Unleashing His Alpha (15 page)

From what she had read about the town, it was an old silver mining town that had been forgotten after the mine dried up and people started heading for cities. There were mines in all of the mountains in this area, but now that mining was legally restricted by the government and there were so many safety and health concerns, it was all but a past occupation that had been mostly forgotten and abolished by environmentalists. Some of the towns that had supported the industry were still out there and hanging on. Wallace was one of them.

They walked into a restaurant and bar that looked like it had been scooped right out of a western movie. She loved the whole feel of the place and everything felt and looked like it was an antique. She had never been this far west and she wondered if this was what every small town felt like out here. Back east, all of the towns felt like they were just extensions of the nearest city, housing the workforce that would commute back to the city every following workday. Here, things felt special and forgotten, but preserved. It had a soul that she appreciated on a deep, comforting level.

“Hi,” Shane said to the man standing behind the bar.

“You two looking for something to eat?” the man asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Yes, but I was hoping if you’d be able to answer a few questions for me,” Shane said as the man grabbed two very old menus and led them to a table nestled near the middle of the old restaurant as a man played the piano. Katie watched the man as he looked at his fingers and played the comforting tune that made her feel like she was in a honky tonk in some western movie. She loved this place. Why wouldn’t a group of Shifters want to make this their home?

“I can’t say I know too much,” the man said as he seated them, “but I’ll help you in any way that I can. What can I do for you?”

“Has there been a group of people who came through town lately?” Shane asked him with as much tact as he could. Katie understood why they were now resorting to this kind of detective work. They couldn’t go after someone with Shane’s ability to reach out and connect to them. They would get a strong fix on their location and they would come hunting him.

“Can’t say that I’ve seen a group of people come through here,” the man said with a shrug. “I tend to keep to my restaurant and my home. Once the winter settles in here, it gets bitter and difficult to get out anywhere. Most people just stick to their routine. But, I haven’t fed any large groups of people. You might try the Holiday Inn at the edge of town. Most people stop off the highway and have a drink and stay the night, especially if it’s a large group of people.”

“Thanks,” Shane said with a smile. “We’ll have two waters.”

“Two waters it is,” the man grinned. He looked at Katie and she offered him a warm, thankful smile. The man gave her a returning smile and went on his way to get them their drinks.

“I love this place,” Katie told him with a giddy excitement inside of her stomach. Shane smiled and looked at her, trying his hardest not to look like he was freaking out and starting to panic. She knew he was scared, but as far as she was concerned, there was nothing for him to be worried about. They were completely safe and they were just beginning their hunt.

“You’re panicking,” she informed him as she reached across the table and took his hand in hers.

“Don’t worry. You saw what the weather is like out there and that guy was probably telling the truth. I’m sure we’ll be able to get a map of campsites at the hotel and they’ll be able to tell us if there’s anyone around here that might fit the description of your people. We’re going to find them, babe.”

She wanted to sound confident, but she knew there was a valid reason to be concerned. If he couldn’t reach out to them and try to connect to them, they were flying blind. But, at the same time, she knew if he did reach out to them and get a fix on their location, they would use that as a trap to get him into a vulnerable position and ambush him.

In the end, it was going to come down to their own detective work against his pack’s stealthy maneuvering. Even if they were one step behind them right now, it wouldn’t be long until someone gave them the answers they were looking for.

They ended up ordering hamburgers and they were honestly the best tasting burgers she’d ever eaten. The waiter told them that the place was haunted as well and Katie couldn’t get enough of the restaurant. She watched Shane as he started to relax and she knew she had done a good job for now.

She just wanted to make sure his confidence in himself was building as well. There was no way he was going to make it through this if he didn’t believe in himself at all. That was going to make all the difference when he went into battle with these people.

He had told her about the battles and they sounded horrifying. She had tried her hardest not to let it infect her thoughts, but it was always there. When she had asked him, he had been hesitant to tell her and now she knew completely why this was something he was worried about telling her.

He told her that the battles between Shifters were about honor and tradition to the old ways that had been around back to the beginning of time. Katie had thought if they just went out and got a lot of guns, they could blow away these psychos and reclaim his pack, but it was never that easy. In fact, she felt silly for ever thinking that it would be that easy.

No, the battles were fought with tooth, fist, and claw. They were the kinds of battles that were intimate and dangerous to those who were in the midst of them. She had listened to his tales of the great battles between Shifter packs and people who dueled one another. The blood and the carnage was enough to make her stomach churn. She wasn’t a violent person, but she thought about Shane fighting three men to the death with only his fists and his wolf form to help him and that made her feel like there was no way he could survive. He assured her that he had a chance against them and that he had been preparing his entire life for this battle, but she was still scared.

When they were done, they drove to the edge of the small town where they found the Holiday Inn and they stopped outside of it, parking in the snowy lot and getting out of their car. The air was cold and it felt like it was going to snow, which made Katie want to rent one of the rooms and nestle in for the long chill ahead. Shane held her hand as they walked into the Holiday Inn and walked right up to the desk.

To her utter surprise, he was actually intending to do just that. They ordered a room for the night and she smiled with glee. Shane was an excellent driver and their car was more than equipped for the snow, but she hated it nonetheless. It was dangerous and even if they were prepared, other drivers weren’t.

“Hey, have you seen a large number of people come through here lately?” Shane asked the girl behind the counter as she typed away at her computer and was logging their stay here. Katie looked at the girl as she glanced up at the computer and wasn’t sure exactly what it was that was being asked of her. She stared at Shane, getting distracted by how handsome he was and Katie felt a flare up of jealousy in her stomach that she had to immediately put down. “Like three RVs and maybe a camper or two? Anything like that?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head apologetically. “There haven’t been a whole lot of people coming by. Mostly it’s just a bunch of people getting caught in snowstorms on their way south from Coeur d’Alene. But I haven’t seen a group that size come through here in a long time. Why? Did you get separated from your group?”

“No,” Shane shook his head. “Just heard that there was a convoy coming through this way and I thought I might know a couple of people who were a part of it. You know, traveling retired people.”

“Oh, yeah,” the girl smiled and laughed even though Katie didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Were there really gaggles of retired people driving around the country in convoys? Even this far north? Maybe that might be a thing in Florida or Arizona, but that seemed extremely unlikely up here and the fact that they were both laughing about it made her feel like she was living in yet another fantasy world.

“Is this a map of camping sites in the area?” Katie asked the girl as she headed over to a kiosk display of pamphlets and bulletins for people to take if they were interested in the subjects that were presented.

“Yeah, but I think most of them are closed right now,” the girl answered.

Katie grabbed the bulletin that had a list of campsites and parks in the area that were good for recreational activities. “That’s okay, we’re just exploring the area,” she told the girl to belay any suspicions that she might have. “We’re new to this area and I have just fallen in love with this town of yours. Wallace is like the jewel of the entire planet to me.”

“I love it here, too,” the girl said with a smile. “Okay, your rooms are all ready and you’re checked in. Thanks for staying with us.”

“Thank you,” Shane said as he smiled and took the keys from her, heading in the direction of the lounge and the restaurant where Katie was leading him. “Hey, wait up. Let me see that map.”

“She liked you,” Katie whispered as she handed him the map and grabbed onto his arm, hugging him close.

“Whatever,” Shane shook his head. “If I commented on all the people who checked you out, we’d be sitting here for years while I caught you up to speed on all the wandering eyes that have landed on you since I met you.”

“Ditto,” Katie informed him. “Let’s see if the bartender has heard anything. People in small towns like to talk and if there’s anyone that’s heard about a group of weirdos camping out nearby, it’ll be him.”

“They’re not weirdos,” Shane said, mildly defensive toward the comment.

“They are to outsiders,” Katie informed him. “And if they’re different, then people are going to like to talk about them. I can promise you that.”

Walking into the restaurant, she listened to the music that was softly playing and wondered how many people had been served in here in the past months. It was one of those places that looked like it was probably abandoned when fall hit because winter was never a lucrative time of the year. But, when spring and summer came, she bet that this place was a roiling madhouse of tourists and adventurers all on their way to some other destination. As she looked around, she found the one person she knew would be on duty and it was the bartender.

Thankfully, it turned out to be another woman, which meant that Shane was probably going to mesmerize her with his incredibly good looks and his charming voice. That was something she could definitely count on, women swooning over him no matter where they went. She led the way to the bar and the bartender looked up and grinned at them, greeting them as she finished slicing limes.

“Hi, what can I get for you?” she asked them.

“A hot buttered rum,” Katie said with a grin. “But, we’re also looking for some people and we wondered if you’d seen them or heard about them stopping by.”

“Well, I can tell you that you’re the first two that I’ve seen since my shift started,” the woman said with a grin. “I think there’s only like six rooms that have been rented today. It’s not a very big turn out and I think they’re just waiting out the storm.”

“No, they would have been through already,” Shane said, stepping in. “We’re looking for a few RVs and a couple of campers. They would have looked like a camping convoy or something like that. We know they were here not too long ago and I was hoping that we might be able to catch up with them. I know one of the people in the convoy and I haven’t seen them for a very long time. It would be great to get a chance to catch up and hang out like the old days, you know?”

“Sure,” she nodded as she worked on Katie’s drink. “I haven’t really heard anything about people traveling through the area like that, but I think you might be talking about that hippie commune that showed up a week or two ago. They came through and they were super strange.

“I heard that they went to one of the closed off campsites and just set up shop. The rangers went out to talk to them and they just turned around and came back. Apparently, they have some kind of special permit or something to stay in the campgrounds during the winter. It’s weird.”

Katie took the bulletin from Shane and spread it out on the top of the bar for the girl to look at. “Could you point it out to us?” Katie asked her with a friendly smile on her lips. “We’ve been coy about it, but his crazy brother is a part of their cult and we’re trying to convince him to come back home with us.”