The road is dark as my car moves slowly.
Doggy, my black Italian mastiff, is lying silently in the backseat of my car as we pass mile after mile in quite heavy snow. I'm still not so sure I've made a wise decision with my destination as I stop at the petrol station in the middle of nowhere, letting my dog get a break. He strolls. He still isn't perfectly okay after our last battle. After, I hope, the last battle. The blood has been washed away from my dog and me, yet I still feel it stuck to my skin and memories. I'm not naïve enough to hope that it will ever go away.
It's strange to be 26 years old and suddenly find yourself in the middle of nowhere with no purpose, with all your life literally left buried in the ground behind you. I sigh and go toward the phone box, and pick up the number.
"Hey, it's me. I'll be there tomorrow. Are you sure you want me in your house?" I ask, wondering what answer I want to hear. I don't want to go there, but I also don't have any better ideas. Things are what they are.
I sigh as I whistle, so Doggy slowly comes in my direction, and we resume our journey; the next day, I find myself standing in front of a bar in a tiny town. I check the address once again and step inside.
It's a bar like a bar, nothing extraordinary, yet a few customers inside give me curious glances. I guess you don't meet here a complete stranger so often.
"I'm looking for Mrs. Mae Peterson," I say slowly, and the woman in her late thirties standing behind the bar looks in my direction. Her hair already has white stripes, yet her smile is so warm. My mother used to smile the same way, and my sister did, too.
"I've expected you in the morning; you certainly took your time. You look very much like your father, " she says, coming closer." As I understood through your call, you don't have too much luggage."
"Not really, just my dog," I say, trying to smile back, but I fail.
"Who is this Mae?" one of the customers asks, an older average guy, average like everything in this town.
"The son of an old friend, now almost my family. Although I have no idea how long he will stay, I hope it will be long," she responds, and that's it. I guess I'm not any longer interesting since all of them come back to their conversations.
"Preston, can you look after the bar for a moment? I think I have to take care of my guest. And please call Natasha. Someone has to come and take Julius home," she points in the direction of the guy sitting in the corner with an almost empty bottle of whisky in front of him, but he isn't passed out as I thought.
He raises his head to look at her, but doesn't look drunk, just sad and broken, but also angry, so I suspect that whatever has happened to him has happened very recently. He is Asian-American with short dark hair and looks my age.
"I can manage quite well without Natasha," he spits and moves in our direction in his, now I can see it, wheelchair. " You all should stop tiptoeing around me, I may be pathetic, but I'm not deaf, and I don't need babysitting!"
"You for sure not, but your son does, and you should be at home with him," Mae says in a stern voice, and he gives her a furious look. " Your issues are with his mother, not..."
"We have no issues anymore since there is no longer "us" anymore. She took off last week, and I doubt she will ever return. She doesn't need nor wants the cripple!"
Mae gulps hard but doesn't comment as the man slowly leaves the bar moving his wheelchair.
"Go to bring your dog and come upstairs. I don't mind animals at home," she says.
I do as she tells me. As I get Doggy out of the car, I look around to see this Julius guy, but he is nowhere to be seen as I come back with my pet, although I'm not sure if that's the right to call him that. When we are inside, he gets instantly as close to me as possible. I'm surprised, but I don't let it be seen as we walk into the apartment placed over the bar.
Mae is waiting for me in her living room as I sit on her couch and start of the blue:
"Doggy smelt werewolves. Are any packs close to here?"
"Just one, but very close. The town barely ten miles from here is part of Howl Pack. They are half of my clientele. But you shouldn't worry; they are very calm, and I'm sure you got enough cleaning, both you and your dog, before coming here, so you will surely be safe."
"Do they know about you?" I ask slowly. I'm not happy with what she's just told me.
"Just some parts, only Thomas Howl, the late mate of Alpha Natasha, knew my whole story, and his pack knows the story he told them. Don't worry; I will say that you are a relative of my dead husband and know nothing about their kind. It's already been half of the year since you were seen anywhere, and if you lie low next year, you will be forgotten."
"I'm not that sure," I mumble, and she smiles again. But I'm afraid I have to disagree with her. Why the killer, the enemy, the disgusting monster, should be ever forgotten by those whom he hunted down
"Well, if you want to leave, you will leave. It's your decision. But get some time to think about it, get some time to rest, and then you will decide. For now, I will show you your room. You look like you could use a good bed, Terry."
Terry Nightingale, no, I'm no longer Terry Nightingale; now I'm just Terry. But who is this, Terry? What is his purpose, and why should he continue to live? I gulp, standing up. Mae is right; I can use a good bed. My whole life is ahead of me to figure out who I am.
At that point, I was still unaware that I wouldn't leave not only the next day, but I wouldn't leave ever. That this small town will become a place I manage to call my home, that my sinful past won't forget about me and one day will catch me here, but instead of running away, I will find enough strength to face it.
Because at that time, I will have something worth fighting for. At that time, I will have full knowledge of my sins, which will be the beginning of my salvation.
UNMARKED MATES
the third book in the Black Moon Series can be read as a stand-alone and will be a finished story. I will update a chapter once or twice a week.
As always, I recommend also reading my previous stories:
Book One: UNWANTED MATES
https://www.wattpad.com/story/294610684-unwanted-mates
Book Two: UNREJECTED MATES
https://www.wattpad.com/story/313107395-unrejected-mates
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Unmarked Mates (Black Moon Book Three)
WerewolfBLACK MOON Book Three Can be read as a stand-alone. A mating bond is Goddess' blessing, something pure and perfect but what if a mating bond is not enough? ***** It's been ten years since Danny, born in the hunter's clan, was rescued from his abus...
