ASPEN'S KINDNESS

Angela POV

I am exhausted when we get back to our cabin. Deanne still is acting strangely toward me. I try to stay out of her way when we go into the cabin. I look around for a cot to sleep on and finally decide on one close to the window and away from her and the other women. I came here to help her, and now it seems she may not have needed my help after all.

"There is a cot next to me," Deanne calls to me. She points at a cot next to her. Something about the look on her face and the others: I do not think they want me around them.

"It is okay; I want to be close to the window," I say to her.

"Well, do not try to open it. It is locked, and there are guards outside just waiting for one of us to try to make a run for it," Deanne says.

The other women look at me in a disapproving manner. I said I was sorry, and I have tried to stay away from them for most of the day. Leave it to me to piss off everyone in one day.

"I just want to be by the window,  that is all. I am not planning to jump out of it. I am too tired to run anyway," I say to her.

"We are all too tired thanks to you," one of the women says.

“I am sorry I caused so much trouble,” I say in the women’s direction.

I lie down on the cot and curl up in a ball. I am tired, confused, and extremely pissed off. I want to go home. I need a shower. The other women go in and out of the back to the shower. I watch and wait as they all finish with their showers. I can hear them talking and I hear my name. I really did piss them all off. They cannot expect me to behave on the first day I am here. I do not know all of the rules. I guess not barking at the Alpha is pretty self explanatory, but I am a dumbass sometimes.

When they are done, one of the women comes out and kicks my cot hard. I look up at her. “What did I do this time?” I ask her.

"You need to go shower. They turn out the lights and then count us. If you are missing, we all will get in trouble; again," the woman says.

"Thanks," I say to her.

"Just try not to fuck up. I cannot take two hell days in a row," she says.

I walk back to the shower room. I pass Deanne’s bunk, but she is busy talking to one of the other women so I do not say anything to her as I pass by her bunk. She looks like she is still mad at me anyway. Maybe by tomorrow she will talk to me.

I go into the shower room. There is a stack of clothes and towels in the back for us. The clothes look like scrubs with a little pocket on the top. I find something in my size and grab a towel.  The towel is dingy, but it is dry. I walk past all of the open showers. I want to be as far away from everyone as possible.

I go into the last shower just in case one of them decides to come in; at least they will not be anywhere near me. I reach in and turn on the water. I wait a moment for the water to get hot. Then, I step inside and let the water run over me while I cry. There has to be a way out of here. That is all I can think about as I stand in the water.

I take the soap, which is gross looking but does not smell too bad.  I begin to wash my body and cry harder. "It gets better," I hear a voice say from behind the curtain.

I pull the curtain back and see Deanne. "I promise it gets easier; you have to cooperate and be pleasant, Angela. None of us want to be here, but you cannot bark at the Alpha. He could have killed you for one, and he takes his anger out on everyone when he is challenged by one of us," she says to me.

"I cannot stand the thought of being here. I have a life. Hell, you have a life; that is why I came here. I came here to help you. I wanted to help you get back to your life, and now here I am trapped with you," I say to her.

"Someday, you can go back to that life, but don't get us killed trying to figure out what is going on here. These wolves are not playing with us, and trust me, every person that has tried to escape ends up dead or worse. Trust me, and dead is better than what they are doing with some of the women," Deanne says to me.

"I won't, and I am sorry about today. I should not have barked at the Alpha; it was stupid. I have said I was sorry to you and to them. It will not happen again. I know it was stupid. I am just so fucking scared," I say.

"Yeah, it was, but I know you were just being yourself. Now everyone thinks you are a trouble maker. If you get in trouble, then we all get in trouble. We have never had to work this late before, but because you pissed the Alpha off, we had to work our ass off today. Look, a lot is going on here; you just do not understand. You do not want to be chosen. There are worse things than being here with the wolves. Trust me, Angela, you need to back down," Deanne says.

"Like what? What could possibly be worse than being held hostage by wolves?" I ask.

Deanne walks closer to me. "Like ending up with a vampire in one of those auctions," Deanne says.

"What do you mean? What are you talking about, Deanne?" I ask her.

"I cannot tell you. Try not to ask questions and try to behave so that we can survive. I want to survive this. I want to go home to my family, and I miss my brother, Draco," Deanne says.

"He misses you too, but your family begged me not to look for you. Why?" I ask her.

"Angela, Stop asking questions. Please, for once in your life, back down. I am begging you. You should have been a journalist, not a fucking doctor," Deanne says as she storms off.

Deanne leaves me to finish my shower. As I am drying off, the lights go out. Just fucking great. What a perfect end to my day? Now, I am in the dark trying to put on my clothes. I see eyes peering at me from the corner of the room. The eyes belong to a tall, dark figure. I am petrified. Great, even better, one of the wolves or vampires is coming to kill me.

"It is past your bedtime, little girl. Why are you back here this late? " the deep growly voice asks me.

"I was taking a shower; I will hurry up and get to bed; I am sorry. I do not need any more trouble, and I do not want to get anyone else in trouble either. I am really sorry, please, do not hit me or get the other girls in trouble, " I say meekly.

He turns on a flashlight. He shines the light over me. He can see my naked body as I try to slip into my clothes quickly. "Try to hurry back to bed. If the Alpha finds out I let you stay up late, we will both be in trouble. It would be best if you did not get into any more trouble either," he says.

"Aspen," I whisper.

"Shhhh, hurry up and get back to bed, little girl," he whispers.

"Thank you, and I am sorry for being back here late. I was trying to avoid the other women. They are all mad at me," I say.

"Well, you got all of them in trouble, and you made me look bad," Aspen says.

"I am sorry. I will try to do better," I say.

I finish putting on my clothes quickly and hurry back to my cot in front of the window. I lay down and pull the thin blanket up to my neck. The thought of vampires lurking has freaked me out. I look out the window as Aspen walks by my cot. He stops, winks at me, and keeps moving.

I hear Aspen counting everyone as he shines his flashlight on each of us. I wonder how many times a night he counts us? He finishes counting us and goes out the front door where another wolf is waiting. I can hear them talking, but I cannot make out what they are saying. I hear the word auction as they are talking. He looks back at me through the window as he is talking. I quickly close my eyes. I have to be good tomorrow. I do not want to end up with the vampires.