Chasing Shadows

Chapter 2 secrets

Five years had done nothing to cool the hot sapphire blue of Dante eye. The youngest of the Alpha line Dante was a large impressive figure, tall and broad built like a lumberjack with the grace of a leopard he was someone who you couldn’t help but notice. Ten years my senior Dante was someone I’d only known by his fearsome reputation. Back then I knew him to be a hell raiser, a fighter and one of the strongest and smartest young males of the pack. I remembered him most for those eyes, keen and intelligent, they seemed to miss nothing and now I feared they saw right through me.

Now five years later he was an impressive figure of a man. He had the dark coloring of his father people with hair so dark it look black, and his mother high cheek bones. He was an imposing figure at 6’3, with broad shoulders that tapered down to a thin waist and long thick legs. The air around him seemed to hum with power and I struggled not to let my smile slip or have him catch me looking at him too closely.

I’d changed a lot in five years, gone was the baby fat that used to cling to my curves and cheeks. My skin once marked by zits and cleared and I’d grown into my too long limbs. In the lean years I’d grown several inches to stand at 5’8 and my once frizzy mass of auburn curls now fell in a graceful tumble down by back. Gone was the awkward fumbling teen, and in its place a strong, graceful, beautiful young woman that I hoped bared little enough resemblance that with the long passage of time he would not remember me. After all I was little more then one of the kids to him. Why would he remember me?

Dante stared for a long time, ages it felt like, my asinine question hanging in the air between us. Large dark eye brows drew down as he narrowed his eyes at me as if trying to solve a particularly complex puzzle. My mind spun. How was he here right now? What were the odds? We were thousands of miles away from the lands the pack called home, so what was he doing here?

“Are you looking for a room?” I asked feeling as brittle as the smile I was still trying to hold plastered to my face.

“What?” He asked as if my question had drawn him out of his own deep thoughts, “oh yea, a room, yes” he said finally breaking eye contact and digging out his wallet. As his gaze slipped from mine it felt like a fifty pound weight had been removed from my back, I almost sighed with the relief of it. Keeping my head down I focused on the computer and getting his room set up. I was careful to avoid his gaze as I collected his information and gave him back his cards but I couldn’t avoid him forever despite my fevered wish to the contrary.

“Alright you’ll be in Room 117 just down the walkway, two doors down.” I said pushing the key card across the desk and looking up at him again, hoping he would just leave.

He reached for the key card then, his fingertip brushing against mine. The sensation of his skin against mine was so strong it was hard to tell if from pleasure or pain but I winced just the same. Dante’s sharp gaze cause my reaction and for a long moment he stared into my face as if looking for something he’d lost. I could tell he wanted to say something, I could see the muscles in his jaw tick but he said not a word, taking the key and with one last long hard look, left the lobby, leaving me alone.

The door wasn’t even fully shut before I’d locked myself in the bathroom my cell in hand, calling my mom. It wasn’t that late yet so I was surprised when she picked up so quickly, “Maddie what’s wrong? You never call from work.” My mom asked, sounding concerned but not worried. Oh how that was about to change.

“Dante is here.” I said in a low voice, unsure how much he could hear in the mostly empty building.

“Dante?” My mom asked, a note of confusion in her voice. To be fair to her Dante was just of of her friends little siblings, of no concern or real consideration, it shouldn’t have been surprising that the name meant little to her after so long and without context. It had been so many years after all. But I wasn’t feeling rational or understanding in that moment and instead sighed heavily in reply.

“How many Dante’s do you know mother? because I know exactly one, tall, blue eyes, son of the leader we ran out on.” I ranted, knowing my impertinence would earn me a lashing later and caring not at all. “He’s here, two doors down and I swear I feel like my skins of fire.” I all but yelled, pacing the limited space and wishing I was outside, that I could really just run away from it all. But if the past five years had proved anything it was that the things your running from always catch up.

“Shut up and listen to me.” My mother voice cracked like a whip and my restless movement stilled in an instant. “You have to run Maddie”

“Run what do you mean run?” I asked interrupting her

“Get out of there, meet me at the gas station down the street.” She said sternly

“Mom wait why, mom!” I yelled but it was useless, she’d already hung up.

I stared down at the black screen of my cell phone and reined in a scream of frustration. Run. That was her big plan? Seemed to be going swimmingly right now. Huffy and annoyed I ran my fingers through my hair and leaned back against the locked door thinking. There had to be a better choice then this or Maybe I just didn’t want to leave. Maybe I was tired of running. All I knew for sure is for the first time I didn’t jump at my mother command. I didn’t run for the door, tail tucked between my legs as she would have liked but instead lingered.

The bell at the front desk rang breaking me from my thoughts and I unlocked the door and came out from the back, only to once more lock eyes with Dante who now looked at me with an intensity that made my chest hurt, “Madeline.”