Assassin's Honor

Chapter 14

Honorera was dreaming.

She was in the forest again, walking in the waning evening light. She was not scared of the dark, ever. It embraced her, as the forest embraced her. She was looking for something again... no she was looking for someone. She headed for the clearing, for the rock. She felt a little strange, her arms ached, and her head felt heavy, even in the dream. It was there again, that sensation that someone was watching her, moving toward her, and she tensed, ready to run. Who was in the woods? Was it Mr. Shepherd? All the times in this dream she had run away... but this time something urged her to move toward the stranger, to find him, to see him. "I know you are there." She called into the night.

"Don't fear me, my love. Come to me," he answered her. She knew that voice, deep and sexy. She moved toward the sound and saw a shadowy figure moving between the trees. She wondered if it was a trick. It simply wasn't possible that a man like Mr. Shepherd would even see a girl like her. Who was she? A nobody. Trailer trash.

He emerged from the trees at the far side of the clearing. He was so handsome, tall, and muscular. He wore jeans and a dark t-shirt, and he walked with his hands in his pockets, as though he was purposely trying to look harmless. She felt her body heat rise, just looking at him from a distance. She moved across the glade, meeting him in the center. "I see you." She said in wonder. "But why are you here?"

"Honorera," Unexpectedly, he dropped to his knees in front of her. For a minute she thought he was about to propose marriage. "Honor, you are my mate. The mate bond has been calling me, guiding me to you since you came of age. Please, I beg you, accept me."

Honorera took a step back. It wasn’t a marriage proposal; it was something far more primal. If this wasn't a dream, she would be afraid of his intensity. But she knew it was a dream, maybe it was even a product of her infatuation with Mr. Shepherd and her raging teenage hormones. "What are you talking about? What's a mate? Like... a sexual partner?"

"Oh, my dear... a person can have many sexual partners, but he has only one soul mate. It is a gift from the goddess."

Honorera didn’t know anything about gods or goddesses. She was staring down into his stormy grey eyes. She had seen those eyes before in the face of a handsome gray wolf. She shook her head; it wasn't possible. "But why me? I'm nothing. Nobody. And you... you're... for crying out loud you are a grown man, my teacher. What are you, forty?"

"Ouch!" Gabriel laughed out loud. "No baby girl, I'm not so old. Don’t worry about that age gap. The goddess never makes mistakes. We were chosen to be together for a reason. And you are NOT 'nothing'. Honorera, you are my everything. I cannot live without you." He stood up in one powerful, fluid motion. He pulled her soft body against the solid wall of his chest and slowly lowered his head, claiming her lush mouth with his firm lips. "You must believe me."

Honorera felt strange. She was warm. No, she was incredibly hot. Something was pressed against her back radiating heat like a furnace while cradling her whole body. Not something, she realized groggily. Someone. Someone hot, huge, and nearly naked was in bed with her. A muscular arm was draped over her hip. She tried to roll over, to see her bedmate, but when she moved, she felt the pain, searing her stomach, her face, her arms, and her aching head. Some memory of the night before came back, making her shudder with fear.

"It's okay baby girl, you are safe now." His voice was rough and grumbly from sleep, and it made her shiver, not with fear, but with feminine appreciation. A girl could get used to waking up to a voice like that, she thought.

She finished turning over with difficulty, so she was now facing him. His hair was tousled with sleep, there was stubble on his face which made him look dangerous. His broad chest was bare, and she couldn’t help but stare at it. The muscular planes were tan and smooth, with just a tiny bit of dark hair trailing down toward his navel... and below. She flushed and brought her eyes back up to his. "Mr. Shepherd,” her voice cracked, “what is going on?"

"I am not 'Mr. Shepherd' Honor. I am just Gabriel. Please. Say it."

"Gabriel." The name felt strange and sweet on her lips, but it felt weird to call him by his first name. He was her teacher! At the same time, it hadn’t escaped her notice that he kept shortening her name to ‘Honor’.

As if he read her mind, he stroked her hair out of her face. "I was never really here to be a teacher Honorera. I was looking for you... I guessed your age, and I thought high school was the most likely place to find you. I needed to search for you without being obvious and suspicious."

Her brow wrinkled in confusion. "But... why?"

"Don't you feel? When I touch you, don't you feel the sparks? When I'm near you, can't you smell my scent?"

He sounded kind of desperate. Yes, she could smell him. She always smelled him, like warm, melted caramel. It gave her the ridiculous urge to lick his skin, to see if he tasted as good as he smelled. And she felt the sparks... but she didn't understand it. Not to mention he was in her dreams, even before she met him... what had he said in the dream? Soul mates?

He touched her un-injured cheek, his eyes flashing with anger and regret. "I'm so sorry, I let you get hurt. I did not come fast enough."

"But you did... you saved me." she gulped, "Tanner was going to kill me." Suddenly she narrowed her eyes at him. "It was you, wasn't it? You were the stray dog in the woods?"

Gabriel laughed, "Stray dog? I am insulted! Wolf, Honorera, that is my wolf form."

"Your what??" She shook her head... she heard him... she knew it... the dog in the woods had the same silver-grey eyes... but she didn't understand it. How could a man be a wolf? That kind of fantasy was for Hollywood, and paperback novels, right?

"I'm a shifter, Honorera. A werewolf. Didn't anyone ever tell you? Your uncle?"

"My uncle? What would he know about it?"

"He's a shifter too. And your mother."

"Nooo. How could Tanner be..." she shook her head. She'd never seen him do anything but drink too much and go to work at the quarry. "He's afraid of the woods. How could a wolf be afraid of the forest?"

"Honor... there is a lot going on here that I don't fully understand yet."

"But if my mother was..., what am I? I have never changed into anything. Am I broken?" She asked, wide-eyed.

"No, my dear, you are most certainly not broken. Sometimes it happens like that.” He looked at her intently. "Do you remember anything from your childhood? Do you remember your mother?"

"No." she shook her head. "I don't remember anything from before Tanner. And he never really told me anything... just that my mother tricked him into keeping me. That she brought me one night, told him she would be back for me... and she never came back. He said she didn't want me, so she dumped me on him."

"I don't believe that." Gabriel shook his head firmly, "Honorera, you've been fed a lot of lies, your whole life. You've been told that you are stupid and ugly and worthless... but you're not. You are exceptional. You are beautiful. You are brilliant. And you are special."

His words were like sweet honey to her battered heart, but before she could soak them in, her head was denying it. Not her, not Honorera. She was nothing special. She was nothing at all.

"Honorera, you are my mate. Please accept me."

Her eyes widened. He had said the same words in the dream, just before he kissed her. Her eyes went to his lips, and her cheeks flushed red from the memory.

"But... I don't even know you." She argued. That was the truth, that was the reasonable and practical argument, but deep inside she just wanted to throw herself at him and say, ‘Yes! yes! I'm yours! Whatever that means!’ She bit down on her tongue to stop the words from escaping.

She sat up in bed and looked down at the unfamiliar nightgown. She had a sinking suspicion that Gabriel Shepherd had changed her clothes. And if he’d seen her naked, he had also seen all of her ugly scars. She bowed her head self-consciously.

Gabriel sat up too and touched her shoulder, as though he couldn’t stop himself, like he just needed to feel her skin, and to feel the reassuring tingle that ran from his fingers straight to his heart. "How are you feeling?"

She winced. "Everything hurts... and I'm hungry."

Levering himself out of bed, he strode to his medical kit that was still open on the table. He pulled out some ibuprofen and offered her two rust-colored pills. She swallowed them obediently while her eyes followed his movements around the room. Even in his human form, he moved like an animal, she realized. He was so graceful, powerful, and controlled. His body was so perfect. She was almost disappointed when he pulled clothes on, covering up that beautiful physique.

"I'm going to go out and get some food for us. Just relax and try to rest. Do not open the door for anyone."

She nodded and lay back against the pillow again. He pulled the covers over her as though she were a child. He looked down at her strangely, like he was looking at a rare treasure, and then he grabbed his wallet and keys and locked her in the cottage.