Lib Novel Page 30
“There’s a bar,” I tell him. “You’ve already been there. Aside from that, there are a few restaurants around town. We don’t get a lot of tourist activity here aside from humans, and even that’s not in the triple digits, so not many people want to open up businesses here.”
“Why don’t you get any tourist activity?” Alex gestures toward the golden sand and blue ocean. “You’ve got a lovely beach.”
“It’s not that we don’t get tourists,” I correct myself. “We just don’t cater to their interests. And in the summer, the beach is only open to the townspeople.”
“So, not a lot of activity down here,” Alex murmurs. “The perfect place to hide—”
He cuts himself off, and I give him a curious look, wondering what he’s talking about.
“You must know most of the people around here, then?” Alex studies me. “This isn’t a big town, after all.”
I shrug. “I know most faces, but that’s because I work at a bar. We have a population of almost 9,000 people. You can’t know everybody.”
“I see. What about the Alpha of this region? Does he come here for inspections?”
That is an oddly specific question to ask, and I shoot Alex a sharp look. “Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” he says lightly. “There are eleven main packs in the South Alliance, but it’s strange to see a town so isolated. I even heard that to leave Oakrest, you need to secure a permit from the pack security and the town administration. There’s no way to sneak out.”
I pick at the threads on my jeans. “That’s true. Maybe it’s because they send all the criminals down here.”
It is meant as a dark joke, but Alex gives me a serious look. “Really?”
“No! We’re just a small town.”
I’m starting to feel anxious now, and I want to go home. I don’t know why this guy is asking all sorts of weird questions, but I feel like the more I talk, the more information I might let slip.
I get to my feet. “I think I’m going to head back now.”
He almost looks disappointed. “Why? I thought you were waiting to give your neighbor’s kid the food.”
“I’ll just drop it at his school. They must still be there.”
“I’ll walk with you, then.”
I close my eyes briefly. You are the one I’m trying to get away from.
He picks up the basket, and I’m left with no choice. I can’t exactly wrestle it away from him. So, I grab the thin bed sheet I laid out on the sand and give it a good shake. I’m about to fold it when a strong gust of wind yanks it out of my arms, sending it floating in the direction of the ocean.
“Damn it!” I curse, racing after it.
The wind deposits it neatly in the water, and the waves decide to take over, pulling the sheet further and further away from me.
I wade into the cold water. The waves are particularly strong today, and the deeper I go into the ocean, the further away the bed sheet floats.
At some point, I realize that I’m moving further away from shore than I’m comfortable with. The strength of the waves keeps increasing, pulling me down.
Kicking my legs in the water, I finally decide to give up on the sheet and turn around, only to realize that the beach is now much further away than I thought.
Normally, I wouldn’t panic. I’m a decent swimmer. But the waves are being frisky today, and it’s not easy to swim against them. I can sense worry and fear creeping up, and I shove them away. This isn’t the time to be getting anxious. If I let my emotions get the best of me, I won’t be able to focus on the task at hand. The current is pulling me under the water, and I need to stay afloat.
I feel my wolf battling for survival. I refuse to give up. Death by drowning is not on my to-do list today. Kicking as hard as I can, I break through the water’s surface, only to be pulled back down. I’m losing oxygen, which is not a good sign.
Specks of darkness are starting to fill my vision, and the tiniest part of me is beginning to give up hope. This isn’t a physical fight that I can win.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, an arm wraps around my waist, and I’m held against a hard body. My head bursts out of the water, and I can breathe again. I gulp the air frantically.
“It’s not over yet,” I hear Alex say grimly right before another wave crashes on top of us. His grip on me tightens as the current pulls us down once again. Alex swims further out into the ocean and then changes direction so we are moving parallel to the shore. I don’t understand what he’s doing till he begins pulling me upward. This time, the current is weaker. As our heads break through the surface of the water, I look around and am relieved to see that we are close to shore, just a little further down the beach from where we started.