Chapter Six

Stefan's garage was like I had walked out of a dream and into a complete fairy tale. Classic cars, sports cars, motorcycles were lined up in perfect rows that shone like mirrors. The gloss paint on them reflected my face as I passed each one of them in sheer envy. The garage was really just a big warehouse that had been converted. The back wall had a space devoted to bright red tool boxes. The kinds with drawers you see in professional mechanic shops for NASCAR and on TV. It actually looked like it was used, because you could see grease spots on the floor, drawers that were left cracked open when scrounging for a certain size wrench. In the middle of the assorted equipment was Stefan's bike. It was obviously well maintained; the blue paint glistened with high gloss like everything else in the place. If it wasn't for the slight wear on the tires, I would have thought it just sits in here.

"May I?" I asked turning to Stefan, feeling the excitement bubble up inside me like a small child.

"Please." He said smirking.

I swung my leg over his bike and eased down. I smiled with just the feel of being on a bike again. I turned the key and revved the gas. Beth came to life underneath me, happily growling in a steady purr. The room filled with her rhapsody; making it impossible to hear what Stefan was saying to me. I could just see him gesturing like he was telling me to wait a minute, I just looked at him confused.

He held up one finger and mouthed ‘one minute' as he backed away. In a moment I saw a panel slide open to a gravel driveway. Stefan mouthed to me again, except this time it was ‘wait for me.' I laughed and nodded to him. He disappeared and then I heard a second roar. Then Stefan came back around with a beautiful red 2012 Harley Sportster.

My mouth dropped open as he cruised past me with a happy smirk at my expression. I went to put the Electra in gear and just like Stefan had warned, the transmission was sticking. It took some jiggling and several bounces to knock it back to its senses, but I was able to get it to first gear. It took so much doing, I just got it back to neutral and shut her off. I didn't want to get out on the road and then it want to stick when I got up to speed; that's just brutal to the motor. I swung off the bike and started looking for tools. I might as well start with it now because it would get worse if I tried to ride.

I heard Stefan's bike shut off, and then heard him walk up behind me. I had an armful of metal and felt his energy like a magnet behind me.

"Is it that bad?" He laughed.

"Yes, if I try to ride her with the transmission trying to go out of commission the motor could mess up, and if that happens I won't forgive myself because she's still runnin' like a champ." I said seriously as I turned around looking up at him.

"I wish I could get a picture of you right now." He laughed.

"Why?" I asked curiously; feeling my eyebrows raise.

"Because you look so cute with all those big boy toys in your hands." He teased.

I just glared at him and went to work. I became absorbed in the mechanical artwork before me. I disassembled and just escaped for a while into something I liked to do. I think that working on motorized vehicles in general gave me that one part of life that I could control. When I buried my elbows in grease and metal with a wrench in my hand I could fix a problem in my own little world. The problems may sometimes be hard to find, but they were always black and white. A part either works or it doesn't. Simplicity offered so much security that work always became my sanctuary. I could fix, control, and rule the world of a motorcycle, but I couldn't rule my own. I knew that was true, but I wouldn't let myself believe it every time something happens that is beyond my control.

I heard a radio turn on in the background and it was playing a guns and roses song. I kept working and started taking parts off so I could get to the transmission.

"You use this to cope don't you," Stefan said, pulling me out of my focus.

"Yes, I love the simplicity of working on things with motors." I said, my voice sounding far-off.

"Motorcycles are simple?" he laughed.

"Sure they are," I chuckled. "A part either works or it doesn't. Simple problems like that can be easily fixed; people in life aren't always like that." I said seriously.

"I see what you mean, but they can get complicated too."

"Not as complicated as a person."

"That's true; bikes can be more frustrating than some people."

I giggled. "Are you trying to give me a hint?"

"I never said you were frustrating." He said defensively.

"Sure I am, and I'm sorry for that, but some of it I can't really help." I said turning away from the bike with the transmission in my hands. The gears were dirty and had some gooey looking grease and rust that looked to be the culprit of the sticking. "Did you know your transmission looked like this?"

"Uh, yea, I thought it was supposed to have grease on it." He looked at me, but I could see that he was lying.

"Did you do this to your transmission just so I would have something to do?" I asked seriously letting an edge of anger color my tone.

"Ummmm, how would I know that you knew how to work on motorcycles." He looked unsure.

Jason…I thought. Always looking out for me.

"That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me! But you didn't have to potentially ruin a motorcycle for me!" I smiled sweetly and batted my lashes.

Stefan laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck looking confused. I walked up to him and threw my arms around him jumped and wrapped my legs around his waist which he immediately put his hands on my thighs and laid a kiss on his lips. He responded just as quickly as he did to my legs around him.

"I wasn't joking about the sweetest thing part." I grinned and pecked him on the cheek before jumping down, picking the transmission up from beside the bike and taking it to the table where I started cleaning it.

I had the Electra up and running within the hour. Then I was finally able to take it on a test drive. While I was down there I tweaked the motor a bit using a few tricks that Jeff had taught me through the years. If I knew my bikes well enough, which I did, then she should run like new. Harley motors were bad to miss when not tuned properly.

"You ready?" he asked me, a light of excitement in his eyes.

"Hell yeah!" I said feeling the roar underneath me.

We rode through the town nearest side by side. It was a small mid-western town full of its own suburbia, coffee shops, pizzerias, and boutiques. It was a cute town. It was one that I could envision a happy life in. Stefan sped in front of me and turned his blinker on letting me know that I needed to follow him. We turned left and started heading toward a strip in downtown. It looked like a place with history. The kind of spot where you can tell the town started because of the way the buildings have the old-fashioned hanging signs. The street lamps looked replaced, but you could tell that this part of town was old because of how well kept it was. Towns only pay that much attention to the touristy spots and the landmarks. The old spots are always filled with bistros, gift shops, art galleries, bridal shops, a bar or five, and of course the corner spot antique flea market. I love places like that because they are so inviting, even though you can see right through the superficial fa?ade built up to make you want to spend money, they still have that homey, mid-western fifties value feel to them. I could spend hours and hundreds in a place like this.

Stefan pulled over and I coasted in behind him coming to a stop. I gave him a questioning look, but he shut his bike off and started to make his way toward the sidewalk. I did the same and as soon as the engine shut off I said, "what are we doing?"

"I thought we could go shopping, I know that you want new clothes and there is this place that Stella says all the girls in the pack like to shop so I thought we could check it out." He said smiling at me.

"Ummm, how about we go and I order some clothes offline." I said turning back toward the bike.

"Come on, I thought we could buy you something pretty and I could take you on a proper date tonight." His voice sounded so hopeful, it killed me to have to burst his bubble.

"Stefan, I can't be seen in public" I whispered seriously, letting him see the worry in my eyes.

"Why?" he asked completely confused, and then I saw his eyes focus on something behind me, and then the confusion smoothed away which was replaced with the tightening of other muscles that I knew meant something more serious.

I turned around and across the street in a window of a RadioShack were new TVs all playing the news, and my face was being shown. Then the camera shot cut to a scene in front of me so surreal I couldn't understand it at first. Madigan and his wife were on the TV. Why would they be on there when they were showing a picture of me? The picture was from my state file that my social worker had pinned to the thick brown case file she said she needed a separate briefcase to carry it around in. Why would they be crying on TV? Then I saw little Macie who was twelve now sitting beside Madigan, his hand stroking her hair as he pulled her into an embrace. He hid her face from anyone's view as he stroked her hair lovingly. I knew the face she would be making; I had made that face too.

"Stefan, I need to get out of here." I said getting on the bike not waiting for him this time.

I sped toward the pack house, I was going to get my stuff and I was going to do what I knew needed to be done about Madigan. He was going to get a rude awakening when he saw what I could do to him. I couldn't let him keep doing that to other girls, I thought running was the best way to get freedom, but the guilt of seeing Macie still a victim of his treachery was holding me prisoner, along with the fear and damage that monster had left behind. He had to die for me to be completely free.

I sped into the garage and shut the bike off. I didn't lose momentum as I kept shooting straight for Stefan's room where all my stuff was. Stefan was behind me and when we walked in every eye in the room turned toward us and I didn't regard them this time, I was too focused. My anger didn't just cloud my vision; it gave me tunnel-vision. It is like wearing blinders and only seeing the outcome of your goals, and the end will justify the means. I wasn't afraid of consequences, lives, or any of my new responsibilities. I was seeing Madigan's blood in my head and my wolf and I both liked it; and probably a bit too much.

Once we were in the bedroom Stefan shut the door.

"You aren't going." He commanded using his power. I felt it swim around me and it pulled at my wolf to submit, but I wouldn't have it.

"Yes, I am, and don't use your power on me, it won't work." I growled. I wasn't going to fight him on this; he needed to understand that I had to do this. If I didn't, I would never be free.

"If you do this, you will be wanted for murder."

"It will be worth it if I and other girls are free from him." I stated.

"Not if you get caught, we have a pack to protect and I can't do that without my mate." He argued.

"You did it well enough before you met me." I said spinning around with my bag in my hands.

"I can't lose you, not now that I have you," He growled taking a step toward me.

I was getting ready to spout off that he couldn't stop me, but the look in his eye made me eat my words. The look of a desperate man was there, the kind of look that you shut up when you see in a man. The look said that he would do anything in the world to make me okay. So I shut up and I submitted. The bag hit the floor and the sound echoed in my ears.

"Thank you," he whispered throwing his arms around me and holding me.

"I have to help Macie." I stated softly. I couldn't move on when I carried the guilt of leaving her behind. When I left, she was supposed to come with me…

"We will do something, but we have to handle this so we can protect you too."

"I left her behind; it's my fault that she is still there." I said standing up and moving to the window.

"We can't risk you going there and we can't bring her here, she isn't one of us." Stefan said coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me.

"Well…" I started.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Never mind, there isn't any way for me to be sure, and statistically it would be impossible." I said.

"Just tell me Jez,"

"You know how humans smell like their perfumes and soaps but you can smell the salt and sweat underneath that?" I asked prompting him to understand where I was going.

"Well yes, some of them can be downright bad smelling because they drown out their natural scents with product." He commented.

"Well, Macie didn't have a human smell, she smelled different. I don't know how to describe it exactly but I know she's not wolf because other wolves have a woodsy scent, she smelled like rain."

"Like rain?" he asked turning me around. "What else?"

"A floral scent, I used to think it was her shampoo but her shampoo was strawberries and it didn't smell like that, I don't know the name to call it." I said looking him in the eye, I was unsure now because the look in his eye told me that he knew something that I didn't.

"Come with me."

Stefan led me down the hallway, up some stairs and into a library, but the library was a smaller one than the one downstairs. This one must have been overflow or maybe private select. There was a case in the middle of the room with a layer of dust covering the glass making it impossible to see the contents on the inside. The sides of the room were lined with shelves and books covered in the same dusty coating that seemed to be the theme. He went straight to a chest of drawers and started digging. From what I could see it was filled with letters. When he found the one he wanted he pressed it to his nose and inhaled. Pleased with what he found he held it out to me.

"Smell this," he ordered.

I obliged him and leaned in, sniffing the edge of the letter. The corner of the envelope tickled my cheek and the smell wafted into my nose. I knew it wasn't Macie, but that smell of rain and flowers was there.

"That's not Macie, but that's it." I said, looking down at the envelope he held.

"Well if you are right, she's definitely not a wolf, she's a hunter." He said tossing the letter back into the drawer.

"Then why didn't Jerry smell like that?" I asked.

"Because hunters learn how to mask their scent in training, they smell that way so they can be found by other hunters, I doubt he is planning to hurt her, he is probably training her," Stefan explained

"Well what if she doesn't know that she is a hunter,' I stated hopefully.

"She's not one of ours, her people will turn her, Jez," he said turning away and sliding the drawer back with a little too much force.

"I can't not do something!" I whispered, getting worried.

"You aren't going to go anywhere near her, she has her own people, she is their responsibility." He stated with all the finality and decision in his voice that made it clear, he wasn't going to do anything at all to help her.

Without another word I left the room, went to his bedroom and started gathering my things calmly. He didn't follow me right away because I didn't storm out in an angry rage like I felt on the inside. I could feel my wolf simmering with fury because of how our mate was cowardly. How could he be so dismissive over something that means so much to us? When he found me he saw me quietly and calmly placing my things in my bag.

"You aren't going to get her." He growled grabbing my wrists harshly.

I refused to look up at him as I growled back "let go,"

"Not until you promise not to leave." Stefan's voice sounded cold and hardened with angry desperation.

"I'm not going to get her, I'm just leaving you."

Stefan let go of my wrists as if I had shocked him. My wolf howled in anguish and sadness, but it was halfway directed at him for not being what we needed him to be. I let my eyes drift up to his so he could see how angry I was and that I was not kidding.

"I'm gonna go stay with Jason," I said turning away and shoving the last few pieces of clothing into my bag.

"Why?" his voice sounded strained.

"Because this isn't going to work between us, I don't care if the universe says we should be together because of us being mates." I started, making my voice calm and even despite the urge to yell and hit something. "You can't explain things I need to know, you order me around when it comes to big decisions instead of talking to me about them, and you are acting like a coward, I need a strong mate Stefan, and I'm not convinced you are at this point." I made my tone matter-of-fact, which made my blunt statements that much more daunting.

"Just wait a min…," Stefan started to say,

"I'm giving you two weeks to do the right thing, If you have an ounce of integrity I suggest you find it, because after the two weeks, I'm gone." I said. "Macie isn't the only girl that could be hurt there. I can't go against what you say, you being my mate…I physically can't,"

"What am I supposed to do?" He griped.

"Something, since you won't let me," I replied and walked out the door.