Healed by the Alpha (Hunted Book Two)

Chapter Forty Five

Dominick

We were currently 6 hours into our 10 hour drive. We hadn't stopped, truth be told, there was nowhere to stop. We'd passed towns and little cities, but the further north we drove, the more sparse the population became. I was sitting in the front of the car with Ferdinand, Emily and Malik were in the back. I looked over at our mysterious driver every once in a while and he always wore the same expression, he was grinning ear to ear. "Can I ask what you're so happy about?" I questioned Ferdinand. His smile grew even wider and he nodded, "she's going to be so happy to see you wolves."

She was? "Why would she be happy to see us? She doesn't even know who we are." He started sniggering like there was a joke I wasn't fully getting, "of course she knows who you are! She's the moon goddess. She knows every wolf she's looking after." I suppose that did make sense, she did decide who we were mated with after all. What better people to go and visit her, I thought, amusing myself, we're like the misfits of the wolves. None of us have mates. What a perfect example of the work she's doing.

"Okay I need to stop, do you guys need anything?" Ferdinand asked next to me, breaking me from my thoughts. "Yeah to use the toilet wouldn't hurt." Malik replied sarcastically. Emily took out her earphones, "I need something to eat too." "Where are we stopping?" I asked him. "We're going to stop in the next town over, would you like to know where that is? I can give you a little tour before we have to leave again?" I shook my head, "even if you told me where we were heading I wouldn't have a clue. This is all land to me."

Ferdinand nodded, "I suppose if you aren't interested in the country and you are only here for one purpose that makes sense." It wasn't that I wasn't interested, it was just pointless knowing where we were going when I had no idea where we even were in the first place. We stopped off at a service station looking building, I was going to get some food and a coffee before we set off again. Now I was standing in a cue for hotdogs with Emily. "Who'd have known that the Scandinavia people also enjoy hotdogs" Emily snorted, "everyone likes hotdogs, it's a common food in most countries actually. The Swedish people put mash potatoes on theirs though."

They do what? I looked over the people in front of me and sure enough, there was a sign advertising a hotdog with mash on. "Who puts carbs on carbs?" Emily turned away from me, "I'm going to try it, it's freezing here and I don't think a hotdog is going to cut it for the next 4 hour drive." She had a point, and we were taking sledges after that. Who knew when the next time we'd eat properly would be. I nudged her hand with mine, "you feeling okay?" She nudged me hand back, "yeah, I'm just missing home. I've never been away from home for this long before."

I tried to cover the smile on my face but she'd caught it. "What are you so happy about?" I was caught out, but that only made me want to smile even more. "You've been living at the Rising Dawn pack for a few months and I just figured that you would call it home by now." She bumped her arm into mine, "if it wasn't for my parents still being at the Midnight Moon pack it would be the perfect home." I was just about to let her in on my secret wants when we were called forward. I looked at the food in front of me, "can we have the hotdogs with mashed potato on please?" She smiled and handed us over two paper plates.

"I have to admit, this does smell delicious." I announced, Emily wasn't listening, she was already wiping the mash from around her mouth. Just for a moment I was reminded briefly of another time I'd seen her in a similar situation. Keep it together Dom. I scolded myself. We were here for answers and there was hardly anywhere we could get to be alone anyway. I didn't realise I was still staring until she snapped her fingers at me, "do I have something on my face?" I wish. I thought, and then drove that though deep deep down inside. Goddess everything was filled with innuendo when I was around her.

"I'm going to find Malik." I declared and walked off in the opposite direction. Why was I so awkward with this? I'd never been like this around someone, why did I feel so nervous around her? I'd been around her for months. Maybe what had happened had changed the relationship unexpectedly. I just didn't know how to deal with it. I found Malik right where I was expecting him to be, at the bakery section of the store.

"Do you ever not eat?" I asked him in disbelief. "It takes a lot of carbs to keep all of this-" he said pointing to his body, now covered in sugar "-as fine as you see it today." I shoved his arm, "as soon as we get back to the pack I'm putting you on patrol every morning and night." He beamed from around a sticky looking pasty, "if it means I can carry on eating this stuff, I'm all for it." Speaking of patrol, I hadn't seen Ferdinand since we got inside the shops. "Hey, have you seen Ferdinand?" I asked Malik, looking around frantically to try to spot him in the crowds.

"Not since we got out of the car." He told me, "why what's up?" Nothing, I didn't think. It was just odd. I had to think logically l, maybe he just took a really long time in the bathroom? Maybe he'd gone back to the car already to warm it up? I looked over to where I'd left Emily moments prior, she wasn't there either. I panicked. "Where's Emily gone?" I said out loud, not actually expecting an answer. Malik shrugged "maybe she's gone to grab another hotdog?" No. Ferdinand was missing and so was Emily? This was the start of a horror movie I didn't want to finish.