Chapter 1
Jolting awake from yet another night terror for the third time tonight, Cheyenne calmed herself, realizing she was back in her small apartment.
Cheyenne sighed.
Her night terrors seemed to be getting more frequent and more intense. She was almost scared to sleep. Almost.
Peering at the digital clock on her mahogany nightstand, it read 6:32am in bright red.
She had a little more than two hours to get ready. She had time to sleep if she wanted to, but decided she'd get up and shower.
Cheyenne pushed her tired body out of her bed and made her way across the small hall to the bathroom, where she threw off her boy short panties since that's all she ever sleeps in.
Turning the water to hot and waiting for it to warm, she brushed her teeth and stared at herself in the mirror.
Her long dark chocolate dreaded hair was still in its gray silk scarf as the locs themselves fell to the middle of her back. Her tawny beige skin is sensitive to the touch, more than anyone knew. Her eyes were a deep mint green color and rimmed with chocolate brown.
She spat the minted paste into the sink and rinsed her mouth out. Tearing off the silk scarf, she pulled all her locs into a high ponytail, which was a lot more work than it sounded, trying to make sure each dread was secured into the ponytail tired her arms out. When she finally did get the knotted hair up, her arms fell to her sides. After relaxing a minute, she hopped up and jumped in the shower.
Normally, she'd flinch at the sudden hot temperature of the water but this morning she needed the warmth
She stood under the scorching water as it ran over her tired aching muscles, waking them.
She hummed an approval as the steamy rivulets cascaded down her body like a mini waterfall.
After she lathered her gray wash cloth, she washed her body with the sweet berry scented body wash then rinsed off and got out of the shower.
Stopping in front of the foggy mirror, she wiped it off, seeing that her tawny skin is now blotched red.
“Maybe that shower was a little too hot.” She sighed.
She took her locked hair out of its ponytail and instead spent at least thirty minutes pulling it into a bun on top of her head.
She looked at herself one more time in the mirror, pleased with her handy work and left the bathroom.
Cheyenne never really dried off, seeing that rubbing the skin dry made it even more ashy. She air dried as she made herself some grits and eggs. Once she finished making the breakfast, she turned on the tv to the news channel and ate the bowl of mixed grits and eggs.
The news was the same. The president making crude comments, fires, people being sent to jail for sexual harassment. She was starting to get tired of hearing it.
She finished her bowl of breakfast and by then she was mostly dry, dry enough to put on some clothes and start her way to work.
She threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt, remembering her scrubs were at the vet clinic.
Cheyenne took one last look at herself in the mirror, pleased with her appearance and grabbed her car keys and left her apartment, locking it behind her.
Cheyenne walked into the vet clinic where she’s been working for a little over five months.
“Morning Greta.”Cheyenne greeted the old lady at the front desk.
“Good morning, dear.”Greta smiled at her.
Greta always had her graying hair in an elegant bun and her glasses at the tip of her nose.
“Did you have a good night?”Greta asked.
Greta knew about her night terrors and always made sure Cheyenne was okay. Greta was the only thing close to family that Cheyenne had. She was like a grandma, aunt and mom all rolled into one.
“Just a little spook last night, but I’ll be alright. Thank you.”
Greta nodded as Cheyenne made her way to the back, changing into her scrubs and taking in her first appointment. A little corgi named Laila for a yearly check up.
“Anything out of the ordinary? Anything concerning?”Cheyenne asked Maya, Laila’s owner.
“Oh, um, not really. She’s been eating more but other than that she’s been normal.”Maya said.
Cheyenne raised an eyebrow.
“How much more?”
“A bowl or two more.”
“I see.”Cheyenne said, thinking.
“Is that concerning? What does that mean? Is something wrong?”
“Laila gained weight. Maybe change her diet to another dog food. Other than that she’s fine.”
Maya nodded smiling.
Cheyenne gave Laila a treat for being so cooperative and with a recommendation for a new dog food, Maya and Laila were on their way.
The whole day went like this. Animals of all kinds coming on for check ups, shots, or in one birds’ case, a cast. But it was nothing Cheyenne couldn’t handle.
Cheyenne was in her assigned clinic room when Greta walked in.
“Hello, Dear...”Greta smiled softly, as she came in.
“Hey, Greta. What can I do for you?”
It was quiet for a moment before Greta finally answered.
“Did you want to talk about it?”
Cheyenne looked at her confused before she realized what Greta was asking.
“O-oh, goodness, no. I don’t want to burden you with my troubles.”
“Yes, but it helps to talk about it. It’s been months since you’ve last said a word about your—situation—and I want to help if I can.” Greta insisted.
Cheyenne was never really great with expressing herself and when she did, people felt the need to get close and hug her, rub her arms or back and she hated it.
She hated being touched like she couldn’t handle herself. She hated being touched period. Her skin against someone else’s made her stomach turn and her body shiver. Especially, when the other person touching had nubby finger tips and their fingers were moist and cold or clammy and hot. She couldn’t stand it and shuddered at the thought.
“Really, Greta. I’m fine. If something comes up, you’ll be the first person I tell. I promise.”
Greta sighed but nodded nonetheless.
“Well, you know where to find me.”
Cheyenne nodded, relieved that the stubborn old woman finally let it go.
“I’m off, then. Stacy and James are both here with you for the night shift. Anything goes wrong, you know what to do.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
Without another word, Greta left the small clinic room and Cheyenne sat in the chair at her computer desk, looking through files and adding in new information.
Not even a whole ten minutes after Greta left she jolted at the sound of thumping in the next room and frowned when broken moans rang through the silence.
“Gross...”She grumbled.
James and Stacy had been together for as long as she could remember but doing that in an office area was so unprofessional.
The moans got louder and more disgusting and Cheyenne couldn’t take it. She left her clinic office and went to the front desk, deciding to work there instead.
She could still hear them but it wasn’t as bad as being in the literal next room.
Pulling up the files, she finish putting any more confidential medical records for each animal that saw her today.
Cheyenne tried to keep busy since she was going to be here until the next morning, she kept finding things to do, whether it was cleaning or filing.
She was in the back room, organizing the medications as she thought more about her night terrors. She thought about how frequent they’ve become each night. She was startled awake three times in the last night alone. It terrified her that her brain still showed her images of the assault from years ago that has left residue on her life forever.
Her thoughts were cut short when she was startled for the forth time today as a loud deep voice yelled for help after slamming the door open.
“Is anyone here?!!”
Cheyenne hesitated a moment, trying to relax the banging heart in her chest.
She dropped what she was doing and rushed around the corner to see two men, two unnaturally gorgeous men.
One had deep brown skin, his dark chocolate hair fell at his shoulders and his eyes a vibrant brown.
The other had brown skin, a bit lighter than the other and his chocolate hair was in a sloppy bun at the back of his head. His eyes were a deeper brown.
Cheyenne was staring, and she knew she was staring, but she couldn’t look away.
“Ma’am!”
Cheyenne shook the inappropriate thoughts out of her head and focused.
“Y-yes! What seems to be the problem.”
“Our dog! He’s been shot.”
It was then Cheyenne realized they were both holding a huge wolf at both ends. The beautiful gray fur was stained red from its own wound.
“Bring it to the back.”Cheyenne said, urgently.
She rushed to the back where her clinic office was as the men followed.
Once in the clinic room, Cheyenne was all over the place to get what was needed to dig the bullets out.
“Put it on the table right there.”She said as she set everything down on the tray.
The men eased their ‘dog’ on top of the operation table.
Cheyenne filled a needle with morphine, ready to inject the wolf with it but was stopped short when the man with shoulder length hair grabbed her arm.
Cheyenne flinched away from the grip with terror written on her face. Both men noticed the look leave just as quickly as it came.
They shook it off, focusing on the problem at hand.
“What are you doing?!”
“Sedating him, I can’t preform an operation like this with him wide awake.”
“No, he’ll be fine without it. Just pull the bullets out!”
“Sir, I can’t do that without sedating him!”
“Please! He’s dying, he can’t feel anything anyway, just get the bullets out!”
Cheyenne frowned at this but gave in nonetheless. She knew arguing about it will only cause more pain to the wolf.
It was then she realized the wolf was staring up at her. Just staring at her. She couldn’t quite figure out what it was behind those brown eyes, so she brushed it off as fear. Shock maybe, from being shot.
“Does he have a name?”Cheyenne asked.
“Skylar, we call him Sky for short.”The man with his hair in a bun said.
She could hear the urgency in his voice to get these bullets out so that’s what she did.
Cheyenne has preformed many surgeries in the past so digging out a couple of bullets wasn’t that bad though it was difficult since Skylar kept flinching away from her.
“That’s the last one.” Cheyenne smiled at her handy work.
Cheyenne smiles down at Skylar and pet his fur gently. Skylar licked her hand and nuzzled against her.
“Awe, come on, let’s patch you up.”
She turned her back to grab the gauze to wrap the wounds but the minute she turned back, the wounds were gone.
“What the–“
“Thank you so much, ma’am.”
Both men started making their way to Skylar and picked him up off the table.
“Whoa, wait a minute!”
Both men looked back at Cheyenne as the wolf whined. Skylar was practically thrashing against them to get to her.
“Sky! Knock it off!” The shoulder length haired man boomed, almost scaring Cheyenne.
Skylar stopped moving instantly but still held Cheyenne’s gaze. She was mesmerized by those hazel eyes. She could get lost in them for days on end.
“Thank you again. For helping us.”
Cheyenne snapped her gaze back at the men and nodded smiling.
“Of course, I’d do anything for animals. Wolves are my favorite.”
Both men looked at each other and back at Cheyenne.
“Uh, wolf? No, no. This is a dog.”
Cheyenne looked at them, confusion written all over her face.
“With all do respect, sir. As a vet I think I’d know the difference between a domesticated animal and a wild one. You’re holding a wolf.”
It was an intense silence between the three of them. It made Cheyenne a bit uncomfortable and she wanted nothing more than to crawl under a rock and hide.
“We know he’s a wolf but we were afraid that if you knew, you’d take him from us.”The man with his hair in a bun said.
“Take him from you? I would never do anything as harsh as ripping a loved family member from a family. “Cheyenne said.
The man with his hair in a bun smiled gently.
“Thank you again. We must go.”
Cheyenne nodded leading them back out to the waiting area.
“Be safe and watch for bullets.”
Both men cracked a smirk as Cheyenne rubbed through Skylar’s fur one more time.
“Especially you.”Cheyenne smiled.
Skylar licked her face and nuzzled her once more.
“Bye.”
“Thanks again.”
Cheyenne smiled and they left, carrying Skylar carefully back to their truck and Cheyenne watched them drive into the dark.
“That was way too close.”Aaron sighed as he drove along the winding roads.
“Skylar what the hell were you thinking! Thrashing at me like that!”
Skylar had shifted back into his human form and sat in the back seat in all his naked glory.
“It was already a risk bringing him out here, we knew the minute those bullets were removed, he’d heal.” Aaron said.
“It doesn’t matter that she knows.” Skylar’s deep voice sounded.
“What are you talking about?”Chaskai growled.
“That woman is my mate.”
Aaron and Chaskai both looked at Skylar, astonished.
“What?! Seriously? Are you sure?”Aaron asked.
“I’ve never been as sure about anything in my life.“
Skylar leaned up to the front of the car so Chaskai and Aaron knew how serious he was.
“I need to see her again.”
