Runaway Rogue

Chapter Twenty One: Indigo's POV

Albert was as shocked to see her and she was to see him. She felt like she wasn't going to make it, like Andrew would know where she was and sink his claws into her once more. He would drag her back home, no matter how much she kicked and screamed and begged. But she had done it, she had made it to some form of safety.

Albert hobbled out of his home, looking like a senile old man. "Get off my property! This is a private area! You think I moved all the way out here so that some entitled young kids could show up in their lifted truck-- Oh, Indigo. You got a new car." His body sagged against his cane with relief.

"Uh, yeah, sort of," she stuttered. More like she had stolen it. From her own mate. The one who had just started to trust her. She deserved to go to hell.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're alright. I thought I would be hearing from you daily after I told you the supply was running low. Instead, I had silence." The old warlock inhaled deeply, toying with his long beard. "My dear, you smell like a wolf. And not like your own wolf either."

Indigo scraped a hand over her face, feeling like the past couple of hours had actually been a hundred days. "It's complicated."

"I'm an old man, I have nothing but time," he said, stepping aside to allow her into his musty little shack.

"I can't stay and I won't bore you with the details. I know you are having supply chain issues, but please, if you have any pills or any alternatives, I need them," she said, her voice quivering with desperation.

"Sweet child, everyone thinks that their reason is more important than the next person's. It is the tragedy of human nature. I know you care for your friends but--"

"The man who is hunting me has gotten very close and I cannot risk him finding me. I don't need a lot, just a couple pills. Enough for me to clear my head." And not be under the influence of a very love-struck wolf. "Please, as far as I know, the other girls are safe and keeping me away from that man, keeps them safe too, even if they are unmedicated."

Albert watched her for a moment and she wondered if he was going to scold her for thinking her problems were more important than someone else's. Surely, having an abusive, lying husband should rank highly on the list, but everyone experienced their own tragedy throughout their lifetime. Maybe hers was smaller than she thought.

Finally, Albert sighed and shuffled into his shack. "I have very little. Only four capsules."

Four. She could deal with that. She could take a double dose and have a clear head for two days or maybe take one a day and hope for some peace. That's all she needed right now, time and space. Everything was so jumbled and frantic in her mind.

Andrew was back, she knew that. But everything had changed. Caspian had changed everything.

Albert handed her the pill container, four pills rattling pitifully in the bottom. "This is all I have. Once this is gone, I don't know when I'll be able to get more."

It felt like her future balanced in that tiny bottle. She swallowed hard.

"Listen to me, child. Those wolves, they don't like to be crossed. You take these pills and you do whatever it takes to keep yourself from being found. For your sake and for my sake. Do you understand?"

Indigo felt terror knot in her stomach. "I do. I wouldn't give you up, not for anything. I promise."

"Come back in a week's time. I might have better news for you then. Or you might have to change your tactics entirely," Albert warned.

Indigo left then, wishing someone could give her a solution to all her problems. She wished that she could be someone else, anyone else, who didn't have to deal with this. How was it fair that she endured this while others went on blindly? More than anything, she wanted to drive back to Caspian's pack and tell him everything.

But she could be betrayed again. The pack needed money. Andrew had it. Everyone said that money couldn't solve problems, but those people had no idea what it was like to be living paycheque to paycheque. They didn't know what it was like to go to bed hungry, to look at someone you loved and know you could offer them nothing.

And what if Andrew had memorized her scent, what if he could track her when her wolf resurfaced? What if Caspian tried to keep her safe, but someone else sold her out?

Andrew was still looking for her, and whether he knew it or not, he had gotten alarmingly close. So close that if Indigo hadn't heard those people talking, she could have very well been in his clutches already. She could not rely on sheer luck twice.

Now, there was nothing to keep her from Andrew besides four tiny pills.

Indigo debated ditching the truck. It would take one stolen vehicle report of Caspian to snuff her out now. On top of everything she was dealing with right now, she would never find another job with a criminal record. But, somehow, she couldn't make herself abandon it.

In the movies, when the heroine needed time for themselves, they got to stay at beautiful hotels with marble floors and take themselves to the spa. Indigo ended up at a seedy hotel, knowing they wouldn't ask for her ID and that the feeble funds she had managed to steal from Caspian would cover her for a little while.

Long enough for her to decide if she wanted to go back to the life she knew with Sasha and Paris, the one that had kept her safe. Or if she wanted to maybe throw it all away in the hopes that an attractive beta might eventually love her more than he loved his own pack.

She dropped her measly belongings on an old bed, tipped her head back, and swallowed one of those awful pills.

~~~Question of the Day~~~

What is the best zoo you have ever been to?

I don't know if it technically counts as a zoo, but there is a wildlife rescue in Kamloops BC that is amazing. It was really wholesome to read all the blurbs that had been made up for each of the animals.