The Lost Child

As the man resumes his place behind the wheel, Emily remembers she doesn't know his name yet. He is Silver Eyes in her mind but she doesn't think he would be too happy to be called that out loud.

"Mathew Taylor," he surprises her by saying. She has only thought about asking him his name, but he has responded to the unspoken question.

Emily blinks in surprise, frowning at his back.

"Wait, I didn't ask..."

"Oh, yes you did." Once again, Mathew has to curse himself silently. It is not normal to know things without being told, even if he has explained what he is to her. As he has done to so many wolves around him, (except those who work closely with him, of course), he doesn't intend to let her know he has the ability to read minds. "You know, you have a habit of thinking out loud without realizing it," he adds.

This is strange. No one has ever observed something like that about her, but why is she suddenly thinking out loud without realizing it when she is with Mathew? She decides to let it slide, once again concluding that her mind is still not back to normal condition.

"You have a nice name," she smiles.

"It's quite ordinary, actually," he says quickly.

She rolls her eyes. "I didn't say it was rare, I said it was nice. A simple thank you would suffice."

He finds her gaze in the mirror and holds it. "Are you trying to make me look dumb?"

She breaks away from his mesmerizing gaze in the mirror, examining her nails. "Of course not."

"I was just trying to tell you that I am not very fond of the name," he says as he starts the car.

Comfortable silence settles around them, and her thoughts wander to the trailer park she has left behind, and to her Mate. She wonders if she did the right thing leaving Jack in her trailer and running off with this stranger. What if Jack was serious when he said he is inviting his pack members to occupy the trailer park?

But going back to him is out of the question. Perhaps if she made friends with other wolves, she might persuade them to help her throw Jack out of her property.

They stop once along the way, booking a hotel room for Emily to rest for a few hours. They have a meal and then she takes a much-needed bath. She moves through the day feeling like a zombie, doing everything like she was a robot, programmed to do them. Nothing feels enjoyable, not even the fancy food that he orders for them, but she eats it for the sake of surviving.

A few hours later, they are back on the road, and this time he doesn't stop until they are in Wisconsin, following a dusty gravel road.

He pulls up to a handsome mansion sitting proud in the forest, a mansion so wide and tall like no normal house Emily has ever seen. Later, she would learn that there are more houses behind the mansion, smaller ones that the pack members who don't wish to live in the pack house live in.

"Wow," she whispers, admiring the spectacular view of the mansion sitting among the green surroundings, with paved pathways and a swimming pool in front of it.

"You like it?" Mathew asks, finding her gaze in the mirror.

"Yes. I like it. Is this your home?"

He drives into the garage that already has six other cars parked, all of them would have made Emily's pickup look like it was left around for the garbage man to collect in this place. She is glad she left it behind.

"This is the pack house and you could live there if you want. That's if there's enough room, I heard they are fighting for space in the pack house at the moment."

"I am not here to live," she says. "But if I wanted to stay, where else would I live since the house is full?" She opens the door as she asks this.

"There are plenty of houses for wolves to live in. You could also live with humans, anywhere you please."

Emily nods and then steps out of the car, but as soon as she does so, she is surprised to see wolves coming towards her, most coming out of the pack house, the ones that were already outside abandoning whatever they were doing.

She wonders what's going on. Is Mathew some kind of very important wolf that the pack members all have to give a special welcome to whenever he arrives home?

It must be so.

But looking at Mathew's face, she realizes that must not be the case at all. He looks just as confused as she is, staring at the approaching wolves as though he thinks they have lost their minds.

"What is this?" Emily asks, staring at the approaching wolves, then she panics. "Do you think they have rejected me? Am I about to be killed?" a tiny frown appears on her delicate face.

Mathew is about to respond to her question when he stops, mouth gaping open as the wolves reach them and fall to their knees as one, their heads facing the ground.

His ever-sharp mind works quickly, figuring out what is happening immediately. Not even their Alpha has ever been shown such great amounts of respect before, unless he actively demanded it, often throwing out threats left and right before any wolf would bow to him.

His frown deepens as he turns slowly to view the young woman he has brought home.

She is the Alpha's lost daughter they have been looking for all those years.

The wolves have recognized her presence as their true Alpha and come out to bow to her, to show their respect.

Mathew is beyond perplexed. How will the Alpha react when he learns that the girl has been found and brought to take his much-treasured title away from him?