Luke's Dream (9 page)

“Try to hold on. I called for help. There
should be a car ahead,” I said over my shoulder. I twisted the
throttle to speed up.

Even with the wind from the ride, I could
smell her spike in fear as she wrenched her head from my back.

“What do you mean you called for help?”

A wolf flew out of the woods before the last
word left her mouth. Big, black, and furry, the chap just missed
our back tire. Bethi wrapped her arms around me tightly, trembling
as it scrambled to gain on us.

“Ease up,” I said, knowing it would hear.
“You’re scaring her.”

When I watched him try to bite the back tire,
I realized this wasn’t the wolf Joshua had sent to meet us.

“Hold on,” I called loudly over my
shoulder.

“Faster!” She punctuated the command with an
unnecessary slap to my back.

I’d twisted the throttle and gained some
speed when another shape flew into our path. I leaned left and made
a swift, deep swerve around the second one. Thankfully, Bethi moved
with me, keeping our balance as she clung to my back and panted in
fear.

A small, distressed sound escaped her a
moment before her arms tightened around my waist and the strap cut
into my chest. One of them had her. Releasing my hold on the bike,
I let her captor have us both.

The bike continued forward, slipping out from
between my legs as I reached back, wrapped around Bethi, and
severed the strap. We landed just seconds after being unseated. I
quickly got to my feet as the bike glided for a distance then fell
onto its side on the gravel shoulder.

In a glance, I took in the competition and
crouched defensively in front of Bethi. Since this was an
unsanctioned challenge in a public place, these two were unlikely
to play by the rules and come at me one at a time. From the looks
in their eyes, they meant to kill me to get to Bethi.

The dark grey wolf behind us surged to his
feet and shook the severed bag from his mouth. The black wolf
counter paced his grey partner. They studied me, waiting. Two
against one left the odds in their favor, but they were smart not
to rush in.

“Go,” I said, giving Bethi a nudge. I didn’t
want her to see what would happen next and preferred her safely
away from the fight.

“No, thanks.” She picked herself up off the
ground and moved several steps back but didn’t leave.

The two tensed, sensing an opportunity, and I
knew there wasn’t any time left to argue with her.

I loosened the tight hold I had over the
change and let my claw and teeth burst forth as I leapt forward.
Both wolves crouched and sprang for me. Twisting in the air, I
reached out toward the grey while swinging out my legs to the
black. My foot connected with a chest as my fist drove into a
muzzle. As I landed fully transformed and on all fours, the black
wolf stopped his backward slide on the road and the grey one shook
his head.

Both exuded anger and resentment. I truly did
empathize with them. I’d felt the same way when I heard Gabby
showed preference to the quiet, backwoods Clay. However, I never
thought I had the right to kill one of my kind to get to her.

When the grey wolf lunged at me, I twisted
and deflected a viciously aimed bite. The black one used the
distraction to try to move in. Spinning, I savagely ripped into his
face. With my teeth and jaw locked in a firm hold, the mutt had no
chance of shaking me free. He tried, though, as the grey one
attempted to circle us and find an opening. I shadowed the grey’s
moves and kept his friend between us.

I’d learned the secret to fighting two
against one long ago. Don’t try to fight them both at the same
time. Disable one, then move on. The trick was disabling the first
challenger without giving the second opponent an opening to disable
me.

A rock sailed over me and hit the mongrel
smack in the head. He yelped like a pup. Blood dripped, and I knew
it was my chance to end the fight.

While the grey one dwelled on his own pain, I
twisted my hold on the black’s muzzle and dropped my hind legs.
Using the momentum of a roll, I heaved the wolf onto the stunned
grey, then went for the black’s throat. He couldn’t even manage a
yelp through the wet gurgle he made.

The grey struggled under the weight of the
dying wolf. He knew what would come.

“Yield,” I growled, wanting to avoid an
unnecessary death.

His defiant gaze held mine as he pulled back
his lips to show his teeth.

To protect Bethi, I took a second life. I
didn’t move until he stilled, and I knew the threat was gone.
Behind me, Bethi’s pulse jack rabbited. She’d seen me kill. What
would she think of me now? I turned to her.

She stood several paces away, pale and
shaking. She glanced at the wolves and paled further as they
shifted back to their skin.

Still in my fur, I moved toward her. She
jumped slightly and swung her terror-filled wide eyes to me. I
wanted to comfort her but would need to shift to do so. Dealing her
yet another shock by standing before her naked wasn’t an option.
Neither would I leave her alone with two dead bodies just so I
could run into the woods to dress.

Settling for compromise with a shake of my
head, I trotted over to her bag. Seeing a naked backside was less
threatening than a front side or being alone. Ensuring my back was
to her, I shifted to my skin.

She made a small squeak.

“Turn around,” I said, not moving.

“Ha! No way.”

I scowled back at her then reached into her
bag for my hoodie and a pair of her pajama pants. She giggled when
I put the pants on. I couldn’t blame her. The tiny fairies on the
pants truly represented how I felt in them. That they bound in the
crotch and ended several inches above the ankles only made them
more ridiculous.

I picked up the bag, went over to her, and
held it out. Sheer terror no longer glazed her eyes, but there was
still plenty of fear in her scent.

“We’ll need to stop for new clothes,” I said
with a wry grin, trying to lighten the moment.

She giggled, but her gaze held no amusement
as it swept over my face. Reaching into the bag I still held, she
pulled out another shirt. At first, I thought she meant me to try
to wear it. But she didn’t speak or hand it to me. She gravely
lifted it to my face and wiped the material across my mouth. When
she pulled it away, I saw blood. Her hand shook.

I gently took the shirt from her fingers, put
it back in the bag, and went over to the bike. I needed to get her
somewhere safe. My girl desperately needed some peace.

That the road had remained quiet throughout
the encounter was an unusual twist of fate. One I wasn’t going to
tempt. We needed to leave the area quickly. Lifting the bike, I
found several long scratches in the paint on the tank, dings in the
chrome, and scuffs in the leather. The owner would likely want to
finish the job the two in the road had started. As soon as I had
the engine rumbling, I waved Bethi over.

While she mounted behind me, I tucked the bag
with the broken strap under my thighs. Without the bag, she would
need to hold on.

“No falling asleep,” I said as she wrapped
her arms around me.

When we
reached the next town, I stopped at the first public restroom I
found. Bethi didn’t say anything when I parked, just got off the
back and disappeared into the ladies room. I didn’t like how pale
she still looked or the sour tang of her scent.

Frustrated with the issues we kept having, I
took the torn bag with me to the men’s room. A man I passed on the
way in gave me an odd look. Since most the blood was off my face
when I checked the mirror, I figured it was the pants. Running the
water, I rinsed my face, neck and hair, then washed my hands,
removing any trace of blood. After wrapping the bloody shirt in
paper towel, I tucked it deep into the garbage then left.

Bethi was already waiting by the bike when I
stepped out. The vacant way she looked around her worried me.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly, coming up to
her.

“For what?” She tilted her head to look up at
me, but her gaze didn’t meet mine. Her focus drifted to the people
around us.

“No fourteen year-old should witness death
like that.”

“Seventeen,” she said absently. “And don’t
worry about it. It’s not the first death I’ve witnessed. Are we
going?”

Seventeen? I tried not to let my delight and
shock show. She didn’t appear that old. No, not true. When I looked
into her beautiful eyes, I didn’t see youth. I saw the pain of a
lifetime.

“Clothes next,” I said, getting on. She
nodded and resumed her position behind me.

As I drove around looking for a store, I
started rethinking our future. Her age changed some of my plans
while some remained the same. To provide for her, I’d need to get a
job, which I’d already planned on doing. Now, though, I would have
less than a year to save enough money to get us out of the Compound
because to keep her safe until we were Mated, we’d need to live
there. Living with her, seeing her every day, and waiting to allow
her to Claim me would be a challenge. Even now I couldn’t ignore
the way she leaned against me.

Turning into a strip mall, I parked the bike
and waited for Bethi to dismount. We walked together toward an
apparel store.

The clerks inside had a good laugh at my
appearance. I smiled good naturedly as I selected two pair of
pants, shirts, socks, and new shoes. Bethi followed me, saying
little. When I went to the woman’s section, she rolled her eyes but
picked out a warmer top. I grabbed some leggings to go under her
pants and also added a new bag to our small pile before we made our
purchases.

Deciding it was wiser to change elsewhere, we
left the store with our purchases and found another restroom.

I handed her the leggings and top and took
the rest in with me to repack in the new bag.

It didn’t take me long to change. I went
outside to wait for Bethi and called Joshua.

“Where are you?” he said in lieu of a
greeting. “My friend said you didn’t show.”

“We ran into some trouble. I need to report
two dead.” Death during a challenge wasn’t unheard of but
discouraged because of our low numbers.

“Human?” he asked in concern.

“No. Two of ours. They were after Bethi. They
must have caught her scent somehow.”

“Ah,” he said, sounding disappointed. “Yes,
finding a human potential mate is rare. Her scent likely caused
them to challenge you. Others will be interested in Claiming her as
well.”

Just the thought of any male showing interest
in her caused my hackles to rise. If two could find us, it was only
a matter of time before more did. Especially as we neared the
Compound.

“Can you tell them to stay away?”

“Has she Claimed you?”

“No, but she has shown interest.”

Joshua exhaled heavily. “I wish I could, but
you know the rules. Until an Elders witnesses the interest,
everyone is free to approach her.”

Approach and challenge. That made traveling
even more dangerous.

“We still need a car.”

“Perhaps, given what’s happened, it would be
better to meet in a more populated area.”

He laid out his new plans and wished us
well.

Bethi emerged from the bathroom after I’d
tucked the phone into my front pocket. A bit of color had returned
to her face, and her eyes no longer looked as glazed.

“Who did you call about a car?” she
asked.

“An Elder. I told him about the attack. He’s
changed plans with his contacts and suggested we come to a more
populated area.”

“What’s an Elder?”

As we walked side by side, slowly making our
way to the bike, I tried to think of the best way to describe
Elders. Mostly they were a pain in the ass. But, they wouldn’t be
to someone like Bethi. To her, they would be her protectors until
she came of age, and I didn’t want her disliking her
protectors.

“They are the keepers of our kind. Everything
they do, they do in our best interest, unlike pack leaders.” I
couldn’t help adding that last bit. It was a lesson my father had
drilled into me.

“What do you mean?”

“Pack leaders want to control their members.
Elders want to guide them.”

“Why have pack leaders, then?”

“Exactly,” I said. If we had Elders looking
out for us, why was there ever a need for a leader? It was only a
position for power hungry pricks. “That’s why I don’t follow a
leader. The Elders aren’t so bad, though.”

Once we sat on the bike, we used the new bag
as a harness. She didn’t try to bite me again as I started the bike
and pulled onto the road. After learning her age, I did feel a
twinge of disappointment. Not that I thought she was suddenly old
enough. I just didn’t want her losing interest in me.

Since she didn’t slump against me, I knew she
was awake. We had a fair distance to travel before meeting up with
Joshua’s friend again, and I wondered how long she’d last before we
needed to stop.

“Why don’t you want to be Claimed?” she asked
from behind me as if she’d heard my thoughts.

I turned my head so she would hear my
answer.

“I
do
want to be Claimed. Just not
now.”

“I don’t get it. Why not? And don’t bother
denying the pull you feel for me. I know you do.”

I shook my head and faced forward. The pull
wasn’t the issue, but I knew pointing out her age would only start
an argument.

She heaved a sigh but didn’t ask again. As we
snaked our way through town, she slowly started to slump against
me. Once we cleared town, her head touched my back, and I knew the
moment she went under.

Before she could start twitching, I pulled
the bike to the shoulder, loosened the strap, and reached behind me
to pull her around to my lap. Even by human standards she was
light.