“I can do a background check on her, then you can decide where you wanna put her,” Switch said, coming from the bar. He wore a dark tee with a gamer logo. He was reclusive too, but Locke needed him to stay in the headquarters so he was at the pack’s disposal.
“We don’t know her name, yet.” Locke threw the cig out and walked up beside Journey.
I stepped forward, chest to chest with my supposed brother. Locke wouldn’t hurt a woman, but my wolf would not let him lay a hand on her.
Locke stepped back, looking me up and down again. He assessed me, seeing if I was in the right state of mind. I obviously wasn’t. Hell, I’d lost control back there. Locke was ready to put me out of my misery; he knew I was suffering. But no one wants to see their close friend dying, and he was hopeful I would last longer. Hell, I had lasted a long time without going rabid.
After the years of being ready to die, I wasn’t anymore.
I had to show him that I wasn’t going to hurt this poor woman. I would never. I’d fight my wolf tooth and nail on that one.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?” Locke asked, ignoring me.
Journey continued to hold herself despite the cold. Her knees shook, and her lip trembled. Her makeup was smudged and dried to her cheeks, but she didn’t cry. Not one tear ran down her cheek as she stood before a bunch of men that looked down at her wondering how she’d survived it all.
“Journey,” she mumbled. “Journey Smith.”
Switch scoffed in the background.
“Journey’s your real name? I don’t reckon I’d find many Journeys but Smiths are a dime a dozen,” Switch stated.
Locke ground his teeth, his full attention on her. I could hear her heart, listening for an offbeat that could measure a lie. We all knew she had a family when she said she didn’t. The lie was obvious. But now we needed to know who she was and if her family might be looking for her.
There was one question, however, Journey technically didn’t answer the question we really needed to know—if she’d seen anything out of the ordinary, like magic—because that would add a whole new mess of problems.
“Yeah, it’s my real name.”
Switch continued to ask her questions, writing them down on a small notepad. I continued to assess her, watching how she talked and how she moved her body. I wanted to memorize it all, but I wasn’t sure why.
Surely, I wasn’t developing feelings for the human woman I’d just rescued. I’d rescued far too many of them, and not once had I given any woman a second look. This one, though… The moment her caramel eyes looked up at me, there was something.
My damn wolf howled. He howled in excitement for the first time in a long while. He wasn’t some mindless beast anymore; I could feel his feelings, an emotional connection. It was the first time since—
Shit.
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” Switch nodded to Locke and took off back to his den and left Journey with Locke and me.
Locke cleared his throat and nodded to the other side of the bikes for me to follow. I stopped halfway over, making sure she wouldn’t run. Then again, where would she run to?
“Brother, what’s wrong? You got the brothers eyes on you.” Part of the crew was over by the bar entrance, watching the scene unfold. The nosey bastards. I knew some were waiting to see if I would come home at all, that I’d have to be taken out because I’d officially gone rabid. But now they saw me with this girl who’d ridden in on my bike. “You ain’t going to kill this woman are you?”
I growled, my eyes blazing at the group until they scattered.
Running his hand through his hair, Locke snorted. “This is the first time I’ve seen you have an opinion on something, though.” He smirked. “Here’s the thing.” He pointed at me. “I can’t leave you alone with her because of your ‘situation.’ I can’t have anything happen to this human. We can’t afford for the Royal Council to look our way, thinking we’re breaking any of their laws.”
Fuck the Council.
They let the fae run rampant, let souls reject their mates without consequence, and let the supernaturals go rogue as long as they were kicked out of Elysian. The realm and the counsel wouldn’t bat an eyelash if someone was killed on the other side, especially around some rogues. As long as we didn’t make a spectacle and no humans found out about the existence of the realm or magical entities, the council didn’t give a flying fuck.
We all fucking hated the council, but they had left us alone. They didn’t send their guards to complete the job. Just threw us to the humans and said, “don’t fuck shit up for the rest of us.” That was our “blessing” to live another day.
“I’ll watch him.” Sizzle’s bright blonde hair and the scar decorating his neck glistened in the light from the bar. His dark eyebrows were a terrible contrast to his hair, but dragons were supposed to be flashy with their looks. “We live in the same building, in case you forgot.” Sizzle barked a laugh. “He won’t hurt her. I’ve never seen him glance at a woman his way. Maybe he just needs to get laid, and his wolf will calm down.”
I growled. Journey would not be like that. She wasn’t some whore. Besides, supernaturals were not to lie with a human. They couldn’t handle our animalistic qualities in bed.
“Easy man.” Sizzle patted my shoulder. He blew a small flame from his mouth, lighting another cig for Locke. “I was just kidding. I’ll let Hawke know she’ll stay at our place. Delilah has some clothes at her apartment that Hawke is picking up.”
My eyes never left Journey as they talked. Her gaze floated over the street, her constantly moving eyes made me wonder how long she had been on her own.
