Giving Chase

~October 30th, 2017~

~Lumen~

Eve

The guard wolf was right behind me.

I know I’m fast. My special genetic composition, mixed with the magic I’d earned throughout the centuries I’d been alive, made me one of the fastest in the world.

But a werewolf in wolf form was a tough match. And this one specifically was more athletic than a typical wolf.

I’d seen his pin. He was part of the West Coast Pack’s Alpha’s personal security team.

It didn’t make sense.

What was the Alpha’s security personnel doing keeping watch over the perimeter?

The Pack’s best security guards were usually kept in the Pack House, not deep in the forest.

The only explanation was that the Pack was expecting someone. Someone either extremely important or extremely dangerous.

And Gabriel, the West Coast Alpha, had appointed one of his guards to keep an eye out for their arrival.

I heard a growl. He was right behind me.

A claw reached out and touched my shoulder. Sharp nails dug through my leather jacket.

I willed myself to move faster than I’d ever moved before, one foot in front of the other, until my legs were moving so quickly they just looked like one blur of chaos.

I looked up for long enough to realize we were now in Lumen.

We must’ve sprinted past the city gates without pausing. I risked a glance behind me.

The security guard was farther behind me now, clearly exhausted.

That was the good news.

The bad news?

There were four other wolves racing beside him now.

I didn’t look for long enough to see if they had Alpha Personnel pins of their own. It didn’t matter.

I knew I couldn’t keep running, I had to find a better solution.

I turned a corner, sprinting down a back alley. The cobblestones were making it difficult to keep up the speed, but that was when I saw it.

The sewer grate.

Without thinking, I hoisted it up and jumped inside, falling down at least fifteen feet into darkness. I landed with a thud on my feet.

I smelled it immediately.

My boots were heavy in a thick sludge, and I thanked my lucky stars I had landed on my feet.

Imagining falling on my hands and knees sent a shiver through me.

I was fine running, and I was fine fighting. But sewer sludge was where I drew the line.

I started walking down the tunnel headed north. I wasn’t about to stick around to see if the wolf guard figured out where I’d gone.

I closed my eyes as I walked, trying to recall the map of the city.

It had taken him a while, but Killian had nailed down the address I needed.

The address of the house the Morgans had just relocated into. It was in the area known as Woodsmoke.

***

An hour later, I was climbing out of a sewer grate in Woodsmoke.

The sun was about to start setting, and the streets were quiet. This was a wealthy neighborhood, filled with designer stores and well-dressed families.

~Great. My leather and combat boots will fit right in.~

I started walking, closing my eyes again to remember the map of the neighborhood Killian had given me.

I could see the street grid and knew I had to get to 49 Jayden Street. A red line appeared in the grid, showing me the fastest route there.

I opened my eyes again, taking off in the direction of the house. I kept my eyes open for the rest of the journey.

I knew that just because I’d evaded the wolf guards in the city’s entrance didn’t mean they’d given up looking for me.

They knew I wasn’t a werewolf. They could smell me.

Not that they’d be able to tell what I was off scent alone. Nobody could.

But they’d be able to figure out I wasn’t one of them, and that meant I was a threat.

So I’d have to keep an eye out for any unwanted company and stay off the streets as much as possible.

Some time later, I arrived at 49 Jayden Street.

It was a good-sized house, traditional looking with white pillars in the front and a freshly manicured lawn.

I knew Gabriel had put the family up here, that they’d come to some kind of deal about new residency.

After all, humans weren’t normally allowed in Lumen City. But the Morgans weren’t ordinary humans.

Before the West Coast Pack took over their territory here, the Morgans reigned over it.

The history of their bloodline is drenched in power and wealth.

If the Morgans hadn’t struck a deal with the Pack, allowing them to develop on the land and even sponsoring their development, the Pack wouldn’t have grown to be as prosperous.

That’s something that the West Coast Pack hasn’t forgotten.

Even with Elena gone, they’ll look out for the Morgans – and once the Morgan girls are of age to access the fortune, the Pack’s hoping that they decide to keep the sponsorship coming.

I climbed up the steps and knocked on the Morgans’ new front door. Waited a few moments...nothing.

I’d been through too much today to have any patience left, so I knocked again. Louder.

That was when the door flung open, and I saw a teenager, maybe fifteen years old, looking back at me.

She was beautiful, that much was clear. With pale blonde hair and big blue eyes, she looked like a life-sized Barbie doll.

“Uh, hello?” she asked, scrunching her nose.

I was about to say something about her reaction to seeing a woman dressed in leather when I felt a breeze and got a waft of my smell. And then I remembered I’d spent a good chunk of time in a sewer tunnel.

The scrunched nose had nothing to do with the leather.

“Your dad home?” I asked.

“DAD!” she screamed, turning back into the house. A few seconds later, Martin Morgan appeared, walking through the foyer.

“Hello? Can I help you?” he asked, squinting his eyes at me.

“No, Martin. But I’m here to help you. Your family’s in danger.”

I could tell he was confused, but he just patted his daughter’s shoulder. “Go to your room, Anya,” he instructed her.

“But what is she talking about?” she asked, looking right at me.

“Go,” he said, more firmly this time. With an eye roll, she complied.

I started talking. “I’m here to protect your family. To do so, I’ll need a few things from you—”

“Wait just a minute,” he ordered. “Who did you say you were?”

“I didn’t. I’m Eve,” I said, extending a hand for him to shake. He just looked at it.

“You’re Eve.”

“That’s right.”

“I don’t know an Eve.”

“We’ve never met, Martin.”

“You’re not a werewolf,” he said, looking into my eyes. “Gabriel put an order out for the Pack for everyone to leave us alone. But you, you know who we are. You knew my name. And you’re not leaving us alone. No wolves disobey the Alpha like that.”

“You’re right. I’m not a werewolf.”

“So you shouldn’t be here. Lumen is Wolf City.”

“I’m here to protect your family,” I repeated. Now I really had no patience. “Can I come inside?”

“What? No—” But he was too late.

Before he could blink, I had moved around him and shut the door.

He spun around to face me, anger fuming off him. “I will not have some… some ~strange woman~ force her way into my home and get me and my family in trouble! And what is that…~smell?~”

“Martin,” I said calmly, ignoring the last bit, “I know about your family. I know what you’ve been through. I get why you’d be hesitant to trust someone you don’t know. But right now, your family is already in trouble. Your daughters are being hunted.”

“I don’t believe you! And I want you out of my house right this—”

That was it. I didn’t have time for this.

I tuned him out and opened my mind, unblocking a telepathic channel so I could let his thoughts in.

The process was easy because he was human, which meant it only took a few seconds for me to start reading his mind.

~It’s a ploy. The mafia sent her. She’s going to infiltrate the house, and what, seduce me?~

~She looks like a seductress. Look at the leather. Be strong. Kick her out, NOW! Protect the girls.~

My eyes flashed up at him, and I knew they didn’t look friendly from the way he reacted.

The poor man was terrified. “Now, Martin, come on. You think I’m some sort of sex worker?”

“What?”

“You really think that low of me? That I’d let the mafia control me?”

“How did you know I was thinking that?”

“The mafia is the least of your worries. Are you familiar with rogue wolves? Vampyres?” I asked. “If you want your daughters to live until they turn eighteen, until they’re old enough to claim the fortune, then you will take my help. I will live in this house with you, and I will protect them.”

Martin sank down onto the sofa, like he was trying to process everything but having trouble.

“How do you know they’re being…” he asked.

“Hunted? I have my sources.”

“Why? Why would you protect a family you don’t know?”

The truth ran through my mind, but I knew I’d already given him a lot to take in. He was in no state to handle the truth.

“I’m not a werewolf, Martin, but I’m very powerful. And I like to use that power for good. What’s happening to your family isn’t right.”

“And if I said no? Refused your help?”

I took a seat beside him. I looked right into his eyes and saw the heart of a man who’d just lost his wife, who was doing anything he could to protect his daughters.

“I’d do it anyway,” I said, shrugging.

After a moment, he nodded, resigned. “Right,” he said. “Okay.”

“I’ll need a room. And I’ll need to be briefed on your and the girls’ schedules, your friends. Have you met anyone new since moving in?”

Martin shook his head. “We just got here yesterday. The girls have been unpacking.”

“Good. They’re starting school next week, I assume?”

He nodded. “The high school nearby.”

“Have you already had your registration appointment at the Pack House?”

“It’s first thing tomorrow.”

“I’ll be joining you.”

“Dad?” We both turned.

There at the edge of the living room was Martin’s eldest daughter, Reyna. She had dark brown hair pulled behind her shoulders and pale skin that shone in the dimly lit room.

She looked regal. Which was fitting, considering she was born to be the queen of the Morgan fortune.

I stood. “Hi, Reyna. I’m Eve,” I introduced myself. “I’ll be living with you.”

She looked at me then back to Martin. “Dad?” she asked again.

“We’re in danger, honey,” he said. “Eve’s here to protect us.”

“What kind of danger?”

“We’re being hunted,” a voice said from behind an armchair. And then Anya’s head poked out from the side.

“You were supposed to be in your room!” Martin scolded.

“You were supposed to tell us the truth,” she shot back.

“Morgans!” I silenced them, standing up.

“You want the truth? Yes, you’re being hunted. What your mother left behind is very valuable, and dangerous people are after it. But with me here, looking after you, you’ll be safe.”

Reyna snorted. “You’re barely over five feet.”

I sighed. My eyes locked on a lamp on the table behind her.

The lamp slowly lifted off the table, levitating for a moment. Then I moved it forward, and I had it circle Reyna’s torso until it was floating right in front of her hands.

Anya shrieked. Martin gasped. But Reyna’s eyes just went wide. She opened her hands and reached for the lamp, just as I turned it into dust.

Everyone watched as the dust landed in a pile on the carpet.

“So...” I said, taking in their wide-open mouths. “Are we clear?”