The trees couldn't pass fast enough, as Liam sped the car down the one lane highway leading up around the preserve, back towards town. My stomach knotted as I kept my focus out the window and not on the way he stiffly gripped the steering wheel. No one had spoken since we left the house which only added to the dreaded suspicion that Liam was hiding something about the photograph.
We wound our way past the lookout point overlooking the stream, when the car began to sputter. "Damn." Liam groaned. He let go of the wheel and smacked his forehead. "We're out of gas. I'm sorry, Charlotte. I think we have enough fumes to make it to the mini mart down the way. It's not too far."
I sunk back into the seat. Great.
Liam let go of the gas, letting the car coast down the hill and around the bend. It choked and shuddered as we got to the bottom and the road straightened. A small mom and pop station appeared up ahead on the left just as Liam anticipated, and we slowly hobbled in. Once parked, the engine fizzled out.
"I'll be right back," he said.
Liam took off out the door before I could even say anything. I sighed and leaned back in the plush leather seat. Glancing out the window, I could see him inside, paying the attendant at the register. The man behind the counter seemed pleased to be actually having business at this remote location, for he was smiling and making conversation with Liam.
A shadow moved by the window, startling me. I turned in the seat, but the blind spot blocked my view. Not wanting to remove my seat belt, I ignored it, resting my head against the glass. I couldn't see Liam anymore and my mind went back to the photo. Could Liam do something like that? Would he? His reaction bothered me the most. He seemed so different. My stomach didn't feel right.
A hand slammed down on the roof of the car and I jumped, as a large burly man moved passed, dragging his palm along the hood. He spat on the pavement, and coughed. With hunched shoulders, he moved quickly towards the station, glancing about as if someone might be following him. The uneasy pit in my gut grew. I still didn't see Liam.
I shifted in my seat and rolled down the window, needing some air. The scent of musky pine hit my nose and despite the nervous tangle in my mind, I felt relieved. Liam walked over and leaned his elbow against the sill, pump in his other hand. "Sorry, got to talking. The guy in there's an old friend of mine. I hope your dad isn't going to be too upset. It's kind of late."
"Why? Are you afraid of what he'll think of you?"
Liam chuckled. "Maybe."
I pulled the little watch head from my pocket. Quarter to six. Dad didn't usually get home from the hospital until seven. "You're in luck. We still have some time. He won't kill you yet."
The irony of my word 'kill' got lost in my throat. I needed to stop these thoughts. Liam didn't kill anyone. He was an Alpha. He had to keep track of these things. I really wasn't being fair. My nerves were just messing with me again.
Two loud gunshots snapped me to attention and I froze. Through the front window I saw the attendant collapse out of sight. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. Liam pushed himself off the car and tore across the parking lot to the small building.
"Liam?" My words came out like a garbled squeak. I couldn't breathe or think right.
A pair of large hands landed on the driver's side window and I screamed. The man spat on the ground and then started shaking the handle.
"Open the door!"
I tried to bury myself down in the car. He growled in frustration and moved around to my side. I forgot my window was down. He reached in and grabbed me by the shoulder, placing the tip of his gun to my temple. "Give me the car!"
Something landed on the roof with a crunch. A hand came down and lifted the gunman up off the ground, hurling him away from me. The man crashed into a hard plastic trash container with a groan. Liam jumped down beside my window, crouching on all fours. His lips rose over his teeth with a low snarl. He turned his head towards me and I gasped. Nothing about him looked human. His eyes burned gold and to my horror, his jaw had shifted forward, giving his entire face a more elongated, wolf look. Sharp canine teeth sliced down, piercing through his curled lips.
I didn't know if I wanted to laugh with relief or pass out from fear.
The gunman groaned as he pushed several pieces of garbage off him, and started to his knees. Liam turned from me, springing from his position, and landed on top of the man. The man tried to scramble away, but Liam caught him by the shirt, and dragged him back.
The man thrashed and hollered. "Get away from me you freak!"
Liam lifted him up by his collar. With a ripping snarl, he opened his mouth wide, brushing his teeth to the man's neck.
I couldn't look. My heart pounded so fast I couldn't even feel anything but the thunderous rhythm shaking my body. The album picture screamed in my head and I started to hyperventilate.
Another shot crackled across the lot, and to my horror, I watched Liam drop to the pavement.
"Liam!" I cried.
My fingers felt numb as I fought with the door handle. "Open! Open!"
Tears clouded my vision and I furiously blinked them away. I fidgeted with the door handle. This time, it swung free. My legs seemed to have forgotten how to work. I stumbled out of the car, landing on my hands and knees. My palms burned, but I could have cared less. I needed to get to Liam. Finding my feet, I started forward.
Liam gasped as if suddenly coming to, and his head shot up in my direction. "Charlotte, get back! Run. Get out of here now."
He shook and trembled. A set of razor sharp claws began to push through the tips of his fingers. I blocked it out, seeing the blood covering his shirt.
"No, I won't leave you," I said.
"Just go...please."
Arms wrapped around me and I screamed. The hot metal butt of a gun painfully pressed into my neck.
"Get away from me you freak, or she's dies," the gunman said.
Everything in me dropped as ice flushed through my body. My lower lip trembled. 'I'm sorry,' I mouthed to Liam as tears fell down my cheeks.
Liam groaned, holding his stomach. The claws extended further as he rolled to his side, staggering to his feet. The skin around his face and shoulders rippled and stretched.
"What are you?" the man asked. The gun burned against my skin, hot from the prior shot.
Liam lifted his half human gaze to the man with a low reverberating snarl. Sweat broke across his brow. "You're going to die."
Liam moved so fast, I didn't even see him. All I felt was the impact of his body, knocking me to the ground. The gun skittered across the pavement and I turned my head to see the man had fallen too. Liam lifted him by the neck of his shirt and threw him into the gas tank. It cracked and the stench of gasoline filled the air.
The man moaned and rolled to his side. Liam started towards him and the man raised his hands defensively. "Don't hurt me. Please," he said. "I didn't mean it. I wasn't going to hurt her. I didn't mean it."
"Liam, let him go," a voice said from behind me.
I turned to see the station attendant standing in the doorway to shop. I had to blink twice. How did he...? I thought he got shot.
Liam tilted his head to the side, as if listening, but didn't stop. Stepping closer, he exposed his elongated teeth and slowly licked his lips. The claws at his side opened and closed. I swallowed hard. He was really going to kill him. I couldn't believe this.
"I called the cops," the attendant said, his voice calm. He reminded me of one of those trained professionals who talked people out of jumping off buildings. "They're on their way. They'll be here any minute now. Everyone's safe. He doesn't have the gun anymore."
I got up off the ground, but my body wouldn't stop shaking. I took a few brave steps toward Liam and gently placed my fingers on the back of his shoulder. His skin rippled under my touch. "Liam, please," I whispered. "I want to go home."
Liam gasped at my touch. His arms dropped from the gunman and his skin tightened and firmed under my fingers. The sharp claws that had erupted under his nails, slid back, retracting, along with his extended teeth and jowls.
When he turned to look at me, his features were normal, but his eyes were wide. "Charlotte," he whispered. "How did you...do that?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. "What'd I do?"
The gunman scrambled to his feet.
"Hold it." The attendant grabbed the gun and aimed it at the man.
"Look, I don't want anything to do with you freaks, okay?"
"You'll wait right there," he said. "Liam, you better move it on out of here. The cops are on their way. I'll take care of everything."
He did know Liam? He obviously knew about his little secret too since he just witnessed what I had, and didn't seem remotely freaked. Liam nodded and looped his arm around the small of my back. I felt numb as he escorted me back to the car.
He opened the door and helped me inside. I didn't look at him when he sat down behind the wheel. I couldn't. I heard him turn the key, bringing the mustang to life, and we tore out of the small parking lot.
We drove in silence, neither of us braving words for several miles. The trees passed the window at a blinding rate, and I realized the speedometer had hit sixty.
"Liam, the speed limit is forty."
"I know," he said, his gaze fixed on the road. The car slowed a few notches.
"Liam?" I didn't turn in his direction, but from my peripheral line of vision, I saw him stiffen. White rose from his knuckles as he clenched the steering wheel.
"Yes?" he asked.
He sounded in pain and then reality dawned on me.
"Oh, my God, Liam, you're shot!"
The front of his shirt was pasted with blood. I quickly unfastened my seat belt and leaned over.
"What are you doing?" he asked. He wrapped his arm down around his mid-section, and shrank away from me, closer to the door.
"Let me see your wound." I tried to slip my fingers under where he held his sticky torn shirt, but he pushed my hand away.
"No," he said. "Get back in your seat, Charlotte."
"Stop the car." I reached over and grabbed the wheel.
"What are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed." He dropped the arm holding his midsection and wrestled my fingers off the wheel. We swerved and I heard the tires hit the gravel on the side of road. I gave up and gripped my seat. He steadied the wheel as we bumped back onto the road. "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" I asked. "You need to be in a hospital, Liam. You were just shot in the stomach. You shouldn't even be driving. Frankly, I don't even know how you're sitting there."
"I'm fine," he said. He didn't look at me.
"Don't give me that. Look at your shirt. There's blood everywhere." My voice cracked. This was too much. I lunged for the lower edge, and pulled it up before he could stop me.
"What are you doing?" He tugged it down and his chest heaved.
I stared in shock. There wasn't anything there.
"I...I don't understand," I said. "You were shot. I saw it. There's blood."
"I told you I was fine."
"I don't understand."
"It's the shifting," he said. "I don't really get it either to be honest with you, but it started after I became human for the first time. I think it has something to do with the body being able to reform itself into the different shapes. I heal very quickly."
I didn't know what to say. My mind raced to catch up with reality but couldn't find it. "Are you saying you can't die?" I asked, bewildered.
He shook his head. "No, I can die. You cut off my head, it won't come back." He smirked and I glared at him. Nothing about this was amusing.
"Not funny," I said.
"I'm glad you care," he said with a small grin.
I frowned. How he twisted this back to some kind of flirty banter was beyond me. We could have been killed. He almost ripped that man's throat out!
He seemed to pick up on my mood and focused on the road. "I shouldn't be telling you all of this," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"It's dangerous."
"Dangerous?" I asked. "Did you forget that I just had a gun to my head? I was almost killed ten minutes ago."
"Of course I haven't forgotten that," Liam said. "You don't know what that did to me."
"What?" I asked.
"I almost lost you, Charlotte." His voice broke. "I was going to kill that man." He started to tremble and his face twisted in a way that looked like shear agony.
"Liam," I said. I reached out and threaded my fingers with his.
"There are worst ways to die, Charlotte," he said, squeezing my hand. "The more you know about me, the more I chance others knowing about you." He winced as if what he said, told too much. "You already said you're being followed."
"That's probably all in my mind, Liam."
"What if it's not?"
"It is," I said, surprising myself at the confirmation of my tone.
Liam glared at me and the car swerved. "I don't want to lose you."
"Then why does it feel like you're breaking up with me?"
"We're together?" he asked. A small smirk tickled the corner of his lip and I groaned.
Liam leaned over and kissed me. "I love you, Charlotte," he whispered, then pulled back. His gaze fixated out the windshield.
I stared at his profile in shock. "Liam, I..."
"Don't say anything," he said, interrupting me. "Please, not now. Just don't."
"But..." I tried to protest, when he pulled to a screeching halt in my driveway. My dad's car sat in front of the large green two car garage. The incident had kept us out later than I thought. I fiddled with my pocket and pulled out the watch head. Past nine.
"Are you going to be okay?" Liam asked.
"What should I tell my Dad?"
Liam shrugged. "Just tell him you were studying late with your blonde friend. There's no need to let him know about the other stuff. He'll just worry. Besides, the fewer questions, the better."
I nodded, Liam's words bringing reality back. How were they getting out of this? Wouldn't there be a police investigation? What if the gunman tells everyone about Liam?
"Lou, the gas attendant, is taking care of everything" he said, reading my thoughts. "You don't need to worry. He's a friend of mine, remember? He's gotten us out of tight spots before."
"Does he know what you are?"
"Yes."
I was confused. "But you said it was dangerous."
"It is," Liam said tightly. "But it's different with Lou."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because he's human."