Willing Sacrifice (9 page)

"You would have made a much better Alpha than me." I said.

She ignored my statement and stood up grabbing Brian's hand. "I'll make some calls and get the others ready. You go down to the bar and make arrangements with Gary and Sue."

I nodded, still unsure about making the last minute plans, but Sarah knew what she was doing so I stood to leave.

"Oh, and make sure you get him a gift."

I raised my eyebrows at that but didn't say anything.

"It’s customary to get him a really great gift, not like a tie or coffee mug or anything."

"I don't really know him. I don't have a clue what he likes."

"It'll come to you; just remember nothing cheesy or cheap."

"Can it be from you, me, Kyle and Brian?"

"You're shy?" She teased.

"To be quite honest, yes I am. I usually reserve gift-giving for those people I am intimately connected, not just some guy who wants to jump my bones." I sniffed indignantly.

"From what I heard through his bedroom door, the bone jumping is going both ways. Plus, I know that you were raised by humans and all, but here on the wild side, presents for an Alpha are a show of respect, not just for love or lust." She shrugged. "And I already got him a gift."

"Put my name on the card?"

"Sorry, it’s already been signed and sealed."

"You're lying to me." I snapped.

"Maybe," She smirked and bounced away as if on a cloud of pure bliss. I guess everyone had their own thing, but I hardly pegged Sarah as being a tormenter.

Fine, I knew my task at hand so unlike the rest of my current circumstance this would be relatively easy… after I got a car to drive.

"Sarah, can I use your car?" I called after her retreating form.

She threw me a set of keys. "These are to one of the Alpha's cars, but he never uses it and I'm sure he won't mind you borrowing it."

I went outside to the driveway and pressed the button on the key ring listening for the responding beep. It wasn't any of the cars in the driveway but I did hear something off to the side so I hit the button again and followed the sound to a shed near the rear of the house. It was more of a detached garage than shed and it was new to the property. The doors swung open easily and there was my Mustang, another wedding gift from Jack that was lost during my failed Challenge. It sat dead center in the stale closed off building. It was a little dusty but Sarah was right about it never being used, the odometer had barely moved since I had it last.

I moved the seat into place and turned the engine over. It answered me perfectly and I pressed the accelerator and smiled at the strong response from the engine. It had that low resulting rumble that promised so much more, if you just let the ponies run a little, and there were a lot of them hiding under that gun metal metallic hood.

I rolled down the windows and yelled out happily as I took the turn around the house and onto the main road doing somewhere around the speed of sound. The engine roared off the face of the house and I could only imagine the sound they heard inside but that only made me smile wider. I really didn't care whether the Alpha got pissed off that I was driving the Mustang... it was
my
car.

The bar was closer than town, hidden deep in the woods in the opposite direction. It was used as a kind of trucker/biker hide away. It was also a restaurant so I wasn't surprised to see that it was already pretty full when I got there. I walked in and it felt like home and good memories. The small crowd parted as I sauntered through like I owned the place and sat down at an available stool at the bar.

I hadn't even seen the bartender until he placed a chocolate milkshake on the highly polished wooden bar in front of me. "Hello Sugar, we haven't seen you here in some time."

He was an older man, but he was in great shape for his age. He wasn't tall but he might have been twenty years earlier. He had a full head of steel grey hair and a beard kept clipped quite short. He had washed out blue eyes, which, though they were milky with the first signs of cataracts, didn't miss a beat. He had been behind that bar so long he could probably still function if he were stone blind.

I thought about it a minute longer and decided he was probably about Jack's age, only human... so depending on how long he'd owned he place, he probably knew Jack his whole life, and I'm sure he noticed our little fucked up family and our lack of aging as well.

"I've been out of town." I answered after taking a sip of milkshake.

He nodded, "So sorry to hear about Jack." He paused and yelled over my head at an argument going on at the pool table in the far corner before turning back to me. "I remember the first time he brought you in here. I thought you two made quite a pair."

"Well, I wasn't the arm candy he usually had clinging to his side but he liked me alright."

"There are women who are used and others who are kept. I see it all the time, the pretty, stupid little bimbos who think a man only wants them to look good. They have no self respect and no self worth and in the end they might get lucky and snag a man by getting knocked up but they usually end up leap-frogging from one man to another ’til they are too old and used up for anyone to resort to any longer. Then there are girls like you, demanding to be treated equally and earning it with strength of mind. Jack was ready to settle down and had finished with the simpletons. He found himself a right mate."

His use of the word mate made me stiffen automatically, and he winked one of his twinkling eyes. "So tell me Mrs. Coon, what can I do for you today?"

I had to swallow a mouthful of chocolate shake before I answered him. "It's the new boss' birthday tonight, and we need a place to celebrate a private party."

"Ah, for the family," He smiled happily. "Well my love, it’s a little last minute but for your grand family it will be done. Do you need a band?"

"Yes sir."

"I'm surprised you aren't the new boss actually." He scrunched his long bushy gray eyebrows together while picking up an armful of empty bottles off the bar.

"Things don't always work as planned." I answered honestly.

He nodded and smiled, "I'll say; I wanted to be a doctor."

"Check card okay?" I asked pulling out the card from my back pocket. I would carry a purse if it weren't for the fact that I would just lose it all the time.

"Don't you want to negotiate the total?"

"No. Maybe if I hadn't dropped this on you last minute on a weekend night. I'll pay for my procrastination. Do what you have to do to cover your losses."

He shook his head and smiled. "You're Jack's girl all right. He was a fair man."

When he wasn't chopping people's head off for the Council
, I thought briefly but forced a smile just the same as the old owner swiped the card through the machine. "I'll have you all pay for your drinks like usual. The last time I had an open bar with your family it took nearly a month to make up my losses. I'll bring in my niece to tend the bar, she's dumb as a rock but she makes drinks like she was born back here."

I nodded and sucked the last of my milkshake loudly. "Okay, we'll be in about nine o’clock; you think you can manage a cake too?" I asked hopefully.

"For what you paid for tonight, I'll make you a cake. Don't let it get out that I'm doing cakes now though." He handed me the receipt and I felt my eyes bulge a little. "Milkshake's on the house." He added with a grin.

I nodded numbly and staggered off my high stool, suddenly regretting my earlier generosity with my bank account. Of course the milkshake was on the house, I probably just bought the place.

From Rainbow Cove it was about an hour drive into town. It didn't take me that long... but it should have. The tiny town on the other side of Trout Lake was about thirty minutes out of South Portland. It consisted of a post office, a grammar and middle school, a quickie mart, a Chinese restaurant and a tiny bookstore/gift shop complete with a sleeping cat in the window.

I went inside the bookstore and looked around. It was funny how little places like this one held their own long enough to drown out bigger companies like Borders and Barnes and Noble. The woman behind the counter had an easy smile that said
I'm here if you need me but I'm not going to bother you.
I liked that smile, and I hated when you walk into a store and are immediately bombarded by a clerk with an overly eager toothy grin. They stare at you until you eventually make eye contact and then they ask you..."Can I help you with anything today?" I mean really people, are we living in such a capitalistic society that people aren't even allowed to look around anymore? It’s great if clerks are available to help you out and everything, but I tend to avoid places that treat their customers like a prostitute would in a red light district.

I wandered among the shelves looking at the pretty nick knacks and wind chimes as I went. In the window above the sleeping cat were about twelve hanging glass balls catching the late afternoon light. I walked over and admired the hand blown globes more closely. "What are these called?"

The woman stood up and wondered over to look at the collection with me. "They’re called friendship balls."

"Why?" I admired the webbing inside and noticed how they looked like a trees inside bubbles, like how a child would envision the world, snug inside a protective bubble, not clinging precariously to its outer edge just waiting for gravity to fail.

She chuckled, "People tend to avoid them because of their real name so the company started calling them friendship balls."

"So what are they really?" I asked.

"It’s a witch's ball." She reached up and spun one gently from its fishing line thread. "They are supposed to trap evil spirits, and bad dreams. Kind of like an Irish take on the Native’s dream catcher. You just hang it over your bedroom window."

"And then what?"

"Then you are very careful not to break it." She grinned broadly.

I nodded and went back to admiring them. "Can I have that green one?" I pointed to a large one about five inches across.

She nodded and picked up a long wooden stick with a hook on the end to get it down from the ceiling.

"I'm going to keep looking around." I pointed to the back of the store.

"Take your time; do you want this gift wrapped?"

"No thanks, it’s too pretty to give away."

She laughed softly at that before I disappeared behind a shelf.

Eventually I found myself in the books. Robert was too utilitarian to like trinkets, so I figured something intellectual was more his speed. I passed the self-help section, the diet and exercise section, the romance section, the mysteries, and then I came to some fiction novels. One of them caught my eye and I picked it up. It was called
Julie of the Wolves
. I had read it when I was young, before knowing anything about being a wolf. It is the story of a young girl who is raped and beaten by her husband and she runs away. The thing is when you live on a tundra, running away has a whole new set of dangers. She befriends the Alpha of a wolf pack and before long; despite being human she is accepted and cared for by them. Most days I felt like that, especially since I myself couldn't run with the pack as one of them. I held onto the book and continued looking around.

In the end I had the woman wrap the book I had chosen and a pound of gourmet jellybeans. One thing I did know about werewolves, is that they ate all the time and they truly appreciated food. I got another smaller bag of jellybeans for Brian too, since he would probably freak out if he didn't get any junk food.

I made it back to the house a little after five-thirty as the sun just started to touch the horizon. They were grilling out on the back deck and taking advantage of the late evening heat while it lasted. The weather might be nice and warm today but tomorrow it might be thirty degrees cooler: ahhh spring in Maine.

I smiled a warm welcome to the pack as I rounded the wrap around porch to the back of the house and onto the large deck. I was surprised that I meant my sweet welcome and guessed I had missed their presence more than I had been willing to admit though I didn't even know the names of most of them.

The girls, I noticed, didn't talk to each other much except to insult and snap at one another. It made sense; they were competing and didn't waste energy on making friends. That part would come later when the victor had been chosen, but in the meantime they spent the majority of their time avoiding one another and doing their hair and nails.

Robert sat on a bench against the house and he raised a beer in my direction as I came into view.

I walked over with my bag in hand and took the offered beer with the other. He tried peeking inside the bag but I pulled it away quickly.

"You didn't get me a beanie baby did you?" He said pointing to the bag with the store's logo written on the side.

"It’s the newest one, Walter the Werewolf." I smirked. He shook his head regretfully, "Sorry, I already have it."

I rolled my eyes and took a swig of cold beer.

"Miss Sugar," Brian walked up to me with his eyes all round and innocent. "Did you get me anything?"

"Why should I, is it your birthday?"

He shrugged, "Mommy said I'm staying home tonight." He mumbled out. "I don't want to and I don't even get any presents."

"Stop whining, you're hurting my ears." I pulled the bag of jellybeans out and handed them to him. "Not all at once." I instructed.

His eyes shone like I had handed him dynamite and a box of matches; for a second I was worried and looked to his parents. "What did I do?"

"We've been restricting a lot of sugar from his diet." Sarah explained.

"Why?" I scrunched my nose up at the thought.

"Imagine a humming bird doped up on Star Buck's double espresso shots." Kyle answered with a serious expression on his face.

I felt my eyes widen and fear grip my heart. "Oh shit."

Sarah waved it off, "He's a little boy." She flipped a huge piece of meat onto a platter already heaped with steak and handed it to Kyle to bring into the house.

Everyone went inside, but I stayed out listening to birds chirping before they went to roost for the night.

"What's this?" Gage swooped in unheard and grabbed my witch's ball like a trained pickpocket.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Did you report back to head quarters yet?"

"And what exactly would I report?" He cocked his head and looked at me through the thick emerald green glass.

"That you all underestimated my whore powers." I snapped grabbing my ball back and dropping it safely into the bag.

"Answer me this question honestly Sugar."

"Okay." I swallowed and got ready to lie my ass off.

"Do you want what's best for this pack?"

I blinked, shocked by the straight forward question and its innocence. "Yes; more than anything, yes."

"Then there is nothing to report."

I narrowed my eyes at him, it wasn't that I didn't believe him exactly it was that I wanted to believe him and I wasn't sure if I should. "Fine, but it’s your turn to answer one of my questions truthfully."

He stood back and crossed his arms, ready for anything I threw his way.

"Why did you kiss me, if you hate me and you’re willing to watch me go down in flames?"

He took an unsure breath, "I'll take the dare."

I smirked, "Kiss me again."

He smiled slowly in the low light of dusk and shook his head. "You were aptly named."

"Most people say the opposite." I argued knowing he would refuse my dare.

He leaned forward until his face was nearly touching mine and he brought a hand up to touch my cheek gently. "Sugar may be sweet but it's just a slow release poison that tastes really, really good." He backed away and disappeared around to the front of the house.

"Sugar?" Sarah called out to the now dark, back deck.

"Just a minute," I called happily towards the door as I blinked away incidental tears and she backed into the house again.

Brian laughed from inside the house and it broke the sadness that had washed over me.

Sarah walked out onto the porch looking a little impatient. “Are you coming in?”

I didn't answer her.

"Sugar, are you okay?"

"How much does a soul weigh?" I asked her at last. "Can you hold it in your hands, does it bring you joy or comfort you when you cry? Does it weigh more than one’s pride? I know what they want from me, but I’m not sure I’m willing to give them everything just yet.”

"I don’t understand." She answered.

“The Elder, she’s using me. The same way she used Jack, to do her bidding. She’s breaking me down and then one day she’ll hand me a knife and give me a name. By then I don’t know what my answer will be. I don’t know if I’ll even care by then.” I shook my head and sighed. “She’s asking me to give myself to him…” I indicated towards the house. “What will I have left after that? What’s keeping me in control of my life and who I love?”

"If you say yes to her, she'll bring you Hell in both this life and the next. Don't be fooled by her promise of happiness, she can't give you that. It’s up to you to decide if you want to be happy or not. No one else can make that choice for you."

Then Sarah said something I thought I'd never hear her say. "Jack is dead, let him go. We need you here, Alpha." She spun on her heel and went back into the safety of the house and its warm light.