Chapter 873 Chapter 873
Ena dressed quickly and then washed her face. She was so mad at Orson’s car right now, she debated on going back and dropping a match in the gas tank. It was a good thing it was too early for the grocery store to be open, or someone could have seen her running across the lot with her boots in her mouth. She scowled at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t take a pack with her, so she had to leave her clothes and jacket in the car.
If the Alliance got the message, surely, they’d send someone faster or speed up the one that was supposed to meet Orson.
Digging out a warm sweater, she set it on the sink and picked up the lotion. Her coyote immediately let her know she was unhappy. “We don’t have a choice.” Too much came out, and she hissed out a breath. This day needed to improve and soon. She rubbed as much as she could onto her arms and then wiped her hands off on her neck, trying to get rid of it. Bathing in lotion was going to make smelling anything impossible for most of the day.
Putting the sweater on, she climbed up onto the sink and stuffed her bag back into the ceiling. Jumping down, she picked up her pack and looked around, making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.
Nodding to herself, she opened the door and then sucked in a breath. Foster stood there. Swallowing the panic, she smiled. “How’s it going.” She stepped out and closed the door. “Pit stop before going to the diner.”
He nodded and then looked over her head at the door.
She turned to see the out-of-order sign on the door.
“It’s strange. I followed a coyote into town this morning.” He looked out into the field. “Pawprints lead right to this door.”
Ena looked down, expecting to see something, but the wet pavement held no tracks.
“Ena.”
She jerked her head and looked at him.
“Did you call the Alliance this morning and tell them that Orson was gone?”
Her heart was racing so fast that her breathing was out of synch for a moment. “You-you know about the Alliance?” He had to, right? A random person couldn’t just pull Alliance and Orson out of nowhere.
“Yes. I am part of one of the teams, and I’ve been hanging around waiting for Orson at the diner.”
She looked him up and down. “You’re a student…”
Foster shook his head. “No. I’m not. I had to do something to have an excuse to sit there all day.” He moved around her and opened the door that she hadn’t locked. He looked up at the ceiling. “Grab your stuff.”
“My stuff?”
“Yeah.” He stood there holding the door. “You’re calling in sick to the diner. More of my team will be here later, and we’ll call the prince, and you can fill him in.”
“The prince?”
He nodded.
Orson had told her about a king; she didn’t know about a prince. She went back in, got up on the sink, and pulled her bag down.
“Where’s the rest of your clan?”
She scoffed. “There’s not many left.” She dropped the bag on the floor and got down. “Shoot. I need to go to a phone and call Savan. Orson’s car quit halfway here today.”
He picked up her bag. “We’ll get it.”
They stepped outside, and a large man came around the corner. He grinned. “You, Foster, find before Kevan.”
Ena stared at him. He was closer to what she had been expecting for the Alliance.
Foster motioned to her. “This is Ena. She called this morning.”
The large man bowed his head. “Ena, pleased to see you. I am Kevan.”
“What do you know about cars, Kevan?”
He shrugged. “I know things.”
“Orson’s car quit halfway here this morning. We need to get it back to her clan lands.” Foster pulled out his phone and handed it to her.
“Can-can we take some groceries with us? I told my aunt that I would bring her some supplies. This saves me hitching a ride with bags of food.”
Foster looked at her for a long moment. She wasn’t sure why. He finally sighed and nodded, which caused his hair to fall over his eyes. “Yeah. You can go shopping.”
“How much people you clan?”
She wondered where Kevan was from. “There’s eight of us, but the only two I’ll acknowledge are Orson and my aunt.” She gave him a cold look. “The others are either too old to care about anything or pathetic scavengers.”
Foster and Kevan exchanged a look. Foster nodded. “We’ll tell Devin and see if he wants to relocate them or bring them in under the Alliance protection, so they have aid.”
“What?” She looked from one to the other. “What does the mean?”
“Alliance is good. Be sure you safe with foods and home to live.” Kevan nodded.
Foster looked at him and then turned to her. “Call in sick, so no one goes looking for you.” He looked at the door. “Doubt they’d look here.” He looked down at her. “Then I’ll explain what’s going on.”
She nodded and looked down at the phone. “I don’t know how to use this.” She held it out to him.
“How were you planning to call about your car?”
“From the diner. Savan has a cell phone.”
Foster took the phone, tapped the screen and then handed it to her. “Enter the number and hit that.” He pointed to the green circle with a phone in the center of it.
Ena nodded. “Okay.” She slowly typed the numbers and then looked to see the two men were near the corner of the building, talking. The Alliance had gotten her call, and they were here to help. She watched Foster wave his hand around as he spoke. The pretty student was a shifter and part of the Alliance. Orson would have been so excited to meet them. She slobbered. Orson. They had to find him.
Hitting the green button, she put the phone to her ear. Her animal moved through her. Even she knew that everything was about to change.