Fated

Koal stared down at the papers on his desk. No matter what he did he just couldn’t concentrate. Once again he was plagued with the same dream, it was becoming more and more frequent. It never failed, every time the dream visited him he was bombarded with the smell of fresh baked apple pie. He remembered his father telling him about this phenomenon when he was a boy.

~“You are fated one true mate in your life son, but unfortunately it doesn‘t happen very often anymore. When the time is right and the fates feel you are ready you will begin to have visions, or dreams. They will get stronger and more frequent the older you get. Many do not find the one they are meant to be with and the dreams will just stop. I was lucky to have found your mother, even though we never had the dreams. I was blessed with you boys before she passed. I just hope you are lucky enough to have the fates bless you with your true mate and that you are able to find her.”~

A sense of emptiness filled him. He was running out of time and would no longer be able to search for the one that gave him these dreams. The thought of not spending his life with his fated mate was sobering. The humans took so much from his kind and the others. Destruction was all they knew. He wished they could return to the time when the humans were ignorant to their kind.

He wouldn’t have been able to search as far as he had if it weren’t for his brother helping. Rocky was good to him. He definitely has put up with more than any brother should, but Rocky never gave up on him or his search.

The sound of a ringing phone pulled him from his thoughts. Looking down at his phone he answered and held it to his ear. “Please tell me you have good news.”

“Don’t stress brother. I talked to her last night and she seems to like the idea of getting away from the city. I told her I needed to have an answer by noon because I plan on heading out.”

Koal tensed. “What if she doesn’t show? She is the only one either of us have been able to find that would seem willing to leave.” Running a hand down his face he sighed, “I’m running out of time. I just wish…” he trailed off.

“I know brother. Are you still dreaming of her? Any clues to who she is?” Rocky asked, concerned for his brother. “If only we knew what she looked like. It would help us track her better.”

“I told you, I can never see her clearly. Last night’s was intense, but something happened. I’m not sure what it was but fear poured out of her before I woke from it.”

“Well, with any luck I’ll be home in two days, hopefully with some company.”

Koal ended the call and headed outside. He needed to stretch his leg and go for a run. Time wasn’t on his side. Two years was all they were given to secure a mate and breed. It was ridiculous but was a new law put into place by the Council of Elders. He would have to step down as leader if he couldn’t fulfill his duty. He had to prove he was capable of procreating with his mate in the hope that a female child would be born. He laughed, who were the Elders kidding? The last female to be born was before the war, over five hundred years ago.

*******

Cherish knocked on the glass window of Rocky’s truck, a large pack over her shoulder and a smaller one in her hands. It was way past noon and she had promised him an answer hours ago. Her mother on the other hand had other plans.

First thing this morning she walked into Cherish’s room with a dress maker on her heels. She spent a good portion of the morning going through wedding gown samples and having her measurements taken. That was immediately followed by her mother informing her that William wanted her to quit school when they married, this way they could start a family right away.

That had been the last straw.

Yelling for her mother to quiet down, Cherish asked about her biological parents, and let it be known that she knew of the falsified adoption paperwork. What she then learned, shocked her.

Her biological parents had been carefully selected and brought together in the hopes that they would conceive a female child. For reasons unknown. Around the time her mother was to give birth, she fled. Finding herself on the doorstep of a very wealthy prominent family, she gave birth and ran again leaving her daughter behind. A note explaining why laid on her infant.

Cherish grinned at Rocky as she climbed into the passenger seat. She was excited for this adventure. She was armed with a new found freedom, a letter from her birthmother and something else that kept a smile on her face.

She was a twin.

Cherish kept up constant chatter about her life growing up. She was very comfortable and at ease with Rocky. He was like the brother she never had and always wanted. When he saw the size of the her bags on her back his face had lit up.

“So, am I invited to this wedding of yours?” he teased.

Cherish threw her empty water bottle at him and stuck out her tongue. “I told you, as far as I’m concerned there wont be any wedding. William might not know that yet but I am sure that he and my parents will figure that out, once they realize that I’m missing.”

“That they will,” he winked “Thankfully only a very small handful of people know their way in and out of that place.”

Cherish nodded. After she met up with him, Rocky had followed a series of twisting tunnels underneath the city before emerging on the other side. Breathtakingly beautiful was the only thing replaying in her head. There was open space as far as the eye could see.

“Everything is so green,” she said into the window.

The few manicured lawns and small parks were the extent of the open space where she grew up. Buildings dominated everything. Maybe it was different in other parts of the city, but she never imagined anything could look like this.

“I grew up being taught that things out here were nothing but wastelands.” She glanced at Rocky, shocked at the scowl on his face.

“At one time, many years ago it was. Nature has finally reclaimed everything that you see. There are other things that are still fighting a never ending battle though.” Gripping the wheel he smiled at her, “You might as well get some sleep. We wont get to where we are going until the morning.”

Cherish nodded and leaned her head over, allowing the low humming of the truck put her to sleep.

~~Songbirds added to the peaceful tranquility that surrounded her. She laid back, listening to the light lapping of water from the nearby lake. The sky was bright, with not a cloud in the sky. Cherish glanced to the wood line, her heart rate increasing and butterflies began dancing in her stomach.

A lone figure strode towards her, his movements dominate and graceful. He stopped in front of her, his tall broad frame shielding her from the sun. His features shadowed. He knelt down and leaned over her, nuzzling his nose against her neck and inhaling deeply, he groaned.

Running his fingertips up her arms her trailed them to the nape of her neck, “Let me make you mine.”

The warmth of his breath against her skin sent chills throughout her body.

“Yes, anything,” she let out on a breathy whisper. “Just please, hurry and find me.”~~

The sudden rocking of the truck made her grumble before opening her eyes. Once again her dream was cut short.

“Whatever you were dreaming about, hand some of it over. Those little noises you were making…” Rocky laughed when she shot him a murderous look.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but how about you pay a little more attention to where you are going and a little less on me when I’m sleeping,” Cherish snapped.

She had the dream again, and once again she was woken before she could see the strangers face. It never failed, her cheek still tingled from his light breath against her face. She could still feel his fingers on her skin. The dominate way he walked towards her had her stomach doing flips. He had been invading her dreams for the past eight years.

The past few years though the dream man became friendlier but this was the first time his closeness seemed so intimate. He first appeared when her family placed her into the public school. She was excited to make friends, only to return home crying from the teasing from the other children. That night he came to her. She inhaled and could still smell the fresh woodsy masculine scent that was him, lingering in her nose.