Lavender

Keycard

Episode 4

Keycard

The only thing on my mind as he puts the keycard in the slot is a real shower. I'm praying to whatever God there is that there's a good one in this motel. Once the door is open and the light is on, I can see that this is actually a fairly nice motel. Much nicer than most houses I've lived in. We walk in and I toss my backpack on the bed. "You can have first dibs on the shower, little one. I at least had a nice one this morning. I know you're ready to feel clean." I don't know how he can tell what I've been focused on for the last 30 minutes, but I just respond "Thanks." and grab some pajamas out of my backpack.

This bathroom is very clean, thank goodness. My reflection stares back at me and I just look miserable. Pale and skinny like always, but I have dark circles under my eyes now, and you can see streaks of dried tears lining my cheeks. I start the water and tentatively step into the warmth. This very quickly turns into the best shower of my life. I try to be fast because I know Dean is waiting for his turn but it just feels so good.

I step out of the bathroom in my pajamas and see Dean already crashed in one of the beds. His shirt is off, and it hits me just how big this man is. His shoulders are broad and massive. I can see the tone of the muscles in his chest, he definitely goes to the gym. When my eyes return to his face and I see his eyes are open as well, I know he just watched me check him out. I feel flames on my cheeks and he smirks at me. I quickly look away and pad over to my bed, scooting under the covers on the side furthest away from him. If the wetness between my thighs is any indication, I need to keep my distance. I've never been close to a boy. My dad went through a phase when I was about thirteen, ensuring we went to church every Sunday. One of the few things I took from that experience was to keep boys as far away as possible, not that I trusted anyone enough to allow them to be close to me anyway.

Dean makes no move to get out of his bed to shower, so I assume it's okay to turn my lamp off. Sleep doesn't come to me quickly tonight, perhaps something to do with the burly man sleeping only a few feet away. Just as I'm about to succumb to the darkness, I swear I hear a very light "Goodnight, princess." but I must have imagined it.

---

It must be late morning when my eyes finally open. The sun is beaming through the window. Dean's bed is made up perfectly, and I don't hear the shower running. He must have left. Well, isn't this just great Gwen? You leave your dad, run off with a stranger, and now you've been abandoned in a hotel room in some random town. Now what's your plan? My inside thoughts thoroughly annoy me at times. Negativity and panic aren't going to help anything now. I ignore the voice and decide to take advantage of the shower one last time. I'm not disappointed, it's just as relaxing as before. I open the bathroom door with just a towel covering me. Thinking Dean left and I'm on my own, I don't worry about putting clothes on. But ironically, just as I step out of the bathroom, there he is waiting for me in the chair in the small sitting area. Oh, my freaking gosh.

I make a beeline for my backpack, grab the whole thing and rush back to the bathroom to cover myself. My reflection shows my bright red cheeks. I don't know what it is about this guy that gets me going, but it needs to stop. I throw on jeans and a t-shirt and stuff all my dirty clothes back inside. I come back out, and he's just looking at me with a grin showing his perfectly straight, white teeth. I can't help giving him a little smile back. Then the smell of bacon hits me and my stomach growls instantly.

He hears my stomach and laughs, "I grabbed some food for you, little one. Did you really think I just left you here?" I shrug and take the seat opposite him, waiting patiently for him to open the bag. He pulls out a white container and opens it to reveal two fluffy pancakes, 2 strips of bacon, and eggs with cheese on top. My mouth is drooling as I open the small packet covering my fork.

"I'd never leave you, princess. Now that I've finally found you, I'll never let you go again. I can see that you have trust issues so I'm not going to push you to understand my point of view, but I'm hopeful that you'll come to see me as a friend and maybe more one day. Where we're going, you'll see, I'm going to take care of you, and you'll never have to worry about standard things again. You'll always have a nice place to sleep, plenty of food to eat, and we'll go shopping as soon as we get to town. You're going to have a whole new wardrobe, fit for the princess you are." He looks at me expectantly, waiting for an answer, but my mouth is full. I've been stuffing all this food in my mouth ever since he opened the container. I don't really know what to say to that anyway, but I swallow nonetheless and ask what's been bothering me.

"When will we get there? And where is the town, anyway?"

"We're going to our pack, we live deep in the woods in Montana. We're in Nebraska now, so about another 10 hours until we get there. I let you sleep in this morning. We got in pretty late last night, and you were exhausted. Since it's almost noon now, we might as well find some cool places to see on the way home and then finish traveling in the morning. How does that sound?"

"That seems fine to me, I suppose. What do you mean 'our pack'? And how did you find me yesterday?"

"I wanted to wait to have this conversation, but since we'll be there tomorrow, it would be good to have your head wrapped around some of this." His eyes are very dark now, all playfulness gone. I have the feeling he's waiting for me to stalk out and leave this whole situation behind. "Your 'father' kept a lot of things hidden from you. I'm so sorry for that, and I'm very angry. You were stolen from me, you were meant to be my bride. This arrangement was made before you and I were born. Your mother was a werewolf, Luna of our pack, essentially a Queen. She was married to our Alpha, your true father, and Gideon is your uncle. When Rose died, she was actually taken when our pack was attacked. We assumed she died all those years ago because she hasn't come back. But your uncle decided to leave the pack when Rose didn't return, and he took you with him. My family is from a neighboring pack, and your parents made an alliance with my parents by arranging our marriage, long before we were born. The two packs are meant to be conjoined with us leading them, as Alpha and Luna."

When I realize he's done talking, I can't help the bubble of laughter forming in my throat.