Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
The car clock showed two minutes ’til nine. I hated to cut this conversation short, however, I needed the job. I hoped that Rosemary wouldn't ruin it for me, but I couldn't hide like a coward. She seemed like she might not want others to know about me, so I'd hold on to that until she proved otherwise. "We've got to hurry or I'm going to be late."
"Are you sure it's smart going in there?" Killian cracked his knuckles. "Rosemary isn't known for being patient. And if she figures it out, she’ll alert her mom, Yelahiah, who happens to be a council member of Shadow City."
Which meant every leader in the city would find out about me. Dammit. "If I don't show up, then it might confirm what she suspects. And if you're right and she doesn't keep her mouth shut, then I'm going to look guilty for not coming to work." If she did start talking, I needed to know as fast as possible. The longer she ran her mouth and I didn't know, the more at risk I'd be from whomever was hunting me.
My stomach churned.
Being a rogue wolf was already taking its toll, even with Killian by my side. I couldn't imagine what it'd be like all on my own with not even a friend. Relationships were so damn important to wolves.
"Fine, but one funny look, and we're out of there." He looked at me sternly. "You have to at least promise me that."
I was damn lucky to have found him. "Got it."
"Promise?" he pushed.
He already knew my stubborn ass too well. "Yes, promise."
He must have seen what he was looking for because he opened his door and climbed out. Normally he'd run over and open mine, but I had one minute to get inside. I got out and joined him behind the truck. Not missing a beat, the two of us rushed into the building and made our way to the coffee shop.
When we approached the shop, the line was already out the door and into the hallway. I shouldn't have been surprised—most of the people in line looked like they could fall asleep standing right there.
I sprinted to the counter where Carter stood grumpily in front of the cash register as one lanky crow shifter made drinks.
Carter sniffed as I got closer, and he let out a huge sigh, "It's about time you got here."
"Oh, come on." Killian chuckled as he caught up to me. "She's one minute late. I'm pretty sure that line didn't miraculously appear during the last minute."
"No, but Deissy called out sick again." Carter frowned. "I told her don't bother coming in ever again."
"You pulled the plug on her?" Killian sounded mildly impressed. "What made you finally do it?"
"Because you found someone to replace her." Carter held up a finger to the customer standing in front. "Please hold on one second." He turned to me. "But I need that ID now. I got screamed at by HR for letting you work yesterday."
The fact that he planned to keep me on helped with some of my turmoil. At least, I had something I could kind of call my own.
"Oh, here." Thank God Killian had come through for me. I handed Carter my ID and slipped on an apron. "Anything else?" At least, he was acting normal, not that he would've heard the latest gossip with the shop insanely busy.
"Yes." Carter hissed at the cash register like it was the demon he’d said lived in it. "Work that damn thing."
I grinned as I reached the register. Carter already seemed to rely on me, which thrilled me.
"When does she get off?" Killian asked.
"Come get her after the noon rush, but I’ll want her here earlier tomorrow morning," Carter answered.
Killian blew me a kiss as he walked out the door, and then I focused on my task at hand.
For the first hour, my heart picked up its pace every time someone entered the shop. Each time, I expected to see the gorgeous dark angel who’d found me in the woods this morning. But she never came. Maybe she had no clue who I was after all. Or maybe she didn’t care.
Angels were supernatural and could fly, and they had super strength and other magical abilities, but their nose wasn't as sensitive as a wolf’s or a bear’s.
Maybe I was safe after all. Maybe I hadn’t needed to reveal my secret to Killian. In fear, I'd rushed to tell him, not wanting him to hear it from anyone else. I put him in so much danger, but I couldn't rewind and change the past.
But boy, I sure wished I could. That ability would have been so nice to have. My pack would still be alive, and I'd be with Dad, training for the day I took over the pack.
Someone cleared his throat, and I looked up to see a man who looked a few years older than me. "Are you okay, miss?" His sharp angular face brought out soft blue eyes that were full of concern. He pulled his wallet from his khaki pants and scratched his golden-brown hair. He had a regal presence to him, and he smelled like maple syrup, which screamed vampire.
"Yes, sorry." I forced a small laugh that sounded like a cough. "I spaced for a minute."
"Spaced?" His face lined with confusion.
"I was daydreaming." God, that sounded horrible. "But don't worry, it wasn’t about you." Come on, Sterlyn. Get your shit together.
The vampire laughed and handed me his credit card. "I asked for a black coffee."
"Of course." I inhaled deeply, forcing my body to relax. I took his card and swiped it and then hurried off to fill a cup.
I didn't even know vampires drank coffee. Obviously, they did, or he wouldn't be here, asking for it. Generally, the vampires we had encountered were focused on one thing—blood. We had to protect the nearby town several times because of vampire outbreaks. When a vampire lost their humanity, they turned deadly, draining humans to death, and the sun began to harm them. Each kill weakened their soul to the point where even the moonlight could hurt them.
As the cup filled, a rose scent hit my nose, and the sense of peace I'd found evaporated like the feeling had been a figment of my imagination.
My hands shook as I put the lid on the coffee. Freaking out would only make the situation worse. I turned, plastering a fake smile securely on my face, and handed the attractive man his drink. "Do you need anything else?"
"No, thank you." He winked and headed out the door, walking up to what had to be shifter. I kept my gaze on him, not wanting to meet her gaze.
Rosemary tsk ed as she propped her hip against the counter. "I'm thinking Killian wouldn't approve of you checking out Alex like that."
"Alex?" What was she talking about? I'd expected her to throw her accusations at me. Not talk to me like nothing had happened.
"The vampire prince who got coffee and left. The one you watched walk out the door like he was the only thing you could focus on?" She tapped a finger against her lip and then wagged it at me. "That's right. You aren't from Shadow City or Shadow Ridge. Where exactly did you come from again?"
"A place not too far from here." The emotion wafting off her was confusion. Like she was trying to figure out something. I had to be very careful how I played this.
"How far?" She leaned closer to me. "Like an hour or several?"
Unfortunately, there was no lying now, so I was stuck in this conversation. "About twenty miles. Do you want something to drink?" Giving her an approximate mileage wasn't the best idea, but it would be hard for her to pinpoint. And if she was sniffing out silver wolves, no one would say anything. The only ones who knew, outside of me, Killian, and a bunch of murderers, were dead.
"Yeah." She looked around the register at Carter. "How about a mocha with four extra shots of espresso?"
"On it." He nodded like that request wasn't odd.
I almost wanted to say something about her heart not liking it, but I figured the joke would fall flat, and with her being one of the strongest supernaturals around, there wasn’t much that would hurt her heart, to begin with. I rang up her order and prayed she wouldn't continue her investigation.
"Funny thing happened this morning," she whispered. "I flew over the woods and caught some shifter chasing a rabbit."
Yup, she thought it was me, but the confusion rolling off her calmed me. She was watching my reaction, trying to glean something from me.
"Depending on the shifter, that would make sense." I looked at her and smiled. She wanted me to slip up and say wolf to confirm it was me.
The edges of her mouth tipped downward for a second before she schooled her expression into a mask of indifference.
"That'll be $6.73," I said, forcing my voice to sound even. I needed her to drop this entire conversation, but I couldn't let her realize that she was affecting me.
She rocked on her heels as she pulled some cash from her back pocket. "You know, I love your hair. Do you dye it?" Her gaze remained on me.
Luckily, I had dyed my hair once. I was so tired of having the silver hair that continually reminded kids my age I was their future leader. I had wanted to blend in, but much to my horror, the color didn't stick. My hair stayed the exact same shade it was now. "Yeah, I've dyed it."
"Interesting." She handed the money to me.
I made sure to keep my hands steady as I made change. "Is your hair natural?" Everything inside me wanted me to change the subject, which meant I couldn’t.
Her eyes widened marginally. "Yes, this is my natural hair color. Angels don't normally alter their appearance. We don't even wear makeup." The superiority of her tone grated on my nerves.
"I figured fallen might think differently." I was pushing her buttons on purpose. If I made her mad, maybe she'd drop the third degree. In reality, I wasn't sure if she had fallen or been born to fallen parents.
"Well, you obviously don't know much about angels, do you?" She lifted her chin in defiance before something settled over her.
She seemed more confused now than when she came in.
"Here you go, Rosemary," Carter said as he handed her the mocha while giving me the side-eye.
I'd get a lecture about being more professional when she was gone, my second one, and I'd been on the job only two days. This Deissy girl must be horrid if he was thrilled to hire me in her stead.
"Thanks." Rosemary took the drink but didn't leave. "There's something about you, Dove . Maybe it's not what I thought, but that doesn't mean I won't figure it out."
A small amount of respect filled me for this beautiful girl. She was direct almost to a fault, but I appreciated knowing exactly where I stood with her. One of the unique powers silver wolves got from the moon was the ability for us to read someone's intention. Rosemary wanted to be honorable, but she hadn't quite figured that out yet.
She turned to leave, and my gaze landed where her wings had been earlier. I noticed two slits in the back of her sweater, wide enough for the wings to spring from. The material almost hid them.
Another interesting fact that I learned today—angels had special clothing.
"How many times are we going to have this conversation?" Carter groaned. "You can't antagonize the customers, especially ones tied to the council."
He continued to ramble, but my focus remained on Rosemary as she left the shop. For now, she hadn't put it together that I was the silver wolf. She suspected it, but I’d managed not to confirm it. I had to keep it that way, or Killian and I could be in a world of hurt.
The next week and a half passed in a blur. Each day, I grew jumpier, between my missing pack and, disturbingly, not seeing Griffin. What bothered me most was that missing the sexy douchebag kept him constantly on my mind and on alert for him.
I hadn't seen him since the night of our almost kiss. I tried not to look for him, but I couldn’t help myself. His face, his smell, his presence…being without him had left a hole inside me, making me desperate to see him again.
He didn't appear to be staying at his house, and Killian had muttered that he hadn't heard from his best friend either. The last he’d heard, Griffin was going to Shadow City to spend time with his mom and try to determine who was behind the attacks on wolves, but every time Killian called, Griffin didn't answer.
The most concerning part was that Luna had been missing in action too. I didn’t want to consider what those two were up to. It made me want to puke.
"Dove?" Carter called.
I was getting used to the name. I never would’ve expected that, but it had become mildly comforting. Probably because Killian had given it to me.
The coffee shop was dead. I'd been working longer days, and it was now nearly two in the afternoon, and we were closing up.
"Do you mind taking the trash out?" He pointed at the garbage can.
Carter acted like I wouldn't do it without him reminding me. "I’ve taken it out for the past five days." I finished counting out the cash drawer, headed over to the trash, and tied up the bag. "I'll be right back."
He nodded and continued wiping down the counters. "Holler if you need anything."
I walked through the kitchen, where the two kitchen girls were cleaning up the food mess from the day, and straight out the back to the garbage bin. The rancid smell of decaying food slammed into me. Since I was new, I got to be the one to deal with this. Something about seniority, and after the first time, I understood why. No one, not even a human, would want to come out here and smell this.
Holding my breath, I hurried to the large, blue dumpster outside the back door and threw the bag inside. I spun around…and silver paint on the brick caught my eye.
No .
This couldn't be.
Why would Rosemary do this to me? My breathing quickened. I was so upset that the awful garbage smell didn't even register any longer.
I rushed over and traced the drawing on the wall. It was of a wolf in silver paint, the combination telling. It couldn't be a coincidence. That would be too convenient at this point.
My vision grew hazy. I had to get something to clean this off or paint to spray over it. No one could see this.