Getting Lucky

Lucky didn't wake up until the sun was high in the sky, it was hot but not unpleasant. Traven and Flappy were not in the tent but she could hear them outside. "Good fetch!" She heard Traven praise the dog. She stretched and worked her way out of her sleeping bag, before heading outside to see what her soul mate and his dog were up to. She pinched herself a couple of times to make sure it was all real. Surely she would soon wake up to the sound of the door to her room creaking open, she couldn't have escaped, a weak little girl like her. She fought the panic and the bile that rose in her throat. She closed her eyes and opened them again, the relief at seeing the cloudless blue sky and the endless stretch of desert almost brought her to her knees.

In the daylight, the desert didn't seem nearly as scary. She wondered how far she had run. No matter which direction she turned, only desert was visible. Was she still in Nevada? She would have to figure out a way for them to go somewhere to get a cell phone, some clothes, steak dinner, after all Lucky was a millionaire now!Remembering the bag, she darted over to where she had stashed it in between the rocks. It was still there.

"You're awake!" Traven exclaimed, as he was nearly knocked over by the enthusiastic lab who was returning the ball he was delighted to fetch. Apparently insulted by Traven's slow response to his excellent fetch accomplishment, Flappy brought the ball to Lucky and dropped it at her feet. He stood there, tongue hanging out, with a big doggy grin on his face that told Lucky how excited he was for her to play with him. She giggled at his antics, picked up the ball, yelled "FETCH!" and threw it as far as she could. Flappy took off like a rocket, she never would have guessed the pleasantly plump lab would be so quick on his feet. "Hold on, Flappy, I have to talk to your dad about some things. We will play again in a little bit here." He seemed to understand, and contentedly chewed on the ball.

"Your dog has stolen my heart," she joked.

"He does that, that's for sure. I've had him since he was 8 weeks old. I fell in love with him the first time I held him." Traven smiled, but something sad also flashed in his eyes at the memory. She wondered about it,

but not wanting to push, Lucky decided to let her mate in on the contents of the burlap bag.

She had asked him last night if he stayed in a tent because he liked it or out of necessity, and his reply had been "maybe a little of both," but she got the sense he had been living off the land, paw to mouth, for a long time. "Where is the nearest town?" She asked him.

"We aren't far from Albuquerque, but I haven't been to a town in a long time. I used to have a lot of money. Now I don't." He sighed. "When my pack wrongfully accused me of killing the Alpha's sister, rather than allow them to throw me in the dungeon and execute me for something I didn't do, I escaped."

"What? They did what?" Lucky was shocked.

"They had weak circumstantial evidence, I was the last one to see her alive, I had blood on my hand because I had darn near chopped my finger off cutting some plywood earlier that day." His eyes were full of sadness. "The trial was a joke. They convicted me within half an hour. They needed someone to blame. I can almost forgive them, because she was so well loved. To have her suddenly just gone like that was an unbearable tragedy. Someone stabbed her repeatedly. Even with her werewolf healing she bled out. I loved her like a sister, we had been friends since we were pups. I didn't kill her. So, I looked for my chance and I ran, hoping that some day they would figure out who really did kill her and clear my name." Tears shone in his bright blue eyes by the time he finished. "I've been living in the desert ever since. I can't go back to my pack. No other pack will take me in because they have been told I am a murderer and a fugitive."

"That's so heartbreaking, Traven. What was her name?"

"Neveah," he whispered her name, as though speaking it too loudly would put him back in that nightmare.

"I'm sorry you went through all of that. Seems like we have both been dealt some shitty hands." She motioned for him to follow her to where she had left the bag. "However, Traven, it looks like your luck is about to change." She opened the bag, laughing as his eyes widened and he shook his head in disbelief.

"Lucky, do you have any idea how much money that is? There's got to be a couple million dollars there. Did you rob a bank?"

"No, I robbed the sick bastards who sold my body and made themselves filthy rich while I suffered." Lucky took a deep breath, she was so afraid he wouldn't want her after he found out about her past. "I earned every dime of that money and more. I could only carry the one bag. I knew it would help me start a new life." She sighed and sat down on the ground, waiting for his reaction.

"They did WHAT to you?" There was danger in Traven's voice, but it was not a danger to Lucky. It was his rage at the thought of his mate being mistreated in such a vile way.

She told him all of it. About her parents abandoning her, the Lancasters, and the Smiths at the orphanage. About the men who had kidnapped her as she walked down the street, drugging her with chloroform and throwing her in to what looked like a handyman's van. About what they had done to her. By the time she got to the story of her escape, Traven was fighting his wolf who wanted to take control and go hunt down every one of them and give them a far less merciful death than Lucky had given them. Seeing his distress, she tried to lighten the heaviness of her story by joking about it. "Can you imagine? A giant black wolf covered in blood running through the Vegas strip while people screamed, total chaos, and then this wolf of mine decides to have herself a little bath in the fountain." She couldn't help it, she found the bizarre scene funny in a sick sort of way. Traven started to laugh, too. "I'm sure it made the news. I'm not worried, though. There is no way to link me to any of it, anyone who saw me in human form that night is dead. I killed them all. Well, Nyah and I did."

Traven reached out, pulling Lucky close as they leaned against the rocks which provided a bit of shade from the sun. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching Flappy run around in the sand having the time of his life. The more she got to know these two, the happier she felt. They felt more like family than anyone she had ever known.

"How will we get to Albuquerque?" She asked him.

"I think we should go as far as we can in our wolf forms, traveling at night. We are not even a whole day away."

"Good idea. Definitely not going to debut in Albuquerque as large black wolves. Just two normal humans with a Labrador. We can find a place to rent and go shopping and get steaks."Lucky was excited for the steaks.

At nightfall, they shifted into their wolves. Nyah worried that Flappy might be scared but Miles assured her that the dog was used to playing with a wolf five times his size, and sure enough he didn't seem to be scared at all. He even kept up a pretty good pace.

They could see a faint glow on the horizon, which was the city of Albuquerque, when they were still several hours away. They would make it in time to approach the town as humans in the morning. They decided they should get a hotel as quickly as possible, and figure out how to better store and carry the money. Then they could look for something more long term, a rental house perhaps.

They weren't quite sure yet what the future held for them, but it was looking far better than the past. 

As they approached the city, the sun was just beginning to peek above the mountains in the distance, and they stood at the top of a hill where the whole city could be seen. They stopped at the first hotel they found, making sure they knew that Flappy would be a guest as well. It was far from a fancy Las Vegas strip suite, but it was nice, and they were close enough to a couple of stores that they could walk to get the clothes and toiletries they badly needed.

Lucky bought herself some nice shampoo and conditioner, and a body wash that Traven said smelled like she did when he first scented her in the desert. It was supposed to smell like oranges and mangoes and make her skin soft. She got a couple pairs of jeans, some tank tops, a couple of hoodies. Socks. Underwear. Shoes. She made Traven pick out some nice things for himself, and they got a new harness and leash for Flappy that would make it comfortable for him

When they went out for a walk. They got him nice new dog food bowls, and found a kind of dog food prepared more like a fresh meal than the boring dry kibble. By the time they were done they were exhausted, but they had so many bags, how would they carry all of this to the hotel?

Lucky noticed a car in the parking lot with a for sale sign and a phone number. It was a newer black Chevy Impala, and the owner met with them 15 minutes after Lucky called. She paid $5000 cash for the car, which was a pretty good deal for a car with only 50,000 miles on it. She had never owned a car, but as they loaded up their purchases and drove back to their hotel, she understood why having a car was so important. It made it so much easier.

After ordering room service and enjoying 3 steak dinners, they decided to call it a night. Traven was finishing up in the shower, washing the dog with baby shampoo. He came out wearing a pair of pajama pants, and Lucky blushed as she found herself staring at his toned muscles, his perfectly chiseled features, dark hair falling across his forehead. He was a looker, that was for sure. Even more so now that she could see beneath the layers of dirt that had covered his skin.

She entered the bathroom and made good use of her new products, enjoying the feeling of pampering herself for her own well being, rather than to look good for some jerk that would hurt her later. The fear came crashing back, like a tsunami on to what had been peaceful shores.

Once again the panic threatened to squeeze her heart from her chest, she didn't know how long she stood there under the hot water but it was long enough that Traven was concerned. He knocked, startling her out of the bad memories she had gotten lost in.

He didn't pry, he just led her to the bed, helped her into her new pajamas, and held her until she stopped shaking. He turned on the TV, and the National News was reporting that the strange animal sighting in Las Vegas might have been related to an illegal exotic animal trade. The police believed that the men found in that room had been playing illegally to win a large, ferocious animal, and that the animal had gotten loose and attacked everyone as it escaped. A few people thought it was odd that no one outside that room had been attacked. A crazed beast would have continued killing indiscriminately, that Nyah had not harmed a hair on anyone else's head suggested a level of intelligence. Rumors were circulating wildly, but overall the consensus was that the animal had been abused and unfortunately for the abusers, had managed to break through its restraints. Public sympathy for the animal, rather than the dead men, was notably more common.

There was even some video footage of Nyah jumping into the fountain. Lucky shook her head, suppressing the laugh that seemed inappropriate until she watched Flappy shake the last of the water from his fur, like Nyah had as she jumped back out of the fountain. She started laughing so hard her sides hurt. Traven also couldn't help himself.

They settled in on the comfortable King bed, Traven holding Lucky from behind while Flappy sprawled himself out over what he apparently considered his half of the bed. They were all asleep in minutes, so tired that not even Flappy snored. Tomorrow they would start to build their new life.