The Wild Within

Chapter 8 Ophelia

Ophelia

I don’t know why I was so excited to come to work tonight. Okay, I do, but I know I shouldn’t. I can’t get distracted now. I didn’t have time and there was no point in getting attached to anyone, least of all a wolf. A wolf who was either new to the life or had a lousy sense of smell. Perhaps my cloak was still working? It should be wearing off any day now, and I needed to redo the spell.

I should have quit right then and there when I sensed him, and for a moment, I thought he had recognized me by the way he was staring. But he wasn’t aggressive towards me, and I felt drawn to him, which immediately put me on the defensive. It’s been a while since I felt a pull towards anyone; other supernatural creatures usually repel me.

I think it was his eyes that started it. These pale blue, almost gray eyes just looked straight through me, yet he still had no idea what I was. But he saw me, and he picked up on the fact that I’m a bit of a loner. If he keeps his distance, I’ll be alright. Besides, I can’t afford to lose this job when I haven’t even gotten a paycheck.

I checked the time on my car dash to see I had ten minutes to clock in. I didn’t see him come in yet. I supposed that would be a good thing, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I grabbed my headphones and my fully charged phone and headed inside.

As I walked to the door, I saw a big beater of a truck come barreling through the lot and stop right outside the entrance to the warehouse. I could hear loud heavy metal music blaring and then the powerful scent of wolf knocked into me. I looked in the truck to see a large burly man behind the wheel. He was laughing and talking to Luke. I stopped walking, afraid my scent would alert the other wolf to my presence if it had worn off. It’s hard to smell yourself, you know.

Instead, the wolf peered over at me, and I saw Luke looking too. He smiled, and I saw the other wolf say something that Luke didn’t like because I could hear the growl from over here. The large man laughed hard again and pushed Luke from the truck but looked back at me curiously. Perhaps he could sense my otherness but not precisely what I am.

I didn’t start walking again until the man pulled away. Luke stuck his finger up at the truck, and I looked to see the big wolf copy the gesture and heard his laugh. I turned back to see Luke standing by the door, waiting for me.

“Hey,” I said as I approached. “Thought you were gonna bail on me.”

“What?” He said. “We have a pact, one question in exchange for creep protection.”

“You know I can handle Roland,” I said. “You don’t need to protect me; I can manage myself.”

“Well then, let’s leave it as protection for Roland against you,” he chuckled.

“Okay,” I sighed and rolled my eyes. “You’re persistent, to say the least.”

“Oh hey Luke,” I heard a nasally female voice say. “Who’s your friend?”

Luke closed his eyes as if trying to be invisible. I peered around him to see a girl with hot pink hair, too much makeup, and a big b***h attitude. She glared at me and moved her eyes up and down my body as if sizing me up. Luke gave me an apologetic look before turning to her.

“Hey, Skyler,” he said. “This is Ophelia; she’s an overnight shift for full pack.”

“I thought you were on first?” She snapped, still glaring at me.

“I am, but Josh has me on graveyards for a couple of weeks to help train the newbies,” he replied. “Speaking of which, we should get clocked in, or we will be late. Have a good night.”

“Have a nice shift,” She sneered at me as we walked by.

“Dude, what was that?” I asked as we entered the building.

“I have no freaking clue,” Luke groaned. “I spent one shift in break pack with her, and now she’s got some weird creepy claim on me. I barely spoke to her the whole shift. Then she tried to come to full pack, but the first shift was full, so they put her on second and couldn’t hang, and now she’s on second shift in break pack.”

“Aw snap, she's all about you,” I laughed. “Well, tell your girlfriend she eyeballs me like that again, and I’ll snatch them out her face.”

“First of all, she’s not my girlfriend nor ever will be,” he said affronted. “Second of all, I am not telling her s**t because I want to see that for myself.”

“What did you do to this poor girl?” I laughed. “Shoot, one shift with you, and she’s rearranging her whole life.”

“I don’t know,” he groaned. “I wish I could undo it, though.  Skyler gets so territorial and possessive for no reason. I didn’t even flirt. I kept my eyes on what I was doing and barely replied to her constant flow of verbal garbage.”

“When you did talk to her, did you look her in the eyes?” I asked.

“Probably, but I do that with everyone,” he said, looking me directly in the eyes as if to prove a point. I got lost for a moment and forgot what we were even talking about. “Ophelia?”

“Some girls,” I said, shaking my head and turning away from his blue gaze. “Some girls aren’t used to people looking at them when they speak. So the girl mistakes that eye contact as interest, and if they think you’re interested, then you’re as good as theirs.”

“But I’m not hers,” he said.

“Well, that’s not the way she sees it,” I explained. “Skyler has claimed you as hers, and she’s going to hate anyone she sees as competition. She’d scrub her whole body against you like a cat marking a territory if she could. Or pee on you which I suppose is worse.”

“Thanks for the visual. How do I get Skyler to back off?” He asked as we walked to the back of the building. “I’ve already made it clear I have zero interest in her. I always say no when she asks me to go out with her and her friends.”

“Were you nice about it?” I asked.

“Well, I wasn’t an asshole to her,” he said. “But I’ve told her that it wouldn’t work out, and I’m way too old for her.”

“Oh, Luke, Luke, Luke,” I chuckled. “You just made it so much worse. You challenged her, dude. You screwed up by making yourself hard to get, and now the chase is on.”

“You know I’m in my thirties,” he said, throwing his arms up. “Why am I still dealing with little girl head games?”

“Because you’re super nice and good-looking,” I replied with a shrug, and he smirked at the compliment. “That is not always a bad thing, but some girls be crazy.”

“Tell me about it,” he grumped.

“Welcome back,” Roland called out when we arrived in the Bay Area. “I see you’ve come back for more, couldn’t resist, huh?”

“Well, I get paid to show up and sling boxes,” I said with a shrug. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Some women find it hard to be in full pack,” he said. “But I guess you’re one of those different lady types, huh?”

I wasn’t sure what he was implying by that, but I wouldn’t say I liked his degrading tone. Neither did Luke, as evidenced by the low rumble growl. The sound was erotic and sexy as hell, and I tried not to like it.

“Don’t be a d**k, Roland,” Luke snapped. “If She were to leave, it’d be because of you.”

“How long are you going to be on my shift?” Roland sneered. “Watch your mouth, kid.”

“I’m like four years younger than you,” he replied. “And trust me, one night is too much, but I’m stuck here for a while. I won’t let you speak to her or anyone else like that.”

“Whatever, just get to work,” he grumbled and tossed a stack of tickets at us. “Ophelia doesn’t need any more training. She can be on her own.”

“Are you comfortable with that?” Luke asked me.

“Yeah, I’ll be alright,” I said and grabbed a scanner. “I’m off to the D section; see you at the break.”

I didn’t wait for a response and just got out of there. Luke was having some kind of an effect on me and I needed to process this. This feeling was something different, something new. I didn’t want to like it, but I loved it at the same time.

When I was alone in my nice, quiet section, I put my headphones on and hit play. Once I got into a rhythm, I zoned out and got lost in the music. I was about halfway through my first ticket when the conveyor belt stopped, and the alarm went off.

“How’s it going?” I heard a voice say and I turned to see Roland standing there. His beady little eyes scanned me from head to toe. “Not even breaking a sweat.”

“I’m almost done with this order,” I said. “But the conveyor is jammed, so I gotta wait.”

“Nice,” he said and continued to stare at me, making me feel uncomfortable. “So you from around here?”

“No,” I answered. Roland waited for me to elaborate, but I kept my mouth shut.

“I see,” he said after several awkward seconds. “Well, I’ll let you get back to it.”

“Thanks,” I said.

He turned and walked away. As he passed by the switch on the conveyor belt, he pressed the big button, and the belt began to move again.

That son of a b***h…