That night she lay in the hotel bed staring up at the ceiling. Her ribs ached terribly, the running had not helped in the slightest and then she had done a full day of work, scrubbing, hovering, bending and tiding. She was in a lot of pain and sleep wasn’t coming to her. She would be very tired tomorrow.
All day as she had gone from club to pub and so on. She had seen them staring at her, following her but making no attempt to approach her while she stayed where there was a lot of people around. Their looks of concern deepened throughout the day but she stopped looking at their faces after a while. She recognised their clothes and their build amongst the crowd and simply avoided them, staying in the midst of everyone.
She didn’t dare let Tim out of her sight and despite the landlords not being too impressed she made him sit in a corner all day while she cleaned and glanced up at him every few seconds. He was bored all morning until at dinner she had bought him a colouring book to occupy him for the rest of the afternoon. She had bought him a MacDonald’s because it was a public place and she wasn’t going home. He loved it. She worried about money.
When it came to finding a hotel in her price range she had groaned. The term ‘nothing fancy’ held a whole new meaning when faced with the room she got. It was tiny and needed work doing. The window was jammed shut and for that she was grateful. She bolted the door and got Tim in bed but she herself was so afraid of sleeping and missing any noises that could give away the followers trying to get in to the room that she didn’t drift off.
She wanted an ice pack for her ribs but knew she couldn’t get one. In the end she wet a towel and pressed the cold material to her sides, it hurt to touch but the coolness felt nice. It didn’t help in sleeping though. She resigned herself to staying awake by the time she heard the birds singing. She still hadn’t made her decision. Running from two Alphas was a big thing and she didn’t know if she could pull it off. She couldn’t leave Tim alone in the world either and deep down she knew she had to meet this new Alpha. Or rather old one, she was the new one around these parts.
A howling in the distance had her jumping a mile from the bed. She sat bolt upright and clutched her sides when pain shot through her. That was a werewolf call and it was loud and insistent. And meant for her.
She could feel herself drawn to the noise, so much so she found her legs over the side of the bed, her body had every intention of following it even when her mind did not. The call came again and the urge to get out of bed was stronger. It was almost like she needed to go to the wolf making the noise. There was a lot of power behind, it could be no other than the Alpha and she knew delaying the inevitable would only anger him more but she couldn’t go, not yet, she wasn’t prepared. She hurt and Tim was asleep. She wouldn’t wake him and she wouldn’t leave him alone either.
Eventually she had to huddle up in bed, tears streamed down her face. She didn’t know why but resisting that call had her feeling like she was grieving. It was terrible. She began to feel complete disdain for the wolf who was making her feel this way. She wanted to scream at him but the power of an Alpha scared her. She felt the pull inside, a steady pull that didn’t’ ease up and no matter how long she resisted it, it did not go away.
Ray was angry, his men had trailed her all day only to tell him she had eluded them. What he heard had no pleased him. His mate had ran like the hounds were at her feet – why was she so afraid? Second, she was a cleaner. That job enraged him, if his mate had to work in the first place he had certainly not wanted such a job for her. All the hard work cleaning up other people’s messes and on the low pay she would get for her hard work. That would be changing.
The third thing that had enraged him to a point of rage was pain. His men had reported that they felt she was in a lot of pain. Her terror had sent her running and they had followed until they were close enough to her to hear her beating heart going far too fast and not from exertion either because her breathing was fine. Getting that close however they had felt her pain and running so fast only hurt her further. So they had stopped and simply tailed her all day long.
Her constant avoidance had meant they couldn’t make contact with her, even to ask her name. They had sensed a vulnerability in her and from her running knew she was no threat. To his two men she had become a mystery, a fragile mystery they had come to protect as she went through the day. They had gone from trying to capture her to making sure she was constantly alright, they had watched out for anyone who frightened her further though she didn’t see the difference in their watches. She didn’t differentiate between the look of determination to capture her and then the look of protection.
All through the day she had avoided his men, knowing they came to introduce her to him. She had avoided him. That both angered and hurt him. She was his mate and she wasn’t letting him see her.
“Aargh!” He shouted as he punched a tree. To top it all off she had gone to some hotel he wasn’t pleased at her being in. It was run down, damp and he was sure she would get ill by staying in there.
By the early hours of the morning he had had enough. He couldn’t sleep and he didn’t want her in that hotel a moment longer. Her health was important to him so he sent out the call. It was the worst thing he could have done because she didn’t answer him. His personal call to his very own mate, it was a privilege to finally be able to sound the call and she ignored it. Grief crashed down on him, his chest felt squeezed tight as she ignored the mating call. He was getting the impression she was rejecting him but then she hadn’t said it to his face so it technically wasn’t a rejection. The problem was he couldn’t get her to come to him to tell him either way.
Not that he would allow her to reject him anyway, but still, he wanted to see her face to face.
“Ray?”
“Why will she not come?”
“She seems afraid.”
“Of what? I have done nothing to her to make her fear me!” He shouted, getting his frustration out knowing Turner wouldn’t mind. He was used to seeing his Alpha like this.
“It doesn’t have to be you specifically. She is new, ask yourself where she has come from and who was the Alpha of her previous pack. There may be answers in her past.”
“The only way to find that out is to get her to come to me.”
“There is always tomorrow.”
“Today – its past midnight.”
“Then you should be asleep Alpha. Go to bed, worry about her tomorrow.”
“She… She is my mate.”
“I gathered.”
The dry comment of his Beta had Ray turning around finally.
“Your reaction is anything but normal.” Was all the explanation he got.
“Got to bed Turner, I will see you later.”
“You need sleep yourself. You have work soon.”
“I will not sleep while she is in that hotel, afraid, and in pain.”
“You won’t do her any good if you are grumpy from sleep deprivation.”
“Turner – don’t push me.”
Sensing that it would be foolish to push his Alpha into going to sleep Turner finally left for the night going to his own mate and his beautiful little daughter who was only three years old. He loved buying her presents and seeing her face light up. His daughter was well and truly spoilt by him. But then so was his mate; not a day went by when he didn’t also get her a present. Today was a red rose with its thorns cut off so she wouldn’t hurt her fingers.
She did not sleep at all. The pull inside of her died down an hour before she was due to get up. She took the chance to take a shower and dress before Tim got up, she didn’t want him to see her bruises but then that outfit she had packed would show some of them off.
Shrugging because there was nothing she could do she stepped into the shower. And didn’t want to get out. After all the pain she had been in during the night, the hot water on her sore body felt blissful. It beat down on her muscles and released their tension. The ache in her sides calmed under the heat and the gently pressure of the water. Her quick shower turned into a long one, simply because she was relieved to be pain free for a little while.
When at last she got out she donned her specially chosen outfit. Dread filled up inside her, she had known deep down what she had to do. She had no choice but to go to the Alpha no matter how it scared her. Looking over her appearance she didn’t like how she looked but knew it was the best she was going to get. She kept her hair down so the bruise on her face, from the back of her father’s hand, wouldn’t show too much then she walked out of the bathroom to wake Tim up. She was glad today was Saturday, she only had a five hour shift today. Working six day a week made her tired but at least that would only be after dinner, she had time for confrontation first.
“Tim, Tim wake up.”
“Why are we getting up.”
“We have to go meet some people. Or rather, I have to go meet someone and you are going to stay hidden.”
“Is it the men who followed us?”
“Yes, and someone else.”
“Who?” She ignored his question hurrying him from the bed and getting him washed and dressed. He was seven years old and despite his protests she always got him dressed. Not because he couldn’t do it but because she didn’t trust him to tell her if he was hurt. He too tried to hide from her when their father had gotten to him which thankfully was once a blue moon because Tendra made sure they were never together alone and so she could always jump in to save Tim. Still she dressed him to make sure he was unharmed.
All too soon it was time to go. It felt like drums in the distance were counting her steps and measuring the time until she reached the woods. Part of her longed to go into the green world - in there was freedom and it called to her, but her fear wasn’t so far away. “Go hide over there Tim.”
“I can see the house.”
“I know you can. Now be quiet okay?”
“Okay Tendra.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
She hugged him once more before she turned to the forest and took a deep breath, then she stepped in and went to see her fate.