Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(27)
The muscled man's smirk transformed into a sour frown. He glanced from her to Bastian, who was still occupying the driver's seat. Katherine's eyes followed his. "Bastian refused to stop for anything but gas until you had woken up," he informed her. "Said he didn't want to wake you up, or worse, have you wake up alone if the rest of us stopped to eat."
It was obvious to her that Markus did not agree with the man's decision. And frankly, neither did she.
If she would have woken up alone, she'd have bolted – taken a chance and tried to get away from these people who were trying to convince her of the impossible. Now, however, she'd have to wait it out – be patient until another opportunity for escape arose.
The sound of Markus's voice once again forced Katherine to concentrate on the present moment. "Can we please stop somewhere to eat now?"
Coming from his mouth, the "please" sounded more belligerent than polite.
"I'm rather hungry myself," Zane added.
Katherine's eyes once again wandered to Bastian’s. His forehead was creased in uncertainty, but when Katherine's stomach traitorously growled once more, he reluctantly agreed.
"Fine, but we'll have to make it quick. We still have over a day’s worth travel before we reach Haven Falls."
Haven Falls. It sounded too pleasant to be a werewolf colony or wherever it was they thought they were taking her.
Sophie was proven correct about the advertisement she'd seen when within minutes they were pulling up to a brick building with the words Betty's Diner sprawled across the front. It was an establishment that apparently made "Minnesota's Best Fried Chicken."
Katherine couldn't bring herself to be surprised that they'd already crossed state boundaries and were getting steadily closer to Canada. Katherine, we're not in Iowa anymore, she thought to herself ala Dorothy in Wizard of Oz.
She'd always hated that movie.
Once Bastian had parked, Markus and Zane practically flew out of the vehicle and Sophie wasn't far behind. Caleb started for the door, but hesitated and looked back at her with an inquisitive expression.
"Aren't you coming?" he asked.
Katherine could feel the intensity of Bastian's stare as he gazed at her through the rearview mirror. He hadn't left the SUV either.
Ignoring how the blue eyes lingered on her, she shook her head. "I'm not hungry."
"You're eating," the man ordered from the driver's seat.
Katherine bristled at the authoritative tone, but didn't have time to retort before Bastian had stepped out of the vehicle and slammed the door. She turned her incredulous expression towards Caleb, who was looking at her sympathetically.
"Is he always like that?" Katherine demanded. "Bossing people around?"
Caleb shrugged helplessly. "It's his job. But, no, he's not usually so...” he seemed to struggle to find the right word, “harsh. He's actually very lenient in comparison to most other alphas."
Katherine ignored the blatant reference towards werewolves and made to leave the SUV when it became apparent that she would not be left alone even if she did refuse to go into the diner. She'd have to make her get-away some other time – sometime soon. Knowing that they were already in Minnesota made her nervous.
It was still early morning so the restaurant they'd stopped at was only serving breakfast – something no one in the group seemed to mind. But Sophie had chosen to sit at a booth instead of a table – something Katherine was bothered by.
Markus and Zane had already crammed into one side of the booth with the long-haired blonde, leaving Katherine stuck sitting across from them. She was directed to the very inside of the less-than-cozy booth. Bastian slid in next to her and Caleb sat quietly beside him.
She felt distinctly uncomfortable with Bastian's proximity despite the fact that he was keeping a more than respectable distance – practically forcing poor Caleb to sit on the floor as a matter of fact. Along with feeling uncomfortable, Katherine also felt unjustifiably hurt.
Did she smell or something?
Bastian certainly did.
She hadn't been close enough to the others to peg their individual scents just yet – besides Caleb, who inexplicably smelled of vanilla. It wasn't exactly a masculine smell, but it was nice. Like Caleb. It fit him.
Bastian, on the other hand, smelled like... it was hard to explain. He smelled earthy – like the smokiness of a campfire, the pine of an evergreen tree, and the freshness of rain all rolled into one. It was far from an unpleasant smell, and actually very, very enticing.
Katherine tried to distract herself from it and listened to the others make small talk as they glanced through their menus. She glared across the table at Markus when he made a particularly disgusting joke about sausage. He smirked back at her, but Sophie was quick to scold him. "Really? Can you be more immature?" She paused. "And unoriginal for that matter? Surely you could rub your two remaining brain cells together and-"
"Good morning! And what can I get for you lovely folks today?" The waitress's animated greeting cut Sophie off mid-rant. Katherine looked at the woman. She was older – mid-fifties probably – and smacking loudly on her gum. Her name tag identified her only as Andrea.
For a split second Katherine considered crying out to the woman – and the rest of the people sprinkled throughout the diner – that she'd been kidnapped by insane people who thought that they were werewolves. But even in her thoughts, the idea seemed ludicrous. She was more liable to get herself locked up in a nuthouse than her companions.