Territory - Prequel (8 page)

Chapter 7

The next day
was spent
consistently confirming to her mother that she wasn’t ill or injured. 

“For the hundredth time ma, I’m fine.”

“Healthy people don’t just faint for no apparent reason Chloe. It’s not normal.  You’re sure you won’t go see a doctor, if even just to appease your mother?”

“It’s been a long stressful we
e
k mom.  I forgot to eat after my run and I haven’t been sleeping.  Please just give me a few days to get back into a routine and if anything like that happens again, I swear I’ll go get checked out.”

Bea eyed her daughter doubtfully
and huffed in obvious displeasure,
“Well, if that’s as good as
I’m
gonna get I’ll have to take it.”

By
that evening
, Chloe couldn’t stand to be holed up any longer.  She threw on her tennis shoes and snagged the grocery list from where it hung by a magnet on the fridge.  “Ma, I’m heading to the grocery store.”

Bea was settled in front of the TV.  Some
sitcom
was blaring, but Bea wasn’t watching it as she knitted a long woolen scarf.  “But we went yesterday,” she protested.

“Yeah, but you only got enough stuff for dinner when we had to rush out.  I’ll just go grab the rest of the items on your list.”

Bea set down her knitting and hooked her pointer finger through the
wire bridge of her glasses to tug them lower as she dropped her head and peered over the lenses at her daughter.  “Maybe I should come with you.”

“No ma, I’ll be right in and right out.” Chloe snatched her jacket off the hook and hung it over one arm.

“What if something happens?”
             
Chloe rolled her eyes, “Like what?  I drop a jar of pickles?  Clean up on aisle seven.”

The joke was lost on her mother, “What if you have another spell and
neither Dell nor
I are there to save you?”

Chloe gritted her teeth at the mere mention of his name.  She hated how her mother used it so casually in a sentence, like he was part of the family or something.  “He didn’t save me mom.
”  She jerked open the front door, talking rapidly as she went to keep her mother from cutting in, “Look, I’ll be back in twenty-minutes.  If I’m going to take longer I’ll call.  Plus I’ve eaten today and slept well last night so I should be fine.”  The lies rolled off her tongue smoothly as she stepped out the door and closed it behind her.

Christ!  What’s a girl gotta do to get some shopping done?
  Honestly, the shopping wasn’t her
true agenda.  She simply couldn’t bear to be in the house any longer.  She felt useless just sitting around sulking in her misery.  It was even more offensive because she couldn’t stop thinking about her encounter with Dell. 

At the grocery store, she winced as she strode past the area where she’d fainted the day before.  Images of herself being carried across the parking lot in Dell’s arms instantly flooded her even as she tried to force them back. 

Inside s
he grabbed a cart and pulled the
grocery
list out of her purse.  She’d made the list herself upon her arrival at her mothers.  Her mom had a terrible habit of buying
groceries as she needed them rather than stocking up all at once. 

Halfway through her shopping, she stopped in the frozen food section.  She grabbed a box of frozen waffles and a bag of pre-formed dinner rolls when something had her bristling.  Despite the cool temperature of the freezer she stood in, her elbow propping open the door, she
was suddenly flooded by a familiar warmth.  It was the same warmth that had consumed her the day before.  Panic struck,
Oh God, don’t do this again.  Not now
!
S
he turned to eye the aisle. 
Not here!
  When she turned she tensed.  Her escalated breathing fogged the chilled glass of the freezer door. 
Did I just see what I think I saw?”
  She lifted a hand and swiped it
slowly
down the glass
clearing the foggy glass
to reveal Dell standing at the end of the aisle staring directly at her.

Fuck!
  She stepped back, letting the door slam closed as she gripped her cart and steered it in the opposite direction.  She kept her eyes down, hoping he hadn’t noticed that she’d seen him.

When she cleared the aisle, her arms were literally shaking.  She took deep breaths trying to calm herself as she skipped four aisles, opting to put some distance between herself and Dell. 

Clearly they’d both not gotten any shopping done yesterday and had decided to finish it up today. 
Great! 
She considered leaving and coming back tomorrow, but knew it would heighten her mother’s suspicion so much that she’d be forced to confess to a second encounter with Dell. 
I am not doing that!
 

Deciding to stand her ground and just ignore him if she saw him again, Chl
oe cruised down the aisle at a
supermarket sweeper’s pace.  She snatched a jar of peanut butter as she quickly passed by.  She didn’t stop to peruse brands or debate on chunky or smooth, she simply grabbed the first jar she saw and kept on walking. 

She finished three aisle
s in this manner.  In the fourth, she grabbed a jar of cherries and froze as the warm sensation swept over her again.  She looked up and was relieved to find the aisle in front of her empty. 

“How are
you
?”

Dell’s voice beh
ind her had her tensing.

She didn’t answer at first, but
turned
to find him towering directly behind her. 
“
W
hat do you want?”  She watched as his dreamy amber eyes slid up and down her frame, making her suddenly self-conscious abou
t her attire.  She hadn’t intend
ed on leaving the house
that day
so she’d
dressed comfortably that morning in
a pair of old, form fitting jeans that were ripped high on each thigh.  Her
white t-shirt was just as old, and the way it stretched too tight across her breasts was a testament to her smaller size of yesteryear.  The only thing that was even close to suitable for a day out were the new white tennis shoes that shone too
bright
ly on her small feet. 
She
fidgeted uncomfortably and turned away from Dell when his gaze lingered a fraction too long on her breasts.  “Good bye Dell.”

“Wait.”

Chloe looked back just in time to see him reach for her.  She jumped back and in doing so dropped the jar of cherries she held
,
sending a loud crash reverberating through the aisle.  Her eyes were large as she
scowled up at him, “Don’t touch me!”

A store employee arrived in the aisle just as Chloe said the words.  The employee was large, and thick, reminding her of one of the wise-guys she’d seen on
a
TV show about the mob.
  He wasn’t close to being as large and muscular as Dell, but he didn’t seem deterred.

The employee
stopped and eyed Chloe then focused on Dell.  “You alright lady?  This guy bothering you?”

“I’m fine,” Chloe kept her scowl on Dell,
“h
e was just leaving.”

Dell tore his eyes from Chloe and didn’t even look at the employee as he turned
in
the opposite direction and st
ormed
angrily down the aisle.

Chloe watched Dell stalk away.  Even with his jacket on, she could see the muscles of his back and arms bunch.  Her belly fluttered. 
Why does he have this e
ffect on me?
  She’d forgotten all about the store employee until he crossed in front of her and dropped to a knee to start picking up the larger chunks of broken glass.

“I’m sorry, it just slipped.”

“That’s alright,” the employee kept his head down.  “Happens all the time.”

She left the employee in the aisle and finished the rest of her
shopping;
stopping only to call her
mother and say she’d be slightly longer than the promised twenty-minutes.  The call ended up lasting much longer than Chloe had hoped when her mother instantly assumed she’d had another spell.  After five minutes, Chloe was successful in convin
cing her mother that she was fine
, just taking a little longer
than she’d anticipated
.  She’d been tempted to tell her mother that she’d run into Dell, but decided against it in the end.  She knew her mother couldn’t possibl
y
like the Blackbird’s after what they’d done to Donnie.  Why her mother felt the need to pretend in front of her, she had no idea, but she knew in her mother’s heart, just as in
her own, hatred for the Blackbird’s would live eternally. 

After the call, she checked out and pushed the cart to her car. 
The parking lot was dark when she finally
popped the trunk with the remote on her key chain and began transferring her groceries
.
W
hen she
heard footsteps approaching, s
he assumed it was another shopper until Dell’s voice had her
turning quickly
.

“Chloe, we need to talk.”
             
“What are you doing?” she scanned the parking lot, hoping to find other shoppers near-by.  There
were none and p
anic flared
to life
.  “Are you following me?”

Dell’s dark brows pinched, “No.
  If you have a minute I’d like to talk to you.”

She
turned back to her task and
work
ed faster moving her groceries. 
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Chloe we need to talk, there’s something happening and I…”

“Wait,” she finished moving her groceries and slammed her trunk closed.  “I do have something to say to you.”  She jerked the keys from her purse
and stared at him.
“Stay away from me.” 
She watched as his expression darkened. 
His typically amber eyes now nearly black
, sparked with fury
.  He looked dangerous and she knew she should have been afraid, but once again
,
she only felt safe and protected in his presence
, and she hated
admitting to
the feeling.  She didn’t want to feel this way for him. 
God, anyone but him!

“We will talk Chloe.  Maybe not tonight, but our confrontation
is
coming.”

She gasped and stepped back, “Is that a threat?”

“No,” he responded.  “I am no threat to you Chloe.”

She eyed him, letting her eyes rove his features, wishing to God she could see the truth of his words.  Instead, she turned from him
,
got in her car
, and drove away.  She w
atch
ed
in the rearview mirror as he disappeared from sight.

***

Dell
stood alone in the parking lo
t cursing himself as he watch the rear lights of Chloe’s car slowly dim from sight. 
Our confrontation is coming!
He admonished himself.  It did sound like a threat. 
What in the hell was I thinking?
 

For some reason his logic seemed to fly out the window when he was around her.  He couldn’t explain it and
it certainly wasn’t his typical behavior.  He wondered if his elevated Alpha status wasn’t hav
ing
some adverse effect on his brain. 

She’d asked if he’d been following her, and he’d denied it but that had been a lie.  H
e had been following her.  He’d been outside her house all day, circling it to spy on her from whatever window gave him the best vantage point.  When she’d taken out the trash earlier, he’d considered approaching her, but knew he’d have no way of explaining his presence.  Finally
,
when she’d gotten in her car, he’d shifted and followed her to the marke
t
. 

He’d run through the town in his wolf form, which was asinine. 
He’d have killed any member of his pack that had done anything so foolish. 
If anyone called the authorities, he could’ve been shot. 
It was an incredibly stupid move, but one he couldn’t prevent himself from making.  He had to follow her, needed to talk to her, hoped to touch her.  Instead, he’d outright threatened her. 

After he’d made the mistake he’d expected to scent her fear.  He hadn’t, but he had scented something else, something new.  He’d been around her enough to know her scent.  Hell, it was all he ever thought about, but it had been different this time, only slightly, not enough that any other shifter would have noticed, but he had.
  His lips quirked, it had been female interest.  It was often emitted by the females of his kind when they wanted to be pursued.