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Chapter 7

Asya

“It did look interesting though.” I lean on the counter next to her, trying to catch her gaze and quirk an eyebrow. “Is it a big secret?”

“What? No, of course not.” Rorie shakes her head and laughs, trying to sound casual, but it works no better than before. “They’re just Abel’s cousins.”

“All three of them?” I raise my eyebrows in confusion, but Rorie still doesn’t look at me and only shrugs, too interested in the stack of ads on the counter.

“Apparently.”

I hum and look away. Okay then. Doesn’t sound convincing, but okay. It’s none of my business, right? I only hope the reason is worth lying to me.

“Are they going to stay?”

“I don’t know.” I hear a hesitant frown in her voice, and it’s obvious she’d like to know the answer herself.

“Well.” I straighten up and look at the fourth booth despite myself. “I hope not.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” Rorie hums, and when I turn to her she’s already looking at me with a curious tilt of her head. “What’s the thing with Owen? You don’t like him?” I stare back at her with a flat look. Is she serious?

“Of course I don’t. Have you even seen him?” Rorie quirks an eyebrow with a silent question, and I roll my eyes. “Oh, come on! He’s acting like everyone owes him something, like he’s the best here. A big, cool, alpha man who is too awesome to be polite with a waitress.”

I huff and feel frustration build up under my skin all over again, a wave of heated anger running under my skin. It’s no good though, so I try to distract myself by replacing napkins and menus on the counter. Owen’s attitude struck something in me, and I can hear an odd hint of hurt in my voice—but well, what can I say? I hate being treated like nothing.

Maybe Rorie hears it too, and decides to choose my side instead of going against me. Or maybe she really does agree with me when, after a moment, she hums and nods. “Yeah, he wasn’t very nice. But maybe he was just tired from the road? Abel wouldn’t have an asshole for a brother.” We both chuckle, sharing glances of amusement, and I feel the weight of negativity slowly dissipating in my chest. Honestly, why do I even care about him? One rude customer shouldn’t have enough power to spoil my day. Sometimes it’s better to let things go and move on.

It turns out to not be so easy though, as the guys come back the next day. I have the morning shift, and it’s around ten when I see their car drive into the parking lot again. Four men come out of the car this time, and with surprise I recognize Abel among them and hum to myself. Where did they spend the night, then?

They don’t turn toward Till Dawn though but walk straight to Old Aiden’s motel on the other side of the street. They look disheveled even from afar—jeans rolled to their knees, shirts hanging loose—and I can’t help but notice the similarities between them. They only differ in the width of their shoulders and the color of their clothes—but the way they laugh and nudge each other, Abel and Carter racing with one another across the parking lot, is the same.

Maybe they are cousins, after all.

A customer distracts me with a demand for more coffee and I lose sight of them for the next few hours. They come back when it’s almost the end of my shift, and to be honest, when I catch sight of Carter and Gray behind the doors, I have the cowardly urge to hurry up and leave fifteen minutes early. I really don’t want to ruin the rest of my day by talking to Owen—but then I realize they’ve come without him and I relax.

“Hi!” Carter greets me as soon as they enter, and I can’t help a smile. He is very nice, even for a regular customer. “Do you have a seat for us?”

“Sure, the second table is free.” I gesture at the booth, and while Carter and Gray settle around the table I bring them menus. “How was the night?”

“Great! We slept in the woods, and…” Carter’s voice trails off as he catches his brother’s eyes, and I only have enough time to glance between them before he continues with a less joyful, “I mean, we were in the woods.”

“It was alright,” Gray adds and looks up at me with a calm, unreadable gaze. “We slept in tents.”

Oh? I hum in surprise. I didn’t expect it—but well, it’s already summer. The woods around Raywald have always been good for camping unless you go too far up the mountain. As kids, we used to scare each other by saying that evil witches and giant wolves live there, but in reality, those forests are simply uninhabited and have no paths to bring you back to Raywald. If you get lost there once, you may never come out of them again.

“Do you like camping?” I ask out of habit—truckers and travelers often like to ask about Raywald and talk about their own adventures.

But Gray only shrugs, studying the menu. “Kind of.”

“It’s really cool.” Carter, in turn, looks up with an excited grin, as joyful and endearing as ever. “You should try it sometime.”

I laugh, unable to hold back my amusement. “I used to go camping every summer, so trust me, I’m good. I saw you went to Old Aiden’s motel though. Did you not enjoy it enough?”

“Well, we want to sleep in beds too.”

I share a chuckle with Carter—Gray remains more interested in the contents of the menu—and leave them with a promise to come back later. But there is a topic both of them stubbornly avoid despite my hints. Are they going to stay in Raywald? Do they plan to stay for long? Usually, visitors ask about a motel to stay at, places to see, and things to do here. But these three, including Owen, are suspiciously quiet about their reasons for coming here.

It can’t be just for Abel and camping, right?

I only grow more skeptical about their plans for Raywald when I notice Gray and Carter more and more often over the next few days. They drop by Till Dawn a few times when they walk back to the motel after whatever they had to do in the town, and I see them almost every day when I drive through the streets. It looks like they stick together wherever they go, whether looking for work or exploring Raywald, and I start to notice that locals are starting to accept them too.

Owen, in turn, simply disappears at some point. I see him a couple of times after their first morning in Raywald— but after that he’s just gone. Left? Maybe, but something tells me he wouldn’t leave Gray and Carter like that. Besides, I keep overhearing his name in their conversations, and it just doesn’t feel right to think they decided to separate a day after their arrival. Especially when they share one car, and it stays untouched in the parking lot of Old Aiden’s motel.

My curiosity reaches its peak when Abel mentions Owen in passing while talking about a part-time position he’s found for Gray, and I can’t help myself. Trying to sound as casual as possible, I clear my throat and murmur, “Isn’t the oldest gonna help them settle?”

“Who, Owen?” Abel exchanges quick glances with Rorie—as if they are so subtle I can’t see it—and after I nod, he shrugs with a hum. “Well, he doesn’t have time now really. He went to visit our relatives in the mountains, and we don’t know when he’ll be back.”

Hopefully not anytime soon. Not that I care about his presence at all.

I shake my head—why do I even think about him? It’s my day off, and I want to spend it with a glass of Grandma’s homemade lemonade and a good book. For today, I’ve already chosen the one I used to read over and over when I was a child. It’s a compilation of myths and fairytales from around the world, and no matter how old I am they are always fascinating to read. Although now, the family killings and stories of the end of the world aren’t as funny as they used to be.

My mind focuses back on the book, and I dive into the tale of Fenrir and Tyr, sipping on the lemonade in the quiet of our living room. Grandma is in the garden again, and through the open window I can hear how she talks to our neighbors or murmurs old songs to herself through the thrills of birds and rustle of the woods around us. This, in essence, is my life in Raywald and everything I love about it.

When the sun is almost set and the evening is already darkening into the night, Teddy jumps on the couch with me and nudges me with his paws. Okay yes, it’s time for a walk. I ignore him until the end of the chapter, just so that he knows I’m not surrendering so easily, and get up. The weather is nice, so I’m glad to stretch my legs before dinner.

It’s already dark by the time we reach our usual path in the woods, but the night is clear and the lights of Raywald are blinking through the trees. Besides, both Teddy and I know every path leading from our house by heart, so we go straight into the darkness of the woods, only his fluorescent collar glimmering from side to side. Basically, it’s Teddy Bear who leads me—takes me on a walk, in a way—and I just follow him over his favorite trails and think about what to make for dinner.

The urge to order pizza is so strong, but Grandma always makes a fuss about—

Huh? I look up the path and hurry forward, where Teddy is barking and growling into the darkness. He is too old for it these days, and I haven’t heard him growl in years. It’s probably a bird with a messed up sleep pattern, a fox, or another animal he hasn’t seen in a while.

“Hey, buddy, what is it?” I say in a calming tone as soon as I reach him, but Teddy doesn’t even look at me. He’s staring intently into the darkness between the trees with a low growl—suddenly, he starts to whine and backs away. “Teddy, it’s just a bird, don’t…”

But my own voice trails off when I hear a crack of branches under someone’s steps and another growl. It’s not as high-pitched and alarmed as Teddy’s—it’s slow and deep, and grumbling as if trying to threaten. Let me tell you, it works perfectly because I do feel threatened in an instant and jump up to my feet, whipping around to see the source of it.

It’s a wolf. A goddamn beast of an animal, with its head as high as my waist and its shoulders wider than mine. Its silver fur is glistening under the moon, and it feels impossible that I haven’t noticed it before—but even as it crawls within a few feet from us, I can barely hear a single crackle under its huge paws.

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