Chapter 14


    Highs and Lows


    Baron and Angelique were domestically arranged around the small breakfast table in the parlour when


    Jane ran past on her way to the back entrance to the kitchen. She saw Baron look up from his paper as


    she ran past, his eyes tracking her through the ss until her progress put him behind her and out of


    her sight.


    In the kitchen, Heathridge was not surprised by her arrival, and had a cup of ck coffee ready for her.


    “Thank you,” she panted, taking it with her as she left the kitchen, crossing the hall to the stairs that led


    up to her wing and room.


    Instinct had her looking over her shoulder as she reached the top of the stairs, and she saw that Baron


    stood in the doorway of the breakfast room, looking up at her, his hand on the door handle. She


    paused, her hand on the banister, their eyes locked, and then Angelique’s voice came from behind him,


    and he stepped back, closing the door behind him.


    Jane continued to her new room, finding that her possessions had been transferred as promised during


    her jog. She drank her coffee before showering and dressing for the day. The clothing she


    selected was chosen with another purpose in mind, the tailored shirt tucking into the tidy skirt. She


    pulled her hair back into a ponytail and pushed her feet into a pair of t-heeled loafers, before


    scrutinizing herself in the mirror.


    She looked, she thought, like the hundreds, or maybe thousands, of anonymous people that had, over


    the course of her life, set food and drinks on a table before her, handed clothing over the curtain of a


    change room, or rung up charges at the till. She looked, she decided, like someone capable of doing


    such things. Which was a lie. She was woefully under-qualified. But she had the opportunity to amend


    that.


    She slunk through the entry hall like a criminal, and eased open the front door, startling Heathridge on


    the other side. For a moment they stared at each other, and then his eyes dropped, taking in her


    clothing and then returning to her face, his brows drawing together in confusion.


    “Madam.”


    “I am just going shopping,” she told him hastily.


    “Of course, madam,” he epted it easily and opened the door. “Did you need a car?”


    “I left one up the drive yesterday.”


    “That 4WD has been returned to the garage,” he informed her efficiently.


    “Great, thanks,” she nodded, and hurried in that direction.


    She drove into town and parked at the rear of the café. Humans, she thought with relief as she made


    her way through the customers to the front, not a werewolf to be seen.


    “Hi” an opened faced man greeted her with a bright smile. “What can I get you?”


    “A job?” She swallowed hard amazed that her voice sounded so much braver than she felt. “The sign


    said.”


    “Oh,” his eyes scanned her top to toe.


    “Do you have experience?”


    This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    “No,” she admitted. “But I work hard.”


    He considered her. “It’s cash, no benefits, and a half a day trial, no pay.”


    “Okay,” she agreed eagerly.


    After he served thest customer in the queue, he took her behind the counter, ced an apron around


    her waist and told her: “Foodes from there,” he pointed to the kitchen window, behind which she


    could see three people moving with absolute focus on their tasks. “Check the table number on the


    docket, take the food to that table.”


    “Okay,” she saw a te on the shelf and went to it.


    For three hours, that was what she did, smiling and apologising for mistakes, exining that it was her


    first day when she got things wrong. The café shut at 3pm, and she removed the apron, her body and


    mind exhausted.


    The man who had hired her, Patrick, smiled and passed her a wad of notes. Well done,” he said.


    “You’re hired.”


    “Oh,” she was thrilled but baffled by the notes in her hand. “You said no pay.”


    “I know.” his smile widened. “And you stayed anyway, which was audition number one. You‘ve done


    well, the customers like you, you are polite, and you work hard. You pass. Take these home tonight and


    fill them out,” he handed her some folded papers. “And we’ll see you again tomorrow at eight?”


    “Yes,” she was breathless with excitement, her cheeks aching with her smile. “Yes, thank you.”


    She drove home, grinning, the music turned up and the windows open, and her excitement did not die


    until she showered and stepped out of the bathroom in the robe, to find her phone shing with


    messages. Her brothers, her sister, her father, all angrily demanding what she had been up to, with


    photo attachments.


    The photo was of her passed out on the bed with the sheets tangled around her not covering anything.


    Taken during her heat, her wrists still tied to the bed head. There was only one person who could have


    taken that photo she knew, the person who had bound her to that bed, and whose seed visibly slimed


    her thighs.


    She felt her legs give and her hip hit the carpet a moment before her head did, the phone bouncing


    slightly before lying before her, the screen still showing her herself, in her vulnerable, wanton, blissed


    out slumber.


    “Shit,” she heard Baron curse, she didn’t know how longter. “Jane,” he put his arm under her


    shoulders lifting her. “Jane.”


    For a moment she did not know where she was or why shey in such a way, and then she


    remembered and she fought her way free of him, clutching her towel to herself as she crawled across


    the floor to vomit into the toilet.


    She felt him pull back her hair, holding it clear of the bowl, and his hand rubbing between her shoulder


    des as she sobbed, wept and vomited.


    *Jane,” he said quietly when, trembling, exhausted, and empty, she leaned her cheek against the


    porcin. “I took the picture. It was on my phone. But I did not share it with anyone.”