Abducted

~ Chapter 8 ~

            “You!”  Kelsey screeched from the front porch as we walked up to their house.  “It is all your fault that I just had to spend five days locked in a cell!”

            “My fault?”  I asked raising my eyebrow and laughing.  “You are the one who assaulted me for no reason.  And you did it in front of tons of people.  It’s your own fault you psycho!”  I spat back at her.

            “Excuse me?”  Kelsey snarled.

            “You heard me!  You should have been helping Madison through her “situation” instead of running around accusing people of things without proof of anything.  You have no one to blame but yourself for ending up in a cell.”  I stated triumphantly.

            “Enough!  I don’t need any of this.  I have enough to deal with without the two of you fighting on top of it all.”  Madison told both of us with her hands on her hips.

            “You’re right, sorry Mads.”  I apologized.

            “I’m not apologizing for anything.  I didn’t do anything wrong.”  Kelsey stated.  She paused briefly and continued.  “So, you’re back.  I’m assuming I was right about you shifting.”  Kelsey stated.  Neither of us said anything.  Madison just looked at me.  “Which also means I was right about Ben!  That no go brother of yours can stay the hell away from my sister.”  Kelsey got in my face and yelled.

            “Kelsey, back off!”  Madison yanked on her arm to pull her back and away from me.

            “I’m not going to back off!  You are only sixteen!  He is eighteen.  There is no way in hell I’m going to let him anywhere near you!”  Kelsey said as she got into Madison’s face.  Madison shoved her backward and Kelsey lost her footing and fell.  She landed hard on her back.  Madison pointed at her, shook her hand, and screamed at Kelsey,

            “You are way off base.  You have no idea what you’re talking about.  Stay.  The.  Hell.  Out.  Of.  My.  Business!”  I will give her credit; Kelsey actually looked a little scared of Madison.  I just smiled.

            “Come on Mads.”  I said and pulled her toward the front door.  “Let’s drop off your stuff and we’ll go to my house.  Get away from your psycho sister.”  I helped Madison take her things inside.  She decided to shower quickly since she had been gone for a week.  I packed some clean clothes for her so she could spend the night at my house.

            Twenty minutes later, Madison emerged from the bathroom and said,

            “Let’s go.  I’d rather not deal with my parents today and they’ll be home from work soon.”  I grabbed her bag, and we left her room.  Kelsey was waiting for us in the hallway and blocked our path.

            “I’m going to find out what is going on.  Whether you want me to or not.  If this s**t is happening again, I’ll know!”  Kelsey said very seriously.

            “What “s**t” are you talking about Kelsey?”  Madison asked.  “You’re not making any sense.”

            “Of course, you would think that.  Like I haven’t been through f****d up stuff like this already.  You’ll find out soon enough.  Just remember who to come and talk to when you are desperate for answers.”  Kelsey said cryptically.

            “Let’s go Mads, she’s clearly lost it.”  I said as I pushed past Kelsey and went down the stairs.  Madison looked at Kelsey for a few seconds before following me.

            Once outside we walked to my house quickly.  It looked like my mom had actually gone into the office today for the first time all week since her minivan was not in the driveway.  That would make it easier for us to get into the house unnoticed.  Maggie would be at the packhouse afterschool program until our parents picked her up later.

            We stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a snack.  Madison noticed I grabbed more than I normally would.

            “Going through a growth spurt?”  She giggled as she asked.

            “No, you’ll see in a few minutes.”  I told her.  “Let’s go up to my room.”  We took her bag and the food upstairs.  I knocked on my bedroom door before I opened it and Madison looked at me like I was crazy.  Ben was sitting at my desk again when we went in.  He brought his own laptop with him this time and had books and papers scattered all over my room.

            “What the…?”  Madison said as she looked around my room not fully understanding what she was seeing.

            “Did you tell her?”  Ben looked at me and asked as he began to panic.

            “No, I didn’t say anything.  If you want to tell her you can.”  I told him.  He calmed down a bit.

            “But you brought her here.  Why would you do that?”  He asked.

            “Umm, you’re in my room, remember?  She’s my best friend.  I’m letting you hide from mom and dad in here but I’m not going to keep Madison out.  Plus, I needed to confirm a theory.”  I told him.

            “What theory?”  Madison asked, joining our conversation.  She clearly had no idea what we were talking about.

            “What do you feel Mads?”  I asked her.

            “Confused?”  She answered with a question.

            “No, Mads.  What do you feel?”  I repeated my question emphasizing the last word.  Madison still looked confused, but she thought about the question before she answered.  She looked around my room and her eyes landed on Ben.  Her eyes went wide, and she looked back at me.

            “You were right!”  She exclaimed.  Now it was Ben’s turn to be confused.

            “Right about what?”  Ben asked.

            “You’re not my mate.”  Madison told him straight up.

            “Of course I’m not your mate.  Why would you think I’m your mate?”  Ben asked.  Then he realized what was happening.  He blinked a few times and then looked at me and pointed at Madison.  “Wait…. Did you?  How?  Why?”  Ben stammered.  “Did you shift?”  He finally formed a question.

            “Yeah, last Saturday.”  Madison told him.

            “But Alyssa said you were sick.”  Ben said.

            “That’s what I was told.  I was misinformed.”  I replied.

            “And you thought I was your mate?”  Ben asked Madison and looked at her.

            “Yeah, I did.  But Ally told my you’re not.  She thinks it’s someone else.”  Madison answered.

            “And she didn’t tell you why I’m not?”  Ben probed further.

            “No.  She said she couldn’t.  It’s not her news to tell.”  Madison said.  “Besides, I think she’s probably right about who my mate is.  But I haven’t seen him yet to find out.”  Madison told him.  “So, how did you guys know I’m not Ben’s mate?”  She asked.  Ben looked at me.

            “Hey don’t look at me bro.  If you want to tell her, then tell her.  Like I’ve said, it’s your news, not mine.  You want to keep it a secret, keep it a secret, but people will eventually find out.”  I told him.

            “I’m not ready for people to know yet.”  Ben admitted.

            “Ok, then wait.  There’s no rush.”  Madison told him.  “I’m not going to push.  If all of this…”  Madison continued and gestured around the room, “is part of your secret, then you should probably consider cleaning it up.”  She told Ben.  “What is all of this anyway?”  She asked.

            “Research.”  Ben stated.

            “Did you pull half of the books from dad’s study?  He’s going to notice if you did.”  I said.

            “Yeah, some from there.  Some are from the packhouse library.  I went up there today.  I also used all the ink in your printer.  So, you’re out until I can get more for you.”  He told me.

            “Have you found any answers?”  I asked.

            “I don’t really want to talk about it with other people around.”  Ben said.

            “Ok, well you better clean up and organize your research.  Madison is spending the night.  We have our own mystery to solve.”  I turned to Madison.  “Mads, do you want to do this here or go up to the packhouse?”  I asked her.

            “Ummm, here, I think.  Less people around.”  She answered.  I pulled out my phone.

            “Ok, I’ll text him to see if he’ll come over.”  I said.

            “Who?  Who is coming over now?”  Ben asked.

            “You’ll see.”  I responded.

            Me:  Hey

            Xander:  What’s up?

            Me:  You busy?

            Xander:  At the gym.  Almost done working out.

            Me:  Ok, what are your plans after?

            Xander:  I was going to try and talk to Stef again.

            Xander:  Make sure she’s ok.

            Xander:  But I doubt she will talk to me yet.

            Xander:  You have a better offer?

            Me:  Possibly…

            Xander:  well don’t leave me hangin’

            Me:  Come over to my place when you’re done at the gym.

            Xander:  That’s all I get?

            Me:  Yup

            Xander:  Come on, a hint?

            Xander:  …. Please?

            Xander:  Is she there?

            The messages kept coming in.  I knew if I didn’t tell him anything else, that he would come over and we could see if he is Madison’s mate like we suspected.

            “So, is he going to come over?”  Madison asked.

            “Yeah, he’ll come.  He’s at the gym right now, so I don’t know how long he will be.  You up for ordering pizza tonight?”  I asked her.

            “Uh, yeah I want pizza…”  Ben responded from my desk.

            “She was talking to me, not you!”  Madison said as she laughed.  I pulled up the menu for our local pizza place and immediately clicked on our usual special.

            “Do you think our usual will be enough?”  I asked Madison.  “We usually get it when we’re hanging out with Stef, Alexis and Amanda.  Tonight it will be Ben and probably Xander too.  I’m assuming he’s going to stay.”  I said.

            “Wait…. You think Xander is Madison’s mate?”  Ben asked.  Madison nodded.

            “Let’s get two usuals, unless they have a better deal.  They guys will eat a lot more than we do.”  Madison answered my question.  We flipped through the other menu options and discussed them.  We settled on ordering two of our usuals with different toppings.

Our usual order was the mega deal which consisted of two pizza’s any size (we usually got large), two pounds of buffalo chicken wings (extra sauce), potato wedges, garlic knots, four dipping sauces, a dessert pizza (cherry flavoured) and eight canned drinks.  It was a lot of food, but we were werewolves and even though we had not all shifted yet we could still eat a lot of food.

            I placed the order online and selected deliver for seven pm.  That left some time for Xander to finish his workout and get here.  About thirty minutes later the doorbell rang.  I went downstairs to answer the door.

            It was Xander.  As soon as I opened the door, he started to get fidgety.

            “Hey Xander.  You ok?  You seem on edge.”  I asked.

            “Where is she?”  Xander responded with a growl.  He did not sound like himself.

            “Ok, so “hello’s” are out of the question.”  I said.

            “She’s here.  I can tell she’s here.  I just need to see her.  I’ve been going crazy all week.”  I motioned for him to follow me.

            “Come on then.  Let’s go!”  I told him.  I was happy to see that I was right about Xander being Madison’s mate.  His behaviour was a dead giveaway.  When we got to the top of the stairs, I watched as my bedroom door opened and Madison bolted out into the hallway.  I heard a loud growl from behind me.

            “Mate!”  An unknown voice announced.

            Madison blinked and Topaz took over.  

            “Mine!”  She stated emphatically.  I was shoved to the side when Xander pushed past me to get to Topaz.  Was it still Xander?  I wondered.  It was most likely his wolf as I did not recognize his voice when he said “mate”.  Xander roughly pushed Madison up against the wall and kissed her.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and started to make out with him.

            “Enough you two!”  Ben yelled from inside my room to get their attention.  “Perhaps you should move this into Alyssa’s room...”  He suggested.  Xander fought to control his wolf and released Madison.  She looked down at the floor embarrassed and I could tell Topaz had given her back control.  Xander appeared to be fully back in control now as well.  He took Madison’s hand and gently pulled her into my room.  I followed and Ben closed the door behind us.

            “So, I take it we were right then Mads?  Xander is your mate?”  I asked.

            “Yeah, looks like it.  Sorry for that out in the hallway.  I don’t know what happened.”  Madison replied.

            “I do.”  I told her.  “It was Topaz.  She reacted to Xander.  Or your wolf.  I don’t know your wolf’s name.”  I admitted to him.

            “His name is Flint.  He’s huge and completely black in colour.  His eyes are Amber.  He’s pretty impressive, but I might be biased.”  Xander told us.  “Who is Topaz?”  He asked.

            “She is my wolf.  She is a light caramel colour except for her paws.  They are all white like she is wearing socks.  Her eyes are a crystal blue colour.”  Madison told Xander.  She could not keep her eyes off him.  It was like she was seeing him for the first time.  In a way she was.  She had always had a crush on Ben.

            Ben walked over to me and quietly said,

            “So, Madison and Xander huh?  Who would have thought?  How did you figure it out?

            “I just put the pieces together.  There were a few of them.”  I answered.

            “Oh, good grief!”  Ben exclaimed when he realized Xander and Madison were making out again.  They were really getting into it.  “Are you two going to do that all night?”

            Xander growled in response and took Madison’s hand and started to pull her toward the door.

            “We can’t go.”  Madison said.  “We have food coming for seven.  We can hang out here tonight.”

            “Well then they’d better get used to watching us make out.  I don’t plan on stopping just because they’re here.”  Xander said and tried to kiss Madison again.  She swatted him back.

            “We’ve got plenty of time for that later.  I have questions.”

            “Ok…”  Xander said reluctantly.  “What are your questions?”

            “First off, what about Stef?”  Madison asked with tears forming in her eyes.

            “Stef?  What does she have to do with us being mates?”

            “You’ve been flirting with her for months.  This is going to crush her.  Does she know?”

            “She knows.  I told her on Monday that she is not my mate.  She’s not talking to me now.  Alyssa will know better how she is.  She’s won’t even respond to my messages.”  Xander answered.  “I started to feel our bond at the bonfire last week.  Things shifted for me really fast, and I no longer felt anything romantic toward Stef.  You were the only one I could see.  I tried to get away from her all night to be with you, but I couldn’t shake her.”  He continued.

“Then in the morning, I could tell you were in distress when I woke up.  That’s why I took you home.  I wanted to get you somewhere safe.  But then your sister saw us and took you away from me.  She made me leave.”  He looked down at the floor.  “I should have fought to stay with you, but I didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t know if you would want me.  I know you have feelings for someone else.”

            “Had.”  Madison said barely above a whisper.

            “What?”  Xander asked.

            “You said I have feelings for someone else.  Had is more accurate.  Those feelings are gone.  You are my future.”  She told him.  He reached up and cupped her cheeks with his hands.

            “You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that.”  Xander said and kissed her again.  I turned away from them.  It felt like Ben and I were intruding on something we should not be.

            “I think they’re going to be like this all night.”  Ben whispered to me.

            “Yeah, me too.”  I whispered back.  “Hopefully we can get them to come up for air when the food gets here.”  Right on queue, the doorbell rang.

            “That’s our food!”  I announced.  “Mads, want to help me get it?”  I asked.

            “Can’t Ben go with you?  I’m a little busy.”  She said between kisses.

            “Nope!  You’re up.  Xander let her go!”  I pulled her away from him.  We went down to the front door and met the delivery driver.  I tipped him and we took the food into the kitchen so we could get some paper plates and napkins.

            “So… Xander huh?”  I said once we were in the kitchen.

            “Yeah.  I didn’t see that one coming.  The Moon Godess sure has her own plans that’s for sure.”  Madison said.

            “It’s weird right?  You’ve never even really looked at Xander before as anything more that a friend.”  I said.

            “Yeah, but have you looked at him?  I mean really looked at him?  How did I not notice how hot he is before?”  Madison asked.

            “You think Xander is hot?”  I asked, completely shocked.

            “No, now that I really think about it.  Hot is not the right word.  It’s not enough.  What I should have said is drop dead gorgeous!”  Madison corrected herself.

            “Did you hit your head at any point when you shifted?”  I asked in a sarcastic tone.

            “Nope”  She replied and popped the p sound.  “I mean he’s very easy on the eyes.  He’s not as tall as Ben, probably only six foot four inches tall, but that’s ok with me.  Ben is freakishly tall.  Xander’s hair is a nicer colour too.  A nicer lighter brown and it’s shaggy.  And his eyes.  I’ve never seen anyone with greener eyes.  Plus, he has a killer smile… and those dimples...”  She gushed.  “They make my knees weak.  And that’s just his head.  Have you seen his body?  Yummmm.”  Madison said as she described Xander.

            “Ok, I’ve heard enough.  Any more from you and I’m going to lose my appetite.  Let’s take all this food upstairs.”

            Between the four of us we somehow managed to eat all the food we ordered.  We watched X-Men and X2 and passed out sometime around midnight.  It was a great night.  One I think the four of us all needed.