The Broken Warrior's Daughter

It's exhausting constantly running, riding on bus after bus. We haven't had a decent meal or shower in a week. Benny called the day after we left and let me know two ‘shady looking men‘ were in the diner asking about a young woman. When Eli finally feels like we can stop overnight, we get a hotel room. At first, 1 was concerned about only having one room, but I’m too tired to argue. When we get to our room, | see that there are two beds.

“Get a shower. I'll be back in a bit.” “Where are you going?” | ask him.

‘I'm going to look around and make sure we aren't being followed and then I’m going to get us something decent to eat. Do not open the door for anyone.”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

He comes over taking my face in his hands and kisses my forehead. He pulls back and looks in my eyes. “You'll be safe. | won't be gone long.”

After he leaves, | grab my things and head to the bathroom. | turn on the water, letting it get warm before stripping off my clothes and getting under the stream of hot water. | lift my face, letting the water relax me.

Over the past week, we’d gone west to Arkansas, north to lowa then west again until we got to Wyoming. Once we got to the Rocky Mountains, we started heading south. We went through Colorado, New Mexico and finally started heading east through Texas. | wasn’t sure if Eli had a plan to get us back to Alpha Rik and Alpha Liam’s packs, but he’d been in constant contact with Alpha Rik. He was very concerned about me and wanted to hear from Eli at least twice a day to know where we were and ensure we hadn't entered into any pack territories or been captured.

That was harder while we were in the Rockies. Much like the Appalachian Mountains back home, the Rockies are a great place for wolf packs to live without too much interaction with humans. But we pretty much stayed on the buses and kept to ourselves. Now we're in the middle of Texas, headed back home. At least | hope we are.

| have to admit, while Eli took my advice about changing buses, he’s a master at evasion. | guess twenty years on the run will do that. He’s stealthy, quick and quiet when checking to see if we're being followed. When we were, he was able to guide us onto buses that didn’t have any wolves and get us out of the bus station undetected.

| finish washing off the residue of a long journey, before getting out and dressing In clean clothes. | take my dirty clothes and put them in the sink to soak until after Eli has showered, then Ill put them | there with his and wash them so they can dry overnight before we head out again.

I'm just finishing up when | hear our door open. “It’s just me.” He says just before the smell of food hits my nose and my stomach grumbles.

| come out of the bathroom and see that he’s managed to get us steaks, potatoes and salads. I’m so hungry | could kiss him.

He sets the food out on the small table in the room. “Go ahead and eat, I’m going to get a quick shower, then I'll join you.” He says before heading to the bathroom. | hear the shower turn on just as | dig into my food. | can’t help the moan that leaves my lips. We haven't had real food in over a week and this tastes delicious. I’m in my own world, enjoying the taste of the salty juiciness of the steak, my eyes closed, as | savor each bite when | hear a chuckle.

My eyes snap open and | see Eli standing there watching me in nothing but a towel. My eyes travel down his body, and | was right about his physique. He is solid muscle. His broad shoulders slide into a narrow waist giving him a deep V, before branching out to his muscular thighs.

| unconsciously lick my lips and when my eyes return to his, | see his have darkened. “You need to stop looking at me like that Grace.”

“Like what?” | ask but my voice is breathier than | expected. He stalks over to me, leaning over the chair, his arms caging me in and bringing his face to mine. “Like you’re planning to skip dinner and go straight for dessert.”

His body is so close that | can feel the heat emanating off of him. My throat has gone dry and any retort | might have had dies on my lips.

| lick my lips and his eyes drop to watch the movement before returning to mine. I’m caught in a trance as he moves closer until his lips almost touch mine. | feel his tongue slide across my lips and his eyes go even darker.