Rudy fell back to sleep after our fun in bed. I lay there on my side, brushing my fingers along his warm skin as he took a deep breath. His hair fell over his face, covering up the scar on his eyebrow. I ruffled his blonde strands, seeing his eyes flutter under his eyelids.

A loud knock broke my moment, causing Rudy to sit up fast in a panic. I sat up with him, covering myself with the sheet.

"Just a moment!" Rudy yelled, jumping out of bed.

I followed behind him, grabbing clothes from the ground. Rudy pulled his jeans up to his hips. I put a pair of red undergarments on, then slipped Rudy's shirt over my head.

The person at our door knocked again, but to a rhythm, causing Rudy to huff out in annoyance. "Nina, what do you want?" he asked as he opened the door.

The cold blew in as the night sky was near. Nina's wild red hair rushed up behind her, covering up Darin. "Hey," she said, pushing the door open and barging in.

Rudy put his arms in the air. "Welcome," he said with an attitude, then looked at me with a smirk.

"I can feel the friendly welcome oozing from your skin," Nina said with sarcasm, then glanced at me with a smile.

Her eyes looked down at my body quickly, glaring over at Rudy. "Did you two?"

I pulled at my shirt, feeling my cheeks burn red. Rudy side-eyed Nina as Darin held in a laugh. "Yes," I said, so Rudy didn't have to. "But we were safe."

Darin straight-smiled at Rudy. "Oh no," he said right before Nina smacked Rudy in the back of his head.

I looked at them, confused, as Nina grabbed Rudy by the ear, bringing him to his knees. "You little punk. Can't keep it in your pants," she said as Rudy kept his hands in the air.

I waved my arms around. "Wait," I said. "It's okay. I wanted it, too. I mean—" I played with my hands nervously. "We did it twice already, and Rudy was gentle to me."

Why did I say that?

Darin's eyes went wide. "Ding, there it goes."

Rudy huffed out. "Not helping."

Nina's mouth dropped open. "Oh, so once wasn't enough?" she asked, twisting his ear more.

"Ouch, ouch," Rudy slapped Nina's hand away. "Okay, I get it. We shouldn't have done that," he said, standing up.

"You think?" Nina was steaming.

I couldn't watch this anymore. "Guys, stop! Why does it matter? We are both adults, so we can choose to have sex or not."

Nina shook her head. "Did you ever think about what Saxon might do to Rudy once he finds out?"

"Well—" I glanced at Rudy, thinking about how Saxon only picked women that are virgins. "No," I said in a sad tone. My heart sunk to my stomach. Did we sign his death sentence to Saxon? Not only did I put myself at risk, but I also put Rudy's life in danger. I blinked hard, trying to hold back the tears of regret.

Rudy rushed up to me, placing his hands on my cheeks. "Ava, don't be sad. I wanted to be with you." His thumb danced circles on my skin. "And no regrets. Saxon won't even have the chance to know you were with me, because I will kill him before that."

"And what if you don't?" Nina said, still angry.

"Shut up, Nina," Rudy replied, mirroring her anger.

"No," I whispered to myself, but nobody heard me.

"You can't be this reckless!" Nina yelled, pointing her finger at Rudy.

"I can be as reckless as I want! It's my life!" Rudy stood his ground as Nina poked his chest.

"No," I whispered again, imagining Saxon killing Rudy. "No!" I yelled over their fighting.

Nina crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at me. I shook my head, feeling stupid. "No, Nina is right. We shouldn't have done that."

Nina rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She took time to process what I said, then glanced at me. "Wait, I'm right?"

I felt my shoulders hunch. "Yes, I have zero regrets, but we should have thought before doing that. We can't go back now, so we move forward with our plans, killing Saxon."

Darin let out a deep breath. "Dang, that was intense," he said, grabbing Rudy by the shoulders and bringing him into a hug. "Way to go, man. Shagging it with a wolf girl." Rudy laughed as Darin pointed at me. "I mean, check out those ears."

I covered my ears with my hands, looked at the ground, and watched my feet as my bare toes played with the wood floor. I felt a hand on my arm, causing me to look up at Nina. She smiled at me, pulling my hands away from my head.

"Girl, you're cute no matter what," she said, glaring at Darin. "Anyway, would you two like to join us at the full moon festival before she has to be locked up?"

I beamed at Rudy with excitement. I've been watching the coyotes through the windows the past few days, wanting to join.

"So, do you want to?" Rudy asked me, knowing my answer.

I nodded, running to the bathroom, stumbling to get ready.

"We will take that as a yes," Darin said. "Meet you outside."

I peeked out of the bathroom, seeing Nina and Darin leave out the front door. With jeans in my hands, I quickly put them on and ran to my shoes.

Rudy chuckled under his breath while he tied his boots up. He walked to the duffle bag, grabbed a sage-colored shirt, and placed it over his head. Rudy whistled while opening the entrance door, waving for me to walk through.

Nina stood from the step while Darin waited at the bottom of the stairs. I jumped the steps, landing on my feet near him, running off toward the festival.

"Better go after her," Darin said with a laugh, prompting me to look over my shoulder at Rudy jogging for me.

I smiled at him, pointing at the games at all the tents. Rudy sped up his run, grabbing my wrist. He stopped me in my tracks, laughing into the dawn.

"You are a child in a candy store," he said.

I inhaled deeply, calming my excitement. My eyes caught the basket toss while I dragged Rudy to it. The coyote behind the counter smiled at me while patting her head. "Love the ears, elder," she said, handing me three balls, then pointed at the holes at the other end of the booth.

"Make all three and win a prize," she said, stepping to the teenagers beside us.

I handed Rudy a ball, placing my hand on his elbow. "I want one of the big prizes," I said, smiling at a gigantic bear.

Rudy stretched his shoulders with a smirk. "I got this," he said, throwing the ball.

☽

I kissed the little blue dinosaur stuffed animal while Darin laughed. He patted Rudy on the back before squeezing his shoulders.

"Better luck next time," Darin said.

"Dude, they rigged those games." Rudy huffed out while we walked back to the cabin.

The darkness in the sky told us my time was up. I slowly climbed the steps, looking over my shoulder at the lights flickering on for the night. Nina opened our cabin door, playing with an old key with her fingers. She ushered us into the house, walking to the maroon door.

"Time to put Ava behind the magic red door," Nina said.

The red door? I looked over at the mystery door next to the bathroom. Will I finally get to go inside and see what it is? Nina knocked on the old paint, placing the key into the hole. She unlocked the door and then slowly opened it to a dark staircase.

The stairs led down into the earth, away from the sun. I trailed behind Nina as she took each step slowly. The walls were wet as tiny drops ran down the cinder blocks. I recognized the smell of mud and mold, but soon, sandalwood danced into my nose as Rudy followed me down the stairs.

"Don't be scared," he said into my ear. "I'll be here with you."

"You going to hold her hand as she rips you to shreds, too?" Darin said as a joke.

Rudy backhanded him, hitting his upper leg, which caused Darin to grunt out in pain. "Shove off, Darin."

"Sorry, sorry," Darin said in an uneasy voice. "Might have been too far."

Nina stopped at the end of the stairs, clicking on the lights. She glanced over her shoulder, then looked down at her watch. "We have maybe thirty minutes before we should chain her up."

Nina walked around the corner, out of sight. I placed my foot off the last step to feel a wet cement floor. I touched the damp brick wall before I followed Nina.

The basement opened up to a large room with dirt for walls. Everything looked unfinished besides the cage in the middle. There were chains hooked to the only solid wall and a couple of chairs facing the entertainment for the night.

I trudged to the cage, placing my hand to brush the metal bars. Rudy grabbed my wrist, pulling me away.

"You don't want to touch that," he said, stepping between me and the home I'll be in for the night. "It's silver and will hurt you."

"Oh, there you guys are," a voice said from the shadows of the entrance. Rudy rolled his eyes as Gio stepped out with popcorn in his hands, beaming with a welcoming smile. "Ava! Rudy! Nina!" he yelled with excitement, then glanced at Darin. "Darin," his voice was lower pitched, not hiding anything.

Nina stepped forward with a dart gun. "Thank you, Gio, for coming," she said, pointing to the shelf. "I wasn't sure which tranquilizer we should use."

"Well, I would use the—" Gio said, walking to the shelf as I interrupted.

"What?" I asked, not sure what to think.

Rudy interlocked his hand with mine. "They will give you something not as strong. So you don't break through the cage."

I swallowed hard, feeling my nerves take over. "O-Okay," I said as my hands became sweaty.

Rudy pulled me over to the shelf Gio was looking at. "Once you take the shot, everyone will leave."

"What?" Gio said, whining like a child, stuffing his face with popcorn.

Nina stepped forward. "Yes, she will be naked until she shifts, so everyone but Rudy will leave this room."

Gio rolled his eyes with a huff. "I brought popcorn and everything for this, though,"

Rudy side-eyed him. "Show us the right stuff and leave before I sock you."

Gio put his hands in the air. "Okay, okay," he said, grabbing a small glass vial and handing it to Rudy.

Darin grabbed Gio by the shoulders, pulling him away from us. "Okay, see you tomorrow, guys," Darin said, forcing Gio to leave up the stairs.

Nina crept her way into the cage, inspecting the bars. Her eyes looked over at me with a smile. "It's time," she said.

"Come on," Rudy said with his hand in mine, guiding me into the cage without having to touch the bars. Nina quickly snuck away without a word as Rudy pulled my shirt over my head. He smiled at me as I stripped the rest of my clothes off and let him chain locks around my wrists and ankles.

"I was hoping to do this to you, but with a different setting," Rudy said, causing me to laugh.

"Rudy, this is serious," I replied, feeling nervous.

"Yes, yes," he said, motioning to the floor. "Here, sit down," he said. "No need to be nervous. I will be here all night to help you," he whispered, reading my body language.

I followed his instructions, sitting down on the cold ground while he crouched beside me. "So, you are going to feel a small stab."

The needle was painless as I watched it slowly insert into my arm and then fill me with a tranquilizer. Rudy brushed my hair back from my face, then kissed me quickly.

"See you soon," he said, then stood up, leaving the cage.

Rudy was in a chair, facing me with raised eyebrows, waiting for the tranquilizer to kick in. I shrugged at him. "I feel just f—"

SEASON ONE END

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