5. Chapter Four
Chapter Four
The car cut through the woods. Amelia could hear the wolves howling and knew they would try to chase her down, but she wasn’t worried. Her father’s pack was fast, but as far as she knew, they’d never managed to chase a car down. Add that to the fact that Nicole and her father would be using misdirection and sleight of hand to give her a head start. She wasn’t sure about her uncle Henri, sad but true. It didn’t matter, she could count on her dad, even though he was alpha and Nicole. Why was she just realizing that Nicole was her ride or die? It was depressing, and she buried that thought. Now was not the time to think about it.
Although the body of the car looked like it needed work, underneath, it purred like a kitten. Now that she was away, the real questions began. Where would she live? Where would she work? She was trained as an accountant and could take online jobs to start her own business. It all seemed daunting now that she was alone.
Amelia drove until her car demanded to be fed. She wasn’t sure where she was or which direction she’d been going in. She pulled off the highway and stopped at the first gas station she saw. Filling her tank was the first order of business. Then, stopping the revolt going on in her stomach by eating, the second. It felt like it had been days since she had eaten. That may be the case. She’d been so worried about what she was going to do that food had little appeal. There was a cute diner about three lots down with a green awning that seemed to call to her. She drove down, parked the car, and walked in.
Should she have stopped by one of those machines the humans used to spit out money? Or would they take either of the cards her father handed her? She’d seen him pay for food more than once, using them. In her small town, they did a lot of trading even for food, and they sent the young wolves out to hunt for game to offset the price of meat. Her father often said that the pack lived with one foot in the past and the other in the here and now.
“Hi, take a seat wherever, and I’ll hand you a menu in a minute,” the woman passing by with her hands full, with a tray of food said.
This was one reason she liked humans. They didn’t look too far below the surface, and they were kind to her, always smiling and not sniffing like they smelled spoiled meat when she was around.
She took a seat at a table with only two chairs, but it allowed her to see both exits and the kitchen, and she was close to the side exit. Knowing she had a way out allowed her to breathe a little easier.
“Welcome to Jack’s roadside café. Here’s that menu I promised you. When you’re ready to order, just flag me down. Name’s Madison.” She pointed to the name tag on her uniform. “Everyone calls me Maddie. You can too.”
“Thanks, Maddie. Call me Amy.” It probably wasn’t good to use her real name here. She was still too close to the pack, in her opinion.
Maddie gave her an extra bright smile. “Can I get you something to drink? Water, coffee, or maybe a soda?”
She had a fondness for Mountain Dew and only got to drink it when her father took her out to eat. It wasn’t often enough. He never approved of her drinking it.
“Can I get a Mountain Dew?” Part of her expected Maddie to scold her for asking for a drink with so much sugar in it.
“Sure, sweetie, I’ll grab your order and be back shortly. Let me know when you decide what you want.”
Amelia looked over the menu to discover they had a trucker’s breakfast special. It was two eggs any way she wanted them, a double order of sausage, bacon, or steak, a bowl of grits, and six flapjacks. All the butter, syrup, and honey a girl’s heart could desire.
When Maddie came back carrying a large glass of soda, Amelia knew this place might be as close to nirvana as she ever found.
“Are you ready to order?”
She took a deep drink of her soda before nodding. “I want the trucker’s special with the steak, please.”
Both of Maddie’s eyebrows flew up. “Are you sure? That’s an enormous amount of food.”
“Thanks for the warning, but I haven’t eaten for a while.”
“Alright, I’ll call it in.” Maddie went to the front counter. “Jack, one trucker’s special, steak, over easy.”
Amelia reached into the pocket in the back of her pants and took out the phone her father had recently upgraded for her. It was a guilty pleasure that there was an app that allowed her to read. Her secret love was romance. When you didn’t have any in your own life, you found it where you could.
“I hope you’re as hungry as you think you are.” Maddie sat down a bowl of grits, followed by a plate with two thick steaks on them. Amelia could feel her saliva trying to come out of her mouth.
She didn’t have a wolf inside of her, but it didn’t matter; she ate like she did. Her body needed the calories like any other shifter she’d met. Then Maddie sat down a plate of eggs, then a plate of flapjacks. Lastly, she added rolls and condiments. Amelia had to wipe her mouth, or saliva would be everywhere. She felt like the condemned, starving man finally getting his last meal.
Not only was she starving, but she felt a pressure inside of her. A change she couldn’t explain. It felt like something she should understand. Maybe her non-existent wolf looked out of her eyes at the food and growled.
“Thanks.” She gave Maddie a fake smile and waited, almost digging her nails into her hands, until Maddie left her table.
“Thank you, goddess, for your bountiful blessings.” There was no doubt she was thanking Luna. There was a howl in her head that thanked the goddess differently. Then she fell onto the food, inhaling it until she had to push away the different plates to keep her from licking them. When she sat back, not only was she full, but she was content. She could feel the smile on her face. Her eyes closed for a few minutes. Now that she was full, she could take a nap.
“I’m pretty impressed and slightly scared. You ate everything.” She looked at Maddie, her silver eyes catching her green ones. “Oh, your eyes are beautiful. I wonder why I didn’t see them when you first walked in.”
“Thank you. I love your eyes too. The green is perfection,” Maddie blushed and mumbled. “Can I get another Mountain Dew and the bill?”
“Sure. I wanted to tell you, if you don’t have any place to be, we have a server job open for the second shift, and we’re looking to fill it.” She left to get her drink and bill.
Amelia’s mind came to an abrupt halt. Could she stay here and work? Even if it was just for a short time. It would allow her to assimilate into the human world. Who could say she wasn’t one of them?
Her feet itched, and they marched underneath the table. Taking steps as if to say they need to leave. She was shocked enough that leaning down and looking at her feet was all she could do. Sure enough, her feet were moving in a marching rhythm. The unfamiliar presence she felt in her head was growling. She was wearing the new boots the old woman gave her. And until now, they hadn’t hurt or pinched her feet. If asked, she’d swear she was barefooted. That’s how comfortable they were. This was her decision, but that didn’t mean that things around or inside of her weren’t going to throw their opinion into the mix.
“Thanks.” Maddie came back with her soda. Hopefully, the caffeine and the sugar would keep her awake. She pulled out the card to her bank and prayed there was enough money in it to cover this tab and handed it to Maddie. The balance on the card was the next thing that needed checking.
“Stop.” It was a whisper, not wanting any of the surrounding tables to hear her talking to herself. “I’m not staying.” Immediately she felt her boots calm down and her feet went back to feeling great. Whatever was happening in her head stopped.
Amelia realized her mistake the minute Maddie handed her card back and the receipt. The card had her real name on it: Amelia Dumas. Taking both the card and the receipt, she tried to find an explanation. When she looked at her card, it said Amy Martin. She couldn’t explain the name on her card, and she didn’t try. She simply signed the receipt as Amy Martin and added a large tip since she didn’t have any cash on her.
Her father had taken the time to explain why he gave large tips, more than once. “Sweetheart, for people like us. Shifters, the tip is sacrosanct. If we don’t leave a tip, people will remember us and talk about us. If someone was looking for us, they would be the first to volunteer information. What we were wearing, what direction we took off, even our name if we paid with a credit card.”
“If we leave a tip, and it’s only okay, some may still be tempted to talk. If we leave a hefty tip and someone comes in to ask about us, our server will develop temporary amnesia, even going as far as to give the person asking the wrong information. Humans tend to take care of those that have taken care of them.”
Amelia watched as Maddie’s eyes got wide as she saw the tip. The look in them made her feel good. After being a piranha around the pack, she was going to do whatever she could do to make other lives a little easier.
“Thanks for the job opportunity, but I have somewhere to be. You ever have that itch that you needed to keep moving?”
“I did. That’s how I ended up here. I met my husband in a town not far from here and fell in love. I thought I would be in a big city, but I love this small town and I love him even more.”
“Run.” The loud voice was coming from her head. She turned and looked out the window and knew she was screwed. The wolves were chasing her.
“What’s wrong? You look sick all of a sudden.”
Amelia lifted a shaky hand to the gas station, pointing at the four trucks that were gassing up.
“The people in those trucks are after me. They’ve been chasing me since I passed through their town. I thought I lost them, but it seems I haven’t.” Maddie looked out the window, biting her bottom lip.
“Boys.” Maddie’s voice carried through the diner. “This here is my new friend, Amy. She’s being chased by those good ol’ boys filling up. We need to get her out of here without being seen.”
Four enormous truckers stood up. They were enormous to her five-five. She thought wolves were large but holy cow. No wonder they had a trucker’s special here.
“Don’t worry, we got you, little lady.” Well, hell, could he speak to her again? Make a voice recording she could take with her? Nothing about males ever did anything for her. His voice, though, was having an unusual effect on her body. Too bad she couldn’t stick around to dig further into the new feeling.
They made a loose ring around her. Tight enough she couldn’t be seen, but loose enough not to draw any suspicion to them.
“Where’s your car?” a different trucker asked, but his voice wasn’t bad either.
“It’s the blue one with the dinged-up body. Don’t worry, the engine purrs like a kitten.”
She handed one trucker her keys. It was as hard to part with them as it was to take help from people she didn’t know. When your own wanted you dead, everyone was suspect. They got her into the car and tucked away on the floorboards of the back. Then they got into her car, filling it to the brim. There was so much weight in it, she was sure it wouldn’t move.
Her car purred and pulled off. That’s when she realized she could be going to her death. She didn’t know them. Why should they care about one female on the run?