13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Emm

" S he slept in this morning," Luis whispered into the phone. "Abuela took me to school."

I sighed and leaned on the table. I wasn't going to call my family anymore during this mission but I couldn't help it. I missed them and, having been around so many people being nice to me, well, I felt nostalgic. Call me selfish, I guess.

My wolf was happily eating the chopped-up, raw steak, on the floor beside me, off my nicest plate. Which I got from a thrift store ten years ago. He was eating like a king.

"I heard that! Emmie doesn't need to know my business, now give me the phone!" Elena's English was thick with her Spanish accent, and I couldn't help almost spitting out one of my microwave meals.

Luis screamed happily and ran off, and Elena picked up the phone and huffed. "I stayed up late last night editing a blogger's article. Of course I slept in. It wasn't because of the pain."

I rolled my lips, biting back any sort of retort. She needed sleep, at least eight hours, or she would feel the pain again. "I said nothing. Luis just worries about you, as any child would about their mother."

Elena sighed into the phone, her frustration evident in the way her breath trembled. "I don't want him to worry, but Abuela always has to bring it up. She keeps making these tonics, shoving them down my throat. I'm scared of what's in them, Emmie," she whispered harshly into the phone. "What if she put some of her ‘shrooms in there? I can't be hallucinating right now."

I snorted and took another bite of the overly-cooked meatloaf. "She's just trying to help. Is she playing with her rocks again?"

"Crystals!" I heard my abuela yell from the background. "They are crystals and they have healing properties and they can pull destructive energy from one's body!"

I could hear her chanclas hitting the bottom of her heel from here and I winced. I remember too many times where she smacked me in the back of the head as a child, when I did or said something wrong.

"Ey, don't hit me!" Elena shouted. I could almost see Elena putting her arms up in surrender, but Abuela laughed.

"I won't, but you stop talking about my rocks—I mean crystals. They are keeping us safe in this godsforsaken place. Why do you think we have never been ransacked by any of those Venezuelans? Why do you think no one has ever beaten-up Luis? The magic!"

I put down my fork and stared into the phone.

"Are you practicing voodoo, again?" I snapped. "You said you would stop that nonsense when you left Mexico."

"She's done it the entire time we have been here! Ouchie!" Smack, smack. I can hear the chanchlas hit my sister a few more times.

Better her than me.

"I told you not to worry her! Now, go rest before I hit you again!"

Elena swore under her breath, and the chair made a long noise, scooting back. "You will get yours, you old bat," I heard Elena say in the distance. Suddenly, she screamed out. "The hell! How is your aim so good?"

I burst out laughing, my food falling out of my mouth.

"Years of practicing on your sister. Now go!"

I rubbed the back of my head. I think I can still feel that bump when she really got me, before I left and told her I'd be a bounty hunter. I hope she couldn't throw this far north.

"Now," Abuela started.

I groaned and leaned my head back into the chair. Here it comes. She was going to lecture me. Elena couldn't keep a secret, not with Abuela. No one could, she would get it out of you, and I wouldn't be surprised if she had a secret tonic she put in the food or drink.

"What is this that I hear about you liking it up there? Having second thoughts?" She hummed excitedly.

I lifted my lip up into a snarl and hunched my back over my food. "It's fine. Just a quirky town. Nothing to get excited about."

Abuela's voice filled with excitement as she let out a joyful hum over the phone. I could almost see that mischievous grin in my mind. "And what do you think of him? He compliments your personality, si?"

I paused, hearing a licking sound, and as I looked down at my feet I found my wolf licking the dildo I had used just an hour ago. I gasped in horror and left the phone.

"No! Dios Mio! What are you doing? Give me that!" He growled as I grabbed the base. He clamped down on it with his teeth and I swatted his nose. He whimpered and I pulled back. "Bad dog, you don't do that!"

"Emmie? What are you doing? You have a dog?" Abuela cackled over the speakerphone.

I'm glad one of us finds this amusing.

"It's a wolf," I retorted, placing my now pierced-with-holes dildo on the table. "He's grown attached to me so I let him become my companion. For now. I'm thinking about kicking him out, though."

The wolf whimpered, and Abuela laughed again.

"Don't be so hard on the animal. I am surprised you are even toying with the idea of letting it around you. Never thought of you as being the nurturing type."

I snorted in agreement, staring face to face with my new pet. I wasn't one to take on pity projects, but then again, it wasn't pity. It was something else I couldn't put my finger on.

"Hey, what did you mean earlier? About what do I think of him? What are you talking about?" I pushed away my meal, no longer feeling hungry.

"Oh, you know, the man you are supposed to meet? He is your soulmate, Emmie, the one I made you and your sister pray for so many years ago. It's about time you met him. I feel it in my old feeble bones. I was promised you would find him before I passed and I'm getting close."

I wrinkled my brow. My hand landed on the table with a smack. My wolf put his head on my lap, nudging me as if to comfort me.

"What the hell are you talking about? You're not dying."

Abuela groaned. "Remember the bonfire? The moon was full? The sky was clear? It was the perfect night. I can sometimes feel the forest spirits inside my body when I take just enough mushrooms."

A groan escaped my lips as I massaged my temples, trying to alleviate the pounding headache. She was probably tripping on acid that night.

"Abuela, you took us camping when Elena and I were kids, and you were as high as a kite. If I recall correctly, you were topless." I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. "A memory I keep trying to forget," I whispered.

My wolf snorted, and I rubbed the top of his head.

"I was not high! I was filled with a gift of discernment, Mija. You are to do great things with your soulmate. He's close, you've met him already. You just have to open your eyes and see."

I tapped my finger on the table. "Are you high right now?"

"Yes!" I hear Elena's yell come from the other room. "Ouch! How the hell can you throw a chancla around the corner?"

I snorted out a laugh and held my wolfs' head close to me.

"I'm telling you, Emmie," Abuela warned, "Elena and you both prayed to the Moon Goddess that night. You both asked to open your souls to her blessing. You wanted a love so powerful, so strong that nothing could break it."

"Abuela," I muttered, "we were children. We didn't know what we wanted. We didn't know what we were saying. Real love doesn't exist, look what happened to papa and mama".

Abuela's hand slapped the table. "No. It is true. I have seen it. Your match is there. Stop the head-hunting and open your eyes. You are where you are supposed to be. All will fall into place, and, mija...?"

As I fell into silence, a tear betrayed my feelings, cascading down my face.

"Yes, Abuela?"

"My time is short."

I shook my head. "No, it is not. You are using your crystals, remember?" I huffed out a laugh.

"Mija, my time is short and even crystals and tonics cannot keep me alive forever. Just know that I love you, and try not to fight so hard. You are a stubborn woman and, honestly, your soulmate might like that a little, so yeah, play hard to get. But, only a little."

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "Okay, okay, whatever you say," I humored her.

She was a crazy woman, but she had a heart of gold. She practically raised us and I wasn't about to argue with her. Her throwing skills were pretty amazing, too, so I would not chance it.

"Well, you get some sleep. I want you well rested once you meet him, you hear me? And, no more hunting. Promise me?"

I pursed my lips together and crossed my fingers. "Sure, sure."

"Mija," she growled. "Don't make me get another chancla."

"Alright, I promise!" I squeaked.

If there was anyone I was truly scared of, I think it was my abuela.

She hummed into the phone and hung up so I didn't have time to smart back.

Little did she know, I didn't have a decision on the matter, until I'd met the target. And, I definitely didn't believe her in this whole soulmate thing. I was thirty-seven and hadn't met any men that made me feel like my soul was on fire.

They were all boring and not worth giving up my lifestyle. I needed more excitement. None of them would live up to my expectations in the bedroom, even if I thought they were promising in the beginning. Had they never heard of foreplay?

Who the hell wanted to just fuck? Can a woman get a little foreplay? A few red flags? Like tie each other up, hunt each other down, play rough?

Ugh, I have to stop reading those BDSM romances.

I huffed out a breath, grabbed the lock box and threw the burner phone inside. I'll destroy it in the morning.

It was pitch black in the RV. The curtains were closed, and the fridge was humming quietly. I could hear the wolf's soft snores when I woke up suddenly, from the jingling of a bell from one of my rudimentary traps.

Why didn't the camera alarm turn on?

"Shit," I hissed, and tried to move.

Tried being the word here, because the sweltering heat of the wolf was on top of me.

He was supposed to be sleeping on the floor.

Another jingle came from the outside. It was quiet enough the intruder may not think I had heard it, but I most certainly did. The wolf's growl was deep in his chest. He stood up on the bed and covered my body.

"Get off, mutt, or I'm gonna stab you!" I muttered and pulled a knife from the drawer beside me.

He eyed me, annoyed, but did what he was told and watched me with curiosity. I stood on the bed and unlocked a hatch above me. It didn't creak, not when I oiled the shit out of the hinge. I had to always be prepared if I ever needed to use it as a getaway or in this case, sneak up on whoever was outside.

I squeezed halfway through the top, cursing myself for the extra fries I ate the night before and peaked out the other side. The intruder was tall, thin, lanky, wearing all black and, from eyesight alone, did not yield any weapons on the outside of his body.

I put the blade in my mouth and squeezed through the rest of the way. My nightgown pulled lower on my breasts. Poor intruder might get a show before all this was said and done.

I crouched on the balls of my feet, watching where he was going, and I saw my wolf walking out the front door like it was a fucking Sunday afternoon. The intruder didn't see him, but I'd be damned if my wolf got to him before I did.

Before I could wave my wolf off, the intruder surprised me and he came to the back of the RV where the ladder was. He started climbing, coming straight for me.

Well, this will be fun.

The wolf sat and watched. He didn't seem to be worried or territorial, he was just wagging his tail! I shook my head. What the hell is up with this stupid animal? Is he protective or not?

Once the intruder came closer, I saw he was wearing night vision goggles, but he wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him. I leaned forward and put the blade to his neck.

"Lookie what I found? A little squirrel climbing up my tree," I cooed, pressing the blade closer to his neck. "Climb down, otherwise there will be more than nuts you'll be missing."