Luke took one of the right-hand corridors, up four flights of stairs, and led us into a block of residential rooms. The narrow passages were a wooden-walled conundrum of twists and turns as each section was added on to over the countless years. All the halls had floors carved from the stone of the mountain that was constantly beneath their feet, and the doors to the countless rooms had tall, stout doors that rivaled those at Burnbaum's inn. There were torches on the walls, but I noticed they weren't real. They were fake with bulbs and red coloring to look real. "How'd they get electricity up here?" I wondered.
"It's powered by a waterfall farther up the mountain. I'll show it to you once we're settled," Luke offered.
At that moment I was glad to see some familiar faces in the form of Abby and her parents. Abby saw me, too, and raced over to us. She grabbed my hand, and jumped up and down. "Becky! Becky! Wasn't the train ride so much fun?"
"Yeah, it was something else." Something like terrifying. "Are you guys staying around this part of the building?" I wondered.
Her parents come up behind her and bowed their heads at Luke, who returned the favor. "The werewolves from the same district are grouped together to better discuss their vote," Mrs. Stewart explained to me. She smiled at Luke. "Of course, we'll vote for you, my lord."
"And I'll be glad for your support," he replied.
"If you'll excuse us, we need to get to our rooms," Mr. Stewart spoke up. They led Abby away, who turned and waved at me.
I waved back and leaned toward Luke, where I lowered my voice to a whisper. "Are all werewolf children that energetic?"
"She's quite energetic for any child," he told me.
"Ah, good. I was afraid I'd have to leash up all my children to keep them under control."
Luke chuckled and guided us a little further until we reached one of the larger doors. Alistair opened the entrance and led us into a large bedroom with windows overlooking the large deck thirty feet below us. The room also had its own balcony with a small table and two chairs. I glanced up to see the wooden rafters above us that held up the slanted roof. "Fancy," I complimented.
"It's the lord suite for my region," Luke explained. "The bathroom's to the right, and Alistair's room is connected to this one through that door beside the bathroom door. And speaking of Alistair, I have a few errands for you." The servant stepped up to his master for the commands.
I peeked my head inside the bathroom and was glad to see the toilet seat wasn't made of wood. I didn't want to get splinters every time nature called. I wandered back into the main room and noticed Alistair was gone. "Where'd Alistair go?" I asked Luke.
"I'm going to keep him very busy with a few errands while we're here."
"Lucky him. Speaking of servanty-type people, what was Mrs. Stewart talking about with that vote stuff?" I wondered.
"That's the reason why we're here. This is the vote for High Lord, and only those present at Sanctuary can cast a ballot," he answered.
I fell back onto the covers and sighed. "This werewolf society is seriously complicated," I commented.
"Yes, it's had a lot of time to change while other parts have remained the same," he agreed.
"Like you being a lord?" I wondered. "You said that was inherited."
"In a way it is inherited from my Maker," he replied.
I glanced up at the open rafters and the comforting scent of old pine. "How come Alistair knows so much about this place?" I asked Luke.
Later in room she asks Luke why Alistair more familiar with history of place. "He helped build it."
I frowned. "But didn't he say it was built three hundred years ago?"
"Yes."
"So he's that old?"
"Yes."
I sat up and looked at him with a suspicious glance. "Wait, how old are you again?"
He smiled. "Old enough to be your great-great-great-grandfather." I shuddered at the thought of making out with my ancient relative, and he laughed. "I promise you I won't look my age until I'm as old as Alistair."
"And that means I won't look my age, either?" I guessed.
"Exactly. The aging process practically stops when you're changed. Some werewolves have been known to live a thousand years or more."
"Provided they aren't caught by pitchfork-wielding villagers," I added.
"Yes," he agreed.
"So what do we do now?" I wondered.
"If you'd like I could show you around," he suggested.
"Do you have a map for me in case we get separated?" I teased.
Luke chuckled. "So long as you don't wander off too far I'll be able to find you."
"That super sniffer?"
"Yes, the super sniffer."
"All right, I'll go. This room's got a nice view but my legs need a stretch."
16
I slipped off the bed and Luke led me out into the maze of halls. A person's claustrophobia was given relief by the numerous skylights and a few large rooms, namely the dining hall and the lobby. The dining hall was a clean, exposed-rafter area with long wooden tables and benches lined up along the stone floor. On the rear wall away from the large windows and balconies was an array of foodstuffs the likes of which I'd never seen, and all to the tastes of carnivores. Lots of meat, deep-fried foods, and a salad bar for the more particular guests.
"I have an account if you ever need to buy food," he assured me.
Visiting the cafeteria wasn't completely uneventful. We walked by the cash register and I accidentally knocked my shoulder into someone coming out with their food. "I'm sorry!" I quickly apologized. My head whipped around and I was met with a very cold stare from a stern-faced man about middle aged with gray-speckled brown hair and tanned skin. He sneered at me and went on his way. I slid up to Luke's side and lowered my voice to a whisper. "Are werewolves cannibalistic?" I asked Luke.
"Not generally, why?"
"Because that guy looked like he wanted to bite my head off."
"That's Tom Baker, the commoner lord of the rural district," Luke explained to me.
"Friendly fellow," I quipped.
"He doesn't like leaving his district, especially for bureaucratic matters like these regional dispute meetings and the vote," he told me.
"A week must be an eternity to him," I mused.
"I imagine it is, but let's move on. I have a few special places to show you."
Luke led me away from heaven and into the depths of the large villa. We passed through residential areas for the other regions and walked along the deck to see the entire valley spread out below us. Wolverton was just a speck in the distance. I followed Luke down off the deck via stairs along the right side of Sanctuary and twenty yards into the woods. Then he took a sharp left up the incline of the mountainside where, nestled in the trees, we found a set of wide, sturdy wooden steps. These drifted away and above the villa so when you were halfway up and looked to your left you could see the roof below you.
We climbed the stairs, and I heard and smelled the water before I saw it. The steps flattened and I found myself on a stone platform that overlooked a deep, beautiful watering hole. The twenty-foot deep bowl was circular with flowers and mosses along the rocky edge. In front of me flowed a sparkling waterfall that fell from a point a hundred feet above the platform. It cascaded down over a few outcroppings of rocks and splashed into the pool of its own making. The pool drained itself into a small creek on the right side, and on the left was a small, camouflaged dam through which more of the water escaped the pool.
The water ran through the turbines and created electricity. Then the water was released out the front and slipped down the mountainside toward the villa. "What do you think?" Luke asked me.
"Wow," was all I could reply.
"The extra water goes down to Sanctuary and provides fresh drinking water," he explained to me. He pointed at the creek on our right. "That was diverted a long time ago to keep the spring flood from washing away Sanctuary's foundation. The original drainage point was where the stairs are now."
>
"This must have taken a while to tame," I mused.
"Yes, but only because they wanted to keep the beauty of the pond intact. Very few of the stones were moved, and lower down the creek rejoins its original bed."
"So can anyone swim in the pool?" I wondered.
Luke chuckled. "Everyone in Sanctuary would rather you didn't," he quipped.
My shoulders slumped over. "Damn."
Luke smiled and grasped my hand. My cheeks reddened, but he didn't seem to care. "I have one more place to show you." He pulled me back to the villa and to the lobby where we stood before the pair of large doors at the rear of the room. "Inside here is where the fate of all werewolves is decided by those who elected them," he told me.
"So you're going to show me a government meeting room?" I blandly wondered.
He smiled. "You'll see." He pushed open one of the doors just wide enough for us to slip inside. I expected to find a dark room with a light switch to flick on the long fluorescent lights, but that couldn't have been farther from the truth. Natural light spilled down from the domed ceiling above us and washed over a primitive Greek amphitheater. The walls on either side of us curved around the top of a gradual incline that led fifty feet down to a large stage. Countless rows of curved benches sat on either side of a flight of steps that led to the stage, with two more sets of stairs on either end of the room.
I glanced back at the doors and then back at the stage. This was like a tardis, a hell of a lot bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. "How many people can this fit?" I asked Luke.
"If they're crammed in we can fit a thousand," Luke replied.
"Wow."
"Isn't it? Did you want to sit down?" He led me a few benches down and we sat beneath the full light of the sun.
"So why'd they make something this fancy for a meeting room?" I wondered.
"The werewolves then were learned men who greatly admired the Grecian culture," he explained to me. "They wanted to mimic both their style of government and their buildings."
"So that's how they got all this voting stuff?" I guessed, and he nodded.
"Exactly."
"There you are," came a feminine voice We turned at the words and saw a beautiful woman walk down the steps toward us. She was a tall, stunning blond with long hair, a friendly smile, and an impeccable wardrobe. "I thought you'd been derailed again," she teased.
Luke stood and I followed suit, though I slunk behind him. "A pleasure to see you again, Stacy."
She brushed aside his formalities with a wave of her hand. "You know I don't like those stuffy kind of greetings. Just say you missed me terribly and we'll do with that."
"It has been a while," Luke admitted.
For the first time the woman noticed me peeking out from behind Luke. Her smile softened and she stepped to the side to garner a better view of me. "And who do we have here?" she wondered.
Luke, traitor that he was, pulled me in front of him. "Stacy Stevens, this is my mate, Rebecca," he introduced us.
Unfortunately, I hadn't forgotten how this Stacy had aspired to be Luke's love interest, so I nervously smiled at her. She smiled, but I detected a hint of disappointment in her lips. "So the rumors are true, you've found someone." She paused, tilted her head to one side, raised an eyebrow and cast a side glance at Luke. "A lovely face, but I don't remember ever seeing her before. Where did you find her, Luke?"
Luke sheepishly grinned. "Truth be told I-"
"Kidnapped me," I finished for him.
Stacy crossed her arms and gave Luke a severe look. "You stole away a human to be your mate? Luke Laughton, I thought you were made of better stuff than some of these barbarians."
Luke cringed and shrugged. I had to laugh at him cowering before a woman. "It was unavoidable," he defended himself.
I snorted. "Yeah, like you sticking me with that needle and dragging me off into the nineteenth century was unavoidable," I quipped.
Stacy's brows crashed down and she pulled me from Luke's arms. "And no doubt she's traumatized by the experience of being dropped into all this trouble."
Luke stiffened and placed a finger to his lips. He shook his head and his eyes roamed the room. "Not here," he whispered to her.
"Then where?" she asked him.
"Follow me."
Stacy kept me beside her as Luke led us out of the meeting hall, through the front doors and turned off the station path onto one of the woodland paths. He didn't venture to speak, but Stacy took on the silence and won. "When did Luke and you meet?" she asked me.
"An eternity ago, but I think it was less than a week ago for everyone else," I replied.
"That's hardly time to get your bearings around his home," she wondered.
"He kept me locked up in a white room."
Stacy frowned and shot a glare at Luke's back. "Did he really?" she mused.
Luke glanced over his shoulder at us. "She kept escaping," was his defensive reply.
Stacy snorted. "And good for her. Who would want to be stuck with a wild animal who kidnapped her?" I was really starting to like this woman.
Luke, however, wasn't very happy and quickened his pace. When we were a good half mile from the villa he turned to us with a serious expression. "Has there been any more news?"
Stacy, too, dropped her humor and shook her head. "None at all since my father learned about the meeting date change, but I can tell you he was very confused to learn of it. I don't believe it's happened in times of peace."
"No, but I think war is what Lance intends, or at the very least he'll go that far to achieve his ambitions," Luke replied. "Do you know if this will skew the vote?"
"His party was alerted well before any of the other lords and they're sure to vote in favor of him," she pointed out.
"Party?" I spoke up. I felt like the third wheel on a two-wheel bicycle.
"The opposing party to Burnbaum's decentralized Lone Wolf Party. They fear the encroachment of humans into what has traditionally been our territories and want to band together to keep them out," Luke reminded me.
"Oh, right. That mess. So we've got the Lone Wolf Party and the what again?" I wondered.
"Lance calls his the Alpha Party," Stacy spoke up with a roll of her eyes. "He always likes to give his projects a dramatic flare."
I glanced at Luke. "And we're stuck where?"
"In the middle," he replied.
I groaned and slumped my shoulders. "Oh goody."
Stacy smiled and set a hand on my shoulder. "You'll get the hang of things. It may take a few centuries, but things will make sense," she assured me.
"Thanks, makes me feel a lot better," I grumbled. For the first time all I wished was to be back in that simple white room at Luke's home with nothing more than being kidnapped to worry about.
Stacy glanced at her watch and sighed. "And speaking of things that take a few centuries, my watch is telling me it's almost time for the first region meeting."
Luke raised an eyebrow. "So soon? Are all the lords here?" he asked her.
She nodded. "They were all alerted early enough to arrive accept you and Baker, and he had less distance to travel."
"Why was Baker another exception?"
"There's a feud between Baker and Simpling. You know their territories abut one another, and all the major rivers go through Simpling's area before they reach the farmlands in Baker's region. Baker's accusing Simpling of reckless management of the mines and of dumping waste into the rivers."
"I see. So they thought to get back at Baker by forgetting to tell him about the change?" he guessed.
"Precisely."
"What is this meeting about?"
Stacy grinned. "The environmental impacts of each region on the others. They put that at the head hoping Baker wouldn't arrive in time to voice his complaints."
"I'm glad he made it, but can we consider him an ally?" Luke wondered.
She shrugged. "I haven't asked him, but I'm sure Burnbaum will. We'd better hurry, too, if we want
to get there in time for the start of it." She looked to me. "Luke is practically required to attend, but would you care to come?" she asked me.
"Is it a boring meeting with a lot of political talking?"
"Yes."
"Then no."
"Then it would be best to get you back to the room," Luke suggested.
I didn't like the idea of being cooped up in a room with such neat woods and views to explore. "Isn't this place supposed to be safe?" I reminded him.
"The safest place in the world, but that doesn't guarantee safety when our enemies are trying to kill us," he pointed out.
"And how long am I going to be stuck in the room?"
"The meeting should last no longer than four hours," he assured me. He turned us around and took a few steps back toward the villa with Stacy close behind him, but I wasn't going with that.
My mouth dropped open. I snapped my teeth shut, dug my heels into the ground and crossed my arms over my chest. The other two stopped a few yards ahead of me and glanced over their shoulders. "Hell no am I going to be stuck in a room for that long." I'd been stuck in one room and train car after another, and now with a beautiful forest so close at hand they wanted to stuff me in another place with four walls.
"Then you'd rather come with us?" he asked me.
"I'd rather be roaming these woods." I looked up at the canopy overhead and the shimmering sun shining through the branches. I felt a stirring inside of me that I couldn't explain, but it didn't want to be cooped up inside.
Luke slipped on a small smile and walked back to me. He set his hands on my shoulders and gave me a gentle shake. "I promise I'll take you for a walk when I return from this meeting." The innocent smile turned to a roguish grin. "We'll make it a night walk beneath the moon," he promised me.
I saw the hint of some sexual romping and rolled my eyes. "Fine, but don't take too long at that meeting."
17
Luke took too long, or at least longer than I wanted to wait. Stacy and he dropped me off at our room, and I was left with nothing to do but nap and watch the hands of an elegant grandfather clock tick around its face. I was thinking of breaking the boredom with another nap when I heard a knock on the door.