2. Thumper’s Gas Station
1534 Words
I let my body go still, too weak to move as the sound of footsteps slowly began to fade away. The girl named Ariel must have listened to her mother, because the light steps disappeared into the distance.
Then I heard the woman again.
Closer this time.
There was the sound of something heavy dragging across the ground, followed by a quiet, tired sigh.
“I’m sure you can hear me,” she said gently, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying, her voice calm and reassuring. “But you’re in a lot of pain.”
I felt her presence beside me, careful but firm.
“I have a jacket I’m going to place over you. It belongs to my sons.”
The moment the fabric settled over my body, warmth spread across my freezing skin.
But that wasn’t what made my head throb.
It was the scent.
The smell hit me so suddenly that it made my senses spin. My Lycan stirred violently inside me despite my exhaustion, reacting with an instinct I could never mistake.
My mate. Or was it more than one mate?
The scents were soaked into the jacket.
Realization crashed into me like lightning.
I had found my fated mates. Or I had found my one and only mate.
But confusion followed immediately after.
She had said sons.
Plural.
So which one did the scents belong to?
My lungs filled slowly as I tried to process the overwhelming mixture surrounding me. The aroma was thick, layered, and impossibly strong.
Pine.
Blueberries.
Roses.
Each scent dominated the fabric in waves, blending together so intensely that it nearly suffocated my senses. My Lycan stirred restlessly beneath my skin, drawn to the smell like a starving animal finally catching the scent of food.
Three distinct fragrances.
Three powerful presences.
My heart pounded weakly against my ribs as the truth settled into my mind.
One of them was my fated mate. Or I had more than one mate.
And somehow… I was lying here wrapped in their scent.
The only sound I could manage was a low whimper as the pain pulsed through my body. Even breathing felt like it scraped against my ribs.
I heard the woman sigh softly, though it wasn’t a sigh of frustration—more like the quiet exhaustion of someone trying to help a stranger in trouble.
“I will not hurt you,” she said gently, and I wished I knew what she was saying. “And no one will harm you until we find out who you are, what you are, and how you ended up behind my gas station.”
Her voice carried authority, the kind that made it clear she was used to protecting others.
“You are in the Nightstar Pack, Wisconsin,” she continued calmly. “My mate is the Alpha of this pack—Alpha Dominic, and I am its Luna.”
There was a small pause, as if she was giving me time to understand when I couldn’t, but I could feel what she meant.
“You may call me by my name if you wish. It’s Thumper. I hope to learn yours soon when you wake up.”
Another small whimper slipped past my lips. My body refused to cooperate, my strength barely enough to keep me conscious as I tried to rest.
Thumper spoke again, her tone still steady. “I know you’re not a werewolf. You’re not a vampire either,” she said thoughtfully. “And I don’t know if you are a threat.”
Her words were careful now, I couldn’t understand them but I would remain human, it would be best for the protective instincts of a Luna clearly guiding every sentence I couldn’t understand.
“So please… don’t shift again.” I felt her adjusting the jacket around me as she continued.
“My daughter doesn’t know what you are either. But I need to make sure what she told me stays true.” There was a quiet firmness behind her voice now.
“My pack is very important to me, just as it is to her. My job isn’t easy… but it is worth it.” Her words carried pride. Loyalty.
“I hope I can help you find your way home,” she said softly. “I want to help you… but only if, when you wake up, you promise to help me in return. Respectfully.”
Before she could say anything else, I forced my eyes open.
The effort alone made my vision blur.
But slowly, her face came into focus.
A beautiful woman with rich red-brown hair stood beside me. Her features were soft yet strong, the kind of beauty that came from resilience rather than vanity. I couldn’t tell her age—she looked around mine, maybe a little younger, but I was only twenty-one.
Her presence felt warm.
Safe.
My mind drifted weakly as memories of my own family surfaced. My parents and grandparents lived together, bound by traditions older than most kingdoms. Our family had always been raised differently—prepared for the responsibilities tied to what we were and what we were expected to become.
Because of that…
Because of the promises made long before I was born…
I had been meant for royalty.
One day I was supposed to be given to the current prince of Asia, a union meant to strengthen alliances and bloodlines. My family had spoken about it my entire life as if it were destiny.
But their wars were never my concern.
Their power struggles had never felt like my future.
I didn’t want to live the same life my ancestors had been forced into.
I wanted something else.
Something real.
The kind of love my grandparents had.
The kind my parents had.
Not political unions.
Not arranged bonds.
I wanted what they had been lucky enough to find.
Fated mates.
Her small smile pulled me back from the fog of my thoughts. As she stood up, adjusting the jacket over my body, my eyes followed her movement—and that was when I noticed it.
The small curve of her stomach.
A gentle bump beneath her clothes.
She was pregnant.
And she had still chosen to kneel beside a stranger like me.
The realization sent a strange mix of guilt and gratitude through my chest. Before I could even attempt to speak—before I could form a single word—another voice suddenly cut through the air like a blade.
“Bunny, step away from her right now.”
The command was sharp. Protective. Absolute.
Thumper immediately stood, instinctively placing one hand over her stomach as she turned toward the voice. Her tone softened instantly when she answered him. “Dom, I’m okay. We’re all okay,” she said calmly. “She hasn’t tried anything, and Ariel left for school hours ago. Please calm down. I wouldn’t dare get myself in trouble like before, honey.”
Even though I couldn’t understand every word clearly through the pounding in my ears, I could still see what they were to each other.
The way her body softened.
The way her voice melted when she spoke to him.
He was her mate.
When my eyes finally shifted toward the man she was speaking to, fear immediately crawled up my spine.
He was not someone I wanted to anger.
His tall frame towered over her easily, his muscular body only partially dressed, as if he had rushed out the moment he heard something was wrong. Dark tattoos covered his tan skin, crawling over his arms and chest like living shadows. But it was his eyes that froze the air in my lungs.
Blue.
Sharp.
Piercing enough that it felt like he could see straight into my soul.
The Alpha. That is what my parents had told me from werewolves, the coven royals from the vampires and then there were my kind, Lycan royals.
My body reacted before I could stop it. A weak whimper escaped my throat as fear tightened around my chest. Every instinct in me screamed that this was a predator far stronger than anything I had faced before.
Thumper glanced back at me before turning again to her mate, her voice soft but determined. “Dominic, please don’t hurt her. She hasn’t shifted back. She hasn’t done anything. She’s been shot, and she needs help. I don’t think it’s safe to leave her alone.”
Dominic’s gaze never left me.
The weight of it felt suffocating.
“Anna will stay here to take over,” His jaw tightened before he finally spoke, his tone firm and cold. “But you’re going to be with this she-wolf with Kelly, or you are going back to the pack house, your choice, Bunny.”
He didn’t even glance at Thumper’s expression before continuing. “I don’t trust this she-wolf yet.”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he added, “Rory found a crashed van not far from here. Two dead bodies inside. He’s searching for the others who were in it based on the footprints found in the mud from last night's storm.”
A cold wave of dread washed over me.
- Writer
