Inner Predator

Optimism Doesn't Suit You

Chapter 26 - Optimism Doesn't Suit You

Nerves are buzzing all around this morning. It’s not just me; it’s all of us. And yeah, it’s the excited kind of nerves, but it’s also the oh-shit-what-have-we-gotten-ourselves-into-we’re-gonna-die type of nerves. We didn’t even stop for breakfast on the way out. And that’s saying something when you’re in the company of a shifter—those boys can eat.

Our meeting is in an hour and half and we have a good little drive to get there since we stayed at a motel on practically the other side of the city. We didn’t want to chance running into any shifters early and as far as we can tell we’ve gone undetected. We’ve spent the last several days scouring the lay of the land, getaway plans and of course training some more.

Yet, I’m still feeling ridiculously underprepared. But maybe you’re never truly prepared for the scariest things in life. I’m not sure if my illusions can hold up nor am I certain Jess can really hold her own in hand-to-hand combat. I don’t dare let it show though, I don’t want shake anyone else’s confidence.

“Aurora!” Andrew snaps as he reaches back and waves a hand in front of my face.

“What?”

“You really think you can do this?” He asks the nerves visible in his eyes. Is he suddenly a mind reader, because I’m not ok with that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Andrew look anything other than self-assured and in control, but right now he looks as tense as the rest of us. His eyes are boring a hole into my skull. Jess’s eyes are instantly on me as well and even Chase is glancing at me in the rearview mirror. They’re all waiting for an answer.

“Of course,” I say mustering up a lot more confidence than I feel. “If I could get Chase to fall for me when he thought I was human, I can do anything,” I joke to lighten the mood and wink at Chase. It works, Jess laughs, Andrew shrugs in a good point sort of way, and Chase scoffs while muttering something about not falling for a human under his breath. The mood is sufficiently lightened, if only for a moment.

“Let’s play a game,” Jess suggests when we fall back into nervous silence.

“Car games suck,” Andrew complains, “besides, we’re almost there.”

“It was just a suggestion,” she mumbles. “You got a better idea?”

“Yeah, we go over the plan again.”

Jess and I both groan in the backseat. Andrew has already burned this plan into our minds permanently. I don’t think amnesia could make us forget this plan. We’ve gone over so many different possibilities and little details. For instance, I know now exactly how to greet the Alpha of Alphas and what would you know, a handshake isn’t the way to go. He thinks he’s royalty or something and won’t touch us mere peasants.

Still, you’re gonna have a hard time getting me to bow to some random old dude who is hell bent on slaughtering humans. Did Luke bow down to Darth Vader? The answer is no; because, you don’t bow to evil like they’re better than you. Of course Andrew thinks I need to get over it… we’re still discussing the greeting issues. I guess we’ll just sort of play it by ear. At least Chase is on my side, though for slightly different reasons. I don’t think you could get Chase to kneel to a shifter if you cut off his legs at the knees.

We’ve also discussed a plan for getting out should this go bad. I don’t know how Chase got his hands on the layout of the building we’re meeting in, but we did and thanks to their recon the last few days, we know what doors are guarded and when. Of course, the only thing we don’t know is how many shifters will be present. In the last few days we’ve counted as many as 65 coming and going from the building, but there’s no telling exactly how many will show up for this meeting.