Read Online Wolf on the Road by Lynn Red - Free Book Online

or shook her sore head. “Where am I?” she heard him shout, before she heard a rattling of chains and the dull thud of what she assumed was Jake trying to rip the cuffs out of the wall he was chained against. “Let me out! Where’s Mali? If you’ve hurt her, I’ll rip every single one of your spines out through your stomachs!”
    A shuffling sound came from a few feet away from where Mali lay on the ground. She curled her fingers against the floor of what she guessed was a cell. It was concrete, but it was smooth, almost like this wasn’t always supposed to be a containment area. The floor was cold and smooth, and felt good against Mali’s face as she lay there, writhing on the ground and trying to get her bearings. Then, there was the issue of still not being able to see that caused her a little concern. She managed to get her arms underneath herself, and push up slightly, but before she could get to her feet, her strength failed and she collapsed again as Jake shouted another loud protest.
    And the shuffling went past once more, this time combined with a good deal of humming and hawing, and some sort of clicking sound that must’ve been teeth clattering together in a nervous tic. “Where are you?” the squeaky voice asked. “You’re in the clutches of your worst nightmare.”
    “All right, Rambo, thanks for the one liner. Now, where the hell am I?”
    “Outside Jamesburg,” the voice, that Mali realized had to be female, said. “Long way outside of Jamesburg. You’ll never get there unless I let you go, you know?” The squeaky voice giggled. “I rhymed.”
    “You must be some kind of idiot,” Jake said. “Wait, did you just say you rhymed something? And have you been clacking your teeth?”
    “Why?” she asked. “What the hell business is it of yours what I do with my teeth? As a matter of fact, what business is it of yours what I do at all? You are my prisoner and I know what you did! You did something very bad, didn’t you?”
    Jake sighed heavily. “I’m guessing you’re not going to shut up. Also, I have one of those teeth of yours in my pocket. Unless you found it.”
    “I’m the one that let you find it!” the woman screeched. “I sent it with them so you’d know who was after you! What the hell is wrong with you?”
    Jake rattled his chains, testing their toughness. “I’m looking at you, and I still don’t know who you are. Why would leaving a metal tooth on the ground tell me anything at all? Seems like a real Bond villain kind of thing to do, and as everyone on earth knows, that’s about the stupidest way to get attention there is. But, while we’re here, why don’t you explain your entire evil plot to me and I’ll tell you what I think. Sound good?”
    Mali managed to get her head off the floor and arch her neck just enough to see the tiny figure standing in front of the opposite cell door. “Cell” is a generous description. Really, it was more like a freestanding closet made up of metal paneling. The door was just a big, heavy-looking wooden door with a slit cut in it about waist-high, which struck Mali as very funny. Then again, when she saw the little creature standing in front of said door, it made perfect sense.
    “Sure!” the little thing said. “Here’s the deal. I have you in a locked cage. I know you broke the laws about not changing a human without written consent of the alpha and the town council. And I also know that said alpha is your brother, which, by the way, I think the council will find to give him quite a conflict of interest.”
    “That was a lot more direct than I—”
    “I’m not finished!” the little thing squealed. She started hopping around frantically in front of Jake’s cage, as though she was too angry, or too excited, to keep still for more than about four seconds at a time.
    “She’s like a greased up weasel on Adderall,” Mali said under her breath. Jake, who somehow heard, laughed out loud before he nodded in