"There is something about her, James. She's hiding something from me, she's never hid anything from me. I'm worried." Zenah's mother paced back and forth nervously.
"Oh come on Mary, she's just come through a near death experience. Of course she's going to be different for a little while." Zenah's father crossed the bedroom he and his wife shared and placed both his hands on her shoulders.
"Why did you send her out there? You know she wasn't going to be able to handle it, yet you let her go anyway, why?"
"Because she wanted nothing more than to get out there, to experience what it's like to be on her own, I remember that feeling."
"But she could have been killed. You know why we don't let our women out there. Those cats that are out there could kill her in a heartbeat, not to mention the vampires that are out there. Our men can hold their own only because they're almost twice the size of most of the she cats. But she's only one hundred and fifteen pounds..."
"Then who saved her life honey? That wound would have killed her if that someone hadn't stitched her up enough for her to make it to her car. She hasn't told you has she?"
"No, she won't talk about it." Mary bent forward, burying her head in her hands.
"She'll be fine, just give her time."
"She asked me about the bonding. What it felt like, stuff like that. I think something more than just that fight happened to her out there."
Alpha James Loadstone came to a hard stop. Nothing in him twitched.
"Then what do we do. If she's found her mate, what do we do?"
Now it was his wife's turn to try to be comforting.
"Be patient and hold to hope. That's about all we can do."
* * * * *
"No mom, that's all that happened. I found a she wolf killed her then made a clean getaway before the two vampires that had orchestrated this entire thing got their fangs into me, end of story." Zach fidgeted like a school boy in front of his mother. He always hated lying to her and this time was no different.
"And that is all the happened my son?"
"Yes, mother, everything else is on my report. I've already downloaded it to the mainframe."
"Then that is that, one mutt taken care of and a vampire report. Not much for you to sink your teeth into this time." They both walked out of her receiving room. and into the brightly lit hall outside it.
"Now what are you going to do?" She asked.
"I was thinking of staying here for a few days than heading back to my place."
"Here, I didn't think you liked it here."
"I need to work out some, and here the gym's free." He gave her a peck on the cheek, turned and strolled towards stair well.
He's not telling me something, I can see it in his eyes.
Three days later Zach was home and restless. He'd spent a full day at his job as a martial arts instructor, even though he'd spend a lot of energy he still couldn't stay still. Something made him unable to.
At about two in the morning, he'd had enough. His house was a small eight-room log home situated at the end of a two lane dirt road about sixty miles from his mother's house. Among the trees and wilderness, he felt more at home here than anywhere else. It might have been the cat in him, but the solitary environment felt good. So why did he find it impossible to just sit still for one moment?
"I am not going anywhere right now, thank you very much." He threw his hands up, turned and marched into his bedroom and threw himself across his bed.
"No, I'm fine, lets begin." The next morning Zack was back at the martial arts studio he helped run. With only two hours of sleep, he felt like he was moving through mud. Lucky for him, his moves had always been so much faster than a normal human he'd always had to slow himself down. So now that he was flat out tired, he didn't try to slow himself down so much.
He was sparing with a blue belt client, he'd told him that this round was going to be nothing but kicks, no hand movements except defence. After they both bowed to one another and had dropped into a fighting stance Zach barked, "Begin!"
The young man he was sparing was nineteen, tall and rangy with a mop of blond hair that hung down to the middle of his back. His blows were straight forward and strong, and he started with a flying sidekick. In two strides he lifted into the air, kicked out with his left leg and landed, hitting nothing but air. Zach lined up a roundhouse from the side he'd dodged to and tapped the back of his head with it.
"Never start out with a kick like that, Adam. They're slow and I saw it coming from a mile away. Use attacks like that as finishing moves." He dropped back into his fighting stance. As he spoke they both began to circle one another. Minutes later, covered in sweat, both of them bowed when the bell alarm Zach had set rung five minutes..
"Thank you, master." Adam bowed again, but Zach waved him off.
"I'm third Dan, once I get my forth, then I'll be a master, but thanks."
The dojos sparring mats were situated in the front of the building behind floor to ceiling windows that made up ninety percent of the wall. That way the people walking by could see what was being taught inside. Zach was sitting on the thick blue mat when he absentmindedly looked out the window. Nothing was out of place, this early in the morning few people were on the sidewalks, but that was nothing new.
It wasn't until his gaze moved to the other side of the street. There, staring right at him, was the wolf he'd met in the woods. In a heartbeat, he was on his feet and walking towards the door.
Why is she here? What is she doing here? His mind flew through a hundred different questions, but the biggest on his mind at the moment was.
Where are the rest of them?
"Adam, I've got something to take care of. Why don't you hit the heavy bag for a while?" Adam nodded and walked from the room.
Now to find out why she's here, and if she's alone. He thought as he eased the front door open and stepped onto the sidewalk. She stood upwind from him, so picking up her scent was easy, way too easy. His head moved up the street then back down the other direction. He spotted nothing out of the ordinary.
His head snapped back to the wolf he could see. Was she trying to set him up, wolves never went out alone, never. They were pack animals, even while in human form. So where was the rest of this woman's pack?
He was so busy looking for those accompanying her that he failed to notice that she had crossed the street until she was within ten feet of him.
"I'm alone, if that's what you're worried about?" She said and her voice hit Zach like a sledgehammer into his senses.
Her words were rich and sweat, like a violin played by a virtuoso. They fell on him like a thick blanket on a cold winter's day.
"And I'm supposed to just believe you on that?" He stepped back towards the door.
"I guess not, but it's true." She looked at him, her eyes like blue pools that wanted to suck him in and never let him go.
What is the matter with you? Pull yourself together, man. His mind screamed.
So before he made a complete idiot of himself in front of this perfect stranger, he asked the most obvious question.
"Why are you here?" He tried to ask as to make it sound like he couldn't care less. But he knew neither of them bought it.
She dropped her head, stared at her hands, then responded without lifting it.
"I needed to see you."
ns 15.158.61.54da2
