Wolf Among Us

04 Rogue

04 Rouge

Avery Dunning was found on the steps of a police station when she was one years old. Very Harry Potter. Just a name, and an letter addressed to her when she would be old enough to read it, she was left to unravel her own mysterious past while also juggling being another foster kid.

Avery Dunning also liked to watch movies in her spare time, especially those some nerdy guy would dub a classic. So it kinda felt like a full circle, déjà vu, had definitely seen this in a movie, moment when she managed to run out of that room like the roadrunner on crack.

She nearly tripped twice, her unzipped duffel banging against her thigh. She was sweating! Avery Dunning wanted to scream out at the universe, but she couldn’t. Because she’d just roofied a future Alpha shifter. By the time Reece woke up, pissed and groggy, she needed to be far, far, away.

She passed the morning crew, getting ready to open up, and shakily climbed into her car. The whole confrontation kept playing over in her mind like a bad song, even as she peeled out onto the road.

Avery was human. She was human. She wasn’t…

She wiped her hand along her jean, struggling to control her breathing. She kept glancing in her mirror, imagining seeing a great dark mass of fur chasing after her.

In her panic, Avery could only press down harder on the gas. Reece wouldn’t wake for another few more hours and by then she’d be… The laughed escaped her, a mania settling in. She literally had nowhere to go. Fuck, she had exams still left to write.

“Chill out,” she scolded herself. “As long as you didn’t kill him.”

Even as the thought crossed her mind, she felt a shiver. No, she found the need to keep reminding herself. That’s not the person she wanted to be. Avery was human. And she’ll keep it that way.

Knowing she had nowhere to go, Avery kept driving. She needed a plan. She was crossing state lines, her heart refuse to still. She was nearly out of hiding places. Sometime near noon her phone started ringing and she wanted nothing more than to throw the damn thing out the window.

This wasn’t the plan.

After a few hours, and no wolves howling in her rearview mirror, she slowed down and pulled into the next town she saw. Small town, she noted, seeing a quick change from rural to urban. She was coming up really low on gas, her eyes taking note of all the buildings and stores. It was a little loudmouth town, three churches, a dry grass square and bars lining up the side streets. Spotting a derelict looking bar, she finally had a plan. Avery turned her steering wheel and pulled up in front.

She turned off her phone, tucked her journal inside her jacket pocket and turned into the bar.

A town like this, you were lucky enough to find some patrons even this early in the morning. Though Avery wouldn’t recommend mixing with this crowd. She took note of the bearded men playing pool, a young couple having breakfast and a single man nursing a glass of whiskey at the bar.

She grabbed a seat across from him, looking up at the board behind the bar. A tall woman with a wild frizz of black hair came up at her, sliding her notebook across the top. “You want something to eat?” she asked, looking at Avery and unable to place her face.

Avery read her nametag, Sophia, and did a quick check on her posture. “Yeah. I’ll take the special.”

Sophia nodded, disappearing into the kitchen.

Avery decided it was quiet enough in here, she might as well check her phone. Ignoring the curious glance the man across from her gave her, she turned her phone on and scrolled through her messages.