by C. R. Jane
I had to get my car somehow fixed and then leave. The more I kept moving across the country, the safer I’d be. Distance between Alistair and I was the answer.
Never stop in one place too long, Nelly had told me. Keep going, and he won’t track you down.
Suddenly, Jim rounded the corner to come up the staircase, and I stiffened.
He paused, smiling, and the sunlight hitting the back of his head gave him a halo. For a moment, he reminded me of an angel. Maybe he was one, seeing as he offered me a sound sleep and food without so much as mentioning payment last night. Well not yet anyway… I still needed to work that part out.
“Morning. Carrie’s just finished breakfast if you’re hungry,” he said chirpily, yet something danced behind his eyes, an uncertainty when he looked at me, just like last night, as though he knew something I didn’t.
“Thank you. I’ll be out of your hair soon.” I followed him out into the main bar area. Again, the place remained empty. Jim led me to the far table right by the window where the sun lit up the spot like a beacon.
“I’ll bring out the meal. Coffee, tea, or juice?”
“Coffee would be wonderful.” I watched him head back quickly, noting he had a slight limp, and all I could think was that maybe I’d been too trusting, that I should have snuck out earlier, except then what? My car was still half attached to a tree.
I sighed.
Barely had I finished the thought when Jim reemerged carrying a black tray. He set it in front of me. Eggs, bacon, sausage. A bowl of fruit and yogurt. Toast and butter. My stomach betrayed me and growled. I hadn’t eaten like this since I’d left.
“Carrie wasn’t sure what you’d like. It’s been a while since she had guests using our lodging.”
I blinked up at him, my eyes pricking because so few people had been this kind to me before…well, not without wanting something in return. Which made me worry he’d expect something too.
“Well, dig in,” he insisted.
“Thank you.” I buttered the toast and started eating. Jim took a seat across from me as an older woman emerged from the kitchen who I assumed was his wife.
A slightly fuller woman around the waist, she dressed in a wraparound dress the color of the meadow outside that framed her curves perfectly. She had short hair and large, round, green eyes, and I immediately felt comfortable with her.
“Hello, dear, I’m Carrie.” She came right over and gave me a half hug. A faint clementine scent overwhelmed me, and I held back the need to sneeze from the strong citrus perfume she wore.
“Jim tells me you’re from out of town.” She took a seat next to her husband and rested her hands over her stomach, smiling. “Will you be staying with us for a bit then?”
I swallowed the mouthful of scrambled eggs.
“It all depends on my car—”
“The boys at our local mechanic towed it into town this morning,” Jim explained.
“They did?” I almost choked on my food.
He nodded.
“Sure did. Well, after Jim here told them to get off their lazy asses and bring it in.” Carrie smiled at me… She reminded me in part of my mother. The tenderness, the care in her eyes, the softness in her words…but that didn’t make her safe, now did it?
“Where is it?” I lowered my fork.
“At the end of the main road, you can’t miss the sign. Dentworks. They’ve probably already started working on it.”
“Oh.” The sound fell past my lips.
“Is something wrong?” Carrie asked.
“It’s just that…” I licked my lips. “I don’t really have enough money to pay for the car. Or for your generosity.” Lowering my gaze, my cheeks burned with embarrassment that I said nothing of the kind to Jim last night. I had twenty dollars to my name, and that wasn’t going to get me far.
“Are you in danger?” Carrie asked quietly and reached over the table, laying a hand on my arm. The tenderness brought tears to my eyes, a problem I’d had since I arrived here, but I blinked them away.
I looked over to the door, thinking it might be easier just to leave. I didn’t want to talk about myself and definitely not with Jim and Carrie. Humans wouldn’t understand the barbaric ways of wolf hierarchy, how females were objects to be owned, how I doubted Alistair would ever stop searching for me and that I had to keep running.
Carrie met my eyes, waiting for my response, a look of patience passing through her green gaze.
“I left home really fast.” I peered over at them, but they didn’t pepper me with questions. They just looked at me with sympathy. Something I didn’t want, but I appreciated that over constant judgement. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what to do with such a reaction. I’d spent the last few years doing nothing but following rules and falling short, so this…this was refreshing.
“Your stay last night plus your meals are on the house. But I’m not sure if they will fix your car for free, unfortunately,” Jim added.
A rush of emotion hit me again with his words. The concept of kindness was foreign to me, and I almost didn’t know what to do with it. I cleared my throat, pushing away the pesky tears once again.
“What you’ve done is more than I expected. I’ll find a way to pay you back somehow.”
They simply smiled warmly in response. I tried to smile back, but it felt wrong on my lips. I hadn’t smiled much in the past few years.
“I’m Rune by the way.”
The door opened suddenly to the inn, and I jerked my head up at the screeching hinges of the door.
A young man, maybe eighteen or nineteen, marched inside, stomping across the floor and moving to stand behind the counter. His short black hair sat messily, shaved short at the sides. Rips streaked across the knees of his jeans, and his tee was so short that it revealed his midriff. He proceeded to pour himself a drink from what looked like a bottle of vodka, then drank the shot in one go before pouring another.
“Well, that’s my call then.” Jim sighed and got to his feet, then marched over to the man. “What happened, Daniel?” He pried the bottle from his hand.
“She kicked me out of the house, that’s what’s wrong. She kicked me out after she found the blood,” he blasted, though Jim grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him into the kitchen and out of earshot hastily.
Blood?
“Listen, Rune,” Carrie murmured, catching my attention. “If you need money, the local diner is looking for some help. Shouldn’t take too long to save up enough to pay for the car fixes.”
My mouth practically fell open. “Oh no, I can’t stay here that long.” I sank into the seat, realizing alternate options weren’t exactly falling at my feet either. Then I backtracked, remembering how isolated this town was, how not many tourists stayed at the inn, and well, maybe staying a week or so here wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Getting a small job meant making some much needed money. Then I could leave.
“Maybe you’re right,” I finally answered. “I can also pay you if I can keep staying here.”
“Of course. Now, I better go join the other two before all hell breaks loose.” She laughed, and I couldn’t tell if that was a nervous reaction or a joke.
I finished my breakfast and stood up. The three of them stayed in the kitchen, and when their voices kept rising, I made a quick exit outside.
The thought of remaining in town didn’t make it easier to breathe calmly when everything made me jump and I kept imagining Alistair stepping out from around a corner.
I blinked against the brightness outside and glanced out to the river and beyond it to the other side. An older woman stood in her doorway, staring my way like she’d seen a ghost, while a man was strolling towards the wood’s edge that lay fifty yards beyond the cabins. I guessed people did live here after all.
I drew my gaze from the woman, my skin crawling from the attention, and quickly traveled around the inn.
I emerged onto a main road, which seemed to curve toward the river in the distance. Store fronts of all k
inds lined the cobblestone sidewalk. The place held an old fairy-tale feel to it. Old thatched buildings with huge windows displaying goods from bread to clothes to a local grocer left me feeling like I’d stepped back in time to a historic town long forgotten. The river lay to my left, while on the right, goliath mountains rose in the background, the tops painted in snow.
I was walking through a postcard of a small town in the Alpine Mountains…that was the best way to describe this town.
With no one around, I assumed it was still too early in the morning, which was fine by me. I preferred not to be stared at like an animal in a zoo. I tucked my chin low and strolled down the road. I noted there were no cars on the street, and I wondered if not many people drove here.
Perhaps my assumption that tourists came here had been wrong. Though that surprised me with how beautiful and peaceful the place seemed.
I sauntered past a hair salon with a red-haired woman inside sweeping the floor, and I touched my hair absentmindedly as I looked at my reflection in the glass of her salon. When was the last time I’d even done anything to my hair?
I grew up under lock and key, Alistair or one of his assholes came with me everywhere, and when you’re being watched, knowing that any wrong move came with repercussions, you ended up hating outings.
Breathing deeply, I reminded myself I’d escaped and I would do anything in my power to keep it that way.
Following the curve in the road, I noticed a young couple strolling in my direction. They weren’t holding hands, but the proximity with which they walked said it all. The woman was beautiful. She had liquid black hair that cascaded over her shoulders, and she kept glancing up at the man like nothing in the world compared.
Something in my chest stung to see such devotion, and jealousy pierced through me that I’d never experience such admiration directed towards me. That was how Alistair should have looked at me. That was how I’d looked at him.
I glanced over to the man who towered over her, and my steps faltered. He was stunning. The most stunning man I’d ever seen.
He had hair as dark as hers. It was cut longer at the top and shorter at the edges and back. My gaze danced over his strong jawline with a shadow of growth, his thick eyebrows…those full lips.
My insides tightened. That earlier sting now crashed into me like a tremendous lightning storm striking. The two of them looked perfect together. How were there people like me in a world that also held them?
I continued to drink him in. Broad shoulders, a solid body trimming down to a narrow waist, and trunk-like thighs in deep blue Levis…the man was built and intimidating. And not someone I’d ever seen in real life… Men who looked like him were fictional and in magazines.
He turned to face me, and I suddenly lost my breath. I forgot my own name.
His deep, captivating green eyes hardened toward me. I shouldn’t have been so caught in his gaze, but something about them stunned me at how easily they captured my attention.
No one had done this to me before.
No one ever.
No. One. Not even—
Who the heck was he?
His upper lip curled as if seeing me was anything but pleasant. They passed me, not moving out of the way, but forcing me to basically step off the sidewalk and onto the road.
The beautiful woman had eyes only for him, while he threw me a filthy glare and growled at me.
What the fuck?
I froze on the spot and turned to watch them vanish into one of the stores. Did that just happen?
Had he really just growled at me?
What an asshole.
Everything about his reaction told me he wasn’t a fan of anyone new in his precious town. Why else would someone behave that way to a stranger? Well, unless he was completely crazy, which might be true.
And now I was berating myself for thinking for a second he was this spectacular Adonis.
I gritted my teeth, knowing I couldn’t deny the thought, but that only made me more furious. I bet he was so used to women fawning over him, he could treat them like crap. The gorgeous ones were always assholes, didn’t I know that?
I took a deep breath, wondering why I was getting so worked up over a pretty faced stranger. I probably wouldn’t even see him again.
My breaths came faster, and I walked quickly in the opposite direction from them, determined to put them out of my mind.
When a big sign across the road came into view, Dentworks, it only took seconds for my current state of mind to shift. If I was lucky, the car would be an easy fix, maybe they’d be kind and not charge me, and then I could be on my way.
I checked the road and crossed it quickly toward the automobile garage that lay open.
That was when I spotted my blue sedan glistening under the sunlight, but the closer I got, the more I saw the gravity of the damage done. The front of the car was completely crushed in from where I’d slammed into the tree. I cringed at how bad the wreckage was compared to what I remembered. But it had been dark. Now when I stared at the warped and twisted metal, my heart sunk. There was no way the car was drivable in this state.
Fuck!
I heard a crunch of feet on concrete behind me.
“Is it your car?” a voice asked me, and I turned to face a man in oil stained coveralls. Short hair, slightly curly, he stood with hands in his pockets nonchalantly. I was having trouble focusing on him with my wreck of a car sitting there. How long would I have to work at the diner to pay this off? And that was if I even got the job.
I was trapped here until I sorted out my car.
“Miss?”
I glanced back up at the guy, realizing I had completely forgotten to respond. “Y-yes, this is my car. How much is it going to cost to fix it?”
I chewed on my lower lip, praying the news wasn’t as severe as the damage on the car.
“Sorry, ma’am, but we only just hauled it here, so maybe come back later when the bossman is in to see when he can fit it in.”
I licked my suddenly dry lips. “But if you had to take a guess. How much would such a fix cost?”
He shrugged and ran a hand over his mouth, staring at the mess behind me. “It’s impossible to tell until we see the internal damage to the motor, but it’ll probably run into the thousands.”
“Thousands?” My knees weakened. I might as well buy a second-hand car for that cost.
“Like I said, we won’t know until we pull it apart.” He started strolling back into the garage, while I was left looking at the chaotic mess I’d made of my car.
I wanted to cry so badly. For weeks, I’d been careful, then a damn animal darting across the road ruined everything.
I took in deep inhales to calm myself, but all I managed was to drown on the oxygen.
Then I recalled my bag was still in the car, so I approached the back door and pulled it open. It sat there waiting for me. I reached in and grabbed it, along with my half-eaten Doritos bag and bottle of water.
I shot a glare at my car for putting me in this spot. Which was ridiculous since it was my fault. With a huff, I walked down the driveway, figuring this was as good a time as any to find the diner and apply for a job. I returned to the inn to put on something more presentable, not that I had many options.
Fifteen minutes later, I stood in front of Moonstruck Diner, an older building with a wide, wraparound window that guided me to the entrance door at the side. It didn’t look busy.
A bell rang when I pushed open the door and stepped inside. Booths lined the window, while smaller black and white chairs and tables peppered the main area. The ordering bar was located to the far right with the kitchen tucked behind the counter with a swinging door and a service window giving me a view of a man with his back to me. Farther in the back was a small bar with stools and what looked like a small stage for a band.
Wooden floorboards, bright globe light fixtures hung over the booths, and smaller ones lit up the rest of the room. The place looked loved and heavily used.
&nbs
p; The smell of eggs and toast permeated the air, and I glanced past the only patron in the room glancing my way. My attention swept toward the kitchen section, where a man stepped out and immediately lifted his gaze to meet mine.
My heart beat tremendously fast. I wiped my sweaty palms down my black skirt, and I prayed he didn’t notice the wrinkles in my white shirt. The room at the inn had no iron I could find.
Before I could find my confidence, the man approached me with a wide smile and long strides. He wore jeans and a black button-up shirt with the word ‘Moonstruck’ over his heart and a half rising moon over the words. The badge above the logo on his shirt revealed his name. Marcus.
“Table for one?” he asked. “And looks like it’s your lucky day. You can pick your table. It’s not often we get out of town visitors.”
This really must be a small town if he could take one look at me and know I was from out of town. Thinking on it, it had been that way with everyone.
He paused in front of me, standing much taller than I was, his dark russet hair messy around his angular face. The wheels behind his brown eyes were spinning. No denying, the man was extremely easy on the eyes, and there was a commanding feel about the way he carried himself. I recognized strength and leadership in this man. It was the small things, the way he stood, holding my stare, every word calculated.
Much like Alistair, except this man was hopefully nothing like my fated mate. Alistair had kept me his prisoner for so long where I had no say, no identity, no strength to stand up for myself. He stripped me bare of everything, making me so scared that I behaved as he’d expected.
When I looked at Marcus, I didn’t see cruelty, just uncertainty and hesitation.
I could work with that.
“Actually, I’m here to apply for the waitress position.” Sweat dripped down my back, and I hated how nervous I felt. “My name’s Rune.” I stuck my hand out to shake his, unsure if that was the right thing to do in this situation.
He didn’t leave me hanging for long and shook my hand. His grip was strong, his touch hot.
