| Wattys 2022 Shortlist | CURRENTLY UNDER THE EDITING PROCESS
Bora, the last arctic breed, was born with an ominous curse. He must sacrifice himself to the deity for the sake of his kind, but when he meets Gemma, love makes him reevaluate his self-i...
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Rawhide is still as tacky as I remembered. We walked through the entrance doors, and Qu tapped my shoulder from behind. "What's your plan?" he asked but paused as the sawdust board caught his eye, seeing wanted posters of half-human wolves. "This can't be real," He got closer to take a good look.
I pulled him by the arm to follow me. "We don't have time for that. We need to figure out a way to find a hunter named Rudy."
We reached the main area where the bar is. "I hope you can trust this Rudy person." Qu glanced around with a revolted look on his face.
"Yeah, he's a good guy. Ugh. I don't have a plan. What do you suggest?" I look up at Qu.
He glanced back at me. "I don't know, shout, asking if anyone knows him." He hunched his shoulders.
"Yeah, why not." I agreed as I walked to the center of the room, surrounded by tables with men sitting in them. "Does anyone know where Rudy is?" I yelled throughout the bar, glimpsing around, hoping to catch an eye saying they do. Some folks noticed me but then went back to what they were doing. And others completely dismissed my presence.
"Please, I need to find a guy named Rudy. He has blonde hair and blue eyes and is a bit rugged. Anybody?" I asked, annoyed. They all ignored me.
"It ain't working," Qu whispered near my ear. "Some of these men have not seen better days. Especially that guy." He pointed as the man gargled cold, spitting it in a cup.
Yuck, I recoiled. Okay, I took a deep breath in frustration and picked up a chair slamming all four legs back down to the floor, creating an obnoxious noise. They all looked up, staring. "Good, now that I got your attention, have anybody-"
A gray-bearded man stood up, interrupting me. "Don't be coming in here causing all that racket." He moved from his seat and started power walking towards me. "Don't nobody know, no goddam-" He said but was instantly cut off by Qu's right hook as I jumped back, watching the man hit the floor.
"Don't walk up on my sister," Qu eyed him, mad.
"Hey!" A couple of other guys stood up, but a quick glimpse of a redhead with blue eyes cuffed under my arm, dragging me outside. Another guy with a low fade and brown skin shoved Qu out too.
I snatched away from the redhead's grip when we were in the parking lot, not understanding who she was. "Get off of me," I fussed as Qu tussled away and fixed his clothes.
"Hey, we're cool," She said on guard, showing her palms to us. "I know who Rudy is, he's my brother, but we need to get out of here because you um... you started something. My name is Nina, and this is my fiancee Darin. Who are you?"
I calm down. Okay, good, that's Rudy's family. "I'm Gemma and my brother Quinn. I need to talk to Rudy. Can you help me? I only need his number, nothing else."
"Whatever he can do, I'm sure I can do it for him," Darin voiced.
"Thank you, but no, I specifically need his number. He is the only one that can help." I admitted as kindly as possible.
