Chapter Seven
1838 Words
Chapter Seven
The morning sun rose and sprinkled warmth over the earth. Hayden rose from the bed and enjoyed a nice big stretch, a scratch and a yawn. He padded over to the window and took a peek outside and down to Eliza’s room. The curtain was still closed, but there was movement behind it. He continued to watch and a moment later the curtain was wrenched aside. Theo stood in the window.
Cursing, Hayden turned and went to the bedside table for his phone. He went back to the window and sat down just out of sight, but still able to see Eliza’s window. He was going to send Theo a message but realized that he had a bunch of missed calls and texts from his brother. In a panic, he quickly texted Theo back to see what was going on.
Theo reached into his pocket and glanced at the phone, then out the window, scanning the courtyard-facing windows. Hayden got a text back a few moments later. Melissa and Naomi are nowhere to be found and Melissa isn’t answering her phone.
Hayden looked at the text and panic started to rise deep inside his gut. Grabbing some clothes and dressing quickly, he took his keycard and left his room. A few minutes later, via the stairs, Hayden arrived at Eliza’s room. The door was wide open, and Theo was at the laptop, looking at the history Eliza had left behind.
“Anything interesting?” Hayden asked, arms crossed in the doorway.
“Nah, but you need to shower. I could smell you the moment you stepped onto this floor.” Theo shook his head.
Hayden pushed off the door and entered the room. “Which is how I suspect you found Melissa, Naomi and Eliza.” Hayden took a look at the computer. “Hmm, she has been doing her research. Mostly on werewolves, but it looks like she was going to be looking at hunters as well.”
“Where are they, Hayden?” Theo asked. “When I got here, all I could smell of them was a new scent up to the elevator, but then it disappeared. After that, all I could pick up was an older scent that brought me to this room.”
“I really don’t know. I thought they had gone to bed so I went out to eat. When I got back, they were still in their room.”
“Melissa’s car is in the restaurant lot next door. She was clever to park it by the dumpster. They can’t be very far.” Theo nodded.
Hayden inhaled. Eliza’s bag lay open on the floor. Melissa and Naomi’s bags sat near the dresser. Eliza’s swimsuit was on the bathroom floor, the bathrobe discarded across the toilet. All of Eliza’s makeup and hair products were scattered across the countertop. He picked up a tube of lip-gloss and rolled it in his fingertips. Then he reached for the bottle of her perfume, lifting it close and inhaling the sweet scent.
He glanced behind him to see where Theo was. Keeping watch, he wiped the perfume nozzle against his shoulder so he could smell her scent close to him. Setting the items down, he left the room and rejoined Theo. Just as Hayden was going to say something, Andrew’s voice boomed through the door. “Look, you measly mutts! Where’s my girlfriend and Melissa and Naomi?”
Both Theo and Hayden looked at him in surprise. “Not here obviously,” Theo answered in a matching tone. He straightened up, rolled his shoulders back and tried to appear taller as he moved to loom over Andrew.
“Theo, back off...” Hayden said as he stepped between Theo and Andrew. “He has a right to know where his girlfriend is, just as much as you do.” Hayden turned to Andrew. “As far as I can tell, they were here last night. At some point, according to the lady at the front desk, they went to the bar next door, but from there we don’t know where they are any more than you do.”
Andrew scowled at Hayden. He took in a breath and prepared to launch into a verbal attack, but Hayden interrupted. “This whole thing was clearly a hard blow to Eliza. Instead of fighting each other, let’s put our skills together and find them before the other wolves do.”
Theo and Andrew glared hard at each other, and Hayden could feel the hatred between the two of them.
“Andrew, we are not the bad guys here. We are the victims and so are you. We have no revenge, no vendettas. We heard the call from our family in response to the rapidly rising employment numbers at your family’s factory. We are only doing our family duty. We have nothing against you or yours,” Hayden said, trying to diffuse the situation.
Theo continued to stare Andrew straight in the eyes like the alpha wolf he was, never backing down from the threat of the hunter.
Andrew stared directly back at Theo. It was a dominance stand off and the only thing that Hayden could do was stand aside and let it take place. He leaned back against the wall and folded his arms and simply waited. He had said his peace, and he hoped at least some of it made it through to Andrew.
After a few moments, Andrew spoke, keeping his eyes on Theo. “Fine... If any of you hairy mutts so much as look at anyone cross-eyed, there will be hell to pay.”
Hayden stepped in between the two of them and broke off the staring contest. Theo shook free of the fatigue, and Andrew brushed a hand through his hair.
“Come on, let’s go next door and get something to eat and figure things out.” Hayden motioned a hand and Andrew left first, Theo followed behind and Hayden brought up the back and closed the door behind him.
>>
Eliza was the first to wake up, groaning as she tried to orient herself and find a way out of the bed. Kicking herself free, she rolled over and nearly fell off. She rubbed at her eyes and blindly made her way to the bathroom. Following the wall, she went inside and groped for the light. She leaned over the sink and splashed water on her face. The cold shock woke her up a bit more.
She sighed at her pale face, the dark circles under her eyes and her hair, which was a total disaster. She reached for the brush she kept on the counter and found the counter to be empty. She blinked and c****d her head, confused. She stepped back and peeked out of the bathroom. It was then that she noticed it was not her room. The view out of the window was different and so were the curtains. She crept back into the bathroom and sat on the toilet and dropped her head into her hands and started to sob.
What had she done? She was in someone else’s room, and couldn’t remember what had happened last night. She lifted her head and dried her tears with some tissue and sniffled. A moment later, there was a knock on the bathroom door. “Just a minute!” she called and tried to gather her wits.
Standing, she flushed the toilet and turned the water on to splash more on her face to try and look refreshed, not like she had been crying.
“Come on, Eliza, open the door, I have to pee!” said a very familiar voice.
Eliza threw the door open and flung herself onto Melissa and cried even more.
“What the hell?” Melissa said and stumbled into the bathroom and closed the door.
Eliza backed up and went back into the main room and then noticed Naomi staring out the window. “Naomi? Is everything okay? What happened? Why are we in a different room?”
“Look right there, Eliza. Fourth window up, third one in from the left,” Naomi said.
Eliza counted the windows up and then over. She squinted. “What about—” She gasped as Hayden appeared in view. Now that she had adjusted to the distance, she noticed someone else in the shadows. A few minutes later, three people walked in and out of view as they exited her room.
“I heard someone whisper to me last night... I heard someone say they had found you...” Naomi said. “When we were walking across the parking lot to the hotel. I heard it. I focused and then I heard it like they were standing next to me. I took measures.” Naomi turned to Eliza. “They’re gone. We can go get our stuff. I think we should go home.”
Naomi stepped from the window and started for the door. Eliza followed, and Melissa exited the bathroom and fell into line.
“What’s going on?” Melissa asked as they headed for the elevator. “And why do I smell like hand sanitizer and why is my hair crispy and sticky?”
Eliza lifted a hand to smell her shirt and got a big whiff of the sanitizer. “Ugh, what the heck, Naomi...” Eliza asked as the elevator dinged and they got in.
“They were coming, they can smell you, they’re wolves... I disguised your scent and got a different room,” Naomi said in a no-nonsense tone of voice.
“Okay...” Eliza and Melissa said in unison. Like little lost ducks, they toddled after their mother duck into the old room. Naomi grabbed the bags and handed one to each girl, then closed the laptop and unplugged it.
“How do you know that it was Hayden and Theo that you heard last night?” Eliza asked as she packed.
“I don’t. But considering they are the only werewolves I know here...” Naomi trailed off and gave Eliza a questioning look. “Is there something you forgot to tell us yesterday?”
“Well, I didn’t exactly forget. I just figured that the boys were taking care of it and that we were far enough from Birkbridge to not have to worry about it.” She shuffled to her other foot. “The day before I came to the city I had a chat with Theo. I just had a few questions about werewolves. He had told me that there was another pack of them that were discovered in Birkbridge, and that they are reckless and do not follow the treaty that was laid out between the hunters and werewolves.” Eliza held the door open as the others passed through with their things.
Eliza snatched all the stuff Naomi was throwing at her, including her keys and purse and ran out after Naomi. Melissa blinked and followed along with her bag and Naomi’s, not sure what was going on.
“We are going home,” Naomi said as she went back to the elevator and waited for it.
Eliza and Melissa exchanged looks and shrugged.
“We will leave your car, Melissa. We’re taking Eliza’s,” Naomi stated with no room for disagreement.
The girls had nothing to say but followed along, slightly astonished at Naomi’s new demeanor. At the car, Eliza unlocked the doors and Naomi got in the back and buckled herself in. Melissa got into the passenger side and Eliza went around to the other side and got in.
After a few minutes, the rental car was ready to roll and the girls were heading back to Birkbridge.
- Writer
