Lost & Found (A Lost Ones Novel Book 1)

by Khristine Stain

“No.”

  “You don’t want to see this. Just go in the building where it’s safe. I’ll find you.”

  Koda sounded more human but Dae still wasn’t leaving him. He hadn’t stopped hitting the beady-eyed grease man. She had the feeling that if she left, her attacker would be no more. As much as the idea appealed to her a second ago, she now knew it was a bad idea. Beady-eyed grease man had something she needed.

  The only reason why she was so irrational before was due to her loss of control. Maybe it was like that for Koda, too. If she could get logic back in the driver’s seat for him, then at least she could get the information she knew beady-eyed grease man held before he bled out.

  “You don’t want to do this.”

  “How do you know that?” Koda questioned as he paused his bloody assault.

  “Because I know this is you separated from your control. I can tell, Koda.”

  How could she tell the difference between the wolf and the man? The way she said his name made him want to howl. He wanted her to say his name over and over again while they did more interesting things. Naked interesting things.

  “How do you know that?” Koda repeated. He felt her moving closer as he kept his eyes trained on the bloody mess of the Cursed he beat into semi-unconsciousness. She placed her hand on his shoulder. He felt the warmth of her through the soccer jersey he wore. It seeped into his skin and touched him inside. And it gave the man his control back.

  His wolf wanted to tell her to let him finish, he wanted to taste blood, but the man understood what she was telling him. He looked into her eyes and saw message. ‘Take control back.’

  Such a big heart she hid, she didn’t even realize how he grew on her already. That she stopped him because she cared for him, even if it was no more than anyone else would care for a friend was miraculous. His mate didn’t have but a single friend, so this small touch gave him hope. He had worried the time they spent separated –well he was always near but she didn’t know that– would have made things worse for him. It seemed it buried him deeper inside her faster than he could have hoped for.

  He needed to keep progressing and soon she would be his. He was readjusting his plans as the Cursed went limp.

  Koda stepped back as she dropped her hand to her side. He was all bloody, but it wasn’t his blood. He started a quick visual assessment of her but the moment he saw blood on her, his wolf took the reins again. He grabbed her close to him, inspecting her hands to see where the Cursed bastard hurt her.

  ’Where? I’ll kill him’ He growled in wolf.

  Stupid, the man thought. She didn’t speak wolf, but he couldn’t speak as a man. His control was fleeting when he thought someone had hurt his mate.

  “Relax, it’s not my blood. And don’t manhandle me, Sasquatch.” She yanked her hands back.

  The man in him slid back in control. It wasn’t her blood. He could breathe again.

  Unfortunately for him, she resumed calling him Sasquatch.

  “I liked when you said my name before. Say my name again.” She looked at him in surprise and almost smiled until her eyes widened and her wall of defense became reinforced.

  “I did say your name. Sasquatch. See? I’ll say it again. Sasquatch. Sasquatch. Sasquatch. Are you satisfied?” Well that was a loaded question if there ever was one. Dae immediately tensed as she realized how that might have sounded to him.

  Koda was about to reply with something really dirty when he heard a car pull up behind them. In less than a heartbeat, he had Dae behind him as the Cursed that attacked his mate leapt into the passenger side of a black Acura. They sped off and with the windows tinted a dark black, he couldn’t see who the driver was. But he didn’t need to. He had the scent. No way could he hide from Koda now.

  Dae pushed him as hard as she could on his back. She was seething because he didn’t budge or even sway. She was not his rag doll! Damn masculinely defined muscles.

  She wanted an excuse to touch again so she kicked him in the back of the knee. Damn him. She was not going to touch him. It made the crazy her even crazier.

  His leg jerked but didn’t collapse. He turned on her with a scowl.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, did I distract you?” Dae rolled her eyes as she started walking towards campus. Koda was in front her face before she could blink.

  “Where are you going?” he growled.

  “To class. Duh.” She tried to move around him but he held her arms.

  “Someone just tried to take you and you’re going to class?”

  “Hey, get your damn hands off me!” She pulled her arms back, crossed them over her chest and glared at him. “Nobody tried to take me. He was just some random loser who wanted to beat me bloody.”

  “So this is normal for you?”

  “Iya said I’m not beloved by all. I guess this is proof she’s right.”

  “Are you trying to tell me this happens all the time? That it’s just another Monday?”

  “This is the quandary of my life.” Dae shrugged and tried to move past him but he kept blocking her way until she glared at his too beautiful face.

  “Do you think I really believe that?” He accused.

  What is this guy’s damage?

  “I don’t give a shit what you believe. I don’t answer to you. You ain’t my father.”

  “Thank the Gods for that, he must have gone insane for having to deal with you for any amount of time!”

  Dae froze, shock evident in her features. He saw the hurt in her eyes before the hate replaced it. She started to stalk him slowly and he warily backed up. He scented her rage and wondered what the hell he said to spark it.

  The golden color of her eyes vanished to the black eyes of the predator inside her. When the animal had control in either form, the pupil in the eye dilated so much the iris disappeared. With pups it preceded an emotional shift.

  With Dae he didn’t know what it meant.

  Dae was different; she was a hybrid and the normal didn’t apply in her case. It could mean anything or it could mean nothing. There was way too much he needed to know and he feared his time to find out may have run out.

  Dae’s jaw clenched and unclenched reflexively. She was seeing red; literally, everything looked like it was filtered with a red lens and things she didn’t notice before stood out in her vision. Koda had a small scar across the bridge of his nose that ended at his eye. She wanted to know about it and why she didn’t notice it before but she was too angry to think clearly.

  Or she was too angry to force herself to think first before reacting. He seemed to illicit that response from her a lot.

  “FUCK YOU!” Dae poked her finger in his hard chest as she yelled through her clenching and unclenching teeth. She was distantly aware that her mouth felt funny… she clenched her jaw tight afraid to unlock it; she might go for his throat.

  She moved slowly back, fighting the urge to pounce on him. Then she turned around and walked toward her class. After about 2 minutes, she realized she threw her messenger bag at the bastard formerly known as stain-on-the-pavement. She turned around to back track to the scene of the crime and saw Koda trailing a few feet behind her.

  She growled her dislike and stomped past him.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He sounded so repentant she wanted to punch him in the face until her hand broke. Sadly, her desire to punch herself in the face was ever stronger. She hated how sensitive she was to the one thing she didn’t have: family. Dae had been in plenty of arguments, fights and bloodbaths. She was always able to argue her point. Until someone made a mention of the family she didn’t have. Gods, she was the one who mentioned it first but the spot was so sore that innocent questions and generalizations often made her into a bloodthirsty monster.

  ‘What do your parents do?’ That was all it took to make her lose control. She didn’t know what her parents did or who they were. All she knew was that they didn’t give a shit. And she hated them for that, sometimes more than she hated the fosters who made her life a livi
ng, heated hell.

  Nine

  “Please, stop. Please, Dae.” Koda snapped Dae out of her thoughts. Koda stood in front of her with his hands up mimicking a gesture of surrender. Had she been attacking him? Crap, being bat-shit crazy was not fun. She was ready to apologize –which she really didn’t want to do. Somehow, her logic told her that he must have deserved the beating she had given him but he spoke before she could.

  “I’m so sorry. I really am.”

  “Ok.” It was good he knew he deserved it. Of course, she didn’t know why he deserved it –or what it was– but as long as he did she figured all was good. She began to walk past him but he moved in her way again. She arched an eyebrow at him.

  “Please, stop and talk to me.” His voiced sounded pained and she couldn’t figure out why.

  “Look I’m really busy. I have to go to…” She looked around and noticed they were no longer on campus. She didn’t have a clue where they were. Some residential area.

  “Where do you have to go? It’s 1 o’clock. I doubt you have any classes now.”

  “It’s 1 o’clock?”

  Dae looked confused as she examined the area and the sky. He’d been wondering what she was thinking about for the past three hours. She didn’t respond to him whatsoever regardless of what he said. She only walked north. She avoided traffic and people. When cars or houses obstructed her way, she maneuvered around them. Only when he placed himself in front of her did she acknowledge his presence and stop. It was as if she was on autopilot. He followed her like he followed her the night she was attacked by the human, and like so many other nights before, only now he realized that she had no purpose for those walks either.

  Somehow, she entered some kind of a trance state. Her eyes looked hollow and devoid of life until he had enough. She didn’t even notice when he walked close to her ‘personal space’. She remained out of touch with most of reality, walking forward to who knew where.

  “Yes, we’ve been walking a long time.”

  “So I didn’t attack you…” She said almost to herself.

  “What? No. Why would you say that?”

  “No reason.” Koda smelled the lie but she continued, “You stayed with me?”

  She asked more confused than incredulous. They were both still bloody. She was surprised nobody called the cops to haul them both off to jail. But she knew better. Somehow, she didn’t think a cop would stop Koda. Maybe it was because she saw him nearly beat the life out of the guy who grabbed her.

  Maybe it was just something she knew.

  “I couldn’t leave you alone after what happened. It’s not safe.”

  She took a deep breath so she could rip him a new asshole but he interrupted her.

  “I meant it’s not safe for me. Your roommate is one scary woman. I am not trying to piss her off.”

  Somehow it was the truth but it was more unbelievable than any lie she ever heard. Iya was sweet as apple pie. Dae chuckled as she mumbled, “Thanks.”

  She wasn’t sure if she was thanking him for walking with her for three hours to keep her safe or for covering it up with an absurd truth. Maybe it was both. She could have been abducted at any time on this walk –highly unlikely but possible– and she could have ripped him an asshole or two because Koda tried to do a good thing. It was nice thing. She turned around in the opposite direction and began walking home.

  “So where are we?” She asked, not recognizing the area as any she’d seen in East Lansing.

  “I think were in Dewitt.”

  Dae gaped at him in horror. “You walked with me all the way to Dewitt?” Dewitt had to be 10 miles distance easy, depending on where they were now.

  “I repeat, your roommate is one scary woman.” Dae’s expression softened and she smiled. It was such a beautiful smile. Koda was completely enamored with her face as he walked by her side. When she smiled, her dimples deepened and her eyes sparkled. Her smile really did light her face up. He missed that during their walk and during their separation. He wasn’t planning on missing it again. He found he could no longer live without it.

  They walked together in silence. She didn’t yell at him or back away from him. It wasn’t uncomfortable; it was nice.

  “So ask me.” Dae said with a hint of resignation.

  “Ask you what?”

  “Ask me what the hell’s wrong with me that I needed to walk to Dewitt for no reason whatsoever.”

  “I don’t think anything’s wrong with you. Maybe you just needed to clear your head.” Koda was making excuses for her. It wasn’t exactly a lie but it wasn’t exactly the truth either.

  “It happens sometimes.”

  “What happens? Your walks?”

  “Yeah. Sometimes things get so out of control that I walk.” She shrugged. “I don’t know why.” She also didn’t know why she was telling him this.

  “People walk to clear their heads all the time. It doesn’t mean anything.” There it was again, not exactly a lie but not the truth.

  “Stop that.”

  “Stop what?”

  “The excuses. I don’t need them. I’m a brutally honest person. I’m also insane, Koda. I don’t know why you want to be around me, but do yourself a favor and find a normal person to be around.”

  Why oh why was she still speaking to him? Why was she warning him? And why was she scared to hear his response to her warning?

  “What are you talking about? And who said I want to be around normal people? I feel sorry for the normal people. Who wants to be a mindless drone? Better to be dead then. I want to live.” Koda paused to look at her with eyes that sucked her in to a brilliant blue abyss. He was telling the truth. Huh.

  Dae couldn’t explain the fluttering in her chest, or why she was happy that he didn’t turn and run away.

  Koda continued, “Maybe I want to be around my own kind.”

  Well that was bordering on a lie. That statement could mean so many things and she wanted to ask him what exactly he meant. Strange. She wasn’t curious about people, ever. For all she cared everyone, except Iya of course, could drop dead tomorrow and she wouldn’t blink. Maybe she would blink now.

  “Some would say that I can sniff out a lie.” She liked that expression especially since, for her, it was the truth. She decided not to elaborate on it further. He’d either know what she meant or not. Most likely not.

  His deep hearty laugh surprised her but she found she enjoyed hearing it. She didn’t think he got the real meaning of her comment but they say a woman was supposed retain some mystery. Or that may have been moxie. It could have been mercy. She wasn’t sure and it really didn’t matter.

  “What should we tell Iya?” he asked, curious if Dae told Iya about her long trance walks or not.

  “If she asks, I guess I’ll tell her I took a walk.”

  “We took a walk.” If Koda put any more emphasis on the ‘we’ she would swear he was French.

  Dae fought to hide her smile. “Technically we took a walk but I didn’t even realize you were with me.”

  “Semantics.” Koda dismissed that as quickly as she would. She couldn’t hide her smile now. He was charming and –charming?

  Before Dae could look into that errant –insane– thought he continued, “What’s important is that we tell Iya the whole truth of what happened before our casual stroll.”

  “What do you mean by that?” You presumptuous bastard.

  “What I mean is that I noticed you only tell Iya what you have to.”

  “That’s not true.” Dae said indignantly.

  “Wow, guess you’re not the only one with a nose for lying.”

  Dae took a deep breath. He was still a bastard, although the fact that he was correct made her even more irritated.

  “Well, it depends on the situation. I don’t tell anybody the whole truth if they don’t need to know it. There’s no point; trivial details are a waste of time to explain once the important facts have been conveyed.”

  “Sort of like how you told Iya
I kidnapped you, knocked you unconscious twice and tied you up?”

  Dae smiled a dazzling smile –a real one– and said, “Are you going to hold that one little incident against me forever?”

  “Depends. Are you going to hold that one little misunderstanding against me forever?”

  “Touché, Monsieur Pussycat.”

  Koda grinned. Classic Tom & Jerry. He wasn’t going to ruin the moment by pointing out he was not a pussy cat.

  “I just think with what happened this might be a time for most of the truth. Not all of it, of course, I know you women like to keep some mystery.” Koda said teasing.

  “So it is mystery… It would sound better with moxie…” Dae mumbled to herself.

  “In your case, I think you might be right.” Koda laughed. He must have heard, dammit, not even her low mumbling was safe from him. He had ears like a damned bat. No one heard her mumbling. Besides Iya and she barely could make it out half the time.

  Dae shrugged. “Just an internal discussion. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about.”

  “So you do think my head is pretty?”

  Dae inhaled sharply. She forgot his ego was as big as the continental Unites States. And Canada. Combined. She was surprised it didn’t sink him down into the ground like a sign post.

  “Yeah, I guess.” She said with as much forced nonchalance she could muster.

  “You guess? You don’t sound too sure.”

  Dae was beginning to panic, looking around for something to hold on to. Dae did not want to have this conversation. Ever. Somehow, she forgot all about her plan to get rid of him. Stupid stupid stupid.

  Dae had seconds to respond before he figured out she was going to bullshit her way out of this. Then she took note of his goofy looking sports jersey. She wasn’t much for fashion but the thing was hideous. It had a red collar like a dress shirt but was mostly white (except for the bloodstains) with two vertical stripes, one red and one orange across his chest. There was a shield on the stripes and below it said ‘wind’ in neon blue across the rib cage with a wanna-be accent mark in the same blue hovering over it.

  “Well, I’m not. Your clothes are a little distracting.”