Chapter Two

A trickle of sweat rolled down her back, carving its way down in between her shoulder blades to run over her spine. Running over each crevice and plane it stopped at her jeans and soaked itself in the material there.

Lifting the tea towel from the wooden bench Leah wiped it across her forehead before tucking it back underneath the bar.

The smell of alcohol and sweat drifted through the open bar making her scrunch her nose momentarily before she grabbed another beer from the ice and popped the top free with the bottle opener. Twisting the opener in her palm, she hooked it back onto the back pocket of her jeans.

The umbrellas outside the establishment moved and shifted with the hot winds, while the concrete floor just seemed to continue to collect sand and dust which she would later broom out; only to have it blow in again the following day.

Sliding the cold beer across the bar she grimaced, feeling the customer's hand brush her own as he took it from her grasp.

He smiled seductively at her before leaning in and handing her a curled up twenty. He was good looking, young, built nicely but she knew no matter how much she tried she could never go home with the man and fuck her worries away. She desperately wanted to smile back, slip him her number and met up with him again, but she knew that nothing would come of such an encounter.

No matter how many men she slept with, no matter how many times she staggered home with another stranger, she couldn't shake the honey blonde from her head.

The same male that was the only one able to make her cum just by whispering in her ear and rolling his tongue around her lobe, sucking insensately on it, making it feel like it was hot wired to her clit.

The only man that could fill her completely, not just sexually but emotionally as well. She'd lost her other half – the other half of her soul, and there was no way this man could fix it.

Pulling her hand from the bottle she smiled slightly before moving on to the next paying customer, making her shift through the same assumptions once again on the new stranger.

The heat in the bar seemed to be amplified as it touched her golden skin, the blood of the shifter making it impossible to cool even as she stood in front of the wall fans which were tied with pink streamers on the outer shell. The cool breeze only lasted a second, before her skin flushed and turned steamy once again.

Texas was probably not the ideal place for a shifter to move given the soaring temperature, but she couldn't help feel somehow connected to him by being in the place he grew up in, the place he was from.

It was strange in El Paso, given it was almost like neutral ground for the American Indian tribes around the area. She mostly had Apache men coming into the bar who would stare at her, trying to work out what skin clan she came from. The golden hue in her skin was not a familiarity around the area, most of the tribes consisting of a darker more reddish colour, probably due to the sun and harsher conditions.

She sometimes had an inkling that they knew what she was. That they knew she was more animal than woman. That the blood that ran through her was more powerful than just another Indian run away who took work in a small town bar. The white customer's just saw her as another Native girl, who was sweet on the eyes and had legs that went for days.

Her boss Gordon was a half bred Apache man that had crossed the borders into Jumano land to set up the rickety tin shed he called a bar going on ten years ago. She was glad the rabbit had gotten her at least this far before blowing some kind of a gasket and smoking out the whole cabin.

Her original intentions had been to travel all the way down to Mexico until she reached the ocean. She planned to dive into the ocean and feel everything wash away. The time they'd spent together, the way her name would roll off his tongue, the way his hands touched her - skittering over her body like she was somehow breakable. It was those memories that seemed to haunt her, wish she was anyone - anything- else but what she was.

It had been Gordon who stopped to check if she was alright and if she needed a lift somewhere, not wanting to leave a young woman stranded on the side of the road. Once he noticed all of her earthly belongings in the car, he knew she probably didn't have a destination and offered her a bed and a job the following day.

She was thankful for the hospitality and made sure to work hard. She wanted to repay Gordon for letting her stay in the run down caravan he had parked on bricks in his back yard, as well as saving enough money to fix the rabbit so she could continue on.

While it wasn't home, it was cosy. The dead grass surrounding her trailer made crunching noises when she'd wake in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and it seemed that no matter how many times she'd tried to water it, it stayed dead.

Much like her heart.

Unfortunately days and weeks turned into months and now that she was on her fourth month in the small town she supposed she could stay another three to make sure when she left that she would at least have some money to stay somewhere or heaven forbid fix the rabbit if it decided to break down again on her way to Mexico city.

She contemplated calling Jacob but back-pedalled on the idea as soon as she remembered that her Alpha had never been tight lipped and would have probably told everyone back home where she was. Jacob was from good sorts but the sole fact that he literally laid red carpet out for his imprint made her see red.

He'd once been a good alpha; strong, determined, a leader, but after his imprint kicked in, he became all but. Even with her own imprint she had tried to retain some of her old self, even if it was just bitchy and moody.

Telling Jacob would be like telling Jasper where she was, and she wasn't quite ready to have that happen, just yet.

Of course it hurt, she'd expected it to. What she didn't anticipate though was the inability to move on from him. He still lingered inside her like a disease, moving from one area to another, burning and simmering her in all the places she couldn't get other men to satisfy, let alone reach.

Being with him had dammed her. Made her expect more. Made her need more.

"Lee babe, could you go around back and grab some more ice from the freezer?" Gordon called out, ripping her from her trip down memory lane. "This bloody heat is turning all the ice into puddles."

"Damn Gordon, where is Eric? Isn't he meant to be here by now?" she grumbled, wiping her hands on a dish cloth to walk to the back.

Eric always conveniently disappeared when hard labour was involved, leaving it up to Leah to shift heavy boxes of alcohol and drag bags of ice to the front of the bar. The only real thing that stopped Leah from yelling and bitching at Eric was that he reminded her so much of the younger brother she'd left behind in LaPush.

Seth was still not talking to her after she'd told him she had no choice but to leave. She knew he would take it the hardest but she promised to try and write to him at least. The only thing she could manage so far was a text or email every now and then in between work, and it was usually met with a cold reply.

Eric was Gordon's only son and at the tender age of sixteen couldn't serve at the bar, but instead had been assigned to keep the ice coming and go pick up more boxes of alcohol from the suppliers in one of the bigger towns.

When the bar wasn't busy Leah would hop in the truck and go with Eric to keep him company or just so they could grab a bite on the way back. The bar had great beer, the food - not so much.

"Eric?" Leah called out as she walked through the back of the bar toward the freezers passing the stacks of boxes piled almost to the ceiling. She would definitely have to mention to Gordon the obvious fire safety dangers in the back room.

Coming to a stop in front of the freezers, Leah's brow raised as she heard the hushed whispers of voices coming from outside. The door was slightly open letting the dust dance in the strip of light that was filtering into the dark area. Walking closer she cocked her head noticing Eric's voice.

"I don't know where she is from."

His voice was echoing, an edge of fear lacing each word making the wolf under her skin prickle and become restless.

Eric was being bombarded with questions by several different voices. They were deep and alluring making her close her eyes and suck in a jagged breath. Her spine was tingling with the threat of danger and she had to take another breath just to calm herself down.

'How long have you known her, what is she, does she travel alone?'

Question after question they came and she knew that Eric would be having trouble trying to keep up with them. He wasn't exactly to brightest spark in the room but she knew he wasn't dumb. He was just young and naive.

"Eric?" she called again as she pulled the door open to look out in the back alley which housed most of the surrounding businesses bins.

Three large men stood in front of a very scared looking Eric, who looked just about ready to piss himself. His hands were tucked into his pockets and his head was down, his eyes trained on the dusty ground.

As soon as she'd stepped out the door the eyes of the three huge men snapped towards her. Her breathe caught as she heard the rumble of growls coming from their throats, their eyes softening to look curiously over her.

The biggest man in the middle she recognised as a regular at the bar. His long hair was strung into a pony tail, his jaw square and set sharply. His eyes were midnight black as he flashed a grin, the sun glittering off his teeth making him much more predatory than she'd ever noticed before.

She walked quickly toward Eric and stood by his side, grasping his elbow to position herself in front of him. It was almost like second nature. To her, Eric was merely a pup, and these three men stood in front of him to intimidate him by sheer size.

Turning around she grasped Eric's chin making him look at her. His eyes were watery and he was biting down on his bottom lip. She could smell the fear rolling off of him in lethal doses but she didn't want to make a scene in front of the other men.

"Go inside. Your father needs more ice for the bar," she all but growled, making his eyes widen and head nod quickly.

Turning to the three men, she grimaced noticing they were taking long languid looks over her body. The one in the middle seemed especially smug with himself.

Hearing the click of the back door signalling Eric's departure she balled her fists to her sides. "What the hell were you doing to him?" she asked, eying each man thoroughly.

"Nothing, beautiful. We were merely asking the boy some questions."

His voice was rich and moved through her much like Jacob's once had. Taking a step back she growled noticing a certain scent lingering in the air.

"What do you want?" Leah sneered at the obvious Alpha in the middle. She couldn't tell which creatures they were but she knew they were different to humans. Different even to wolves.

"She's feisty" the shorter one commented towards his alpha making Leah's veins throb under her skin. The she wolf inside of her fought to tear apart and destroy.

"She's hot! Can we keep her?" the taller, ganglier one pleaded reminding her of Embry, her pack brother back in LaPush.

"Quiet," the dominant alpha hissed, snapping his teeth at the two before turning back to Leah with a longing look resting in his eyes. "We are here to introduce ourselves. My name is Kylore, but Kyle for short. This is Wylie-" he gestured with his head to the shorter one "- and this is Marius, my brother," he said motioning to the taller one with his thumb.

"Like I give a fuck what your names are," Leah roared, a fire now lit in both her belly and her eyes. "If I ever catch you around here trying to pull that shit on a sixteen year old, I'll hold no pity for what I do to you." she warned, her wolf buzzing with excitement at the game its human counterpart was playing.

She could see Kylore's jaw tense, his teeth locked together in frustration. His fingers were twitching and his breathing was becoming jagged and reckless.

She wondered if she could take on three supernatural creatures who were double her size and the only answer she could find, lay in that of her wolf. Not as a human - but a wolf.

In a matter of seconds his eyes flashed silver and his grin reappeared. "I like you Leah Clearwater, but do not underestimate my kindness for weakness. I am not a man that can easily be swayed, because once I set my sights on something, I make sure to claim it." The threat was underlying in his words but she heard it loud and clear. It wasn't just a something - it was her.

"Alright boys, run along now," Gordon announced as he stepped from the back door of the bar with a rifle in his hands. "We wouldn't want me to accidentally put a bullet in your asses now, would we?" he asked, cocking the loaded gun and resting it on his shoulder.

Wylie growled as he stepped forward before Kylore shot out a hand and stopped him from advancing.

"Of course not Gordon. We don't want any trouble," the alpha nodded, signalling the two men beside him to drop back.

His eyes rested on Leah again and he smirked. His voice was low enough for Gordon not to hear it, but Leah felt the shivers run up her spine as he spoke. "Until we meet again, Lyani."

Leah jumped when Gordon placed and hand on her shoulder. She'd been too busy watching the men retreat, and while the two other men walked with their backs to her, Kylore slowly walked backwards keeping his eyes trained on her until he turned at the end of the building, disappearing out of sight.

"You okay?" Gordon asked pulling his hand quickly away noticing that she was slightly dishevelled from the encounter.

"Fine." she nodded as she turned and walked with him back toward the door.

She couldn't help but take one more look down the alley way before closing the door and jamming the deadbolt locked.

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