Chapter 9 Drenched
Drenched
Monte
Once I changed and gathered myself, I continued with my errands.
Since I was already late, I decided to take one of the communal cars that Ara had shown me when I’d first arrived.
I still felt like a bit of an outsider and like I hadn’t really earned the right to use Redrow property, so I chose the oldest and least-impressive of the small fleet on the compound.
I set off to make the delivery to Yelloweyes, who was very pleased about the herbs. He was a gruff old wolf, long in the tooth and grouchier than most, but that didn’t stop him from thanking me for my delivery.
There was still a decent amount of daylight left, so I decided to drive around town and then visit the local nursery to see if they needed anything.
The caretakers there said their stores were full, but that the pups would be ecstatic if I played with them for a bit.
Naturally, I did. Even more naturally, I completely lost track of time and ended up spending several hours playing with the little gremlins.
By the time I finally left, it was nearly dark outside, and had begun to drizzle.
What’s more, I felt like I was coming down with some sort of fever, because my body was starting to burn hot again and a painful tension was forming in my head.
“Well at least I have a car,” I muttered to myself as I hurried into the driver’s seat and turned the key. The car rumbled to life, and I headed back toward the pack house.
Almost halfway there, the reassuring hum of the engine sputtered, then died. The car skidded to a stop, the rain now thundering against the windshield.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
I turned the key once more.
And then waited.
I turned the key again.
Nothing.
Oh Goddess, of course the car would break down on my very first solo trip. Just my fucking luck.
I knew nothing about engines, so there was no way I was touching that hood to investigate.
With a groan, I slumped back against the seat. Perhaps it hadn’t been the best idea to choose the crappiest car on the compound for this very reason.
The rain intensified, and seconds later, I couldn’t see ten feet in front of me through the downpour.
Any hope of finding a mechanic or making it back to the house in my wolf form was shattered.
I was going to have to call someone; the only question was who.
I doubted Ara was home yet, and I didn’t want Felix to know I was incompetent, so perhaps I could call Jared or Wyatt?
Even entertaining those possibilities was enough to make me wince. If I did call them, not only would I have to deal with their respective brands of unpleasantness, but they would surely tell Felix anyway, and I’d end up no better than if I’d just called him in the first place.
Lacking any other viable options, I pulled out my phone and dialed Felix’s number. To my surprise, he picked up after a single ring.
“What’s wrong?” he snapped.
I blinked. Belatedly, it hit me this was the first time we’d ever talked on the phone. I had his number, but that was mainly as a safety precaution. Of course, the one time I finally used it, his first assumption was disaster. Like he’d been waiting for this moment.
“Are you injured?” he demanded, even more impatient now.
“No, I’m fine!”
I hadn’t taken more than a second to think of an answer, but he was already so worried about me. Did I really seem so helpless to him? On second thought, I didn’t want to know the answer to that.
“Uh, I’m kinda stuck.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just finished helping out at the nursery,” I scrambled to explain, “but then the rain was coming down.”
“But you took a car, didn’t you?”
I was a little surprised that he knew that, but I supposed I shouldn’t be, seeing as he literally had a spy keeping an eye on me.
“Yes, but it sort of… broke down on the way home,” I said lamely. “At least I think it did. I don’t know much about cars. All I know is that nothing happens when I turn the key in the ignition.”
He grunted, then his voice grew muffled as he addressed someone in the room. “There’s an emergency at the pack house, I’m heading back now. Reschedule my clients for the rest of the day.” His voice grew clearer. “You still there, Monte? Stay right where you are, I’m on my way.”
Before I could even answer, Felix ended the call, and I was left alone on a deserted, rainy road in a broken-down car.
With nothing to do, my thoughts drifted to the strange turns my life had taken lately.
In truth, I was a little surprised at how easily I fit into the Redrow pack house.
Then again, since my expectations had been in the gutter, and I’d worried I’d be kept in a dungeon and fed slop, I supposed that being watched suspiciously was relatively not too bad.
A low rumble behind me interrupted my thoughts. At first, I thought it was thunder, until I realized that it was another car, a truck. I frowned and glanced in the rearview mirror, an icy wariness seeping up my spine.
There was no way it was Felix, not this soon. Even if he’d run out the door, he couldn’t have driven here this fast.
Was it another Redrow? Please don’t let it be Wyatt or Jared.
But then another thought struck me, twisting my gut tight. Hunter?
No one had heard a word from him in ages. It couldn’t be him. It shouldn’t be him. I knew that day would come, but Goddess, I wasn’t ready. Not now.
The truck rolled slowly forward on the slick road. As it drew closer, I squinted through the blur of water on the rear window to make out a shadow behind the wheel. The outline sharpened to shape a frame I knew too well.
My apprehension melted away, replaced by a relief so deep it seeped into my bones. It did nothing, though, to dull my pounding skull or my simmering fever. I was certain I was coming down with something.
I slumped back in my seat, marveling. It wasn’t more than ten minutes after the call.
Felix really must have run right out the door and headed straight here.
Then again, maybe he was just blazing out here to lecture me for leaving the pack house without an escort.
I should expect to get yelled at, at the very least.
His truck came to a stop, and Felix stepped out, not even wearing a coat. When I moved to open my door, he gestured for me to wait, then made his way around the car. Whether he was looking for damage as proof of my incompetence or something else, I had no idea.
Once he was satisfied, he came up to the driver’s side and pulled the door open, only to freeze mid-motion. His nostrils flared and his eyes sharply narrowed on me. He drew in another breath before he spoke.
“Come.” He offered me his hand, and I stared at it, caught off-guard. This was far from the scolding I expected. Maybe he was only waiting until we were out of the rain to yell at me.
I slid my palm into his. His fingers closed around mine, rough and warm, flaming my insides with a heat that had nothing to do with fever.
He didn’t say anything once we got inside the truck; not a single word as he turned it around, and still nothing as we picked up speed, heading back toward the pack house.
His silence made everything seem louder, from the hum of the engine to the rain hammering on the roof of the car.
Even the water dripping from his hair. My hearing wasn’t the only sense that was amplified, either.
I could feel the waves of his body heat washing over me, even though we weren’t touching.
“I’m sorry about the car. I don’t know what happened,” I said into the silence.
Felix grunted in response, which I supposed was better than nothing. My eyes flicked over to him. The rain had slicked his hair to his temples, putting the sharpness of his jaw and the piercing silver of his eyes on unobstructed display. He looked every inch commanding, and infuriatingly handsome.
Everything I’d witnessed this afternoon came rushing back to me.
My pulse kicked up and flooded to places I didn’t want it to as I was gripped with a mental image of thanking Felix for coming to my rescue in the most shameless way: me kneeling for him, waiting with my tongue out like a good boy while he stroked himself over me.
I shifted in my seat, willing my thoughts to focus anywhere but him.
“Thank you for coming to pick me up,” I mumbled instead.
He shot me a sideways glance so intense that I was certain he’d read my obscene thoughts. It took every ounce of self-control not to flinch under the Alpha’s gaze and give myself away.
Just when the moment passed and I’d regained the steady rhythm of my heartbeat, the entire world flashed white.
My heart seized, then jolted into a panicked rhythm as a deafening boom shook the earth beneath us with such a violent force that I was absolutely certain we’d crashed.
With a sharp curse, Felix struck his hand out, slamming it against my chest to pin me against the seat with all his strength as the brakes screeched and the truck swerved to a hard stop.
“Felix,” I gasped, but no sound came out. I blinked, but everything was still white. I couldn’t catch my breath no matter how hard I tried.
Slowly, spots of black appeared and disappeared, nauseatingly flickering in and out of existence.
“Are you alright?” I heard Felix ask over the ringing in my ears.
I nodded, I think. I couldn’t feel my neck move at the moment.
“We’re damn lucky,” Felix muttered. I heard the sound of his seat belt unbuckling, then the click of his door opening.
I blindly groped for him, desperate to not be left alone, but Felix was already gone.
When my vision finally started to come back, the first thing I saw was Felix standing in front of the truck, lit up by blazing headlights. He was looking down at the ground, and if I strained up in my seat, I could just make out the smoking, charred mess of wood before him.