Shit Daughter

Luckily, or unluckily for me, the guys had decided to go to the diner in order to apologize to the very human waitress.

It wasn't like I could tell them that it was a bad idea and that I didn't want them to go to my work. I didn't even have a scent neutralizer here, so even after I shifted, they would still know that I was Adaline.

But this was where choices came into play.

I could choose to bite the bullet and show the guys my human form, or I could hide until it came out anyway.

Now, I wasn't going to be forced into a situation where I had to explain myself.

So, when we finally found a parking spot and the five of us entered the restaurant, I climbed down Dominik's shoulder and raced across the front of the house.

"Wait!" yelled Dominik, coming to his feet, and as much as my counterpart wanted to stop and explain everything to him, I refused. There would be plenty of time for a conversation once I was in human form and had the ability to speak for myself.

A very tired-looking Paul came out from the back kitchen and looked at the guys from behind the counter. "Sorry," he grunted, not really caring who it was. "Our waitress didn't come into work today so we are closed until we can find her."

My heart broke at how tired he sounded. There were not only black circles under his eyes but bags as well. Yesterday was a hard enough day for him with his wife's death anniversary; he didn't need my disappearance on top of it.

In fact, I should have been waiting for him at home, ready to offer him any comfort that I could.

I was a shit daughter.

Even my mouse was more subdued as she ran up the counter and stopped in front of Paul. Wrapping her tail around her, she let out a soft chirp.

I could hear the men behind me coming to their feet as they spotted me on the counter. I was sure that they thought the worst right now, but I couldn't care less.

I needed to make everything right with Paul.

But he wasn't even looking at me. Letting out a louder chirp this time, my mouse quickly groomed herself, pushing down any flyway furs.

Finally, he seemed to notice me. "Addy?" he asked, his voice breaking as he said my name. I wanted to berate my mouse for putting him through this, but I knew she felt bad enough.

Letting out another squeak, she gave him a small wave. "Addy? Is that you?" asked Paul again as he cocked his head to the side to look at her. "Are you okay? Dear god, sweetie, I didn't know if something had happened to you. I had originally thought that you were just lost in your work, but then I saw the shattered door to the staff room and no sign of you…"

His words trailed off as he lifted his head to stare at Raphael.

The four men who had brought me home were now standing on the other side of the counter, looking between me and Paul. "Did the wolves do this?" asked Paul, turning his attention back to me. "We don't have to stay here. We can pick up and move to another city, another country. As long as you are safe, we don't even need the restaurant."

That's it. I don't care about anything else. I needed to shift and talk to him. I wouldn't let him throw his wife's dream away for some fucking wolves. Even if they were my mates.

My mouse reached forward and patted Paul on the hand before I dove off of the counter and ran into the staffroom. Not even Caleb was here this morning, so I could only assume that he was out there looking for me, too.

'It just isn't the two of us,' I hissed at my mouse as I quickly shifted and grabbed a clean uniform out of my locker. 'There are people who care about us, more than just our mates. We have to think about them, too, before we just go off and do whatever we want. It's not fair to them.'

Doing up the buttons on the front of my dress, I looked around the room for my cell phone.

It wasn't there. Hopefully, Paul managed to find it and not one of the twerps. I had too much on that thing to let it fall into enemy hands.

As soon as I was somewhat decent, I hurried back to the front of the house, where Paul and the four wolves were having a staring contest. Great.

"Do you have your gun?" I sighed, pushing open the doors. I looked under the counter to see Paul's hand on the weapon. "Good, but you might as well put it on the counter. Wolves are faster than humans and by the time it takes you to draw it, they would already be on you."

"Are you safe, Firecracker?" asked Paul, not bothering to address my statement. "Did they hurt you? Should I take you to the hospital? Or to the vet? What happened? Was it these guys or the ones from before? I knew this wasn't the best neighborhood, but I thought that the most we would have to deal with was the occasional gang. Not fucking wolves. I was serious; we could pack up and disappear. Anywhere you want to go, you know I will go with you."

Lucien let out a low growl at Paul's offer to have us leave, but I completely ignored him. "Are you going to breathe any time soon?" I asked with a smirk on my face. "Questions work best if you give me a chance to answer them."

"Such a smart ass," grunted Paul, rolling his eyes as he took his hand off of the gun.

"We've spoken about this," I sighed, pulling the gun out of its holster bolted to the underside of the counter. Placing it in front of Paul, I waited until he picked it up. "Shifters are not to be trusted. They might seem calm, but that doesn't mean that they will always be that way."