The Silence

Chapter 9

Adriel

Driving.

Driving.

Driving . . . .

We'd been driving for days now, and we had another one left before we reached our destination. It was almost eleven o'clock pm, which was later then we'd estimated it would be. But transporting ninety-eight passive-aggressive werewolves in two rented coach buses was tedious, and it made me nervous because the buses were supposed to be returned in one piece. What made me more nervous was that I was in the same bus as Lysander, who was glowering murderously at the seat in front of him. Our Alpha didn't take well to this style of travel. I was fairly certain he wasn't getting werewolf complaints.

There was maybe an hour until we reached the motel we'd stay in tonight. At the moment, we cruised a mostly empty country road. It was even peaceful like this, with the only sound being the hum of the  bus's engine.

I shared a seat with Quinn, because no one else wanted to sit with her and I wouldn't have trusted them anyway. She had the window seat, and the moonlight shining in made her gray eyes sparkle. She was actually really pretty despite her colorlessness, I noticed, and maybe Lysander did too. He kept flicking small glances at her before jerking his head back and resuming his stony glare.

Quinn's white hair had been curled and tied in a simple ponytail. She had refused make-up, but when asked to select a number of different dresses, she had made great choices. 

I gave her a gentle nudge, making her look up at me. "How are you doing?" I asked quietly.

I watched her write 'Good' on a paper and offered her a smile before mind-linking Lucas. "How is everything on your bus?"

"Fine," he reported. "Everyone complained themselves to sleep."

After a while, Quinn's head rested on my shoulder. I blinked in surprise before realizing she'd  fallen asleep. Careful not to wake her, I adjusted her position so she'd be more comfortable, and her head ended up nestled between my arm and chest. Better.

At least, that was what I thought until I saw the expression on Lysander's face, an explosion of rage and hatred. What the hell? What was wrong with him? He hated Quinn!

I fell asleep shortly afterward, too tired to register that my head rested on top of Quinn's, too tired to concentrate on the fury Lysander radiated.

It was the silence that woke me. Blinking groggily, I tried to get my bearings back, and found the bus had stopped.

"Quinn, something's wrong. Wake up," I whispered, gently shaking her, but she snuggled tighter against me instead.

Small, fearful murmurs began to stir as the silence wore on, and the stillness became eerie. I glanced out the window to see that we were still in the middle of nowhere.

Lysander got up and went to speak with the human bus driver. The mind-link from him nearly made me piss myself. 

"Everyone, we may soon be under attack. The buses have been cornered. Make sure you all stay quiet and calm unless you want me to kill you myself, understood?" 

My Packmates were nervous, but why not? We liked to know what we were up against; wolves are the 'what you see is what you get' kind of animals. Right now, we could barely see anything. 

"Quinn, please wake up!" I hissed urgently and finally she opened her eyes. Once I was sure she wouldn't topple over from sleepiness, I got up to look out the back window. Sure enough, sleek black sports cars of some sort barricaded the street. One line of cars blocked the way forward, and more cars lined up to cut off the back. There were maybe ten in total.