Charity Rising (Charity Series Book 2) (12 page)

Her eyes grew wide. “I don’t have any cash.”

“What do you mean you don’t have any cash? Why not?”

“That’s what I have my debit card for.”

I couldn’t argue with her about that one. I didn’t have any cash for that same purpose. “Wel , what are we gonna do?”

She shrugged.

Some help she is.
I took the cap off my lip-gloss and saturated my lips while thinking. “Got it!”

In the next minutes we were strutting through the doors, headed straight for the unsuspecting cashier. “Charity, are you sure about this?

Flirting with this poor kid seems unfair.”

“Do you want to spend the weekend here then?”

She thought for a moment and then shook her head.

“Okay, then stop complaining and start shakin’ your butt.”

She did as I said and did it quite wel , better than me even. I have to admit, for a moment I was proud.

The young guy watched from behind the counter as Ash and I strutted our way around the aisle and toward him. It was working. He was

drooling like a Saint Bernard.

“C-can I do anything for you ladies?” the young man shyly asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact I hope you can. You see we’re out of gas, and it seems you don’t take debit cards here so we’re in a tight fix.” I put

my elbows on the counter and leaned toward him. “If only we had some way to get gas so we could get to Frazier. We have very important business

in Frazier.”

“Life and death business,” Ashley added.

“Wel ,” he began, “we’re only taking cash and checks right now. It seems our little debit machine here is broken.” He pointed to a tiny

machine beside the register that looked outdated beyond reason. “They’re sending someone out here to fix it sometime next week. I have an old

truck out back. You’re welcome to use it to get some cash. There’s a bank in the town you passed, about 30 minutes from here. But of course one

of you wil have to stay here as col ateral, you know, just in case. Not that I think you’d try to trick me, or nothin’. Just being smart.”

Okay, so smart wasn’t quite the word that came to mind.

I peered over at Ash. “You stay here. I’l be back in an hour.”

“What! Why do I have to be the one to stay? Why can’t you stay?”

“Do you have your Driver’s License with you then?”

She froze, her mind taking inventory of the contents of her purse. “Dang it! Sometimes I hate that you know me so wel .”

I smirked. “I’l see you in an hour.” The guy behind the register identified himself as Sam and handed me his keys. I thanked him and headed

for the door. When I turned back to look at them, Ashley’s face was contorted into a grimace. “You two behave while I’m gone.”
I couldn’t resist.

In reality I couldn’t believe the guy Sam handed over his truck so easily, but when I got to the bank there were others that were being friendly

as wel . One even let me go in front of him at the debit machine.
I wish people were this friendly on the eastside, back in Windrake Mountain.

Stupid rivalry.

As I stood there, waiting my turn, my thoughts went to Levi. Part of me was stil mad at him for flirting with that girl in town, but another part, a stronger part, was worried about him. My Levi would never do something like that, not in his right mind. I had to find out what was wrong with him.
It
was solely up to me now, and I couldn’t let him down—I wouldn’t.

“You owe me big time for that,” Ash complained as she piled back into the car. “Al that Sam guy talked about was Marvel comic book

characters. He’s obsessed. I tried to keep up, but lost track somewhere around Wolverine, or was it Captain America. The guy needs a serious

life.”

I laughed. “It sounds interesting. Sorry I missed it.”

“Sure you are.”

Once we were back on the road it didn’t take long before we spotted the sign pointing us toward Frazier.

When we final y made it into town, it was already late, but we rushed to the bookstore only to find it closed. “Dang it!! They’re closed!!” I

barked. “We’l have to go on to the hotel and come back first thing in the morning.”

“Sounds good to me. I’m ready to relax. Al this traveling is exhausting.”

“I total y agree, at least with you.”

We ordered room service and ate slowly. After every morsel was eaten, mostly by me, I went in to take a hot shower. When I stepped back

into the room, Ashley was sound asleep, curled up in a bal with her favorite fuzzy, pink pil ow pul ed tightly against her chest and her thumb in her mouth. If I had any sense I’d take a picture for payback later, but I decided against it. I smiled and pul ed the cover up over her, turned out the light, and crawled in beside her, tugging my Snoopy blanket close. After a few seconds I jumped up and grabbed my cel phone, snapping off a picture

and crawling back into bed—smiling.

I tossed and turned, trying to sleep, but antsy for morning to arrive. When it final y did, I dressed quickly, urging Ashley to do the same.

“Hurry, Ash!” I cal ed to her as we sprinted down the sidewalk toward the bookstore. We had to park down the street to get a spot. One of the

neighboring stores was having a huge sale.

“I’m coming. These shoes are hard to run in.”

Ashley and her dang shoes.
“Then take them off!”

She did and soon caught up to me.

She fol owed me into the store and up to the counter where two cute guys with long shaggy hair, looking to be in their late teens, were talking.

“Excuse me, but we need to see your archives. I think they’re on your lower level,” I blurted out.

They both eyebal ed me suspiciously. “I’m afraid we don’t have a lower level,” the tal est one said, getting a good look at me.

“Um, I beg to differ. Yes you do, and I’d like you to take me there right now, please
.” I ain’t got time to fool around with these turkeys
!

“I don’t know where you got your inform—”

“I got it from Irena Drake. She said you knew her. Was she wrong?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

His eyes grew wide. “Irena! Wel , why didn’t you say so? Fol ow me.”

That’s more like it.

We fol owed closely as the tal one led us through the store. It was quaint with an old-fashioned feel, almost like a bookstore you would’ve

found back in the 50’s with old rock-n-rol memorabilia on the wal s.

Ashley punched me. “Look!”

“Oww,” I said, looking in the direction of her pointing finger. There, in the far left corner of the store was a little coffee shop. It almost looked out of place in the old looking store. I smiled at her. “We’l have to visit there in a minute.”

She smiled, nodding in agreement.

“So, how do you guys know Irena?” the tal one asked.

“She’s my mother-in-law,” I answered matter-of-factly.

He stopped abruptly. I plowed into his back and Ashley plowed into mine.

“Hey! Do you mind?!” I snapped.

He turned and stared down at me, his expression elated. “Are you saying you’re the new alpha female? Are you the Charity we’ve been

hearing about?”

“That’s me. And this is my best friend Ashley.”

He ignored Ashley and continued to stare at me, his eyes more penetrating in their inspection of me. “You are truly as beautiful as the rumors

say you are. We’re honored to have you here, milady.”

“Okay, stop that. I’m not your alpha female, so relax pal.”

“Yes ma’am. What shal I cal you?”

“Um, if you cal me ma’am again you’re gonna get hurt. Charity wil be just fine. Now can we see those archives? We’re kind of in a

hurry.”

“Razz, come here! This is Charity Drake!”

The shorter one, though not by much, was by his side in a flash, studying me. “No way, Bro!”

“Dude, this is total y her! Irena sent her to us!”

“Milady, I’m Razz, and this here dork is my brother, Chase.”

“If he’s your brother then shouldn’t you show him more respect?” Ashley commented.

He looked down at her then. “He’s my younger brother.”

“Ohhh,” she responded in understanding.

“It’s very nice to meet the two of you, and now can we see those archives?”

“So, I hear this Levi, your alpha, is almost 7 feet tal and the most handsome and honorable of al alphas. Is that true?”

I was beginning to lose my patience, and hearing Levi’s name sent a pain through me that reminded me of the urgency of our quest. “He’s al

those things and more, minus about six inches in height. Now can we see those archives?”

“I told you he wasn’t 7 feet tal ,” Chase said to Razz.

“Dude, I told you that!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

What, are we in second grade now?
“Stop!!” I yel ed, causing them both to freeze at once, and drawing curious eyes from the few customers

on the other side of the store. “That’s better. Now, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we’re in a big hurry. We think Levi may be sick, and we real y need to see those archives in order to prove it so the others wil believe us and we can get him the help he needs.”

They both eyed each other for a moment, then, as if someone lit a fire under their butts, which I guess I just did, both of them grabbed Ashley

and I’s arms and led us swiftly to the right corner of the store. They ushered us through a door that led down a flight of stairs and into a clean and organized basement.

“Our archives are on al these shelves.”

Ashley and I glanced to the bookshelves and grimaced. There were two rows of them, and each book was at least three inches thick. I

sighed. “This is gonna take longer than I thought, Ash. We better get started right away.”

“Yes,” she simply replied, as though she was in a daze, which I guess she was.

“We’l help anyway we can. How ‘bout starting with a Frappuccino?”

We perked up then. “Yes, that would be awesome, thanks.”

We sat at the table in the basement and finished the supper the brothers had brought to us and mil ed over our books. “Have you found

anything yet?” I asked.

“Um, no, not yet. And you?”

“No, dang it! We can’t be here al weekend! We have to find something real soon!”

The brothers were so sweet, bringing us anything we wanted, like food and coffee, along with some things we didn’t want, like some of their

pack friends. This slowed us down and only added to the growing urgency in my core, but I remained friendly, if you can cal it that. After al , they were just reacting to the crushes they had developed for us both. It was actual y adorable, in an annoying sort of way.

Ashley and the brothers tried to perk me up as the closing hour approached. It wasn’t working. Al I could think about is the fact that Levi was

counting on me to find whatever it was I needed to find. The growing blackness to my connection symbol only increased my urgency. Levi was sick,

and it was up to me to save him—that or die with him. Living without him would never be an option for me—now or ever.

Chase was break dancing, while Razz was spinning on his head. This kind of entertainment wasn’t quite what I had envisioned when they

said they had something that would cheer me up. I mean, I have nothing against Rap, but I had more urgent things on my mind, like finding out what

was causing my husband to act like a total idiot. Ashley had stopped skimming her book and was watching the guys with interest, even clapping.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked over to the CD player and punched the button, stopping the music. “Okay, listen up, you turkeys! I know

you’re trying to help, but stop! Do you see this?” I held up my left palm, exposing my connection symbol. Their eyes grew wide. “This is the symbol that signifies the heart connection I share with Levi. Do you see this growing blackness on the end?” They both stepped forward. Chase actual y

took my hand in his as he studied the darkening symbol there. “This means that Levi is sick, and if this black continues to travel down, eventual y it wil al be black, and that means death—for Levi and me. Do you understand now?”

Compassion fil ed their eyes as they continued to stare. “We’re sorry, Charity. We didn’t know.”

My voice softened. “I know. If you real y want to help you can both grab some books and start looking for anything that wil explain what’s

wrong with him.”

They raced each other to the shelf and grabbed stacks of books in their arms. I then began to explain al of Levi’s crazy symptoms; the

change in personality, mood swings, short-term memory loss, and the slight shift of his scent.

We ignored closing hours and continued to read until 2 a.m., when I woke to realize we’d al fal en asleep. I woke Ashley quietly and we left to

go back to the hotel, leaving the brothers to sleep where they were.

The next morning, Ash and I raced down the sidewalk again, just like the morning before, but this time I had a bad feeling, causing me to turn

and glance behind me. I spotted a guy in a blue t-shirt walking a good ways behind us. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on how. Then, as I risked another glance at him, it hit me. “Ash, run faster!”

She didn’t question me as she hurried to my side and then passed me. We barged into the bookstore, rushing to the counter. “Chase, Razz,

someone’s fol owing us!!” I glanced around for customers before I continued. Finding none I said, “I think it’s a vampire!”

Without another word they both bolted over the counter and out the door in hot pursuit.
My heroes.
Ash and I ran behind the counter and hid

—waiting. Ten minutes later we heard the door open and final y the brothers appeared around the counter.

“It’s okay. Whoever it was is long gone now. You’l be safe here with us. If it was a vampire, he’l not dare come in here. We’l make some

cal s to our pack, get them tracking.”

“Thanks guys.”

“You’re welcome, milady.” They both took a bow.