Animal Heart(35)

“Hmmm, do you think werewolf attacks are covered by insurance?” Maddy asked sadly, with a note of ill humor.

“A pack of wolves set upon it in the night. Perhaps you left food in it accidently,” Aden advised. “Far more believable. Look, I'm sorry. Were you fond of it?”

“It was my first new car. I worked hard for it.”

“Well you can replace it of course. But to be truthful, it's hardly the best form of transport for these parts is it? What about a tractor? We need one of those.”

“Oh yeah, why didn't I think of that? I'll swap my nice cute little VW Golf for a tractor, shall I?”

“Would you?” he asked hopefully.

“Not a chance in hell. I need a car. I'm not visiting my parents on a tractor.”





Chapter 6



It was busy at the diner, but Betty still made time to welcome them all enthusiastically, as she always did. She took their orders, in her usual no nonsense, bustling way.

“So... That's eight Big Betty's, and three Mega Mountains, everything on, with double cheese and hot chili peppers on the Mega's, right? Might take a little while to get this order out to 'ya. Jesus... You coulda warned me Aden. I'd have got extra staff in... My poor nephew Jimbo's gonna be fried and frazzled in the kitchen. He already has stress issues!” she laughed.

“That's okay, we're not in any kinda hurry, are we guys? Tell Mr Allen to take his time over us. We're chillin' all afternoon and so can he,” Aden said with a warm smile at her.

He gave Maddy a little hug of affection around the shoulders. Without Mia being around, he felt less concerned about showing his feelings for her. Charlene and Grace weren't anywhere near so possessive and evil tongued as she was. In fact they weren't evil tongued at all until she'd whipped them into shape. He was sure she was possessed by a hateful frenzy at times.

He also knew Grace had a thing for Lucas. She always had. In fact she was sitting next to him right now, as she so often did, in the adjacent booth with Charlene, Sammy, and Shane. He'd seen her looking at him, many a time, wistfully. He knew Lucas thought a great deal of her. He referred to her as 'my Grace', or 'my sweetheart Grace', and other such terms of endearment quite frequently. And Aden felt this went further than the closeness brought about by merely working together. But whether his feelings ran that deeply, he just couldn't tell. Aden wanted him to pair with someone, as he obviously needed it desperately, and she seemed to be the perfect choice. She was small and pretty, with big hazel eyes and short curly blonde hair. Despite their arguments, and the falling out they'd had over Maddy, he did care for him, almost like a brother, and he wanted him to be happy. He'd be devastated if he left their pack.

Maddy squeezed his knee hard under the table and turned to give him a smouldering, wide eyed look. He was completely taken aback by the strength of it.

“Aden. My God, I suddenly feel so … so damn odd...” she whispered quietly in his ear, leaning against him.

Then he realised her smouldering look was actually something quite different. Sweat was breaking out on her brow and her eyes were flaring brightly with an orange hue.

“Hold one Mega and cancel one Big,” he shouted at Betty as he slid out of the booth, dragging Maddy hastily to the door and outside, bundling her into the truck. “Awww honey, that's such a shame. It doesn't look like you'll be having much party fun today, does it?” he commiserated with her gently, as she looked at him with fear and horror dawning on her pretty features. Her face was changing rapidly, and he could hear the creak of her bones and joints as everything began to transform. He patted her hand. “Don't worry sweetheart. This is your first rush, I've been expecting it. It won't always be like this, I promise you. Let it happen, let her come out, because you need to understand your animal side properly. Right now I'm taking you somewhere you can rest and hide for a while, okay?” He stroked her arm gently and compassionately.

“Rrrruuurrl” she replied, nodding her head, her long tongue no longer able to form human words.



Maddy had been desperately thinking of ice like crazy and it hadn't worked at all. At his urging, she gave up and let her body take over. Part of her was fascinated, and the other part repelled by the changes she could see. Her limbs were lengthening at an alarming rate, making crackling, groaning sounds that scared the hell out of her. Her whole body was hot and tingled like mad, almost painfully. It was as if she couldn't quite feel herself properly any more, which was just as well, because she didn't want to feel herself during this transformation. Not at all.

Before her eyes, deep brown and black hair was sprouting like crazy, on her hands and wrists. She scratched at it. She could feel it emerging everywhere underneath her clothes, spreading like an itchy rash.