The Fire

The pounding on her door awakened Addie at 4am.  It was ridiculously early, too early for anyone to be pounding on her door.  Bleery eyed, she stumbled to the door and jerked it open, realizing too late that she had no idea who was on the other side.  Fortunately for her it was just Eve.

“The diner is on fire!”  Eve blurted out, eyes and hair frantic. 

“What?!”  Addie stepped back in shock.  “What happened?  Why?”

“The volunteer fire department is there right now.  Maybe wiring.  Maybe the grease trap.  They don’t know yet.”  No wonder Eve seemed frantic.  Her son was on the volunteer fire department team.  It was a dangerous job, especially in rural areas where the equipment was older and not as adequate. 

Addie threw on jeans and a hoodie and started walking into town.  She could see the red glow from the fire reaching into the sky.  A small crowd had gathered and she looked around for Noel, not seeing her.  She did see Beta Danny, watching the fire.  She stood on the edge of the crowd, watching the men work.  Danny sidled up to her.  “Alpha Cole sends his regards and wants you to know the offer still stands.  You should consider it, especially since you don’t have a job anymore.”

She looked at him with shock.  “Did you. . . “ she couldn’t finish that sentence or that thought.  There was no way.  No way someone would go that far.

“Unless they know our secret” she heard her wolf say.

Addie gasped and fell to the back of the crowd, leaving Danny to admire his work.  Turning quickly, she began to run back to her room.  It was only a half mile from the diner but Addie felt like she was running through water.  Adrenaline pumping, she wrenched open the door and started tossing her few belongings into a backpack.  She was leaving. 

Opening the door, full pack on her back, she carefully shut it and crept down the stairs.  Hugging the edge of the drive where the lights didn’t touch she started trudging down to the main road.  At the end of the drive, parked across so that no one could leave was a large town car.  Alpha Cole leaned against the hood, waiting for her.

“Addie!” he greeted her like they were old friends meeting in a café, not at 5am at the bottom of a driveway.  “Get in!” 

He opened the door and bowed, mocking her and waving her into the car.

“No thanks.”  Addie stopped, weighing her options.  She wasn’t sure what was going on but she was sure she didn’t want to get into the car.

“Oh, Addie.”  Cole sounded disappointed.  “You thought it was a request.  It’s not.  I’m telling you to get your ass in the car.”  Now he sounded pissed.  “I can see you will need some persuading.”  He held up his phone.  “Right now Danny is talking to Noel.  All I have to do is text him and he will bring her to join our little party.  I’m sure she won’t want to come, so they might have a little fight, and Danny, being a werewolf and all, well, he will probably have to hurt her a little bit.  The choice is yours.  You come alone or we invite Noel to join us.”

“You wouldn’t do that.  The Council would punish you.”  Addie knew that much from her time in large cities.  Shifters had to be careful around humans. 

Cole chuckled.  “I’m pretty sure I would be given a pass if they knew what I knew about you.  And I’m pretty sure you would prefer my company to that of the Council.  I hear that they can be. . . less than hospitable when there's something they can exploit.”

Addie sighed.  “Fine.”  She figured she could tell his driver to pull over and let her out further down the road when she figured out what to do.  Best to seem compliant right now.  Addie climbed in and Alpha Cole climbed in beside her, talking to Danny on the phone. 

“Got her.  Stick around for a little bit just to make sure she cooperates and then head back.”  Cole shut off the phone and put it in his pocket.  He reached over and pulled a small jewelry box up off the floor.  “I have a gift for you.”  He pulled on a pair of leather gloves as the car pulled away from the curb, heading down the highway.  Lifting the lid off the box he revealed a silver collar.  Addie looked at it with shock. 

“I am going to request that you put this on.  It will help make sure that our conversations are not clouded.”

“No!  That’s silver!  I can’t wear that!  You’re crazy!”  Addie backed away as far as she could in the seat, reaching for the door lock behind her.  Cole sighed. 

“I was hoping you would make this easy.  I can call Danny back.  Ask him to bring Noel?” 

Addie bit her lip.  “You’re a bastard” she said flatly, no fight left in her.  Cole smirked, leaned forward and fastened the collar around her neck, clicking it closed with a snap and then leaning back to admire his handiwork.  Addie drew as far back into the seat as she could, glaring at him and trying to ignore the steady burn from the silver touching her skin.  She folded her arms over her stomach and turned to look out the window, ignoring Cole, until she felt a prick in the side of her neck.

She looked over in shock, feeling a heaviness slowly enveloping her body.  “Why. . . “ She slowly slid sideway, falling across the seat.  Alpha Cole smirked and put away the syringe.