CHAPTER TWENTY: ~Drake: She’s okay. She’s stubborn and possibly independent to a fault, but she’s okay. And da*nit if I wasn’t totally turned on by her fierceness. Where did you go?, Dane asks me. You couldn’t see all that?, I asked him. No. Never felt that before. You were just… gone, Dane said irritated. I was with our mate. She’s okay. We met in a dream. I think it was her dream. I don’t know, I explained to him quickly. She changed her hair, and her eyes were different. But I’d know her anywhere. How do you know it was real?, he asked me, holding back excitement. It almost felt real. Incredibly real, it was just a little… numbed. I could smell her, feel her, but less sharply… I rambled. Where is she? We must go to her right now, he insisted. She didn’t say. But she’s safe. She’s in a little room or studio. Lots of trees around. And.. SNOW there was snow! I remembered. What else, what else?, he pushed. Uhhh…, I scratched the back of my head like that would m
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: ~Avery: The next day was really weird. I tried to roll into my usual routines, but I kept thinking about my weird dream. Was it really more than just a dream? Was Drake actually here? Well, with me, somehow? The questions plagued me every minute of the day. I hardly got anything done at all. And it wasn’t just the questions running through my mind. It was the ghost of his touch. The memory of the feelings I got lost in. And that wasn’t even real. What would it be like if it were? The thought alone got me all hot and uncomfortable. No amount of swimming could refocus me, and it wasn’t until late at night after trying and failing to fall asleep that I touched myself imagining us continuing what we had started. I got close to ecstasy a few times but paused, building and building the feeling until I finally let myself feel relief. This guy was going to be the death of me. I’d fallen asleep after some time, afraid I’d see him again, but it was all just darkness
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: ~Drake: I drive on for miles before pulling over to find a place to rest. With limited cash and a desire to stay out of trouble for a bit, I decide it’s best to go on sleeping in our wolf form instead of paying for a hotel. You’re going to stink terribly by the time we find her, Drake comments. Yeah well, by playing it safe we have a real chance of finding her, I reply. He says nothing at that. Find a place that’s as good as it’s going to get. I pull off the highway. There’s a bit of a dirt road and I go on until we’re by the side of a mountain. The terrain is trickier as we near the side of the mountain so I have to pick up the bike and carry it with me. We move on for a few more minutes with no sound other than the very faint crunch of leaves under my feet and some far off critters. I follow my nose to a musty place and there it is, a cave. Well a small cavern in the mountainside, more like. But it will work. I set the motorcycle on the side and undr
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:~Avery: “Really! Take them!” Johan says eagerly, putting the keys in my hand. “I haven’t been out there in months and now with Rachel sick, I won’t get out there for a while. You are doing me a favor, really. If the place is empty for too long, critters move in.” He places the keys in my hand again and I look down. There’s the address written on a little tag. I push back again but he won’t hear of it. Looks like I’m going to his cabin for the next week. I guess it will be a good change of pace. It’s been a while since I’ve really just been out in nature. I guess it’s less dangerous out there, less people to come in contact with. I relent and thank him, listening to him for a few minutes about some things to note about using the place. “Okay, sounds good. Thanks so much Johan. And let me know if there’s anything you need done there or if Rachel wants anything from there I can bring back with me,” I insisted. “Yes, yes, I’m sure it’s fine but I will let you
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:~Drake: We have to take her right now. They’re coming. We know that, Dane demanded as we watched her walk back to the kitchen. We saw what happens, if we change too much, how would we know when they would show up next? We need to use this to our advantage, I pressed. If I was in charge right now we’d be halfway to Canada, he huffed. We watched her a moment longer as she bent to open the oven. Screw this. She thinks she’s not worth worrying about so much I don’t shower? Then I’ll shower now. Not going to lie, the hot water really hit me in the best way. I stepped out, renewed, free of layers of grime, and wrapped in a towel. Partly, not to put on my dirty clothes again, and partly because I want to see my mate’s reaction. Standing outside the window like that was just too perfect. She put up a good front but I knew I affected her. Her reactions in our dream, and her face just then, both proved otherwise. I came out of the bedroom attached to the bathroom and
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:~Avery: The next morning I showered and changed before getting out to the kitchen. I had a horrible time trying to sleep last night. Knowing Drake was right there, just beyond the door, and thinking about what he told me over and over, juxtaposed against the images in my head of him in that da*n towel… He’d mentioned in our texting weeks ago that werewolves had exceptional senses, especially hearing and smell. I couldn’t chance doing any of the things I wanted to do to get some da*n release without thinking he could hear me. So I tossed and turned, and tossed and turned. Trying to not think about the way he drives me crazy, or the simple way he views things, or the way he looks at me. It was hard. Incredibly hard. Like perhaps harder than his abdomen was when I had pushed him away, when I thought my senses would take over. I walked out, taking a big breath in, prepared to face him, and- Nothing. He wasn’t there. I walked around the place, peaked out the
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:~Drake: I don’t know what I did last night, but one minute we were talking and bantering, and the next she was excusing herself to her room. It was early evening. And she hadn’t come out again that whole night.I heard her tossing and turning in the bed there, and I did the same thing on the couch and the floor. A few times I got up and marched right to her door, thinking out some sort of phrase I could quickly say that would get her to finally open up to me, but I could never gather the nerve to knock.She’s guarded, Dane noted. She’s starting to need us and that scares her.Well, for Goddess’ sake, I’m scared too!, I snapped back.But he didn’t bother saying anything else.I know he was just telling me what I was already sensing anyway. She’s been on her own, with no one from our world to guide her in her abilities. I’ve been raised by close parents who loved each other - who loved me.My parents. Goddess I missed them.It was so much easier to put them out of m
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:~Avery This was all too much. My body count was out of control. Drake was out of control. I needed to let something out, anything, and preferably not another light show. I marched outside and began to lift my shirt up as I moved toward the dock, when I felt dark auras around. How had I not noticed before? I’d been distracted! I was distracted and this is what happens when I’m distracted! I turned to face where I sensed the closest ones. Four dark auras. Not much light in there. I was still buzzing from the darkness I’d taken from the werewolves earlier today. “Drake…” I whispered ever so slightly, hoping he could hear me. The wolves approached right as he burst through the door in his wolf form. He leapt quickly and stood between them and where I stood. Brave. Dumb. Both? They growled lowly, an unsettling sound coming from wolves that weren’t Drake. He snarled back loudly. My heart thundered in my chest as I picked up more auras than before, and they were