Winterlust (COMPLETE)

The Hunt

Violet

Violet unlocks the front door to the house and turns to wave to Cassie. The house is dark inside, since Evelyn is already in bed. Violet tiptoes to her room with her bags and flops on the bed. In seconds, she’s sound asleep.

Travis

“We need to go into the diner first, and shake off the old lady”, Travis says to Owen in mind link. Every fibre of his being is pulling him toward seeking out his mate. Somehow this seems like it won’t be cut and dried. He can’t even reject her because she doesn’t know enough to accept his rejection - not that he wants to, anyway. The bond wouldn’t be fully severed.

“I could use a bite, anyway”, Owen answers. “You’re always hungry”, Travis says aloud, smiling. “Let’s go”.

As they walk out of their room into the snow covered parking lot, Travis sees the old lady peeking out from behind the curtains in the reception area. He smiles and gives her a wave. “Something is up around here, O”, he links. “No sh*t”, Owen agrees.

Once they reach the diner, the bell dings as they enter. There are six people in the place. Two cops are in a booth drinking coffee. Three older men are at the counter on stools drinking beer, and an employee is at another booth reading a newspaper, he looks like he’s probably the cook. “No wolves”, Owen links.

As they make their way over to the counter, a short and stout middle aged woman emerges from the swinging kitchen door behind the counter. “Oh hi there!” She calls in a singsong voice, “you fellas looking for a bite to eat?” “Yes ma’am”, Owen smiles back. Her name tag says ‘Gracie’ on it. Gracie hands them each a menu, “Something to drink?” “Two coffees, please” Travis says. Travis orders the fish and chips, and Owen orders the meat loaf. The cook gets up from his newspaper and heads into the kitchen.

Sensing Travis’s mixed emotions, Owen chatters about his upcoming wedding to Janie as a distraction while they wait for their food. Travis is thankful that his best bud just knows what he needs. When the food arrives, they can finally chat via mind link. None of the patrons will be able to tell, since the guys will be shovelling food into their mouths.

“There seems to be a pretty wooded area starting about another block up”, Travis points out. “We can shift there and then get to searching.”

“What’s the plan?”, Owen asks. “We should probably run pretty close to the road and see where we end up. I really have no idea how we’ll find her” Travis answers. “We’re built for this, bud. We’ll find her”, Owen winks as he shovels an impossibly huge mouthful of meatloaf into his face.

By now, the guys are the only patrons left in the diner. Travis pays the bill, leaving Gracie a big tip. “You in town for long?”, Gracie asks politely. “Just passing through, ma’am”, Travis replies. “Do you know who can patch a flat for us tomorrow morning?”, he asks. Gracie’s eyes light up, “Oh yes! My brother in law has a shop over on Cedar. He’ll be there bright and early, around seven”. “Thank you, we’ll be over there first thing in the morning”, Owen says as they turn to leave.

Back out on the sidewalk, the snow is still coming down outside and is really starting to pile up. They walk another block away from the motel and find a used car dealership on the corner. Perfect. They cross through the parking lot and walk out behind the building. “Here”, Travis commands. Both men remove their clothes and place them on top of a recycle bin. They both throw their heads back as their bones begin to shift and crackle. Only a second later they both land on all fours.

Shadow is delighted to be in charge of finding mate, and he takes off toward the woods at breakneck speed. Owen’s wolf Hank runs hard to keep up. Both wolves have their noses in the air, and it feels so good to just run. They follow the street from the protection of the woods for about eight blocks until they come to a dead end. Shadow pivots and stalks out into the road, staying low. “These tire tracks seem pretty fresh. Let’s follow them”, he links Hank. Hank nods in agreement and they put their noses to the ground and take off again.

All of a sudden, Shadow catches it. A tiny whiff of cheesecake floats past his nose and he stops dead in his tracks. They look around and there aren’t many houses around. Hank trots over to an opening in the woods. You can barely tell that it’s a driveway. “Great work!” , Shadow praises him. “We should stay off the driveway”, Hank advises. Shadow nods and they creep through the woods alongside the driveway. Shadow’s tongue flops out in happiness, realizing the scent is getting stronger.

They approach a clearing and stop just before the end of the woods. Before them is a small bungalow with all the lights out. There’s a beat up old 2 door car parked out front. Shadow turns to Hank and nods, and then stalks out into the clearing. Hank stays back under the cover of the woods.

As he approaches the house, his ears and nose are on high alert. There are two heartbeats coming from inside. Deciding that the bedrooms are on the left side, he heads over to the first window and rears up so his front paws are on the sill. Peering in, he can’t really see much of anything since the curtains are so dark. He drops back down and trots over to the next window. Mate! Again he rears up to the window sill. This time, the curtains are a sheer yellow and he can see her lying on her bed on her belly. She looks positively angelic as he watches her back rise and fall with her breath. Her shopping bags are beside her on the floor, and she’s still wearing the clothes she wore to the mall. There you are, my love.

Shadow drops off of the window sill and into the snow. He looks over his shoulder at the window before bolting at full speed back to Hank.

Violet

The smell of the cinnamon in mom’s pancakes coaxes Violet awake. To her surprise, when she opens her eyes it’s still dark out. Weird. I could have sworn I smelled mom’s pancakes. Violet drifted off back to sleep.