was bulkier, and his arms were covered in tattoos, at
least the parts I could see were. I couldn’t actually see what the
tattoos were of; I could just tell they were there. I guessed this
was Dawson because of his resemblance to Mason. They almost looked
like twins, except Dawson was better looking. He looked older and
more like an alpha male; then Mason did.

“
Who are you?” Dawson
asked glaring at me.

“
No one, I was just
leaving,” I said deciding I wasn’t about to get involved in their
fight. I turned to get in the car, and Mason grabbed my
arm.

He looked at me with his wide brown
eyes. “Please don’t leave me,” he pleaded.

I wanted to brush him off, but he was
making it difficult. I didn’t want to be completely heartless, but
I didn’t want to be involved in Mason’s drama. I had enough of his
drama for one night. Hell, I had enough of it for an entire
lifetime.

Dawson laughed. “You really think a
pretty little girl is going to protect you from me?” He sounded so
amused; like he was going to enjoy whatever punishment he had
planned for Mason.

I fought the urge to smile as I turned
and looked at Dawson. “He is your brother. Can’t you forgive him or
something, so I can leave?” I knew it was pointless to ask, but I
was asking anyway.

Dawson watched me. The amused glint in
his eyes was slightly annoying. I felt a little bit like he was
making fun of me without actually saying anything at all. “You
obviously don’t know him, or you wouldn’t defend him,” he responded
softly.

He was giving me a clear answer, but I
refused to accept it. He had to accept Mason back into his pack. I
couldn’t continue to be Mason’s babysitter. “You are right. I don’t
know him, and I normally wouldn’t ask, but I can’t get rid of him.
I have my own life, and he is interfering with it. So if you would
just take him back, so I don’t have to deal with him; I would
appreciate it,” I said trying to keep my tone even. I was actually
getting annoyed. I didn’t like the feeling; it made me
antsy.

Dawson’s gaze shifted to Mason. “Oh, I
will take him back alright.”

“
He is going to hurt me,”
Mason squeaked moving closer to me. It was funny that he thought I
could offer him any form of protection. My ability was persuasion,
and it didn’t work on werewolves. I was no better than a simple
human among them. He had a better chance on his own; then he did
waiting for me to save him.

“
Mason, he is going to
take you back. It is what you wanted; we all have to compromise,
now move, so I can go,” I said as I looked up at Mason.

“
You have nowhere to go.
Why can’t you just stay here with me?” Mason asked impatiently. He
was really trying to get me to stay. I didn’t understand his
attachment to me. I was clear that I didn’t return his favor, but
he still persisted.

“
I am a loner, that means
I like to be alone,” I said impatiently. I was getting tired of
arguing with him. I was out of my element with him. I couldn’t get
what I wanted around people like him. I did better around humans. I
didn’t have to interact with humans.

“
You can’t invite her to
stay without my permission anyway, and you don’t have my
permission,” Dawson said as he crossed his arms, and glared at his
brother.

“
You will like her; she is
cool. Don’t be such as ass,” Mason countered as he glared back at
his brother.

“
Oh really, I bet you
don’t even know her name,” Dawson said skeptically. Obviosuly he
had a good deal of experience with his baby brother’s ways. I
didn’t know Mason long, but I had learned enough about him to come
to the same conclusion Dawson did.

“
That’s not fair. She
doesn’t have a name,” Mason said defensively.

Dawson looked both confused and
amused. “You don’t have a name?” he asked directing his attention
to me.

“
No, I don’t,” I said
trying to brush him off; then I turned my attention back to Mason.
“You are a nice guy, but …”

“
I know, I know, you are a
weirdo loner,” Mason muttered. He actually sounded like a child
that wasn’t getting his way.

I smiled slightly. “That is correct.
So go take your beating; then make up with your brother. I want to
go back to my life.”

Before Mason could protest anymore,
the sound of screeching tires caught all of our attention. I sighed
in defeat as a truck full of men came flying up the road toward the
bar. This night was just getting more difficult. The truck came to
a stop only a few feet from us. The three werewolves from the
hotel; along with two others hopped out of the truck.

“
Shit,” Mason muttered as
he cowered behind his brother. I was sure Dawson wouldn’t have
appreciated Mason’s actions, but he was distracted by the more
threatening group of werewolves approaching us.

“
You are trespassing,”
Dawson growled as he faced the leader. The leader was the same one
that I hit over the head with the lamp. I was sure he wasn’t
exactly happy to see me.

“
Deek wants your brother.
I am sure you want nothing to do with him anyway, so why don’t you
just hand him over?” the man said as he squared with
Dawson.

I imagined this situation going either
way. The smart thing would have been for Dawson to turn his brother
over; especially since five to three wasn’t good odds. It wasn’t
really even three because I couldn’t fight, and Mason would
probably tuck tail and run. It was really five to one, but
surprisingly Dawson didn’t seem to care. He didn’t appear like he
was going to back down any time soon.

“
Not gonna happen, Jason.
Mason is an idiot, but Deek will kill him. He is still my brother,
and he doesn’t deserve to die,” Dawson said firmly.

Jason laughed as he looked at his
friends behind him. He knew he had us in a bad position. “I don’t
think you understand Dawson. We will be taking Mason and his little
girlfriend too.”

“
Whoa, I am not Mason’s
girlfriend,” I cut in before Dawson could reply. I didn’t mean to
sound as appalled as I did.

Jason smiled and his friends stifled
laughter. A hint of a smile crossed Dawson’s face as well. The only
one who didn’t think it was funny was Mason.

“
You could at least not
sound so disgusted,” Mason grumbled from beside me.

“
I’m not disgusted; I was
just correcting him,” I said simply.

“
Whatever,” Mason muttered
as he crossed his arms.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I
didn’t have time for his pouting. He seemed to pout quite a
bit.

“
You know Deek won’t let
this go. I would hate to get you and your pack involved in
something so petty,” Jason said as he watched Dawson. It was
obvious he was waiting for Dawson to make the first move. I
wondered if he was waiting to be polite, or if he was waiting
because he was worried Dawson would be a challenge. For some reason
he was affording Dawson the curtesy of making the
decision.

“
You are making this my
problem. You will not take him while he is in my territory,” Dawson
said firmly.

Jason laughed softly and shook his
head. He almost seemed like he was going to back down. In one quick
movement he threw a punch. He moved so fast I barely saw him move.
He caught Dawson across the jaw and sent him flying into the side
of the car. Mason lunged at one of Jason’s friends as Dawson
regained his footing. I cussed in annoyance as I attempted to move
away from them. There was no way I was throwing myself in the
middle of a bunch of brawling werewolves. I would be the one that
ended up hurt, or worse, dead.

The growls and yells of anger filled
the still night air as they threw punches. More werewolves spilled
out from inside the bar as if they were waiting the whole time. I
debated whether I should run, or just wait for the fight to stop.
The only problem with waiting was if Jason and his group won, then
they were planning on taking me with them.

Before I could make up my mind the
sound of sirens and the flash of blue lights caught everyone’s
attention. A police car sped toward the brawling group. Either they
were called, or they saw the fight from the road. I didn’t see why
werewolves would call the police, considering the police were
human, well I assumed they were anyway. The group had quit
brawling. Some of them fled into the woods, others stayed
put.

“
Just keep your mouths
shut. I will handle this,” Dawson ordered as he looked at the
others in the group. I was surprised that Jason remained quiet. It
was obvious the werewolves did not like the police
presence.

There were two officers in the car.
They stepped out of the car with their guns pointed at the group.
“All of you on the ground,” the first officer ordered.

Dawson raised his hands in surrender,
but didn’t comply. “It was a little misunderstanding officers.
There is no need for this,” he said trying to be as polite as
possible. I could hear the slight annoyance in his voice suggesting
he didn’t like the police.

“
On the ground!” the other
officer ordered. I could tell they were on edge for some reason.
Maybe the bar wasn’t a fun place for them to go. It was obvious
they were human, and not werewolf. They would have been more
confident, and less fearful.

I really didn’t want to go to jail,
and I didn’t want anyone getting shot; so I decided to see if I
could get them to go away. “Officers,” I said moving forward in the
crowd.

The two officers immediately turned
their attention to me. They had their guns aimed at my chest. I
really didn’t like guns. I saw what humans did to one another with
guns. I knew they were necessary for officers, but I didn’t like
them being aimed at me. “Please put your weapons away,” I said
softly as I stepped up next to Dawson. The familiar blank look and
slight confusion came over their faces as they holstered their
guns. I was relieved my power was going to work on them. The fact
that I couldn’t use my power on Mason had shaken me. I wasn’t
nearly as confident in by abilities as I had been before. All I
needed was to run into some other supernatural being that I had no
defenses against. “Thank you,” I said echoing my relief. “You
didn’t see a fight, it was a little misunderstanding. You are going
to get back in your car and leave. Forget you were ever even here,”
I said firmly. Normally I tried to be politer, but I just wanted
the whole thing to be over because that meant I could leave sooner,
rather than later.

They looked at one another, then back
at me. After a second they both turned and walked back to their
car. They weren’t going to put up a fight. I knew they wouldn’t.
Once I had them in a trance they would do whatever I
asked.

No one spoke until the police car was
safely back on the road headed away from the bar, and all we could
see were taillights.

“
What the hell was that?”
Dawson asked as he watched me. He sounded like he was both curious
and concerned.

“
Nothing, I need to go,” I
said quickly as I turned to walk back to the car. I was ready to
get back to my life. The amount of people standing around was
unnerving. I was used to being unseen, not having a bunch of people
observing what I could do.