“You think that’s challenging?” Jed asked, sneering. “A dead eel could catch a scent twice as far off as you can.”
Zar pushed Kage back with limited success.
“Moon-cursed verus arsehole—” Kage was apparently going to climb over Zar to reach Jed, but Jason joined in holding Kage back, looping his arm around Kage’s neck to pull him into the headrest.
“I can’t smell anything,” I said.
They looked around, startled.
Jason appeared embarrassed for me and Zar worried.
“What do you mean?” Zar asked. “You can’t smell at all?”
“Sure I can. This Jeep and gasoline. But not food.”
“You can’t smell the burgers?” Jason asked. By his tone and expression, you’d have thought he was saying, “You lost your whole family in the flood?”
I shook my head. “Not a hint. You all have better noses than me, including Kage.”
“Worm nose.” Jed curled his lip and looked away out the window to the station lot where Isaac was filling the tank. “Doesn’t count.”
“What did you say?” I asked.
Kage also frowned. “That’s right. Can’t smell popcorn at the cinema until they’re already inside, can they?”
“It’s not your fault,” Jason said quickly. “We just forget. When you said you couldn’t smell anything…” Still that worried, tragic look.
“What did he call me?” I addressed Jason.
“She means worm,” Kage said. “Get off me, Jay.”
Jason let go of Kage’s neck.
“We don’t mean anything by it,” Zar said.
“It sounded like he did,” I said.
“‘Worms’ are just humans,” Kage said. “Some of the elders think it’s rude.”
Zar lifted his eyebrows. It seemed he’d never heard that “worm” might be considered derogative.
“It’s just slang,” Jason said, still looking anxious as he leaned over the back between Kage’s head and Zar’s. “Like toff or wobbler or … yearling or…”
“Kage?” Isaac reappeared at the open driver’s door. “Did Diana send you with cash?”
“Yeah.” Kage shifted, starting to try for his wallet from a pocket.
Isaac shook his head. “That’s fine. I’ve got it this time, but I’m not filling it again.” He returned to the pump.
Kage mouthed and muttered about who was driving and paying and Isaac’s “whinging,” speaking of slang. Half of this stuff I wasn’t sure if it was British or wolf.
By the time we left the station there had been no bloodshed, and it turned out they were right. Only a few blocks away was a red and white building that looked like a fast food chain.
It was indeed Saucy. I’d never heard of the place, dubious of any junk food but even less impressed with the slipshod appearance of this joint.
I might also just mention that, by my standards growing up in small town middle America, parking in England is tight. I’ve spent several years now in Portland and it’s still nothing to the apparent prevailing feeling in England that all cars are about three feet by two feet.
Isaac couldn’t actually park in the lot. He couldn’t have parked the Wrangler in Saucy’s lot without taking up two spaces regardless. With the trailer, he could hardly even get in and out. He didn’t seem troubled.
With a quick scan of the lot, he drove over the curb, up onto the sidewalk, and turned the Jeep back into two spaces. It was a good thing Saucy did not appear to be popular. Already an hour past the lunch rush.
We ended with the trailer across the sidewalk at a corner, Jeep in two spaces. No one hurt. Grateful we wouldn’t be here long, apprehensive about the legality of the situation, I was nevertheless impressed with the driving.
Jason scrambled from the back, almost falling on his face in the paved lot as everyone exploded from the Jeep.
Zar ran to open the greasy red door for me before Isaac could get there. Breathless, sweaty from being crammed in the back seats with his brother and cousin for hours, he beamed at me.
I wanted to tell him to quit it—no matter how cute he was. My arms weren’t broken. But, like the parking, this whole thing wasn’t going to last long.
Jed brushed past. Kage started to follow, then saw what Zar was doing and stopped so abruptly Jason walked into his back.
Kage held out both hands in an exaggerated ladies first gesture, accompanied by a grimace that he may have meant to be a smile and it fell flat. Or maybe, like Jed, he really did just mean to be a bastard. A sarcastic bastard in his case.
I ignored him, thanked Zar, and went in, also ignoring the snarled oaths behind me. Zar had probably dropped the door on Kage. Or deliberately hit him with it. Isaac and Jason brought up the rear.
Jed was already ordering and, judging by expressions on the faces of the mundane couple behind him, I wondered if he’d cut in line to do it. I’d have been more surprised if he hadn’t than if he had.
Kage stormed over, walking past the older man and woman and apparently ready to jump in with his own demands of the pimply guy at the register.
Really?
“Kage,” I snapped.
To my surprise, he spun around to look at me, halting mid-step.
“Come back here,” I said, voice firm and quiet.
“What?”
“Come here.”
He walked over, frowning around at Jed as if already having to watch his cousin eat while he had nothing. Every affront was so personal around here.
Zar, Isaac, and Jason also gathered by me, though distracted, glancing toward the counter and fryers and grills beyond. I hadn’t smelled it down at the petrol station, but the aromas of burgers and fries in here were powerful as waves breaking on the beach.
“Do you not see those people waiting to order?” I asked Kage.
“Not a queue. Jed’s already up there.” Kage didn’t meet my eyes.
I was startled he’d even bothered to come back to me. Now I could tell he actually did care that I was upset, turning sideways to me, as he had when he’d capitulated to Diana the night before.
Why? Was it grudging respect? A respect he didn’t want to be caught in? Was it only because of his agreement to protect me? Remembering what his sister had told me, was he upset because I was getting in the way of his showing off with all my demands and criticisms?
I was no stranger to men hitting on me. I knew that different personalities showed their interest in different ways. If he did want to impress me maybe that was why he would do as I asked, grudging or not.
“Yes, actually, that is a ‘queue.’ Just because Jed is an ass doesn’t mean you have to be. You can wait.”
Kage’s expression went rather blank. He looked over at Jed, out the window, then frowned more.
“Did that not make sense to you?” I asked.
“Not really.” Addressing the distant door.
“Which bit?”
“None of it.”
I sighed.
Jed moved on.
The older couple stepped up to place their orders.
“Okay,” I said. “Thank you for waiting. You four go up after them. I have to look at the menu.”
“Your lunch is on me, Cassia,” Zar said, moving over to my shoulder to indicate his commitment.
“They’re all supposed to be on me,” Kage said irritably. “Diana sent cash for us.”
Oh, yes. That’s what Isaac had asked him about. Now that I thought of it, though…
“She trusted you with that?” I asked.
Kage shrugged, watching the couple at the counter, ready to swoop in. “She’s my grandmother. Wants to think the best of us, doesn’t she?”
“How foolish of her.”
“Anyway, lunch is on me.” Muttering, clearly not wanting to include the others but doing his duty.
“All right,” I said. “Thank you anyway, Zar. That was nice to offer.”
Zar smiled at the menu board mounted on the wall behind the count
er. Kage’s glare sharpened.
I told them to go ahead when they could, making a choice while they ordered. A grilled chicken sandwich with mustard, lettuce, tomato—not breaded, not deep fried—and a big ice water to bring along. That part sounded the best.
I grabbed paper napkins and a straw and made my way to tables to await our trays.
Jed sat at a red booth and Zar slid in opposite him, smiling as he invited me to join them. Of course, I did, assuming the others would follow and pull over chairs. No; Jason and Kage took another booth and Isaac a third. They didn’t seem to want to be anywhere near each other.
A number was called and Jed, who’d only sat frowning out the window at kids licking ice cream off their fingers that ran down their cones in the heat, went to fetch a tray.
I was surprised they’d fixed all the orders so quickly, but Jed returned with about eight burgers. I was ready to tell him mine was the chicken when I noticed they all looked the same. Brown and red sheet of paper around each, split into a couple of red plastic baskets.
Jed whipped the paper off one and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing as it went, swallowing, and ripped the paper off a second.
I swear, it was that fast. These were not sliders, but normal fast food burgers with bacon and soft sesame seed buns. He did about two swallows, maybe three, per burger, each one taking a max of five seconds to vanish.
Two, six, eight, and they were gone. Eight burgers. Gone. I couldn’t eat a chocolate chip that fast. It would still be dissolving in my mouth.
Ever had one of those moments when you’re not quite sure what’s happening? Like watching an accident that you can do nothing about, can’t even believe it, and it’s all over in a blink?
I sat there, mouth open, brain dead. No… That wasn’t even…
Jed gulped and licked out grease from one of the papers. Zar was also interested in their aromatic wrappings and leaned in. No food still in sight. All the same, Jed growled at him. Growled. It did not sound like a human imitating the growl of a dog. It sounded like a wild animal National Geographic growl.
Zar sat back, leaving Jed’s papers untouched. Expression still amicable, he went on talking to me about the delightful smoky flavor in this particular burger joint’s burgers. He’d been on the same subject before. I think. I could hardly hear him.
“How did you—?”
“Fifty-five and fifty-six?” Calling from the counter.
The old couple had already taken their tray.
These were mine and Isaac’s. Three more followed for Zar, Jason, and Kage as we started back to our tables. I didn’t rejoin mine, however. I sat at a little table in the middle with my chicken sandwich and ice water.
Zar had six cheeseburgers. Isaac had bacon burgers, seven or eight. Jason had a mix of chicken strips and burgers. Kage had a pile of double burgers and cast aside some of the bun tops. That was all. No fries. No greens or tomatoes. Only mayonnaise or ketchup for some. No drinks.
By the time I’d eaten a quarter of my sandwich, they were done. No conversation, no looking up from their trays. Like they had vacuum hoses attached to their faces.
I ate and tried not to stare.
Jed got up for the restroom. Isaac delicately wiped his short beard with a paper napkin—he was the only one who’d bothered to pick one up. Kage licked house sauce off one of his buns and dropped it into the heap of bread he’d discarded on the table. He shoved it at Jason, across from him. Jason sniffed, licked off sauce from another bun, but didn’t seem much interested.
Kage went to order a couple more burgers.
Holy hell. How much cash had she sent?
Isaac and Zar tidied up their tables and went to dump papers in the trash and drop their trays on the waiting platform there. All four of them glanced toward me and my chicken sandwich.
While he waited, Kage also cleared away his mess, not fussy about crumbs and sauce he left behind. Zar lifted one of the sesame tops clear and Kage whipped around. For a second, I thought he was going to punch Zar, who only retreated with the bun. Kage dropped the matter, though, and threw away remaining bread.
Zar gulped and smiled at me. “That all right?”
“What?”
“Your chicken? Is it off color? It smells right enough.”
“No, it’s good. Thank you.”
Zar nodded but he looked confused. As if to cover, he added, “You have brilliant hands. The delicacy of fine glasswork, strength of a swan.”
I looked down at my own fingers on the sandwich.
Isaac jerked his head at Zar and the two moved on, leaving me to finish. Maybe Isaac knew that it took most humans more than forty seconds to eat lunch.
I did soon finish, went in the bathroom myself, and by the time I came out, Jed and Zar were arguing in the corridor about Zar having been in the middle seat all morning and wanting to relocate.
Isaac was nowhere in sight. Kage and Jason were stepping outside into blazing sun, each with another double burger in hand that they seemed to be eating as a leisurely dessert. Like an after-dinner mint.
I followed them out to hear Jason say, “Should those be open? It creates drag.”
Kage frowned at the trailer windows. “Thought they were closed this morning. He pushed sunglasses onto his nose and took a bite—the burger already half gone—as he walked over to the caravan.
Kage tried the door, then glared around at me and Jason, following.
“Oh, right,” Kage said coldly. “I don’t have keys to go in and check.”
“You shouldn’t have the keys anyway,” I said. “Isn’t that my room for the night?”
“Did you fill the water tank?” Jason asked Kage. “We might not have camp hookups.” He gulped the rest of his dessert and wadded up the paper.
I was surprised, feeling my estimation of Jason rise. I couldn’t imagine the likes of Kage being concerned if I had such luxuries as running water or not.
Kage waved him off. “It’s got water.” He stuffed the next quarter of burger in his mouth and tried the door handle anyway.
It flew open.
“Bleeding Moon—” Kage started back as a man hopped out.
Chapter 10
“Smashing to see you, Kage. I was beginning to think you didn’t care about us back here.”
I knew that guy jumping from the trailer. But where?
“What the fuck, Andrew?” Kage did not appear impressed.
“For me? You’re a proper pal. Famishing in there.” He snatched the rest of the burger out of the shocked Kage’s hand.
Kage leapt at him, a snarl coming from his throat, obviously ready to pound the thief into the side of the trailer.
Instead, he dodged, fast and nimble as a cricket.
“Just kidding.” He shoved the paper and burger bundle back at Kage. “Pull yourself together, mate. But you should watch where you put that thing. A parched traveler couldn’t get his own around here, could he?” His gaze fell on me.
“Andrew—” Jason had rushed forward, perhaps to stop Kage from killing him, but paused as Kage swallowed his treasure to keep it safe. “What are you doing here?”
“A quest in the company of a beautiful lady? Who could resist?” Andrew’s eyes were fixed on mine, smiling.
“The Seastar Hotel,” I breathed. “You opened the door.”
“Yes, I know. How could I forget your ravishing countenance? How could you forget mine? Truly a charming match, wouldn’t you say? Moon’s luck, even.” He took my hand and kissed it. “Andrew, m’lady. At your service day or night.” Drawing out the last word with a touch of emphasis.
Jason still looked worried, and Kage annoyed.
“You’re … with them? One of them?”
“Of course I am.” He straightened with a flourish and chuckle. “Does this face look human to you?”
In a meeting on a street context? No.
He looked like a fashion plate. Not as muscular or as tall as the others. Lean and sharp, all high definition, elfin. Reddi
sh brown hair. Eyes like amber jewels. It was weird but his hair and eyes were an awfully similar color.
Yes, the whole pack was striking. These young males all worth much more than a second glance. But this one, Andrew, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I hated that. Hard-to-get had been my whole adult life. Watching and waiting to be as lucky as my sister had been in meeting Henry.
The perfect man was out there. Finding him didn’t involve going all gaga over a pretty face and letting a guy like Andrew know what you were thinking.
I was spared by voices behind me as Jed and Zar came out to the lot after us.
“What in Moon’s name is shit-head doing here?” Jed’s alluring tones.
“Thank you, Jed.” Andrew grinned even more. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Stowed away in the caravan,” Kage said.
“Weren’t you roasting?” Jason appeared concerned. “It’s got to be an oven in there.”
“Why do you think I opened the windows? But, yeah, it’s not been a picnic. A burger and shake would set a wolf right.” He smiled sweetly at Kage. “I seem to have heard Diana say you were core provider for this adventure?”
“Members only,” Kage snarled. “Get yourself something if you want it.”
“Andrew?” Isaac also out with us. “Does Diana know you’re here?”
Andrew chuckled. “Diana doesn’t care where I am as long as I’m not near her.”
“Makes two of us.” Kage’s tone grew even angrier. “After your lunch, get a train home.” He walked to the Jeep, started for the driver’s door, paused, balled the burger paper into a lump in his fist, then stood waiting at a back door for it to be unlocked.
“You can’t just kick him out,” Jason said. “If he wants to come—”
“Like you?” Kage cut him off. “What do you lot think this is? We’re not on holiday.”
“I agree,” Isaac said quietly.
Everyone looked around. Even I, who didn’t know them, was startled by such a sentiment coming from Isaac and directed at Kage. Kage looked slightly mollified.
“Having so many wolves here will not make Cassia safer,” Isaac continued. “Or help with the job. It’s only going to draw attention. We have too many involved already, Andrew.”
Moonlight Desire: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 1) Page 6