I tried to think about other options I had. There wouldn’t be a lot of open jobs in a small town like this. I could ask Jim if he had a job to help in the bar, but he probably would have said something if that was an option. There were a number of other stores in town, and I guessed I could try every one of them. My heart started to race at the prospect.
Marcus swallowed loudly, his lips pursed. Then he released a long exhale, and I knew I’d broken him down. “You start the day after tomorrow. Be here at six p.m. sharp. We won’t have time for a lot of training, so you’ll have to show us how quickly you can pick things up.”
My eyes widened. “Oh my goodness, I can’t thank you enough. This means everything to me.”
He nodded curtly. “I’m giving you a chance. Don’t let me down.”
“I promise.” I nodded.
“Good. See you soon, Rune.” He moved toward the newcomers, and that was my cue to leave.
To say my chest was bursting with excitement was an understatement.
I’d just gotten a job. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to scream in excitement that for the first time in so long, something went right.
Making my way back to the inn, I practically skipped along the sidewalk, which wasn’t like me.
But I had a job!
My cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
Farther ahead, more people were walking around the main road and into stores, the town finally coming to life with activity. Every person I passed had a weird reaction when they saw me though. A flare of anxiety darted through me. People were kind of weird in this town. I couldn’t work out what it was, but things felt…off center.
Despite my good news, I tried to piece together the strangeness of today. Blood mentioned by the young guy in the inn. The way people watched me like they’d never seen an outsider in their town. Then there was that angry hot guy with his girlfriend who growled at me. A fluttery feeling hit my stomach at the thought of him, followed by a rush of anger.
I had a lot of experience in the danger of good-looking men. I’d be staying as far away from him as possible.
But as long as I didn’t cross paths with him again and I could get used to strange looks, staying in town might just be bearable.
3
Rune
I laid in bed the next morning, listening to the sounds of the river floating through the open window. I was beginning to be convinced that listening to running water should be a form of therapy. Or maybe it was? I’d have to look into that.
I sighed and closed my eyes, relaxing into the soft sheets. I wasn’t used to this…peace. Was that what this feeling was? I tried to remember the last time I’d felt something like this.
Was it never?
My hands shook as I sprinkled the powder that Nelly gave me in the drinks. If anyone ever knew she had helped me, she’d be killed. But I couldn’t do it. Not one more day. I couldn’t do it.
I would rather die.
Which would also happen if I stayed here any longer.
I stirred the powder into the brandy Alistair had barked at me to get for him and his friends.
Nelly had promised me that this stuff was tasteless. But I was the unluckiest person on earth, so all I could hope was that she was right.
“Rune, you piece of trash, get your ass in here.” Alistair’s comments were followed by the raucous laughter of him and his betas, all as high up on the asshole scale as he was.
I tried to still the shaking of my hands as I carried the tray of drinks into the living room where the men were sprawled out smoking cigars. A smoky haze filled the room, and I choked on a cough. The entire mansion would smell like the skunky cigars for the rest of the week. That, and sex. I’m sure they were expecting their usual prostitutes to show up tonight too. Good thing Nelly had made sure that order was cancelled.
“What are you waiting for?” Alistair growled out. I didn’t paste a fake smile on my face, that would be too suspicious.
I began to hand out the drinks. Desmond, the beta of the pack that I hated the most, reached out a claw when I began to hand him his. The jerk cackled loudly when I flinched back. He took every opportunity to rub in the fact that I would never be able to shift. I hated him.
I hated them all.
I finished handing out the drinks and went to wait in the corner of the room where I usually would be spending the rest of the night, waiting for Alistair to give me orders.
Tonight was going to be different though.
As the seven men sipped on their drinks and in general acted like the enormous douchebags that they were, my mind went crazy with all the possible things that could go wrong.
What if they didn’t all fall asleep? What if one of them was immune? What if one of them was just pretending to drink and he never ingested the powder?
My worries went on and on. There was so much at stake.
An hour later, they were all fast asleep in various places around the room. The powder had hit all of them within a few seconds span of each other, so no one had time to warn anyone else that something was wrong.
It was time.
Taking a deep breath, I darted from my corner of the room and went over to Alistair, where he had fallen asleep with his head on one of his beta’s shoulders, a position that Alistair would find incredibly embarrassing normally.
I picked up his arm and then heaved his body against my shoulder, almost crumbling under the weight. My broken rib on my left side screamed with the effort. This wasn’t going to work. Alistair had given me that particular injury a few days ago when I’d accidently dropped a plate in the kitchen as I was putting dishes away from dinner. It had been a rather nasty beating because he’d also accused me of staring a little too long at the visitor we had from the Redmond Pack that night. Of course, since my wolf had never been released, I had no shifter powers to help me heal, so I would have to deal with the pain for weeks just like a normal human.
Internally freaking out that I hadn’t thought everything through as much as I should have, I grabbed a blanket from the couch and dropped Alistair on it, enjoying the sound of his head cracking against the tile floor a little too much.
I grabbed two of the blanket ends and began to drag Alistair across the floor to the hallway where his office was. Sweat dripped down my forehead from the amount of effort it took to drag a six foot four, two hundred and thirty-five pound man across a room. I was five foot nine, tall for a woman, but no match for Alistair’s size.
I had to take breaks every couple of steps. The pain in my ribs was better than it had been when I was trying to lean him against me, but pulling on the blanket was still excruciating.
I just prayed that the powder would actually last the eight to ten hours that Nelly had suggested because this seemed to be taking forever.
I made it to the hallway and took another break. Sweat dripped down on the tiled floor below me. My breath came out in tortured gasps. Taking another deep breath, I pulled on the blanket, groaning with the effort, and this time, finally made it into Alistair’s office…where his safe was held.
That safe was going to be my ticket out of here. Alistair’s presence was required because the safe needed his thumbprint and a retina scan in order to open. I’d been tempted to chop them off and save myself the effort of dragging Alistair into the room, but I’d figured he’d be mad enough once he woke up. I didn’t need to add the rage he’d experience if he had to grow back an eyeball and a hand at the same time.