10
I stripped out of my clothes and ran to the door, trying not to think too hard about my desire to show off my body to O’Shea. With one last thought to precaution, I grabbed a blade with my left hand. Just in case.
Taking a deep breath I snatched the door open, holding the blade behind the door where it wouldn’t be visible, and said, “Hello?” in my best sultry voice. Much to my embarrassment, there was no one at the door. I peeked around the corner. Nothing. Not a single movement.
Alex came to stand beside me, sniffing the air. I could have sworn I’d heard someone. A glance at Alex told me I hadn’t been hearing things. His lips were curled back over his teeth and a steady growl slipped past his lips.
Pulling him back inside and putting some clothes on was my first prerogative. The second was to find out what Alex had smelled.
I crouched down to his level, dressed and with my blade attached, just in case. “What did you smell Alex? Was it a human? I thought it was ‘man with a gun?’”
He shook his head and snorted once. “No! Yes!” He barked out. “Wolf, big leader wolf at door. But man with gun too.”
Not entirely sure he was smelling right, thinking perhaps he was still spooked from his run in with the pack that morning, I did something I had never done before. I Tracked O’Shea. A moment of searching and I found him. Sure enough, he was close, but not close enough to be the perp at the door. I started to close the connection, but got a feeling of utter hopelessness that stopped me. It hurt me as if it were my own emotions, and not his that I was experiencing. My hands clenched into fists and I drew away from O’Shea, afraid I might feel sorry for him. It was one of the many reasons I didn’t like Tracking anything but kids. Adults were far too complex; kids, for the most part, were simple.
Believing Alex, I got dressed, then bundled him into the Jeep and headed to the front desk to check out. Sure, it was four in the morning, but I wasn’t going to be able to sleep, wondering who exactly was trying to break into my room. I might not be able to be turned into a werewolf, that didn’t mean that they couldn’t still rip me to shreds.
“Alex, stay.” I raised my hand to him and then went to the back of the Jeep. Digging around in the back seat I found his collar. It was a simple, wide leather collar with two diamonds in the top. Yes, I said diamonds, and yes the collar had cost me a bundle, but it was worth it. The diamonds were part of the spell woven into the collar to keep people from seeing him for what he truly was.
Another pang centered around my heart. Milly was such a huge part of my life, how was I going to do all I needed to without her help? Again, I shook off those thoughts and fingered the collar. Once on Alex, all the average person saw was a very large black dog of indiscriminate breeding. Others, those who could see through the veil, saw him for what he was, but most of them wouldn’t point fingers for fear of being pointed at themselves.
Slipping the collar over his big head I said, “Now, while you’re with me, you don’t leave my side, not for an instant. Got it?”
Alex nodded and crossed his heart with a big claw. I laughed. Some days he seemed so human. It broke my heart a little to see him trapped like this, knowing there was no way out for him.
I shook off my melancholy and walked down to the office, Alex tight against my leg. He was very literal, which was always good to remember.
The office was quiet when I stepped in, the creak of the door the only noise. “Mary?” I called out. John should have been off his night shift by now, his wife Mary taking over in the early hours of the morning. There was no answer. I tried again. “John? Hello, anybody?”
A shuffle from behind the back door and Alex began to growl. I wrapped my hand through his collar. No need to make matters worse and have Alex making more werewolves.
Another shuffle, and the door opened. “Checking out, Ry? Kinda early, ain’t it?” John wheezed out.
I blinked. “Yeah. You okay, John? You look like you’ve pulled an all nighter.”
He blushed. “Maybe you of all people would be the one to believe me. I got a funny feeling near the end of my shift last night. Hairs I got left all stood up on end and I got the feeling like I needed to have all the lights on. Find a shotgun and protect the homestead. Weird, huh? I didn’t like what I was feeling, so I told Mary to stay in bed and lock the door.”
His description didn’t really surprise me. Humans don’t like the feeling those from the veiled world give off, even though we all pretty much live side by side. It seemed Alex was right; it had been his pack leader. She was quite the bitch and the amount of power she carried around could make even the strongest heart stutter. She must have set old John’s spidey senses into overdrive. His rheumy eyes looked up at me and then flicked down to the large black dog at my side.
Before he could ask, I cut him off. “This is my dog, Alex. He followed me here and I didn’t have the heart to leave him out in the Jeep. If there’s an extra charge or penalty for having him in the room . . .” I trailed off at the look John was giving Alex.
“Never seen a dog quite that big before. Seen a wolf once. ‘Bout that size.” He stared up at me, his mind behind the rheumy eyes far more shrewd than I gave him credit for.
It was my turn to blush. “I guess, if you say so.” I pulled out two one-hundred dollar bills, more than twice what the room was worth for the night, and laid them on the counter. “Will that cover it?”
John smiled at me. “That’s fine, Ry. You and your . . . dog . . . are always welcome here. He don’t bite, do he?”
I shook my head. “No, of course not. I’d have to have him euthanized if he was to start that sort of thing.” My hand tightened on the collar. Alex may be simple, but he wasn’t stupid and he was very sensitive to the vibes people threw off. His tongue lolled and he kept his eyes lowered.
We left the motel, heading west on I-94, stopping only for breakfast at a McDonalds drive-thru, mostly for Alex. I ordered a coffee, black, for myself and a breakfast sandwich to ease my hunger pangs. Alex had three sandwiches, a stack of hotcakes and a large hot chocolate that he lapped up eagerly. There were still some very human things about him, despite his less-than-human exterior.
“Ready for a road trip, buddy?” My hands already on the wheel, my fingers licked clean of the fast food grease.
“Road trip!” Alex howled out the window, which set the dogs in the area into a frenzy.
“Back in the Jeep,” I said as I leaned over and rolled the window up. He slumped in his seat and gave me his best hound dog eyes.
I let out a sigh. “At least wait till we get on the interstate. Then you can howl out the window all you like. All right?”
His eyes lit up and his tongue lolled out past his wicked sharp teeth. I laughed at him and hit the gas as I drove up the on ramp. At least this trip would be anything but boring.
If only I knew how true that would turn out to be.