True Love Hunting

Chapter 16

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Spencer listened, horrified at the recounting of Lenny's retelling of a traumatic event in her life, and all he wanted to do was, first, beat this Dustin to within an inch of his life and then hold Lenny. He stayed silent as best he could, but he couldn't prevent all of his reactions, including how his eyes began to glow in anger, so he shut them while he painstakingly listened to her.

She continued, "I couldn't stand seeing that man chained up and treated like he was, so despite my sad state and being a Chivute, I freed him from his restraints and helped him escape through the third-story window. He ran off into the forest, and I remember seeing him looking back as his eyes began to glow, and then he melted down into the shape of a wolf and disappeared into the tree line. I hadn't known what he was before I saw that, but I would have freed him no matter what he had been."

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I watched as Spencer's eyes came back open to meet mine, concern, and pain written all over his face.

"I can stop now," I offered up to him.

He reached out and stroked my face saying, "Only if it's too painful for you to continue, Lenny. I want to know everything about you." I drew strength from his loving touch and plowed ahead with the terrible recounting.

"It's why I ended up here, in the end. Spencer, would you hold me?" His face softened as he gave me a quick smile.

He moved the chess board to the table and came back to lean against the window seat wall facing the fire. He pulled me to him wrapping me up in his arms, and I immediately felt better. I listened to his heartbeat for a few moments.

I then took a deep breath continuing, "The following morning, Dustin discovered what I had done, and he beat me some more before organizing a tracking party to find and kill the werewolf. With my father's approval, Dustin tied me to a horse to come along on the hunt. He had promised me that when we caught the wolf, I would be the one to kill him.

"I remember being so frightened in those moments that I was tied up on the horse riding through the woods. But I hadn't been frightened for myself; I was afraid they would find the wounded wolf and kill him. At one point, they had to gag me because I was screaming at them to stop and leave him alone, even if Dustin punished me as I did.

"We were deep in the forest when the men dismounted to check some tracks. Suddenly, we were surrounded by a large pack of wolves that attacked us. The wolves managed to kill all of the soldiers that were with us but not before my father had the chance to slip away, leaving Dustin and me there.

"Dustin," I took a steadying breath, and Spencer started stroking my neck and shoulder to offer some comfort. "Dustin used me as a human shield against the wolves. After a few moments, he noticed the wolves wouldn't attack me. So he pulled a knife on me and used me as a hostage, slash-shield until he could back away to a horse that he pulled us up on.

"The largest timber wolf lunged for the horse, frightening it. As it reared, I was thrown to the ground, in the middle of the pack of wolves. Dustin kicked the horse and took off towards where we had come, leaving me without a backward glance." I heard a grieved sigh come from Spencer as he tightened his embrace. I closed my eyes, soaking up his closeness. I was exhausted by this time.

"I think I need to get some sleep now, Spencer. I promise to finish the tale later, but for now, I need to get some sleep." I pulled myself out of his lap and looked down at him with sleepy eyes. It had felt good to tell someone about what had happened, and it felt even more right that it had been Spencer that I had confided in.

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Spencer could see that Lenny was dead on her feet. It was very early in the morning, and she did need her sleep; she was almost falling over. He got up and went to the fireplace, where he grabbed his boxer shorts and slipped them on now that they were dry, removing the towel that had been around his hips.

He turned to Lenny, "Do you have a blanket I could use on the couch then?" Lenny laughed, a small smile coming to her lips.

"Come, I'll keep you warm enough, I think," she said as she took ahold of his hand and led him down the hall to her bedroom.

She pulled back the covers and slid over to the opposite side, allowing him to climb into the blankets behind her. She wiggled back against him, so he put his arm around her and gently held her as she fell asleep. He drifted off himself, listening to the storm outside.

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I woke in the morning, having slept sound and peaceful all night long. The previous night's memories came flooding back to me when I moved a little and felt the weight of a muscled arm slung over my waist. Spencer. So it hadn't been a dream, and he was still here with me, gently breathing on the back of my neck.

Oh! The mess outside and his motorcycle! I carefully slipped from his embrace and slid out of my bed to find my phone to see what time it was. Reaching my living room, I found my phone; it was mid-morning. I looked out of the window seat and saw the downed trees and a general mess about the area. I sighed, dreading seeing the damage up close.

I snuck back into my bedroom and silently got dressed in my pair of old work jeans and a t-shirt. I turned to look at Spencer and jumped when I saw him watching me from my bed. An amused smile spread across his face when I jumped and held a hand to my heart for a second. I chuckled and returned the smile before padding over to him and kissing him good morning.

His hands went up in my hair, pulling me off balance, so I toppled onto him. I laughed, pushing on his chest, but he refused to let me go and rolled me over onto the bed so I couldn't escape. I shrieked when a hand to my hip tickled.

"But! Your motorcycle -"

"Can wait," he laughed into my neck. I sighed as he kissed me there, and my willpower crumbled, allowing him to pull the t-shirt off I had just put on over my head. It piled on the floor, and my jeans soon followed.

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Spencer stood by the fireplace, pulling on his now-dry clothes as he watched Lenny brew some tea for them. Her people mainly drank tea, so it would have to do for this morning, but damn, he needed a coffee. Once he was dressed, and they had shared a hot beverage and some breakfast at the small table in the corner, they opened the cottage door and walked outside to face the destruction together.

Lenny ran over to the seedlings strewn all over the ground and started gathering them up as she could, working around the downed tree's branches. Spencer worked his way over to the barn, searching for an ax or a saw or something that they would be able to use to cut the trees apart. He wished he had his chainsaw to make quick work of the mess.

He managed to find an ax that was still in decent shape and made his way over to where Lenny was struggling to get around the tree's branches and trunk. She noticed him and moved back to allow him to start taking the tree apart. She would pull the freed boughs away and stack them as he chopped them off the tree trunk.

He was starting to sweat, so he pulled the t-shirt he wore back off and handed it to Lenny to put inside. He gave her a quick kiss when she eyed him up as he handed her his shirt. She came back out to help him as she had been before.

This was how Aurora, Micah, Dragos, and Cassiusfound them as the group walked towards the cottage from deeper in the woods.