Joe moved his hand over to her bare tanned leg, the tingles running through his fingers as he did so. He was shocked that she couldn't remember, but she had suffered a serious head injury so maybe it was to be expected. She was still looking out the window, and he could see the tear moving down her cheek. His wolf was howling in him that his mate was in pain. "You don't remember your name, or where you are from?"
She shook her head. "I can't remember anything before waking up this morning. I remember waking up next to you, wondering if you were a fling I had because there wasn't any luggage, anything except your clothes in the hotel." He growled a little at the thought of being a fling, but she continued. "My cat doesn't remember either. I try to remember, but I can't and it makes my head hurt when I concentrate too much."
Without taking his eyes off the road, he moved his hand to cover hers. "It's all right, we'll figure it out together. We had to leave suddenly, before the men got to you." He held her hand as she relaxed into him and looked his way. Joe explained from the beginning what she had missed; finding her almost dead in the river, and the realization she was his second chance mate. How he got his Alpha to bringing them to the El Paso Pack hospital. The extent of her injuries and what he had done while she was in the coma. The implants in her body, one containing a code and the other a timer designed to kill her if not removed in time. He told her everything Richard had done to get them out of there before the Telluride wolves could get to her and kill her.
She had closed her eyes for part of it then started sobbing. "None of this makes sense! I'm not a bad person, I know that, and my cat is upset that I'm being blamed for all this."
He slowed down as they passed a farm, out front was a Harley Davidson for sale. "My love, we will figure out your past, but know one thing... you and I have a future together. Luna doesn't make mistakes, she gave us each other to help each other through this. I don't care if every other person in the world is against us, I will be by your side until my last breath." She sniffed a few times, a look of confusion on her face. "Do you know about wolves and mates?"
She thought for a moment then shook her head no. "If I ever learned, I can't remember. I can't remember a lot of things." She moved her fingers up his muscled arm, enjoying the tingles that radiated from them. "Why does it feel like that when I touch you?"
"It's part of the mate bond. Wolves believe they have a soul mate, a destined, one person the Goddess has made to be their other half. Without that person, we can never be complete or truly happy. That person becomes the most important part of our life, and their happiness our goal. To help us find that person, we use scent. Wolves recognize their other half by it, and the tingles when we touch confirm we are meant for each other."
"But I'm not a wolf, I'm a cat. I don't remember what kind of cat, but my inner cat speaks to me and in my mind I can see her slinking around, sleek, black and powerful." She closed her eyes and communed quickly with her cat, who roared in her mind.
"I've never heard of it before, but werecats are not very common. Until I met you, no one I knew had even met one. Luna works in mysterious ways. If she made you my mate, then there is a reason for it." He smiled and rubbed her thigh, causing her to stretch into it as she moaned.
"So I don't understand, you said I am your second chance mate, right? Where is your real mate?" She was instantly sorry she asked, the pain flashing across his face could not be hidden. "You don't have to tell me, I just need to know if she is still out there. I don't want to get in the middle of something."
He took his hand in hers. "No, she's gone." He wiped a tear away then took her hand again. "Her name was Daria. I rescued her from some Cartel smugglers a little over a year ago; she was human, but we fell in love. We only had a few days together, I was waiting for permission to turn her into a wolf when she was killed by drug smugglers." He focused on the road for a while, she squeezed his hand as her own eyes teared up. "She was my everything, even for that short time. I would have killed myself right there if my desire for revenge wasn't so high. It took a while, but I found and killed the man who had ordered her death, and then I was going to wander out into the wilderness and find a way to end it, just to be with her."
"So what happened?"
"Renee Hastings happened, like a force of nature that she is. She is the Alpha Female who turned the man responsible over to me so I could have my revenge. In return, she made me pledge that I would find a way to live, to move on, maybe to find happiness again." He looked in her eyes then back to the road. "Her mate had been killed only days after they met. She was going to kill herself too, but when she found herself pregnant she had something to live for. She later found her second chance mate in the Alpha of the Gila Pack. She's happy now, she has twins that will be a year old soon. She's an amazing young woman. Just like my Daria. It wasn't easy, but I found ways to keep going until I found you. You are the second chance Luna has given me. Now I live for you."
She looked out again. "All this talk is making my head hurt again."
By this time, they had reached the house of the man selling the Harley. Opening up the center console, Joe took the cash inside and put it in his pocket. "We're going to have to change vehicles, we don't know if any of those wolves at the hotel saw it, plus they might have security camera footage. Follow me when I leave, and we'll find a place to stash the Explorer. Meantime, you can put all our stuff including the guns into bags."
Twenty minutes later, Joe was roaring out of the driveway on the 2002 Harley Electra Glide. They drove to the nearest town and parked at a mall. "This will be good, it will blend in and take a while to find. Can you help me load up the Harley with our stuff?" She nodded as she got out. They made short work of it, they didn't have much. He unscrewed the silencers from two of the pistols, then they each put one in the small of their back under the belts. He kissed her gently, raising back up he chuckled at her holding her hand over her mouth trying to figure it out. The mate bond was getting stronger with every minute they were together. "Come on, we need riding clothes. Bring the cellphones we took, I have an idea." On the way in, they put phones in the back of various trucks and autos; laughing, they thought of how many dead ends the wolves would be chasing down if they tried to track them.
Twenty minutes later, they came back out dressed in boots, jeans, T-shirts and matching leather motorcycle jackets. The large zipper pockets fit the pistols on one side, silencer and extra magazines on the other. Putting the extra clothes in the saddlebags, he took the burner cellphones out of their packages and removed the batteries. "They can't track them without power, so we will only use these when we have to, and only once per phone. We'll destroy it after each use, that's why I got so many." He put all but one in storage, then got on the motorcycle and fired it up. They both put on helmets then she got on behind him, plugging in they verified they were able to talk to each other. "I never asked, but can you drive a motorcycle?"
"I think so." They pulled out into traffic, she was enjoying the feeling of being so close to the big wolf she had started to think of as her own. "Maybe when we are away from everything I can try it."
"That would be good to know, but not now, I'm not riding bitch on my own bike." She smacked his had stomach, and he laughed at her reaction. "Now, any other questions you have?"
"Yes... how does mating work for a wolf?"
Joe flinched slightly, this was the part he'd been dreading, so he figured he'd just tell her everything he did and hope she forgave him. "We already talked about how mates recognize each other by scent and the tingling sensation, right? Well, the next step is they mark each other by biting the junction of the neck and shoulder of the other; the mating mark doesn't heal completely, it leaves visible scar tissue as a sign, kind of a wolf version of a wedding band. It also causes the mate's scent to become a part of your own, further letting everyone know you are taken. By biting the other, it also starts a connection between our emotions. And this is where I have to apologize."
She put her chin on his shoulder. "Apologize for what?"
"Marking someone is an irreversible act; it is reserved for those who accept the bond and agree to be marked. Marking someone against their will is a major offense among wolves, it's been likened to rape, but the evidence is permanent. The bond doesn't undo itself. Feel your neck."
She put her fingers inside her T-shirt, and felt the ridges of scar tissue from his teeth on the front and back. "You marked me." She looked back at him with shock and fear in her eyes.
"Yes, and I can't tell you how sorry I am. We were on the run, my wolf was going nuts that those men were coming for you, and I lost control and marked you. My wolf wanted the bond because he thought he could protect you better if he could feel your thoughts, your emotions. It also allowed me to take some of the pain from you, and helped with your healing. Still, I shouldn't have done it without talking to you about it first."
She put her head against his broad back, and didn't say anything for a while. He was glad she was speaking softly when she continued. "I've been talking with my cat about this. We understand why you did it, but we don't know how it will work. Cats are different, we don't form pair bonds. Cats go into heat and pick the dominant male who comes to them to mate with. We live solitary lives, we raise our young by ourselves. Other than the tingles, I haven't felt anything yet. Maybe the marking won't work on me."
