The Sentinel's Maid

Chapter 2

Luka’s POV

It had barely been a week since I left Luxberg and already I was losing my mind. I was tired, but of course, I couldn’t sleep. The restlessness inside me wouldn’t go away. It felt like I needed to shift and run, but I couldn’t.

I couldn’t reach my wolf…

From an early age, I’d had this problem. I shifted just before I turned 6 or 7 – or that’s the estimated age our pack doctors came to – and of course, being forced to shift so young and that the shift was being forced by violence, my wolf was Blood Lusted. With now two wolves in the pack to study, the doctors hypothesized that it was a form of werewolf PTSD. Dad had anger issues and had a hard time controlling his temper – despite the fact that I could count on one hand ever seeing Dad pissed or losing it.

Me?

My wolf went dormant after I shifted back. And I couldn’t reach him, which led many to believe that I’d become latent.

Until… I shifted.

Again.

Some older kid had been bullying Landon. LJ and DJ were there, but the bullies were so much bigger and non of my siblings had shifted at that point. They needed my help and---

The next thing I knew I woke up, cradled in Mom’s arms. She’d been crying, but I couldn’t understand why. When she saw that I’d shifted back, she cried some more. Apparently, I’d shifted and attacked the kids. They’d shifted into their own wolves, but still, I’d managed to beat the crap out of them. By the time Dad had arrived, they all needed serious medical care. And me? I didn’t let anyone close to my siblings. I protected them until everyone was gone. And then I went to Dad. He tried to coax me into shifting, but it didn’t happen. For two days straight, I didn’t shift.

I didn’t remember any of that.

When it happened again – me shifting, followed by a complete blackout of events – they finally figured out what my trigger was. If my wolf sensed that some of the people, I cared about were in danger, I shifted. But something was blocking the animal from me, so I didn’t have access to him.

I always imagined it like my wolf was inside a crate in my mind. He was there. I knew he was there, but I couldn’t “see” him. I could use his energy – making me stronger and faster just like the average werewolf – but I couldn’t access him. I couldn’t hear him, I couldn’t see him and I couldn’t feel him. Only the energy he gave off.

And sometimes, he broke out of the crate, taking over my mind so completely it became entirely his. Leaving me in a crate inside his mind…

But lately, something was changing. I ‘felt’ him better. Like a caged animal, he was becoming restless inside the crate. I could almost sense him pacing the small, confined space, wanting to get out. To run, to hunt, to kill!

And sometimes he’d do just that…

Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the woods surrounded by bloody animal carcasses. And I had no idea how or even why it had happened. One time I woke up in my apartment to find it trashed beyond recognition. That’s when I knew I needed to get out of town and figure out a way to get my f*****g act together.

Or have Dad put me down for good before I did something I---

I let out a frustrated sigh and kicked off the cover. I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. Absolutely soundlessly I walked down the hall and into the kitchen. After years upon years of training, I’d gotten used to walking around soundlessly. When your job was to sneak up on supernatural beings, you had to be good. And well, I was the Head Sentinel, because not only was I extremely good, but I had leadership qualities.

And by the way, those were their words, not mine!

The Sentinels worked pretty much like a pack within the Royal Pack and in the town of Luxberg, except that their political system pretty much worked like a presidency. They voted for their next leader every four years and I’d been voted as Head twice now. The first time was when I was 21 and barely finished my education as a Sentinel, and my second term began only a couple of weeks ago.

Damn, I missed them…

We all lived in the city, patrolled the streets, and had a huge office building, pretty much like a police station. Except that our “criminals” were supernatural and our arsenal was filled with everything from charms and hexes to iron and silver.

I really loved my job. I knew I couldn’t be alpha, despite Dad training all of us equally for a chance at the title. And I mean everybody! Even DJ – since it was pretty much unheard of a female being alpha – and me – the kid without a wolf! But that’s Dad for you. He’d never look at you and see what you couldn’t do. He’d see your potential and exploit it; nourish and help develop the skill and put it to good use. It was even him who suggested that I’d join the Sentinels’ academy. I didn’t have a wolf, but I had skills with people. I could talk a raging moron into willing submission and I more often than not acted like the buffer between my siblings--- and everybody else in the family. And friends. And school…

Oh, f**k it, you get the picture!

Being a Sentinel was something I excelled at. There it didn’t matter that I couldn’t shift or didn’t have a wolf form. Sure, some kids gave me s**t about it, but they quit after I wiped the floor with them once. Or twice, depending on how stupid they were…

I poured myself some coffee – knowing it would only make the restlessness worse, but years of habit were hard to kick. I picked up the cup and went to the TV room. I didn’t like the idea of a TV in the same room as the family gathered together, so I had Mom draw up a separate room for that. In fact, this entire house was her doing. I bought the property from the old man living here. He was human, but he was mated to one of Dad’s wolves and someone I liked and respected. He’d already retired from the force when I came to the pack, but I’d somehow taken a liking to him and his mate. She died of old age and when it was apparent that he wouldn’t survive long without her, he offered to sell me the property. I talked to Dad about it, and we made a deal. But I didn’t have what it took to live in the house that was filled with so much memory and love, you could almost feel it the second you walked into the house. So instead I let the pack have the house, convert it to a shelter for orphaned pups, and build this house at the far end of the land that now belonged to me. Hell, it was so far out, Mom used to joke, that I was just a sneeze away from entering unclaimed territory or – as wolves liked to call it – rogue territory!

I didn’t care!

At first, I had been afraid of facing off against a bunch of rogues, since I couldn’t shift, but after a couple of incidents of blackouts and waking up covered in blood that smelled like rogues, I figured that my wolf didn’t just come out when someone we loved was in danger, but also if I was in danger.

I picked up a long-since-discarded controller and turned on my PlayStation. I logged in and started up a game I hadn’t played in over four years. And quickly realized that my skills weren’t on the same level as they had been when I last played.

After an hour of playing, I was tired of being constantly killed off and turned it off. I sagged on the couch, staring up at the ceiling, hoping that the burn in my eyes sooner or later would allow me to get some sleep. I remained so still, that eventually, the lights turned off. But even in the complete darkness, I couldn’t find the peace I needed to fall asleep. My body remained restless, and it felt like there was a metric ton of energy balled up inside me.

Yet I couldn’t find the will to even get up from the sofa.

Suddenly I noticed the red standby light on the TV turned off. I frowned and realized that the PlayStation had suffered the same fate. I stretched my hearing and realized, that the familiar buzz of electricity in the entire house, wasn’t there anymore.

I sighed.

Probably just a blackout, I concluded and leaned back to continue staring at the ceiling, betting on a staring contest that wasn’t really happening…

That’s when I finally heard it!

The slight woosh of doors opening and closing. I frowned, trying to remember if I’d forgotten to close a window somewhere or a door. But that’s when the creaking of woods reached my ears and as soon as I stuck my nose out, I recognized the scent of humans somewhere in the house.

Someone had broken into my home?

Well, s**t!

I got up and without making a sound I followed the scent upstairs and down the hall. Anger loomed under my skin. Over the years, I’d learned that you couldn’t let your emotions run away with you. Despite us being werewolves and emotions often running high in a pack, there wasn’t room for that when you were a Sentinel. You had to keep your head cool if you wanted to keep it on! So, despite being furious that some rat had broken into my home – MY territory! – I kept breathing slow and steady, making sure I didn’t make any unnecessary movements or sounds.

The door to my office was already slightly ajar and I peaked in. And my jaw dropped when I finally caught sight of the little bastard!

It was a small, human girl!

Of all the things I expected to find, this certainly wasn’t it! Her slim figure was cowered in all black, but it didn’t hide the fact that she had a curvaceous body. Her breasts looked to be that perfect handful and her tight ass strained against the black material that hugged her long legs. Sure, she was short but damn! This girl had legs for days! Her dark, chestnut hair, was pulled into a cute little ponytail--- that I wanted to wrap my hands around and pull on while she sucked my d**k!

And why my mind when there, I had no idea, but my c**k was up for it! I stifled a groan as my length hardened and had to concentrate on remaining in place--- and not to walk over there and do some kinky office s**t, with the sexy little burglar!

Wait---! Burglar!

Right!

Get your head out of the gutter, Luka, I growled at myself and turned my attention away from her body and instead tried to figure out what the hell she was doing! And when I saw her heading from my computer, it was all the motivation I needed.

“What the actual f**k?”

And it wasn’t until I was met with a pair of startled brown eyes, that I realized I’d said it out loud.