It was still daylight outside, so I felt comfortable taking the road that led down to the river, and maybe the view would distract me from how hard I was breathing. I still couldn’t get over the beauty of this place. I didn’t know how they managed to stay so under the radar. I watched as a freaking bald eagle soared just a few feet away.
Magical.
After a measly twenty-minute run where every step felt far from the runner’s high I’d once been familiar with, I finally had to stop and catch my breath. My heart was racing out of control, and I decided that tomorrow, I’d be asking Carrie for some egg whites and saying no to the chocolate donuts.
Except that donut had been so freaking good.
My musings about the pros and cons of Doritos and chocolate donuts were cut off by a low growl just off to my left. I froze, my heart racing even more as a sable colored wolf stepped into view out of the tree line that lined the river trail. It just stared at me for a moment before its lips curled back to expose pearl white fangs.
It only flashed its teeth for a second, but it was enough to give me a small heart attack. I stumbled backwards as it sat down on its haunches and cocked its head, staring at me a little too intelligently.
“Nice doggy,” I whispered, continuing to back up while keeping eye contact the entire time.
It growled in response as if it could understand me. I was really wishing I had a wolf’s sense of smell right about now, because I’d never seen a wild wolf act like this.
It gave one more growl and then abruptly swung around and trotted back into the underbrush and trees.
I ran as fast as I could back to the hotel without looking back. Looked like it was just going to be runs through town from now on.
This place had a wolf problem.
As I made it back to the hotel as the sun started to fade, I wasn’t aware of the motorcycle parked in the dim lighting just down the street. And the man on that bike who watched me.
In the shower, I’d managed to convince myself that I had no actual idea how wild wolves acted and I was just imagining things that weren’t there. I refused to believe that my curse would extend to sending me straight to shifters after I’d vowed I would never be near one again.
The bar was actually full without a seat to spare when I ventured downstairs into the lobby. I decided to get food somewhere else. The weather was perfect outside, but the streets were quiet, just like the night I’d arrived. I strolled down the sidewalk, looking in the store windows as I passed. A door opened a few buildings down, bringing with it the sound of music and laughter. A couple staggered out the door, practically tearing each other’s clothes off as they stumbled away. Intrigued, I walked closer and saw a sign for the Jaw Bone Pub. The place didn’t look like much, but the smell coming out of it was incredible. Maybe I could venture in and grab a cup of soup or something from the grocery store.
The moment I stepped through the heavy wooden door, I was assaulted by a cacophony of sounds and smells that had my senses whirling. My insides were going haywire, like something was jumping around. I needed to find some Tums somewhere. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant, but it had to be related to some stomach issues because it wasn’t anything I’d experienced before.
The place wasn’t that crowded. There were a few people at a long, polished wooden bar, and a few others scattered at tables around the large room. There was a dancefloor on the far side with a scuffed up black floor and an old-fashioned jukebox. And there were wolves.
Not literally.
But there were wolves engraved everywhere. On the chair backs, in the bar, in the beams on the ceiling. I glanced back at the door that had just closed behind me, not surprised at all to see a giant wolf engraved in it. There was even a gorgeous wooden wolf sculpture behind the bar designed to look like the wolf was emerging from the wall. The details were so perfect, I half expected for the sculpture to come alive at any moment and the wolf to spring the rest of the way into the room.
A brunette with skin the color of cinnamon was polishing glasses behind the bar. She watched me suspiciously as I walked to the bar and settled into one of the high-backed leather chairs. The woman was wearing a cut off shirt that barely covered her ample chest and low slung jeans. Her abdomen was tight and toned, and for a second, I contemplated asking for workout tips because she looked like she could throw down.
“Hi,” I said politely. “Can I see a menu?”
She smacked a piece of gum loudly and then threw a faded, torn piece of paper without saying a word.
Oh goodie, another friendly town resident.
I gave a sigh of relief that the prices were really low and ordered a water, a bowl of soup, and a side of bread.
The bartender nodded and then disappeared for a moment before coming back and resuming polishing the glasses. I looked around the room and noticed most of the inhabitants seemed to be watching me either outright or out of the corner of their eye.
This was going to be a quick dinner.
“So…you guys sure seem to like your wolves here. Is it because of the wolves in the woods?” When I was nervous, I either couldn’t talk or I had word vomit.
This was the latter.
The woman barked out a laugh and looked at me incredulously. When she saw I was serious, her laughter abruptly cut off. “You could say that,” she finally said, her voice low and cool.
A guy and a girl a few seats down from me were still laughing at my comment, and I pursed my lips, determined to keep quiet.
No one tried to talk to me, and my food came out five minutes later, allowing me to focus on that instead of the awkward silence that had descended on the room the second I’d walked in.
I was just a few bites in of the delicious soup when suddenly, a rancid smell hit me. I set my spoon down, wrinkling my nose in disgust and looking around the room. The smell dissipated after a moment, and then I was struck by an intense aroma of body odor. It resembled cheese that had been left in the back of a broken refrigerator…for a month. It hit me just as a pudgy guy with sweat-stained pits passed behind me. Ugh. He desperately needed to be introduced to deodorant.
I noticed the bartender watching me closely again. “A lot of interesting smells,” I told her, unable to shut myself up.
She just gave me a weird little smile, like she knew something I didn’t.
“Can I get this to go?” I asked, my previously ferocious appetite a bit quelled with the overload of odors in the room. The longer I sat here, the more I was experiencing, and I was getting overwhelmed.
“Sure thing,” she replied curtly before printing out my bill and throwing me a Styrofoam to-go container.
I made sure to leave a tip, even though her service had been far from good. Karma and all that.
“You’ll get used to it,” she told me cryptically as I stood to go.
I looked at her uncomprehending.
“The smells. You get used to it,” she clarified before disappearing in the back.
Shaking my head at the weirdness of everyone here, I grabbed my food and wandered back to the inn.
The sounds of wolves howling in the distance followed me all the way back.
4
Rune
I spent most of the next day worrying and thinking about my first shift at the diner. I was ready an hour early and spent most of that hour pacing around my room.