Grant
He was half excited to visit Gemma; he could sense her intelligence, though he didn’t blame her for being untrusting. He couldn’t think that she’d had any kind of good experience since she’d been brought here and then his stupid commander and friend didn’t want his mate and locked her up again.
Grant could see himself being friends with her; he felt drawn to her. Not in the creepy stalker type of way, but the ‘we could be friends and partners in crime’ way. He wasn’t sure how much humans ate, so he always put together a tray that would fill his own stomach. But this time he’d brought a plate for himself as well, maybe eating together would make her feel less like a prisoner.
He just really wanted to get through her defenses and see the real person. He was sure she was an undiscovered treasure and he wanted to be the first to find who she truly was.
Unlocking the door, he glanced around and then into her office and closet, but then he noticed the closed bathroom door and heard the splash of water. She had to be bored out of her mind, but taking a shower and a bath hours apart seemed odd. If she was a siren or a mermaid; maybe, but for a human it couldn’t be good.
Grant put the tray on the chair and went to knock on the door. “Hey Gemma, you’re going to wash your skin off!” He called teasingly through the door, but he was met with silence.
He knocked again, but something felt off. Taking the doorknob in his hand, he twisted it and there was still no reaction through the door. He was worried that she had decided to kill herself; it couldn’t be easy to find out you have a mate and he doesn’t want you, but doesn’t want to let you go either.
He nervously opened the door, hoping he was wrong, and found the empty bathroom with the tap of the bath dribbling water into the already full bath and making the water sounds he had mistaken for her bathing.
The little sneak!
He closed the tap and rushed out into her apartment checking all possible exits until he finally focused on the window. Surely, she hadn’t gone through there… He checked it nonetheless and made a sound of amazement.
She’d kept the unlocked window a secret from them all. He’d assumed the pack had nailed the window shut and never bothered to check. Did that mean that they had kept a guard at the window or she hadn’t had the chance to escape before?
Sniffing outside, he could follow the trail she used out onto the roof; his wolf was excited for this hunt. He followed the trail and then realized she’d used bleach water to burn his sensitive nose and mess with her scent. It was not to say that she had killed her trail completely, but her trail was not as fresh, pairing that with the full bath told him that she might have sneaked out not long after he’d left her with breakfast.
She had used bleach water a few places. But he found her trail into the woods. How had she managed to run over the open garden without being noticed by anyone? Not long and he thought he caught a strong scent of her.
Had she hurt herself and was unable to go any further? He was sure she wouldn’t just hide in the woods if she got out; she was too smart for that, so she had to have hurt herself. He followed the stronger scent to a thick bush and then barked a laugh of surprise.
The smart little human had undressed and left her clothes under the bush. He doubted that she would continue in the nude. He found a tainted scent leaving the bush, doused in bleach water.
The bleach water was actually helping him to follow the trail easier now that she had changed into someone else’s clothes. Then she must have run out of bleach water, because the tainted trail continued without the bleach scent. He was impressed with her plan; she did it so well, so far. He was proud of her accomplishments; he could see them getting along like a house on fire.
“Hey, Dale?” He called in mind link.
“What?” He all but snarled with annoyance.
“You know how you said you don’t want to deal with your mate?”
“What about it?”
“I think the feeling is mutual.”
“What are you on about?” Dale growled impatiently.
“So your mate escaped. And left the pack territory. I’m standing on the border and she just kept going.”
“You let her escape?” Dale roared in rage.
“She was rather smart at doing it. Do you want me to follow her trail?”
“I can’t! Elder Stuart will be here any moment to handle the pack transfer to another alpha.”
“Well, I can follow her and keep you updated if you want?”
“What do you mean ‘if I want’? You lost my mate!” He snarled.
“Technically, you didn’t want her, so…”
“Michaels!” Dale growled with annoyance.
“I just want to put it on record that you allowed a smart cookie to slip through your fingers…” Grant answered smugly, knowing that it would irk Dale. He deserved to suffer at least a little for disregarding his mate so completely – while she was awake, at least. Crawling into her bed after she was asleep does not count as attention to his mate. That was entirely selfish of him.
Grant continued following her tainted trail until he reached a medium sized stream. He leapt over to the other side, thinking that she might have gone over to the other side, but her scent wasn’t there. She must’ve either gone upstream or downstream. He thought she might have somehow found a map of the area since she seemed to be heading securely in a certain direction.
“Michaels, have you found her?” Dale snapped through the link and he rolled his eyes. He was very moody for someone who didn’t want his mate.
“No, I’m going to have to search for her trail.”
“What do you mean ‘search for her trail’? She’s an ignorant human!”
Wow, this guy was just racking up brownie points when it came to his mate. “Maybe if you claimed her like you were supposed to she wouldn’t be out here, now would she?” He retorted with a surly attitude.
He wasn’t even really in the mood to find her anymore; perhaps she would be better off escaping Dale. He’d always thought Dale was someone with integrity, but he was starting to think that he was just a dick.
“Come back; I’ll try to get leave and help you…” Dale sighed with annoyance.
“Maybe you should just let her go; you clearly don’t want her. So let her be free, then.”
“Aside from the fact that you’re being an ass, she’s a single human lost in wolf territory. How far do you think she’ll make it?”
“Oh, now you care? Speaking of being an ass; was it not you that told her to her face that you don’t want her; now suddenly you want her back? So you can lock her up again and get your fix every night sneaking into her room to calm your wolf?” He snapped angrily.
“What crawled up your ass? It’s none of your business what I do with her; she’s my mate!”
“You really are a selfish dick! What crawled up my ass is that I felt the death of my mate and I never got the chance to have what you got, falling into your lap. Now you want to abuse the biggest gift of your life? At the very least, reject her. Then I’ll take care of her, because where I’m standing she’s amazing.”
“Look, I’m sorry, man. Just come back and I’ll help you find her…” He could hear his friend’s sadness at his confession, he’d been there when he felt the bond break; he’d helped him through it when his wolf wanted to go feral. He knew what it was to lose that bond and he just wanted to throw it away.
“To do what? You don’t want her. Get leave for me and I’ll find her and at the very least find her somewhere where she can be happy and appreciated.”
“I said I’ll help you find her; don’t you trust my word?”
“I don’t trust you where she’s concerned.” He retorted angrily.
He couldn’t believe the man he’d thought was someone he could trust could be so cold towards his mate. He didn’t even want anyone to know that he’d found his mate. He locked her back in the rooms she’d spent more than a month in and he expected him to be fine with the way he treated the best gift he’d ever get.
He considered going AWOL and taking care of her, but that meant he would have to run for the rest of his life and he couldn’t protect Gemma if he had to run for his life. And he wanted to protect her. She was a jewel in his eyes.
“Don’t think about it, Michaels. They’re going to make me hunt you down if you go AWOL. Don’t make me hunt and kill my friend.”
“Fine. I’ll come back to get leave, first.” He retorted, he stared into the stream and then reluctantly turned around and ran in his wolf form back to the pack they had conquered. He guessed Elder Stuart was probably settled in already.
He was in charge of their division. Alpha Stuart was charged with overseeing the military side of things. They were mostly meant to protect wolves, but their work extended to hunting down dangerous ferals and packs that threatened to expose their kind to humans. They were also considered the royal law enforcement.
Dale headed the leading team that did dangerous missions, like conquering this pack and finding the missing she-wolves. Grant was his second in command; they didn’t usually get called in so soon; they were sort of the last resort – not that they weren’t busy enough. The only real reason they were called in so soon was because the last she-wolf to go missing was the daughter of a close friend of Elder Stuart.
He found Dale waiting for him just inside the trees with an extra set of clothes. Grant thanked him coldly and then asked where Elder Stuart was. He was not going to allow Dale to think he was about to talk him out of it. He’d joined this task team to be the good in the world where wolves didn’t always care about each other.
He needed to find Gemma and make sure she was safe; it had become his own personal mission and he needed to see it through.
“Eat something, first. It’s dinner time and I know you didn’t eat lunch.” Dale urged gently.
Grant nodded stiffly and stalked into the pack house. He’d lost some respect for his friend who had shown no real care for the one thing he had not been blessed to have in his life. And Gemma was amazing. She’d survived on her own in a pack of wolves, despite being smaller, weaker and alone.
Not to mention that she was intelligent and was sharp as a tack. He’d picked it up from the little he’d talked to her and her escape plan had added to his opinion of her. He would have loved to have her as a mate. Having a human mate was rare and few wolves would want one. But he wouldn’t mind a human mate; they were not so much different from wolves, aside from the fact that they did not have mates; they just tried to survive and Gemma had done it perfectly.
He’d decided that if Dale didn’t want her; he would make him reject her and he would try to win her over the way humans did. They did study humans extensively in their line; they had training on them two weeks before they had stepped into this mission. Personally, he found them to be fascinating, Gemma even more so; since she was the first human he’d met face to face.
Alright, I am challenging myself to see if I can update daily this month only. So here is today's update. If you are enjoying this book, please share it with friends.
GemmaShe’d kept going as long as she could, until her legs were about to give out and it was getting too dark for her to see the obstacles she could trip over. She kept going until she found a place that was relatively protected by large boulders. She was just grateful that it was summer and not winter, at least that was counting in her favor.Gemma dropped to the ground that was nearly surrounded with a rock outcrop with a sigh of relief and then rummaged through her bag, fishing out her blanket and jacket that she could use for the night. She felt utterly alone sitting there in the gathering darkness, but she didn’t dare make a fire to show them where she was in case they were still out looking for her, though the fire would have soothed some of her loneliness.Pulling out her bag with bacon, pancakes and toast, she chewed one pancake and one piece of bacon slowly, savoring the food that finally lined her stomach that had been co
Dale Dale had been annoyed with Grant, but mostly because he knew he deserved his anger. He had helped the wolf to deal with the loss of the mate he had never met, keeping his wolf from going feral. His friend would do anything to have a mate he could love fiercely since second-chance mates were beyond rare with their dwindling numbers and he had made a point of already abusing the gift he was given. But he hadn’t wanted a mate, least of all a weak human mate. But his wolf had been driving him insane since they had heard that she had escaped. So he had made a deal with his wolf that they would go find her as soon as their work was done, which helped when his wolf was quiet throughout his meeting with Elder Stuart and not attempting to break free. Once he’d managed to convince Grant to come back, he had requested another meeting with Elder Stuart after dinner and had asked the kitchen to make up travel rations. He and Grant would
Gemma It was early afternoon when Wade suddenly froze in his step. He was quiet for a long moment and then turned to her urgently. She could see he was worried as he glanced around them. Then he started pushing her towards a large tree with his nose, his sense of urgency urged her to move towards the tree as fast as she could. Then he indicated that she climb the tree, pointing his wolf nose up at the tree. Obediently, she started climbing the tree, grateful that her sneakers had a good tread and that she had grown up a tomboy. Wade watched her until she came to the third big branch and then spun round and growled as two other wolves suddenly appeared out of the woods. The two males were dirty and their clothes looked like they’d donned rags. They stared at him with speculation, then sniffed the air and looked up into the tree. They caught her fearful gaze in between the leaves and sneered lasciviously. “Come
Dale He was sure they were gaining on the human and the rogue, their scent was stronger and his wolf was getting excited at the prospect of seeing his mate again. Dale was still at odds with himself and his wolf, since he didn’t know what to do once he found her. His opinion on her had been changed somewhat with being on her trail, but she was still painfully naïve to follow a rogue when she didn’t know what he would do. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a squeal of fright and his first reaction was to run at full speed in the direction it had come from, but then he stopped short. What the hell? What was going on? He stood in a small natural clearing with one dead and drained rogue and the scent of a vampire along with the rogue she had been following. He followed the trails and what he could deduce was that the rogue she was following had led her towards the large tree, which she had climbed, but then the vampire scen
GemmaWhen the trees thinned out, Charlie finally put her down, but her legs were still wobbly from the speed at which they had travelled. They kindly waited a moment for her to catch her breath and find her strength again, then Wade nudged her hand with his nose and pointed his nose to her bag.She guessed he wanted the clothes and she took the bag from her shoulder before she opened it and took out his clothes. She had just stood straight and held the clothes out to him when she heard the bones snapping into place a moment before he stood naked in front of her again.“Geez! I wish you’d warn a girl before just flashing me like that!” She retorted as she turned her head away to stare into the trees as her cheeks warmed with embarrassment, only hearing both males chuckle at her bashfulness about his naked form.Charlie picked up her backpack and hung it over his shoulder before he held his arm to her, putting her
Gemma Early the next morning she took a quick shower before dressing in the new clothes that fit surprisingly well, considering that Charlie had not asked her sizes. They ate the croissants for breakfast and then headed off. Charlie was still being the gentleman and holding his arm out to her, which she accepted, and Wade still glancing around like he expected danger to come at them any moment. Charlie and Wade insisted that to throw off their followers they should take random streets so they did not know which way they were going. Gemma knew better than to disagree, since they obviously have more experience evading asshole wolves than she did. They finally reached the train station by midafternoon and Charlie again insisted on buying the tickets while she and Wade waited outside the station. Charlie returned soon after with a smile and said they had about two hours to wait for the next train. “Let’s find some place to eat lunch? I need to make an urgent phone call.” She sugg
DaleEarly morning they showered and dressed in a spare set of clothes. Then he allowed his wolf to come forward just enough so he could scent his mate with ease. The trail was fresh, but when they came to the door of the room, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were no longer in there.They had somehow left the room before he and Grant had left theirs. So they went downstairs and asked the preppy young woman if she knew anything about their room number. She was very forthcoming with information when Grant smiled at her and told her the sob story that he was trying to find his sister.She actually believed him and informed him that they had paid and left that morning, so waiting at the place would have been wasted effort. She did have some more information, telling them that the three had seemed friendly and unharmed, probably in an attempt to soothe Grant’s worry for his ‘sister’.Then they ended
GemmaShe looked up at Charlie and realized the time had come to play open cards with them, especially if they had no intention of going their separate ways. So she took a deep breath and started with the sad story of her life, sometimes through tears and sometimes with anger for what the wolves had done to her. By the time she was done, Wade stared at her like she’d grown a second head and then gave a slow grin and Charlie chuckled.“Let me get this straight. You managed to create a coup on the pack without a single act of violence? This is priceless!” Charlie cooed with delight.Wade scratched behind his ear for a moment; it seemed to be his way of showing that he had something important on his mind. “A...Gem, you won and lost, there.” He finally grunted out.“What do you mean?” She asked with a frown of confusion.“The owner of the pack lands is the a