Wolf's Essence Chapter 6 - Luke

(Hey all, here it is. The long awaited Chapter 6 of my book. I do apologize for how long it's been taking me to post not only this chapter, but in general. My new job is taking a lot of my spare time, and I'm having to change my entire sleep schedule from one I've been on for 7 years to a brand new one. It's rough. BUT, I am not giving up on this page. I love writing and posting for you all. I just ask for patience with me. After my training I should have a more permanent schedule to work around. Thank you all, and enjoy.)

Chapter 6- Luke

I couldn't get him out of my mind. I had spent the majority of my morning trying my best to get some much needed paperwork done in my office. But I couldn't stop thinking about Theo. Sure, he was young, much younger than myself, but I didn't care. All I cared about was how my wolf had reacted upon seeing him, and how according to my wolf he was supposedly my fated mate. I couldn't stop thinking how I had felt the moment I had seen him at the bar, and how my heart had raced every moment we had spent talking. Was it true? Was he truly my fated mate, or was my wolf just hoping and eager for a fuck? No, he had to be my fated mate, it was the only explanation for what I had smelled.

I thought that it had just been a moment of yearning to no longer be single. But all those thoughts went out the window the moment I stepped onto my porch last night and saw him standing in his window looking back at me. The moon had been out, but it wasn’t able to shine its light into his room. But, being that I was a shifter, I had heightened senses, which in turn allowed me to see him just fine in the dark. When I had thought about going back inside and going to bed, I had seen him rush to turn a light on. Probably because he thought that I couldn’t see him standing there for what had to have been at least 10 minutes. We had shared a silent, distant, goodnight and it left me feeling excited to see him again for dinner.

I had heard several explanations in the past about how a shifter, like myself, would know their fated mate simply by their scent. Only a shifter could smell their mate, and their scent would be completely unique to us. Once a new mate was scented the shifter would do everything they could to protect them and potentially claim them as their own. As their life partner, I should say. In the shifter society Fated Mates were seen as extremely sacred, and anyone in the pack who threatened a potential fated mating would be severely punished.

I had just finished up a file regarding our recent stock order, and was sliding it back into its spot in the cabinet, when there was a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I hollered.

The door opened to reveal a woman in her late 40s. As she entered I had the undeniable feeling that I recognized her but couldn't place the face. Her dark brown hair reached just a tad past her shoulders, gray roots were beginning to show in a few areas. Her athletic figure was dressed in blue jeans and a violet top, her body language told me she meant business. She stormed over to my desk and practically threw her dark brown leather purse onto the black surface of my desktop where my hands had just been, knocking several papers aside, and scattering several others. As I was still seated in my chair, her deep blue eyes glared down at me as she folded her arms.

“Do you know who I am,” she asked as she leaned more onto one leg.

“Um… Nooo,” I answered, hesitantly. I knew she was a sorcerer of some kind, I could practically smell the magic on her, and it wasn't happy. “Did… Did I do something to offend you in some way?”

She slammed her hands on the surface of my desk, her eyes never leaving mine as a few paper clips, pens, and sticky note pads began to slowly rise into the air.

“Are you sure you don't recognize me? Think very hard.”

I ran my eyes over her face, taking in every minute feature I could. Her deep blue eyes, her slender face, her high cheekbones, the way her brow creased as she glared at me, the scent of her magic as she summoned it and caused the small objects to float off the ground and desk. Even the way the scar on her chin curled into a near perfect C as it rounded her chin.

That was when something clicked. That scar, I had seen it before. In fact, I had been present when it happened. 30 years ago, when I was 17 and had been spending time with a great friend while she practiced her magic. We had often trained together, to hone our fighting skills, but she wanted to attempt a type of defensive ability. She had used her telekinetic magic to lift several loose objects into the air and used them to create a thin floating wall in front of her while I tossed small rocks at it. It had worked just as she had planned, causing the rocks I tossed to collide with the thin barrier instead of her, and bounce off harmlessly. But she had grown cocky and told me to throw a rock faster and she would raise the barrier before it hit her. I had done as she asked, but she wasn't as fast as she had expected. In the process of her creating the barrier, one of the branches she brought up had clipped the rock I threw, causing it to ricochet and collide with her chin. The gash was deep enough to the point that she had to receive eight stitches.

I slowly stood from my desk as I looked her in the eyes once again. “Lidia?”

“See, I knew you remembered me.”

“Wh-… But… it-it's so good to see you.” I couldn't help but stammer. We had been friends, no, we had been great friends. But that was years ago. Unfortunately our friendship had changed 21 years ago, after what my father had done. “How… How are you? How have you been?”

“I've been fine, but it’s not like you actually care.” She snipped

“What? Of course I care. I was worried sick about you for months.”

“Bullshit!” Her sudden outburst sent a wave of invisible force through the room, not powerful enough to do any damage, but enough to scatter loose papers into the air. “You did nothing while your father chased us down. Your father killed my brother and sister in law, and you did nothing!”

“What was I supposed to do? I was twenty-six, had broken ribs from training the night before, and my father was alpha. I asked him to stop. I practically begged him. But he wouldn't listen to me.”

“You should've tried harder!”

“My father was the Alpha! You know how he treated my brother and I! You should’ve seen how he treated me that day after the ordeal, all for just standing up to him and trying to convince him to spare the boy’s life.”

“Luke, he killed my brother and his wife?” The glass window of my office cracked slightly, her eyes were full with rage. The magic flowing off of her was so immense that I was certain anybody in my shop could feel it, and I was right.

I heard the sounds of footsteps pounding loudly up the stairs as Jeff's voice seeped through the open door. “Luke! Are you alright?”

Lidia just raised her hand and gave a flick of her wrist toward the door, which slammed shut just as Jeff reached the top step. She kept her hand up, which prevented Jeff from being able to force open the door. She thrust a finger at my chest as she practically growled. “Stay away from my son.”

“Son? What son? I don't even know who he is. When did you have a son?” I rambled as I raised my own hands in a defenseless manor.

“You know exactly who he is.” I was suddenly forced off my feet and against the shelved wall behind me. She took a step closer and I felt a pounding in my head. I gave a groan of pain as images began to race through my mind. Images of her at dinner with her husband, whose name I couldn't personally remember but knew. She then turned to her son sitting across from her and I saw the face of the young man I had been swooning over, Theo. The image flashed to a new one of them sitting in a dining room eating cake made of marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers. The image flashed again to a younger Theo, maybe 18, carrying a cardboard box to his old run down car. Lidia ran and gave him a tearful hug before he got into his car and drove off. The images flashed again to Theo, now maybe 10, in a baseball jersey, eating chocolate ice cream and getting it all over his face while Lidia did her best to clean it off with a wet napkin. The image flashed again to Lidia running up to a flipped car while a 6 year old Theo came crawling out of a broken window with tears streaming down his face. It flashed to a large wolf plowing into the vehicle and causing it to flip. It flashed again to Lidia walking through the woods with her husband, brother and his new wife, and Theo. The same little boy that I had spent several occasions playing with in my wolf form, letting him think I was  just an oversized dog. The image then showed them being approached by a massive wolf which cried in pain as Theo touched it, the same wolf that had charged into the car, the same alpha wolf that had raised me, my father.

I gasped as the flashing images stopped. I looked up from the floor and figured that at some point she had let go of her telekinetic hold on me, and had allowed me to slide down the wall to the floor where I now sat. I panted heavily as I slowly stood. My knees shaking as I did.

“Y- you adopted him after that,” I confirmed to myself. “He's your son? You adopted him, even after knowing what he is? He’s just like his grandfather. He's one of them. And you raised him?”

“That's right, and you're going to stay far away from him.” She jabbed me in the chest this time, her other arm still using her power to hold the door shut and Jeff out, who was shouting loudly. Her next words contained every ounce of her anger as she spoke her next words. “And he is nothing like his grandfather. Don’t you ever say that again.”

“He…. He's one of them. I knew the kid was a Sorcerer, but I didn't realize he was one of them. I had no clue that Theo was… that he was….” My mind raced, I tried to comprehend what she had shown me. I knew my father had tried to kill the little boy, but I didn't know why, until now. Was he wrong for trying, especially after what happened years prior with his grandfather? My thoughts were cut short as Nani Uni's words echoed clear in my head. You must trust your instincts. . . You must keep an open mind and open your heart. I found myself wondering if this moment was what she had been referring to. Had she seen this moment, had she seen Theo and known what he was? Trust your instincts. My instincts? My instincts told me that Theo was a good kid, and my wolf was obsessed with him. I wanted him. I wanted to hold him close and kiss him. I wanted to make him mine and never let him go, and make sure everyone knew that he was mine. Mine. I took a deep breath, calming my nerves as I thought about his handsome face when he smiled at me. I lifted my gaze to Lidia's, and I needed to know. “Does… does he know what he is, and what you are? Does he know about any of us?”

“No, he doesn't,” she shook her head, “and he's not going to. We've kept him far from all of this his entire life. If he knew what we were, what he is, what his grandfather was…. He would lose his mind. Knowing that a werewolf killed his parents, it would break him.”

“You don't know that Lidia. You can't keep it from him his entire life. Especially not after bringing him back here. Eventually the truth will come out.”

“So?” She shrugged. “We’ve wiped incidents from his memory on several occasions in the past. We can keep doing so. He's my son, I love him with everything I have. I'm his mother, I'm supposed to protect him.”

“But he has a right to know! You don't have to keep protecting him alone. I can help you. I can help teach him.”

“What makes you think I'd let you anywhere near him again? After everything you wolves did to us, to him. What makes you think that I'll let you protect him?”

“Well, for starters,” I paused, taking a deep breath as I readied myself for what she might do upon hearing my next words. I met her eyes and spoke the truth. “I scented him, Lidia.”

I expected a hard invisible blast powerful enough to send me through the concrete wall. Powerful enough to shatter every bone in my body into a million pieces. But it never came. Instead, she just stared at me, her eyes wide. “Wh-what did you say?”

“You hear me,” I said. “I scented him. Last night.”

“But…” Her face bore confusion, but only for a moment, before it was replaced by another glare. “But you can't have scented him. He's not a shifter or a human. Wolves don't mate with sorcerers, it’s a known fact. If we were to be bit, and turned, we would lose our connection to our element, forever. We would no longer be considered a Sorcerer. So no, you can’t have scented him. The Fates aren’t that cruel. Which means you're lying!”

That was the moment that I felt the blast I had been waiting for, but it wasn't strong. In fact, it was more of a pathetic push. Almost as if she were second guessing herself. I was still pushed back against the wall, but not hard enough to really do anything, other than bruise my ego. I just gave her a gentle look as she took a step back. Her face revealed that she hadn’t intended to use her power in such a manner.

“I can't explain it either, Lidia.” I said calmly as I stepped away from the wall, doing my best to remain non-threatening. “I've never heard of a shifter mating with a sorcerer either. But he's the one that the fates and goddess have decided to bring into my life. They have brought our paths together, and I’m glad they did. I talked with him for a short time, but I came to see that he's an amazing young man, Lidia. You and your husband did a fantastic job raising him.”

“But… Why now? Why not years ago? Before his parents, before…all of it?”

“It doesn't work like that. We can go years with someone by our side before we finally catch their scent. But in truth, no one knows how it works, it just does. Maybe maturity, age, planetary alignment, who knows. The fact is, I've caught his scent. You used to live here, you know what it means. You know that if you prevent me from seeing him, my wolf will grow restless and do what it can to be with him. It won't stop until I've either claimed him as my mate, or he denies me and turns my wolf away. However, he can't do that unless he knows who and what I am, and more importantly, who and what he is.”

I watched as she pondered the truth. I could tell that she didn't want to, but in the end she knew I was right. She was hesitant, but she lowered her hand, allowing Jeff and several others to burst into the room with teeth and claws at the ready. I simply held up a hand for them to stop, which they did. She looked at the few members of my pack, then looked around the room at the scattered papers, before turning her eyes on me. I watched as they filled with tears before she broke down and began sobbing into her hands. Wanting her to know that she wasn't alone, and still had my friendship, I gently wrapped my arms around her and just hugged her. Her sobs became wails and I watched Jeff slowly back out of the room with the rest of the crew.

After several moments of letting her drench my shirt with her wet eyes, she finally pulled away with a few sniffles. She then gave a small chuckle. “I will admit, his eagerness to make this trip does make a bit more sense if you scented him.”

“What do you mean,” I asked as I looked down at my shirt, which had two large wet tear spots the size of red apples.

“Well, with the way he was talking about you last night at dinner, and how he reacted when I told him not to talk to you. . . I think… Yoouu might be his Source.”

I was stunned. Excitement filling my chest. “Are you serious? Are… are you sure? How long has he been searching?”

She shrugged, “I have no idea, he's never said anything about the tugging, so I assumed he hadn't felt it yet. But I've seen him swoon over other guys, but nothing like this. He barely met you and he’s already crazy about you. You do realize you're twenty years older than him, right?”

I gave the back of my head a nervous rub, “I didn't realize we were that far apart. But obviously the fates and goddess don't care. You definitely can't deny us this opportunity now, Lidia. You know how important it is for a sorcerer to find their source, just like it is for a shifter to meet their fated mate.”

“Well, then you better pray to your moon goddess for guidance, because how are you going to tell him that your father is the reason his parents are dead?”

It was a good question, one that I didn't have an answer for. I simply gave a shrug, “I don't know yet, so asking for guidance is probably a good idea. And how are you going to explain to him what he is, about the supernatural, and the kind of person his grandfather was?”

She gave a shrug of her own. “I don't know. He's gone his entire life being told magic isn't real. I'm afraid of how he's going to react when he finds out we've been lying to him his entire life.”

“Well, he has a right to know, and he needs to know. He needs to know and be prepared to face whatever the world may throw at him. He needs to be able to protect himself. And he especially needs to know about what we are to one another.”

She nodded as she wiped away another tear. “I know. But how do you tell someone that all the creatures they read about in books, and seen in shows, are real?”

“That's a good question, one that needs to be discussed with your husband. But the bright side is, if he knows what he is he'll be able to learn how to fight them. If he learns how to control his abilities, he could become the most powerful sorcerer in town.”

“You mean the most powerful sorcerer in the world.” She shook her head, worry showed on her face.

“Isn't that a good thing?” I asked as I began gathering papers from the floor. “He’d be able to handle anything that comes his way.”

She paused as she caught my gaze, “That's what scares me, Luke. What if he becomes just like his grandfather?”

“I give you my word, Lidia.” I said as I stood tall and looked her in the eyes with confidence. “I will never let that happen.”