Walking away from Red was the second hardest thing I’d ever had to do in my life. I shifted, leaving my clothing in shredded pieces by the trees, and kicked snow over them to hide them from view. If someone came out here poking around, they’d have reasons for suspicion, but that wasn’t likely to happen.

I raced inside and bounded up the side stairs to my floor and dashed through my bedroom into the bathroom. Quickly, I shifted back and hopped into the shower without even waiting for the water to warm up.

“Gah!” I gasped as I reached for every soap or shampoo I had. I doused my head with shampoo and conditioner, then worked my body over with the bar soap, getting as much lather from everything as I could.

I had a small exfoliating pad and used it to rub down my entire body before washing myself again with the soap. If there was one ounce of Red’s scent still on me when Sonny came for me – well, that wouldn’t be good at all.

I washed myself once more to be sure and stepped out of the shower. Sonny had bought me a cologne a month or two ago, but I hadn’t really used it yet. I pulled it out of the vanity and sprayed way too much on myself, then more onto the bathroom walls and then even more in my bedroom and even a spritz into the hall. I was practically gasping as I put it away.

Stepping to the window Sonny had closed earlier, I tugged it open and turned on a fan. Paranoia was coursing through me as I did my best to mask any hint of Red’s scent that I might have brought up with me. But as I sniffed the air, even I couldn’t detect any of it. Hopefully the scent of the cologne Sonny had bought me would be enough to distract him.

As I was drying off with my towel, I heard his heavy footsteps come into the bedroom. He just opened the door and came in without knocking, as he always did. It was his house, and so was I as far as he was concerned.

“Well, well, well,” I heard him chuckle as he stepped up behind me. I was naked, and my back was exposed to him. I could practically feel his eyes on my bare ass. I turned around to face him, trying hard to read the look on his face. “What – have – we – here?”

“Hi…” It was all I could manage to say.

Sonny looked at me with an odd expression, then lifted his nose and sniffed the air. I felt myself go tense, but fought to maintain my calm.

“What’s that smell?” he asked, stepping into the bathroom.

Sniff, sniff, sniff. His fat nostrils sucked air as he moved right up to me and pressed his nose against my neck. I wanted to pull away, but I stood still and waited. My heart was like an Olympic sprinter inside my chest. This was the critical moment.

“Is that the cologne I bought you?” he asked. I sighed a deep sigh of relief as he stepped back and looked at me with approval. “Want to make tonight special, eh?”

He stroked his belly with a fat hand and eyed me up and down. I felt like a piece of meat in front of him – a prime steak he was getting ready to eat.

“I just…I went out for a short run and I was all sweaty,” I lied. “I didn’t want to smell.”

“That’s nice of you,” he replied with a cocky smile. “Now, why don’t you get dressed, just a little, and come over to my room.”

He turned away from me and started to leave, assuming I would obey.

“Uh, Sonny?” I said. He stopped and turned back to me. I could see by the look on his face that he was expecting me to come up with some sort of excuse, and his eyes were telling me that it would be a bad idea.

“Yes, Casper?”

“Can we – can we wait until tomorrow?”

Sonny cocked his head to the side and eyed me with curiosity.

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I nodded quickly. “My…stomach just isn’t feeling right tonight, and I want to make sure our first night together is special. I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll be much better.”

It was a pretty lame excuse, and I was sure I’d used it before in some manner, but Sonny looked like he was actually buying it.

“Well, I do want you to be feeling well,” he chuckled. “So I can give it to you real good. Wouldn’t want you to tap out halfway through, ya know!?”

He roared with laughter, and I had to force myself not to grimace at the sight of his enormous belly swelling and sloshing around like a trash bag full of lard.

“I wouldn’t want that either,” I told him, putting on my best fake seductive voice and smiling at him. “I promise tomorrow I will be ready to take all of you.”

Sonny’s eyes went wide and he looked at me with genuine surprise. I’d never really come onto him before. I wanted to make sure I really sold the whole “sick thing” to him, so I just went for it.

“Damn, boy!” Sonny cracked up. “You really did come around!”

I smiled and looked down, hoping he would leave. But he did something I didn’t expect, and walked right up to me, lifted my lips to his and kissed me.

Shit! I thought, my mind instantly going back to my kiss with Red outside. I didn’t brush my teeth or use any mouthwash! What if he smells him? Or tastes him?

Sonny’s body tensed up and he pulled back and looked at me through narrow eyes. I watched as he licked his lips like he’d tasted something funny.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“You…what the Hell is this?” he asked, his voice right on the edge of anger. “The fuck do you taste different for? You been making out with someone?”

“No…” I muttered. But Sonny wasn’t having any of it. His hand wrapped around the door handle and yanked the door right off its hinges. It splintered and crashed to the floor between us.

“The Hell you haven’t!?” he roared, snatching me by the throat. His hand tightened like a vice, threatening to crush my windpipe. “Now tell me – who the fuck was it!?”

“I swear!” I panicked, my mind spinning, searching for an explanation that would satisfy him. “I – I found some apples outside under the snow and wanted to see if the cold had kept them fresh or not!”

“Bullshit!”

“I swear!” I protested, feeling his hand tighten. “I – I bit into one and it tasted awful so I spit it out! I promise, Sonny! I never would kiss anyone but you!”

Sonny’s eyes peeked out at me from his eyelids, which were barely slits beneath his thick brow. I could see him debating whether or not I was lying, but gradually I felt his hand relax. I gasped and sucked air as he released me.

“All right, all right, all right,” he muttered, sounding almost embarrassed by himself. “I’m sorry about that, Casper. I just – I get a little protective of what’s mine, ya know?”

I’m not yours, you son of a bitch!

“I understand, sir,” I replied.

He looked at me in a way he never had before, as though we’d just formed some sort of emotional connection that hadn’t been there before, and it creeped me out. The only emotional connection I’d formed with anyone was Red, and he was waiting for me outside. I couldn’t get back to him fast enough.

These past ten years had been long and hard, and the fact that I’d had to pull myself out of his life without explanation was a torture that I had to live with daily. But now that agony was at an end – all I had to do was get out of the house without being seen.

“Well, I’ll head to bed I guess,” Sonny said, slapping my ass. “Looking forward to tomorrow.”

“Me too!” I lied again, doing my best to look excited as he turned and walked away. As soon as he was gone, I shut the door behind him, snatched a duffel bag from the closet and stuffed as many things into it as I could manage, including a small bottle of pheromone blocker spray that Sonny had no idea I had.

I’d found it one day while exploring the house when he and his men had rushed off somewhere and left only a skeleton crew on duty. There was a well-stocked basement filled with every kind of food you could ever need, but hidden in one of the walk-in refrigerators was a secret door that led to another room – a bunker.

It was filled with guns. Guns I’d never seen or knew existed. There were knives, baseball bats and other devices that scared me to even think about what they were. And it was there I’d found the pheromone blocker, a single bottle resting on the table as though someone had forgotten it. I snatched it and returned to my room without being seen, and had kept it in the closet since then.

But until now, I had no reason to run. In fact, I’d had every reason to stay. Sonny would kill me if I left. Maybe not immediately. Maybe not after the first time, but he would, or one of the bosses would. If they found me, they might even do worse things to me – things I didn’t want to think about.

I popped the cap off the pheromone blocker, doused myself with it and shoved it in my pants pocket. Just like I’d done at Mrs. Brown’s, I opened the window and climbed the drainpipe down to the ground and raced toward the shadows, toward my future, where my fated mate was waiting for me.