Call of the Wolf (16 page)

"If everyone's going,” she said finally, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice, “then we'll meet up there and we can all visit like we did tonight and dance."

She couldn't help but notice that ‘her’ guys looked mightily displeased about it—or that the others sent surprisingly satisfied looks at them—but she was too annoyed with them to worry about whether they liked it or not!

"What the hell was that about?” Seth growled as soon as they'd reached her house again, having made the trip back with everyone sitting in stony silence.

Abby turned to glare at him, poking him in the chest with her index finger. “That's what I'd like to know!” she snapped. “You couldn't have said you'd already asked me to keep from putting me on the spot?"

He looked taken aback. “I did ask you!” he said finally.

Abby frowned, searching her mind. “No, you didn't! You told Cameron that you'd been
thinking
about asking me!"

"Same thing!” he said after an uncomfortable moment.

She gave him a look.

"
I
asked you!” Cameron growled.

Abby had actually been hoping he wouldn't remember that since
she
hadn't until she'd brought up the night she'd first met them. “Don't
even
go there!” she snapped. “I hadn't known you five minutes and you were all
much
more interested in arguing with each other than you were me. How was I know it was a serious invitation? Especially when you haven't said anything about it since!

"You needn't be mad at me!
Y'all
should've told them that I'd be going with y'all! That was all you had to say—she's going with us—and then I wouldn't have been put on the spot like that!"

"When the fuck did this get to be ‘y'all’ god's damn it?” Seth growled. “I was talking about you and me!"

Abby stared at him blankly. “We always go together. Aren't they going to be there, too? Why wouldn't I say y'all?"

Seth scowled at her. “
I'm
the Alph ... uh...."

"Well, you aren't
the
Al...!” Cameron snarled and then broke off as Seth had.

Abby glanced from one man to the other and finally turned away with a flounce. “I'm going to bed. I have to work tomorrow! Obviously,
y'all
would rather settle the argument between yourselves and
I
don't need to be here!"

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Chapter Eleven

Abby was a little surprised to discover that the guys were still angry about the damned dance the following morning. At least, Seth and Adrian seemed to be. She didn't see Cameron or Jerico and figured they must have spent the night outside watching since it seemed they rotated nightly. Ordinarily, none of them seemed to hold their anger for any length of time over much of anything, and it was more incomprehensible to her given the reason behind their anger with her.

It was just a dance! It wasn't the prom! Beyond that, she hadn't actually said she was going to be with anyone. She'd assumed even when she'd answered the others that she would still be going with Seth and Cameron and that it would turn out to be a casual sort of thing as it had at the fair itself—maybe some of the others would show up and ask for a dance and maybe not.

If they did, she didn't see any reason why she shouldn't dance with whoever asked.

It wasn't a date.

Maybe, she thought, flicking a surreptitious glance at Seth's stony profile, he'd intended for it to be?

He hadn't said anything to indicate that, though, damn it!
Cameron
hadn't! And neither had Adrian or Jerico! If any of the four had done so, she would've been very happy to have it that way. How was she supposed to
guess
that they were interested in pursuing something a little more personally significant?

She supposed, even if any of them besides Seth
had
been interested, it wouldn't have been a good idea to take them up on it. Saturday was the final day of the Festival. Everyone would be leaving on Sunday and returning home. She didn't think it was likely a long range relationship would work out when she hadn't done so well with any of her prior attempts and they hadn't had that going against them.

She thought, maybe, she wouldn't go to the damned dance after all. She'd been feeling depressed and defensive about it ever since she'd discovered everyone was angry with her about it. It wasn't likely she would enjoy herself even if she did go.

She didn't even know why she'd wanted to go to start with. Granted, she hadn't done anything at all that even approached ‘fun’ in forever, but a
country
dance? A barn dance, they'd called it, and she had a strong feeling that was exactly what it would turn out to be. It wasn't as if there was any place in or around Ajax that would be big enough to accommodate such a huge gathering even if everyone didn't go.

Aside from the fact that she wasn't really ‘in’ to country music and never had been, she
also
wasn't ‘in’ to country dances, only had a vague memory of the square dances and polkas she'd learned when she was a little girl. Those dances had been fun then, but she'd been a lot less sophisticated then, too. She was a little old to be bouncing and skipping and swinging, especially around a barn floor.
One
vigorous dance in this kind of heat and humidity, and she'd probably be laying out in the pasture heaving like a winded horse, sweating like one, too!

Seth didn't walk her in like he usually did. Instead, he pulled his cruiser up near the door and sat hunched over his steering wheel, glaring at the hood ornament on his car, obviously waiting for her to get out. Abby hesitated, but since she couldn't think of anything to say that might smooth things over, she finally gathered her things and climbed out.

He didn't gun the engine and tear out of the parking lot when she'd shut the door. Instead, he turned and fixed her with a look she couldn't entirely interpret. After staring back at him for a long moment, trying again to summon something to say, she finally gave up and went inside. She heard the SUV pull off just as she reached the door and pulled it open. Glancing back as she stepped inside, she watched the tail end of the vehicle as it reached the exit, paused briefly, and then turned onto the road heading back toward town.

Maybe he had other things on his mind?

But she didn't believe that, although it did seem to her that Seth had begun to display a bit more tension than she'd noticed in the beginning. She would've liked to put that down to sexual tension, as it was with her. And she would've liked to think that they were all drawn to her and that, for whatever reason, their determination to keep things impersonal was beginning to wear thin.

Unfortunately, although she did think they were attracted to her, she thought it was probably a lot more likely that it was the lack of sleep that was starting to wear on them. With Seth, it was probably also the heavier weight of responsibility with so many strangers in town. There was bound to be a lot more going on than usual that required his attention. She didn't know how many men he had helping him in keeping the peace, but the increase in traffic alone was noticeable and, that by itself, was probably a headache. With only one actual traffic light in the middle of town, she'd noticed there were now men stationed at nearly every corner in the heart of town, helping to direct traffic.

Two of her students were already in the classroom when she reached it—no huge surprise since she'd been running a little late due to the traffic congestion. Michael and Sean were usually the first to arrive, though. Both boys immediately got up from their desks and rushed to greet her, throwing their arms around her and nuzzling their faces against her. She'd been disconcerted the first time any of her students had greeted her so affectionately, not even certain she liked it. As certain as she had been that she shouldn't encourage it, though, she'd discovered that she wasn't very successful in
dis
couraging it and that it hadn't seemed to have an adverse impact on discipline.

Besides, it was hard not to like it. They seemed genuinely affectionate and even if it wasn't something she was used to, she'd discovered it not only wasn't hard to get used to it, she was beginning to look forward to it. Warmed by their hugs, she smiled down at them, hugging each of them in return and ruffling their hair before she shooed them back to the their desks. The other students, undoubtedly from the buses, began to stream in even as the boys returned to their seats. She got sleepy eyed smiles from most of them and a few more quick hugs, but in a few minutes they were all seated at their desks, looking at her with bright eyed expectation.

She thought, beyond the affection they were so generous with, their enthusiasm for learning was what had sucked her into the job she'd been certain she was going to hate. They were like thirsty little sponges, eager for life, for every new experience, so thrilled when they mastered something new that she couldn't help but be thrilled, too, as if it was her own accomplishment.

Taking out supplies, she walked up and down the rows of desks and chairs, passing out a clean sheet of paper and a pencil to each of them and instructing them to begin with writing the letters they'd already learned. Moving back to the front of the room, she used her marker to draw a large capitol E and a lowercase e on the board and then when to her supply cabinet to pull out a large poster featuring the letter and an elephant.

There were two men dressed in dark business suits standing at her door when she turned from the cabinet. Abby's heart skipped a couple of beats as she spied them. Every child in the room instantly lifted their head, stared straight at her, and then turned to study the men as one of them opened her door and the pair stepped inside the room.

"Can I help you gentlemen?” Abby asked, hearing a faint quaver in her voice. She didn't recognize either man, but the suits might almost have been a uniform. Both of them were wearing dark glasses, which they hadn't bothered to take off. The man who'd opened the door reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a folded wallet, briefly flashing the identification card at her. The second man fumbled and managed to drag his own out as the first folded his and shoved it back into the inner pocket.

"I'm Agent Bill Thomas. We need you to come with us, Ms. Winthrope,” the first man said coldly.

Abby's heart sank. She'd been afraid ever since Milner had left the night before that Seth's confidence was completely misplaced. She'd hoped, though. His certainty that he could convince the Feds to leave her alone and let her keep the life she'd just begun to settle in to had infected her.

"I'm in the middle of class,” she objected finally. “Whatever it is you need to speak to me about can wait until the end of the day, surely?"

"I'm afraid not,” Thomas responded, impatience clearly evident in his voice.

The realization that they meant to take her immediately sent her into chaos. She certainly hadn't expected that! “But ... I can't just leave the children! I have to make some kind of arrangements ... speak to Mrs. Caruthers and give her a little time to get someone in the class...."

The man's lips tightened. He strode toward her. “We don't have time to argue with you,” he said in a low voice. “This operation has been compromised."

Fear leapt to the forefront of her mind at that. She whipped her head around in a quick scan of her students, registering the worry on their little faces and realizing that she could be putting them in danger by lingering. Smiling with an effort to reassure them, she nodded at the man. “Just keep working on your letters, children. I'm going to step outside with these gentlemen."

Thomas caught her wrist as she turned away and started to her desk to get her purse. She glanced at him blankly. “I have to get my things."

"Leave them!” he said tightly.

Abby gaped at him, too stunned by the implications to consider arguing with him as he planted a hand in the center of her back and practically shoved her toward the other man. “I've got to let Ms. Sheffield know my class is unattended,” she said a little desperately as they reached the door and snatched it open, shoving her into the hall hard enough she tripped and nearly sprawled out.

The noise echoed down the silent corridor. Several doors opened nearby before the echo had died and the teachers poked their heads into the hallway. Agent Thomas’ grip tightened. “There's nothing here to concern yourselves with,” he growled at the teachers without focusing on anyone in particular.

"I need someone to keep an eye on my class,” Abby said when she caught sight of Ms. Sheffield.

Carrie nodded, but stared at the men through narrowed eyes. “Is everything alright, Abby?” she asked sharply.

"Everything's fine!” Thomas answered for her, urging her to move.

Abby was in too much turmoil to gather her wits, but the one thought pounding through her was that they seemed intent on taking her away immediately. She wasn't even going to get the chance to tell Seth goodbye! “It's fine,” she responded shakily. “Tell Seth..."

She broke off when she felt something painfully hard dig into her ribs. Glancing down, she stared at the barrel of the gun blankly for a moment before she jerked her head up to look at the man holding it. “Unless you want their brains splattered all over this school,” he murmured, “move!"

Terror instantly replaced the sense of awful, debilitating loss that had been swarming through her. She nodded jerkily, throwing a vague smile in Carrie Sheffield's direction. “Tell Seth I'll see him later."

She didn't know how she'd managed to summon the words from the chaos of her mind but, swirling beneath her sheer terror for herself was fear for the children and fear for Seth and the instinct to try to protect them. Without consciously acknowledging it, she knew the two men must be hit men, hired by Mikhail, and ruthless killers that wouldn't balk at shooting down anybody that happened to get in their way. She tried to conquer the incapacitating fear gnawing at her reason as they ushered her swiftly toward the exit, tried to formulate some avenue of escape that wouldn't involve endangering the teachers and children in the school.

She couldn't run back inside, she realized in dismay, even if she could somehow break free of them. It would only draw them back inside and very likely instigate mass slaughter. She hadn't paid enough attention to the school grounds, though, to instantly pull up any kind of possibilities. The school sat near the edge of town and there weren't but a handful of residences nearby—which might or might not represent any kind of shelter. The woods came up to the parking lot, though, on this side of the school, she remembered as they reached the doors and she glanced outside.

If she could just make it to the woods....

The thug that hadn't identified himself shoved the doors open as they reached them and ‘Agent Thomas’ shoved her through. The moment he did, the two men closed ranks on her, hemming her in tightly on both sides. She was actually surprised they didn't just shove her down and shoot her right then and there, but the moment the thought occurred to her and iciness slithered through her, she realized that the two men were far more intent on trying to maintain their cover story and get her away from any possible witnesses.

There were children peering from the windows of the classrooms that faced the parking lot, their teachers standing at the windows with them. Mrs. Caruthers had stepped through the doors of the wing near the front of the school and was staring at them hard.

What were they
thinking
, Abby wondered in horror? Did they have no inkling of what was going on? No idea that they were risking the children's lives by allowing them to rush to the windows and stare out? She wanted to scream at them to run inside and lock the doors. She didn't dare.

Trying to push her anxiety about them from her mind, she scanned the parking lot as they hustled her across it. Spying a sedan that looked like the sort of cars favored by cops everywhere as ‘unmarked,’ realizing they seemed to be taking her toward it, she scanned the lot behind it, trying to decide how far it was from the edge of the woods.