Page 24 of Faerie Marked

“Come on, baby. I know you can do this.” I spoke softly to the car, cajoling the way one would with a child or a scared animal.

I turned the key in the ignition repeatedly, listening to the slowly fading hum of the starter. This couldn’t be happening.

“You have to be kidding me!”

Fumbling to find the release, I popped the hood and stepped out of the car. The night was silent. Heavy. The weight of the silence bore down on me and I stared out into the darkness creeping closer and closer. I was in the middle of nowhere, rural Massachusetts, tall trees blocking my views of the sky.

“Breathe, Tavi, breathe,” I told myself.

Hands fisting my hair into knots, I tried to follow my own advice and failed miserably, my lungs aching. I was still too far away from the school to walk and I definitely didn’t feel comfortable walking at this hour. Not when I wanted to keep my shifter side a secret—and it left me in a vulnerable position.

I opened the hood although I had no clue what I was doing. Smoke lay in a low blanket over most of the mechanics and I fanned it away on a cough, trying to see.

Not knowing what I was looking for, I couldn’t find the source of the problem and ended up choking on the smoke.

“This is fixable.” I spoke to myself to break up the cloying darkness pressing closer. I couldn’t take the quiet much longer. “No big deal. I’ll call a tow truck and get a lift to the nearest garage. I’ve got money, no problem, I can get the car fixed and maybe catch a ride to the school tomorrow.”

A tentative plan in place felt better than the underlying layer of helplessness I wanted to succumb to. But when I unlocked my phone and checked for bars, my heart sunk. A total dead zone. No wonder the GPS hadn’t been working.

A cold sweat broke out over my skin. I couldn’t even call 911 if I wanted to.

An owl hooted from somewhere in the woods and I nearly jumped out of my skin, diving back into the car. I closed the door behind me, making sure to engage the lock.

Minutes crept by. Only a single car passed me on the road and they didn’t stop. I wasn’t sure whether it made me happy or anxious.

More minutes. Then an hour. And another.

Teeth clenched, I shook out my hands to try and relieve some tension. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.” I twisted the key in the ignition again, on the off chance the engine had rested enough to work this time.

Nope, no such luck.

It felt better to have the overhead light on. Then again, with the light, everything outside could seemeand I couldn’t see a thing in return. The battery would only last for so long.

“I’m losing my marbles.” I let out a low laugh, letting my head hit the rest behind me. If this was a test, then I was foolish and had failed miserably. I’d wanted so badly to escape my situation I’d backed myself into this corner, the night outside a dark veil snapping with all manner of bad things.

I swallowed hard. Whatever shred of hope I’d been clinging to, whatever foolish optimism about this plan actually working began to shrivel.

This changed nothing, I tried to tell myself, tucking away my fear. I still needed to escape Kendrick. This was nothing but a tiny bump in the road.

Why did I have trouble believing in myself?

A pair of headlights cut through the blackness, slowing when they saw me, although I almost missed them with the overhead light on. I flipped the light off, torn once again between wanting the help and not wanting a stranger to come up and find me in a compromised position.

I didn’t want to let the wolf out. I couldn’t, or else I’d draw any nearby werewolves to me with my scent.

The vehicle ended up pulling over behind the Toyota. I stilled, hoping it was a police car of some sort. And not a serial killer looking for his next victim.

Maybe I’d overestimated my abilities to handle things on my own.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I cracked the window just enough to hear the stranger but not enough for him to stick his arm inside. I didn’t see much beyond a flash of blond hair and tanned skin. It was enough for me to know to keep my guard high. “Not really,” I told the stranger. “The car won’t start and I don’t have any cell service.”

The guy ducked down until we were at eye level. I stared at him for the longest time, willing my jaw to get back in its usual place after it dropped, my heart thudding once, twice. The guy wasgorgeous. Had I somehow broken down in an alternate dimension? My luck wasn’t good enough for this kind of thing to happen. Men who looked like him only existed in fairy tales.

My suspicion rose.

He wasn’t conventionally handsome, I realized the more I stared at him, not like the kind of guys who graced magazine covers. His nose was a tiny bit too long and his face too narrow for him to fit into any box. But he had intense green eyes and shiny golden hair, ruffled around his face with the night breeze. My age or thereabouts. Some innate female instinct told me he would be a good kisser, and when he looked at me, that’s all I thought about.

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