Mark of the Wolf (26 page)

Maddy felt the hair stand on her arms. She
had never hugged her stepfather, not since her mother's death. She
had always blamed him for the suicide, too, though she had been so
young when it had happened that she barely spent time thinking
about it. She hesitated now, staring at his open arms, wondering
what he was playing at. Finally she took a careful step forward and
went to give him a hug.

His arms closed around her, making her heart
hammer, and then suddenly she smelled it. A chemical smell, leaking
from his pocket, so strong that it felt like a nail rammed up her
nose. His hand was reaching for it, and suddenly he was trying to
grab her and hold her still. With a shriek of surprise, she thrust
away from him, breaking her hold easily and scrambling backwards
until she caught her balance on the wall.

“
What the hell are you doing?” she
screamed, her heart hammering, her breath scraping through her
lungs. The heady fumes of the drug were effecting her even though
she hadn't fully inhaled it.

“
Doing you a favor,” he slurred, and
she recognized the irritation in his voice, the sadistic glint in
his eye as he stumbled after her. The iodine rag was forgotten on
the floor, and now he reached for her with thick, pudgy fingers.
“Some nice men said they would take you off my hands, give you a
good life, a new life, Maddy.” She ducked around the couch and he
followed, amazingly dexterous for a drunk man. “I haven't been the
father you deserve, you know... just couldn't man up to it.” His
voice was still wheedling. “Come now, baby girl, come to
papa....”

“
Don't make me sick!” she yelled,
circling until she had the back door in sight. She had to get out
of this room, but her anger was holding her from fleeing. A week
ago, she would have left at the first sign of him being drunk, but
his final words had caused a bubble to burst in her brain. She
turned on him, glaring, fighting the urge to roar. “You haven't
been the father I deserve?” she mocked. “You're not even a
fucking
man
,
you're just some scared little boy who has to beat on girls!” She
ducked his hands again, pulling back, keeping the couch between
them. “Your heart is probably as big as your tiny prick, you
bastard!”

“
Shut up, cunt!” her stepfather
roared, provoked into a drunken rage. He wasn't thinking straight
anymore, she could tell by the way his eyes darted around, glaring
evilly out from under bushy eyebrows. “You think I wanted to raise
a dumb shit kid all by myself? I kept you cuz I couldn't stand to
throw you out with the trash... but now I know I should've, for all
the trouble you've caused. I never cared about you,
never!
” He grinned suddenly, as though having had a brilliant
thought. “Your mom never cared either. That's why she up and
choked.”

Maddy saw red. Before she could think, she
flung herself across the couch, scratching and kicking at him as
hard as she could. She couldn't think clearly; all she knew was
that she wanted to hurt him, bruise him, scar him in the way he had
scarred her, both physically and mentally. She wanted to leave a
mark on him, something he would never forget, something he would
regret until the day he died.

“
You asshole!” she shrieked, and raked
her fingers across his face, her fingernails drawing
blood.

“
Bitch!” and he grabbed her hair, the
same old process, dragging her down to the ground. She fought him
this time, though – she didn't fold like a weak little girl, didn't
roll over and play dead. Instead she punched him, trying to hit him
in the balls, get him where it would hurt the most.

He grabbed her hands and threw her against
the wall, and her head cracked back, hitting the wood hard. She
momentarily saw stars. The next time she focused, she had sunk to
the floor, her knees curled under her. He had a firm hold on her
hair, and his hand drew back.

Smack!
The force of the blow across her face left her head
spinning. She couldn't breathe for a moment.
Smack!
Again, across the face. She could
already feel the tender skin bruising, her lip swelling, her eye
shutting defensively.

“
You know why your mother killed
herself?” her stepfather taunted, drunkenly slurring. “Because the
bitch didn't want you. She didn't want a daughter like you and a
husband like me. She was scared of it, Madeline. Scared of
this
happening... and
guess what? It happened anyway.” He smacked her again, and she
lashed out this time, ramming her hand against his throat. He let
out a roar of anger and dropped down next to her then. His hands
went to her neck, squeezing tightly, cutting off her airway. She
couldn't breathe, but she struggled anyway like a wild animal. Her
heightened senses could tell that through his adrenaline, he was
breathing hard, tired. If she just twisted enough... if she just
fought back, he would collapse sooner or later. He was too drunk
and exhausted to do much more.

“
So I sold you,” he whispered, his
alcohol breath drenching her face. She gagged on that too.
“$250,000, can you believe it? Quarter-mil! For a scrawny little
bitch like you – can you imagine? I can get out of debt, pay off
these damned bills you keep wracking up, and then move on with my
life. And you'll have a nice little career set up for you.” One of
the hands that had been choking her suddenly dropped to her breast
and squeezed it firmly. “You'll make one hell of a little
whore....”

She wanted to throw up and hit him at the
same time, she was so pissed. But she was slowly losing
consciousness from lack of air, and the idea of that terrified her.
If she passed out, he would do whatever he wanted with her, and
then throw her to the dogs when he was done. Her hands reached to
her sides, searching for anything to help her, anything to use as a
weapon... but all the vases and lamps were too far away. She was
helpless.

“
Too bad I sold you as a virgin,” his
hot, drunken breath hit the side of her neck. “Maybe I should check
that, eh? Don't know what a little slut like you has been doing
around school....” His clumsy, thick fingers went to her pants.
Maddy struggled harder and kicked him in the shin, and his cussed,
his hand squeezing on her throat as the other slammed against her
face. Her head spun. She could taste blood in her mouth, and she
couldn't see out of one eye. She couldn't breathe....

The sound of splintering wood dimly met her
ears, but she was on the edge of passing out and couldn't get her
senses in order.

“
What the fuck?” Her stepfather
released her throat and her head slumped forward. Then there was a
shout — and then a scream — and more crashing furniture. A
thud
against the wall as
a body hit it, and a wet, nasty ripping sound. Maddy closed her
eyes, swooning in and out of consciousness, until she was finally
able to think straight again. When she raised her head, she could
see the figure of Gareth standing across from her, his back to her,
holding her stepfather up by his neck.

“
Don't kill him,” she gasped, before
she could hesitate. The words hurt her throat; her chest ached. “He
deserves worse than that.”

Gareth didn't twitch. “He doesn't deserve to
live,” he growled.

“
No.” Maddy pulled herself to her
feet, wobbly yet determined. She started toward the back door. She
may be stunned and in pain, but she wasn't stupid – Gareth had come
here for her, and once he was done dealing with her father, he
would turn to her again. She knew she wouldn't be able to refuse
him; she had to get away while he was preoccupied. “He deserves to
suffer,” she whispered, her hand going to the doorknob. “I want
that man to be in pain for the rest of his life.”

“
That can be arranged.” Gareth hefted
her stepfather higher, and Maddy saw his hands go between his
legs.

“
No, no!” Her stepfather pleaded,
tears leaking from his eyes. It made her sick to watch a grown man
act so pathetic “Please, I've got money, I'll give you a
hundred-grand — no, more! More!” Gareth's hand hovered there, ready
to mutilate the man permanently. He leaned his face in
close.

“
Take back every scar you ever gave
that girl, you pathetic, disgusting piece of shit,” he
growled.

Her stepfather went slack, face pale, then
she saw Gareth's arm flex. He reached forward swiftly.

Maddy took that moment to step outside the
door, shutting it hard behind her, though the sound was drowned out
by her stepfather's screams. She had never heard a man scream so
loudly and she didn't try to picture what was happening inside.
Instead she turned, slipped on her sandals that always rested next
to the door, and dashed into the woods. She was not ready to talk
to Gareth or even see him, especially in the state she was in now.
When they had their confrontation, she wanted to be perfectly
healthy, not beaten and damaged or bruised. It was humiliating.

She entered the trees almost immediately and
started uphill, heading toward the mountain top. Her senses were
still heightened, and it was far easier now to navigate the
underbrush, especially in broad daylight. She took a new route this
time, one that was more tangled and overgrown, yet she felt like
she was moving faster than ever. She leapt over logs, dodged under
branches and around thickets. She passed a badger den and a deer
trail, and knew every creature that shared the woods with her for
several yards in either direction.

Time passed until she was sweaty and tired,
her face hot and bruised, her throat sore. It still hurt to breathe
– even the slightest brush of wind against her abused throat was
agony, making it harder to run. She reached a stream and traveled
down it for a while before crossing, trying to hide her tracks in
the water. Then she continued.

She wasn't sure when she knew that he
followed. The feeling grew in her steadily until she could imagine
his breath against her neck. His smell drifted to her once or twice
on the breeze, sending a tendril of dread through her, but he was
mostly downwind and therefore invisible.

Finally she burst from the trees and came
sliding to a halt. Her path was blocked by a massive stone face, a
cliff that arched up into the sky, a building block of the
mountain. She gazed at the dead end, defeated; she would have had
to stop running sooner or later. Her eyes lingered on the rock wall
until she shook her head. It was impossible to climb without
equipment.

She heard a rustle in the underbrush behind
her, and she turned around slowly, knowing he was there. His
presence filled the small clearing.

He came to a stop a few yards away, not
winded at all. His shirt was the same that he had worn the day
before, and she could see a few rips in it, though she couldn't
remember where they had come from. His hair was wild, his eyes
brilliantly green, his face drawn into a strict line. If there was
blood on his hands, she didn't see any.

“
Did you kill him?” she asked, panting
to catch her breath. She felt numb.

“
I told him never to come back,” he
murmured.

“
What did you do?”

“
The worse thing that can happen to a
man.”

“
Ah.” She didn't need to ask further;
she remembered Gareth's final position and could guess the rest.
She doubted her stepfather would ever have another child – which
was a blessing.

They stood in silence for a long moment until
Maddy felt exhaustion hit her, then she slowly sank to her knees,
holding up her hand when he took a step forward. “Stop,” she said,
“Don't touch me.”

“
Maddy...” his voice carried a tone of
warning to it.

“
Don't growl at me!” she snapped,
glaring up at him. He paused at that. “You think you have the right
to touch me after using me in front of your entire pack? Forget
it!”

He actually took a step back at her fierce
tone. When she met his gaze again, she saw sadness there,
uncertainty. He seemed oddly vulnerable. “Maddy, I'm sorry... but
it was necessary.”

“
Necessary?” she almost shrieked. She
was happy there was no one in listening distance. “It was necessary
for my first time to be on the cold cement floor in some warehouse?
Fuck that!” She spit at him, resisting the urge to jump up and claw
his eyes out.

His face darkened but he didn't respond.

“
I
hate
you,” she seethed, looking down at the ground,
trying to hide the angry tears in her eyes. “I hate you! You help
me, give me something to hope for, and then take it away! How could
you? How could you be so
cruel?
” She flung her arm back towards the way they had
come. “You're worse than him! At least the bruises fade after a
while – I'm never going to recover from what you did! That was
my
first
time
. I'll
never be able to relive it, never be able to cherish it with
someone who matters – does that mean anything to you? Anything at
all?”

“
Yes,” he murmured.

“
No,
it doesn't!” she screamed, climbing back
to her feet. She wobbled for a moment in place and he reached out
to steady her, but she smacked his hands. “Don't fucking touch me!”
she yelled. “Just get away from me! All this lifemate crap is just
that – bullshit! It's all bullshit and you're just some freak
leading on an ignorant girl who doesn't know shit... Hah, I bet
that was real great huh? Telling me all this crap and having me
believe you....” She couldn't keep the bitterness from her voice.
She glanced down at the ground, glaring at her dirty, cut feet. “I
guess you got Yvonne now, huh? How did that go, by the way? Did she
take you back?”