Chapter 2

Elizabeth was relaxing in her little apartment above the bookstore. The day's events had been very different than her normal routine. And she'd had a hard time focusing on her customers after her mystery man had left with his brother. Her mystery man? She thought with a shake of her head. He had never given her his name even though she hadn't given him hers. That bothered her a lot more than she would have liked to admit even to herself.

Elizabeth couldn't explain why she was disappointed with not giving him her name. It felt like she had missed out of something that could have been great. She just had felt so connected to the stranger in the short period of time that he had been in her presence. He had been very handsome with a very nice bare ass. For a first meet he had definitely made an impression, too bad it had not been a more intimate meeting with very similar results.

Elizabeth shifted on her couch as a certain part of her body responded to the memory of tan muscular thighs and firm cheeks. She hadn't gotten the chance for a good look at anything else unfortunately. Even though she had desperately wanted to gaze all day in that direction, she'd been careful to advert her eyes as much as possible. The way her body had wanted him so badly made her feel like a schoolgirl. It made her feel betrayed, honestly, even when she was young enough to be a teenager, she wouldn't have dared to throw herself at a man. Elizabeth wasn't bold like that.

She could feel herself flush on her cheeks and across her chest. The warmth moving to settle low in her belly. Elizabeth shifted again, becoming uncomfortable on her blue velvet couch. Another item she had been able to pick up second hand at a yard sale for a very good price. It was times like this that made her think having a man in her home wouldn't be so awful. Having a man that looked like that in her home in a regular wouldn't be awful at all. Not that everything was about looks but good looks and manners in one human let alone a man was hard to find like EVER. So when one came along, of course she fumbled it. The only thing she could ask for in life is a love like her parents.

And her parents' loving relationship had given her comfort enough. She has the best father a girl could ask for, and when her mother had been alive she was pretty great too. Their love together had showed her, as a child, what she wanted in a relationship when she found a man that she was willing to give her heart to. But when her mother had died just two years after Elizabeth completed high school, she had not been able to open up to the possibility of love. That was six years ago and she had started her bookstore the same year, doing the best she could to keep her mother's memory alive.

Lost in thought and twirling a long strand of hair that had fallen in her face, Elizabeth walked into her kitchen. Her apartment was open, connecting kitchen to the living room. There was a closet closest to the front door that held her shoes and the tennis rackets she never used. The front door did have a very short hallway that immediately opened up to the kitchen-living room with her bedroom door to the left. She actually loved the apartment above her store. The only bedroom was as big as her kitchen and living room combined with a master bathroom inside. Elizabeth had paid to have a big circle bathtub that could fit two people in it if she wanted to, not that she ever had a reason for that. To her the bath was the best part of any bathroom, and she had made sure she got a tub with lots of room to stretch out with a book to read.

The microwave dinged just in time for her to stroll into the well light area. Elizabeth opened the door to the microwave and took out her plate of pizza rolls. She really didn't know what or how to think about the days events. He had been able to have his brother there fairly quickly after walking -or had he been running, she couldn't be sure- into her store. He did just kind of appear silently over taking her personal space even though he had been a perfect gentleman the entire time never touching her. He had been quiet for a few moments before he had turned around. Elizabeth had been absorbed in her book, his presence only being told by the small chime of the bell. She hadn't thought much of it when her eyelids had rose to maybe catch a glance at her new customer.

Then he had been able to pay her a large portion of money standing in front of her wearing her cream sweater, it had just barley been able to cover his bum, because of how tall he was compared to her, as he had walked out of her store. The conversation between them had felt natural, Elizabeth had felt as if that moment was meant to happen. Everything had happened so fast, but she felt comfort in few moments they shared. He had been so formal and patient. He held an easy air about him that somehow made the entire encounter a lot less awkward than it should have been.

It was definitely the weirdest experience of her life, when she had opened up the book after he had left, there was 3,000 dollars in the pages. He had causally given her 3 grand and told her he owed it to her. The way he had conducted his self made her feel as if he was of higher upbringing to her simple town life and confirmed what Elizabeth already knew that this man came from money. Secondly, his brother was not happy the money had come out of his wallet. He also didn't seem happy that his brother was N A K E D in her store during broad daylight. The man had used his brother's name, Randall, and had refused to give her his. She made her way back into the living room, glancing at the door down the mini hallway to double check she had locked it when she came home tonight. Her apartment was directly above her store but she had a back ally that connected to the front door with stairs leading to behind the store. The building had once been a double apartment building, so it had a back entrance. And she was a highly paranoid person alone at night left with her thoughts.

Nibbling at the corner of one of her pizza rolls, she thought about the recent men in her life. She had had the one encounter with the blind date. A Her friend being the one who set the whole thing up. Jenny thought that Elizabeth would just love to get to know a really awesome foot massager, that lived with his mommy and wanted to stay four nights a week but was gone first thing in the morning to take care of his mother? He managed to have two girlfriends and his mother supporting him, while he held a certificate for massage therapist. Needless to say he lasted two months and was caught with a secret second girlfriend he'd moved into his mother's house. Jenny was no longer allowed to choose blind dates for her.

Beetlejuice, her black and white cat, jumped up into her lap begging for a nibble of her food. Elizabeth swore this cat believed she was a dog. She had an all black torso and black legs with white front mitten paws and a completely white tail. One ear was white, one ear was black and she had an all white face with iridescent blue for eyes. Very unusual and unique markings, earning her her quirky name. She was so very loving, but needy. Always begging for food and she growled. If she could bark, she was sure the cat would.

Elizabeth spoiled the little fat fluff ball. She sported a cute purple collar that had black studs with a gold skull shaped tag dangling from the center of her neck. She sometimes would let her come down to the shop, but not often some customer hated animals or just hated cats. She loved all animals so she could not turn down this little kitten that had been wondering around downtown where she walked. Elizabeth gave the kitty the rest of the one she had been eating while in thought and popped a whole one into her mouth. The cat jumped down and took her snack to the kitchen where Elizabeth knew she would just eat it quickly and be back for more.

She flicked the tv on to her favorite tv app and played whatever was live, eating another pizza couple of pizza rolls. The channel that came on showed a charming blonde and her friend on a couch laughing about something one of them had said. Beetlejuice jumped back up onto the arm of the couch bumping her head into her owners shoulder. The cat's loud purr over taking the conversation happening on the television. There was a knock at the door that startled her. She waited to see if there would be a second knock, since it was very unlikely that she would be having a visitor at this time of night. A quick check at the clock on the wall above the tv confirmed, 11:47 pm.

The only two people she's ever has over is Jenny and her dad. Both would be in bed at this time of night. Well, maybe not Jenny she sometimes lived a very exciting life. Elizabeth always loved hearing about the newest man she happened to meet bizarrely in a supermarket and then he be damn near perfect only to have some sort of flaw that she just could not handle. Elizabeth thought that Jenny just didn't want to settle so she kept turning down amazing men that entered her life. Jen would not believe the crazy day that Elizabeth had had today. She would be even more upset that she had missed out on meeting the naked mystery man. Elizabeth chuckled to herself imagining the conversation tomorrow when she called her.

Beetlejuice stopped purring and focused her big blue eyes on the door. A feeling of unease settled in her stomach. The cat's white tail flicked back and forth very slowly. She seemed to be waiting. Now her imagination may be getting the best of her at this point, so she set her hand on the cat's black fur and noticed the fur was raised. Beetlejuice's tail continues to flick agitated. Her complete attention has turned to the door; she no longer cares about the cooling plate of a pizza rolls.

"What is it Beetie? It was just the wind." Yes the wind made the knock on the door, even she thought that was very unlikely as the words slipped from her mouth. Elizabeth didn't live in a bad area of town and she also didn't have any reason to believe there was anything behind that door. She was just on high alert with extreme anxiety over everything that had gone on today in the shop. Made a lot more sense than the wind theory.

Two men burst through her small door. The lock that she had doing nothing to stop them. Both men were masked. There was a larger man and a man that was smaller in height. They barely fit in her small half hallway in front of the door. She thought she heard grumbling coming from one of them. Both wore completely black matching outfits. Black zipper jackets, black dress pants, and black boots with black matching skii masks and they were moving very quickly towards her. Beetlejuice screeched, digging her feline nails into Elizabeth's pants. She began growling, the white and black fur on her body raising as her growling becomes consistent.

"You don't belong here. I will call the police if you do not leave." Completely useless to say to these two men who obviously were not scared of the police. But she couldn't help to say the words in her most authoritative voice. The taller one chuckled as if he could hear her thoughts. He was huge in comparison to her. His arms easily were the size of her head but not because he was very muscular. This man took up a lot of space in her living room. His body was wide and heavy. There would be no reason for her to try to run, he could easily reach out and grab her. And she didn't know why these men where here, she did not have any money to give them. The other man,that wasn't actually that small he just was small compared to his partner, nudged his counterpart which earned him a glare.

"The police wouldn't know how to you protect you from us, Little Girl." His voice sounded like he came New York and his movements didn't stop. He seriously looked like he was almost bouncing in place in front of her. Elizabeth almost thought he was excited. She could see that he had brown eyes, but nothing else. The shorter one's eyes looked down at her cat, who had stopped growling as loudly and was making a low sound in her throat. These men definitely pissed her off. The man smiled before he barked with a snarl stomping his feet fast coming in her direction. Elizabeth flinched, preparing herself for this man to impact himself into her. Beetlejuice meowed and took off into her room, which seemed to satisfy him from coming any closer to her. But he had barked, the sound had been so real to what a dog would sound like.

The other man's lip curled in an unamused response to his hyper friends behavior, yet didn't stop him from starting to pace in front of her.

"Them coppers would probably cry." He continued to taunt as he paced. Elizabeth giggled. The police would not cry at two masked burglars in the city. They were trained to handle intense problems. The taller man didn't like her amusement to the situation and was instantly next to her. Elizabeth held her breath, because the moment he got close she didn't want to breathe in this man's scent anymore. He smelled like he desperately needed a shower, as if maybe he had been laying in a dogs cage for shelter instead of a bed.

"I would not laugh if I were you, when we are done with you, I can arrange for you to permanently have a smile on your face." The larger man's raspy voice made the words stretch out slowly as if he had to process each word he spoke. But the slow way he spoke his words didn't stop him from sounding intimidating.

Elizabeth held her breath again, she didn't want to laugh and upset him more. And she didn't want to have him breath on her anymore than he was already. She was almost positive that puking on his shoes would upset him enough to make her more than just a laughing Harley. She waited for him to make his next move, which didn't take long. He slowly traced the line of her face from her forehead down to her chin. He rested his hand there reaching out a thumb to Elizabeth's lower lip. She repressed a shiver, he repulsed her in every way. He sneered suddenly. Her heartbeat began a faster pace. And the sneer turned to a smile.

"Stop that pacing behind me, and lets get the night started." He said without taking his eyes off of Elizabeth's and without the smile slipping from his lips.

*****

He paced back and forth across the hard Brady French oak floors. The lights were dimmed to a low lighting making it easier on his sensitive eyes. When his brother and him had gotten into the black suv, Randall had immediately set into him about it being daylight out and how he had let his wolf run wild. Something he knew he shouldn't be doing. Randall sometimes forgot he was not the Beta-wolf. In fact, Randall was quite low in the pack. No-one in the pack cared what he ranked because they knew who they would be answering to if they dared try anything funny. In the De Godhere pack they didn't tolerate tormenting other pack members.

With a slight shudder through his spine his thoughts went to the packs that he knew used tormenting as a sport. Dashiell had shut his brother up quickly without much fuss, after using some of his beta influences to get Randall in a calmer mood. He needed his brother to listen to what Dashiell had to say, it was important. He had been ambushed. Three werewolves against a Lycan. Additionally, he hadn't been able to control the change, it had happened suddenly. His wolf had smelt a strange smoke from behind him and the next thing he knew he was changing and then there were three wolves ready to attack.

He had been able to wound two of them and then was able to run through a few empty allies until he reached the bookstore. Dashiell hadn't been able to change his wolf back with ease, only just managing before running into that store. It was very important that the humans didn't see a giant wolf running around the city. The hysteria that would follow after such an event would be similar to that of the Salem witch trials. Innocents would die supernatural and natural alike.

There had been war for many centuries,but that had also been centuries ago. Werewolves and Lycans had mostly lived in peace for a very very long time. There will always be fighting amongst the smaller packs that wasn't something anybody could stop. The beast in all of his kind -lycan or were- made it hard to abide by the softer side of themselves- their human nature.

His attackers today didn't seem like random rouge wolves, which did happen even in modern times. All rouges of wolven-kind historically were driven mad and became mindless animals as their humanity slipped away from leaving their family, from leaving the pack. Few rogues keep their sanity. Even less join new packs after years of being alone. These werewolves had been able to shift during the day. The full moon 9 days from now. And he had changed without it being of his own will. Something that had not happened since he had first started the change in his earlier teens.

His brother had listened to his recount of the events while they rode in the back of the suv, and immediately was on the phone calling the Alpha's secretary to return a call to Dashiell's personal phone A S A P. He didn't even need to ask his brother. Dashiell had left out the best part until they had gotten to their hotel, where they lived and held their secret community in plain sight from the humans. It was not uncommon for pack members to live together under the same roof, this hotel served as a packhouse and a hotel for naturals and supernaturals alike. 18 floors with 422 rooms. Not including the secret dungeons or tunnel system.

The top three floors were pack housing, including his housing and office. The 15th floor was the part of the hotel that held a separate kitchen and a large cafeteria area for all members of the pack to come down and dine together. There were smaller single-bedroom rooms on either exit of the cafeteria. These rooms were for pack members without families. The floor above was housing for pack with larger family members, higher ranking members that live on site, and his brother. The 14th floor down to the base ground, floor 3, was human territory. The two floors in the basement were for supernatural housing; vampyre, demons, witches, shapeshifters, and more. The last floor would technically be the actual basement, however, it acted as a highly secured dungeon with cells and more.

Many people stared yesterday when he causally walked in with the creme sweater wrapped around his waist, but a few pointed glares kept everyone from saying a word. However, he couldn't stop the humans from whispering behind their hands or the women staring appreciatively. That sweater didn't do shit to hide his modesty, with it being short in the back and almost see-through with its color. Randall was so red in the face Dashiell was not able to stop the smallest smile from being on his lips, lucky for him his brother walked behind him the whole time. Once in the elevator and moving upward away from the alert prying ears- damn Lycan hearing- he revealed his newfound secret.

He had found his Mate. Even now his wolf was forcing him to pace back and forth in his room. The soft carpet he would pass on softening the sound of his pacing, then the louder falls of his feet on the hard wood floor. He hadn't realized in the store why the pull of her scent had been so appealing or why his wolf had been set on tearing her clothes off until he was done recounting his story and finally allowed his wolf to growl his frustration with him. The word Mate was growled so harshly in his mind that his canines had sharpened in response. The beast practically hadn't stopped grumbling this since.

MATE.

MATE.

MATE.

The dog was giving him a headache. Dashiell sighed and ran a hand through the thick curls on his head. A curtesy of his mother, oh won't she be so excited. One of her boys finding their mate to continue the Beta-pack-line. In the world that he lived in, males were everything in continuing a bloodline. Much like the humans in a way. She was human. Elizabeth. Something deep inside of him felt warmer just thinking her name. He tested the name out in his mind again, Elizabeth, there was something about the way her name made his body tighten and stand to attention.

His wolf growled in response, practically licking his figurative lips in the back of Dashiell's head. All the others always spoke of the intense need after finding their mate. His legs instinctively picked up their pace in his room. He also could not stop the terrible feeling curling in the pit of his stomach.

Tomorrow he would go and see her. Try to woo her a little bit before throwing the whole we are soulmates thing onto her. Fated to be together. Most humans idea of a soulmate was not what it was in the supernatural world. They believed a soulmate was simply when two souls recognize each other as a sudden "familiarity", and because of that "feeling" they've dubbed it a soulmate. A true Soulmate was the sealing of two souls split into two before birth, each soul left to wonder the earth hopefully to find the other half and become a whole.

Supernaturals called it a Twinflame for once the embers of the soul were ignited the burn became a constant struggle until everything was in flames burning as one, the souls bound together. A fever set in on the two people, not everyone welcomed the flames though. And the burn could drive the one who didn't reject the pull of their soul completely mad. Unfortunately, many wolves lost themselves to their beast when their mate rejected them. She would not reject him. He would make sure of it.

For Lycans it was easy enough for them to sense their other half, the beast inside of lycans being able to literally smell the soul in the other. Despite that, he had been told that the actual result of a physical connection would be a better way to find out the truth. Some legends spoke of an intense "electric" current taking place when in physical contact with the other half. He would have to look further into those legends again, forgetting the silly stories long ago. Feeling as if the stories are no longer silly knowing his mate is finally found.

He was not sure how his mother would feel about her new daughter-in-law-to-be being a human girl. Lycans were a tough crowd to be around even in the supernatural world. Their overly tall statures and tendency to be aggressive about all things, making them known as unpredictable. They didn't take to outsiders very often, tending to think outsiders were beneath them. Most still held grudges on werewolves from centuries ago that no longer had any involvement with them in the present day. But grudges do die hard.

Yes, tomorrow he would go to visit his new little human mate. He stopped pacing. The silk sleep pants beginning to be slightly tight in his lower region at the very thought of coming face to face with that little dirty-blonde minx. Her face had been so expressive and so was her scent. She had found him attractive; he closed his eyes to think back to the store and when her slightly plumped cheeks got a pink hue to them when he had turned around. Her almost instant arousal had been there in the air. She had tried to be stern with him and then quickly reprimanded herself before offering to help him in anyway she could. Perfect, beta material.

Quickly, he walked over to the creme sweater she had given him earlier in the day. It laid on his bed covers, a very nice contrast to the dark navy blue velvet comforter. He could all but imagine her skin tone, being a shade similar, against his covers. Ready for his kisses. Begging for more, growled the wolf in his mind and Dashiell couldn't agree more with his furry friend.