Chapter 906

The gas station clerk pages languidly through the magazine he's read a hundred times already this month, bored as hell. He sighs, lifting his head to look around the tiny room of this little desert outpost - the room that serves not only as a convenience store, but also a bar, and a tiny casino. There are also rooms upstairs for rent - not that anyone stays more than a day.

"Boring as hell today," he murmurs, returning his eyes to the page. "But it's a living."

A rumble outside makes the clerk stand up and peer out the window behind him at the waste, wondering who would come in this close to sunset. There are some locals who make a living out here, and some adventurer types who want to see the sights in their camper vans and motorcycles, but he wasn't expecting anyone to return today...

He frowns as he watches a single ATV approach, kicking up dust behind it towards the setting sun. The clerk's eyes go wide as the ATV pulls close enough for him to see the seriously gigantic guy driving it - clearly a wolf, and an Alpha at that.noveldrama

But seated on the ATV front of him -

The clerk's lips part in surprise as the little blonde haired woman hops off the ATV, laughing as she turns to look up at her huge scarred protector, her lovely rose- gold hair flowing all around her as she smiles and takes his hand. The Alpha likewise stands, towering over the girl, tugging her towards the shop.

The clerk just continues to stare as the pair come into the gas station, the bell ringing above the door because...

Well, it's like something out of a damn movie.

The scariest damn wolf he's ever seen walking into his store - his store, out in the middle of nowhere - with...with a damn princess on his arm.

"Hi!" the girl says, smiling a wide dazzling smile as she strides confidently up to the counter. "I'm Princess -"

"Oh, I know who you are," the clerk murmurs, taking a step back to get a better look both at the beautiful girl and the man standing behind her, who growls a soft warning. And as much as the clerk's eyes want to stay on the angel before him, his instincts won't let him take his sight away from the snarling, tagged Alpha - because is that - is

that...blood all down his front? The clerk goes pale and still.

"Oh, great!" Ariel Sinclair says, laughing and leaning against the counter, perfectly casual. "I guess my reputation precedes me." She grins and glances at the magazines in the rack next to the checkout, several of which read Kidnapped Princess! The clerk blushes when he realizes that he's also carrying several more scandalous titles, the covers of which declare her a traitor to her nation and show pictures of her in an Atalaxian crown, beaming at their damned prince.

“Phone,” the Alpha snarls, drawing the clerk's eyes back to him. "Now."

"Easy, Jacks," the Princess says, putting a soft hand on his arm as she laughs and looks up at him. The clerk just stares between them, baffled and terrified and charmed all at once. He nearly jumps when the Princess turns that stunning gaze back on him. "But yes, um. Would you mind? If we made a call?" She points at the phone on the counter behind him. "Our phone ran out of battery."

“Um, sure,” the clerk says, stumbling into action immediately and grabbing for the old lined telephone, nearly ripping it off the wall as he hurries to place it on the table before her. "Anything...anything you need.”

"Thank you" Ariel says, beaming at him as she picks up the receiver and begins to dial a number.

The clerk's eyes move back to the

Alpha when he hears, almost absurdly, the big man's stomach turn over in a growl. The Alpha stares for a moment at several individually wrapped pieces of meat jerky on the counter, popular with travelers and truckers. Then he snatches them all up into one fist. "I'm going to eat these," he says, glaring at the clerk, almost challenging him to say he can't.

The clerk eagerly nods, desperate to do...whatever the hell this dangerous man wants.

"We'll pay for that later," the Princess hisses to the clerk in a whisper, covering the receiver with one hand, "sorry, we don't have any money right now. But we're good for it! Oh, Jacks, get me one of those caramel ones -" She points eagerly at the candy selection.