Page 10 of The Pretty Savage

He wasn't German, that much was obvious judging by his accent, and I hated admitting that I wanted to know who he was. I fucking needed to know more than I needed my next breath, and as soon as those thoughts started flickering through my head, I squashed them down, refusing to have my attention pulled into a direction it shouldn't go to.

"Snap the fuck out of it, Vega," I gritted out to myself as I stood up, picking up my long black leather coat and putting it on. My backpack followed, and I picked up my tiny suitcase, heading toward the doors closest to me, opposite of the direction where the stranger went, ready to forget about this entire ordeal.

I was tired, that must have been it. I hadn’t slept properly in twenty-four hours, having spent more than ten hours up in the air, first flying from the little airport where our command center was located in Boston and then to Frankfurt, only to spend five more hours on the train heading toward Munich. It didn't help that everyone and their mother had apparently decided to be at the train station once I arrived there as well, and I didn't appreciate the fact that the train to Wolfhöle got delayed by more than half an hour.

So I was cranky, hungry, tired, and I chalked my out-of-body experience I just had to all those things. Once I’d had a shower and a good night of sleep, I was pretty sure I'd be as good as new and ready to tackle this motherfucking job one last time.

But as I stood at the door, waiting for the train to completely stop, I couldn't help but glance toward the other end, only to see him again, staring right back at me.

5

VEGA

The moment I stepped onto the train platform, a cold gust of wind slammed into me from both left and right, waking me up from whatever fucking hallucination I was going through, reminding me why I was here. What my mission was, and no guy, hot or not, would ever interfere with my life.

I promised myself a long time ago that no man would ever have that kind of power over me—never again. It was enough that Heinrich had control over most aspects of my life, I didn't need another cockfucker to screw me over. Maybe it was the daddy issues, maybe it was the mommy issues I had, but whatever it was, I could trust no guy. They often only thought about themselves, and I had seen it multiple times how good they were at hiding their true selves.

I at least knew I was a monster and I never hid it from those around me, but them… Oh, man. They were masters at pretending, making you trust them, making you feel like you could rely on them, only for the disappearing act to take effect, or even worse—for them to destroy you both mentally and physically.

So instead of looking for the stranger, I pushed the memory of him into that little black box where everything I didn't want to think of lived, and shut the lid closed, locking it permanently, before I started toward the exit, where the majority of people were heading.

I noticed snow on the mountains as we traveled from Munich to Wolfhöle, but I wasn't prepared for the view in front of the train station.

A mountain covered in snow hovered above the town, shrouding it in shadows along with the evergreen forest that engulfed the area. The air smelled like rain, while the treetops danced in the wind, and I stood there, unable to fucking move.

It was… It was beautiful.

Red, yellow, orange, and green leaves created a perfect canvas, surrounding the town, and my eyes kept roaming over it, latching on to the traces of fog pushing between the trees as it descended from the mountain. Lightning broke through the sky, illuminating the area as everyone around me rushed toward their destinations, but I stood frozen, taking in the beauty of the nature I was surrounded by.

I halfway expected to see the Academy from here, but Wolfhöle was a big town, that much I knew, and I understood that the Academy was on the other side, right above the massive lake.

The first droplets of rain landed on my face, making me close my eyes as I deeply inhaled the storm unraveling up in the sky, and instead of running toward the street where I knew my driver was waiting, I gave myself a few seconds to enjoy the stillness. I didn't have time to stay still with the job I did, and while it was exhilarating in the beginning, it became tiring way too fast, and the constant moving, the constant action, took a toll on my soul far more than my body, which was one of the reasons why I needed a break.

I needed to get the fuck away from this world before it completely consumed what little bit of a soul I had left.

"Ms. Vega?" A male voice made me open my eyes, shaking off the droplets of rain that were stuck to my eyelashes. The kind, brown eyes were what I noticed first, surrounded by the lines of time, telling me that he had lived. His gray suit jacket was visible underneath the brown coat he had on, covered with remnants of the rain, and I could only assume that the umbrella he had in his hand didn't really do its job in protecting him from this storm.

"Yes," I answered. "That's me. You must be Elias?" I smiled at him, extending my arm to shake his hand, which he accepted almost immediately. He was my height, and he almost reminded me of Diego, one of our operatives that had been a part of The Schatten for longer than I had been alive. He was often the father figure a lot of us needed, and his demeanor, the kind nature, was almost the same as Elias’s. "It is nice to meet you. I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting," I said in German, surprising him, judging by the lift of his eyebrows when I spoke.

"No, not at all," he smiled. "I arrived maybe half an hour ago, but I assumed that the train would be late. They almost always are." He took my suitcase before I could protest, and within seconds he had the umbrella over both of us. "Come on. We should get going. They're saying it will be quite stormy tonight, and you don't want to be caught out in this."

If he said so, but there was something special in every single storm. A freedom in the way nature rebelled against us, washing away the sins coating our world, and if it wasn't for Elias, I would've been standing here for much longer, feeling the rain on my skin.

"This way," he said, guiding me toward the black Audi parked at the curb between two other cars. "I didn't want you to walk too much," he added, opening the door for me. "I know you must be tired from your trip."

He had no idea, but instead of answering I sat inside the car, while he loaded my suitcase into the trunk, and within minutes he was opening the driver's side door, getting in.

"There we go." He shuddered. "It's getting quite cold nowadays. I hope you have some warm clothes with you, Ms. Vega," he murmured, turning on the ignition. "German winters are harsh if you don't know what to expect." And weren't people just the same? I thought. "Is the temperature okay for you?" he asked, pulling the car onto the road, driving us away from the station.

"It's perfect, Elias." And it was. As much as I loved the rain and simply standing there as it poured over me, I was still just a human and the cold that seeped into my bones after these little stunts of mine wasn't exactly comfortable.

But the seats were heated, helping with the chill that was racking through my body, and I snuggled deeper into the plushy leather, letting it envelop me.

"Is this your first time in Germany?" he asked, his voice only slightly louder than the soft voice of a woman singing through the radio.

"It isn't," I answered truthfully. "But it is my first time in Wolfhöle," I lied, because you never knew who could listen and who worked undercover for one of our enemies. If I wanted to sell this story of being a Russian soldier, I had to play it right.

"You're gonna love it here. It might be smaller than those big cities, but it does have its charms. And the people are nice as well. If you're looking for something to do, you should check out the Old Towne. It's not too far from the Academy."

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