Jane

All of the men grew eerily silent as the tall man in front of her glared down at her with his vibrant aquamarine eyes.

"Motherfucker," Someone then said.

Jane was speechless. The way the man in front of her stared down at her was unlike any way she had ever been checked out. He looked at her as if the rest of the world had faded away or traded place with her – as if he was looking at his world for the first time and saw it more clearly than ever. It was nerve wracking.

"What..." She tried to remember how to speak. What to say? Wasn't she supposed to be running right now? Yes, running. These men, whoever they were, were not normal. They had killed those monsters and done something to her sister who still laid unconsciously on the ground. She should be freaking out, not trying to determine whether the orbs looking into her soul at the moment were more green tinted than blue.

"Another damn human," The man from before, Hack, then suddenly muttered. There was something unimpressed in his voice. "Your tastes in females have really specified, my brothers."

Someone growled harshly. Kevlar, the man with the red eyes, peeled his upper lip back in Jane's peripheral vision. Hack uttered something in a voice too low for her to hear, but it did little to calm the red-eyed man.

"Tavi," The blond broke in and walked up to his leader. "We need to move. The rancors are gonna smell the ashes soon and come back stronger. We'll be outnumbered and we haven't rested in days. We need to fall back, brother."

The man clasped a hand on the man he called Tavi – her aquamarine-colored soul gazer. He hardly reacted to the blond man's touch, but instead kept staring at Jane, cupping her face in his hand.

"Lyca..." He whispered. His deep voice was coarse like sandpaper. "I've waited so long for you."

Jane's eyes widened when he then amorously brushed the tip of his thumb along her cheekbone. Her body blossomed with a warm sensation she couldn't find origin in. She responded to his words like a strange calling, but she didn't understand it.

"Crev's right," The man Kevlar voiced from her right, coming closer as well. "We have to go. If we stay, we're too exposed. Alpha?"

Alpha? Jane watched as Tavi slowly pulled himself out his daze. She saw a shadow work beneath his cheek as he clenched his teeth and tore his gaze from her.

"Find us a vehicle. And some clothes," He growled, and for some reason pulled Jane to his body as the men started moving, following his orders. His eyes fell to her again and eyed her petite fit against his large frame.

"I saw a parking lot not far. Any particular hotwheels you fancy?" It was Hack who was speaking who was picking up the shredded remains of his clothes from before he turned into... that thing.

Jane felt a chill run through her.

"Something with room. We're taking another passenger."

"Yeah, I figured as much."

"What?" Jane piped up as the two men exchanged a look before the silver-haired man ran off with surprising speed and lethal grace, clutching the remains of his leather jacket around his bottom half like a toga.

"You're coming with me," Tavi told her and brushed her cheek again. Jane immediately jerked away from his grip.

"The hell I am! If you think I'm going anywhere with the likes of you–" she wasn't entirely sure what that was yet, "–you're absolutely crazy!"

And wasn't that the obvious fact of the century, given the grotesque murder she had just witnessed him and his men do like it was a walk in the park.

Or hike in the forest, in this case.

The large man in front of her seemed burdened by an exhale that heavily left his chest. "I'm sorry, Lyca, but you're coming with us. Even if it has to be the hard way."

"My name is Jane," She reminded him, perhaps since he had seemed to forget that she was not this Lyca person he was referring to her as. "And if you even try to take me where I don't want to go, you and your friends aren't going to be walking tall much longer. I'll cap you behind your knees with my goddamned boots."

"She's got some moxy," The blond man, Crev, as she had heard the man call him, commented. He was walking around the clearing with the man Kevlar, seemingly brushing the dirt over with their feet—erasing any traces of paw prints.

Jane felt her spitfire return as she realized these men were really planning to kidnap her. Unconscious next to her laid Rachel still, and she knew she couldn't let them leave her here. Vulnerable and unprotected from those monsters that had come out of nowhere not moments ago.

"Let go of me," She demanded to the man Tavi who only tightened his grip around her arm when she started moving. "I said, let go of me! You get one last warning, misfit!"

"I'm sorry," He said, just as a car engine suddenly came roaring from down the hill, revving up over the mound with loud rock n' roll music blasting from the speakers. "But I can't let you go."

Jane yanked on her arm as hard as she could, but the man's grip was unsurprisingly strong. She should've figured what with his 6'7 frame and 275 Neanderthal bulk. The man was pure muscle, like a steroid mountain in human flesh.

Well, almost human.

Wildly, Jane spun around when she knew he wasn't going to let her go without a fight. She put her Krav Maga to good use and fired her fist directly against his throat, the same time her knee jerked up and aimed for his groin. She knew those were the two most likely and weakest physical points on a man of his virility that would do the most harm.

What she hadn't accounted for was his palm wrapping around her fist before it even got near his throat. He spun her around so fast her leg kicked against air as he pressed her spine into his chest and locked his arms across her own: She was disarmed, trapped.

Just then, the door to the large four-wheeler popped open and Hack stepped out, thankfully wearing a pair of brown cargo shorts. They fit narrowly around his cut hips and displayed his magnificent body unperturbedly. He walked towards them with a steel resolve.

"Car's fixed. We rolling?"

"In a sec," The man behind her spoke. "She won't come willingly. I need you to do your thing."

Hack rose a brow, but then started walking towards her; stepping past Rachel's unconscious body in the process.

"Don't come near me!" Jane hissed, furiously. She looked the silver-haired man straight in the eyes and curled her lip back. "Don't you even think about doing what you did to my sister to me!"

Surprisingly, Hack halted up. Like walking into an invisible wall, his arms and legs froze up.

"I can't move. It's starting already, Tavi." He voiced.

She heard a lowly muttered curse behind her ear. "I am your Alpha and you will do as I command you, Lycan."

"You can be a dick about it all you want, my brother, but that doesn't help my persona non grata situation over here."

She heard another oath fill the silence. "Come willingly, Jane," He then rumbled in her ear, trying to convince her. "Come willingly and don't make me do this against your will."

"If you touch me..." That was some threat since she was already locked against his body, his large arms wrapped around her skinny frame. "If you do anything to me, I swear—"

"I'm sorry, Lyca," And he really did sound that way, but when his grip left her hand and came to the junction between her throat and shoulder, she forgot all about his apology. "I hope you'll forgive me for this some day."

And then, ignoring her shouts and protests, he pressed his fingers around the cord of nerves running up her shoulder to her neck. The effect was instantaneous and Jane struggled to rip herself free.

The world started darkening and her limbs gave out. Of course a killer would know of the pressure point that would put someone to sleep, or in combat, knock you out.

Jane mumbled helplessly as her blood pressure dropped and her her heart slowed down. "Ra... Rach... el..."

She would, in fact, not forgive him for this.

~*~

What felt like many hours and one dry mouth later, Jane woke up on something soft. Silken. A bed?

Groggily, Jane tried to orient herself as the will of her limbs came back to her. Shifting and moving until her eyelids finally popped open, she immediately shot up and found herself... in a bedroom?

What had happened? Where was she? Dear God. She had passed out. It all came back to her and she remembered everything.

Squinting her eyes and feeling her heart pound, she looked around the darkly swathed room that appeared to be that of a sleeping-nature. The furniture seemed almost medieval in a somehow modern way. Retro wasn't exactly the word.

Everything seemed olden, yet had a meticulous newness to it. Like visiting a museum or a renaissance fair, the decor looked posed, but not... fake. There was an rustic elegance to it that she liked.

But it unsettled the question of where she was.

Despite her own dire situation, Jane's first thought flew to Rachel. Her heart started pounding wilder in her chest as she remembered that man Tavi knocking her out and leaving her sister sprawled out on the ground. What had they done to her? Oh, God. She remembered what they had done to those monsters. Had they done the same to her sister?

Springing out of the large satin-covered kingsized bed, Jane followed the streak of light on the floorboards from what had to be the door, intent of finding a way out and away from here. She had to escape or find a phone so she could call the police. But what if they were out there?

Pressing her ear to the door, she listened closely for any signs of life. She couldn't hear any sounds coming from the other side, but the lights out there were on. Judging from the closed drapes, it was nighttime. She had to have been out for hours. Not surprising.

She listened one last time before carefully twisting the doorknob. The old metal squeaked too loudly in the quietness and Jane cringed. She waited for the onslaught of four monstrous men, but when it never came, she slowly eased up again. She carefully continued pulling the door open and held her breath as she peaked out into the hallway.

Mother of...

Purely from the looks of it, the house she was in was enormous and grand. The hallway was lit up by old-fashioned oil lamps and lit the stretch of hallway dimly that rounded a corner at the end and finally disappeared. But no signs of her kidnappers.

Tiptoeing out, Jane was very aware that she had been abducted. Her heart and nerves were exploding, but she would have to deal with the shock and anxiety of it later. Right now, she had to find a way out before one of the giant males came back.

Her footsteps were soft against the long Persian runner that traveled down the hallway with her. The walls were a rich ambient orange and the floors were dark mahogany. Everything seemed so regal and polished. The brass oil lamps hung with a few feet's distance on the wall, separated by gilded paintings and solid doors. She halted for a moment when she recognized a Rembrandt. Who were these people?

She could voice her theories to the police later.

Following the curve of the hall, she abruptly stopped in her track when she suddenly detected a faint sound. A monotone mechanic whirring.

A vacuum cleaner.

When voices then caught her ear, her heart leapt into her throat. They got louder and louder, and sounded like they were coming her way.

With no room left to think, Jane sprung to the nearest door and prayed it was unlocked. To her good grace, the door gave way.

Hurrying inside and shutting the door firmly, she held her breath in an iron fist as the voices passed her door. She pressed her ear against the wood and tried to pick up any words.

"...scour the premise of the woods for more..."

The voices faded too quickly. She recognized the deep baritone and knew instantly it was the man Crev talking. She hadn't caught who he had been talking to.

Sighing out a breath of relief, Jane slowly turned around to lean her tense body up against the door. Instead, she froze up.

Standing inside what looked to be a military armory, her jaw dropped as she looked down at the aisles of heavy lead.

Holy mother of the American constitution.

Someone was certainly a fan of the second amendment.

Walking towards the nearest aisle, she stared at the grey metal shelves lined with small white lights to highlight its content.

Berettas. Glocks. Tauruses. Revolvers. Snap-noses. And that was just the hand gun section.

Looking down the many endless aisles and shelves, Jane's eyes nearly bulged out when she realized these men were stocked for a world war. Machine guns, rifles, even a damn bazooka rested on one large shelf, sitting stoically and waiting for the day it would get its turn off its metal hinges.

Well. Jane crossed her arms when her eyes landed on one shelf filled with what looked like cartons of ammunition. It was time for some answers, wasn't it?

*******

Oh shit 🙊
What's about to happen?
Tavian better run 😂