My God, I've found her. The words reverberated around in Gabriel’s head. For a moment the rest of the classroom full of angsty teenagers disappeared, and it was just the two of them.
She stared up at him like a wild animal caught in a hunter's trap, her big brown eyes wide and confused. For a moment her hair fell away, and he finally, FINALLY saw her face. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with high cheekbones, and brown eyes that tipped down a bit at the corners, making her look a little sad. Her honey-colored skin was marred by an ugly bruise across her cheek. The sight of that bruise made rage rise instantly in his throat. Whoever hurt her was going to die.
She pulled away first, breaking eye contact and going back to hiding behind the curtain of her hair. Gabriel had to remind himself that he was in a classroom full of gawking kids, and he had to keep playing the teacher. Go slow, his mother’s voice reminded him in his head.
It took all of his self-control to walk away, play it cool and continue teaching the lesson. His heart was racing under that hateful tie and his muscles felt twitchy. She had a name, and she had a face... and judging by the confusion in her expression, she knew nothing. He could already sense that she had no wolf behind those haunted eyes. She had no idea what bonded them together. As soon as the bell rang, she sprinted for the door. By the goddess, she was stealthy and fast, he thought.
He trudged through the rest of the workday, but he kept watching for her, any glimpse he could get of her in the halls, or in the cafeteria at lunchtime, but she had disappeared into the halls of the school.
After he finished his classes, he took out his personal computer and hacked into the school's archaic record system. They really should update their security protocols, he thought grimly as he typed in her name and accessed her files. There she was. Honorera Ann Talbot. Such an odd, old-fashioned name. Her 18th birthday had indeed been August 17th. If he remembered back, it was the very night he had first dreamed of her shadowy figure in the woods.
Her academic records were impressive. She was a straight-A student, across the board, in every subject. She was taking the most difficult courses the high school offered and had already earned several credits toward college. Her attendance was a little sporadic, and he saw that last year she'd been issued a warning that if she continued to be absent, she would not receive credit for the classes she was enrolled in.
There was also a red flag on her file stating that "Honorera Talbot is a troubled and difficult child with poor social skills." Gabriel frowned darkly at that, and wondered who had flagged her file, and why? As he studied her schedule, he saw she favored art classes and seemed to have taken every art class that was offered. He memorized her schedule so that he would know where she was at every moment of the day.
Her health history was completely blank. There was no record of her last physical, or any physical for that matter, and no immunization record. That was a bit puzzling, as that was government mandated for public schools. He scrolled down to her personal information. There was nothing listed under parental contacts. No father, no mother. There was a guardian listed as an uncle: Tanner Talbot, and an address on Logging Road C. Gabriel jotted down the address, and the telephone number, and then logged out of the school system.
He used a satellite map to pinpoint her address and found that it was far up on the mountain, in a very remote area. Logging Road C was, as the name suggested, merely a defunct dirt logging road that wasn't maintained by the state. The satellite imagery revealed what looked to be an old trailer tucked away in a small clearing near the end of the road, miles from any other houses.
It took all of the self-restraint he could muster to just relax and observe her over the next several days. She seemed shy and fearful, avoiding other students and even the teachers. She darted in and out of her classes, sat in the back corners, and kept her face covered with her gray hoodie and her long dark hair. She wore shapeless, baggy clothes that were old and worn but always clean. She always completed her homework and was well ahead of the teachers' assignments. She usually took her lunch period in the library. She didn’t eat but spent the time on the computers typing up her papers or simply reading in a back corner. The librarian seemed to be quite fond of her, and sometimes they exchanged a few quiet words.
So it wasn't that the girl couldn't talk, she just chose not to.
Now that he'd seen her, now that he had made eye contact with her, the bond had become quite strong, and his nightly dreams had become more detailed, more intense. His mate now had a face, the shadowy figure had a form. Sometimes she seemed vaguely aware of him, she would look up and search the trees in his direction, as if she sensed him, but could not see him. Once he heard her singing, something sweet and enchanting. Her voice was so melodic, it drew him like a siren, but still, he could never quite reach her in the dream. Either she faded away in the darkness, or she ran away.
Was she running from him, or was there something else in the dream forest that scared her? Who was this girl?
He called in a favor from a friend of his at work and asked for information on Tanner Talbot. It took only hours for the email to arrive. As soon as it hit his inbox, his friend called him on his cellphone. "He's nobody special," his friend had informed him, "a rogue that’s been living alone in a rural place. Works at a quarry."
"Why did he go rogue?"
"Seems the pack kicked him out for being drunk and disorderly and being unwilling to seek treatment. Lost his shit after his mate died. You know how it happens. It's in the report bro."
"Alright, thanks man, I owe you one."
"Of course, you do. Stay safe."
Gabriel opened the email and read through the file, but as his friend had said, Talbot was nobody of particular importance. There was no reference to Honorera in the file, however, and that seemed strange. Shouldn't there be some sort of legal guardianship documentation? He did have a younger sister named Rachel Tabot. Was that Honorera's mother? Her whereabouts were unknown.
He sighed in frustration and closed the laptop with more force than necessary. He had the feeling that there was something more here than met the eye.
