Chapter Six
Reunions
Her bedroom door flung open; no knock, no warning. Groggily, she sat up on her bed and looked at the doorway. Noah had been there for a day and he was already invading her space. As soon as she caught his scent, a smile spread on her lips and she understood why he was storming into her room. She refrained from giggling, because she knew he didn’t want that right this moment.
“Eye contact!” he shouted as he walked inside, slamming the door behind him. He immediately began pacing the small space. She watched him walk from the door to the window and back repeatedly. “All it takes is eye contact! Do you have an idea how much that sucks? You could be walking down the street and just happen to glance at someone and not even know their name and then you’re stuck with them for the rest of your freaking life! Eye contact, Elli. Fucking eye contact.”
She knew this. He knew she knew this, but he wanted to rant. He needed to rant.
“We pissed off the werewolf gods and so we knew that they would get even. We left our pack and now we’re getting screwed in the mate department! I knew that would happen. I knew it, but damn it, I didn’t see this coming. Human! My mate is practically human! Fragile and breakable and human!”
That wasn’t even the worst part. Humans didn’t mate. There was no guarantee that he would get to be with her. No guarantee that she would ever love him. Mating with someone who wasn’t a werewolf was considered a punishment from the gods and it was a terrible fate. Noah wasn’t angry about this, he was terrified. He had found his perfect other half and she probably would never feel the same. Elli couldn’t imagine what that felt like, but she knew it was a reality that she would face eventually.
“I never should have moved in here! I could’ve gone the rest of my life without finding my mate. I’d be okay with that. Uncle Will did it and he didn’t have any issues. But nope. I move in here and all it takes is eye contact and my mate is human! Gah! Do we really deserve this?”
She patted the bed beside her, inviting him to sit down and quit patrolling the room. He did so and she pulled him into a hug. “No. We don’t. But we broke werewolf law and left our pack, so this is what happens. And when I find my mate, I’ll get screwed over, too. So who is she?”
Addy was human, but Kate was ‘practically’ human and then there was the chance that this girl didn’t even live here and she was just a friend of someone’s visiting. Who knew?
He sighed and pulled out of the hug, looking away from her. “This is where I really got the short end of the stick.”
She raised an eyebrow, curiosity piqued. “How so?”
Another sigh before he muttered a response that she barely heard. She made him repeat it, louder.
“It’s Richard. Richard, who’s probably, more than likely, completely straight, because that’s how not friendly the gods are. A human male, damn it. A human. Male,” he snarled out.
As terrible as it was, that was where Elli lost her composure and started laughing, because it was kind of funny. Her brother had never dated a guy, ever. Not that it mattered, really. The way wolves were raised taught them that their mate was their mate, it was that simple. Race, gender, and being didn’t matter. That one person completed them and living a life without them wasn’t an option. Richard being a guy didn’t matter. Richard probably being straight did.
“So are you going to tell him?” she wondered, between giggles.
He glared at her. “No! It’s…I can’t. I can’t burden him with that knowledge. At best it would make things awkward and I hate to think about the worst case scenario.”
“He’s a seer! If you touch-”
“There will be no touching!” he growled and this caused a whole new round of giggles on her part. He was so silly sometimes. She wasn’t telling him to make out with the guy, but what if they bumped into each other in the hallway or something? He couldn’t say there’d be no touching. That wasn’t the only thing he couldn’t do either…
“You know you can’t keep it from him. What if he dates someone else? You’ve seen what happens in that scenario and somehow I doubt you’d be okay with killing his significant other.”
“I can’t tell him he’s my mate; it’s so many levels of wrong. And I can’t just ask him out on a date, because that brings us back to the whole touching issue and then he would know and that’s not fair to him.”
“Keeping it a secret isn’t fair to him,” she replied, dead serious. Her giggling had been reigned in, which was good because the conversation really wasn’t amusing anymore. Elli wasn’t prone to completely inappropriate laughter. Granted, her bout of giggles of his misfortune wasn’t quite justifiable…
“Yeah, well, then it’s a lose-lose situation for everyone. Awesome. Can’t wait to see how things work out for you.”
He really didn’t mean that, but he had a point. She sighed. “Worse, I’d bet. But we’ll just have to wait and see.”
He nodded. “Be glad. Freaking eye contact. I was walking up the damn stairs. He was like, ‘Hi, I’m Richard,’ and I don’t even know what I replied because I was busy stringing together a bunch of mental swear words, because I met his stupid blue eyes. I think I told him my name. I have no clue. God, he probably thinks I’m nuts or something. That’s just fantastic…”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. He’s probably trying to get past the fact that there’s another werewolf in the house right now.”
He looked at her, narrowing his eyes in a frustrated manner. “That makes me feel so much better. Thanks.”
She shrugged. “Just being honest. At least you didn’t mate with Desmond. That boy is definitely straight. I don’t know about Richard. I know nothing about him, actually. Well, aside from him being a seer. That’s it, though.”
“What am I supposed to do? I literally can’t get him off my mind at this point.”
“You’ll figure it out. How long have you known?”
“Three hours. It’s taken an obnoxious amount of self-control to let you sleep this long.”
“Well…thanks, I guess. What time is it?”
“Ten thirty or so. It was like, ten twenty when I kicked open your door.”
Oh, yeah. He’d done that… She narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you break it?”
He sighed. “Probably. I’ll fix it in a few days.”
“Damn it, Noah. You can’t just break down my door. That is not okay, it’s never been okay, and it never will be okay.” Was it sad that she actually had to say that? She felt like it was sad. Abnormal at least.
He rolled his eyes, expressing how little he cared. “I’ll fix it. This was important. I found my mate and he’s human and he’s a he and he’s probably straight and damn it, this was just not my morning.”
“Want to go get some ice-cream?” Ice-cream made everyone feel better. It was like, the best invention ever and a good route to go when one had no clue how to make someone feel better.
“I’m not a woman,” he snapped in reply.
“Want to go get some ice-cream?” she repeated, blatantly ignoring his previous statement.
“…yes.”
She smirked. Ice-cream made everyone feel better. “Give me five minutes.”
He exited, she shut her door as best she could (he was paying for that), and she rapidly dressed. Once she found her shoes, under the bed, she was ready to go. She had no idea if there was an ice-cream parlor in town but it was as good a day as any to find out. Besides, ice-cream for breakfast was awesome and if all else failed, they could buy a carton from the supermarket.
“You’re a good sister,” he begrudgingly admitted as they headed down the stairs.
She grinned at him, “I know.”
…
The gentleman sat at a large metal desk, icy blue eyes intently studying the file in his hands. He carefully went through all the details, wanting to make the right decision. The black reading glasses slid down his nose, an extra and unnecessary reminder that he was getting old. As if his current task wasn’t enough of a clue… He was trying to choose the team of hunters best suited for the case in his hand. Once upon a time, he had taken on the cases himself and had been fairly successful. Now, he was the one delegating instead of being delegated to. He would probably never get used to the feeling. Despite his weakening eyesight, slower reflexes, and graying black hair, he didn’t feel that old. Certainly not old enough to have a desk job.
Maxwell, he decided. Maxwell’s team could take this particular problem. He grabbed a pen from his desk, scrawled that in the notes and closed the file, placing it in the ‘outgoing’ bin. He grabbed the next file in the ‘incoming’ stack. A frown spread over his face as he studied this particular record. It was extremely familiar to him. The Sullivan case. Two years ago? No, it had been three. Three and a half, maybe? Right before his so-called “promotion”. The two children had fled and hadn’t been heard from in ages. They’d become low-priority over the years with all the other crazy, highly dangerous werewolves out there. Guess they couldn’t be ignored any longer. Not when the hunters finally had the organization and manpower to take on all the jobs.
He called his secretary.
“Yes, Mr. Chase,” came her answer, in her irritatingly high-pitched voice.
“Gather my old team. I have an old case that I would like to close. I’ll be taking some time off. Call Johnson; let him know he’ll be filling in for me while I’m gone. He’s relatively competent.”
“Are you sure, Mr. Chase?”
He rolled his eyes. No, he just liked the sound of his own voice. “I’m positive, Janice. I also think I’ll take the rest of the day off in order to properly prepare myself.”
“Okay. I’ll postpone all your meetings for the next few weeks. Should I call Luna?”
He needed a new secretary. Seriously. Luna had been part of the team when he’d been in the field. Of course she should call her. “Please do. Tell her that it’s the only case we never finished. She’ll come for that.”
That was the reason he had to complete this one. The Sullivan siblings were the only ones who got away. It was unacceptable; a mar on an otherwise perfect record, and it had to be repaired. Maybe he was becoming a little OCD, but it didn’t matter. That was his team’s one and only mistake and they would fix it, together. It was time for a reunion.
He looked at the file once more and mentally groaned to himself. The boy had last been spotted in Washington. At forty-five, road trips weren’t fun anymore, they were a pain. Unfortunately, with all the numerous weapons they had, flying wasn’t an option these days. Richmond to Washington was not a short trip, either. Two days with constant driving, but they would have to stop. He was past his years of sleeping in a car. They wouldn’t stop for long, though. The boy was not going to escape. With any luck, he knew where the girl could be found, but he wouldn’t rely on luck. It didn’t matter anyway. Both of the Sullivans would be located. They had the Alpha gene; they couldn’t be allowed to survive. It was that simple.
_________________________________________________
A/N: Happy reading! I hope you enjoyed.