Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chaskai, Aaron and Skylar pulled up to their home deep in the woods and shut the car off, sitting in the dark.

“Okay so how do we get them together?”

“It’s a bit of a pickle isn’t it..?”Chaskai grumbled.

They talked amongst themselves as they walked into the house. Chaskai was greeted by a squealing, short, red headed woman. His mate.

“Finally home! I’ve missed you!” She beamed.

“I’ve missed you, too, little wolf.” Chaskai smiled.

“Hey, Nadia. We exist, too.” Aaron sighed.

The red head giggled.

“Hi guys, welcome home.”

“Hey, Nadia.” Skylar said, less joyful than usual.

“Awe, Sky? What’s the matter?”

“He found his mate.” Aaron said.

“Oh, that’s great! Absolutely wonderful! Why are you upset about it?”

“He’s not upset about finding his mate. It’s how he’s going to approach her.” Chaskai said.

“What? Just talk to her, like you did when you first saw her.” Nadia said, in a duh tone.

Skylar shook his head.

“I didn’t speak to her. I saw her in wolf form.”

“She knows you’re a wolf?! Already?!”

“No. She knows my wolf. She doesn’t know me.” Skylar tried to explain.

“I see. How’d you manage that?”

“Funny story actually.” Aaron chuckled nervously, knowing they were all about to get an ear full.

***

Cheyenne finished her cleaning up after the slight surgical situation she had to undergo.

Just as she finished wiping down the table, Greta came in.

Cheyenne smiled.

“6:30 on the dot, Greta. It never seases to amaze me that you get here on time every day.”

“Well, I’ve got nothing better to do.” Greta smiled.

Cheyenne smiled back.

“Have a nice night?” Cheyenne asked her.

“Oh, it was like any other night. I made myself some pasta that my mother used to make. Absolutely delicious.”

“You’ll have to make it for me sometime.” Cheyenne smiled.

“Do you have dinner tonight?”

“I was going to order out.”

“Then I’m coming tonight. Right after my shift. At 7:45.”

“I’ll be home, waiting for you.”

“Would you mind picking some things up for me dear? For the pasta?”

“Of course, it’s not a problem.”

Cheyenne went to her desk and grabbed a sheet of paper and pen, handing it to Greta.

“Thank you.”

Greta began to scribble away at the sheet of paper.

“Any emergencies last night?” Greta asked, without looking up from the paper.

Cheyenne was quiet for a bit. She knew that if she told Greta about the wounded wolf, she’d ask wounded by what. Given that the wolf was a gun shot victim, she would have to report it. From the look of those obnoxiously gorgeous men, they didn’t want anyone to know.

“Cheyenne?”

“Oh sorry, what was that?”

“Were there any emergencies last night?”

“Oh, no ma’am. A boring night.”

Greta raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Nothing happened at all?” Greta pressed.

“Nope, just Stacy and James knocking it up in the next room. Other than that nothing.” Cheyenne tried to sound convincing.

“Alright then.” Greta said as she handed Cheyenne the list.

“I’ll go to the store today to get these for you.”

Greta smiled.

“Thank you, dear. Now go ahead and go home. Relax, take a nap. You look a little beat.”

Cheyenne smiled sheepishly.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize. Just get some rest. I’ll be by at 7:45 tonight. Don’t forget.”

Cheyenne nodded and grabbed her things together.

“I’ll see you tonight.” Cheyenne said and left the office.

Finally getting home, Cheyenne threw her things on the floor and stripped down to her bra and underwear then practically jumped into bed.

She sighed and let the sleep over take her just as her head hit the satin pillow case on her fluffy pillow.

“Why are you so fuckin hard headed!!” The tall man yelled.

“I did what you said. I always do as you say!”

“Don’t you dare talk back to me!!” He yelled and slapped her so hard her head nearly did a 180 turn.

She gripped her now throbbing cheek, staring up at the man who had her trembling where she stood.

“I don’t think I ask for anything out of character.” He grit. “Do I?!”

Cheyenne said nothing.

“Answer me!” He gripped her neck, shoving her against the wall.

“L-Let go!!” She choked out.

“You will answer me!”

Cheyenne thrashed against his hold as her lungs burned for air.

“I don’t ask you to do anything crude, do I?!”

“I-I can’t breathe...!”

“Answer the question!”

“Yes! You do!”

His sea green eyes now blazed with fire of complete and utter anger.

“You don’t think I treat you fairly? Fine, then I won’t treat you fairly.”

He dragged her up the stairs to what he called “punishment room” and slammed the door shut.

Cheyenne tried to get away from him as he continued to drag her towards the chains. He ripped the back of her shirt open and locked the chains.

“Please...please don’t.” She quivered.

“Too late to be a good pet. I’ll stop when I feel like stopping.”

“No, please.” She cried.

“I own you, never forget that, sweet heart.”

She could hear the water behind her, sloshing around the whip. She heard the huge amount of water drip, back into the bucket and the whip hit the floor.

“You get to count backwards from one hundred by threes.”

She whimpered, whined and cried. Begging him not to hurt her.

CRACK!!!

“Ahh!!” She cried.

“Start counting!!”

Cheyenne choked on her tears.

“One h-hundred.” She croaked.

CRACK!!!

“A-haaaahhaaa!!!”

He waited for her to say her next number.

“N-ninety s-seven.”

And then again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

“Eighty-f-five...”she choked out.

Cheyenne could feel the warm, crimson blood trailing down her back as he kept whipping her, over and over. She had lost track of time and didn’t know how long he’d been whipping her nor did she know when he’d stop.

“I hope you’re counting, sweet heart!” He said as he whipped her once more.

At this point, she was numb, so numb.

“N-nineteen...”

“Don’t you pass out on me, sweet heart!”

Another...

And another...

And another...

Cheyenne couldn’t get the last number out before she was over come by complete darkness.

Cheyenne jolted awake screaming and felt around herself to see if she was bleeding from the back, for she felt moist, only coming to realize it was a cold sweat.

Once she realized it was only sweat from her night terror, she tried to calm herself down but failed miserably. Her heart was pounding through her rib cage and her stomach knotted.

She was going to vomit.

She covered her mouth and ran to the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet as her eyes stung with tears.

The dream was far too vivid and felt so real. It was real. That exact situation had happened to her.

That man. That man beat her, whipped her and everything in between. And that was stuck with her. Those memories will forever be burned into her brain and nothing could change that. Absolutely nothing.

She cried and crumbled onto the bathroom floor, not bothering to fight off the panic attack that had threatened to over come her.

Skylar had decided for himself what he was going to do about his mate, after Nadia had sent him out for groceries.

He decided he would go to her job and ask around about her. Someone was bound to know something. Then he’d get the food for dinner.

He stepped into the veterinarian office and walked to the front desk, ringing the bell.

A lady with graying hair and her glasses at the tip of her nose turned from her computer and looked at Skylar.

“Oh, my goodness.” She stared at him.

“Good morning,” Skylar started and looked at her name tag to formally speak to an elder, “Ms. Greta.”

Greta smiled politely.

“And what could I do for you, handsome?” Greta smiled.

“I was wondering if you knew a woman. She’s about 5’3 or 5’4, these amazing green colored eyes, her hair down her back in locs. She’s got—“

“What do you want with my precious grand baby?” Greta narrowed her eyes, getting into her protective mode.

“I would like to formally thank her.”

“What for?”

Skylar tilted his head.

“She saved a wolfs life.”

Greta smiled.

“Of course, that’s her job. Why did you not thank her when she was here?”

Skylar smiles politely at the elderly woman.

“Well, I wasn’t here, exactly.” Skylar said.

Greta sighed and nodded.

“I’m not really sure where she is.”

“She’s not here?”

Greta shook her head.

“Not her shift. She should be back tomorrow though.” Greta said.

Skylar nodded.

“Yeah, sorry hun. But if you don’t find her today, she’ll be here tomorrow.” Greta smiled.

Skylar smiles back at her.

“Thank you, ma’am. You’re kindness will not be over looked.” He said, turning on his heels and leaving the veterinary clinic.

He sighed, wondering where she could possibly be. There were too many places that she could be and he didn’t know her well enough to narrow anything down.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost three in the evening.

“Nadia will be cooking soon...” he muttered to himself.

He was sent out here to get groceries for their dinner tonight and also hoped to find his mate, but he’d seem to hit a dead end until tomorrow.

He sighed and decided to head for the grocery store, knowing that if he was late, Nadia would not be so easy on him.

He made his way to his car, getting in and texting Nadia letting her know that he was on his way to the store. After pressing send, he pulled off into the direction of the nearest Food Lion.

***

Skylar found himself in the cereal aisle grabbing Cheerios for breakfast the next morning if Nadia didn’t cook. All he needed now was canned soup.

He pushed the cart several aisles down before turning into the aisle that held all canned goods.

Skylar parked his cart and stared at the array of different soups trying to figure out which one it was that they normally get.

“Which kind was it...?” He thought out loud to himself.

He sighed feeling defeated and called Nadia. After the third ring she picked up.

“Sky! Where the hell are you! It’s almost dinner time!”

“Yeah, I know. I’m at the store in the canned goods aisle. Which soup do we get?”

“Oh, uh...hold on a second....”

He waited and pulled the phone from his ear when Nadia shouted for Chaskai.

While he waited for them to finish yelling at each other on which soup to get, Skylar caught a scent. A familiar one at that. He looked around eagerly and his eyes darted all around the aisle but couldn’t see her.

Skylar was frantic and his wolf was just as ecstatic to see their mate. Skylar left his buggy as he walked straight out of the aisle and rushed, nearly running down the long walkway, looking down each aisle and came to an abrupt stop when her scent was stronger. Skylar’s wolf howled just as Skylar turned his head and saw her. Saw his mate.

She was reaching for a box of cereal at the top of the shelf. He watched her, completely paralyzed at her beauty. It was as if there was a spotlight on her and she glowed so brightly that she erased everything around her. It was only her Skylar could see.

He was knocked out of his trance when Nadia came back on the phone.

“Just grab whatever says chicken noodle.”

“Sounds good, gotta go.” Skylar rushes out and hung up the phone, shoving the piece of tech back in his pocket.

He watched her continuing to reach for the cereal box as his wolf howled inside him begging him to make a move or he would.

Skylar walked towards her and grabbed the cereal box that she was reaching for and held it out to her.

Skylar watched her stare at the box in his hands and watched her eyes travel up his arm then to his chest and finally to his face.

He smiled gently at her.

“I saw that you could’ve used the help.”

“O-oh, thank you, so much. I thought I would be here forever trying to get that box.” She smiled at him and took the box from him, putting it in her cart.

“Of course, I do what I can to help.” Skylar chuckled.

“Then you wouldn’t mind grabbing two more?” She asked hesitantly.

Skylar smiled at how cute she was. She was shorter than him but of course a lot of people were. She was probably no more than 5’3 maybe 5’4 while he stood at 6’4. She was so petit, it was hard for him to resist just grabbing her and holding her.

“Of course, but I would like something in return.” Skylar said.

Her face fell from its smile and she stared at him waiting for him to finish.

“I would like to take you out. Would you give me the honor?”

She blushed and stared at him shocked.

“What?” She asked breathlessly.

“Well, you are beautiful and I’d like to get to know you a bit more. Plus you saved me–“ he stopped short and rephrased, “my, I mean my wolf.”

She blushed more.

“Oh! That was your wolf? I just did what any vet would do.” She chuckled nervously. “Really, it was nothing.”

“I would like to properly thank you. Please?”

“I-I don’t know.”

He could sense her hesitation and uneasiness. His wolf whimpered wanting to hold their mate and ensure her safety but he didn’t want to freak her out more.

“You can set the place and everything if that’d make you comfortable.”

She sighed and looked up at him, dead in his eyes and he could’ve sworn he saw her stiffen. Her eyes were a beautiful mint green, rimmed with a dark brown that made the green pop more.

“Yeah, yeah, we can go out. I know a place. I can send you the details.” She said, taking her phone out, never dropping her gaze.

She opened her phone and went to new contacts giving her device to him. Skylar took it and punched in his phone number, smiling back at her.

“There you go.”

She looked down at her phone and froze again.

“S-Skylar?”

Skylar smiled, loving the way she said his name.

“Yes.” He said, “And you are?”

She broke her gaze from her phone screen and looked back at Skylar.

“Cheyenne.” She said.

Skylar smiled more.

“Cheyenne. Beautiful.”

The way he said her name made her shudder and sent chills down her spine. No one has ever had that effect on her, let alone just by saying her name.

Skylar reaches up and grabbed two more of the cereal boxes that Cheyenne totally forgot he promised her.

“As promised.” He said, handing them to her.

“Thank you.”

“As much as I’d love to stay, Cheyenne. I must head home now. I hope we’ll meet again, really soon.”

“Friday. 7:00 pm. I’ll send an address.” Cheyenne said.

Skylar smiled and nodded.

“Until Friday, then.” Sky said.

“Until Friday.”