Watcher by Holley Trent
CHAPTER SIX
Jim had been crouching in the shadow of a South Dakotan truck stop dumpster for three hours, doing little more than watching the sky color change.
He hadn’t been waiting for anything specific. Usually, he didn’t arrive at a worksite until he was confident he could quickly do the job. In and out. He never stuck around long enough for folks to notice something was amiss.
For the first time in his adult and professional life, he couldn’t get his ass into gear.
Easing farther into the dark, he nudged his phone out of his cargo pants pocket.
A scoff fell out of him as he automatically brought up the number and tapped the call icon without pause.
Desperate times required desperate measures. Apparently, desperation was turning him into a talker.
He couldn’t work when his instincts were focused on Graciella. He knew that she was the safer one of the two of them at the moment, but when he’d left her, she hadn’t been well. She hadn’t been herself, and he knew exactly why.
“H-hello?”
Jim almost choked trying to keep his laughter at bay. One small sound from Leticia and the fog lifted in his head.
It was like, Okay, she’s fine. Go do some work, motherfucker.
“Needed to see something,” he said.
“What did you need to see?”
“If I’d be less distracted with you distracting me.”
“What?”
She had every right to be confused. Adam had been clear in his explanation of how Leticia’s presence could impact Jim’s shifting capability. She hadn’t argued. The fact she’d wanted to be there had made Jim feel ten feet tall. He still thought he was smart about sending her away, but he felt like shit.
They hadn’t completed what they’d started. She hadn’t finished making room for that angry wolf energy inside her that was so intent on busting his balls. The two of them hadn’t come to terms.
They hadn’t had each other.
The wolf in him was uncharacteristically defiant and agitated. Whenever he got like that, Jim knew he was going to make a mistake. A mistake in a place like Wallaceville could get him killed.
“What are you doing?” he asked her.
Gray car with no plates.
He gave the large, crowded parking lot a once-over.
There it was—a nineties-model Accord with a dangling bumper.
“I thought you were working,” Leticia said with exasperation.
“I am now.” Jim shook a little energy down to his fingers, forced it down his legs and up to his torso, and saved his head for last. Then he did it again.
He hated those half-aborted partial shifts, but the fact he could do them at all made him highly unusual, supposedly.
A glance into his front-facing phone camera’s view revealed a face familiar to the local packs. They ran the joint, and the woman behind one of the registers wanted out.
“What are you doing?” he asked again.
“Um. Well, I’m at the airport with Graciella.”
It was interesting how her tone and inflections changed when that canine part of her wasn’t trying to assert dominance. She probably didn’t even know it was happening. Jim hadn’t even figured out what had gotten into her until he’d been halfway to Wallaceville. Her wolf had wanted a screaming match with him, and the lady part of Leticia probably couldn’t ignore the urges. It’d seemed like she was trying, though—like she could tell she wasn’t thinking her usual way.
He was going to have to be careful with the wolf inside of her. She was tender and attention-starved, and that made her reckless at times.
“Our flight to Albuquerque is in about an hour,” Leticia said.
“Oh yeah?” Taking a few seconds to naturalize his slightly changed stride, Jim prepared to step into the moonlight. “So, you’ll be in Norseton by morning.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Hotel never checked me out of the room.”
“They didn’t?”
“Nah. App is still showing my key’s active. I must not have tapped that checkout button like I thought.”
“Better do it before you forget.”
Jim grunted.
He’d done some precursory surveillance of the truck stop when he’d first arrived. The observation period had been just enough to sear into his memory that there was a busy greasy spoon restaurant situated on the left side and a gas station and convenience store on the right.
Walking toward the entrances, he counted three diner employees through the windows and about fifteen patrons. Whether they were Wolves or not Wolves didn’t matter. He was going to complete his task urgently enough that none would want to ask him any questions. He could do that because he didn’t have to worry about where Leticia was. The wolf in him was satisfied for the moment.
He couldn’t see quite as well into the store, but he could see the registers.
There was a redheaded teen boy behind one. The dark-haired woman Jim was seeking wasn’t behind the counter.
He slowed his pace when she emerged from the end of an aisle carrying a mop.
Briefly, they made eye contact.
She flinched but didn’t linger.
He performed an “oh, shit, I forgot” snap and turned on his heel.
“Maybe I’ll keep it for another night or two,” he said into his phone.
“Why would you want to do that?” Leticia asked.
At the trunk of the gray car, Jim untied the bungee cord holding it down. As instructed, he grabbed the duffel from inside and tilted his head toward the back of the lot.
Like his sister, the young boy who was curled up in the trunk flinched. But slowly, he climbed out, being careful to keep his figure hidden behind the trunk lid. He clutched a tablet computer to his chest and slung a ratty backpack over his shoulder.
“Hold on, darlin’. Need to do something real quick.” Jim bent so the boy could hear him over the sound of so many idling truck engines. “Stay straight on this path. Walk past that motorcoach and turn right at that big red pickup. You’re gonna see a tan camper with Montana plates, all right? Door’s open. No one should be able to see you getting in if you walk exactly how I’m telling you. Where’s your sister’s stuff?”
“She didn’t…” The kid’s voice was so quiet that he had to start over again for Jim to hear him. “She didn’t bring anything. She didn’t have much. Said they’d notice if any of it was missing.”
“Anyone else here?”
Adam had confirmed one woman and her brother. The other nibbles they’d gotten on their phony mate call line had been tentative. Sometimes folks were too afraid to take the help when it was offered, and Jim couldn’t fault them for that. So many Wolves heard stories about what happened to pack members who tried to get away. They didn’t want to take the risk of leaving their families behind to bear the brunt of their alpha’s retribution.
The boy slowly peeled his tablet device away from his chest and opened the messaging app. Immediately, a conversation tab jumped in front of the others.
Jim read as far back in the exchange as he could see.
cant get up there. are you still there?
what if youre already gone?
Still here. Guy’s not here yet.
My ma said to go.
So come on.
Where are you?
Where are you?
on the truck stop wifi now. had to walk.
sitting behind a big refrigerator truck. drivers asleep.
The last message had been sent forty minutes prior.
Forty minutes was a long time for a young Wolf to be waiting for a signal.
Jim took the tablet. It had a school inventory label on the back, which was probably the only reason the boy was allowed to have it. Their admin crew was going to have to get that thing back to the district somehow. He doubted any school around there was rich enough to lose it.
“Jim?” Leticia nudged.
“Hold on, darlin’. Looking for something.”
“Are there more?” she asked.
“I think there’s one more. Her mother sent her out.”
“Do you want me to call Alpha?”
“You talk to your alpha normal?” the boy asked pitifully.
Jim gritted his teeth and scanned the lot again. The truck the boy’s friend was near could have been one of several. He was hoping it wasn’t the one with the straight-shot view from the restaurant window.
“Hold off,” Jim said to Leticia. “Numbers won’t make a difference until we need to fly. Gotta get out of Wallaceville first.”
“Weird hearing you talk,” the boy said. “Look like my brother but don’t sound like him. Lady from your pack said we’d see Chase, but it wouldn’t be him. Said to just trust you.”
“‘Preciate your trust. Here. Message your friend. See if she can move discreetly to the camper from where she is.”
“She’s real good at sneaking. I bet she’s wearin’ all black,” he said. “She’s always got a hoodie on.”
“Tell her to keep low. Go on.”
“Hey, Wolf?” Leticia said urgently into her phone. “Can he hear me, Jim?”
Jim put her on speaker. “Yep, go ahead. He can hear you now.”
“Hey, buddy.”
“Hi, lady.”
“Leticia.” She laughed.
The kid smiled. He’d been practically about to launch himself to Mars with all that nervous energy he had in his scrawny body, but something about her voice made him settle.
Jim understood the feeling perfectly well. It worked the same way on him. That was why he’d called her, after all.
“I’ve done what you’re doing right now,” she said. “The running. Everything will be fine. Just make sure you’re keeping your heads down and voices down until the coast is clear. All right?”
“We’ll be real quiet.”
“Good. And don’t text anybody else, okay? I know it’s tough to keep secrets, but it gets easier if you practice really well.”
“I will, Miss Leticia.”
“Okay, now hurry.”
The kid took off in the route Jim had indicated, stumbling once or twice before finally settling into a good crouch. When he was safely out of view, Jim closed the trunk.
He wedged his phone between his ear and shoulder just like Chase did in the picture Adam had sent to Jim. He shoved his hands casually into his pockets and headed back toward the store. “Should be clearing the lot in less than five minutes if all goes to plan.”
“Any sign of trouble?” Leticia asked.
“There won’t be any.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m good at my job.”
“Do you…want me to let you go?” The query was slow, halting. Fear-laced, a little.
Jim understood that, too.
He hadn’t done much work on that list of things to talk about he’d meant to start, but he hoped they could keep the words flowing.
“Just keep talking to me,” he said. “Wolf’s cranky because he can’t see you.”
“But Alpha said—”
“Adam wasn’t wrong. Just a little tweak in the standard operating procedure. That’s all.”
“Okay. What do you want me to tell you? Graciella’s trying to eavesdrop, by the way.”
“Thanks for the warning. And I don’t know. Tell me about…school. How are your grades?”
“I’m a B student. I like sleeping too much, and I hate group assignments.”
“Same. Someone always drops the ball.”
“Always. Passed organic chemistry the first time through, though. Not bad for a Wolf with a patchwork high school education.”
“Not even bad for a Wolf without one. Hold that thought. Need to do a thing.” He entered the store.
The teen behind the counter called out, “Hey, Chase. Want your coffee?”
Jim’s target had already prepped him for that inquiry. Apparently, Chase was a creature of habit. Jim drew in a deep breath and prepared to lift his speaking voice about half an octave. The only reference he’d heard of Chase’s voice was from a social media video filmed about a year prior. There’d been heavy background noise, and Chase was a little drunk, but it was all his sister could get to the Norseton Wolves on short notice. “Nah. You got those energy drinks in the back?”
“I’ll go get ’em.”
The moment the teen rounded the corner into the storeroom, the Wolf Allie dropped the mop and ran.
Jim wasn’t in quite as big of a hurry, but he didn’t dawdle, either.
He caught up to the confused woman in the middle of the lot. “Head to that tan camper.”
The door was open when they got there.
The kids were huddled out of view of the windows, and the keys were in the ignition.
Jim plopped into the seat, started the engine, and drove at a discreet speed until the truck stop was out of view.
He went the opposite way of where he wanted to confuse any potential witnesses.
“Anyhow,” he said, shifting the phone to his other ear. “How many more credits do you need to graduate? Psychology, right?”
“Yep,” Leticia said after a few seconds of thought-gathering. “After this semester, fifty. Queen Tess said she’d write me a check if I stuck it out and got a master’s degree, though. Norseton doesn’t have any active mental healthcare providers. I think I might take her up on the offer.”
“I think you should do it. Not that my opinion counts for anything.”
“Of course it does,” she said softly. “I’d…hope you’d want to tell people what I do. Is that conceited?”
“No, darlin’, that’s just human.”
He’d tell whoever stayed still long enough to listen. “Hey. That’s my wife. See what she does? Bet you’ve never seen a Wolf like that, have you? Okay, that’s enough staring. Fuck off.”
“Should be on the highway in ten minutes. Taking the long way around. Will you let Adam know I’ve got three coming?”
“I’ll call him now.”
“Thanks, darlin’.” Glancing into the rearview mirror at the runaway Wolves, he lowered his voice. “Leticia?”
“Hmm?”
“One more thing. We’re flying back via Vegas. Didn’t want to go too direct just in case these three are tracked some way we don’t know yet.” And that reminded him. At least one of those devices may have had a location service turned on. He glanced into the mirror. Naturally, the kids were staring intently at him. “You kids think maybe you should ditch anything tech you’ve got that belongs to your schools? Turn off any cloud stuff attached and delete anything recent. If you need to hop onto the internet real quick, you can use my phone as a hot spot.”
The kids got immediately to work. Apparently, the girl had one of those high-volume school laptops in her bag, too.
“Back to Vegas,” Leticia repeated. “Do you…want some help?”
Jim peeled one hand away from the steering wheel and then the other and shook them out. Shapeshifting while driving was definitely impaired driving, but he couldn’t hold that form anymore. He couldn’t stomach the idea of looking like someone else while talking to his wife.
“Yeah,” he said, grimacing as the face of his skin ripped out of its false shape.
“Should I…catch a Lyft or something?”
“A Lyft would work. Double-check the license plate number before you get in. Make sure they’re who they claim to be.”
“I don’t have a key to the room,” she said softly. The statement sounded almost like a question with the way her voice lifted at the end.
She was still questioning if he wanted her there, and he thought he’d been clear.
Apparently not.
“They’ll give you a key,” he said. “You’re on the registration.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Okay.”
He glanced into the rearview mirror again and noticed the three Wallaceville Wolves giving him curious side-eyes.
“Y’all can talk now,” he called back, “but stay low until we’re out of this damn state. Windows aren’t tinted. This was the best I could do on short notice.”
“You really don’t want anything from me?” Allie asked.
“Nah. Just make sure you’re ready to tell a few good lies if your alpha ever finds you. Rules everywhere say he can’t haul you back if you have a local mate. It’d be a shot across the bow if he tried. No one in Norseton is going to push you to find one, though. We’ve got ways of handling that.”
Someone chuckled on Leticia’s end. He couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like Graciella.
Jim could hear the chatter of airport intercom announcements and rushing crowds in the background.
“Graciella’s walking me back toward the terminal,” Leticia said. “I’ll let you know when I’m in the room.”
“You do that.”
As he approached a flashing yield light, Jim brought the camper to a halt, clamped his teeth together hard, and ripped the rest of Chase off his flesh. His body would probably make him pay for that graceless transformation whenever he slowed down enough. He simply wouldn’t slow down.
Not until he’d done what he needed to, anyway.
He put the pedal to the metal.
He couldn’t wait to see Leticia again, knowing that she’d be approaching him not just as a fellow pack member but as a mate.
And he couldn’t wait to finally “handle that.”