Claimed (5 page)

“No, Ma. I’ve had enough,” Tara continued. “
I’m a single mother and yes, I am dependent on you and Jared. But that doesn’t give him any right to embarrass me like this. This is my life and I will do what I want with it. It’s time Jared understands that he is not Da! He can’t run our lives!”

Jared stood up abruptly and walked into his room.

“Jared,” his mother pled, following after him. “Where are you going?”

He collected his hunting gear and stormed out.

“Yes, run,” cried Tara. “Run like you always do. You’ve created this mess. You! You shouldn’t have come to Callum House. But you’re stubborn, Jared. You always are! I know you’ll never admit that you were wrong! You pretend you’re a man but you’re nothing. Nothing but a boy! Because a man will never run from his problems!”

“Stop it, Tara!” his mother shouted at her. “Jared, honey,” she ran after him. “She doesn’t mean it, son. She’s just hurt and angry. Come back
.”

He stopp
ed and turned to her slowly, gathering her in his arms. “I’ll be back soon.”

She sobbed against his chest
, clutching onto his shirt. “Where are you going to go at this time of the night? It’s too dangerous. Come back inside, son.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said softly, and gave her a kiss on her head.

He let her go, marching into the darkness with Wolf at his feet.

*****

Stella Ryder stumbled back into her house. She looked up sadly at her daughter crying on the sofa.

“Is he gone?”
Tara blubbered.

“You shouldn’t have said all that, Tara,” Stella said quietly as she sat down tiredly beside her.

“I didn’t mean to. But he makes me so mad, Ma. Do you know how embarrassed I feel when he just pulls me out of my job? I am the joke amongst the staff. I hate to think what Sam feels about me. And today, Miss Ellie witnessed it too.”

“I know how you feel, honey. But Jared isn’t like us. He doesn’t think like we do.”

“Of course he doesn’t think like us, Ma. You’re always protecting him. Defending him. I get that he’s your only son. I get that he’s your youngest. I have kids too and I understand that. But Ma, seriously, you can’t let him get away with this any longer.”

“
Get away with what?” Stella lifted up her chin stubbornly at her daughter, daring her.

“I don’t believe this, Mother,” Tara stared back at
her with complete annoyance. “You’re still protecting him. After what he did to me.”

“He doesn’t want you working
for the Callums. Is that so hard to understand?”

“Mother!”
Tara sputtered in shock.

“How much do you remember of your dad’s disappearance, Tara?” Stella continued.

“Ma?” Tara asked confusedly. “What has that got to do with anything today?”

“Well, do you remember or not?”

“Wasn’t he arrested for possessing a weapon?”

“Is that what you were told?” Stella cocked her head to the side as she stared at her with impatience.

“It was what you told me.”

“Right,” her mother nodded. “It was what
I
told you- when you returned with Fern and pregnant with Mae; after running off with that scum. You weren’t here when your Da was taken away.”

“Ma…,” Tara started with frustration.

“But Jared saw it all. Governor Callum was there when they arrested your Da and he did nothing about it.”

“
Da was carrying his bow, Ma,” Tara insisted.

“Your father wasn’t an idiot!” Stella shouted at her. “He was an intelligent man who knew exactly what he was doing.
Your Da carried nothing when they arrested him! He was arrested on suspicion. Suspicion for carrying a weapon.”  She wrung her hands, trying to calm herself down. “They dragged him mercilessly into their vehicle and took him up to Callum’s Hill. Jared ran after it, pleading for them to let him go. But once they entered that gate; that was the last anyone ever saw of your father.”  She dabbed at her tears with her apron. “Jared never understood his father’s resentment of the Callums before but he sure shared it after that day.  Can you blame him?”

“Ma, I never knew,” Tara sniffled. “You should have told me.”

Stella shook her head. “Jared wanted to but I didn’t let him.”

“Why?”

“There was no need for you to know. You had children and you wanted to do something for the kids. Sweetheart, you were so depressed when Fred left you, I was scared you’d lose your mind. But then you became determined to make something of yourself and the children, I didn’t want to take that away from you.”

“But the
Callums…?” Tara shook her head, disbelievingly. “The very people who killed Da?”

Stella took her hand tenderly into hers.
“No, not the Callums. Only Governor Callum. Miss Ellie- didn’t you say she was nice?”

Tara grew quiet. Ellie
Callum was certainly different. She had run after her with that basket of fruit and then defended her in the mistaken belief that Jared was her husband. But then something happened between her and Jared. She thought she had felt something spark between them when Jared had caught her from slipping. Perhaps… or was she imagining it all? And even if it were so, it could never be possible. Governor Callum would make sure that it didn’t. For Jared’s sake, she could never return to Callum’s Hill again.

She had staggered into her room that afternoon, her palm cupping her forehead. Ellie tried to shake the disbelief out of her head. Had she fallen for the very man she
had been berating?

She fell on her back
and onto her bed, looking straight up at the ceiling above her. Her eyes caught hold of the crystal chandelier dangling from it and she unconsciously began counting the silver replicate candles on it. Her mind was drifting back and forth from her absurdity in the hallway with
that
man and to rationality.

He was attractive, she reasoned. No, he was far more than tha
t. Almost dangerously gorgeous with deep brown eyes that could bore into her soul, unearthing her deep dark desires. Time had stilled in her wake the instant he had caught her. Her hands had tingled at the touch of his flesh. She blushed at the mere thought of how she had longed for him to wantonly possess her.

She covered her face with her hands. “Focus, Ellie,” she meditated, trying to remind
herself of his lesser qualities. “He was boorish, rude and terribly crude.” She tried to get mad at him. Wasn’t he trying to drag his sister out of her job? What man could behave so uncouthly and uncivilly in this day and age? “No, you couldn’t get a finer man than Edmund Farriss.”

The luxurious silver car drove up the Callum House driveway.

“You were awfully quiet tonight, Ellie,” Edmund said. “Is something bothering you?”

Ellie braced her elbow on her window, unconsciously tracing her lips with her fingers. Her eyes were absently gazing at everything that passed by her window- at everything but the man beside her.

“Ellie?
Ellie,” Edmund called out a little loudly.

She breathed in deeply and then glanced at him. “Hmmm?” was all she could utter.

He looked at her concernedly. “Is something the matter, Ellie?”

She smiled. “No. I’m just…
I’m just tired.”

He raised an eyebrow.
“You sure?”

She nodded. “Edmund,” she asked slowly. “Have you been
to Sector 8 Central?”

He glanced at her with surprise. “What brought that on?”

She shrugged. “I’m just curious.”

“Of course, I’ve been to
Sector 8 Central. Everyone’s been to Sector 8 Central.”

“I haven’t,” she mumbled.

“You haven’t?” he asked with slight puzzlement but he brushed it aside as quickly. “There isn’t much to see in Sector 8 Central. It probably is for the best that you haven’t been there. It isn’t pleasant.”

“Don’t you want to run for Governor after Daddy retires?” she looked up at him in bafflement.

“What has that got to do with anything?”

“Well, don’t you think you need to know how the people
you’ll be representing are actually doing in order to properly help them?”

“Ellie, that’s idealistic talk. You know we’d all like to believe that, but it’s not how it happens in real life.”
He pulled over by the front doors.

She sat quietly thinking about all
that he had said. “And what about us? Are we ideal or are we real?”

He licked his lips. “Ellie, sweetheart, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted.” He lifted up her hand and kissed it.

“That’s not what I asked,” she pulled her hand away.

He ran a tired hand through his hair. “What do
we
have to do with Sector 8 Central?”

“A lot, as a matter of fact,” she replied flatly. “I want to know if the man I’m marrying is marrying me to impress my father or is he genuinely interested in helping people who need us most.”

“Ellie, of course I’m marrying you because I love you,” he let out in frustration. “Come on, we’ve been together since university. It just so happened that your father was the governor of Sector 8 and he decided to give me a boost in my political career. But what I feel for you is totally and absolutely real.”

“Then why haven’t you ever discussed your visions
on helping the people of Sector 8?”

“My visions for Sector 8
are reserved strictly to my job. They’re confidential matters, Ellie. And besides, you don’t want me bringing all that mess from work to our home, do you?” He toyed with a strand of her hair. “You don’t want to talk about the plight of the poor and their debilitating housing issues over the dinner table?”

She looked up at him determinedly. “Maybe I do.”

Edmund threw his head back tiredly against the car seat. “Ellie…”

“Sometimes, I think Edmund, that you’
re expecting me to be this little wife who’d dye her hair blonde, wear her uptown designer skirts and shoes and then wait obediently for her husband to return from work so they could talk about how good each other’s day was over the dinner table before elegantly striding up the stair case to fuck like good little rabbits and have cute adoring little bunnies. So they can have this one god-damned perfect family and live this one god-damned perfect life!” She threw open her car door and stepped angrily outside.

Edmund rushed after her. “And what’s wrong with that? Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what every married couple wants?!”

“No, Edmund.
I
am not everyone. I am me and I want you to start treating me like an equal. How you used to.”

“That’s not fair! I do treat you like an equal. I just don’t want to discuss politics with you.”

“Why? Because you think it would be way over my head? I’d never understand it? You forget Edmund, I am a sociology, social theory major and I sat in the same class as you, in the same fucking university!”

“Ok
ay, stop with the language,” he warned. “It’s not becoming.”

She stared at him with her mouth gaped open in disbelief. “You’
re deriding me again?”

“I’m not…,” he started to protest and then decided against it. He put his hands on his hips and pulled in a deep breat
h. “I can’t talk about Sector 8 Central because of certain confidential clauses in my employment. I’d seriously be held accountable, Ellie, if anything got accidently disclosed. Your father is not a patient or forgiving man. You’ve got to understand that.” He stopped, thinking for a while. “But I tell you what,” he dropped his voice down, gathering her hands tenderly into his. “I’ll try and answer any questions you have as sincerely and openly as I can. Okay?”

She grew quiet again. He moved to hug
her and she let him wrap his arms around her.

“Truce?” he whispered into her ear.

She nodded.

He kissed her on her forehead. “I’ll be going into the Capitol
tomorrow so you won’t be seeing me for a while. Is that okay with you?”

She nodded again.

“I love you,” he said.

She didn’t answer but stared
at the pin-striped patterns on his suit.

“Hey, I love you?” he said again.

“I love you,” she muttered. But somehow she didn’t believe those words anymore. Something had changed over the course of that evening. Something that had to do with Jared Ryder.

*****

The twigs crackled in the fire. Sparks danced into the air as Jared threw another dry sprig into it. Wolf sat beside him chewing on a deer bone. He stroked his head and the husky gave a throaty growl.

He chuckled. “Okay,
I won’t bother you anymore.”

It had been three days since he had left home. His temper with Tara had
subsided but his blood still heated at the mere thought of Ellie Callum. She had frozen his heart the moment she had glided into that hallway in that despicable robe.  It had clung silkily to her body, revealing her curves. He had immediately grown possessive of her and he wondered if he would have reacted objectionably had another man other than fatherly Sam seen her in it.

He had tried denying his attraction for her at first, dealing them with sarcasm and anger to fight his feelings for her. But then she had taken in that sigh. She had clos
ed her eyes and in that instant a magnetic hue had fallen over her, pulling him into her spell. The moment he had touched her, wrapped his arms around her waist, he had wanted to run his fingers over her body.

Her touch on his skin had
jostled electricity through every atom inside of him. And as she had dragged her fingers across his nape, feeling his skin, she had hardened him to his brink. When she had stepped away from him, he had felt her loss immediately. He had grown cold; almost inanimate. He didn’t understand why his body had responded to hers so quickly. The instant she had touched him, his soul had recognized her as being a part of him. And now he felt like an invalid, clinging to life, desperate to live because she had become as vital to him as air.

“I’m crazy, Wolf, aren’
t I? She’s the enemy,” he pulled a deep breath in, watching the shadows of the flames dance on the walls of the small cave. He tried to rationalize his sudden attraction for her. Perhaps, she was forbidden fruit. Perhaps, that was why he found her seductive.

“
I’ve lost my mind, haven’t I boy?”

The husky licked his face and returned to chew on his bone.
He chuckled and picked up his long bow. He checked the tightness in his bow-string. He ran his hand along the wood. The bow had belonged to his father. He had clung to it in the first few months of his arrest, hoping he would return home soon. But as the months flew by, he realized that he might never see his father again.

He lay down onto the fern covered floor of the cave, snuggling up to Wolf for warmth. Wolf made a throaty sound as he lay on his paws, blinking lazily at the fire.

“Yes, boy. It’s time to go home. We’ll go home tomorrow,” he mumbled tiredly.

As for Ellie
Callum, he would have to dismiss her as momentary lust. He would never allow her to be anything more. She was a witch, casting her spell of love over him. But he would not be deluded. He would never let her touch his heart.

But he could dream of her-
of how he would possess her mouth, and her body. Of how he would learn every curve in it- with his hands, with his lips. Of how she would cry into the night, moaning his name, begging him to take her, to pleasure her. In his dreams, she would be his alone.

*****

The birds broke the serenity of the forest. Twilight pervaded the darkness, providing enough light for Jared and Wolf to crawl out from beneath the fence before the guards would commence their morning routes.

He strolled over
to his house. As he neared it, he noticed Fern was sitting on the steps of the front door with his head on his lap.

“Hey,” he said. “You’re up early.”

Fern looked up at him lazily, not surprised to see him at all. “Nan’s been worried about you and letting us know about it all day, all night, all morning-”

Jared chuckled and slumped beside him.
“That bad, huh? Sorry.”

“So, where’ve you been?”

“Here and there. How’s your mom doing?”

Fern shrugged. “Okay, I guess. She’s been awfully quiet, though. It’s quite unlike her.”

They grew quiet, watching the inhabitants of Sector 8 Central rise out of their slumber. Jared wondered about Tara’s unusual reticence on his disappearance. Normal would have been Tara and their mother on a screaming contest as to how wrong or right he was on the Callums. No, there was certainly something bothering Tara. Had he overdone it this time? He winced inwardly.

“Uncle Jared?” Fern asked slowly. “Do you go to the woods?”

Jared glanced at him with a frown, unsure of how he should answer him. “What makes you say that?”

Fern shrugged again. “Everyone knows Pap went to the woods to hunt. Isn’t that why he was arrested?”

“Yeah.
So?” Jared watched his neighbors walk glumly towards their jobs.

“Morning, Jared,” said one.

He nodded with a polite smile. “Morning.”

“So, I think you go to the woods to hunt too,” Fern continued.

Wolf licked at Jared’s fingers and he rubbed its belly, trying to buy time on how he should answer Fern.

“I don’t go to the woods,” he said at last.

“Where do you get all that meat from?”

“The venison?”

“The deer, yeah.”

“
They’re strays on the highway.”

“Uncle Jared, come on,” Fern rolled his eyes.

“It’s the truth,” he mumbled, squinting at the rising sun in the horizon.

“I heard Pap took you to
the woods and taught you archery at nine and I’m eleven. Come on, Uncle Jared. I won’t squeal. I promise,” the boy begged.

Jared looked at him with amusement. His father had certainly taken him to the woods at nine
; only because, like Fern, he had begged for it. Melancholic waves washed over him as he recalled the memory. He gave a small smile despite his urge to dive into a forlorn mood in some lonely corner of the woods again. “Nan’s been talking.”