Were in the City Ch. 12

"Sure, I can do that. Do I need to disguise myself?" Jessie was being understandably cautious.

"Don't forget to wear your glasses, wear a black hoodie with the hood up, make sure you are wearing nothing that stands out, don't give anyone either one of your names ... no Jessie or Liz ... and switch out the license plates on your car before you leave with the set starting with AB - you'll have to toss those when you get back." Helen advised.

"Now, the truck stop is across from the Walmart on Columbia St. The woman you are picking up is named Annie Jordan. She'll have a ten year old daughter named Emma with her. They've hitched a ride in a truck that is coming into that stop about 1:30pm. They'll be looking for you - I'll tell them to look for a woman wearing glasses and a hoodie driving a grey Honda Accord. She knows my name so you can use my name with her if you need to. Take them north to the public dock at Rubble Beach. A man named Jeff Baker will be waiting with a boat. Hand them off to him and then come home. You ok with all that?"

Jessie nodded to herself, repeating the important bits. "Annie and Emma Jordan ... Rubble Beach ... Jeff Baker - ok, got it."

"Good. If anything doesn't go as planned, call me immediately. When you get home, call me to let me know you are back. Thank you, this is important. I'll talk to you in a few hours."

After Helen hung up Jessie quickly changed her clothing and switched out her car's license plates, then drove to the truck stop. She parked at one end and got out to look around. It was 1:33pm. The place was busy, lots of people walking around and talking to each other. As she scanned the lot a semi pulled in and parked. The passenger door opened and woman with a big backpack got out awkwardly. A young girl jumped down after her. Jessie waved and the woman, looking very nervous, walked over to her with her daughter's hand gripped tightly. "Hi, are you Annie?" Jessie asked.

"Yes, who are you?" she asked, her voice shaking. Jessie noticed Annie was breathing rapidly and realized she was probably picking up Jessie's scent.

"Helen sent me to pick you both up. I'm Robin." Jessie thought it was a nice touch that she'd come up with a bird as a fake name. "Do you need to take a bathroom break before we get going?"

"No, we are fine. Let's get out of here now." Annie kept looking around as though she expected something or someone to appear at any second.

Jessie got them into her car, Annie in front and Emma in the back. As she was putting Annie's backpack on the floor behind the front passenger seat she felt something odd, a shiver of excitement, run up her spine. She looked around but couldn't see anything unusual - but she felt something was close by that her other half had noticed ... and coveted.

As she drove, she kept sneaking looks at her passengers. They had a familiar scent. Jessie was pretty sure they were werewolves. They both looked very tired. Emma nodded off after about 10 minutes and Annie looked like she wanted to nap as well but was fighting that need. Her hands were clenched together, her body very tense. Helen hadn't said not to talk to them, so Jessie decided to start a conversation, hoping that would get Annie to relax a little.

"Have you been travelling long? You both look like you could use a good night's sleep."

Annie sighed. "We've been moving for almost 2 weeks now. We are almost there. I will sure will be happy to sleep in a bed and feel safe again. How long will it take to get to the boat?"

"It's going to take about an hour to get through the city, then another hour along the coast highway" Jessie estimated.

Annie shook her head. "I'm very nervous about joining a sea-wolf pack but Emma is excited. She's only known forest wolves - she wants to learn to swim in the ocean and catch fish as a wolf."

Jessie was very curious, not sure she should ask but took a chance. "Why are you going to them?"

Annie looked at her, "Helen didn't tell you?" Jessie shook her head. Annie looked behind her, checking that Emma was asleep. "Well, since you are helping Helen I guess its ok to tell you ... I'm protecting my daughter. Her father wants to take her, and I don't trust him and his family. My former pack Alpha couldn't protect us, so we had to go somewhere else where we would be safe."

Jessie was astonished that an Alpha couldn't protect someone in their pack. "Why were you not safe where you were?"

"My former pack is a small one and vulnerable. Emma's father is not my mate, not a member of our pack. He didn't even know Emma existed until a few months ago. Eleven years ago I went into heat and he was visiting our pack at the time. We spent several days together. I found out I was pregnant after he left. I learned a lot more about him later and didn't like what I heard. I didn't want anything more to do with him, and he never came back, so I raised my daughter on my own. Three months ago he showed up with a few others to meet with our Alpha about some issue and found out about Emma. He demanded she be given to him to take back to his pack. I was not to go, just my daughter. I was very scared for her. His family doesn't want daughters, I didn't know why he'd want to take her."

Jessie thought this sounded familiar. "The family wouldn't happen to be named Richard would it? From a pack called Algonquin?"

Annie looked surprised, "You know of them?"

Jessie nodded, "I've heard a few things, especially about how they treat daughters. Who is Emma's father?"

"Anthony ... Tony ... Richard, grandson of Mark Richard. They are all rich, powerful, and feared. I would never give my daughter to them. A friend put me in touch with Helen's organization, and they got me into hiding until they could figure out where I could go. The sea-wolf pack on an island off this coast agreed to take us in, we just had to get there." Annie started to cry. "I panicked at the last pickup point, I didn't wait for the ride Helen arranged. I thought someone was following us so I got us on a random truck that would take us here."

Jessie reached over and took Annie's hand. Skin to skin, she felt Annie's terror, her desperation, and her deep love for her daughter. "It's ok ... you are safe now. I won't let anything happen to either of you. In a couple of hours you'll be on your way to your new home and no-one will ever be able to take her from you." Annie stared at her, wide-eyed, clutching tightly to Jessie's hand. She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Why don't you close your eyes and rest for a little while. You'll feel much better if you do." Annie nodded, lay her head against the side window, and was asleep in less than a minute.

Jessie drove carefully through the city and onto the coast highway. Twice she felt the same brief shiver up her spine. She was watching for anyone following them but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Just over two hours from when they'd left the truck stop, Jessie saw the sign for Rubble Beach and took the marked exit off the highway. As she slowed down and drove over some speed bumps at the entrance to the park, Annie and Emma woke up. Jessie announced, "We're here." She followed the signs to the dock, stopping as close as she could to the structure. There were no boats at the dock, and no other cars in the parking area.

"Where's our ride?" said Annie, looking scared.

"I'm sure it will be here soon. We can wait in the car, no problem." Jessie looked back at Emma, "Are you hungry? I've got some granola bars in the glove compartment if you'd like one." Emma nodded and Annie got her one, taking one for herself too.

Ten minutes later Jessie saw a motor boat in the distance heading towards them. "I think your ride is coming in", pointing out the boat to her passengers. Annie took a deep breath and smiled at her daughter. "Zip up your jacket honey, it will be cold on the water." Emma laughed, excited and ready to go.

The boat was almost to the dock when a black SUV pulled into the parking area and stopped, blocking the exit. Jessie felt a shiver like an earthquake run up her spine. "Annie, I want you to be ready to run for the boat with Emma. Forget your backpack, just go for the boat. A man named Jeff Baker is supposed to be on that boat, verify that before you get on ... do you understand?" Annie looked to where Jessie was looking and went white. "Annie ... DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Annie nodded. The boat was pulling in. "All right, open the doors and move to the boat." Annie and Emma got out of the car, and Jessie did too. She stood looking at the SUV and the other two hurried down the dock. Two men got out of the SUV and came towards her. Jessie said, "Can I help you with something?" The wind was blowing past them towards her, and she caught their scent - werewolves. She growled ... that was all it took. Both of them shifted, one wolf going for her and the other heading past her to the dock.

Her opponent was a big wolf but Jacob had been coaching her on wolf-fight strategies for the past few days. Jessie had deadly talons on her front feet and speed - if she could stay on her feet and keep moving she had a chance. All fine, in theory, but she'd never actually practiced anything yet. It had all been talk to this point. She felt the gryphon inside her howling for blood as she shifted, her talons tearing down one side of the wolf as she twisted out of his reach.

He turned and came back at her, snapping his jaws and growling. She slashed his face with one arm, and twisted away again. She got lucky, blinding him in one eye. As he shook his head and howled, she ran at him and slashed deeply into his other side, finishing up with a rip through the top of his back leg. He staggered, and as he tipped over she came back at him, embedding all the talons of one hand deep into his shoulder and clamping the other hand around his neck. If he moved even the slightest she could tear out his throat, and he knew it - he tipped his head back in submission.

His body shifted back to human and he said "I yield to you." Jessie yanked the talons out of his shoulder and he gasped. She let go of his neck and backed off, leaving him lying on the ground, bleeding badly. She headed down the dock and found the other attacker was dead. Annie and another wolf (Jeff?) had managed to deal with him together.

Jessie walked back to her car, shifted and pulled on some spare clothes from the go-bag in the trunk. She pulled Annie's backpack from the back seat and placed it on the ground, then walked to the badly injured werewolf she'd beaten. "Who are you?" she demanded.

A voice answered from behind her "Tony Richard." Annie screamed at him, "You want to kill your daughter? What kind of sick bastard are you?!" She looked like she was going finish him but Jessie grabbed her. "Don't. I'll take care of him. You go take care of your daughter." Annie stared at her for a few seconds and then nodded. As she turned to walk away Jessie said "Wait ..." and asked Richard "How did you follow them?" He sighed and answered, "There's a tracker in her backpack. We've been following her waiting for some place where we could deal with things without human witnesses."

Jessie looked at Annie. "Empty the backpack and check everything before you get on the boat. Check your clothing too. Turn off your phone and get rid of it. Take nothing you can't be sure is safe, ok? Go, get out of here now. Good luck." Annie reached out and hugged her, tears in her eyes. "Thank you."

Jessie turned back to Richard. She stared at him silently for a minute, thinking, then leaned over and placed her bare hand on his neck. Skin to skin, she felt the pain of his wounds, his anger and humiliation at being beaten by a woman, his fury at not being able to clean up the "mess" of having a daughter. He was not a good man. She looked into his eyes and said "If you manage to live through this, you will go home and break your bonds with your pack and your family. You will join no other pack for the rest of your life. You will tell no one why. You will wander, disconnected and alone, forever. SAY YOU WILL OBEY ME ... SAY IT NOW."

Richard's face was white and Jessie could see he was struggling to fight her commands but he wasn't strong enough. "SAY YOU WILL OBEY ME" she repeated. He finally whispered "I will obey ..."

"Good. One last thing ..." Jessie hooked her fingers through a gold chain that lay around Richard's neck and pulled it over his head. Attached to it was a fancy medallion containing a number of rubies and a large diamond in the centre. "This is now mine. Spoils of war and all that." She stood up and walked back to her car. The boat had left the dock and was rapidly moving away. There was no longer a wolf's body on the dock, all evidence of what had happened had been cleaned up there. Jessie picked up her shredded clothes and put them in the trunk, looked around for anything that might lead back to her or her passengers but found nothing else. She got in the car and drove away, inching past the empty SUV to leave the parking lot.

Jessie drove back down the highway for about 20 minutes before she pulled over, got out of the car and threw up. She paced back and forth for a few minutes until the shaking stopped, then got back behind the wheel and pulled out her phone. She had to let Helen know what had happened. It had been one hell of an afternoon.