Wolf Pack Part 2
Emily ran out of the bar as fast as she could. The reason she’d come back to this town had walked right up to her, but she wasn’t ready to face him, not yet. What were the odds he would be there, in that bar? Hell, if she tried being honest with herself, she hadn’t expected him to still be here ten years later. Had he changed his ways? He was probably still a man-whore and a drifter. He had to be. Didn’t he? She’d heard him calling for her from inside the bar. He remembered her, even by her name. Ten years later, and she wasn’t just another tick mark on his cave wall. Maybe he had cared about her after all, but it was too late for that now.
She ran up to the stagecoach, which had been waiting outside the bar, and quickly got inside. She shut the door behind her and gave the driver the name of the hotel where her room was booked. The turning of the wheels on the coach put her into a trance-like state, and she leaned back on the cushioned bench. She knew the pain she felt was exaggerated, even knew it was not logical. He did have a right to know what had happened ten years ago. She owed him an explanation, but she knew giving him one would be hard.
The stagecoach pulled to a halt at the desired stop. She paid him in coins and opened the door. She looked around cautiously before stepping out and onto the dirt road, hoping that Lucas hadn’t caught on to how she escaped the bar and followed her. Having seen and heard no one, Emily quickly made her way from the coach to her room.
She opened the door quietly and stepped inside to look at the still child lying on the bed, his back to her.
“Daniel, are you awake?”
Lucas walked around the town, trying to gather his thoughts about what to do now that Emily was back. Ten years. It felt like forever since she had been here. Why would she come back after all this time? Yeah, they’d had only a few months together, but damn, what a thrill it had been. He approached an alley and slipped into the shadows; his wolf form needed to stay hidden while others were around. He silently stripped his clothing off and shifted into his true form, the black wolf. He sat down in the alley and set out to wait until nightfall hit. That was when it was safest to go hunting. He’d find her again, mark his words. This town wasn’t big enough to hide in for long.
Lucas woke up from his nap just as nightfall settled in. It was easier to blend into the shadows when the sun wasn’t giving away one’s location. He came back to the bar and looked for evidence of where Emily had gone. He sniffed at the road until he caught a lingering taste of her perfume. It seemed to follow the trail of a horse. Maybe she had been on the stagecoach that he’d seen leaving the bar. Lucas took his chances and followed the horse’s scent through the town. He ended up at one of the hotels, Packs. The side door sat open to the alley, the perfect opportunity to sneak in and not be seen. Once in, he wandered through the hallways and stopped when he reached the door numbered 12. Lucas could tell she was in there; he could hear her heart beating and taste her sweet scent on his tongue. He shifted back into human form and knocked on the door, anxiously awaiting her response.
He knew she had known he stood outside of the door, because the look of hate she displayed on her face when she opened it said a million words.
“Lucas, what are you doing here? I told you I didn’t want to see you. Why can’t you follow simple instructions? That’s your problem; you never leave well enough alone!” Emily walked into the hall and shut the door behind her. She looked him up and down, disgust radiating off of her face. “And why can’t you be in clothes? You’re walking around a hotel naked. Really?”
“Emily, please calm down. You act like I’m the one who hurt you, but I didn’t. You walked out on me, remember?” He tried to approach her, but she kept shrugging his advances away.
“Keep your voice down. People will hear you, and I do not want attention drawn to us.” Emily paced in the hallway, and he watched as she let her eyes drift over his body, looking him up and down.
“Momma, why are you yelling?” A little boy came out of the room, his hands rubbing his eyes. Clearly, he had been woken up from his sleep.
“Go back inside, Daniel. Mommy will be right back.”
Emily started to push him back into the room, but Daniel had spotted Lucas. “Momma, that man is naked.”
“Yes, Daniel, I know. Come on, go back to bed.” Emily shut the door, sealing her son away from Lucas’s view.
Lucas’s jaw tensed, and his mind raced. “How old is he?” The dark and angry look he gave her would have scared most women, he knew, but not his Emily.
“You really want to know how old he is? Do you really want me to have to say it?” She looked at him, cold and firm. “I had him when I left Wolf Point a little over nine years ago. He’s the reason I never contacted you, and I wouldn’t have come back today had I known you were still here.”
“So he is mine, then? You kept my son from me?” Lucas moved toward her and watched her back up against the wall. Her eyes were glued on him as he watched her chest rising and falling with every breath she took, but nothing else moved.
“Lucas, stop. He is my son, and nothing you — ”
Lucas slammed his fist against the wall right beside her head. His body pressed up against hers. Slowly, he said, “He is of my blood, therefore he is mine. You will get his things ready for me. I will take my son in the morning. You have had him for the last decade. It is time for me to have what is mine.”
With that last statement, Lucas pushed off the wall and transformed into his wolf form. He retraced his path down the hallway, leaped out of the open window, and found a safe landing spot for his paws on the dirt road. Lucas loped down the silent streets of Wolf Point, not really moving with a purpose but striding around to think.
How could she not know I was here? She had to have known, he pondered. She came back because she wanted me to find out about him, about my son. Daniel. He resolved then that he wouldn’t treat his son like an outsider, as he had been treated. Lucas wouldn’t keep his son locked away from the truth any longer.
It was at that moment he knew where he had to go. He changed course and made his way to the dugout, the sacred spot where his ancestors had lived before the humans arrived. They had hunted his ancestors for their pelts, a barbaric treatment, just to sell them along the railroads as they came through the town. Almost everyone from those original families had been wiped out, leaving so few true wolves alive. Lucas looked out onto the riverbank and saw the sunrise start. The iridescent colors danced along the waves, and it reminded him that as a boy he and his father would go hunting along the river’s path.
“Today, Daniel, I’ll show you what it’s like to be a Miser,” Lucas resolved quietly.
“Daniel, come finish packing. We need to get out of here quickly, and you do not have time to play.” Emily didn’t pause to watch and see if Daniel did as he was instructed. She was too busy frantically pulling her own things together.
“Momma, who was the man last night? He came by pretty late. Did you know him?” He looked up at her from his chair, his eyes pure and solid brown.
“He is an old friend I had when I lived here before you were born. Now get up and pack.” Emily took his hand, pulled him out of the chair, and pushed him toward his toys on the ground. She pointed to the backpack, and he quietly started loading it.
“I heard him yell at you. If he comes back, I can protect you. I’ll make sure he stops yelling.”
“You will not talk to that man ever again, Daniel. Do you hear me? Ever again. Now, no more about it.”
Daniel sat in silence as he slowly packed his backpack. Emily knew he had heard what had happened last night and must be scared. She saw him reach into the side of his pack and pull out a pocketknife. He palmed it for a second before slipping it into his pants pocket. Her heart sank. She knew her son would do anything he could to keep her safe.
“Emily, are you in there?” She heard Lucas knocking heavily on the door, demanding entrance. “Open up!”
Emily’s heart sank as she looked at Daniel. She opened the closet and motioned for him to go inside. She handed him his backpack and closed the closet door before she moved to answer Lucas.
“Go away, Lucas,” Emily told him as Lucas pushed through her door and walked into her room. “What do you think you are doing? Get out! I don’t want you in here.”
“I told you I would be coming for my son, so where is he? Where are his things?” Lucas looked around the room to see signs of a child hiding somewhere.
“I came here for help with him, not to give him over to you.” Emily moved her body in front of the closet, trying to shield her son from being noticed.
Lucas’s mouth opened, and a snarl came out. He couldn’t help it; he wanted his son, and if scaring her made that happen, then he would do it. “Emily! Give me my son!”
“Lucas, stop. You are going to scare him.”
Daniel pushed open the door to the closet. Lucas put his arm around Emily’s waist and pulled her out of the way. He watched as the doors opened and Daniel came racing out, before he felt a sudden kick at his knees and a punch in his stomach.
“You will not take me from my momma! I am not your son!”
Lucas quickly put his hands on the boy’s arms and held him still, looking him in the eyes, really examining the boy. “You are my son, Daniel. Do you understand that? Your mother knows this to be true.”
“Not your son,” he said. The tears in his eyes started to run down his cheek. Lucas knew Emily was behind him, looking at them. He released the boy’s arms and grabbed his hand and the backpack off of the closet floor. He looked over at Emily and nodded in her direction before walking to the front door of the room.
“Momma…” Daniel pulled his hand out of Lucas’s and ran over to Emily.
Lucas watched them embrace before she kissed Daniel’s head and looked up at him. He walked over to Daniel and took Daniel’s hand in his. He felt reluctant for a moment, but then continued out of the room and down the stairs of the hotel.
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Find the final part of this story here: https://medium.com/@quinnskylar23/list/wolf-pack-7be5889dac41
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