A Rogue's Heart

Chapter 8

Jenny's POV

Several days later, I was sitting in a truck stop, slowly sipping on a cup of coffee. The door opened and the sound of the little bell chiming filled the almost empty room. I kept my eyes down as the group of men, maybe a few years older than me, walked by. My grip on the cup tightened as I realized what they were; hunters.

Though hunters were just humans, they reeked of death. The fact that they hadn't masked their scent told me that they weren't on a hunt and didn't expect to run into any of my kind here. Several of them kept glancing over at me but I kept my eyes on the cup in my hands. The bell chimed again and two men walked in.

Both held themselves tall and with pride. They walked towards the hunters and that's when I realized that they too must be hunters. And judging from their looks, they were pretty high up on the chain of command.

 One turned to his left causing his jacket to flair open. He pulled it back down, but not before I caught a glimpse of the hilt of the blade that was tucked behind his belt. That one small glimpse was enough to make me feel like I was doused in ice.

To anyone else, the black leather hilt with the head of a wolf howling wouldn't mean a thing. But to me, that hilt marked the hunter who murdered my mother. He sat facing me, and I burned his face into my memory. Everything about him, I made a mental note of.  I could feel their eyes on me, so I sat my cup down, pulled my phone out, checked the time and then slid my ear buds in.

Keeping the music low enough so I would still be able to hear their conversation, I leaned back against my seat and closed my eyes pretending to fall asleep. Just seconds later, they started talking.

"I'd like to thank each of you for showing up after such a short notice." Mom's murdered spoke up. "As each of you will recall, just over 12 years ago, our clan attacked and wiped out a small pack of wolves. We believed that we managed to kill every last one of them." He pauses here and takes a sip of water.

"But my brothers, we believed wrong. We let one of them slip from our fingers." His news wasn't received well by the sounds of the grumbling and cussing I could hear. "What do you mean we let one of them slip away Raphael?" One of them demanded his voice cold and hard.

"One of them survived somehow. As you're aware, not so long ago, we managed to sneak in one of our very best spies into, what they call their king, the head-man's pack. She contacted me several days ago with some very important information.

"The one that managed to escape us was a little girl. She hasn't been able to find out just how this girl managed to live on her own for 12 years, but she did dig up the fact that this girl is the mate to one of council." That's when I realized that they were speaking about me. My blood ran cold.

"It won't be long before we learn the name of this girl and then when we attack, she is to be one of the first to die. Understand? Now, before I leave, we're attacking in three months and I would advise each of you to start training everyone in your area. That includes the 16 year olds. This will be their first hunt and it would be a shame to lose anyone."

I heard the chairs being pushed away from the table and I knew they were leaving. I had just opened my eyes as they walked out when I notice two police officers walk in. Grabbing a napkin, I quickly write down what I wanted to ask them and hurried over to where they were sitting.

Tapping one on the shoulder, I hand him the napkin when he looks at me. He reads my words a few times before pulling out a cell phone and dials the number I wrote down. "Hello. I'm calling for a Mr. Wayne Winters. This is Officer Neil Shane with the South Dakota State Police. I'll hold." He smiles at me and I give him a shy one in reply.

"Mr. Winters, this is Office Neil Shane. I'm at a truck stop just off highway 40 in South Dakota with your niece, Jenny Rose. No she's fine, but you need to come get her. Yes sir, you too." He hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. "He said for you to just hang tight. He'll be here soon."

Giving Officer Shane a smile, I walk back to my booth and sip on the now cold coffee. A waitress came by and gave me a new cup. One filled with scolding hot coffee. Staring out the window, I wait for the king to show up as I absent-mindly sipped my third cup of coffee that night.