Author's note:
I do welcome constructive criticism, but please no mean comments. Thank you, now on to the book.
*******
What on earth was I thinking? Roweena ranted to herself. Why did I let Joe talk me into driving all the way out here this late at night? It's nearly midnight, and I already know what Joe wants to talk about. He wants to set me up with one of his boys, so he can have all the glory of having me attached to his pack. I can't get him to understand that I don't want to be attached to any one pack. If I'm attached to a pack, that means I have to jump through all sorts of hoops in order to help someone from a different pack, and forget about helping someone from a different species. That would never be allowed. It's so stupid to me, I want the freedom to do what I want, and help who I want. Besides that, I'm only twenty-two, I'm not ready to settle down yet.
I should've insisted that I would come in the morning, but he said it had to be tonight. I absolutely hate this stupid road. It's so curvy, has nowhere to pull off if you have car trouble, and there's a sheer drop off on the right.
What on earth are those wolves doing this time? She thought to herself as she heard howling coming from the woods on her left. I'm not close enough to Sunset for it to be Joe's pack.
Just then, she rounded a curve in the road, and thump, she hit something. From the brief glance she got of it, it looked like a wolf. She slammed on her brakes and looked in the rear view mirror. There was a naked man laying in the middle of the road, where the wolf should have been. Well, crap! She thought, as she put the car in park, grabbed her flashlight, and jumped out. At least I wasn't going that fast.
As she ran toward the man in the road, she asked "Hey, are you okay?"
He moaned as he sat up. "I will be." Up close, the man looked like he was about Roweena's age, with shaggy light brown hair. It was hard to tell exactly what color his hair and eyes were using only a flashlight.
They heard the howling of the wolves getting closer. Well, now I know what they're doing, they're chasing this guy. "Come on," she told him. "We need to get out of here before those wolves get here."
He looked at her startled, "You're going to pick up a total stranger, who also happens to be naked, off the side of the road?" He looked like he was asking himself if she was crazy.
"Well, it's the least I can do, considering I hit you with my car. Or would you rather stay here? With the wolves?"
"I think I'll take my chances with you." He said wryly.
"Okay then, come on." she said, bending down and holding out a hand to help him up.
"I can make it to the car by myself." he said, struggling to his feet, then added sheepishly, "But would you mind looking around and seeing if you can find the backpack I was carrying? It has all my stuff in it."
"Sure." she said, standing up, looking around, and not seeing anything. Well if he's here, she thought, his bag should be relatively close by. She walked over to the edge of the road, and shined the light both ways.
A few feet from where she was standing, there was a small backpack laying in the grass on the side of the road. She grabbed it, and hurried towards her car. As she passed the mystery man, she heard the howling again, and said, "We have got to hurry, they're getting closer." she jerked open the back door of the car, "Get in the back, you'll have more room to get dressed back there."
"Okay" he said as he gingerly got in the car.
Roweena jumped in, slammed the car in gear, and sped off down the road. "So, how badly are you hurt?" She asked.
"I'm sore, but I'll live." he said wryly, as he was pulling on his clothes. "Mostly I'm mad at myself for not noticing you coming."
"I guess you had other things on your mind, huh?"
"You could say that."
Roweena waited a moment to see if he was going to say anything else. When he didn't, she said "I guess we should introduce ourselves, I'm Roweena but my friends call me Roe."
"I guess that would be the polite thing to do," he said with a chuckle, "I'm Shane."
"Nice to meet you, Shane. I'm sorry I ran over you with my car."
"Apology accepted. I should've been watching for traffic, but there's not usually much out here at this time of night." He said, hoping she wouldn't ask him what he had been doing in the road, naked.
"Yeah, I've driven through here at this time of night before, and not seen a car the whole way." Roweena thought about asking him what he was doing out there at night, but she already knew. There was no point in getting into a discussion on a topic that was better left alone.
"Where are you headed?" Shane asked her.
"I'm going to Sunset to meet a friend." she replied, evasively.
"This late at night?"
"Yeah, he's a real night owl." Roe said with a rueful laugh. "Where are you headed?"
"Anywhere away from those wolves."
"Sounds like a good plan to me."
"I thought so," he said smiling.
Just then, they reached a straight stretch in the road. "Guess someone else is out here tonight." Roweena said as she saw headlights coming towards them.
"What are they doing?" Shane asked as the car started swerving across the road.
"I have no idea," Roweena said, stepping on the brake. "But whatever it is, I don't want to be involved."
"Me either. I've been in enough car wrecks for one day." Shane said, jokingly.
"And with my car." she smiled at him in the rearview mirror. Roweena had almost gotten the car stopped, when the approaching car suddenly veered across their lane, hit the edge of the pavement, and started flipping down the hill.
"Oh, Goddess!" gasped Roweena, "I hope no one's hurt."
"You can hope," Shane replied, too busy watching the car to notice what she'd said. "But I wouldn't count on it, that's a really deep ravine."
"Hey! There's a person standing over there." Roweena said, pointing to the middle of the road. "Were they in that car?"
"I don't know, but if so, how did they get out so fast?"
"I don't have any idea." Roweena said. I'm willing to bet he's not human, either, she thought. But since Shane here is playing stupid, so will I. Roweena slowly pulled the car up beside the man standing in the road, and rolled down her window. As she did, she heard the wolves howling again, and glanced back at Shane.
"Were you in that car?" Roweena asked, turning to face the man beside the car again.
"Yes, I was." the man answered, seeming distracted. He was staring at the edge of the road where the car had gone over.
"Is there anyone else in there with you?" she asked.
"No, it was only me." the man said. He suddenly jerked around and looked into the woods behind him.
As Roweena opened her mouth to ask him what he had heard, she heard the wolves howling again. They sounded like they were a lot closer than they had before. She knew that if the wolves caught up with them, she would probably be okay. However, she couldn't say the same for the two men she'd just found. We should've lost the wolves that were chasing Shane by now, even though I haven't been driving that fast, because of this stupid, twisty road. I wonder if the wolves weren't only chasing Shane, but were chasing this man too, and caused his wreck. "Would you like a ride?" she asked him.
"Where are you headed?" the man asked, suddenly interested in her.
"We're going into Sunset."
As they heard the wolves howling again, even closer this time, the man said "A ride would be lovely. Thank you."
Shane leaned up against the back of Roweena's seat, and hissed "You can't pick him up. He's dangerous."
"Do you know each other?" Roweena asked him quietly.
"No," Shane said, "but I know his type."
"What type is that?" she asked.
"He's dangerous." Shane repeated himself.
"I can't very well leave him to the wolves, now can I?" She asked, glancing at the man who was ignoring their whispered conversation, as if he couldn't hear them.
"You would, if you knew what was good for you." Shane said, warningly.
"Well, I didn't leave you, so I'm not leaving him." Roweena said to Shane with a note of finality in her voice.
Roweena turned back to the man standing by the car, and said "If you don't mind, would you get in the back?" She gestured to the pile of her stuff in the passenger seat, "We don't really have time to rearrange all this stuff before those wolves get here."
The man quickly walked around the car and opened the door, getting into the back seat beside Shane. Roweena slowly reached her hand into her purse. Careful to not attract their attention, she pulled out a gun and shifted it into her lap. I'd rather have the gun and not need it, then need it and not have it. She thought to herself.
As she quickly started down the road again, Roweena said "I guess it's introduction time again. I'm Roweena, and he's Shane."
"I'm Adrian, and I do appreciate you not leaving me there."
"You're welcome, but I'm not sure we're out of the woods just yet." Roweena said as she saw another wolf dart out of the woods toward her car. "Hang on, guys."
The wolf raced straight toward Roe's open car window. "Hey!" Roe yelled as she brought her gun up to the window. "Stop it! Stop right now!"
"Look out!" Shane yelled as the wolf lunged at the car window. It's front feet latched onto the window frame, and it's hind legs scrabbled against the car door, trying to get into the car. As the wolf's head came through the window, it opened its mouth to bite Roe. She held the gun right in in front of its open jaws, and pulled the trigger before her passengers could make a move to help her.
The impact of the bullet shoved the wolf's body away from the car, and it went tumbling down the road behind them.
"Well, shit." Roe said. "Joe's definitely going to be mad at me now."