Chapter 6 THE ESCAPE II

Weird.

Everything was totally weird.

Candice thought to herself as she walked into a small building that held "Sally's Restaurant" boldly hanging from the door mantle. The building was painted blue, both inside and outside and drawings of yellow sunflowers dotted the walls. It was as if she was entering a children's daycare, she couldn't remember any restaurants in Nashville that would use this choice of colors. The houses she had passed on her way here were all painted with bright colors such as orange, pink, yellow, red, and green.

What's with this city and colorful paintings?

Despite the bright colors, there was an old country feel to this town. The streets were made of cobbled stones, not the usual modern coal tar. Oil lamps could be seen hanging from street poles, and the buildings were made of river rock and a red-clayish mortar, instead of the cement brick walls and concrete mortar she was used to. It looked like it had some ancient history around it.

This scenery could come straight out of an 18th-century movie, and she wouldn't bat an eye. Except for the colors, everything seemed authentic. The only nearly modern house she had seen so far was Wayne Wyatt's.

How discomfiting.

She sighed deeply as she sat down at an empty table.

Just remembering his name made her weak, it was not easy dealing with a mentally challenged person. After what he proudly told her this morning, there was no doubt in her mind that he was a psychopath. He was going through a mid-life crisis, thinking himself to be the king of a gang of werewolves who lived in an alternate universe. Then she was his mate, like a Luna to an Alpha wolf in a hierarchy of wolf supremacy.

Very funny. Did he think she was as deranged as he was to believe such nonsense?

She could have suggested a good psychiatrist to him, if he had not stormed off to God knows where, after making such a shocking announcement.

"What can I offer you milady?" a middle-aged lady with grey hair came up to her table.

Candice tried not to notice the clothes she wore, it was very modest, and the style looked to be shabby and outdated, not the trendy fabrics this woke generation wore. She too spoke in that funny way Wayne spoke, another reminder of the man.

"I'd like some coffee and a doughnut please," She replied.

Candice did not have any money on her when she had snuck out of Wayne's house. She had only managed to grab his black coat to cover her less-than-modest dress as it was daylight, and it would look irresponsible to work around the streets looking like that.

Hopefully, the coat should be worth some money and she could exchange it for food.

She had stopped a couple of people on her way to ask to burrow their cellphone to make a phone call. Some had just stared at her wide-eyed, others had just shaken their head in refusal as they hurried along, turning back to glance at her in a weird way.

It seemed the people of this community were not very welcoming to foreigners, or probably they did not speak English as their language.

Now, before her was a woman who was speaking to her and understanding her words.

Finally.

"Please can I borrow your cell phone?" Candice asked when the woman still stood looking confused despite her request.

"I do not have what you have ordered milady," the woman replied firmly after a brief moment of confusion.

"Oh okay, you see this this coat? It Is made from the finest cotton. I bet Gucci or Prada would pale in comparison. Let's say I offer this in exchange for one phone call, please I really need to call my friend," she tried to negotiate.

"We offer only what is on our menu," the woman repeated.

Candice grabbed the woman by the wrist "Please am really desperate, there's a crazy man who kidnapped me. Let me at least call the local police."

The woman took a step back from her and whispered, "You are human from the Gaea plane (earth), you are not safe out here on these streets without your master."

"What? Okay, I get that you may not trust me but I really need to call my friend. Or can you direct me to the nearest police station?" she reached for the woman's hand again to gently rub it.

"Is she bothering you?" a rough male voice said from a table behind her.

"Do not worry about it Kregger, she is leaving now," The woman gave her a look that told her to leave immediately for her own good.

Tension filled the air, as the fine hairs on her skin stood straight, the voice from behind her carried menace with an undertone of trouble.

Candice got up quickly and was about to walk out of the place when iron-clad fingers curled around her arm and yanked her back to her seat.

"Kregger please do not cause trouble, let her go," the middle-aged woman pleaded.

"Why should I pretend as though I cannot smell her when I can clearly smell human flesh here on Plane Woede?" Kregger snarled as he put down his heavy goblet.

"She is my guest; I was the one who escorted her in," the woman said.

"I want to believe you Sally; I hope you are telling the truth. However, I would require her documents to believe she belongs to you. If not, she is open game, finders' keepers."

Kregger narrowed his eyes at Sally, who shrunk her shoulders in defeat and moved away. His fat meaty lips smiled in victory as he stood up, pulling Candice up along with him.

"Not so fast kregger," another male voice said from a corner "I saw her first."

"You lots amaze me; I have been following her secretly from two streets away!" another male who had entered the restaurant just after Candice shouted.

In a split second, three men were laying claim to her. One was the huge burly one holding her wrist tightly, the second was a short-looking muscular man and the third was a lanky-looking man with scrawny arms.

And they all seemed to want her.

"Don't you dare take my trophy from me; she will grace my bed tonight!" kregger sneered at the two of them. Then, he snaked his tongue out to give a wet lick on her cheeks.

His breath smelt of strong rum. Disgusting.

"Back at you kregger, you cannot intimidate me," the second man countered.

"She is mine to keep!" the third man yelled back.

Something strange began to happen before her very eyes, men who looked to be normal began to growl and snarl, and a dark image began to flicker all over their body. Kregger's nails around her arm grew into long black claws, he snarled as his teeth began to extend into pointed fangs, and his canines grew razor-sharp as he snapped them at his adversaries. The hairs on his skin began to fork in a grey mass of fur. His eyes grew milky until they turned yellow with his pupils thinning to a slit.

Candice couldn't believe what she was seeing, she looked at the other men and saw that they two had transformed into unrecognizable beings. Men with the physique of a human being now looked like a hybrid of both man and wolf.

Kregger roared to the roof and others roared too, it was an ear-splitting sound. She used her free hand to block out the sound as fear made her tremble. The two men seemed ready to attack Kregger and her by extension, raising long black claws with fangs dripping saliva, they lounged, and she closed her eyes and screamed with all her might.

An answering roar echoed from miles away.

This roar was different from the ones she had just heard. The building shook from it, the ground seemed to vibrate around her and time seemed to stop. She dared to pry her eyes open, and she saw the three men who were just about to fight had gone stone cold exchanging fearful glances amongst themselves.

A chill filled the air as the door of the restaurant flung open, and two men in brown uniforms worked in. They looked identical in physique; Candice could remember seeing them at the mansion earlier this morning when she snuck past them. But the static energy that charged the room and created pin prickles of current on her skin was not coming from either of them.

Then they immediately parted, and a third man walked in, his presence carried power. He towered above everyone else in the room and his eyes glowed eerie blue. He didn't look to have transformed like the other three men, only the color of his eyes had changed, promising pain and suffering.

The atmosphere cackled around him with his hands bawling into fists as he searched her body from head to toe, then his eyes moved to the man grabbing her by the arm.

Kregger immediately let her go, shaking uncontrollably he sank to his knees. The two men followed suit, trembling visibly as they knelt before him.

"Alpha, do forgive us for we have sinned," they all chorused.

Wayne bared his huge fangs at them and sneered "Indeed, you have erred for ill," and in a flash of movements he had decapitated the fat burly male who had been grabbing her arm.

Kregger's head thudded to the ground, spraying blood everywhere.

The other two males cried in panic, as they shuffled away in fear.

Everyone in the restaurant cowered in fear as they all scurried to hide in different directions. Wayne's claws dripped red crimson; his face had blood splattered across it as his icy blue eyes kept staring at her with something so passionate, she could not understand it.

In all this, he still looked gorgeous. Deadly, but irresistibly gorgeous.

This man would stand out anywhere. His presence commanded authority, respect, or chaos.

Just like Bernice had said, "When you see him, you will know."