The total bill ended up being a few thousand dollars, but Effie knew it was worth it. Her mom had been too set in her ways to advertise online, but Effie would add these new pieces in and take some really stunning pictures of the place. These extra highlights and pops of color would make for some very attractive pictures that she could put online, and it would let her ask for a higher price. A few thousand bucks up front would pay off in the long run.
They packed the SUV as full as they could, but some of the stuff Effie bought had to be delivered later.
Effie drove again, and when she turned out of the parking lot, Alex said, "Wait, where are you going?"
"Scenic route," she said. "Drive through the farmland on the outskirts of town. Since you just moved here, you know?"
Alex furrowed his brow and seemed unsure. "I don't know," he said.
"If someone is following us, it will let us see them," Effie said. "Isn't it better to confirm there is actually some danger? If we don't see anyone following, then we know that Abel is being paranoid, and you can actually do your job instead of babysitting me."
"I am doing my job," Alex said. "And even if we don't see anyone tailing us in broad daylight, it doesn't mean you're not this fucker's next target. Do you know how these guys operate? They don't make an attempt on someone and then just give up. They don't say, 'Oh, she's with a cop now, forget it, I'll just find someone easier.' They like a challenge.
"So," Effie said, "you and Abel putting me under 24-hour watch is making it more challenging for him, and therefore making it more likely he targets me."
Alex huffed. "He'll target you anyway. You're safer this way. But anyway, I agree with you, I want to see if we get followed, so go ahead on this route."
Marston's was on the eastern edge of Oakgate, and her house was on the north side. The route she took skirted through the farms and lazy rolling hills outside Oakgate while still more or less circling around the city. Since there was less traffic this way, it would barely add any extra time onto the drive, even if it was more overall distance.
As the buildings of the town disappeared and grain silos took over, Alex kept his eyes locked on the rear-view mirror. Effie saw a small glint of light behind them, near the horizon.
"Pull over for a minute," Alex said.
She pulled over, kicking up dust as she moved off the road.
Effie squinted into the mirror, and then looked behind her, but she couldn't see anything. Even if there was a car behind them, it wasn't too unusual. Stopping like this must have mostly been to see if the car would just keep going and drive past them, or if it too would stop.
Alex scoffed and mumbled something under his breath. "We're fine, Effie. Nothing to worry about."
"So can I drive again?" She asked. "Why do you sound so pissed off if we're fine."
"Nothing for you to worry about," Alex said, "Abel's a good guy, you know? He really cares for you."
Effie didn't know where this was coming from, but she smiled either way. "You just met him."
"Yeah," Alex said, "but I think I'm figuring him out really fast."
Effie started to drive, not sure where this was suddenly coming from. Alex shook his head, pulled out his phone, and started texting. He still looked up and scanned the horizon from time to time, but he was less tense. His shoulders fell back, and he even slouched a bit in his seat. He seemed to have somehow determined that the danger was gone.
"You should take your eyes off the phone and look around," Effie said.
"Sorry, that’s rude of me," Alex said, “you took the scenic route to show me around." He looked out the window and seemed to finally look at the scenery for the first time. "It really is nice. I'm glad that I came here."
And then his head spun around, and Effie saw it too. From a small dirt road over half a mile away, cutting through the cornfields, a pickup truck was racing toward the road they were on. If not for the cloud of dirt behind it, she doubted she'd have even noticed it.
"Turn around," Alex said, voice urgent.
Effie braked as suddenly as she was comfortable doing, and quickly u-turned, then accelerated in the other direction.
"Fuck," Alex said, looking down another dirt road in the distance.
"What?"
"We're cut off. Pincered." he said. "Go full speed. We might just be able to get in front of both of them.”
"I don't see anything—"
Alex cut her off. "I do! Drive!"
She drove. Fast. She'd never driven so fast, and it scared her, but she trusted Alex and did as he asked. She wished now that she had let Alex drive, but they didn't have time to switch. Soon she saw it. Another pickup truck coming from the dirt road up ahead. The first truck they'd seen was behind them now, and it was about to turn onto the main road. The truck in front of them was closing in, and as fast as she was going, she couldn't tell if she'd be able to pass it by before it cut them off.
Pincered.
The engine roared, but Effie’s heart beat even louder in her head. It pounded in her ears, and hot blood rushed through her body, full of adrenaline.
"Stop, pull over," Alex said.
"We might make it," Effie said.
"Effie, please, listen to me. Stop."
She braked hard, and Alex gave further instructions even as she heard the tires squealing.
"I am going to get out of the car. You lock the doors and stay down. Understand?"
She pulled over and shifted into park. "We can hide in the corn fields. That seems safer."
"Listen to me, Effie. Stay in the car!"
He jumped out of the car, drew his gun, and slammed the door behind him.
She watched him aim down the road behind them, and even though the truck—which was now racing toward them—was still smaller than her pinky nail on the horizon, Alex fired two shots.
Nothing happened. Of course he missed. Why even try to shoot at this range? But then something did happen: the truck swerved hard left, and then it jerked right. It tipped. It looked for a moment like it may drive on two wheels forever, or maybe tip back down onto four wheels, but after a long, breathless moment, it teetered onto its side. Sparks flew as the truck slid, and they faded as it ground to a halt. After a brief moment, the door—which now faced the sky—popped open, and one figure climbed out.
Effie spun around, looking forward, and saw a cloud of dust fly into the air as the other truck slammed on its breaks and spun around, the truck bed fishtailing toward them. The dust obscured everything, but Effie thought she saw two men sitting in the bed.
Effie opened the door and shouted to Alex, "two or three in the truck, two in back.”
"Stay in the car!" Alex roared. He stomped toward her with his arm raised. He looked ready to shove her back into the SUV if she didn't obey.
Then there was a fiery flash from within the dust cloud, illuminating the dust in orange and red glow. The flash revealed the silhouette of the truck, and then something flew out of the dust. It moved at incredible speed. It burned as it flew, trailing behind it a winding tail of smoke.
"Rocket launcher!" Alex shouted, and then he shoved her backward, and the last thing she saw before she toppled over all the way into the passenger seat was Alex rushing toward the rocket. Not ducking for cover, not diving out of the way. Rushing straight into it, arms spread wide. And then gravity brought her down, and had she not grabbed hold of the steering wheel, she'd have fallen down into the legroom of the passenger seat.
As Effie pulled herself up to see what happened, she heard a thunderous boom. The SUV shook, and glass shattered all around her. She skin of her left arm burned in pain as she raised it to shield her face, and then she saw something impossible through the shattering window: A bright orange glow and a huge black, winged silhouette. The wings extended and wrapped around the SUV, but the fire exploded and lashed around the figure, and Effie had to close her eyes and duck back down as the heat intensified. Hot wind gusted through the SUV as the vehicle wobbled from the shockwave, and—c
urled into a ball on the driver's seat—the heat burned the nape of Effie’s neck. When the rumbling and hellfire subsided, Effie looked back out the window to see the...giant bird? But no, there was no bird. Alex was blackened and bleeding on the ground in front of her, but she saw his chest rising and falling, so he was alive.
How? How had either of them lived? Did the rocket detonate just before it hit the SUV? Had Effie hallucinated the giant wings shielding her?
Or was she still hallucinating? She saw three wolves maybe two-hundred feet away, and as soon as she spotted them, they disappeared into the cornfield.
The SUV was just feet away from the field, but what could wolves do if she simply locked the door? Why would wolves be running around a cornfield in broad daylight?
Alex. If she locked the door and stayed in the SUV, he'd be in danger. She didn't think wolves would mess with people, but these wolves seemed different, and Alex was wounded and unconscious on the ground. Effie opened the door and rushed out of the SUV. There was still a quickly dissipating trail of smoke extending out from the truck, but all the men were gone. She looked toward the other truck—the one Alex had miraculously shot from almost half a mile away—and the man who had climbed out was limping down the road straight toward her, gun drawn.
She needed to somehow pull Alex up into the SUV and drive out. Even if she locked the doors and hid from the wolves, the man with the gun would get her. If she ran and the wolves ignored her, she'd be leaving Alex for dead.
The limping man stopped walking when he saw her and aimed at Effie. She froze with fear even though she knew she should dive for cover. He aimed at her for a chilling moment, then lowered his gun and limped forward. Did he want to take her alive?
"Alex," she said, "wake up!" She shook him gently. If he had a spinal injury, she shouldn't move him at all, but then again, if she didn't move him, he was dead anyway. Alex sighed and opened his eyes slightly.
"Run, Effie. Back toward..."
Then his voice gave out, and his eyes rolled back in his head.
The cornstalks rustled, and even in the waning sunlight, glowing yellow eyes greeted her. The wolves growled and flashed their teeth, frothing spit dripping down their muzzles.
Effie was tired of being afraid, tired of being the helpless victim. She grabbed Alex's gun from his holster, fumbled with the safety, and raised it at the wolves. Before she could fire, each wolf sprinted in a different direction, scattering.
Effie sighted along the gun. She'd played paintball before, but never even fired a real gun. She tried to move the gun at the same pace as one of the wolves, and she took a shot, trying to lead the target ever so slightly. The wolf kept running, and she couldn't even see how much she missed by. Maybe her shot was wide by ten feet, maybe it was inches from hitting. She didn't know, so she fired again, and missed once again. Then she sensed something on her other side and spun around. A wolf was just a few feet from her, and though she had time to shoot again, she froze. She couldn’t make herself pull the trigger, even though the wolf was moments away from killing her.
A gunshot roared behind her, and a grotesque red flower erupted between the wolf's eyes. It dropped limp to the ground. She spun around and saw another wolf charging her, and from the corner of her eye she spotted a tall figure breaking into a run. Abel.
The wolf leapt into the air, and Abel put himself between the wolf and Effie. He was sacrificing himself for her.
But no, he swiped his big arm into the leaping wolf, and the wolf yelped and dropped to the ground, covered in blood. Abel was strong, but not that strong. Did he have a knife?
When he turned to her though, his hand was empty, but his fingers were covered in fresh blood.
Abel roared and stood tall. The third wolf stopped dead in its tracks, growling. Abel's gun was pointed straight at the wolf. He didn't seem like he wanted to kill it unless it attacked, but then he slid his gun across the ground between himself and the wolf, and the wolf rushed toward the gun.
Abel pulled a second, smaller gun from his holster and fired in one fluid motion. The wolf yelped, turned to run away, and it staggered a few steps before collapsing to the ground.
Abel grunted and lifted the wolf up, then popped the trunk of the SUV and threw it inside. On top of Effie’s accent pieces. Effie saw a dart sticking out of its fur.
A metal clang erupted from the SUV, right next to Abel, and Effie looked up to see the limping man—now just a hundred or so feet away—opening fire. Abel dove out of the way, as he was clearly the target.
"Take cover!" Abel shouted, and she ducked down behind the front bumper of the SUV as Abel opened fire himself.
Effie risked taking a peek, and the man was gone.
"Did he run?" Effie asked.
"No," Abel said, "he shifted."
"What?"
"He turned into a wolf, and he's coming for us."
"Turned...into a wolf?" Effie asked.
Abel came to her side, held her by the shoulders, and looked deep into her eyes. "Effie, I'll do everything I can to protect you, and I didn't want to hurt you...I was waiting for the right time to tell you, but we're out of time. I'm a shifter. I turn into a grizzly bear."
She stared at him, mouth agape, but then the corn rustled once again, and a much larger wolf snarled and lunged at Abel.
Abel more than doubled in size. He exploded outward in a growling roar as his clothes ripped to shreds, and beneath them was thick brown fur. His massive arms became thicker still, and his hands turned to claws. His right arm swiped even as he finished his transformation, but the wolf managed to dodge away, disappearing back into the field. Effie expected the bear—expected Abel—to rush into the field after the wolf, but instead he dropped to all fours and lumbered toward Effie. He stopped right next to her, nuzzled her, and then stood back up on two legs. Abel raised his fearsome claws and faced the field, his massive body between the field and her. Protecting her. Always protecting her.
Fifty feet away, the wolf rushed back out of the cornfield, and it sprinted—though still limping even as a wolf—toward Alex's unconscious body.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Abel
Protect your mate! Abel and his bear screamed in unison, even as the wolf closed in on Alex.
Abel hadn't trusted Alex, not with his mate's safety at least, and he'd followed them all day in his own car. He needed to know if he could trust his new partner, and while he didn't expect to know one way or the other so soon, seeing Alex shift into a dragon to shield Effie from the rocket had shown him that he could trust Alex. And now Gavin, the alpha of the pack, was about to maul Alex's helpless body.
And yet, it clearly was a trap: Lure Abel away from Effie. There could be more wolves hidden in the field. He didn't smell them, but the choking smell from the explosion, the thick scent of blood, and the acrid burn of gunpowder overwhelmed his senses. Could he really risk Effie's life? Even to save Alex?
No. But he could maybe shift back to human and get a shot off. If Gavin came back for Effie, Abel could still shield her with his own body.
It was difficult to shift back to human form, especially when his bear was enraged, but he mustered all his strength and tried to force the bear back down. It fought him, but he focused on what Alex had done for Effie, and his bear backed down. He reached for the gun with his claws to save time. As soon as his fingers separated back out, he'd grab it and fire.
But he heard a hiss of air, and he turned around to see Effie holding his tranquilizer gun. Gavin yelped just a few feet away from Alex, and Abel's senses dulled as he became fully human again.
Effie was a good shot.
“Hm,” she said, “the dart gun is a lot more like a paintball gun.”
The wolf tried to stagger away, but Abel burst into a sprint and charged it. Even in human form, the drugged wolf was no match for Abel. He held it restrained until it finally went fully unconscious.
Abel was drenched in sweat and buck naked, and with all the wolves finally down, he l
ooked at Effie again with new eyes. She was safe. The strongest members of Gavin's pack, and Gavin himself, had gone after her, and still she was safe.
He grabbed her arm gently and examined it. "They hurt you."
"It was from the explosion," she said, "from the..." she looked down at his naked body. She looked all the way down. "From the...rocket launcher," she finished, locking eyes on his manhood.
Unbearable Curves (The Grizzly Next Door 1) Page 7