My Resolution

Chapter 19

I looked around my perfectly ordinary apartment with its dark brown furniture and generic printed art, stunned at how plain everything seemed at that moment. I stared back into the fire at the glass orb nestled innocently between the ceramic logs, reflecting the flames that were dancing around its shiny surface. Unsure of what my next move should be, I flipped off the switch, extinguishing the flames. I sat in the darkroom for a long time, thoughts and ideas racing through my mind, but I was unable to make a solid decision.  

The only thing I could settle on was that I needed to record what I just heard, so I flipped the fire back on and pulled out my phone, recording the whole event. There was a lot to unpack in that short speech, but I kept coming back to being called the “daughter of the sleepwalkers.” What does that even mean?  

I listened to the video, taking in the plea once more. “I don’t know what you need me to do,” I whispered to the orb sitting dormant in the fireplace. I climbed into my queen-sized bed, looking around my room hoping for some sort of inspiration. My room was painted a pale lavender color with distress white furniture. There was a large white clock on the wall and a painting of white tiger lilies. I had added a few personal items. There was a picture of Donovan and me at the prom on my dresser and a picture of Bennett and me the night of my seventeenth birthday sitting adjacent to it. Nothing came to me, so I played the video again and again and again. I played it until I had the entire message memorized word for word.  

Finally, I decided to email the video to Alpha Fredrick. He has Luciana’s book, maybe this would be helpful. I was still lost as to what to do with this message, but also relieved that I had at least made a decision, I was able to fall asleep.   

The next few days, I expected to hear back from the alpha, but there was no response. I didn’t worry too much about it the silence since I would be seeing him on Saturday evening to aid with my first shift. He had contacted a local pack and requested the use of their land so I could shift in a safe location. The packs alpha had approved the request, apparently, this is a common occurrence for packs that live near university campuses. I tried to focus on my classes and my upcoming birthday, but I would hear her voice in my mind repeating the cry for help over and over again.  

The night before my birthday, Matt took me to the theatre. We had decided to be over the top, so I wore my red dress from the winter dance and curled my hair.  

“Damn, beastly,” you are smoking hot in that dress, “Who knew that’s what was under all that sweat and muscle.”  

“Oh, jeez!” I scoffed, “you clean up nice yourself.” He wore fitted black slacks and a simple white button-down shirt with a blue tie with a crashing wave design. “I like the design on your tie, too”  

We had dinner at Fogo De Chao Brazilian Steakhouse. I ate more than I should have, but the fire-roasted meat was to die for. I kept requesting more of the Cordeiro every time the sever came by; I combined it was the array of imported cheeses and Fogo feijoada with rice. I somehow managed to eat an entire crème brulee for dessert despite my substantial dinner.   

I had seen the Sweeny Todd movie, but never a live musical before; I was blown away by the performance. Even Matt, who admitted he didn’t like musicals, said he liked the demon barber.  

“What was your favorite song?” I asked as we strolled back toward the parking garage.  

He flipped open the program and scanned the list of songs, “uhhhh, I’m going with ‘A Little Priest’, when she has the idea to start serving the meat in pies.”  

“Weirdo,” I scoffed.  

“Says the woman who picked the murder musical in the first place,” he chimed.  

I smiled wide, “yeah, I did. You’re welcome.”  

He laughed heartily and I did too. I hadn’t expected to have such a wonderful birthday celebration this year.   

When we got back to Matt’s truck in the parking garage, most of the cars that had been parked around us were already gone. It was nearly midnight now. I yawned widely as he stepped forward to open the passenger door so I could climb in. I found myself appreciating his backside when I felt something hit the back of my head hard. I saw black and white spots flash before my eyes and then everything went black.  

My head was pounding, and I felt slightly nauseous. I could hear voices, why the f**k wouldn’t they shut up? I tried to move my arms and realized they were tied. The memory of what had happened came flooding back. I could tell I was lying on a floor, and the carpet was itchy against my bare arms and legs. A voice I had never heard before spoke from somewhere in the depths of my mind.  

“Valerie, keep calm and breathe, do not move, do not reveal yourself.”  

“What the hell?” I wondered.  

“My name is Astral. I am your wolf spirit. Happy birthday.”  

“Okay,” I spoke to her, “do you know how long I have been out?”  

“I’m sorry, I don’t. You were unconscious when I awoke, so I have viewed our memories up until the moment you were attacked.”  

“Damn. It was worth a shot, I guess,” my head splitting from the slamming of a door, “how long before that quick healing kicks in? I could really use it.”  

“It depends. Some abilities take longer than others, and you have extraordinary abilities developing.”  

“What?” I asked exasperated.  

“I don’t have all the answers, Val. You've been in this body longer than I have,” she explained.  

“That’s fair,” I conceded, “I still wish they would shut the hell up. I swear my head is going to implode.”  

“I know it hurts, but we need to focus,” she cautioned, “Anything they say could be helpful, and we need to figure out how to get out of here.”  

“s**t, yeah, you’re right,” I said quieting my thoughts.  

I tried to keep my breathing even and pretend that I was still unconscious. "What is that delicious smell? I wondered, "Like, freshly brewed coffee and cinnamon." I could feel Astral perk up at the heavenly aroma. Listening intently, I focused on the voices and fought to ignore the intoxicating scent that was causing a fiery heat to rise from my core and the throbbing pain in my head. I hoped my healing abilities would kick in soon. 

“She knows something, that’s why,” a gravelly voice said flatly, “She helped steal the book.”  

“Samael removed everything from the book,” a seductive, familiar voice insisted, “so, what the f**k difference does it make?  

“We are not to question his will. We obey,” the first voice grew louder.  

“She can’t possibly know anything though,” the familiar voice argued, “She would have to know where his dungeon is to find the pages. Besides if she knew about the dungeon behind the falls, she would know about everything anyway, and we would all be f****d"  

Goddess, I wish my head would stop pounding, I can’t think. Why do I know that voice? 

The first voiced raised to a roar, “if you were more focused on our orders than your disgusting crush on the mutt b***h, then we wouldn’t be here in the first place.”  

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” said the second voice.  

“Right,” came a third voice, dripping with sarcasm. Another familiar voice, but this voice, I knew exactly who that voice belonged to. I held my breath when I heard him speak.  

“Breathe, Val,” came Astral’s soothing voice. I tried to breathe normally, but my mind was racing.  

“Sir,” the first two voices said in unison.  

“She doesn’t need to be questioned. Did you dose her as instructed?”   

“Yes, sir,” answered the gravelly voice.  

“Good. She’ll be out for most of the day. You can dispose of her later,” said the cool confident voice, turning my stomach, “We already have the information. Come on, Samael has called a meeting.”  

The sound of footsteps walking across the room was stifled when the sound of a heavy door closing hard into its frame echoed through the room.  

“They’re gone,” I heard Astral announce.  

“Let’s go,” I replied.  

I opened my eyes and tried to sit up, my hands being zip-tied made the task difficult, but not impossible. I was sitting on the floor of a dimly lit hotel room. There were two full-sized beds covered in puffy white bedspreads, a television sitting in a television stand-dresser combo, and a landline phone sitting on the table between the beds.  

Working as quickly as possible, I bit the excess bit of plastic hanging out of the tab and pulled the tie as tightly as I could around my wrist, creating as much tension as I could, then I raised my arms above my head and flexed my abdominal muscles. I took a breath and brought my arms down hard across my waist, breaking the plastic tie. “Oh, my f**k, that hurt!” I screamed internally, doubling over and holding my stomach.  

“For what it’s worth,” Astral praised, “that was impressive.”  

“Thanks,” I moaned, still hurting, but pulling myself together.  

I grabbed the phone but realized I don’t know anyone’s phone number. There was some rescue number that I had heard about from watching late-night television, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what it was. I didn’t want to call the front desk in case that would alert my captors. I looked around the room again, my purse was in the corner by the bathroom door.  

“Yes,” I quietly cheered. Digging through it, I found my phone. “No service? Where the hell am I?” I thought.  

“There was a pamphlet by the phone that said Holiday Inn Express and Suites Columbus,” Astral pointed out.   

“Like Ohio?” I wondered.  

“I don’t know.”  

I checked the windows, but, of course, they were sealed. The only way out of those would be to break the glass.   

“That should be a last resort,” Astral suggested.  

“Yeah, I think you’re right. I seem to remember hearing hotel windows are shatterproof.”  

I noticed a bundle of zip ties scattered around the television stand, grabbed them, and crabbed them into my purse.   

“What are those for?” Astral questioned.  

“No idea,” I shrugged, “I’ll take what I can get, though,” I responded, gazing through the peephole of the large white door, no one was out there. I tried to look left to right, but my line of sight didn’t change. I held my breath and listened, hoping my hearing had at least sharpened since Astral was awakened. I couldn’t hear anything in the hall, but I could hear a rumble of voices in the room next room.  

I took several deep breaths in and out preparing to open the door. I realized I wasn't smelling that sweet sweet aroma anymore. I could go for a hot cup of fresh ground coffee. 

“What are you doing?” asked Astral, interrupted my thoughts. 

“Hyping myself up, just in case there's someone out there. Fight or flight, or whatever,” I explained.  

She chuckled, “whatever works for you, as long as we get out of here.”  

I checked the peephole to see if the hall was clear one last time before carefully opening the door. I slowly leaned across the threshold checking the hall for any sign of movement. A woman and little boy were walking in the opposite direction. She was wearing a robe and he was in nothing, but a pair of shorts covered in bluefish. “Swimming pool,” Astral purposed.  

 I silently agreed. They aren’t who I’m worried about. I needed to avoid the main lobby, being seen leaving would be stupid. I looked in the opposite direction, at the end of the hall there was a window, beside the window was an open doorway.  

“That's a stairwell,” I told Astral as I fast walked on my tiptoes toward the open door. With a final backward glance, down the hall, I ran down the stair, stopping at the closed door on the first floor. There was a long rectangular window in the door, I couldn’t see anyone on the other side, but I figured it was best to be careful. Cautiously, I glanced down the hall, thankfully it was empty. The exit was directly to my left, I just needed to get outside.  

Examining the parking lot out the wide window, I realized whose voice that was, the one I just couldn’t seem to place. My blood started to boil. Sitting there in the third row was Matt’s truck.   

“Stay focused,” Astral warned, “we can deal with that later. We have to get out of here, Valerie.”  

I nodded stiffly, still seeing red. That prick helped f*****g kidnap me.  

“Valerie, breathe.”  

I inhaled deeply and popped my neck in frustration. “I got this,” I assure her.  

As I stepped through the door, feeling the cool breeze and warm autumn sun on my face, that intoxicating scent hit me just before I noticed movement at the back corner of the building. Reflexively, I shifted to face the left.  

Matt was leisurely approaching me, “you’re supposed to be unconscious.”  

I glared at him but said nothing. "Mate?" Astral said doubt clear in her tone. "Oh, f**k no," I responded without hesitation.  

“Don’t be mad at me, beastly, hear me out,” he insisted, stopping just a couple feet in front of me.  

“f**k you,” I hissed.  

“Val...”  

“No, f**k you, you little prick,” I said through clenched teeth.  

“Come on, Val,” he said huskily, resting his arm on my shoulder, “I thought we had something special.” My skin tingled beneath his touch, disgusting me deeply in my core.  

Training and instinct kicked in, I swiftly stepped toward him while swinging my fist, smashing it into his face. I heard a sickening crunch and he bellowed. I wrapped my arms around his head, sinking my fingers into his hair, and kneed him forcefully in the crotch repeatedly until I heard him start to wretch. I side-stepped wrapping his arms behind his back and retrieving a zip tie, wrapping it around his wrists, twisting his hand back-to-back, and pulling it tight. 

I grabbed his face, looking him in the eyes I proclaimed, "I, Valerie Warner, sole descendant of Barren Warner, deceased Beta of the Snow Moon pack hereby reject you Matthew Gillihan as my mate." 

He stumbled back, groaning with the pain of the rejection. Crushing my forearm against his windpipe, I hissed, "Accept it, now!" 

"I, Matthew Gillihan," he coughed, "future alpha of the Harvest Moon pack, do hereby accept your rejection." 

"Good," I snarled. 

With a final burst of strength, I clasped my hands together and brought them down hard against his temple, he swayed for a moment before collapsing to the ground unconscious.   

I pulled his keys from his pocket and hightailed it to the truck. It roared to life immediately. I threw it into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. I didn’t know where I was or where I was going, so I just drove.  

 It didn’t take long for me to find a sign that read “Omaha 86 miles.”  

“Well, we aren’t in Ohio,” I told Astral.