Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
I have not felt this hopeless in a long time. I thought Karl would come for me, but I bet he’s probably tired of the whole situation. He’s been putting up with my bullshit for how long and all it’s gotten us is arrested. Also, on the way out, I’m pretty sure I saw machinery with floodlights on it. I’d bet that while we sit in these cells, heavy machinery is going to be ripping through the last of the houses on the home range.
We’ve lost.
I’ve lost.
Everything I cared about is gone.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” my mother says. “You could have had a piece of the pie if you’d just agreed to be slightly civilized. You could have gone to college, you could have met a nice man. You could have had a normal human life.”
“We’re not human, Mom, and you know it.”
Her eyes narrow at me, because I just said the one thing nobody is allowed to say to her. If we said it to her as kids, she made sure we suffered for it. It looks like nothing has really changed.
“That’s a delusion,” she says. “And a dangerous one.”
My mother is a shifter who won’t fucking shift. She denies she’s one. And she hates our wolf sides. She’s convinced herself that none of it was ever real or true. Even seeing her own kids shift isn’t enough to convince her. Some people don’t respect proof, no matter what you give them. No matter what they know about themselves.
“I can’t let you keep getting into trouble,” she says. “I can’t let you be in the way of what needs to happen. So you’re going to come with me, sweetheart.”
“No. I’m not.”
“Yes,” she says. “You are. I’m sorry, baby, but this has gone on too long. You’re living like an animal, and I won’t have it.”
The cell door opens, and two big, burly men step in. I’m not going to be given a choice in this. I don’t know what she plans to do to me, and I don’t intend to find out.
“Watch out for her, she’s vicious,” my mother says as they grab me.
“Don’t worry, ma’am. We know how to handle trouble,” one of them replies. I feel a brief prick in the side of my neck, and a moment later, everything goes to cozy, lovely black.
Back in the usual flow of narrative time…
Karl
“I tried to bail her out,” Gray says. “But I must have gotten her name wrong.”
“Alright. Let’s go in and get her.” I grab him by the lapel and stride back into the police building. Gray slaps at my hands, but I want him right beside me. This is the most important thing. We have to get Ellie out, and we have to do it now.
“Can I help you?” The cop behind the desk talks to me as if he’s already forgotten I just got out of here. He’s a middle-aged guy with a defeated look in his eyes. He might actually have forgotten me in the interim. Doesn’t look like there’s much going on up there.
“I’d like to bail my… girlfriend.” I say. I was going to say mate, but of course humans don’t recognize mates.
He sighs and slowly turns toward the computer, which is so old it has been yellowed by sun and probably runs on Windows 97.
“What’s her name?”
“Ellie.”
“Ellie…” he draws the pause out. “What’s her last name?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “We got arrested together, but I never asked her last name. We were busy with other activities most of the time.”
“You’re going to need to know her last name to post bail for her.”
“Just tell me what Ellie you’ve got in there, and I’ll take her.”
I want to punch him in the face, but instead I slide a crisp hundred-dollar bill across the counter. “Please.”
What the fuck is happening to me? I barely recognize myself.
“Alright,” he says. “Looks like we’ve got an Ellie back here. Bail’s set at three grand. You want to pay that now? Can’t get her out if not.”
Three grand seems fairly reasonable all things considered, so I pay it.
He goes away, and I wait. I hate that I let my mate be arrested, that someone was able to sneak up on me and take her. I should have prevented all of this. But hopefully a night in jail won’t have been too rough on her.
“Here she is.”
He comes back with a woman wearing bright pink leg warmers, an oversized shrug sweater, and dirty sneakers. She looks at me, confused. I look at her, even more confused.
“Who is this?”
“Ellie,” the cop says.
“Ellie? Who the fuck is Ellie?” The woman looks confused. “I’m Aline.”
“Thought you’d spelled Ellie wrong,” the cop says. “Guess I’d better take you back.”
“Wait. No. I was out. I got bail. You told me I got bail!”