We spent all day driving through the deep America. I had so many questions but not the strength to deal with them at that moment. I ran away from home almost without explanation, my mother would feel like trash for this. No matter how much I insisted to my father that this wasn't her fault, she was going to blame herself. My little sister would feel abandoned by me. As if she hadn't had enough when her biological parents did it to her. The worst son and the worst brother in the world. But, it was the correct thing to do or at least that was the idea that I was repeating in my head trying to control how I was feeling.

"Jonathan," Romulo yelled at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you hear something that I said?"

"Eh, no."

He sighed with a tired expression like I was a pain in the ass. "We're gonna stop for gas, we will drive all night. I want to cross the border of the state before tomorrow."

"You have driven almost all day. Shouldn't you rest and sleep for a few hours?"

"We can't stop. We need to arrive in Helem Hills as soon as possible."

"Helem Hills?"

"It's a small town in Oregon near the Umatilla National Forest. Our pack had been settled there for three hundred years."

I looked at him doubtfully. "I'm not the best in history but this doesn't sound accurate. Are you native americans?"

"Not, well, some of us may have some ancestors, but not. The settlement was founded by my ancestor Helena. She was searching for a place for her pack after losing her home in Italy."

"And did no one notice the presence of European settlement like a century before what history says?"

"We have some tricks to hide our presence and well we weren’t the first pack in the zona. There were a lot of packs in the continent before us. Our kind spread throughout the world long before humans."

"Werewolves," I said.

He rolled his eyes. "We aren't werewolves, some of the legends can be based on us but we are not."

"Then, what are you ... we?"

"Well, there are a lot of names, to be honest. Nothing official. Witches call us shapeshifters, and the fairies call us derwydd. We use the children of the moon in some rituals, but wolves most of the time."

I felt shortness of breath for a moment. All my beliefs about the world were wrong, and I was truly aware of this for the first time. Witches, fairies, and whatever I was. They were too much to process. Breathing normally began to be difficult.

"Can you not freak out?"

"I'm trying," I said, taking a deep breath.

"Trying harder. It’s annoying," I looked at him with a hateful glance and his response was a bright glance and an almost inaudible growling. The van was filled with a smell like a mix of gunpowder and the water of Lake Superior at that time when my family spent a day swimming the week after adopting Melisa. All my body was begging me to hit him hard at that beautiful stupid face. Finally, I looked down trying to avoid a fight that wasn’t going to solve my problems.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

He was focused on the road again and we were driving for like twenty minutes more until a gas station. The place was full of trucks. He stopped the car at a gas pump and I opened the door. His hand grabbed my left wrist before I could get out.

"What're you doing?" He looked at me concerned.

"Stretching my legs and I wanna buy some things in the shop."

"You can't. Wait here. I'll take whatever you need."

"I really prefer to take them myself."

His eyes were bright more intense green than before. The gunpowder and water smell filled the van again. "I'm not asking you, Jonathan," he said with a voice that sounded more animal than human. "You have to understand your position. This isn't a relationship of equals. You're bitten one, call you fucking ignorant is not an insult is an accurate adjective to describe you. If I give you an order you obey it."

He was squeezing my wrist. It was painful but this time I didn't look away. He couldn’t treat me like I was his subordinate.

"You hurt me," I said. Then he looked at my, at that moment, red wrist and let me free. His eyes stopped brightening.

"I’m sorry. But you have to follow my orders.” We stayed quiet. ” What do you need me to take from the shop?" He asked me to break the silence.

I looked at the front and crossed my arms. "Underwear, it's pretty uncomfortable being so many hours sitting without it. For that, I want to go by myself."

"Brief or boxer?"

"Boxer. I use ... I used an M."

"Don't worry. I have seen enough to be able to figure out your size by myself." This sounded like a joke but I wasn't in the mood for a joke from him. He opened the door. "I’ll come back soon."

Then he closed the door. "Fucking moron," I muttered while he was passing in front of the van. He looked at me like he was able to hear me but didn't say or do anything, only kept his path to the shop.

Suddenly a blonde woman knocked on my window just when Romulo entered the shop. I rolled it down. There was a strong smell of fish in the area but not a clear source.

"Hello," I said.

"Hi," she said with a sweet tone. She must have been forty-something like my mother but for some reason, it was hard to be sure."I'm sorry to snoop into your business, sweetheart. But I heard your argument. And you shouldn't let your boyfriend speak to you in that way."

"Not, he's not my boyfriend," I stuttered, blushing as red as a tomato.

"Maybe I misread the situation but whoever he is, he shouldn't treat you badly. If you need help my family can take you where you need." She pointed at an RV parked just behind us. I must admit that I doubted it, the idea of being at home the next morning was tempting.

"Thank you, but I'm okay," I said with my best false smile.

"Okay, sweetheart. Where are you going?"

"Oregon."

She smiled from ear to ear. "The Beaver State. My family and I are going west too. Maybe we'll meet again."

"Maybe," I said.

She put her hand over mine, which was resting on the door. "It has been a pleasure. And remember there is always someone willing to help you on the road."

Her maternal attitude was so kind and warm that my biggest wish at that moment was to hug and cry on his shoulder. But I remembered that I couldn't. Romulo was a jerk; however, I needed his help. If I followed my selfish feelings and went home, maybe my family would pay the consequences.

I moved my hand. "I'm fine, but thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome, sweetheart. I'm leaving. It seems that your friend is coming." I looked at the door of the shop. Romulo was getting out. I looked again at the woman but there was no one there. The RV passed to the other side of the van disappearing into the blackness of the night.

Romulo passed in front of the van and he opened the door to his side. He gave me a big plastic bag while he was entering. I looked at the bag, there were a lot of pops, candies, snacks, and on one side a pack of boxers and a black hoodie from North Dakota which was still in its plastic package.

"I don't know what you like," he said, starting the motor.

"And did you buy one of each?" He shrugged. "Thank you," I said. He looked at me and gave a slight smile.