A Mate From The Past

Bloodhaven

The party last night had been a success. To celebrate, Richard had suggested they open up a bottle of champagne. What began as a bottle had become several bottles, and before long, he was drunk and dozing off. Sabrina had played along for a short while before he slept off. Alcohol had little to no effect on her. This morning, she knew Richard would take time before he woke.

It seemed like a beautiful day for a run as she pulled her sketchers onto her feet. It had been a while since she ran through the woods.

She took off from her house, music blaring in her ears and her phone strapped to her left arm, headed for the woods.

It began as a subtle scent, then a strong wave. Sabrina wasn't alone. She reached for her phone and turned off the music as she ran, removing her headphones and looking around, wondering whose scent she was catching.

She was now well into the woods, jogging slowly and taking stock of her surroundings.

"Whoever you are, this won't end well," she shouted, picking up her pace and continuing her run. The scent was still there and heavy; the owner was close.

"Marcus wants to see you," the voice wafted into her ears. She knew who it was, and a small smile played on her lips.

"I thought the scent was familiar. You know better than to creep up on me, Logan," she whispered, sure that he would hear.

"Well, you left us no choice. There's an emergency, Sabrina," he told her.

"You can tell me all about it when you beat me in a race," she interrupted him.

"Alright then," Logan agreed, tearing out from the shadows and morphing into a large white wolf. Sabrina laughed and took that as a cue, howling in pain as she shifted and let her wolf run.

They sprinted through the dense woods, their fur blending with the shadows as the rising sun cast penetrating rays. The rhythmic pounding of their paws echoed through the silent woods, leaves crunching beneath their powerful strides. Sunlight flickered through the branches, illuminating the wild chase as they navigated the labyrinth of trees with primal grace.

Another wolf broke out from behind the cover of the trees and joined them in the race. Sabrina smirked; she knew better than to assume Marcus would send an envoy alone. She was that problematic.

By the time the race concluded, they were all spent. Shifting back into their human forms, they lay on the ground, exhausted.

Sabrina limped away, reaching behind a large oak tree to remove a backpack. She picked clothes from the bag and threw them to the two men as she dressed behind the tree.

"You must have these stashed all over these trees," Logan chuckled.

"You had something you wanted to tell me. Spit it out," Sabrina retorted, her tone different from the jocular one they had conversed with earlier.

Paul smiled at Logan. It was the Sabrina they were used to.

"There's a rogue wolf in town. A dead girl was dumped on Marcus' front lawn yesterday," Logan explained.

Sabrina paused. This was bad.

"He's the alpha. He should know how to deal with that. Why does he need me?" she asked, stepping out from behind the trees and planting both arms on her waist.

"Everybody has been summoned, Sabrina, you're not left out," he continued.

She knew she could not squeeze her way out of this one.

"You boys have a great day," she said abruptly, turning and running in the opposite direction.

"Do we follow her?" Paul asked.

"That would be asking for a fight. Let's go. We've relayed the message," Logan answered as they watched her disappear down the winding path.

Sabrina got home to find Richard awake. He looked like he was still trying to find his bearings as the hangover pummeled him.

"Morning, babe," she greeted as she walked past him.

"You should have woken me up. It might have helped a bit to run this morning. I feel like I ate a turtle," Richard complained.

"A smoothie should wake you up. I'll make one right now," Sabrina offered, changing into a robe and walking into the kitchen.

"Thanks, babe," Richard grunted as he squinted his eyes.

"I'll be going out of town, might be gone for a couple of days. Will you be alright while I'm gone?"

"Whoa! Why?" Richard objected. He sat in the kitchen, waiting for her to finish making the smoothie.

"Work!" she lied, throwing strawberries and some mangoes into the blender.

"You're gonna leave me by myself?" he moaned.

"You're not exactly a kid, are you?" she laughed as she turned on the blender and held her hand over it while it hummed.

She removed two clean glasses from the shelf and rinsed them in the sink, pouring the smoothie into them and handing one to Richard.

"You'll be fine, you big baby," she assured him, heading upstairs with her smoothie.

Over the next hour, she packed her bags and prepared to return to Bloofhaven. This rogue wolf matter needed sorting before it worsened; every wolf in the city knew better than to attack a human, let alone kill one and dump the body in front of Marcus' house.

It was like wagging a finger in an angry jaguar's face. As Sabrina drove towards the dot on her GPS, memories had begun to come alive, the scents from these parts that she had long forgotten, the many laughs she had shared with her pack here, him!!

Sabrina shook herself from the thoughts clouding her head. She needed to make sure she didn't give him any attention while there. Her presence was only needed to handle business as her alpha commanded and return to her quiet life with Richard.

Sabrina had convinced herself that nothing would happen to distract her from her plan, but the farther she drove, the louder her mind laughed at her.

A sign at the entrance told her she had arrived.. She swallowed nervousl as she parked her car and stepped down, walking over to her trunk and lifting her backpack.

"You came," his voice boomed from behind her. Sabrina felt the goosebumps all over her skin as she recognized his voice; she had begun to forget the effect his voice had on her.

"Where's Marcus?" she asked, trying not to get carried away by him.

"Really, Sabrina? All this time, and you can't even say hello?" he insisted, trying to get a reaction from her. Sabrina felt a knot in her stomach. It was not going well. She needed space, distance from him to calm herself.

She shut the trunk of her car and walked on into the house.

"Well, you're welcome," Mitchell said as she walked away. She knew he had that angry look on his face. He hated it when Sabrina ignored him, and all this time, he hadn't changed much. It was going to be more difficult than she thought.

Sabrina tried to keep her mind clear, but memories came pouring into her mind of all the times they had spent before he betrayed her.

"You made it," Marcus smiled, hugging Sabrina. She closed her eyes and tried to forget the encounter with Mitchell as she embraced him.

"We'll find the killer, and after that, I'm out of here, Marcus. Don't try to stop me," she said, disengaging from the hug and following him into the house.

"My condolences on your father's passing. I know you both didn't see eye to eye, but still, I feel better with you in charge of things," Sabrina tapped his arm.

"Marcus, they've found another one," Tony called from upstairs, catching their attention.

"What? Where?" Sabrina asked.

"A hotel downtown," he responded.

She turned to look at Marcus. This was no random stray.