Werewolves in the Big Apple

18

Julie woke up encased in warmth. It surrounded her, forcing her body to sweat and trying to get her to pull away.

She couldn't pull away. She was trapped. Her eyes blinked open to a chest. It took her a second to even register that it was Ryder. His plaid shirt was gone, and in place was a white tank top, showing off his muscular shoulders and—Julie's eyes trailed down to her waist—his built, veiny arms.

He was strong. Julie held her breath, studying his face to make sure his eyes were still closed before she lightly ran a finger down his hand. Damn.

Okay, enough fucking around. She needed to get up. Her bladder was pressing on her like the weight of a thousand horses. She took his hand, carefully peeling it back from around her. Right as she was about to be free, Ryder groaned and retightened his arm, pulling her closer into him.

"Oooomph." Her voice was muffled. Her heart hammered in her chest.

"Good morning." Ryder croaked. Julie moved her head back and saw his eyes were open, looking down at her through his long eyelashes.

"Let go of me, would ya?" She made sure to sound extra mad this morning. Ryder snorted, his arm finally unwrapped from her. She jumped up from the bed and walked to the bathroom, cringing in the mirror along the way.

She breathed out a breath when she saw herself, trying to brush down her knotted hair. Her fingers ended up getting stuck halfway through and she was forced to abandon it with a grimace.

She thought about her next plan while finishing her business in the bathroom. "Hey Ryder," She called out, washing her hands in the sink. Ryder made a noncommital noise of acknowledgement from his spot on the bed. "It's 9:30 right now. Checkout's in an hour and a half. I'm going to get some things from the car before I shower and then we can head down and eat breakfast."

She could hear rustling from the bed. "Alright, hold on I'm coming with. I need to shower too. I stink."

She thought he smelled pretty good, actually, but it was probably just the matebond masking the scents. "Alright well, hurry up."

"Coming, coming." He magically appeared in the doorway, a complete dishevelled mess in his tank top, crumpled hair and his boots haphazardly thrown on his feet.

Julie couldn't help but crack a smile at his appearance. "At least I'm not the only one who looks crazy anymore." He returned her smile, but didn't really much in return, still too tired for the morning.

She was too but she was also hungry and had newly determined plans for the day. It was going to be a good one.

******

They were down at breakfast newly dressed, clean and put together for the day. They were lucky enough that the motel had any breakfast at all, let alone the free buffet they had laid out for them.

Julie took another bite of her waffles. "Don't you think it's weird that nobody else is eating down here but only one room was available?"

"Maybe they only had one room." Julie gave him a dead-panned look. Ryder held his hands up. "Hey—I know your look is giving 'that's total bullshit' but I'm just saying, it's a possibility."

Julie clasped her hands together, leaning forward. "Ryder, in what world does a motel only have one room?"

"This one."

She could see him smiling beneath the rim of his coffee, already back to pushing her buttons for the day. She shook her head, unlocking her phone with her right hand.

Message after message popped up on the screen. Nerves hit her gut, and for once, it wasn't from looking at Ryder.

Some of them were old notices for her phone bill, some were just email notifications, and one long message thread in particular caught her attention. She clicked on it and it opened up to the hospital group thread. She scrolled up a little bit in the conversation, her eyebrow pulled down in concentration.