Three Days Later...
Chloe woke with a dry mouth and matte hair. Blinking several times before she could focus – her vision became perfect and clear.
With precise concentration, she took in the tiny beige walled room of what appeared to be a hotel.
Her mouth watered as the smell of bacon and eggs filled her senses, a growling stomach came in response.
Her first thought should have been – where the heck was she? But food, lots of food, was top priority.
Wrinkling her nose, she sat up, running her hands through her matted hair and warm skin. Her body refreshed, and whole feeling.
She tried but couldn't recall the day or why she was in a hotel room.
Licking her lips, the breakfast made her jump to her feet, shoving the blankets off the bed to crumpled heap on the ground.
She felt her bones crunch as she went to step forward, “Ow.” The pain dissipating as moments passed.
Walking for the door, she noticed she was dressed in a large white shirt and nothing else.
Her first thought was she'd been stolen, raped, and was now someone's dirty little secret. Swallowing the growing lump in her throat, she heard a deep muffled voice behind the door.
“No, Pete. Just stay there. I don't need you and Tyler. I'll be fine,” the shuffling of steps could be heard. “Well, I'm about ready to kill the dog ‘cause I can't even find a damn sign of Savannah. Her scent is completely gone. It was in a near the valley, but then it disappears. Other than that – I'm at a loss. I've just been stalking Darcy like the plague and if he's done something with my sister, I'm going to rip his throat out. No, I'm going to do that either way. I'm done with him.”
Chloe pressed her ear to the wooden door and listened to the man's southern drawl.
“I'll call you later, Pete.”
The door swung open and Chloe fell forward, landing on top of a pair of cowboy boots and blue Levi’s.
“Well, good mornin'.”
Chloe snapped up and pulled the white shirt down her hips – panicking, “Who the hell are you!” she snapped at him, though beginning to think he was wolfie.
Once she had time to study him, she realized how humble the man appeared – and that he was, a cowboy?
He couldn't have raped her. Yeah, she knew she shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this guy was okay. She just knew it.
His lonely eyes searched her and he walked to the small table in the room. It wasn't the nicest motel, but it had room service or maybe he'd gone and bought the food?
He pulled out a chair and sat, “Hungry?”
“Who are you?”
“Oh, sorry ‘bout that.” He took off his cream cowboy hat and set it down on the table beside him, “Colten Turner. I'm the Alpha of Fornone.”
“Huh...” She wrinkled her nose, trying to figure out his thick accent. “Where are you from?”
“Silvertun, Texas.”
“Texas! What the-” She looked around her, “What is going on? Where am I!”
He motioned to the food, “Come eat and we'll talk.”
“Where am I?” She demanded.
He ran a hand through his short dark hair, “At a motel. I moved you out of Polar, Alaska. I didn't want Darcy to know where you were. He doesn’t seem to like you and the alpha's son much.”
Chloe made a face, “What? Darcy-” then it all came back to her. Dodge, Grayson, the car crash, “Oh my god!” she shrieked and gripped her forehead as her breathing quickened.
Colten stared at her, “It's alright. I helped you.”
“Helped me?” She stared at him and then it hit her like a freight truck at a hundred miles an hour, “Holy crap!”
Colten paused, “You're okay, Chloe.”
Walking to the table in a daze, she sat, her mouth filling with saliva now that she was in front of the bacon and eggs.
“Eat. You need to. I've never even heard of a new-blood wolf out for four days.”
Chloe's eyes shot up to him, “So, I'm like... a Wolfgirl now?”
“A what?” He tried to understand.
“A wolf!” She burst, “You turned me into a wolf!”
He grunted, “It's not like I enjoy doing this type of thing, but it was either save the mate of the one possible alpha who can help me take down Darcy or, let her die.”
Chloe winced, shoving some bacon in her mouth; it was dry, and she needed more than a measly piece of overcooked bacon to satisfy.
Colten watched as she devoured her meal, making her uncomfortable. She swallowed what was in her mouth and paused, “What?”
“You seem calm.”
Chloe shrugged, “I do have a need to flip-out right now, but then I know how messed up my life is already and thiscannot possibly make it any worse.”
“You don't have any questions?”
“Nope,” Chloe chimed. “I'm hungry.” She crammed more bacon in her mouth, “But this breakfast is pretty crappy, just so you know.”
He nodded, “Yeah, I tried to eat it too.”
“Ha.” Chloe found him amusing.
“We should leave soon.”
“Like back to Polar?”
He nodded, “We need to find your mate-”
“His name is Grayson,” she interrupted.
Colten paused, “We need to find Grayson.” She studied the cowboy, he seemed sort of sad and lonely, then she remembered he was looking for someone.
“So, what's the deal?” she asked him and finished her eggs off.
“Deal?” He drawled.
“Yeah, why help me? Why are you after Darcy?”
“His mate is my sister. She's the only family I have left. Well, I have my pack, but she's blood and she always calls or checks in. I haven't heard from her in weeks. Almost a month now actually.”
“So, she's like missing? You haven't seen her at all?”
Colten grunted, “You haven't seen her?”
“No.” Chloe hesitated. “Darcy came in and ruined everything for me and Grayson. He took alpha from Roger and my boyfriend slash idiot-friend decided to let it happen.”
“He's been brought up to follow orders. I gathered that much from the arguing in that house.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow, “Arguing?”
“Yeah, your mate – Grayson,” he corrected. “He's actually quite head strong, and frankly, I thought Darcy would have done him in a few times by now.”
It made her happy to hear even if it shouldn't have.
“But the point is,” Colten laid it down, “My sister is missing and that idiot knows where she is.”
Chloe swallowed, “Grayson may help you, if Darcy's done-” she stopped her sentence seeing the agony in Colten Turner, “Something.”
He nodded, grumbling.
“Why haven't you just come in and taken alpha? If Darcy can just waltz in and look at Roger. Why don't you take Tribune? Then you could find your sister.”
Colten hesitated, “Well, I'm not... I don't.... I'm not mated. So, I won't win against Darcy unless I have help or that's the theory. If I get killed, have a pack to worry about. Bad idea to go after him alone.”
Chloe paused, “Wait, what?”
Colten stood and walked across the room, “I bought you some clothes. Nothing special.”
“You don't have a mate!” Chloe snapped. “So, you figured if you saved me and I, you know, with Grayson, then you'll have an Alpha on your side! Cause you can't take Darcy down alone, that's why you changed me!”
Colten turned to her, “I'm about ready to die trying to kill Darcy to find Savannah. So really, I don't care much if Grayson wants to help or not, but Tribune could easily and rightfully be his.”
“Whoa.” Chloe didn't know what to make of the situation.
“I'm not expecting Grayson to do anything for me. I don't even expect you to. I just need to find Savannah. I'll take you back to Tribune and they can fill you in on everything else on your new circumstances.”
She swallowed, “Darcy's crazy, what if he kills me! What if he thinks Grayson did it? What if-”
Colten held up a hand, “You don't have a mark of a Tribune Alpha. I bit you. There's you're proof and Darcy, can't just take down someone without-”
“You don't think his crooked ass won't find some little thing?” She snapped.
“Fine,” Colten snapped. “Where do you want to go then?”
She swallowed, “My dad.”
Colten stared at her, “You have no need to find your mate?”
“Well, I do, it's just...”
“This is interesting,” he said. “You're still running on human emotions.”
Chloe swallowed, “Huh?”
“Figured a four day change would put the cherry on the top of being a werewolf and wanting your mate, but you still yearn for a human connection.”
Chloe wrinkled her nose, “I'm still me.”
“No, you're not, Chloe,” Colten shook his head. “I don't agree with how Tribune run's their pack, but I do agree humans and wolves are different. I could never function in your world and you will have a difficult time in mine. Which is why, I've never turned a human before, even though the opportunity has presented itself.”
She wrinkled her nose, “So if you don't believe in it, why did you save me?”
“Because, it was the right thing to do,” Colten admitted, “And in all honesty, I pity your mate and his circumstances. His mate dying, that would be the cruelest pain to endure. At least, he can be happy and so can you, once you adjust.”
Chloe had nothing more to say or question him on. He was nice, but very sullen and asking him questions, made her uncomfortable.
Colten shifted, maybe sensing her nerves, “Let's go.” Picking up a shopping bag of clothes, “Try these on.”
She stood and walked across the room, “Are we far from Polar?”
“A fair while, four or five hour drive.” Colten left her to change and she walked back into the bedroom.
The jeans and shirt were a bit big, but she had bigger things to worry about than how she looked in a pair of jeans.
When she came out, Colten looked more than ready to go. He was holding a small suitcase in his hand as he stood next to the door.
“How are we... getting there?”
My truck,” Colten opened the motel door and walked out. She followed him quickly, almost afraid to be left alone.
He brought her to his large, new looking truck and opened it, helping her inside. “I'll go check out and be right back,” he slammed the door of the shiny red vehicle and walked away.
She shifted in the passenger seat as her mind relived the last time she'd been in a truck and it had all come back very vivid.
The driver's door opened and it snapped her out of her wandering thoughts.
Colten started the truck and pulled out; ironically enough country music filled the stereo. He turned it down and exited the motel lot. They drove for about five minutes, not saying a word to one another.
“So,” Chloe started, “Where are you taking me? My dad?”
“No, I'm taking you to Grayson,” Colten corrected. “He can take the next necessary steps. If anything, I'm sure he'll want to over throw Darcy.”
“Are you going to talk to him about Savannah?”
“I don't want to be involved just yet.”
“But...” Chloe made a face, “Aren’t you already directly involved?”
“They all think you're dead, Chloe. I can respect them all enough to give them space with this.”
Chloe swallowed, “They think I'm dead?”
“Yes, they even stopped their body search. Aside from being confused, no one has any idea what's happened to you. I know Tribune likely knows a wolf was involved, so that may offset your new predicament, but I doubt they are hopeful for your outcome.”
He words stunned her. It was like she was coming back from the dead.
“I also believe going to your father right away may cause more issues for you than you may be ready to deal with.”
She thought that through and it did make sense. Henry was liable to freak, while Tribune would be easier to walk into.
She nodded, “Okay, Grayson first.”
Colten must have decided it was the end of the conversation, because he turned up the radio and for the next three hours, they would sit in silence.
She fell asleep on and off, dreaming crazy things, ending with Grayson, but each time she woke in Colten's truck not with Grayson Holtz.
When she did finally start to feel rested and not in agony over food, she realized it was dusk and that shiver of anxiety sprouted up in her again. She also knew they were close to Polar, Alaska; that made her gut turn.
She looked to Colten, needing a distraction. “Where are you going to go after you drop me off?”
“Around. I'll come back later on. Once I know things have settled down.”
“What does that mean?” Chloe asked.
“A day or two,” he explained.
She had formed some sort of attachment to him, like a safety net, even if she hardly knew him. He was good, like sunshine.
“What if goes bad?”
“Your mate will know what to do.”
Chloe swallowed and if she was to be honest, the fact that she'd see Grayson very soon scared her. Colten was more than right. She had no idea on this new world she was now a part of.
She looked at him, “How do... can I... turn into-”
“I can't help you with that. You'll feel it. It'll happen when you need it to, then one day, you'll be able to come in and out without any problems, but for the first while, it won't happen like that. It's just the way it is.”
That information frightened her, more than the pitch dark around the vehicle, otherwise known as Tribune's territory.
She tried to relax, but when Colten stopped his truck at the bottom off Grayson's house just off the highway, panic had filled her.
“I won't take you up there.”
Chloe swallowed and looked to him, “Really?”
He shook his head, “I don't want to piss anyone off, yet. Just go up there, knock on the door and I'm sure it'll all work out.”
Chloe whined, “This has got to be the most messed up thing ever.”
He unlocked the truck's doors, “Go. Get it over with.”
She slipped from the seat and out into the cool night air. Her body ached, screaming and rushing with bouts of adrenaline.
She looked up to Colten once more, and closed the door. It took her a few moments to walk forward, but once she did, the truck left and she was on her own. She trudged up the snowy drive and that's when the picturesque view of Grayson's timber home came into view.
She stopped and stared at its inviting warmth, she hoped it would stay inviting in five more minutes.
“Time to suck it up, Chloe Pryce,” she walked for the front door and noted the black monster truck parked in the driveway. She couldn't help but smile because all of sudden... wolf-boy was the only thing she wanted to see.
Then there she stood nervously. She was more nervous than she had ever been in her life. Her body was in agony and wanting... all for Grayson.
She knocked and heard shuffling. It opened slowly and Sherry stood in the door frame. The little girl's eyes went big and she screamed, “Mommy! Mommy! It's Chloe!”
Chloe stepped back, startled by the girl's outburst.
“Sherry!” Beth snapped from the kitchen as she walked out into the hall. The older woman's eyes fell on Chloe and she ran to the door, “Chloe!” The woman grabbed her and pulled her into the house, her hands searched her face frantically, “My goodness, you're alive!”
Chloe stared up at her, “I'm... I'm...”
Beth put a hand to her mouth as she stepped back, “Oh goodness,” her eyes watered. “We thought you were dead!”
“Apparently, I was good as dead.” Chloe swallowed.
Beth took a quick breath, “This is a miracle. Who's done this?”
Chloe sighed, “I'd love to go into grave detail about that, but I'm not sure how much I can say at the moment.” Colten hadn't specified but she knew Grayson would. She looked around her, “Where's Gray?”
“Oh.” Beth's face fell. “He's not here.”
Chloe waited, but Beth didn't continued and she couldn't believe she had to ask for further information, “Do you know where he is?”
Beth sighed, “You should go see Henry, Chloe.”
“I want to see Grayson first,” Chloe persisted and further, Colten had made good points about Henry.
“Henry's very upset. Everyone thinks you were killed. We had a huge snowstorm that evening you went missing and it wiped out any signs of the vehicle even crashing, but Grayson found it first and he's-”
“Where is he?” Chloe cut her off, something wasn't right, she could feel it.
Beth took a long breath, “Grayson left three days ago.”
“What?” She snapped, “Why?”
Sherry took her mother's hand and looked up to Chloe, “Grayson left us.”
“What!” Chloe snapped, looking to Beth.
“Come sit down, Chloe.” Beth reached for her.
“Are you saying Grayson left Tribune?” she stepped back from them, her body convulsing.
“Darcy and Gray, had an argument and he chose not be with us anymore,” Beth explained, her voice filling with extreme sadness.
“What!” Chloe couldn't believe anything being said to her. “But, why!”
“He and Darcy couldn't come to an agreement. He was angry because Darcy was pushing him to give up on you, but Grayson refused.”
“You did this!” she shouted, “If you weren't such a bunch of push-overs!”
Beth saddened, “I realize how wrong it all seems, Chloe, but Darcy is the Alpha.”
“You're sick!” Chloe snapped.
“Chloe, go see your dad.”
“If I can't have Grayson, my father might as well keep thinking I'm dead!” she went for the door.
“His scent is long gone, there's no use in trying to chase him.” Beth tried to stop her, but she barrelled out the front door and out of no choice of her own, fell from the front porch to the deep snow. Her bones ripped and she burned all across her being. Screaming, the anger in her overflowing as it pushed out a lean auburn wolf with bright blue eyes.
She sprung to her feet and there she stood. Shifted for the first time in her life and powerful, invigorating and her mind thought only one thought – Grayson Holtz and her immediate need for him.