Sehkmetians

Chapter 2

The bell to the front door chimed around four in the afternoon. Today had gone by rather slow, no one had come in. So dad and I were working on a couple bikes that we had been fussing over the past two weeks with a full body repair and rebuilding an engine for the other. I was working on the engine while my dad went to see what the customer wanted.

"THEO! There's someone here to see you!" His tone implied he wasn't happy about this person but I couldn't understand why. The only people who ever visited me were Quinton and his brother, or Cat.

I looked at myself in a mirror hanging over a sink that we used frequently to wash grease off our hands. When I saw my reflection, I was thankful I asked my dad to put the mirror there. Grease streaked across my face and traveled down my neck, so I began to scrub my face with a bar of soap and some water. Thank Thoth, I was wearing coveralls, so most of the grease was on those instead of my own clothes.

Grabbing a handful of napkins, I began to head towards the front and realized I could smell whoever was standing at the entrance. Whoever it was, wasn't pack. Interesting. As I came around the corner, I had been concentrating on wiping my hands off but stopped short at the sight of him. It was that boy from school, the one who had caught me when I almost fell.

"Uh, hi Jacob, what are you doing way out here in the middle of no where?"

"Well, I heard the best place to get my motorcycle fixed is here. I asked someone in town where it was located at and who worked here so I wouldn't make a fool out of myself," he replied while giving me a broad smile.

I've never seen anyone as handsome as him. Than again, I never found anyone attractive before, nor had I tried to or allowed anyone to even come close to me in that way. Feelings I've never felt before began to bloom inside me.

I could feel my cheeks begin to burn as I said, "Well, what a nice surprise. This is my dad, Ed. He owns this lovely establishment. If you need to discuss anything about motorcycles, he's your guy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm working."

Turning to walk away, I couldn't help myself from looking back to see the look of confusion on his face.

My dad thought I couldn't hear him once I left as he said, "You stay away from my daughter. Otherwise you'll be seeing more of my pack and I soon."

"Sir, I am simply here to begin a new life. I've traveled far on my bike and need to know why it's making weird noises. Usually I have someone that'll do it for me back where I used to live but since I've been traveling I have had no time for such commodities. And your 'daughter'," he said daughter stiffly, "seems like she needs someone like me right now. Let me guess, it's her seventeenth birthday today?"

"Yes it's her birthday." I was upset he didn't tell this handsome man I was older than seventeen so I shouted, "Eighteen! I'm not seventeen!"

"Shut up, Theodosia!" The command of an alpha made everyone obey, besides me because technically I wasn't a part of the pack.

I snorted without thinking about it, threw off the coveralls and strode out through the garage. There is a lovely greenery path that led around the premises, that I usually walked along. A small waterfall and stream were deeper along the path but I didn't feel like walking that far. As I strode past the trees, I couldn't help but realize how bright it seemed outside.

The heat from the sun was on my back but it almost felt like it was burning my skin. Once I was farther in the forest, the sun was blocked by the thick covering from the tree tops and I was glad for that. After walking for about ten minutes on the trail, I came across a family of rabbits. I laid down at the foot of the tree closest to the rabbit hole and began to reach for them with my mind to beckon them forward. There were two adult rabbits and about twelve babies.