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WINGS
Aria
We left Johnny’s house a little after five-thirty in the morning.
Sariel had no intention of stopping; he said something about his father already knowing where they were. I hadn’t been listening. I was too sleepy and disoriented from being woken up at the ass-crack of dawn.
Johnny had patted my head like I was Sariel’s pet, then handed me a travel mug with coffee plus a cooler bag of food. It was oddly endearing how he’d instructed me to ensure Sariel ate sometimes, as though he thought I could simply demand Sariel stop and eat or something, or that I had any sway over the things Sariel did in general.
At some point, I’d fallen back asleep in the car, and Sariel had lost the hoodie he’d thrown on as we were leaving. He’d put music on, as well.
I couldn’t tell how long I’d slept, but I desperately needed a bathroom break. And my toothbrush, since my mouth tasted like I’d stuffed it full of cotton. Dehydrated and dizzy, before I couldthink better of doing so, I mumbled something about pissing on Sariel’s expensive-looking leather seats if he didn’t find a rest stop or bathroom soon.
He took my threat seriously, and with a grumble, he pulled off the highway and into a rest stop. I tried to be quick, but the scent of donuts beckoned me into the tiny gas station after I used the bathroom.
Sariel had taken this opportunity to fill his tank. I could see him through the store’s glass as he leaned against the driver side door, his expression inscrutable as he scanned our surroundings with a keen eye.
I bought ten shitty gas station donuts.
While I stood at the cashier counter, the bell over the door chimed, informing everyone inside that someone had entered. It took me only half a second before the scent of mold and decaying corpses registered in my brain.
I whipped around in time to watch three bear-sized men fan out amongst the aisles.
Fallen-blood wolves.
I turned back to the cashier, only to find that the gangly teenage boy who’d been there only seconds ago was gone. The door to the side exit closed with a bang, and my heart dropped.
I was in here, alone, with three giant wolves.
Sariel’s car was still in the parking lot, but the man himself had vanished.
“Well, well, well,” one of the wolves said, his voice holding a note of something dark that immediately put me on edge. “If it isn’t littleAria.”
He also knew my fucking name. No introductions necessary, it seemed.
My blood turned to ice. The donuts I held squashed as my fists tightened around them. I turned with my back to the counter and faced them.
On the outside, I was shaking, the picture of a petrified young woman about to be accosted by three overgrown—no, seriously, these guys had to be on steroids or something—men. On the inside, however, I could feel my wolf urging me to give in, begging me to let her at them.
I considered that briefly, but then I weighed the possibility of her leaving behind a full-on massacre, as well as the likelihood that Sariel would be down for having bloodied car seats later, and I almost settled on no.
But then they opened their mouths.
“Azazel said you smelled good,” the one on the far left started, pausing in his advancement to take a deep whiff, “but I didn’t think you’d smell thisfuckinggood.”
“I was just thinking the same thing, Jack.”
This one was the biggest of the three, and
was nothing like how I’d expected a fallen-blood wolf to look like. He was pretty. Big, but not in the same obscene way the other two were, and possessing dark hair and eyes that looked surprisingly good against the red sclera. He smiled at me with straight white teeth, adjusting his leather jacket as he closed in on me.
“We might have to sample her before we take her back to the boss,” the final one said.Heresembled what I imagined a fallen wolf should look like: crooked and yellowing teeth, stringy hair, bald spots, a nose that had been broken many times.
My wolf registered his words before I did, and the next thing I knew, I was lunging at him, my fist full of squashed donuts ramming into his mouth.
He stumbled back with a muffled shout, tripping over an open box and crashing into one of the shelves. The shelf groaned under his weight, then buckled, crashing into another shelf and setting off a domino effect. Canned goods and other nonperishables were sent sprawling across the gas station floor.
My move provided a momentary distraction, whereupon Sariel materialized out of nowhere. One clawed hand gripped the front of the pretty wolf's neck, then squeezed until he collapsed against him. The other wolf was frozen, taking in his unconscious friends.
