Chains

Bonus Chapter 1 - Part II

Bonus Chapter 1 - Part II

Lucy POV

Scarlett and I walked from the house we were renting to the school where we had enrolled her while we were in London. We were going to be living in London for the next six months due to some management issues with the company that Rafe was here to address. Archie Dickinson, the man who had been the local manager for the family had passed away suddenly and nobody was prepared to take over for him yet; so here we are, living in London. Luckily the school wasn't far, and since the morning was lovely, we decided to walk.

I had barely left the school after dropping Scarlett off and was walking towards the cafe where I planned to meet with some of the women who worked for the company later for lunch. We were going to have a 'Ladies Day' to get to know one another. The men were always going to the pub together after work for beers, and I thought that the ladies might like a chance to enjoy an afternoon together away from the men. Suddenly, a small, very dirty boy, raced past me and grabbed my handbag.

For a moment, I was too surprised to react to the theft and just stood there staring after him, but I soon pulled myself together. "Hey! Hey, stop." and I sprinted after him.

I wasn't too concerned about the purse, there wasn't anything in it that couldn't be replaced, but I caught the faint scent of a female wolf on the boy as he ran past me, and I felt like I should find out what a wolf pup was doing alone in the middle of London. It isn't often that you encounter wolf pups alone in the city - any city. I had an instinctive feeling that something was wrong, and I couldn't just let him race off without knowing what that might be.

He ran into an alley, and I quickly followed after him. There was trash strewn about that the boy dodged with the agility of much practice. I guessed that this wasn't the first time he had run from someone and used a cluttered alley to make his escape. The trash didn't bother me though, nor slow me down. As a scout, I was used to running through places that were inconvenient and hard to traverse. I saw the boy glance over his shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw how close behind him, I was. He tossed my purse aside, probably in the hope I would stop chasing him to get it, but by now, I was more interested in him than a silly handbag. Just as he was about to turn the corner, I managed to catch ahold of his arm, and I pulled him to a stop.

The boy dropped his eyes, and I could smell the fear on him as well as feel him trembling. He cast his eyes to each side as he tried to catch his breath, probably looking to see if he had any way to escape from my grasp. He seemed like he might start to cry at any moment, so I crouched down in front of the boy, trying to calm him and get him to look at me. I don't think I had ever encountered anyone who was so scared. I suppose he feared the worst, since I had just been chasing him down for stealing my purse.

"Would you look at you," I said in a motherly tone; a tone of voice I use with Scarlett and the pups back home. "What is your name, honey? Shh, I'm not going to hurt you."

"I-I'm O-Oliver," he stuttered after a moment. "Please don't take me to the bobbies, I'm sorry for taking your bag. Please let me go." His blue eyes reflected his fear and my heart melted seeing all that worry in someone so young.

"Okay, Oliver, I won't take you to the bobbies." I assured him. Under all that dirt and grime, I could see that he was an adorable little boy who was probably about the same age as Scarlett. I couldn't help but wonder why he was alone here in the city though. To say my curiosity was piqued would have been an understatement.

"My name is Lucy, Lucy Evans; here, why don't you come with me, and I'll take you home to your mother." I stood, taking his hand in mine, giving him no choice but to accede, and began to retrace our steps back through the alley. When we reached the spot where he had dropped my purse, I reached down and picked it up, noticing a slight blush creep up his dirty cheeks as I did so; he was embarrassed for what he'd done.

"You won't run away again if I let go of your hand, will you? I need to make a call." I asked, looking down at him and he assured me he wouldn't. I released his hand and began to open my purse for my phone when he sprinted off as fast as his little legs could carry him. I was expecting the move, though, and caught him again before he had gotten more than a few steps away. He turned his large, frightened eyes on me again, accepting his defeat.

"Oliver," I chided, with a hint of sadness in my voice. "You promised me you wouldn't run away from me. I thought I could trust you." Like any good mother, I knew exactly how to guilt a child into behaving the way I wanted him to, and I could see it was obviously working with Oliver, as a pink blush crept up his cheeks. It was cute how he blushed so easily, this little boy was adorable, and I was already smitten with him, even though I'd only known him for a few short minutes.

"Now, I'm going to let go of your hand again, and I expect you to stand right here." I explained. "You know I can run as fast as you do, so just stay right here."

He nodded and I let go, once again, of his small hand and this time he remained standing by my side as I called Dolores and asked her to reschedule our luncheon for another day and to notify the other women in the office of the change. I quickly explained what had happened, telling her that I was going to try and find the boy's mother before I ended the call.

"Now, Oliver, let's go find your mother." I smiled down at the little boy standing next to me. I was surprised when his eyes filled with tears, and he told me that his mum had died and then he broke down, crying huge, heart-wrenching sobs. I spent the next several minutes calming the boy, hugging him tightly in my arms as he wept uncontrollably for his lost mother. After he was done crying, he looked at me and his eyes widened as he realized where he was and how he had soiled my clothing.

"I'm sorry for getting you all grimy, lady." He said, looking at the dirt and tears smeared on my blouse.

"Oh, honey, don't worry about that," I chuckled, looking down at my clothing. "This can always be washed, it's not a big deal. Would you like to come home with me? We can get you all cleaned up, and then we can get you something to eat as well. What do you think?"

His swollen eyes opened wide when I invited him to come with me, and I could tell that he really wanted to, but he hesitated for a bit and then told me that he couldn't come. He said that his little sister was waiting for him, and he had to go back and make sure she was okay. It took some convincing, but eventually I got him to agree to take me to her and I explained to him that they could both come with me afterwards. He led me to an area of town that was less than savory, and as we passed through an alley on the way, I caught the strong scent of the same female that I could smell on the boy, mixed with her scent was the strong smell of blood and death. When I asked Oliver about it, he told me about what had happened and that this was where his mother had died.

Eventually we reached a building that had collapsed in on itself, and Oliver led me to a small opening that was hidden by some of the fallen debris. I sniffed the air carefully before following him into the opening. The only scents I could detect were those of Oliver, another pup, and the fading scent of their mother.

As we began to squeeze into the opening, Oliver called quietly: "Gracie, I'm back and I have a nice lady with me."

At the end of the opening, there was a small cellar that held a little girl dressed like the boy, in worn clothes, a few worn-out blankets and some other odds-and-ends that looked like the packing take-out meals were served in. The place was cold, but it was dry and out of the weather. Of course, there was no way I was going to leave these two children here on their own. I was already beginning to feel an attachment to this boy, and his little sister was just as adorable as he was. I felt a strong sense of being drawn to them and, I don't know, I just wanted to take care of them.

"Oliver," I said, looking around me. "Why don't you two get your things and you two can come stay with me."

There really wasn't much of anything to collect; the blankets were practically threadbare and weren't really needed, and other than a small backpack that I assumed held some clothes, it was just the two children.