Her Chosen Mate

Chapter 4 - Conclusively Inconclusive

Brea couldn’t believe she had been spotted, no one was supposed to be that far off the trail in the first place. She had been tracking a rogue wolf when she came across the human’s scent headed directly in their path. Rogues had no regard for human life, and she knew what would happen if one came across a human in the middle of the woods. She had only meant to intercept the wolf and scare it off without the girl seeing but things had taken a turn for the worst. The rouge had gotten to the girl before she had caught up with him, in fact, she had gotten there just in time to chase him off before he could hurt her. It had just been bad luck that she had happened to startle a nearby deer in the process.

Brea had intended on only staying long enough to make sure the girl was ok; but before she knew it she was staring into the most beautiful pair of blue eyes she had ever seen. It was like her scent had called to her, she had lost all self-control and her body had moved on its own accord. Brea didn’t know what to do and clearly she had startled the girl in the process. She had even considered shifting to put her at ease; but something told her it would only make matters worse.

A chill ran down Brea's spine when she remembered how frightened that girl had been. Her eyes had grown as big as saucers. Brea had to resist the urge to shift when the girl had fallen and hit her head. She could still smell the scent of fresh blood, as if it lingered in the air. Brea had never seen her before; she couldn’t possibly be local, maybe a tourist. Locals knew better than to wander this far into the woods, the pack made sure of that. Brea returned to the spot where she had left her clothes and quickly shifted into her human form.

 “Did you find him?” asked her brother.

 Brea jumped in fright. “Caleb! How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?”

“I keep telling you, you have to be more alert. Wolf form or not you need to be on high alert all the time,” cautioned Caleb.

“I know, I know; but can’t you see I’m getting dressed?”

“Do you think a rogue is going to wait until you're finished getting dressed? Now did you find him or not?” the impatience was evident in her brother's voice and Brea almost winced at the disappointment she knew was sure to come following her answer.

“No, I ran into a slight complication,” she murmured.

“What kind of complication?” Caleb gave her a skeptical look.

“A human,” she braced for his response.

“You were spotted?” asked her brother in shock. “This isn’t good Brea and you know it.”

“I had no choice. She was headed right for us. Do you have any idea what would happen if a human got killed in our territory?”

“What the hell was a human doing this far in the woods anyway?” he was now pacing back and forth.

“I don’t know but by the time she was gone so was the rogue.”

Her brother sighed heavily. “Father won’t like this.”

Brea rolled her eyes “Father doesn’t like anything.”

“Don’t be a brat,” snapped Caleb.

“Look I had no choice.”

“I never said you didn’t make the right decision. I just said he won’t like this, especially since you’ve been spotted,” replied Caleb. “He’s waiting for us back at the pack house.”

Brea sighed. She dreaded those meetings with her father. It was like no matter how hard they tried there was no pleasing him.

 “Well don’t just stand there lets go,” snapped Caleb impatiently.

“Bite me Caleb,” snapped Brea.

She took one last look in the direction she came before following her brother out of the woods. Her mind trailed back to the girl she saw earlier. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it; but there was something different about her. She had never been this drawn to anyone before, especially a stranger. Brea sighed as she got into the passenger side of Caleb's car; she had had quite the eventful morning and the day was just getting started.

 .....................

 “I’m fine,” Lucy moaned as her brother pulled up to the emergency room. “It’s just a little bump.”

“Yeah but you need to get that cut cleaned up,” replied Derrick

“What I need is a hot bath and a nap,” retorted Lucy.        

“No sleeping. We have to make sure you don’t have a concussion first.”

“Who died and made you Doctor House?” she murmured

“Lucy I’m serious.”

“So am I. What if they want to give me a shot? You know I hate needles.”

Derrick got out of the car and practically dragged his sister into the emergency room; which was not hard given their differences in size.

“This is an abuse of power,” grumbled Lucy as Derrick half shoved her into one of the waiting room chairs.

Her brother on the other hand completely ignored her and went over to the desk. The emergency room seemed quite empty for a Saturday evening. This was a far cry from what Lucy was familiar with in Texas. Texans always seemed to be into some extreme activity that resulted in them getting hurt. Like that time her brother convinced her to sit on the back of his four wheeler while he popped a wheelie. She ended up in the emergency room for three hours and left with ten stitches and a cast on her arm. She sighed irritably as she looked around the vacant waiting area.

“Ms. Hayle,” called the nurse.

She was quickly ushered into an examination room to be checked out; where it took all of ten minutes for the doctor to assess her and send her on her way.  Lucy's mind kept going back to what she saw on the ride home. She had almost been mauled to death in those woods. That was definitely the biggest wolf she had ever seen and had her brother not come along there was no telling how many pieces she would be in right now. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she barely noticed when they pulled up to the house.

“How’re you feeling hun?” asked her father as he came down the driveway to meet them.

“I have a headache; but I’ll be fine,” she replied, rubbing her temples. “I’m more concerned about that huge wolf I saw.”

“Wolf?” her father asked perplexed.

“Lucy thinks she saw a wolf in the forest,” chimed in Derrick.

“I did and it was huge! It practically towered over me,” she added.

“You hit your head pretty good. Are you sure it wasn’t a bear?” asked Derrick, looking at the knot on Lucy’s head.

“I know what I saw. It was a wolf,” she snapped, applying the ice pack her father handed to her.

Both her father and brother looked at each other knowingly, and Lucy couldn't help the look of irritation she gave them in return. They had moved here to give her mother some peace of mind; but she had no intention of losing hers in the process.

“Well whatever you do, don’t mention this to your mother. You know how delicate she is right now,” warned Tim.

“Fine. I won’t say anything to mom,” sighed Lucy.

“Say what to mom?”

All three turned to look at the figure that had suddenly appeared in the doorway. Stephanie Hayle stood slumped against the doorway staring back at them. Her eyes looked sunken in, like she hadn’t slept in days; her red hair was caught in a messy bun and her clothes looked extremely bedraggled, indicating that she had in fact been sleeping. She had always been a petite, mild mannered woman and had borne children that were the spitting image of her, with the exception of their hair. She always carried an earthly glow; but now she looked fragile and sickly, a shadow of her former self.

“What was that Lucy?” her mother repeated when no one responded to her question.

Lucy looked nervously at her father and her brother, who both looked back with apprehensive eyes.

“I-I got hurt,” she said slowly. “I wasn’t looking where I was going and I fell and hit my head.” She didn’t lie, she just hadn't told the whole truth.

“You poor thing are you ok?” her mother asked as she rushed to her daughter’s side.

“I’m fine mom. I went to the emergency room and everything. No concussion,” Lucy did her best to reassure her quickly. It was no use getting her mother all worked up.

Stephanie looked at the knot on her daughter's head and smiled, “that’s going to leave a scar; but fortunately for you, you have all this beautiful hair to hide it.”

Lucy could see her father and brother mentally exhale at her mother's acceptance of the story, clearly they weren’t expecting her to believe it and had she been in her heyday she might not have. Frankly, Lucy was a bit surprised how pliable her mother was nowadays.

“Well you kids best get inside, we have to get the rest of your stuff for school tomorrow,” announced Tim; before joining his wife at the doorway. "Besides we need to get dinner started."

“That was a close one,” said Derrick as he stifled a yawn.

“I suppose,” replied Lucy distractedly, she just couldn’t get the wolf out of her mind. Her father and brother might try to tell her differently; but she knew what she saw in those woods and it was no bear.