Page 9 of Rome's Mate: Hunted Omegas

“I did. That’s how I ended up here. I met my husband in a town not far from here and fell in love. I thought I would be in a big city, but I love this small town and I love him even more.”

“Run.” The loud voice was coming from her head. She turned and looked out the window and knew she was screwed. The wolves were chasing her.

“What’s wrong? You look sick all of a sudden.”

Amelia lifted a shaky hand to the gas station, pointing at the four trucks that were gassing up.

“The people in those trucks are after me. They’ve been chasing me since I passed through their town. I thought I lost them, but it seems I haven’t.” Maddie looked out the window, biting her bottom lip.

“Boys.” Maddie’s voice carried through the diner. “This here is my new friend, Amy. She’s being chased by those good ol’ boys filling up. We need to get her out of here without being seen.”

Four enormous truckers stood up. They were enormous to her five-five. She thought wolves were large but holy cow. No wonder they had a trucker’s special here.

“Don’t worry, we got you, little lady.” Well, hell, could he speak to her again? Make a voice recording she could take with her? Nothing about males ever did anything for her. His voice, though, was having an unusual effect on her body. Too bad she couldn’t stick around to dig further into the new feeling.

They made a loose ring around her. Tight enough she couldn’t be seen, but loose enough not to draw any suspicion to them.

“Where’s your car?” a different trucker asked, but his voice wasn’t bad either.

“It’s the blue one with the dinged-up body. Don’t worry, the engine purrs like a kitten.”

She handed one trucker her keys. It was as hard to part with them as it was to take help from people she didn’t know. When your own wanted you dead, everyone was suspect. They got her into the car and tucked away on the floorboards of the back. Then they got into her car, filling it to the brim. There was so much weight in it, she was sure it wouldn’t move.

Her car purred and pulled off. That’s when she realized she could be going to her death. She didn’t know them. Why should they care about one female on the run?

Chapter Five

Amelia’s heart was thumping,and her fingers were gripping the covering of the floorboards tightly. They’d been driving for hours, or it felt like that. One trucker kept telling her she was safe, and they were almost there. When she finally felt them pull over to the side of the highway, the sound of a multitude of cars speeding past let her know they were on the highway.

The doors opened, and the truckers got out. “You can come out now, little miss.”

She lifted her head and looked around before slowly getting up. Her back cramped from staying low to the floorboards for so long.

“We didn’t know which way you were going,” the trucker with the oh-so-beautiful voice said while he handed her keys back to her.

“We also needed to catch up with our rides.” She turned to see three eighteen-wheelers parked behind her little car.

“I don’t know how to thank you.” She’d been right to put her trust in Maddie.

“No thanks necessary. You try to find a safe place to live free,” the third trucker said. This was her first time hearing his voice. Even in the car, he hadn’t spoken. “Maddie’s my wife. She doesn’t take to everyone the way she took to you. Some say she’s different. All I can see is my beautiful witch. She takes care of me and the boys. If she wants you protected, there’s nothing we won’t do for her.”

There hadn’t been a chance to look at them when they were getting her to freedom. Now she could see the family resemblance. She also had a feeling that when he said Maddie was a witch, he meant the magical kind.

“Tell your wife that not only does she have a friend in me, but that I owe her a favor.” She opened the car door, but her boots wouldn’t move. There was a thought in her mind and a vision in her eyes that she couldn’t ignore, even though she wanted to.

“Tell Maddie that in five and a half months, there might be another female who walks in looking kind of like me. She’ll have natural black and white hair. Like me, she’ll need help. Thank you.”

She got into the car, pointed it straight, and started driving. Trouble was about to find her cousin. All she could do was put in a word with Maddie. It would have to be enough because she had her own trouble to outrun.

Amelia drove for two days, stopping at truck and rest stops where she could grab two hours of sleep and then wake to start driving again. She felt like the hunted. There was the feeling of eyes on her, like she was being followed. She knew it even though she hadn’t caught another glimpse of the wolves, they were closer than she liked.

She woke in the backseat of her car to the sun making its way over the horizon. A gasp left her lips. She’d slept for too manyhours. Amelia gave her phone an unforgiving look. Instead of her heartbeat pushing her to go faster, it was steady. It took her minutes to realize that the hunted feeling was gone. Had they given up after chasing her so long and not catching her? Had they entered another’s pack’s territory where they weren’t wanted? That was possible. It didn’t matter to her. She could feel the relief of freedom under her skin.

She drove to one of those human machines to check the balance on her bank card and gasped before pulling money out and then her card. There was no doubt in her mind. Her father had been growing the account for her since she’d been a baby. The zeros were making her eyes wide, and she wasn’t going to have to worry about money anytime soon. She got a room and took a long shower, feeling… she wasn’t sure how she was feeling. Should she say human or shifter?

Once she checked out, she found a place to eat. It was nothing like Jack’s. Then she was on the road again. She chuckled because she heard that song on the radio. She didn’t know who sang it, but she liked it.

When she changed directions, she knew she was on the last leg of her journey. Where would it end, and what would she do? That was all a mystery. She was excited to get there. She took a deep breath and danced in the driver’s seat. Her pack stacked the odds against her, but she beat them and lived past her naming day.

---