Tides Of Fate

Chapter Ten

"Lee, how do you know this is the right way?" Ann asked from the back seat.

I didn't feel comfortable telling her that I was following Ash's scent. I wasn't comfortable knowing that either. I just picked up his scent, how, I don't know. I followed it into the woods, driving slowly and carefully. "I think you've had enough shocks for today."

"Are we getting any closer?" Maria asked excitedly.

I inhaled deeply—Ash's scent was getting stronger. I felt awkward answering her. "Yes."

We drove for a few more minutes before I stopped. I could hear Ash's voice but it wasn't clear enough. I got out of the car and walked towards it.

"Lee, are they here?" Maria whispered behind me.

The voices were much clearer; Ash's scent was stronger. "They're here," I answered enthusiastically.

"We are going to get into so much trouble!" Ann whispered loudly.

"Will you stop being such a whimp?" Maria called at her. I wasn't paying attention to their banter I was trying to concentrate on spotting them.

I squealed excitedly when I got a fix on them. "They're there." I spoke just above a whisper running towards some crowded trees. I took cover behind a tree and watched the four beautiful big wolves.

"They are so big!" Maria said amazed.

"Do you know who's who?" Ann was standing above us.

I watched them, listening keenly for their thoughts but I couldn't hear anything. It felt awkwardly disturbing that I couldn't pick anything up. Well, I had my nose, but I wasn't sure if I could pick them out. Ash's was the only scent I knew for sure. I breathed in deeply, closing my eyes and relying on my nose to tell them apart.

Ash was the first one I recognized. I smiled, pointing in the scent's direction. "That's Ash." I opened my eyes to look. He was the biggest of them all. He had deep grey fur with a deeper shade of grey line cutting from under his chin to over his shoulder. He looked so beautiful.

I closed my eyes and tried to pick out someone else. "That's my dad." I opened my eyes to see. He had black fur, with a patch of bronze on his belly and hind legs. It was weird seeing my dad like that—not human.

"Which one's Joe?" Maria asked impatiently.

"It's not going to be easy picking out of the two. I haven't spent much time with them to know."

"Please try," Maria begged.

I nodded and closed my eyes and tried again but I was still confused. Then it hit me; Maria had spent close to all her time with Joe, there must be some scent of him on her. I turned to her and pulled her close, sniffing for a scent that wasn't her.

"Lee, what are you doing?"

"Finding Joe." I turned back to the guys, searching for the scent I got from Maria. I smiled, feeling very proud of my accomplishment. I raised my hand and pointed. "There's Joe." I opened my eyes to look. He had a light shade of brown fur—close to blond like his hair. "That means the bronze furred one is Billy." I spoke too loud.

"How did you do that?" Ann asked perplexed.

"You remember when I told you you'd had enough shocks for the day?" Ann nodded staring out at Billy.

I froze when I felt the change in them. They growled and turned facing different directions into the woods. They knew they were been watched and they were searching for the intruder. I felt my instincts kick in. My body tightened as the danger became more evident.

"We need to leave, now!" I stood up and rushed back to the car. "Hurry up!" I jumped in and started it. Just then, a huge grey head peeked at us. Ash and his silver eyes looked dangerously mad.

"Is that Ash?" Maria asked, waving at him.

"I don't think you want to do that." I revved the jeep and pushed it forward, speeding out of the woods.

Maria quickly buckled her seat belt. "Why? And what's with the crazy driving?"

"Ash is mad, no that's an understatement, he's murderously furious." I got onto the path to the house and drove in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?"

"We are going to the apartment. We'll come back when they've cooled off."

"Why, will they hurt us?" Ann asked scared.

"No, they wouldn't do that. It's just that I've annoyed Ash enough today and this stunt is most definitely the worst. I'd rather he scolds me when he's cooled off a bit."

"We could go shopping we haven't done that in a while," Maria offered.

"Yeah, maybe you could get Ash some edible lingerie. He won't remember what he was mad about." Ann spoke with a naughty grin on her face.

I smiled. s*x and foreplay always incapacitated him, even though his moral compass wouldn't allow him to take it too far. But there was someone else they weren't thinking of, "What do we do about my dad?"

"Buy him 'you're the best dad' mug?"

I laughed. "That would work. How about we just come back tomorrow?"

"Just drive, we'll think of something. But for the next few hours, we are going to forget about everything else and just relax." Maria leaned into the seat and closed her eyes. She looked the most relaxed I'd seen her since Sabrina's attack. We all needed some down time.

We went on a shopping spree, spoiling ourselves more than we ever did before. I've never believed in retail therapy but it seemed to be working well for Ann and Maria. I was enjoying myself, but I couldn't help but worry about Ash—correction, worry about me when I'm alone with Ash once we got home.

I felt his anger when he stared at me—it was lethal and nothing like the other times I'd pissed off Ash. Now more than ever I was relieved my dad had insisted we have separate rooms. I could always sneak in and barricade myself in my room. But Sabrina came through the wall, and the only reason they have steel doors was because they kept breaking them, so what's to stop him from taking my wooden door off its hinges?

"Guys, how about we hide out for a day or two…or even a week or a month?" I slowed down as we approached the car. I'd managed to ridiculously scare myself.

"Ash will rant and rave for a while but he won't stay mad at you for long. I'll drive." Ann extended her hand and waited for me to give her the keys, but I held on tight to them, my cowardly self wasn't ready to go home.

"Maybe we should go to the apartment, give them the night to contemplate about not killing us for our stupidity." Maria was as scared as I was.

Ann laughed. "And you guys called me a coward! You can't even go home to face up to a tongue lashing!"

I snorted. "That's easy for you to say, Billy's afraid of you. I have my dad and Ash to face!"

"Lee, why not call your dad, explain to him that it was curiosity that made us do it." Maria spoke softly.

"Yeah, sure I can see him understanding that. Curiosity killed the cat, Maria, and I'm not going to be that cat," I answered.

Ann reached for my hand and pried the keys loose. "Guilt them into forgiving you." She got into the driver's seat and waited for us.

"What?"

"Trust me, I'll do the talking." Ann sounded so sure of herself it scared me. She was up to something and it was bound to get us into deeper trouble than we already were in.

Maria was right, I should call my dad and beg. It never took me much to get what I wanted from him, but this was different. "I'll just call Dad and appeal to his fatherly love."

I dialed the number and counted down the dial tones to my dad's angry voice. After the second one he picked up, "Hi, honey." He sounded cool and amused by something.

I checked the caller id and number before I answered, it wouldn't be the first time I dialed the wrong number. Nope, it was my dad. "Daddy?" I sounded unsure.

"Yes, it's me. What time are you girls coming back?" He sounded so casual, there was no way this was right. He should be furious with me right now.

"Are you drunk?" That could be the only explanation for his cheery mood. He laughed.

"No, I'm not. Let me guess, you thought I'd be mad because of what you did this afternoon?"

"Yes." I sounded out each letter in amazement.

"I'm not, but your boyfriends are. By the time you get back I'll have completely chilled them out. Drive safe." The line went dead.

I still wasn't sure if we should chance it, but Ann was already driving us home. Dad was too cool for my liking.

"What did he say?" Maria turned and looked at me.

"He said he'd take care of it."

"I told you!" Maria sounded relieved.