I don't know how long I was out, but the awakening wasn't much fun. My body ached like I'd been through a no-rules schoolyard brawl and I had a headache that threatened to split my skull. I creaked open my eyes and found I lay on my right side a blue leather couch. Spread out in front of me was a large square room. The lights were out, but some windows beyond my sight to my right allowed some natural light into the room. A desk sat to my right and a door was set into the wall at my left. A couple of bookshelves sat against the wall opposite me.
Seated in a wooden chair close beside me was Orion. His legs were crossed and his eyes were on me. I started back and my eyes widened when I noticed his eyes were a bright yellow. Orion closed his eyes, and when he opened them they no longer glowed.
"Good evening, Sleeping Beauty," he teased.
I sat up, but a little too quickly. My aching head swam and I swayed from side-to-side. I clutched onto the side of my head and winced.
"What truck hit me?" I mumbled.
"A small dose of wolf's bane," he told me.
I looked up and furrowed my brow. "Wolf's bane? As in the werewolf stuff?"
"The one and the same," he replied.
That's all I needed to hear. "I gotta get out of here," I insisted as I swung my legs over the side of the couch. I clutched my head with both hands as the room spun in circles.
Orion leaned towards me and grasped my shoulders. "Don't move too quickly."
"So I noticed," I quipped. I looked into his concerned face and searched it for signs of insanity. There were no evident signs, but maybe I was the one going insane. "What the hell's going on here? Where is here?"
Orion released me and leaned back against his chair. His eyes brushed over the room. "Here is the mayor's office in the city hall. To get to the next question you want to know, it's all because of that." He nodded at something to my right.
I followed his gaze to the thick wooden desk. Atop the desk on the corner closest to us was the apple I picked. I don't know how I was sure it was mine, but something inside me told me it definitely belonged to me.
I pursed my lips and my eyes flickered back to Orion. "That doesn't make any sense to-" A noise from the door interrupted me. It sounded like someone opened another door and let out a thousand angry voices.
Orion turned his head towards the entrance and frowned. "They're coming."
I raised an eyebrow. "Who's coming?"
Orion stood a split second before the door opened. Three people walked into the room. The first was a woman of fifty. She was tall and wore a professional blue skirt and white blouse. Her heels clacked against the wood floor and her alert eyes took in the room in a second.
Behind her came two men. The one immediately behind her was of an age so ancient he could only be described as geriatric. The announcement of his birth must've been written using cuneiform. Spectacles graced the lower part of his nose and his wispy white hair was combed back over his skeletal skull. He wore a brown tweed suit as aged as himself with dark patches on the elbows and knees.
The last in the parade was Armel. He shut the door behind their little group.
The men lined up shoulder to shoulder and the woman stepped in front of them. She crossed her arms over her chest and her hard eyes flickered between me and Orion.
"We have to make this quick. The meeting isn't going so well," she commented. She gestured to me. "I presume she's the one."
"Yes, but she doesn't know anything," Orion insisted.
"That's for the Librarian and me to decide," she argued. She half-turned to the old man. "What do the Books say on this one? Should she remain?"
The old man shuffled past her and stopped a foot in front of me. His weary old eyes studied my face until I leaned back and glared at him. I raised my palm towards him to put a barrier between us.
"Stop treating me like I'm some sort of specimen," I snapped.
The man had bushy eyebrows above his eyes that slowly raised. A smile curled onto his wrinkled lips, and he chuckled. "She would make a very wise addition to the community."
"Are you sure?" the woman asked him.
I jumped to my feet and balled my hands into my fists at my sides. "I'm not joining any community until you tell me what's going on."
The old man took a step back and chuckled. "A very wise addition."
"Then she stays. We'll do her initiation at the end of the meeting," the woman commanded as the old man shuffled away from me. She turned to Orion while the men made for the door. "In the meantime, keep her here. I'll have Armel come back for you."
"I'll try," Orion promised.
The woman and her strange entourage turned to leave. I stepped forward and grabbed her sleeve. "Wait a sec! You can't keep me-" The woman spun around and grabbed my wrist. Her strong hold tightened around muscles and veins until I felt the blood cut off. I cried out and clawed at her hand, but my efforts didn't even leave a fingernail scratch on her skin.
Her cold dark eyes looked into mine and I saw a gleam of orange in their depths. "Never touch me again."
The woman shoved me backwards and I stumbled until Orion caught me. I cradled my limp wrist in my other hand as the three people left. Orion stood me on my feet and slipped in front of me.
"Let me look at it," he pleaded. He took my wrist in his gentle hold and pressed a thumb against the muscles, bones, and veins. He sighed. "Nothing's broken."
I wrenched my hand from his hold and glared at him. "What the hell is going on?"
Orion's eyes studied my face for a moment before he averted his gaze and he sighed. "Would you believe me if I told you I'm a werewolf?"
My mouth dropped open and I blinked at him. "You're a. . .a what?"
A small smile slipped onto his lips. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't think this was going to be easy."
I took a step towards him. "Listen, whatever you think you are, you have to help get out of here. I don't know who those people were-"
"The woman is the mayor of the town, the man was the Librarian, and Armel is the Sentinel charged to protect the Tree," he told me.
"And they'll all look great behind bars when the cops find out they're holding me captive," I quipped.
He shook his head. "The cops aren't going to do anything."
I frowned. "So they're in on it, too?"
Orion's tired face cracked a smile and he chuckled. "I'm afraid the whole town is in on the conspiracy."
I narrowed my eyes and studied him. "And you're with them?"
He leaned his shoulder against the wall between me and the door and folded his arms over his chest. "Let's just say I don't like the way things are going, but trying to stop things would be like trying to swim upstream in a flood."
"But you can help me?" I questioned him.
"That would depend on what you're asking," he returned.
I gestured to the windows behind the desk and the door behind him. "Any way you can get me to my car so I can get out of here?"
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "You wouldn't make it very far, not when the whole town is here and would learn about you missing. You'd be hunted down and brought back within a half hour."
I glared at him. "I'm not staying in this loony-bin any longer than I have to, and if you're not going to help then stay out of my way."
I tried to rush past him to the door, but he wrapped his arms around my waist and picked me off the floor like I was a child. "Let go! Let me down!" I yelled as I pounded on his back.
"You'll thank me later," he replied as he plopped me back down on the couch and stepped back.
"I'll sue you later for kidnapping!" I snapped.
A sly smile slipped onto his lips. "Then how about we add harassment onto the list?" He leaned down and pressed a firm kiss on my lips.
It was as though time stopped. A wave of heat swept through me and filled me with a sensual lust that pooled between my legs. A madness invaded my mind that
forced me to lean into the kiss, to press harder for more of his body.
He pulled away and we both panted for breath. His eyes sparkled and held a yellowish tint to their depths that only heightened my desire for him. Then he went and ruined it by talking.
"You know, that assistant job is still available if you want to apply," he teased.
I frowned and pushed him away. He stumbled back and fell onto his rear. I wiped my arm over my lips and snarled at him.
"Disgusting!" I growled.
He laughed. "I'm glad you liked it."
The door opened and Armel stepped inside. "It's time."
Orion's smile slipped from his lips. My pulse picked up speed. I felt like I was a death-row inmate and my sentence was about to be carried out.
Orion turned to me and held out his hand. "Come on."
I whacked his hand away and stood. "Don't expect for me to thank you later," I growled.
"That makes two of us," he replied.
I stalked past him to the door. Orion snatched the apple from the desk and followed.
CHAPTER 7