Chapter Twelve
The sun beamed down on Darwin, warming the spring air and burning away the early morning mists. In the daylight, the city held a certain grimy fascination, like something from a film noir movie.
Flora didn’t care. She was in a foul mood. She’d barely slept all night, and Finn had woken up first thing in the morning and left before she got out of bed. He’d left a note for her on the kitchen table.
“I’ll be back late tonight. Remember, be careful and don’t leave the territory.” That was it.
Well, screw him.
In fact, maybe she’d leave Darwin altogether. Head on over to Cottonwood with Madison and her friends, as soon as she’d had a chance to talk to Krystle and warn her about what might be coming.
She’d been asking around and still didn’t know exactly where Krystle was or what she was doing; people around here apparently didn’t get involved in other people’s business. It was refreshing, but hard to get used to after living on the Wilkinsons’ farm for so long.
From the day she’d arrived there at age fourteen, she had never been alone. She’d slept in a room with two teenagers from the Wilkinson family, she’d been homeschooled on their property, and on the rare occasions when she’d been allowed to go into town, there had always been people with her.
There had only been one person they’d leave her alone with – Loren Haig. If anything, they’d deliberately come up with reasons for her to be alone with him. They’d come up with work that needed to be done on the farm, and send him along. They’d let her go on dates with him starting when she was sixteen – he’d show up out of the blue to take her out to dinner or a movie, and it had just been assumed she’d drop everything and go with him, and be delighted to do so.
When she’d turned eighteen and started chafing at the Wilkinsons’ rules, first they’d tried threatening her – they’d throw her out with nothing. When she’d said that would be fine and started walking towards the door, they’d switched to guilt. After all they’d done for her! Taken her in when nobody else would have her! Fed and clothed her! And Loren was so incredibly devoted!
Not knowing where else to go, she’d finally settled on a compromise. They had to let her work at the farm stand and earn her own money, and go into town when she wanted to, or she’d leave. They’d reluctantly conceded, although they’d paid her next to nothing, and whenever she’d gone into town there had been somebody with her.
Now she was coming to realize that her entire time at the Wilkinsons’ farm had been designed to do one thing. Keep her isolated and away from any other male suitors until she was eighteen, when she was legally old enough to be mated to Loren. Everyone had reacted with shock and dismay when she’d kept putting him off, telling him she wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. She’d finally felt so hopeless and isolated that she’d given in to the pressure and agreed to the mating.
Why did they specifically want her to marry Loren? she wondered. She knew they believed that she was a Firestarter. Did he have a history of it in his family as well? Or was he just some douchebag who was willing to accept a bribe to utterly betray his mate and his future cubs? The Wilkinsons had introduced him to her as a “friend of the family”, but now she was sure that had been a lie, like everything else she’d been told.
A car backfired, and she stopped, startled by the noise. She had been wandering around aimlessly as she reminisced and worried. She needed to pay more attention to her surroundings. The Badlands weren’t a place where she should be letting her guard down.
She looked around. Businesses were opening, and shifters were walking down the sidewalk, chatting with one another as if they were in a normal town on a normal day. She had to admit, the Hudson pride kept their territory up well. They had a garbage collection service and provided utilities, there was medical care, they chased off criminals and hunted down ferals. She didn’t love the idea of protection money, but she supposed it was no different than taxes.
She glanced at her watch; it was nine a.m. She needed to meet Madison with the Starweed in an hour.
She went to the grocery store, bought two bags, and impulsively bought half a dozen Danishes too. Then she headed off to the bear side of town, where Madison was already waiting, with Sam and Sarah.
“Told you she’d show up,” Madison said triumphantly to Sam. “She’s even early.”
“This time,” Sam said skeptically, grabbing a pastry from the bag. “Probably she won’t show up next time.”
“You are just a little ray of sunshine, aren’t you?” Flora said.
Sarah snorted as she grabbed a Danish for herself. “Yeah, that’s his nickname. Sunshine.”
“Really?” Flora looked at her in surprise.
“Nope.” Sarah shook her head and devoured half the Danish in one hungry bite. Flora looked at her with worry; she was so thin, and there were circles under her eyes. “You believe everything people tell you?”
“I used to,” Flora sighed. “Not so much anymore.”
“Welcome to the Badlands,” Sarah said, swallowing the last bite. “It’ll only get worse. Oh, crap, lions. I smell lions. Pretty close. Ten, twelve blocks away.”
“Yes, Finn has noticed that the bears are patrolling more, so he’s stepped up his patrols too,” Flora said nervously. “I’d better hit the road. And let’s skip a day, just in case, and meet at a different time. I’ll meet you here day after tomorrow at eight a.m. How are you doing on Starweed? Do you have enough yet to make the trip?”
“We’re getting close. Three more bags should do it,” Madison said. “Okay, just in case we can’t come here because of the patrols, there’s an empty building at 45thand Chellis Avenue where you could meet us. That’s kind of a last resort, though – it’s one block into our territory. We’d be in the basement. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. Don’t you want to say thank you, Sam?”
“Not really,” he muttered, already walking away.
Madison glanced at Flora apologetically. “He had it rough when my mom remarried. My stepfather beat him with his belt if he so much as sneezed. He doesn’t trust many people now.” Then she and Sarah followed Sam at a fast trot, heading back towards Ruben’s territory.
Flora quickly headed towards the Hudson side of town.
