Chapter 4

• Angela POV
• The next morning is much like the morning before, except this morning, Aspen comes straight to me first. I watch him walking over to me, smiling. It is a tad bit awkward, but in a way, it makes me hot. I should be thinking about things like that right now.
• "You, Angela, you are with me today, come on," he says as he points to me with his strange smile. That smile, wow.
• I follow him out of the cabin and down the steps. I glance back at Deanne. Archie chose her. She does not look happy. Aspen gathers a few more women, and we start walking toward the woods. Damn, my big mouth has gotten me in trouble this time; they are going to kill me or worse.
• As we walk toward the wooded area, Aspen makes his way close to me. "Are you scared? You are awfully quiet today, for someone with such a big mouth," Aspen says to me.
• "I am trying to stay alive, and I promised Deanne I would not get into any more trouble, " I answer him.
• "You will be fine. I plan on keeping my eyes on you, little one. You are mine now," Aspen says to me.
• "And why is that, big bad wolf?" I ask him.
• "I don't know, and I guess I got a soft spot for big-mouthed women. Especially ones as sexy as you," Aspen says.
• He leads us to a row of old cottages. "We are cleaning these cabins and getting them ready for our guests. They need to be spotless. All of the curtains need to be replaced with darker curtains. The bedrooms and bathrooms are the priority; our guests will not use the kitchen. Let's get to work," Aspen says to us.
• Aspen guides different women to different cabins, and then he guides me to the last one. The cabin was probably once really nice but it looks kind of dilapidated now. I dread seeing the inside of this thing. I step up on the porch and the porch creeks. This scares me and I take shorter steps as I make my way to the door. I step on the last board close to the door and one of the boards in the porch breaks under my foot and I almost fall.
• "Be careful, little one," Aspen hollers at me.
• I go into the cabin alone. I doubt any of the women would help me even if Aspen told them to come to help me. It is okay, I think I would rather be alone anyway. I start by taking the old curtains down. They are dusty as I pull them down. I wrap all of the curtains up and throw them in the outside bin. I carefully go back onto the porch, stepping over the broken board on the porch. I will hang the dark curtains last. There is no light in here and the last thing I need is to be stuck in here in the dark.
• I go into the bathroom and start cleaning. The smell almost makes me sick, but I push through it. I can do this today without causing any problems. I go into the bedroom and start cleaning. I pull the stained sheets off of the bed. Who in the hell stayed her last? This cabin is gross. As I am changing the sheets on the bed, Aspen comes into the bedroom with me. He stands at the door watching me and smiling at me. I try to ignore him, but it is hard to avoid making eye contact with him.
• "Do you need any help?" Aspen asks me, smiling. That devilish smile, I hope he does not think that smile will get him into my pants.
• "No, you must be trying to make those other women hate me. If you help me, I will never hear the end of it," I snap at him.
• "I was only trying to be nice since you are working all alone," Aspen says.
• "Well, I do not need any more trouble from anyone," I say to him.
• "Okay, one thing, little one," Aspen says.
• "What?" I bark at him.
• Aspen grabs me and pulls me to him, and kisses me. I pull back from him. "Why did you do that?" I ask him.
• I take a step back from him. I cannot pretend that I did not like it because I did, but I do not want any more trouble. If the other women saw this they would definitely hate me more than they do now.
• "Because I wanted to kiss you. Don't tell anyone. It would get us both killed. I will make sure you are taken care of here. You do not have to worry, little one," Aspen says. He steps closer to me.
• "I guess in return, you want me to hop on this bed and spread my legs and say what take me, big bad wolf," I say to him, patting the bed.
• "No, don't be stupid; I would never ask you to fuck me for favors. I am being nice to you because I want to be, don't make me regret it," Aspen says as he storms out of the cabin.
• Well, that went really well. Me and my big mouth are always getting into trouble,even when someone is trying to be nice to me. I continue working in the cabin alone. I can hear some of the other women laughing and talking. I wonder if they heard me talking to Aspen. I hope not. That is all I need. I have only been here a few days, and I do not need any more trouble.
• As I finish up and start hanging the dark curtains. Someone comes into the cabin. I look over to see the Alpha. Just great! He stands behind me as I hang the first set and then follows me to hang the next set.
• "Do you need something, Alpha?" I ask him as I struggle to hang the curtain with a spectator.
• Alpha growls at me. "I am watching you and enjoying the view," Alpha says. Other wolves start coming into the cabin as watching me hang the curtains. I continue working and ignore them. When I get to the last curtain, I am extremely nervous as they watch me.
• I walk past the wolves and go to the front door. One of the wolves rushes in front of me and closes the door, and begins to growl at me. He leans forward to push me back toward the Alpha.
• "I think we need to talk, little girl," Alpha growls at me. I swallow hard and try to be brave.
• The Alpha touches my face. "About what, Alpha?" I ask him.
• The Alpha leans down to me and looks into my eyes. "About you, of course," Alpha says, smacking his lips and making that annoying clicking sound.
• "What do you want to know about me?" I ask him.
• "Everything, I need to know who I need to talk to about your whereabouts. I can find out on my own, or you can just tell me," Alpha says.
• "Oh, there really isn't anyone to worry about looking for me. I am an orphan," I say to him.
• "Good," he says. He is so close to me I can feel the heat coming off of his body.
• "Leave us," he barks at the other wolves. I begin to shake and tremble as the wolves leave us all alone. "I can smell your fear; you did not smell like this before, Angela. Why are you scared now?" Alpha asks me.
• "I am not afraid of you, Alpha," my voice trembles, and I try to remain calm.
• "You should be afraid of the big bad wolf, little girl. I could snap you into two pieces and not break a sweat doing it. I can take anything from you I want and enjoy watching you struggle beneath me," Alpha says to me.
• "I said I am not afraid," I bark at him. Alpha strikes me across the face. My face stings as I hit the floor. I can feel my eye begin to swell from the force of his strike.
• "You will learn to respect me, Angela. I plan to keep you here for a long time. You will be mine forever. So get used to me, little girl. You will be mine in every way I want. You will beg me to stop and I will laugh in your face. You are mine," Alpha growls at me, leaning over my body on the floor.
• I curl up into a ball, waiting for him to kick me or hit me again. As I wait for him to hurt me, Aspen comes into the door and sees me lying on the floor. He reaches down and helps me to my feet. "It is time to go back; all the cabins are ready," Aspen says to Alpha.
• I walk out of the cabin with Aspen. I trip over the broken board on the porch. Aspen catches me and helps me off the porch. "Are you okay, Angela?" he asks. I look back to see Alpha watching Aspen and me. I jerk away from Aspen.
• I rejoin the group. They are all looking at my face. I can hear their whispers. This time I did nothing wrong. We walk back to our cottage. I do not speak to the other women or Aspen as we walk back. I just want to shower and go to sleep.