“You may not like our way of life-”
Her head snapped up and she cut his words off. “You're right. I don't. Some of it I get. And some of it I like, but this? No way. No way could I ever understand this, let alone like it.
“And another thing I don't get. I've been here for over a month, and these guys are being punished now?”
“I've been busy. It took a while before their sentencing.”
She was relieved they hadn't been perched up there since she'd come here. “O-kay... so how long have they been standing up there?”
“Five days.”
Jaz tried to keep her face deadpanned. “They haven't come down... for five days?”
He shook his head.
“What about food? Water? Sleep?”
“That's kind of the point.”
Jaz stared at him, biting her parched lower lip. “Bathroom breaks?”
He focused on the ground around the pole. Jaz turned and looked at the grass, noticing some of it had flattened. At first, she'd thought the overpowering smell was manure but as she opened her smell receptors, she realized her mistake. The fresh and old smell of faeces and urine belonged to the Weres. It was vile. She tried not to gag.
She walked away, heading back into the forest, away from the clearing, the stench and the poor men. Driver followed several paces behind. She stopped at a point where the view of the totem poles was hidden by thick foliage. Once he caught up, she turned to face him. It took all her willpower not to flinch when she found him standing closer to her than she'd estimated; at arm's length rather than feet away.
“You wanted to know. And now you know,” he said as if he was persuading her he wasn't in the wrong.
She frowned at him, not wanting to speak.
“I don't want to hide things from you. I want you to trust me.”
She saw something in his eyes that made her feel uneasy. Her instincts were screaming at her that he was a very dangerous man - now more than ever, she knew he was- and yet, as a huge contradiction, she still felt safe around him.
There was something wild and intimidating about him. Anyone could see that. But she still liked being around him and realizing this made her start doubting her own judgment. It was like playing with fire and enjoying the possibility of pain.
She didn't know what he was capable of.
If he could do something like this and still sleep at night, how far would he go if someone ever hurt him, or betrayed him? She shivered. Her anger suddenly dissipated, causing her next words to come out as a quiet croak. “How long do they- have to stay up there?” She swallowed; her throat and mouth were sticky and dry.
“Their sentence is to stand up there without moving, no food, water, etcetera, for seven days.”
Two more days, and they'll be free, she thought, feeling both relieved and anxious.
It saddened and horrified her that for five days, she had been blissfully unaware of the horrors being performed right under her very nose. And she felt partly responsible. Even if their intentions had been to kidnap her, they'd just been following orders: Driver's orders. That was a complex and conflicting statement right there.
Her frustration brought back the strength she needed to stand up to him. “So if I ever do something -like not do what you say- you'll put me up there for a week too?” she retorted haughtily.
His eyes swept over her fiery face and stubborn lip. He loved how it shaped that way, and how her eyebrows tilted down when she was angry. She looked wild and aggressive and sexy. Though he wished her anger wasn't aimed at him.
He blinked in the direction of the two men who he knew were listening. If he showed them -or if a spy happened to be watching- that he treated her differently to everyone else or gave her even an ounce of special treatment, it would be the end of him. The rumours of his Achilles Heel would reach his enemies and it would be detrimental to the Pack, to him, and to Jaz.
He sucked in his emotions, until they were safely locked away and replied, “You would be punished in a way that was fitting to the crime.”
Jaz scrutinized him; stunned and a little hurt at how easily he'd said that. “So you wouldn't have any problem doing that,” she jutted out her chin in Barry and Norm's general direction, “to me?”
“If you ever disobeyed a direct order, no, I wouldn't.”
Jaz stared at him in disgust. “You're a pig.”
Driver's thick eyebrows shot upwards. “Excuse me?”
She stepped forward so they were close enough to feel each other's body heat. She had to crane her neck back to look him in the face but it didn't get in the way of her willpower. “Scratch that; that's an insult to pigs. You're a monster. This place and it's rules are just backwards and wrong. I don't belong here. I'd rather have fought this whole Change thing out alone, even if it meant death than be anything, anything like you!”
She waited for the backlash but Driver just held still, gazing down at her with his unreadable eyes. Now she was close enough to see the beautiful depth of green that ringed his pupils. She blinked, flustered, suddenly unsure of herself and the conviction in the harsh words she'd just stabbed him with. She then felt guilt and regret creep up her spine but it was too late to take it back.