by Lola Gabriel
Quinn shook her head to herself. She refused to believe such nonsense.
It was just after six when Quinn slipped on her jacket, ready to meet Carla, and stopped in her tracks as her phone buzzed in her pocket. A frown ran across her face as she glanced at the screen. It was a text from Carla saying that she had changed her mind about the restaurant, and that they should meet at Rossco’s instead of The Red Cherry. Quinn didn’t think much of it—she was used to Carla’s indecisive nature. Rossco’s was on the outskirts of town, but Quinn didn’t mind the drive.
“Mom, I’m leaving!” Quinn called out.
Her mother appeared from the kitchen. “Have fun, honey! Drive safely!”
“I will,” Quinn said, stepping out of the house.
Even though she wore a thick jacket, the cold penetrated right through it. She retreated to the warmth of her truck and turned on the heat even before she closed the door. She hoped it would keep her warm on her way to Rossco’s. Once she had arrived at the restaurant, she parked her truck out front and stayed inside her vehicle for a moment.
While Quinn loved her friend with her entire heart, she had to admit that sometimes Carla was just a flaky. She would cancel or change their plans at the last minute, but Quinn didn’t mind. It was just the way Carla was, and Quinn accepted her for that.
She exhaled and climbed out of the truck, heading into the restaurant. She looked around and didn’t see Carla, so she found herself a table and sat down, waiting for her friend to arrive. After waiting until fifteen minutes past seven, she tried to phone Carla, but her phone went straight to voicemail.
“Hey, it’s Carla!” answered the device. “My phone is either off, or I’m in the middle of binge-watching my favorite show, so leave a message, and I’ll call you back later. Bye!”
“Carla, where are you? I’m waiting here at the restaurant. Please call me when you get this. I’m going to wait for another ten minutes and then I’m leaving,” Quinn said before she disconnected the call. Just like she had told Carla, she waited ten more minutes. When her friend still didn’t show up, Quinn decided she’d had enough, and she stood up from the table.
A waiter suddenly intercepted her as she made her way to the door, and he asked her, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Quinn answered. “I was waiting for a friend to show up, but I guess she’s not coming.”
The waiter smiled sympathetically at her and stepped aside to allow her to pass. Quinn left the restaurant, and a frigid gust of wind reminded her of how cold it was outside compared to the warmth of Rossco’s. An icy shiver ran down her spine, but it was a somewhat different kind of cold than the weather. She shrugged her shoulders, unable to shake the feeling inside her.
Her blood ran cold in her veins as she realized exactly what the feeling was.
Someone was watching her, and it was terrifying.
Quinn glanced around her, and her heart pounded in her chest when she noticed the two men wearing black hoodies who stood nearby, watching her intently. They weren’t even trying to be subtle about it. When they saw her looking at them, one of them nudged the other one, and they started to make their way toward her.
“Shit,” she muttered to herself, whirling around. She needed to get out of there, and she needed to do it fast.
Quinn might have been acting a little paranoid, she’d most likely even admit it at a later stage, but at that very moment, she was afraid. The two men were large and buff, and being five-foot-four herself, Quinn couldn’t exactly incapacitate either of them. She had a better chance of incapacitating herself.
She quickened her pace and glanced behind her. The two men were still following her, trying to appear inconspicuous so as not to draw any attention to her. She wondered if it’d be a smart idea to start running, but she didn’t know what the two men were capable of, or whether they were armed.
Quinn almost trotted as she quickly crossed the road. She looked over her shoulder, and to her surprise, the two men stopped at the crossing and glanced at her with ominous expressions on their faces. When she turned to look back in front of her, she came face to face with the crystal clear blue pools of River’s eyes.
“Keep walking,” he said. His presence took Quinn by surprise, and she only realized that she had held her breath when her chest started to burn.
River stepped in beside her, and they walked in the direction Quinn had been going. After they were all the way across the main road, Quinn glanced back, but River muttered, “Don’t.”
She was confused and scared and overwhelmed all at once, and she didn’t quite know how to react or what to say, so she just kept walking beside River.
“Who were those guys?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” he answered, still looking ahead of him.
She frowned at him. “How did you know where I was? Were you following me?”
“Of course not, Quinn. It’s a small town, and I have friends who live around here.”
She smiled slightly, feeling flattered that a guy as hot as River would actually remember her name. “Where are we going?”
“Nowhere in particular. Hopefully, they get the message that you’re not alone,” he said.
Quinn nodded, feeling safer now that River was beside her. They walked around the block, and when they returned to where she had first seen the men, they were gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned to River, who had a pensive look on his face. Before she could say a word, River spoke.
“You drive the black truck, right?”
“Yeah,” she said. “How did you know?”
Quinn waited for him to answer, but River simply accompanied her to her vehicle.
“You should go home, Quinn,” River told her, his gaze on the ground, as if he were reluctant to look her in the eye.
“Thank you, for what you did,” she said to him. “I really appreciate it.”
“It was nothing.”
“It was to me,” Quinn said. “Who knows what those guys were going to do to me.”
River shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I was just in the right place at the right time.”
“Are you always this modest?” she asked with a chuckle.
He looked at her, studying her face. “Are you always a magnet for danger?”
“I’d tell you, but I might have to kill you.”
“If you don’t get yourself killed first,” River countered. His tone wasn’t as teasing or joking as Quinn’s had been, and she crossed her arms over her chest.
“I just wanted to say thanks,” she mumbled.
“You’re welcome,” River said with a slight smile, which disappeared as quickly as it had come. “You should get home. What were you doing out here by yourself anyway?”
“I came to meet Carla. We were supposed to have dinner here, but she never showed up,” Quinn explained.
“Here? In this part of town?”
“Yeah, I found it strange, too. I got a text from her saying she wanted to meet here.”
“That’s weird,” River said softly, almost to himself. “Did she say why she didn't show up?” he asked.
“No,” Quinn answered, “but when I called her to find out where she was, her phone immediately went to voicemail.”
River frowned at her and shook his head. “Regardless, you shouldn't be out here after dark.”
“And why is that?” she asked. River’s frown deepened.
“Didn’t you hear?”
“Didn’t I hear what?”
“There’s a wolf running around Jackson,” he responded.
Quinn’s eyes widened, remembering the pawprints she had seen outside her home. “What are you talking about?”
“The sheriff issued a warning this afternoon about a wolf in town and urged people to stay inside after dark,” said River.
“Okay,” Quinn mumbled. “Well, I’ll… I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.”
Neither of them said anything for what felt like a long time, and Quinn shifted her weight
. Was River so socially awkward that he didn’t know how to start a decent conversation and keep it going? Or was Quinn expecting too much?
“Do you want to go get a coffee sometime?” she asked.
River’s answered a little too quickly. “I don’t drink coffee.”
Quinn stared at him in disbelief. “You don’t drink coffee?” she asked, and he shook his head in response. “Why not?”
“I don’t need to.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, pursing her lips. “I get it.”
“Get what?”
“You could just say no, you know,” she muttered angrily. She unlocked her truck and opened the driver’s door, climbing inside.
“What did I say?” River demanded exasperatedly.
“Don’t worry about it. Thanks for coming to my rescue,” she said without turning back to look at him. Then she started her truck and drove off.
It may have been as rude as their first conversation had been, but she didn't care. She felt embarrassed by River’s rejection, making up excuses that he didn't drink coffee.
“Who the hell doesn’t drink coffee?” she mumbled to herself as she drove home.
The house was dark when she eventually got back, with the exception of her mother’s room. She entered through the front door and locked it behind her. Going upstairs, she lightly rapped on her mother’s open door.
“Hey, honey!” her mother greeted her, sitting comfortably in bed, reading a book. “You’re home early.”
“Carla bailed on me,” Quinn said. “First, she changed the restaurant where we were supposed to meet; then she didn’t show up. I tried calling her, but her phone was off.” She was going to leave it at that, but she unwillingly recalled what had happened after she’d left the restaurant, and a shiver ran down her spine.
“Are you okay?” Her mother closed her book and placed it beside her on the bed. “What is it, Quinn?”
“Nothing. I just saw this guy, and…” Quinn took a deep breath to calm herself; the thought of River made her feel even more overwhelmed than she already was. “He’s in a few classes of mine. I ran into him tonight.”
“And why haven’t you mentioned him before?” her mother asked.
“Because I’d never really paid him any attention, I guess.”
“I don’t blame you. Not after what happened with—”
“Yes, Mom,” Quinn interrupted her, not wanting her mother to get started on such a sore subject. “You don’t have to remind me.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t have the best judgment when it comes to men.”
“You must have gotten that from me,” her mother snickered bitterly, and she patted the empty space on the bed. “If you want to talk about this guy from school, you’re welcome to.”
Quinn walked up to the bed and sat down with a sigh. “There’s not much to talk about. I only really noticed him yesterday in class.”
“Did he say something to you?” her mother asked.
“Not really,” she said, “he just looked at me after—” She trailed off, pausing for a second before continuing, “—after I answered a question about memories.”
“And you saw him in the restaurant tonight?”
“Yes, but I also saw him yesterday after I picked up a few things at the store. I tried to talk to him, but he kind of just brushed me off.”
“Bummer,” her mother mumbled.
Quinn looked at her with a raised eyebrow, shaking her head. “But then… tonight, he was different. Still distant, but he showed a little more interest. Well, he did until I asked him if he wanted to grab a coffee with me, and he just started making excuses that he didn’t drink coffee.”
“Maybe he is just as wary as you are,” her mother pointed out. “Maybe he just got out of a bad relationship. You can’t just assume that he’s not interested if he’s afraid to put himself out there after being hurt.”
Quinn pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side. “I guess. I didn’t think about it like that.”
Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and Quinn leaned against her, taking comfort in her embrace.
“Is he cute?” her mother asked after a moment. Quinn pulled slightly away with a grin.
“Oh, Mom, he’s got these incredible blue eyes that… when he looked at me, it felt like I was swimming in the brightest water in the world. I felt kind of weightless, just drifting along.” Her skin tingled as she recalled the way his eyes made her feel, and another shiver ran down her spine.
“Well, the next time you see him, invite him over to the house. I’d love to see those ocean blue eyes for myself. Maybe his dad is single.”
“I’ll be sure to ask him,” Quinn laughed. Then she let out a small groan. “I need to call Carla again. Maybe she’ll pick up her phone this time.”
“You do that,” her mother said as Quinn slid off the edge of the bed.
“Thanks for the talk, Mom,” she said.
Her mother smiled at her. “You’re welcome, honey. That’s why I’m here.”
Quinn smiled back and left the room, heading to her own. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Carla’s number. Her friend’s phone rang twice before stopping, though it didn’t go to voicemail. Quinn glanced at her phone just in time to see the screen flickering exactly like it had yesterday.
“What the…” The flickering lasted a few seconds and then stopped, disconnecting the call as if Quinn had never made it.
Quinn sighed tiredly and threw her phone onto her bed. She seriously needed to get a new one.
4
River stomped down the narrow staircase leading to the basement in his home and switched on the lights. He powered up his laptop and pulled a lever against the wall. Two panels of the walls moved in opposite directions, and a large screen with nine different partitions moved forward. After opening his surveillance program, the screen came to life, showing nine different angles of the town of Jackson. River typed in the time when he had seen Quinn being followed by those two men and watched the screens intently. He needed to figure out who they were. They were definitely not local to the area, nor were they members of his pack.
“Who the hell are you?” he muttered. He couldn’t see their faces clearly, so he tried the rest of the cameras, hoping he could find a clear angle of them. But in every single camera, it was either too dark to make out any distinct feature, or they made sure not to show their faces, as though they knew they were being watched.
That thought was extremely worrisome to River; no one knew of the surveillance cameras except him and his betas. They’d had them secretly installed over nine years ago in order to keep tabs on new members, or if any threats came into the town. As much as River tried to avoid getting too cozy with the townspeople, he actually liked some of them, although he would not admit that to anyone.
River sat back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair, feeling both frustrated and disappointed when he wasn’t able to identify the two men. Suddenly, something he had not noticed before caught his eye: one of the two men had a very strange and distinguishable walk that River recognized all too well. Shifting for the first time wreaked havoc in a person’s body, and every single muscle hurt for at least a week after. River remembered the first time he had walked like that.
So, it must’ve been the first time this man shifted. River could be wrong, but it was his only lead so far—until he looked closer at the man and noticed, by some stroke of luck, another detail that had eluded him before.
A tattoo of a crescent moon on the guy’s forearm.
“Shit.” River’s jaw clenched, and he glared at the still image on the screen.
The crescent moon tattoo was a symbol of an old and exclusive pack in New Orleans dating back to the 18th century, the Crescents. They were originally from France and had traveled to New Orleans a few years after it was founded. The packs settled into the lush plantations in the area, and they were much happier, free from the persecution that had almost led to
their extinction. They were brutal, badass, and terrifying. Definitely not a pack to mess around with.
What confused River the most was what the Crescents wanted with Quinn. Was she one of their targets? Or were those two members just passing through town, wanting to have some “fun” with the locals?
River carried on watching the footage and noticed them walking to a red truck and driving away. He lost sight of them as they headed down the road, but he made a note of the truck’s plates, for future reference. He’d also have to keep an eye out for them, to keep the town, and most importantly, Quinn, safe from any harm.
This, of course, meant that he would need to get closer to her, and he definitely felt torn about that.
He spent the entire Saturday contemplating his plan of action. He wanted to make sure he considered all of his options before choosing what route to take and how to go about it. He didn’t know what the Crescents were planning, or what they had to do with Quinn, but River wanted to be prepared. He needed to be.
By Monday morning, River left the house and drove to the community college, still unsure about the situation with Quinn and the Crescents. Were they somehow connected? And if they were, how?
As River switched classes, one of his betas, Jax, came up to him in the hallways, clutching an economics book.
“You look stressed out,” she pointed out simply.
River glanced at her. “Could you do me a favor?”
“Of course,” Jax answered.
“I need information about the Crescents. Everything you can find. Names of members, locations, everything,” he said.
“Got it. I know a few people in New Orleans. I’ll make some calls and let you know when I find anything.”
“Bring it to the house. I’ll be there later tonight.”
Jax nodded wordlessly, and the two parted ways without another word. River went to his psychology class and sat down in his usual spot. About a minute later, he saw Carla enter the classroom on her own, and he frowned. Usually, Carla and Quinn were inseparable, so it was odd that Quinn wasn’t there as well. He instantly started to worry. Was she okay? Where was she?