* * * *
Remy was surprised when Eve, Arden’s sister, came to visit her. Eve was different. She reminded Remy of herself, and Remy found it easy to talk to her. After she explained everything to Eve, Remy did something she’d never done in her life...she begged.
“I need to leave. I know you’re fighting the demons to stop them from taking over the world , but this life isn’t for me. I need freedom. Please help me. I promise I will come back, but right now, I need to be free. Please.”
Eve’s eyes darted around the room before they fell back on her. “I understand. Promise me you’ll come back.”
Remy eased out of bed, her feet shaky from weeks of healing and rare use. “I promise. Look, we’ll buy a cellphone and you’ll be the only number on it. I’ll talk to you all the time. Please, just help me. I feel like I’m being strangled and I can’t get air. I need to recover on my own. I need to be free.”
Eve sighed. “They will kill me if they find out I even helped you, let alone that I’m the one you escaped with.” She groaned. “But I can’t not help you, because I know how you feel. Get dressed. We have to go now before everyone comes back.”
Remy didn’t have to be told twice.
* * * *
Arden knew Remy was gone. He didn’t need to search the house like the others were doing. Devlin was driving to her house, but Arden knew she wasn’t there either. Remy had run.
Picking up the chair in the bedroom, he threw it at the wall and let his wolf free. Arden didn’t want to feel the pain he felt right now. His heart felt like it was broken into a million pieces.
Faith came into the room, her face white and tears falling. “She’s gone. Remy is gone. She didn’t even leave a note.”
Howling, he ran out of the room.
* * * *
Remy didn’t feel how she thought she would...free. A week passed then two, and the more time she spent away and the further she ran, the more anxiety and doubt plagued her. When she was at what she thought was a safe distance from home, she rang Faith and Sara from a pay phone. She didn’t talk long, because she was unsure of how far the shifters’ power reached. Even though she missed home and running felt wrong, she wasn’t ready for them to find her.
The last bus she’d gotten on took her to another state and out to the middle of nowhere. She was staying above a motel and working at their pub below. It was a small town, and the pub relied on the truckers that passed through and tourist heading to the bigger cities.
Remy liked this town, but it wasn’t home. She’d been there for over a month. The locals had just started to treat her as one of their own. She felt okay, not great or fantastic, but fine. She missed her friends like crazy. Remy spoke to Eve almost every night, but it wasn’t the same. Remy was starting to get antsy. Faith, Sara, and even Kirby were now short with her when she called—they were the ones who hung up, not her. She was tempted to talk to Arden, but scared of what that meant...that she wanted to talk to him and hear his voice.
A guy tapped the bar to get her attention, and she shook herself out of her thoughts. “Hey, woman, I want a beer.”
Remy nodded and pointed to the taps. The guy said he wanted the first. She poured the beer and placed it in front of him. He smiled and winked at her.
Later that night, just before they closed, Steve came in. He was cute, just under six feet, with green eyes and short, dirty blond hair. He lived in a coastal city about an hour and a half away. He was a police officer, and a few days after she’d started he’d come in with his partner to arrest two men who had started brawling. He’d been surprised that a little thing like Remy had been able to handle two men and keep them separated while they waited for the police. During the last week Steve had come in almost every day.
“Hi, Steve. We close in ten.” She smiled and went back to cleaning the bar. Wednesday they closed the bar early.
“I know. I came to see you.”
She froze in her cleaning and looked up at him. “Why?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
She shook her head and had no idea what she was going to say or do.
“I came to see if you’d have dinner with me.”
It was then that she noticed he wasn’t in his uniform.
Looking around, she saw the owner, Bill, a man in his late fifties-early sixties, watching her and Steve. He had a huge smirk on his face, and she knew she’d get no help from him.
“Argh.” She looked at Steve and knew she should try this. Have a date with a normal guy. See if she could do it without thinking of Arden. “Sure.” Her stomach churned, and she felt ill.
Bill walked over. “Remy, go. I can finish up here.”