The diner had always been like a second home to me. I'd worked there for years, both before and since I was bitten that night. It had provided a constant in my life when I'd needed it, it was my daily dose of normal. I valued working alongside people who simply knew me as Maggie, not as a werewolf, certainly not as a rare female wolf. At the diner I was just me, with no other identities attached.
"Not the most romantic date night." I took a sip of wine, watching Max over the rim of the glass.
Running was freedom. In my wolf form all the threats and worry faded away and animal instinct took over. It was bliss to feel the damp soil beneath my paws and to have the fresh wind ruffle my fur. This was simple and easy and didn't require complicated thoughts or feelings of guilt.
"I'm going, Max. It's important." I was well prepared for this argument; I'd known it was unavoidable.
What did one wear to a good friend's birthday party when also planning to keep an appointment with a murderous stalker? This was the question running through my head as I stood in front of my closet examining the contents. I'd managed to put on my underwear and that was as far as I'd managed to get. My usual solution of asking Nate was out as I knew he'd try and get me into a dress, and that wasn't going to happen tonight. I wanted to be covered up and comfortable, with the ability to make a run for it.
The silence in the car pressed down like a weight. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to make the effort to talk or not. It was a choice of uncomfortable silence or disturbing conversation.After we’d left the park it was a short walk to a nondescript, dark car. The perfect, forgettable, getaway vehicle. Zachary knew how to plan an effective kidnapping, but then he seemed like an organised guy. Organised and determined; a dangerous combination.
Two long days and endless nights later and nothing had changed. Time passed and still I lay curled in a corner of the cabin, unwilling to talk to Zachary. This hadn't stopped him from talking to me, or rather at me, it seemed I wasn't a necessary participant. Zachary, I was learning, was not interested in much beyond himself and his life, everyone else were simply a means to an end.
Escape. The single word that ran through my head every hour since Zachary had announced his 'distraction' plan. All I could now think of was that I needed to get out of here and tell the Pack about it, so that they could prevent the impending disaster.
Another rock bit into the sole of my foot, causing me to stumble, but I refused to slow down. Running through the woods in wolf form would have been so much easier, but I wasn't able to shift back again so quickly, it took too much energy. Instead I had to rely on my less than brilliant human senses to help guide me through the wall of trees.