Chapter 3

Vinny

I opened the throttle and leaned forward, hollering out a whoop of delight, which was met with Vali’s yippy howls of excitement. He loved this as much as I did. All I wanted to do was take my helmet off and feel the wind in my hair as I zoomed down the country. I wore a helmet not because it kept my brain inside my skull, but because it really sucks when you get a mouthful of bugs.

I tried not to think of my destination too much and just enjoy the open road. I estimated that it would take four days to get back to Blackfern Valley.  As I got closer to my dreaded destination, my thought process betrayed me. It kept bringing me back to my final few days in Blackfern Valley. 

I tried to force my brain to think about my dad, my sister, my niece, God—even my mother who died when I was fifteen. Each time my brain would start to behave, little snippets of unwanted memories and thoughts would intertwine themselves, popping forward and back like little poltergeists of doom.

Vali was being no help so I picked up speed in a hope that the adrenaline would keep my nightmares at bay. Faster. Faster.

Wait, what was that smell? Vali grumbled as the scent hit his nose. His ears flattened against his skull, and he let out a low whiney snarl. My heart spasmed and I felt the icicles threaten to take over. 

I spun and slid as I hit the corner at speed. I tilted my bike to try and counteract the gravity and correct myself, but I was going too fast. Shit! The hot tar seal ripped my jeans as my body scraped against the rough road and my bike catapulted in the other direction.

I rolled a couple of times, gave myself a couple of breaths and tried to reason with my galloping heart. There was a strong jasmine fragrance in the air. Jasmine was the smell I detested the most. But there was no way that it was her scent I was detecting. Not all the way out here. I groaned and lifted myself up, taking off my helmet and walking over to my bike.

“Are you okay?” a squeaky voice called. I turned to witness a small, busty blonde running towards me and I tried to give her a smile. It came out like a grimace. I took a gentle sniff as she approached. She had big blue eyes, a heart shaped face and a scent of pure human.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I raked my eyes down her body taking in her tight jeans and crop top that emphasized her rock-star body. Damn.

“You came off your bike,” she said stating the obvious, but her eyes were large and full of concern, so I suppressed the urge to roll mine.

“Not the first time,” I said with a nod as I pretended to heave my bike up. It wasn’t heavy. Not at all. In fact, I could lift it above my head with very little effort. Humans however do find motorcycles heavy.

“That was a gnarly crash! I don’t think your bike is going to start.” Her eyes ran over the bike with interest. I gave it a quick once over and concluded that she was correct. It wasn’t going to start.

“Shit.” I closed my eyes and knew I was going to have to stash the bike, get the concerned citizen to leave before I shifted and ran the rest of the way.

“Come on, you can put it in the back.” I blinked at her. Put what in the back? Of where?!  My wolf grinned stupidly at me. She pointed back to the blood-red half-ton truck parked on the side of the road. Oh.

“It’s okay—”

“You are one of those aren’t you?” Her blue eyes flashed at me.

“One of what?”

“You never accept help from people. From women.”

“Of course, no—” I started to shake my head.

“Good,” she said in a final tone, going back towards her truck. She looked back and gave me an expectant look. Defeated, I pushed the bike towards her.

I wondered how I was going to get it onto the bed of her truck without giving away my werewolf strength while she popped the tailgate down and shimmied up onto the tray. She pushed a few moving boxes to the side before sliding a ramp towards the back and gave me a grin.

“Connect the ramp and push your bike up. I have some straps here too. We can secure it and then I am taking you to the hospital.”  Who was this girl?

“I don’t need a hospital,” I said as I followed her directions.

“Just humour me. You came off your bike at such a speed that your neck should be broken.” I grimaced again. She was right, if I didn’t have my werewolf reflexes, I would never have been able to prepare myself for the catastrophe of that landing.

“What are you? A doctor?” I grunted at her as I pretended to slightly struggle, pushing my bike up the strange angle. A tinkly laugh echoed as she helped me direct the bike.

“No, I am a history student.” Ah. A student. I looked at the boxes again. She must be moving to Kempthorne for the start of the trimester. “My name is Camille.” A small hand reached around the bike, and I gripped it in mine giving it a gentle shake.

“Vinny.” She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder, giving me an appraisal before shaking her head and handing me a strap.

***

I thought that I would be able to lose her once we made it to the hospital, but she was adamant about following me in. I was committed now, there was no way she was going to let me walk away. She walked straight up to the receptionist and beamed at her.

“Hi, I just witnessed this idiot coming off his motorcycle at speed.”

“I am fine.” I rolled my eyes at the middle-aged receptionist.

“No,” she snapped. “He should be dead. Can you check him for functioning brain cells? I swear!” She sounded exasperated but when I darted my eyes towards her, I saw her lip twitch in humour. “Perhaps you will find them in his penis?”

Vali chuckled deeply and I even cracked a grin but before I could retort my nose was invaded with jasmine petals. It wasn’t an illusion this time as the jasmine merged with an undercurrent of canine. My heart stuttered and stalled. I instinctually spun and looked directly into Roman’s warm brown eyes. The icicles in my heart expanded to the size of a glacier, but with the speed of an unexpected snowstorm. Vali growled and whimpered, flashing his canines and lowering is head.

“V-Vinny,” she stammered as she took me in. I didn’t answer, my tongue had shriveled up and was so dry it was basically dust. The glacier kept growing and Vali kept growling. I felt a small breeze travel through my nerves, a wind-tangled snarl of pure hate, bitter and cold as it fed into the icy pit in my chest. I knew the silver ring around my irises would be glowing with anger.

A warm hand touched my arm, but it did nothing to ease the cold. I just stared at Roman, frozen to the spot. It felt like an eternity, standing there staring at each other, but in reality, it was no more than a minute. A minute of twisted torture.

“Hi, I’m Camille!” The sassy blonde broke the tension. “My friend here came off his bike and I was hoping that he could be seen to.”

Roman looked at Camille and her big brown eyes flashed with an icy purple for a brief second before Roman regained composure and gave a megawatt smile. “Sure, come on through Vincent.”