5

"I've lost my freaking mind," I mumbled, hurrying back down the road the way I'd come. The woman filling her gas tank yelled something after me, but my brain was too fried to listen.

It had taken me all night to walk to the werewolf town, but maybe I could get back to my dorm by the time the sun set. If I just kept walking, ignored my dry mouth and aching feet, I could make it.

What was the alternative; getting eaten by a damn werewolf or turning into one?

I'd take some foot pain and hunger over that any day.

The wolf realized my intentions and stepped between me and the forest before I got back on the dirt road. He gave a low, threatening growl.

"Get out of my way," I threatened back. My body swayed a bit, and I flung my arms out to try to keep my balance. I managed to remain standing, luckily.

Taking a step to the side, I tried to pass the wolf. He just jumped in my way again.

"Dammit, wolf, move!" I yelled.

Laughter erupted behind me.

I spun around, having no idea what to do with my hands if I was going to have to try to fight my way to freedom. Was I supposed to fist them? Or pull them up close to my chest, maybe?

There they were: the not-football-team. Of course those assholes were the source of the laughter.

That was just my freakin’ luck.

In the light of day, it was easier to separate the not-football-players from each other. Five men of various ethnicities, sizes, clothing styles, and hair-cuts. Separate from each other in every way I could see, but with one thing in common:

They were all werewolves.

"I wish I could order my wolf around like that." Seatbelt Guy grinned. Now that I wasn't panicking, I got a better look at him. His skin was dark, his hair cut close to his scalp on the sides of his face and head. Slim, artfully-styled locs fell to the middle of his forehead. He was the tallest of the group, but only by an inch or so. They were all tall, and all built like the damn football players I'd assumed they were.

"We all do," another guy agreed. He strode toward me, offering a hand. He was tan, with a mass amount of fluffy, dark brown hair and a smile that would've set most people at ease.

But it just made me more wary.

I didn't take his hand.

"You assholes kidnap me, leave me with a monster, and want me to shake your hands and trust you? Yeah, right." I glared at the lot of them. "Take me home."

"Sorry, we can't do that." Smiley Guy pulled his hand away and gestured to the wolf behind me. "You've got a better chance at surviving the mating bite if you spend the weeks leading up to it with Jesse, at his place. We'll keep you fed and safe, but being alive is more important than being home."

I laughed, and the sound came out sounding slightly maniacal. I needed sleep, and painkillers, and freedom. "Bullshit. All of this is bullshit."

Jesse stepped up next to me and growled fiercely at the guys. Their expressions faltered a bit.

He lowered his nose to my shoe, a wolf's way of gesturing, I guess.

"Is your foot injured?" one of the guys asked. I was pretty sure he had been the getaway driver, though that didn't help much because I didn't know any of their names.

"No," I lied, not wanting them to have an excuse to grab me again.

Jesse growled again, and it sounded like he was disagreeing with me.

Damn wolf.

"Grab her. Let's get her back to Jesse's place so she's got some time to rest," Smiley Guy instructed.

"No, don't—"

Seatbelt Guy tossed me over his shoulder once again.

I kicked and yelled as the guys walked back to Main Street, then turned down another street, and then another. They chatted amongst themselves and Jesse trotted behind me as they went, as if they weren’t dragging me along like a freakin’ prisoner.

Eventually my throat got too dry for yelling, and my body too tired for kicking. And then I just gave up. I was carried along, draped over Seatbelt Guy's shoulder like a sack of potatoes and wondering what the hell I'd done so wrong to deserve being attacked and kidnapped by werewolves.

No one else in the town seemed to have a problem with my shouting for help—or seemed to see it as a problem. I'd determined that werewolf towns were full of sick monsters who were completely okay with abducting innocent people… and probably murdering them, too.

The not-football-team stopped in front of a row of townhouses and set me down, keeping a hand on my arm. In another situation, I would've thought the townhouses looked nice, maybe even cute. They were little two-story townhomes covered in siding, all of them painted differently with different accent colors and such, but all in the same shades of dove gray, dark green, and soft white.

They walked as a group to the house at the end of the row. It was mainly gray, with white as a secondary color and only hints of green. I liked the color combination the most on that one, not that I'd admit it out loud.

One of the guys typed the code into the garage door's keypad, and everyone headed into the house together. I eyed Jesse the wolf, who had started wagging his tail as we approached his space.

Wagging his freaking tail, after abducting me.

That wolf dude needed serious help.

Seatbelt Guy tossed me onto a dark blue loveseat, and said, "Welcome home, Teagan."

I satup and shot him the most heated glare I could manage. "This is not my home. And I don't remember telling any of you monsters my name."

"It was on your shirt." Smiley Guy tapped his collarbone. "Your name tag fell off on the way to the van."

"You mean it fell off when you were dragging me to the van."

"Carrying you, actually," another of the guys corrected.

There were too many of the werewolves to keep them all straight.

I was so freakin’ screwed.

"Well, if it bothers you that we know your name, I'm Elliot." Smiley Guy offered his hand.

"I'm Ford," Seatbelt Guy added.

The rest of them told me their names too, but they all went right over my head.

Jesse jumped up next to me on the couch. He dropped his big furry head to rest on my thigh, so I slid away from him. He scooted toward me in response, and I moved more.

That continued until my side met the arm rest, and then I was stuck… with a damn werewolf head on my bare thigh.

I should've worn leggings to work.

"We'll leave you two alone for now. Dinner's at Ford's place tonight, it's the one next door." Elliot, AKA Smiley, gestured off to the side. "Get some rest, and a shower. You reek. We'll find you some clothes, but for now, just wear Jesse's."

"You guys are insane." I scowled at them. "This is crazy."

"Yup. Welcome to Moon Ridge." Elliot grinned.

He was the second person to say that, yet somehow after hearing it twice, I felt even less welcome.

They all left, and I watched until the door closed behind them.

And… they had to be completely out of their minds if they thought I was going to stay in Jesse's house.

I slid off the couch, hurrying toward the door. It was true that I stank; I was a sweaty mess, and my feet were either soaked with sweat, pus-covered, or bloody, and hurting something awful. But my life was my priority.

I found a key-hook by the door, and a perfectly good set of keys hanging off it.

Bingo.

I sprinted back to the garage door I’d just been carried inside through.

A scream tore through my throat when the wolf smoothly jumped over the couch, landing between me and the door a fraction of a second before I reached it.

"What the hell?" I screeched. "Get out of my way!"

The wolf growled. Somehow, I could tell it wasn't a threatening growl...more like an answer. A simple, "No."

I raced toward the front door.

He had no problem beating me there, too.

"Damn you." My hands clenched in fists around the keys. I released the fists, shoved the keys into my pocket, and headed for the stairs.

I’d have to take a shower, then make my escape while Jesse was napping. Wolves slept as much as dogs, right?