Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)
Chapter 77 - Convenient Snacks & Stalkers

Chapter 77: Chapter 77 - Convenient Snacks & Stalkers

If there was one thing that could distract me from those disturbing thoughts about Chad that may be wrong, potential missing memories that may have never existed, and possibly accelerated pregnancies that don’t fit this world’s logic...

> Food. Lots of food. <

A brightly lit convenience store beckoned me from not that far away across the street. Colorful signs advertising snacks and drinks.

Snacks... will do. I need something immediate to quiet my hunger before finding somewhere to stay for the night.

As I rapidly approached the store, some movement caught my eye. A man leaned against a lamppost at the corner... watching the clinic entrance with an unusual intensity.

His clothes were worn and slightly disheveled. Not the polished appearance I’d come to associate with Kyrie’s Rimecoat pack that I’ve caught overseeing areas.

> Another werewolf, though. Unmistakably. Perhaps waiting for his mate to finish at the clinic? <

When his gaze shifted toward me, I quickened my pace into the store. The last thing I needed was another complication.

Inside, an employee with a name tag, that I don’t bother reading this time, raised their head near the cash register.

"Welcome..."

Fluorescent lights illuminated rows of prepackaged goods and miscellaneous necessities. A riot of scents - processed sugars, artificial flavors, and manufactured preservatives that would have been unheard of in my world.

I began filling my arm, barely considering what I was selecting. Chocolate bars, salted chips, protein bars, and some kind of cheese-filled ’pretzel’ thing from the ’fresh’ section.

My stomach was obviously calling the shots with the use of money. I was too mentally exhausted to resist.

Passing the refrigerated section, I added a large bottle of milk and several pre-packaged sandwiches. Vrika watched my selection process with what felt like some amusement.

> At least one of us is enjoying this. Having to wait to dig in is the worst. <

Circling the store one final time, my eye caught a display of prepaid phones. Helene’s memories suggest they could be activated more easily with cash trades and more anonymously than the usual commercial routes.

"Actually... where is the bill even going for the device I have?"

The hunter’s phone simply worked when it was given back to me, but I hadn’t thought much about that. Did that deceased man have a ’plan’ that is charging whatever accounts might remain in his name?

"If so, this could stop working at some point."

A separate phone that was mine alone might be wise. But I didn’t have the willpower to decide right now which model might have a serviceable camera.

Because taking photos has unfortunately... become quite important to me. Even more than the ability to contact others.

"Another day, perhaps."

At the counter, the bored-looking cashier rang up my items. Without comment on the strange assortment or amount.

Is it so very common for people coming in here to buy a lot like this... that it doesn’t even register as interesting? I swipe Kyrie’s card, barely wincing at the large seeming total.

When all is said and done, what was more debt at this point? I just have to keep stubborn if she comes to collect.

> I may have to find somewhere to hide this thing so that it is not on hand at times like this. <

While waiting for the man to print my receipt and bag everything, a notification sound caught my attention. From the tote on one side of me, where I left the device during the examination.

I resisted for four seconds. Then the screen is too close to my face.

K: [By the way, I wanted to compliment your hair when we walked together, but was afraid it was too forward. The new twin tails suit you.]

The cashier cleared his throat, holding out my bagged purchases. I grabbed them mechanically as my brain busily tried to recreate all those words... in her voice.

"It’s... just a compliment. You used to get them all the time."

However, that was always in person. When I could see their eyes and know whether they were being sincere - or just providing lip-service.

Stowing the device away again, I replace it with the pretzel. Salty bread and loud cheese interrupts the feelings that began with new ones.

At least long enough for the five or six bites that lead to me tossing the paper sleeve it came in. Into the trash can outside, where the street had grown a little darker as I shopped.

> Keep yapping, I’m not texting her back. I’ve never even done this at all until today... I’m lucky I didn’t do something more embarrassing than an accidental photo! <

My wolf seems to think I am making silly choices, but they are mine to make. No amount of comfort I may want to seek is going to make me... lead her on.

"Even if I wanted to maintain a... friendly relationship, wouldn’t that be just too cruel? Knowing what it means to feel that... that feeling."

The evening sky I spoke up to was starting to be hidden by the glow of so many streetlights activating. A glance back down tells me that the male wolf I’d noticed watching the clinic earlier was gone.

My spine tingles a little at that, sending goosebumps across my skin. Because I realize that I was the last werewolf patient let out, I’m pretty sure.

The doctor was getting ready to leave and the receptionist was also talking about going home when we passed through. Would either of them be dating or married to such a scruffy looking wolf?

Picking a direction at random, I quickly confirm that this feeling isn’t going away. I was being watched... and followed.

Glancing over as I made a turn, I caught sight of not one but three figures maintaining stalking distance behind me. Of course, the werewolf male I’d seen before was among them.

I clutched my shopping bags tighter in my hands and began to weave through the streets of people. Taking sudden turns and doubling back a few times on my route when I’d gotten ahead, in an effort to shake my pursuers and muddle the scent trail.

My heartbeat quickened as I dodge a cyclist in the ’bike lane’ while bolting across a street of momentarily stalled traffic. All the while, a sneer grew on my face.

From a rising anger that anyone would dare to hunt me like this. And at myself, for thinking that things in the city weren’t so bad.

"Stupid wolves... stupid world... stupid stubborn self!"

Grabbing the phone out and making a call... would only take seconds.

> But I just can’t! Stop whimpering like I’m going to get mauled by them if I don’t contact her, it’s NOT constructive! <

Could they be members of the Duskpaw, sent to bring me back? No, I didn’t recognize any of them - not that that means anything with this girl’s memories.

Wolves from a rival pack that recognized me like Mira did? Did I ’piss off’ that other Pineheart woman too far?

"Should have just sat on her then!"

Could even be other rogues, looking to take advantage of a seemingly vulnerable lone female. Like the doctor just tried to warn me about...

Two of the figures eventually peeled off my trail - as far as I can tell. Apparently losing it amidst the twists and turns I’ve made the last twenty minutes.

But the third remained... and that was as good as saying the others would catch up, if I let him catch me. Whoever they were, they were good, too.

Stubbornly on my heels and always just out of sight when I took glances back. The shifting wind directions also makes it difficult for me to get an identifying scent.

> And somehow... not a hells damned other werewolf of the Rimecoat has been anywhere I’ve led them near! <