Forever Mine

FORTY TWO

With their bellies swollen from cake and frothed milk, Roxy and Cleo waddled their way back to the truck.

'Moon Goddess, I don't even think I'm going to fit behind the wheel.' Cleo looked to Roxy with a wince.

Roxy laughed with a roll of her eyes, extending her open hand for the keys. After sliding in behind the wheel, it dawned on her that she hadn't driven for months. Isaac had always taken it upon himself to chauffeur her around. After swallowing another nostalgic lump, Roxy shoved the truck in reverse and flung back from the carpark, earning herself a lengthy blast from the large black truck she'd been looking at earlier as he tore up the main drag out of town.

Cleo eyed her warily. 'You sure you're okay to drive?'

'Yes,' muttered Roxy, putting the truck into first and accelerating hard so the old girl could power up the hill. 'I'm just a little out of practice.'

'I'll say,' chuckled Cleo.

Roxy ignored her sister's jesting and focused on getting the old truck up the hill, praying that it wasn't going to conk out and they'd be free falling down the hill and shooting into the sea. She breathed a sigh of relief when they peaked the hill and pushed the clutch in to move up to second. It felt good to drive again, her wolf being the only mode of transportation which she could escape with for the past months. And even then she couldn't go far. Other packs didn't take kindly to trespassers on their territories and humans had never shown kindness to creatures which proved they weren't the most advance species.

A genuine smile had only just begun to etch its way onto Roxy's face until she rounded a bend. The black truck which had blasted her earlier was now crawling up ahead, forcing her to squeeze the brakes and shift down two gears. A nervousness sent Roxy's body hot, her wolf on full alert. Was this road rage for nearly reversing into him?

'What's this clown doing?' grumbled Cleo. 'Most likely on his mobile. These stupid Hollywood hotshots need to leave our town alone. They're decent hardworking people, not small-brained glory chasers.'

The truck continued driving incredibly slow, so slow that they were now trawling along in first gear.

'Just overtake the idiot.'

Roxy did as Cleo said, moving up a gear and accelerating before swerving out into the other lane. The speedo slowly crept up, her heartrate peaking as they approached a blind bend. The black truck sped up also, aligning itself alongside them. Roxy gripped the steering wheel tighter, something telling her there was more behind this than road rage.

'Roxy, get back!'

Roxy gasped when a car flew around the approaching bend, the truck's tyres screaming as she locked on the brakes and tucked back behind the black truck just in time. Cleo gave a ferocious growl, pressing her middle finger to the windscreen for the driver in front to see. With a rev of its engine, the black truck streamed away, disappearing from their sight as he weaved around the bends ahead.

'What an idiot,' seethed Cleo. She put a hand on Roxy's shoulder. 'Are you alright? Do you want me to drive?'

She shook the anxiety now coursing through her body. 'No, it's okay. I'm okay.'

Cleo sighed with relief. 'Well he's–'

Roxy didn't even see the large black bullbar coming for the side of the truck. Nor did she hear its angry engine. Time slowed, the crunching of metal and shattering of glass echoing around her. Both the girls were whipped about inside the cab. Roxy's side exploded with pain. An orange flew past the back window. Tyres screamed against bitumen as the old truck was pushed sideways. Their seatbelts were the only things holding them to the worn bench seat as the truck careened down the embankment. She heard Cleo scream. Roxy tried to reach for her but the truck rolled. She counted the sky twice before her brain became muddled and soon it was all a blur of colour.

Roxy's body was screaming with pain, her wolf trying to break free so they were in their strongest form to heal. But the truck was on its pinning her on a peculilar angle against the torn roof. Through blurry vision she saw her sister lying unconscious, her limp arms wrapped around her pregnant belly as she laid against the shattered passenger window. Roxy felt something dribbling down her face and her mind struggled to grasp consciousness.

There was movement outside of the truck. Voices warbled in her ears. There was a masculine voice, along with the panicked wailing of a girl's. There was a groaning of metal and Roxy realised her door which faced up to the sky was being pulled from its hinges. Her vision was blurring further and her brain pleaded to go to sleep but she battled on. Light poured into the wrecked truck as the door was ripped away. Roxy turned her head slowly at the silhouette looming above.

Yellow eyes, sickly and angry bored down on her. Then a fist ensured she was out cold.