Macabre: the Gothic Boutique [1st draft]

Chapter 06

"It would've saved everyone a lot of trouble if you're Alpha had dropped you off," I said with a mumble and an overly sarcastic emphasis on the world 'Alpha.' "Or at least just talking to your father would've been enough."

Arden swiveled in her seat and narrowed her cat-like green eyes, taking in the obvious insult. "My Alpha is allowing you onto the compound and it's not like he doesn't have better things to do than be my chauffer."

That's it. I'm gonna wring her neck.

The tone in her voice just irked me and her blatant disrespect was unacceptable. She didn't even know me. I was about to tell her as much, but the loud belt of panicked noise that burst from Arden's mouth was the only thing that saved her as I instantly slammed on the breaks.

"Oh my God! What?" I cried out as I looked wildly around, my heart sputtering and clicking like a battery-challenged car trying to turn on. Breathless with fear, my eyes were wide as I searched for the possible creature I may have almost hit, praying I didn't hurt the little guy. There was nothing but dust and yards of hills with long green grass.

"We're here," Arden said, calmly opening the screeching door.

I blinked rapidly as she got out of the care with a grace I'd be envious of, under normal circumstances. Extracting my clammy fingers from the steering wheel, I tried to swallow past the large mass lodged in my throat. Two misses and a hit later, I finally managed to depress the buckle button. My hands settled against the cool metal, hoping it would seep into my fingertips and calm me as I pulled the over stretched material of the belt away from my chest. When it didn't work I opened the car door and cringed as it squealed in protest.

Immediately, I rolled myself out, sinking to my knees beside the almost treadless tire of my car. I could barely make out my pale features in the rusted hub cap as I lifted my nose in the air and closed my eyes. The gritty texture of the dirt between my fingers and the earthy smell of grass clinging to the wind calmed my rapidly beating heart as I deeply inhaled.

"What are you doing?" Arden asked, stalking around the car towards me, her calculating eyes showing her confusion as I remained on the ground.

It was safe here. "I'm grounding myself you-you-you pint sized little twerp!" I said as I felt the fear and nausea slip away to a blinding anger that was so intense I felt light headed.

"Excuse me?"

She was insane! I wanted to scream it to the sky, but I was too flabbergasted to speak. How could she not understand what she did? It was very clear that ignorance and entitlement radiated off this petite, pretend-wolf with raspberry colored curls. I waited only a beat of a minute before shaking my head, balling my hands into fists against the ground, and pushing myself to my feet. She was about to get an earful.

"Hey," I said, raising my arm to clap down on her shoulder. I tried jerking her around, but for someone so small she sure had a lot of strength. Scenes from early this morning flashed through my mind and I shivered as I recalled how she'd gotten me into my car.

I gritted my teeth as her head was the only thing that turned towards me. She raised an eyebrow, sneering at my attempt to get her facing me. I just needed to work out more is what it was. I dropped my hand from her shoulder, ignoring the flush of heat sweeping my cheeks. "You can't scream 'stop' like that when someone's driving! It's like screaming 'help' when you don't actually need it. You just don't do it."

"Is that why you were on the ground like a dog?"

I went to say something but stopped, only managing to blink. My upper lip curled and I growled. "Look who's talking!" I said, shaking my fist at her for emphasis.