Glass cases form a barrier between the customer space and the bakers in the back, showcasing their wares with a register and empty counter space dead center of the cases. Behind them is a chalkboard menu, the massive rectangle running the length of the wall suspended high behind Gretel’s husband.
“Good afternoon, miss, may I help you?” the elderly man asks, turning his bright green eyes on her with a kind smile, a smudge of flour still on his cheek.
I don’t have to read her thoughts to know she’s pleading with the heavens to find out if his name is Hansel. Instead, she tries to play it cool, a trained mask falling into place.
“Piece of strawberry cheesecake?” She turns to the rest of us, gesturing for us to hurry up and pick something, which we all do even though I’m not hungry. The fact that she’s taking the initiative in getting sweets isn’t lost on me and far be it from me to make her feel self-conscious.
As he starts gathering our order, he turns his keen eye to Rin. “New to town, or just passing through?”
Rin bites her bottom lip, fingering the sleeve of her jacket. “Thinking of sticking around. Not here, but not too far away. I imagine you’ll be seeing me pretty regularly if you keep tempting me with this.” She gestures at both cases, chuckling.
He grins. “Don’t get many humans around these parts. Change is good.” He places our bags on the counter as I pay, stretching his hand out in her direction and completely ignoring us.
“Rin, short for Corinna,” she introduces herself.
“Vin, short for Vincent,” he fires right back, winking. “Pleasure to meet ‘ya, Rin.” Finally, he deigns to give us the time of day, though it’s simply to threaten us. “This girl is skin and bones; I best not find out you’re starving her out there in no-man’s land.”
Cole gathers our bags, moving to a table and tossing over his shoulder, “Of course we are. So you best pack up half the case and send it home with us to keep the poor thing alive.”
Vin scoffs, waving him off. “You’re just after free samples.”
Rin grins at him. “Who wouldn’t be? It smells heavenly in here.”
“I like this one.” Vin smiles broadly before packaging something else up quickly, passing it her way. “Consider this a welcome to the neighborhood gift.”
Someone hollers from behind him and Vin gives an apology before darting into the back, rushing to solve whatever problem started up now. Since the neighborhood teenagers that were working moved to a bigger town this summer, they’ve been struggling to keep up with everything.
A few familiar faces strike up conversation, happy to have Osiris back where he belongs since we’d all assumed him dead. He gets a few pitying looks after we’re forced to admit he’s stuck, since no one typically struts around town shifted.
We load up in the truck to head home, Rin digging through her copious amount of bags to repack her backpack. None of us are sure how long we’re going to be gone or what to expect, but we don’t want to be weighted down either. We’re already going to draw unwanted attention; if we show up with a loaded truck, people will assume a pride is trying to move in. In the small towns it wouldn’t be a big deal, but if we have to venture into the larger ones? It just shines that much brighter of a light in our direction that we don’t need.
Not a big deal for Rin, maybe, but with as brutal as the prison system is to our kind? Either a death sentence or we’ll stay locked up until we rot if we get caught.
“Hey.” Her soft voice reaches me as she leans forward from the back, putting her hand on my arm. “Want to wait until tomorrow to head out instead? We wasted most of the day shopping and doing deliveries; might as well sleep in a nice bed for another night.”
I slowly relax my grip, realizing I was white-knuckling the steering wheel with my growing anxiety. “I’m fine, we can drive through the night.”
She lightly runs her nails down my arm and it’s distracting in the best way. “I don’t know, I’m pretty tired,” she presses. “Doesn’t bode well for planning if we’re struggling to stay awake.”
As I take another turn, I huff out an amused breath. “I see what you’re doing, you know. But seriously, I’m alright. Was just thinking about what would happen if we got caught.”
Cole hops in, ganging up on me. “All the more reason not to go into things in a sleep-addled state. We’re really only going to get one shot at this, so we need to be careful. Besides,” he turns to Osiris, curled up on our mate’s lap. “Ozzy wants to see Sarah before we leave again.”
My jaw tenses. “Why didn’t you say anything?”Shit, Rin’s right. It feels like shit being left out of the conversation.
“Because I know you go out of our way to protect us from ourselves,”Osiris explains, sounding defeated.“But she needs to know I haven’t given up on her, even if everyone else has. Just because I failed this time, doesn’t mean there isn’t hope.”
“Who’s Sarah?” Rin asks timidly, and I curse as I realize she’ll be assuming the worst.
“One of the cubs in a neighboring pride. She got sick a while back and no one can figure out what’s wrong with her. That’s why Osiris was in the city in the first place; he was desperate to try anything to get some help.” I throw the truck into park in front of the house, all of my instincts screaming as I see the tears streaking down my mate’s face.
Cole reaches back, brushing his thumb over her cheek, but doesn’t lie to her that everything will be fine. “We know. But she’s held out for over six months; she’s strong. “
She sniffs. “And I screwed up the chances of returning to the city. What were you hoping to find?” she asks Osiris.
He relays the message to us, and I pass it along to her. “Apparently, the two of you were cut from the same cloth. He was going to describe her symptoms to a doctor and hope for answers, or try and drag one back out here.”
She manages a watery smile, resting her cheek on top of his head. “Maybe we can still pick one up while we’re out, no point ruling out the option yet.” When she glances up at me, my instincts just scream at seeing my mate crying and not knowing how to fix it. “Can I come too? When you visit?”
