Luke's Dream (2 page)

My dreams of Claiming my Mate shattered. The
female I’d found looked about fourteen. The pull and my interest in
her shamed me. I couldn’t Claim her. She was little more than a
child. And I’d stopped and watched her kiss a girl like the
apparent pervert I was.

For almost three weeks I’d thought I’d been
hours away from Claiming my Mate. Now, I was years from it. I
wanted to howl, curse, and hit something.

What was I supposed to do now? I knew Gabby
wanted me to bring her back. I’d thought I’d be returning with my
Mate. What did Gabby expect me to do with this girl? Kidnap
her?

My phone was out of my pocket and in my hand
before the tall girl walked away.

I dialed Gabby’s number, furious and
frustrated.

“Hello?”

“Gabby, I found her, but—”

“Luke?”

“Yes. I understand you think she’s important,
but she’s not even eighteen. How am I supposed to get her to come
with me?” I certainly wasn’t about to approach her.

“I can’t believe you actually found her! I
need to talk to her. If she’s like me, which I think she is, you
had better bring her to the Compound.”

Bloody hell.

“I hate to admit it,” Gabby said with a sigh,
“but the Elders need to know.”

I wanted to throw the phone. The Elders could
go bugger themselves. They wouldn’t care that she was a young human
girl. They would only care that she was a potential Mate. I eyed
the girl and realized the danger she would be in if I left her
here. Some other wolf who wouldn’t care about her age could stumble
upon her. My jaw clenched at the thought of another of my kind even
coming near her. She could barely stand. She wouldn’t have a chance
on her own. Exhaling slowly, I realized the truth of what Gabby was
saying. Only under the protection of the Elders, would this girl be
safe from unwanted attention.

“Fine. You better be there when we
arrive.”

I hung up and stared at the girl. She was
lucky I’d been the one to find her. I’d keep her safe and hand her
over to the Elders. My resentment at the situation only grew with
my decision. I’d waited so long for her. Now I would need to wait
longer.

While I studied her, she remained oblivious
to everything around her and continued to sway on her feet. The
girl who’d remained at her side, nudged her when her eyes drifted
closed.

I’d decided to shadow her until she was alone
but changed my mind when her kissing friend returned.

“I got you some caffeine pills and a Monster,
but rent-a-cop over there is watching us. So how about you tell us
what’s got you so messed up. And don’t say no sleep, we got
that.”

Caffeine pills? Monster? I watched human
news. That combination was linked to several teen deaths. Was she
trying to kill herself?

“Haunting memories. Let’s leave it at
that.”

Hearing her voice pulled at my insides. I
should have been celebrating the pull, not wanting to run from it.
Yet, I couldn’t stand by and let her endanger herself.

Cursing Gabby, Clay, Elders, and every other
living creature on the planet, I approached the group.

The girl’s non-kissing companion saw me.

“Hottie approaching,” she said quietly.

The girl tensed a moment before I tapped on
her shoulder.

“Pardon, do you know where the loo is?” I
asked, playing up my childhood accent.

She looked over her shoulder, distain pulling
at her features. Her scent didn’t change. Her pulse, however, did.
It skipped a beat, a sign she felt the pull, too. She turned fully
to face me, and I briefly forgot about her age.

Her eyes were the most brilliant blue,
appearing almost violet in the light. Against her dark hair and
pale skin, the intensity of the color stunned me. She eyed me
slowly, still slightly swaying. The top of her head barely reached
my chin. Her long sleeves clung to her thin arms, accentuating her
frailty.

Her gaze narrowed slightly, and her stance
firmed.

“Oh my God, an accent. Take me, I’m
yours.”

Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on me. I smiled as
her friends laughed. Then, I caught a faint trace of her true
scent. The smooth sweetness of vanilla mixed with the spicy tang of
cinnamon. I leaned in, unable to help myself.

“You smell amazing.”

Her pupils dilated then contracted, and her
pulse jumped.

A sign of her interest in me? I wanted to
grin at the thought that my Mate recognized me and wanted me.

A small sound escaped her, and the girl she’d
kissed moved defensively closer. It took a moment to register the
distress in my girl’s eyes. Brought back to reality, I
straightened. Her pulse continued to increase, proving she wasn’t
feeling interest, but fear. What was I doing? She was too young,
and I was a bloody git for scaring her.

“I need a minute,” she said to her friends.
The other two girls eyed me before moving away.

“I do
not
smell amazing,” my girl
said, lowly. “I smell like I need a shower. Badly.”

I held up my hands. It was time for a
strategic retreat.

“No offense, luv. I’m just looking for the
loo.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly and lifted her
hand to point at a rather large restroom sign. Standing at the
entrance was a uniformed security woman who was watching us.
Perfect. If I left the girl now, she’d likely take the pills and
caffeine drink from her friend. Would the security woman notice?
Would the girl be detained? I didn’t want to scare her or cause her
trouble, but I also didn’t want her hurt.

The girl watched me closely as if waiting for
me to do something scrupulous. I most certainly needed to
leave.

I opened my mouth to say farewell but her
expression became even more guarded. Knowing I’d lost the
opportunity for a friendly exchange, I nodded my thanks and walked
off in the direction she’d pointed. The guard watched me approach.
I smiled at her and made my way into the men’s restroom.

How was I supposed to get the girl to the
Compound? She was young but obviously not stupid. She didn’t even
trust the reason I’d approached them; what reason could I give her
to take a cross country trip with me?

This was going to end with me arrested. I
leaned against the sink and stared at myself. The girl needed
protection. I couldn’t walk away and leave her discovery to someone
else. She was mine to watch over until I presented her to Gabby and
the Elders. Even though I knew my right to her was still a long way
off, I felt a rush of satisfaction.

“She’s fourteen,” I said to the mirror. I
couldn’t let myself forget.

When I left the restroom, the guard was gone
and so was the girl and her friends. Despite the foot traffic, her
odd scent was easy to track. She’d left through a set of side
doors. I followed the trail on foot through the parking lot to a
bus stop and swore.

The bike I’d borrowed was in the adjacent
lot. Jogging to it, I took the key from my pocket and hoped I’d be
able to follow the exhaust of the bus. Now that I’d finally found
her, I didn’t want to lose her and start the search over.

With the wind hitting my face, it wasn’t easy
to discern one specific vehicle from the emissions clogging the
air. After two mistakes that required me to backtrack, I found
myself driving through quiet neighborhoods until I caught a
concentrated area of the girl’s unusual scent at a corner bus stop.
Driving slowly, I tracked it to a small, neat house bordered with
trimmed hedges. The home didn’t fit the girl. Everything about it
looked maintained and cared for.

Parking in front, I wondered what kind of
life the girl had. What would I be taking her from? I slowly
strolled up the front walk and knocked on the door. I waited and
knocked again, a bit louder. There was no answer. After a casual
look around to check for witnesses, I gave the knob a sharp twist
and let myself in.

The entry opened into a modest kitchen. The
girl’s unusual chemical scent soured the otherwise clean space. The
sink was clear of dishes and the table decorated with a flowering
plant. On the surface, I spotted a note and phone. Both looked out
of place in the uncluttered setting.

I moved to the table and looked down at the
note.

Mom,

School’s not for me. I want to see the
world. I’m sorry for leaving like this but hope you’ll understand
someday.

Bethony

Bethony. I smiled slightly at finally knowing
her name, then frowned and stared at her words. She’d run? Why?
Turning away, I followed her scent to her room. It was a complete
mess, entirely opposite of the rest of the house. Clothes piled
onto the floor, the bed, and half hung out of her dresser drawers.
A bathroom connected to the bedroom. I checked and saw the
toothbrush holder was empty and no hairbrush in sight. Girls always
had a hairbrush handy.

Walking out, I eyed her room once more then
left. If she was running, I needed to keep following her trail or I
would risk losing it.

Back outside, I got on the bike and slowly
pulled away from her home. Bethony, a caffeine addict on the run
from what looked like a completely stable home. I hoped things
would start making sense soon.

Her trail led me to another bus stop several
blocks in the opposite direction of the first. It wasn’t as quiet
or small and had a schedule posted just inside the clear walls. I
checked the laminated paper and took off again, following the bus’s
route.

At each stop, I tested the air for her scent.
I didn’t rush. Overlooking anything would mean losing her. I would
not lose Bethony.

It was
almost four hours later that I rolled into a small town, the last
stop on the bus’s route before it circled back. At the T
intersection, where the main road met with a county road, a
hometown diner seemed the focal point. A worn red and white sign
suspended from the shingled roof totted Chris’s Cooking Café. Set
back just enough to allow diagonal street side parking, the
building invited a hungry traveler.

Pulling into a spot out front, I killed the
motor. My hands tingled from the long ride. I shook them out as I
looked around. There wasn’t much to see. Beyond the diner, there
was a small motel further to the left and several houses. To the
right, a bar, a church, and further down, a farm. On the road from
which I’d come, a few scattered houses. There was no traffic or
pedestrians.

The quiet of the place washed over me. While
I considered myself more adapted than most of my kind—I’d worked
jobs and lived in houses that required rent—submerging myself into
city living over the last few weeks had left me itching for trees
and my fur.

I inhaled deeply, appreciating the abundance
of cold earthy scents. Yet, underneath that, the tang of her scent
lingered. She’d definitely gotten off the bus here. Since I didn’t
see a figure walking in any direction, my guess she was either in
the diner or the motel.

Getting off the bike, I considered how best
to approach her. She’d been standoffish the first time around.
Seeing me here would look like I was stalking her. Which I was.
With a frown, I started toward the diner, hoping for a miracle to
avoid a public scene and jail time.

A scream faint enough that no human would
have heard it unless they were closer had me turning my head toward
the motel. Was it her?

I started scenting the air as I moved.
Another scream cut through the air, ripe with pain and terror. I
broke into a run. Her scent guided me to the correct door, and I
didn’t hesitate to twist the knob and break the lock.

A small, dark room greeted me. Bethony lay on
the bed, spasmodically twitching in her sleep. I quickly stepped in
and closed the door behind me. Even without the outside light, I
had no trouble seeing her. She hadn’t stopped twitching at the
sound of the door closing.

“Bethony,” I said gently, not wanting to
scare her again.

She didn’t seem to hear me. Her twitching
only grew worse. Tears leaked from the corners of her closed eyes,
leaving behind a thick trail of black from her heavy eye
makeup.

I breathed in expansively. The room smelled
of must and fear. She was dreaming. Nothing pleasant by the looks
of it.

Her mouth opened, and I knew she was about to
scream again. I was beside her in two steps.

“It’s just a dream, sweetheart,” I said,
smoothing back her hair.

No scream came, but she stiffened in her
sleep as if in incredible pain. The sight tore a hole in my resolve
to keep my distance. Without considering the consequences, I lifted
her into my arms and sat on the bed. Her mouth closed, and her
expression eased. Slowly, the tension melted from her, and she
relaxed in my hold.

“That’s right. You’re safe.”

I studied her tear streaked face as the
crease in her brow gradually faded. The perfection of her cute,
small nose made my heart skip uncomfortably. Mine…in about four
years. What was four years when I’d already waited twenty-three. It
was nothing, I told myself. I couldn’t quite make myself believe it
though.

I pressed my lips to her forehead and held
her tightly. She didn’t move, but her pulse and breathing eased,
and I knew she’d settled into a more peaceful sleep.

Holding her, I considered what to do next.
That she’d run from home and left a note would make it easier for
me to get her to the Compound. But the way she’d run bothered me.
With the exception of her room, her home had looked clean and
well-cared for. The letter to her mom wasn’t something a resentful
teen would leave, so I didn’t think her leaving was due to a poor
home life. And I certainly didn’t believe it was because of me.
What teen runs from home because some random stranger asked
directions to the bathroom? Yet, the timing of her departure
burrowed into my mind.