I quickly get dressed and shove my knife in its sheath tucking it into my boot. I grab my keys and the jar that was left at my door before I walk out of my room, making my way to the lobby. The same young lady is at the desk, and she smiles brightly when she sees me walk in.
“Is everything alright with your room?”, she asks.
“It’s perfect Melissa” taking time to look at her name tag this time. “I do have a question though. I found this in my room. Maybe whoever was here before me forgot it, and was wondering where I can get some more?” I ask.
“Oh, I’m not sure where that jar came from, but I do know where you can get some more. There is a guy out on the market road north of town that keeps bees. He sells it at the local grocery store.” She replies. “You know, it’s kind of a local tradition for a guy to give his sweetheart a jar of honey. Maybe you have a secret admirer.”
“Well, that would be something wouldn’t it?” I laugh. “Thanks Melissa, I will have to take a trip tomorrow and get some more.” I say before turning to make my way out the door.
“OR you could just go over to Sherry’s and ask him personally. He works there as the bartender. His trucks parked out front, so he’s there.” She says.
Feeling thankful that Melissa is so helpful, I make my way across the street to Sherry’s. Still holding my gift. Before I enter, I take a breath to settle my nerves. I am not sure what I am about to walk in to, but I know that it is important. I can feel it, the energy pulsing like a heartbeat in the back of my head. It’s nothing like anything I have experienced before. Usually, I can block out energies from people. Something I do to protect myself quite often, but there is something different about this place. Something I can’t explain.
“Girl…do NOT go in there!” I hear my spirit guide shout at me startling me. “What the hell Lily…where have you been?” I shout at her in my head. Lily is my spirit guide and has been the voice in my head all of my adult life. I just wish she would have been there when I was young and destructive. Also, totally uncool making an appearance when I’m too old for an imaginary friend. At least she was kind enough to explain to me that I shouldn’t go broadcasting the fact that I have a voice in my head. You don’t say?
Wonder why that might not be received well by, any one really. Since Lily graced me with her presence, I’ve been on the move. She tells me that we have work to do and I trust her. We have helped a lot of people and I know that in retrospect the things that we do matter. I have moments of doubt, but someone's got to do it. Might as well be me. For some reason she has been avoiding me for days now. “You just tell me it’s time to leave Dallas and disappear a few days into driving God knows where. Some weird shit is going on here, and I needed you.” I shout at her. “I know, I know, listen…go back to your room and we can talk. Just not here ok” she says. I don’t respond, I just turn around and make my way back across the street.
I plop down on my bed and Lily, I can tell, is trying to figure out how she is going to tell me what is on her mind.
“Oh, for god’s sake, just spit it out.” I say.
“Ok,” she begins “So, you my dear are an empath.” She says.
“Yes.” I reply. I’m not really sure where she is going with this. This is something that I have known since childhood. As long as I can remember, I have been able to feel energy around me. The human spirit is a powerful thing. Emotion is fueled by energy, energy is fueled by emotion, round and round it goes, unless someone like me comes in and manipulates it, it can sometimes have a pretty catastrophic snowball effect. I can halt a bar brawl quicker than a bouncer can dial 911, and I have. Many times. It can be scary though, and not all empaths have the ability to manipulate it.
I’ve really screwed things up too. That’s why it is especially important for someone like me to stop myself from making decisions based on emotion. Its good practice for everyone, detrimental for someone like me. Feeling the emotions of others has its perks, but it hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park. Reality dictates that there are some seriously fucked up people in the world, and having an intimate knowledge of the emotions these fools have is traumatizing. Experiencing the emotional equivalent of an erection coming from your friend’s dad when he see’s you take off your towel at the pool party when you’re 12 years old, not exactly the kind of gift I wanted the universe to bestow on me. It hasn’t been all bad though. The love of a new mom, a thousand first kisses. Hell, the most happiness I have ever felt was in a pet shop in Atlanta. So, Lily is really beating a dead horse right now. I know this is who I am, and I have come to terms with it.
“Right now you need to be prepared for the tidal wave of emotion that is going to come at you when you walk through that door.” She confides. Before I can ask, she already knows my question. What could possibly be more overwhelming than walking around, trying to hold it together so my crazy aunt can mark the Tokyo tower off her bucket list. “Hannah, you need to trust me when I tell you that there are no walls, or boundaries that you can put in place to keep out what is in there. You're going to have to experience it before you will be able to make them.” She says.
“What is it?” I ask.
Without hesitation she replies, “your soulmate."
I can hardly contain my laughter. “My soulmate?!” I blurt out with a snort. After failing miserably to stay cool. “Lily, there is no such thing.”
“Don’t laugh weirdo, I’m serious” she retorts “matter of fact, hold on to your britches because there is more. That wolf you saw on the road today…that was him”. At this I absolutely lose it, laughing hysterically.
“So, I’m into critters now?” I choke out. This is by far the craziest thing Lily has told me, and she has sprung some whoppers on me. Getting my giggles under control I finally calm down.
“Don’t believe me? Go over there and find out for yourself” she snaps.
Challenge accepted.
It's a slow night at Sherry's. The last customers left about an hour ago and Joe has been huffing and puffing in the kitchen. He's taking extra care to make as much noise chopping extra prep items for tomorrow. By the smell of it we have enough onions to last the next month. I don’t know what has gotten into him lately, but it seems like he does everything he can to be obnoxious to get Sherry’s attention in an effort to go home. I’ve talked to her about switching him to days, but she says that the daytime cook is a single dad and doesn’t have anybody to watch his kids at night. Joe's usually pretty chipper till about nine o’clock. That’s when he turns into the grouch, we all know and love. The one that takes his time picking the strongest smelling onions to chop up loudly and throw pans in the storage area. Sherry walks out of the office and looks at me with a questioning look. I shrug my shoulders and go back to washing the beer mugs. It’s 11:30 when Sherry asks, “Ya’ll rea
I walk to the door and just as I am about to open it, it swings open and tall slender man steps out. I can feel his disappointment at the realization that I am headed inside. From the looks of it, and the smell of him he is likely the guy that works in the kitchen and is heading out. It doesn’t surprise me when he says, “honey, I hope you’re looking for liquid lunch cuz the kitchens closed.” I put on my warmest smile, he has kind eyes, and I don’t want to keep him from whoever he is trying to get home to. I can feel the devotion and love radiating from him, and I know that he cherishes them.Before I have a chance to reassure him, I step inside the door and freeze. As soon as I see him, I know that Lily was not bullshitting me. He stands up and faces me. He is tall, taller than me, a lot taller than me. I’m six feet tall and he has to be about 6’7”. His long golde
I want her. Badly. I don’t just want a midnight romp though. I never want to have a day that I don’t see her beautiful face. I want to know what it is about her that makes people feel at ease when she is around. The minute she walked in that door everything changed. Not only for me, she is my mate, so that is a given. I suppose part of me knows that there is a tether between us that I won’t be able to resist, but Joe leaving the kitchen when someone has come in. He wouldn’t normally do that. He prides himself of his work ethic. Not a big deal though. We all have our off days, so I didn’t think anything of it. Sherry leaving me to close the bar without her I didn’t see coming, but the real kicker was Frank and Josh. Those two crotchety old bastards don’t care about anything but their lawn, their wallets and closing Sherry’s Bar. For one, they are frequent customers here and they know the price of a beer. They wouldn’t fall for what she pulled with the daytime bar tender L
“It wasn’t your fault, you know that right”, I say to him feeling his sadness, mixed with guilt. I can feel his hurt and I want to take it away. I can, but that would never truly heal him. It would all come rushing back out of nowhere. A memory, something familiar that reminds him of the thing causing him pain will have it all come rushing back with a fury. It would be worse, cruel even. He lowers me back down so that I am standing in front of him.Worried that I stepped over a boundary I look up to him searching his eyes for what I should do. I open a boundary just a little bit to see if I can get a hint of what he is feeling. Maybe I can do some damage control, and salvage this, whatever this is. He raises his hand to the back of his neck and forces a smile. I can tell whatever it is, it’s a sensitive subject. “I’m sorry,” I tell him “That was probably int
Driving around waiting for the pull, I feel around in my head for Lily but she still hasn’t returned with any news. It’s after noon so Gabe has been missing for almost twelve hours. Out of nowhere Lily pops into my head telling me to turn right; now. I slam on my brakes and almost miss the turn. The car behind me honking its horn in protest to my sudden diversion. “Lily, what did you find?” I ask her. “Nada from the guy that snatched him, but lucky for us Gabe knows where he is.” She tells me, explaining that she was able to contact a very pissed off inner wolf.“Ok, where is he?” I ask. “There is an old barn about a mile up on the left. He’s in there” she tells me “But Hannah, I think you should call the deputy, these people are dangerous” she warns me. “How many are there?” I ask her. “Two, but Hannah,
I hear a strangled howl from below the floor under Jeff. Looking at me they both make a move to grab me. Dodging Jeff and snatching the other guy’s wrist I twist him around and shove his face into the grill of the tractor. His head making a sickening thud and he falls to the ground down for the count. That was too easy. I turn to face Jeff and he is on me before I can dodge him again. He tackles me to the floor and lands on top of me. He stinks, like halitosis and mildew. He maneuvers his legs so he is straddling me and grabs my neck with both hands choking me. I use my arms, thrusting them up between his breaking his choke hold on me and knocking him off balance. I am able to jump up before he has time to recover and kick him in the face as hard as I can. Twice.With them both out cold I reach down and remove the laces from my boots, and hog tie them both. Fucking animals, serves them right.&
The last thing I remember is dropping the keys to Sherry’s in the mail slot. Beating myself up for not going after Hannah, I was considering going over to her room to explain. It wasn’t anything against her, I just wasn’t expecting it. It was like she was reading my mind and it threw me off. I woke up to the sound of Ray, the pack doc telling someone that I’m damn lucky to be alive. The amount of wolfsbane in my system was enough to kill our whole pack. “Those idiot meth heads were trying to get a ransom for him to feed their habit, and almost killed him.” I hear Deputy Scott say. “She saved his life?” Uncle Bob asks.“Hannah” My voice sounds ragged and harsh like I haven’t spoken in weeks. I don’t know how long I have been out, or if she even stuck around. I open my eyes and see that I am home in my own bed. I have a splitting headache, an
“I think I am going to need help in the shower. Wouldn’t want me to fall now, would you?” he says with a devilish grin and winks at me. “Do it!” Lily says, and I say fuck it and take off my giant t-shirt. “Oooooooh you hussy!” Lily sings at me. “Go away Lily” I tell her, and she does.I look at Gabe, clearly surprised, one hand on his hip and the other nervously stroking his thick beard. Standing there in nothing but my panties I put my hands on my hips and ask, “What? I cant get my favorite night shirt all wet!” pressing his lips together he hums “mmmh mmh mmh” and picks me up by the waist lifting me over the edge of the tub standing me up in the shower.I yelp at the sudden motion, and Gabe kneels in front of me with his hands on my hips he traces the seam of my panties and pulls them down. I lift my legs one at a time letting him remove