“Jamie, you stay here. We’ll be back soon,” Jackson said, and he and Logan made their way out of the basement, leaving to face whoever ‘they’ were. The cops? No…I didn’t think Mel would have been able to face calling them, but maybe Harper had after Mel told him what had happened, if she’d even made it back to Harper’s place. Whoever it was, they had set the brothers on edge immediately, although I didn’t understand how they had heard anyone approaching. I strained my ears and couldn’t hear a thing, but at least I had been given a respite for now, and I was left alone with Jamie.
10
“Do you mind loosening my restraints? They’re digging into my skin and I can’t move,” I said. Jamie turned towards me, a pensive look on his face. I knew what was going through his mind. He didn’t want to disappoint his brothers, especially not Jackson who was clearly the Alpha of the pack, but he had a conscience and he was young enough that it still mattered. I was banking on him listening to that while he was alone with me, without the influence of his brothers.
While he pondered the decision I decided to keep talking, hoping that I might disarm him. “So did you really hear anything out there because I didn’t hear a thing? And who are they talking about? I have nothing but questions, although I’m sure you’re not supposed to tell me. I imagine Jackson must have sat the two of you down before this whole thing began and laid out the rules, but I suppose even he couldn’t have prepared you for what it was like to be standing over a helpless woman, being able to do anything to her…you know, it takes a lot to stand up and resist temptation. But I think there’s a little more to it, isn’t there? You didn’t just do it because you thought it was wrong, but because you’re afraid to. You’re a virgin, aren’t you?” He didn’t say anything in reply, but from the way he blanched I knew it to be the case. “And you probably didn’t want to risk doing anything wrong in front of your brothers. I bet you must idolize them. They seem to have taken care of you, do you even have any parents, or are they the only family you’ve known?”
I thought back to what he said when he brought me food, about how I was going to save them. I still didn’t understand that, but I hoped that now I had Jamie alone he would reveal some information to me. He turned his head away and looked towards the stairs, his hands clenched by his side.
“Are you worried about them?”
Again, there was no response.
“Jamie, do you really want to stand there ignoring me? I know you don’t see me as some kind of object. I’m a person, but the way you’re acting now you’re being just like Jackson. I’m not here to be at the mercy of your whims. I don’t know what made him this way, but he can’t just go around acting like this. He’s a monster, but you’re not.”
Jamie whirled around and strode up to the altar. I immediately realized I had made an error by insulting his brother.
“Jackson is only trying to do what’s right. He’s not a monster. He’s not…he’s just…he’s just confused and he thinks things have to be done in a certain way. But he’s not a bad person. If you could just talk to him…”
“I’ve been trying to talk to him but he won’t tell me anything! None of you will! Don’t you think that maybe if you just opened up to me a little I might be able to help you? I don’t know what kind of ritual you have planned here but it’s not like I’m some kind of prude. If it means I can be free I might be willing to do a few things, but you have to tell me, and who are these people outside? Are they friends of yours?”
“No…they’re not friends at all,” Jamie said, and his gaze drifted towards the ceiling. I was about to try convince him to release me from my restraints again when we heard a noise, a loud cry of pain, so loud that even I heard it this time.
“No…I have to go,” Jamie said. He strode away from the altar. I begged him to wait, to release me, for I feared that if he never came back I would be stuck here until I died a long and unendurable death. But he leaped up the stairs and disappeared into the cabin, dealing with whatever it was he had to deal with.
I laid my head back against the altar and chewed my lip, wondering just what the hell had happened to me. Part of me wished I had never come looking for Mel, but then again she had only been in this situation because the brothers had marked me out as their quarry, although I was still unaware of what made me special. I struggled against the restraints, rubbing my wrists against them until pain flared through my forearms, trying my best to pry my arms out so I could escape. I was just about willing to do anything to get me out of this hell, even if it meant tearing my skin away, and I worked frantically, wanting to succeed before the brothers came back…if they came back.
11
I didn’t hear any further noises until the sound of their feet pummeling the steps. They were carrying Jackson’s limp body in their arms. Logan looked exhausted and battered. His clothes had been torn, while Jamie looked worried. Jackson’s head lolled down, his lank hair drooping around his face, and there was no strength to his body. He was such a powerful man that I was afraid of the kind of man that could do this to him.
“What happened?” I asked. The brothers brought Jackson into the basement and laid him on the floor. I could see in the flickering light that his clothes were stained with blood and a nasty gash had split his side. Dark blood rushed out, staining the ground, and the brothers were panicking, ignoring me once again.
“We just have to wait, right? He’ll be okay. He has to be okay,” Jamie said, and I heard the naivety of youth in his voice. There was no way Jackson was going to survive a wound like that, and thinking that he just had to wait it out showed a complete ignorance of medical knowledge. “Are there any more of them?” the youngest brother added, his voice filled with fear.
“No, that was a scout. If he’d have left though and gone back and told the others…damn. They’re looking for us, and they’re getting closer. It’s only a matter of time,” Logan said.
“But what are we going to do if Jackson doesn’t make it?” Jamie asked, crouching by the wounded man. Logan looked at him and didn’t have an answer.
“I can help, but you have to let me out of these restraints,” I said.
The brothers looked at me, and then at each other, and then down to Logan.
“Look, I’ve lived on the streets for a long time. I’ve had to fend for myself. I know how to patch up a wound. You let me out I’ll save Jackson, but you’re going to have to get me out of these restraints, but if you don’t then he’s definitely going to die, and you’re going to have to live with the knowledge that you could have done something to save him, but you didn’t.”
Jamie immediately rose to come to me, but Logan pulled him back. I wasn’t confident of saving Jackson, but I had to use any advantage to get out of these restraints. I was so confused about who had attacked them, but I had to put my questions aside for the time being. My priority was still escape, and if I had to leave without learning the truth about what was going on here then so be it, although I did really want to know because it was crazy, and even though I had been there for a couple of days I still wasn’t sure if actually I was living through a dream.
“What do you need,” Logan asked. I listed a few things like cotton wool, a bowl, a disinfected needle and something to stitch up the wound. Logan nodded and directed Jamie to go upstairs and get everything I had listed, while he came over to me and released the restraints.
“You don’t trust him to look after me?” I asked.
“I don’t trust you,” Logan said, smirking. I was glad to see that he still had his sense of humor given the scene that lay before us. I rubbed my wrists and stretched my body as soon as I was free of the restraints. It took a few moments for the blood to flow back properly, and I was a little light-headed as I swung myself off the altar and rushed to Jackson’s side. There was no use me making a run for it now because Jamie would have stopped me. I had to wait for the perfect opportunity, and in the meantime I would try and help Jackson because then they would owe me, and I always called in my favors.
When I fell to my knees I looked at the gaping wound and I was shocked by how deep it was. It looked as though a wild animal had done it, as though something had swiped a great claw down the middle of his body and torn through the flesh.
“I’ve gotta say Logan, seeing it up this close, I’m not sure there’s anything I can do.”
“Patch him up. He’s always been good at healing,” Logan said. Blood was pooling on the floor around Jackson’s body. It seemed as though he’d lost a lot already and his skin was growing paler by the second. I was impressed by the steadfast way Logan believed in his brother, but I didn’t think it would matter much in the long run.