Taken by my mate

Evadiene

I woke up early the next morning in Covyn’s bed, completely alone. Nothing ached, and I wasn’t sore or tired. In fact, I don’t think I had felt so rested in decades. Sequoia was laying up behind me, as a large leopard almost the length of me, when she stretched out. She looked at me, sat up and sighed.

“Do I have to people today?” She quirked her head at me. “Can’t I cat and you people? After last night, I don’t know that I have it in me to see everyone.”

She purred against me.

“Too coward to speak hey?” She cocked her head to the side again and I smacked her lightly with the pillow. “What do I even say? Sorry I doomed your people, but I’m going to do everything I can to prevent that? Ugh, -I tried not to come. I’ve avoided this so many times before, why did it have to be any different now.”

I stood up and looked in the bathroom mirror as I brushed my teeth. I felt emotionally spent, but I was ready to run for hours. The marks were indeed completely gone, but so were any other wounds or scars over my body, and if I had had my arm amputated I would have returned with a full arm. Still, it was strange not to see and feel them anymore.

I decided a run would be the perfect way to start the day, hoping to match my outsides to my insides. Without a bra, I used a pair of scissors to cut one of Covyn’s shirts in a spiral to create one long fabric strip to wrap and bind the girls in place. A tank top, pair of short and my sneakers later it didn’t matter that I only have one drawer of summer clothes. I grabbed one of Covyn’s sweaters to cover up that the marks were gone, until he and I broke the bond at least.

I had managed to find a pair of large headphones in the mess that was my house, and slung them around my neck after I was dressed. The phone that laid on the nightstand, that was now only good for music joined my hands in the kangaroo pocket as I turned it back on. I stood for a minute, stuck in my head, knowing I could needed to spend some of this energy and just get lost out of my head for a bit.

I walked to the deck door to go for a run around the house with Sequoia, but someone was outside walking around. Even closing the curtain quickly, I could still be sure that wasn’t any of my core three people. I went to the bathroom and someone was beneath the window too, that meant that Covyn had asked people to watch the room. Instead I went to the inside door and opened it casually.

“Good morning,” I said cheerfully and the men there turned quickly and met my eyes.

“Morning Luna,” one of them returned and nodded.

I chucked. “Evadiene is fine, I honestly wish everyone did.”

He looked away from me. “The Alpha wouldn’t like that.”

“I don’t think it will matter soon anyway,” I muttered, but moved to get by him. “Regardless, you’re dismissed. Thank you for watching over me while I slept.” I touched the back of his hand with mine enough to make him uncomfortable. “You can tell the other guys outside I’ve left and they no longer need to watch the bedroom. I hope you have a lovely day.”

“But Luna, our orders were to guard you,” he insisted.

“Did he not specify it with you? He wasn’t in the room last night, and felt like it would feel safer to have people posted outside. I’m awake now. Go bother Covyn with your concerns if you feel you have to, but I want to finish fixing Daley’s car, take a walk in the garden and read today.” I said, phrasing everything truthfully, though I was going to the gym first.

He looked at me more nervously. “If you insist Luna.”

I smiled warmly, trying not to let him see my metaphorical horns poking through. I don’t know what Covyn told them, and truthfully I didn’t care anymore. I pulled my hood over my head, but everyone knew who I was. The weakest person on the pack grounds followed by a cat? Must be ‘the Luna’.

I made my way, unbothered, to the gym, noting those boxing with the machines I had helped set up. Lucas stopped me along the way and told me that Covyn had had one of the machines reset after hearing I had ‘tampered’ with it, and now anything above 300 joules just said ‘high’.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Would you like me to fix it?”

His eyes beamed as he nodded. “I would, very much Luna.”

I followed him over to the machine and people move out of our way, some looking worriedly at Lucas who stood so near to me, but he kept them back as I reset the machine from the beginning. I went back through the other two when I was done, making sure nothing had been changed, and noting my ‘high score’ was still going strong with a long list of lesser scores beneath it.

“Keep them off the wifi. I don’t know, maybe put a little note on them or something. The wifi is for updates, but they shouldn’t need them, they usually just make things slow down and encourage you to replace it or pay for a service person.” I entered the last line of code and hit ‘my machine’, registering a better score this time since coming from the ash and smirked. “I’m sure Covyn could higher a coder to fix them if someone fucks up though.”

“You fixed them well enough yourself Luna,” Lucas complimented. “We don’t need anyone else.”

My chest tightened and I swear my face went paler as I replied. “I might not always be here, I’ll hopefully be going to see my family soon.”

Lucas, unfortunately, caught my unease and gently tapped my shoulder. “Luna, if there’s anything you need…”

“Evadiene, please, I’m not wolven.” My heart tightened a little more but I forced a smile. “I came down for a run, are any of the treadmills free?”

His returned smile was tight. “Of course.”

He led me to the corner and I took a machine that stood alone, facing to look out the windows. I pulled my hood down to put my headphones on as Sequoia jumped to lay on the sill that ran about two feet from the floor. With my phone sitting in the water bottle holder I started to run, my music as loud as my ears could physically handle.

If I could run until I passed out I would be happy, but I knew that wasn’t practical. Instead I alternated between running and walking, staring out the window as a storm slowly rolled in. My mind was lost in the distant sounds of my music, and my concentration on my steps and strides. I had some serious thinking to do, but that would all be done in my subconscious while I worked my fresh body into submission.