The Unlikely Mate

Chapter 13

Lennox sat down onto his bar stool, and stared blankly at the doorway where Jennifer had just walked through. Part of him wanted to follow her, but he knew that would appear very strange, and he even rationalized to himself that it would be very strange. Why was he feeling this way?

His mind kept going over what had just happened and his confusion only grew. When he had walked into the restaurant a few minutes ago, he was ready to drink until he passed out, frustrated and angry. He had spent two years working toward something, had even made progress and yet felt so empty by it all. Then out of nowhere, the woman of his dreams steps in front of him, and suddenly he fancies himself in love, wants to abandon his life and previous pursuits, just to follow some woman he barely even spoke to, who had thrown up on him as soon as she got close to him, and hold her in his arms. He shook his head as he swallowed what was left in the glass the bar tender had repeatedly been filling for him over the last hour.

After paying for his drinks, he stumbled his way outside, and followed his path along the streets until he found his way back to his office, a few blocks down the road. He fumbled with his keys and let himself inside the door that was the last one at the end of a long strip mall of small businesses and office, and dropped himself onto the couch just inside the door, not even bothering to turn on any lights.

It was almost midnight when he finally woke up with a start, recalling the bizarre dream he had been experiencing. His fiancée Amy had been there, those responsible for her death were there, the woman he had just met at the restaurant was there, as was the bartender and some other man he didn't know. There was fighting and screaming, at some point everyone but himself turned into a wolf, and he wasn't able to distinguish who was who. There was blood, lots of blood and the one word that rang through his head, even after he woke up, was 'Mate.'

*****

Jennifer let Katie lead her out the back door and into Katie's car. She could have easily walked home, but she was so distracted by what had just happened, she was just going through the motions and following along to what Katie was instructing.

"Are you going to be ok?" Katie asked with concern, as she walked Jennifer into her apartment, and over to the couch.

Jennifer sat down, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, maybe I ate something last night that didn't sit well with me" she said, having to idea what else to say to Katie about what had just happened.

"Hmmm..." said Katie, as she looked at Jennifer, trying to figure out if there was anything else she could do for her, and quite sure that there was something else going on that Jennifer wasn't telling her about.

"I've got to get back to work, but call if you need anything. I'm just a few minutes away."

"Thanks, Katie" Jennifer responded, "I appreciate it. Thanks for getting me home."

"Sure" Katie said, still watching Jennifer with curiosity and concern. "I'll stop by after my shift to check on you. Want me to bring you some soup or something?"

"No, that's not necessary" Jennifer responded, opening her eyes to look at Katie. "I really appreciate it, but I'll be fine. I'm sure I just need some rest and I'll be fine. Will you tell Cameron thanks for me, and I'm sorry I threw up all over his bar and his customer?"

"Yeah," Katie said as she approached the front door. "I'll tell him. Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."

"I will. Thank you, Katie." Jennifer replied with a little smile, trying to reassure her friend that she would be fine, but also wishing that she would just leave.

"Ok, I'll text you in a bit to check in on you" Katie said, as she stepped out the door, and then left without waiting for a response.

Jennifer rested her head back again, closed her eyes, and tried to process what had happened. She knew she needed to find that man, whoever he was, but also needed to be careful about everything because he was human, she didn't want to raise the suspicion of her co-workers and she wasn't sure what to do about William.

William... just thinking about him and what she had allowed to happen the previous night cause her stomach to turn again. And then her phone buzzed again, indicating an incoming text message. Jennifer gently tossed her phone across the room. She didn't even want to see the messages he was sending her. She felt like she couldn't deal with that right now. She just felt like the pattern of her life had been one of mistake after mistake after mistake. Every time she thought she was moving forward, it didn't take long before she realized that she had made a mess of everything and seemed to be moving backwards. These were the thoughts swimming through her mind as she fell asleep there on her couch, and began to dream.

Jennifer dreamed she was in the woods, there was a girl sitting on a blanket, enjoying a picnic with the man who she had just met at the restaurant. She felt a growl stir up inside of her, as she realized her mate was enjoying lunch with another woman. As she stepped forward, she realized that there were other wolves nearby. There were two men who approached the couple enjoying their meal, and began speaking to them. It was then she caught the scent of William. She looked around and finally caught sight of him, off in the distance watching the two men speaking with her mate and the woman he was with. Then her wolf began to scream inside, as she saw Luther come out from behind a tree. He walked right up to her, and slashed her in the face with a silver knife.

As her dream continued, she screamed from the pain as Luther cut her, and she immediately shifted into wolf form and lunged at him, but he disappeared before her, and she landed just a few feet away from the couple sitting on the ground. The other two men and William all shifted as soon as they saw her. They all lunged for the woman, who also shifted into a wolf and a fight broke out. Jennifer tried to help the woman, but also felt the need to protect her human mate, who sat there as if frozen, watching as they all fought.

Jennifer woke up panting for breath to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She looked around startled and realized that she had shifted in her sleep and had managed to break her coffee table, and as she shifted back into her human form, she could her someone outside calling her name as the pounding on the door got louder.

"Jennifer" came the voice outside. "Are you in there, are you ok?"

"Yeah," she replied quickly. "Just a minute." She jumped to her feet, grabbed her robe out of her room and threw it on quickly as she walked to her front door to look through the peephole to see who it was.