🍃A PLACE BETWEEN MOUNTAINS🍃

Generally, hospitals made Gypsy weak, but this particular time it was indeed for obvious reasons; She had been drenched to the bones only minutes before, the rain tonight had been merciless.

Now, sitting in the waiting area with a morgue worthy air condition and still in the same clothes, she felt iced cold. Her daughter was being monitored overnight for concoction, the surly ER nurse had told her to go home and return in the morning.

Home.

Gypsy had never had that in her life, she and her daughter had just been evicted from a shelter house because they'd overstayed the allocated time, she'd been trying to get them into another one with no success before her daughter was nearly ran over by a Lamborghini urus. Talk about insult on injury.

The driver swerved in time, thank goodness, but Billie still fell and hit her head pretty hard on the pavement.

She could have healed her daughter but then they'd still be out in the rain and on their asses. Hospital may not be ideal but at least one of them got a bed and they both had a roof over their heads.

Footsteps drew her attention to the man approaching, the driver who had almost killed her daughter; Trevor Keeper.

Man, he was tall. That wasn't something she said often standing at 5ft9 herself, but this man towered over her and with his broad shoulders he made seeing anything but him impossible. He was a sight, alright, so no complaints.

When she first laid eyes on him she'd been torn between rage and mouth dropping awe. It wasn't so much his looks-which was truly mouth dropping-but the mesmerizing energy that he carried himself with. She knew instantly that he wasn't human, he was one of them.

"I thought you left." She said to him, he had no business being there really. He didn't actually hit Billie and he had done more than enough getting them to a hospital.

His startling eyes pinned her with a hard stare, "What kind of man do you think I am?"

Gypsy smiled, eying the large styrofoam cup in his hand. "The kind that brings coffee?"

Trevor huffed. "Huh, that is true."

His fingers brushed hers as he handed her the cup, shooting static charges into her body and suddenly she wasn't so cold anymore. Gypsy wrapped her numb palms around the cup, welcoming the heat permeating from it and spreading through her entire body.

"Thanks." She whispered and took a sip, man it wasn't the crappy hospital coffee she expected. Her tongue nearly went into shock as the rich, creamy brew hit her taste buds. It was like a warm hug in a cup, exactly what she didn't know she needed.

She looked up at him with gratitude in her eyes, he was looking around the fast emptying waiting area, a solemn look on his dark, chiseled liked face. His hair was a low and neatly trimmed quiff at the front, from behind he looked like an NFL player with thick long dreadlocks. He was devastatingly attractive.

"Has anyone seen you yet?"

She nodded and took another sip. "They want to observe her overnight but there's nothing to worry about, she's absolutely fine."

Trevor sat beside her with a sigh, so close his thigh was only barely touching hers, she could have moved or asked him to, yet again she welcomed the heat and maleness radiating off of his body and seeping into hers. It was ridiculous how comfortable she felt with this perfect stranger.

"I'm truly sorry about all of this, I swear she just... came out of nowhere."

"It's not your fault, I should have been paying more attention to her but I was desperately trying to convince that assistant to give us a space, I didn't know when she left my side."

He nodded and laced his fingers together on his knees. She observed his profile, noticing that perspiration was gathering on his forehead despite the blasting air condition.

She also noticed he'd brought only one coffee. "Did you give me your coffee?"

"No," he replied and gave her a tiny smile. "I got that for you. Caffeines aren't exactly my thing, neither are hot beverages."

"Right," she nodded firmly, "it would be hazardous if you got any hotter."

"Is that so?" He cocked a brow, his eyes tinkling. She admired the laughing lines on his face.

"I meant that in a complimentary way. Not like, you know, weird."

He flashed her a smile and her stomach flipped in a strange way.

"I know what you mean." He said, leaning towards her shoulder, "You aren't so bad yourself, underneath all this hair that is."

Gypsy snorted, feeling heat spread from the root of her hair to her tippy toes. She had monstrous hair even on a good hair day. Her band had snapped off at some point during the night and she'd squeeze about a bucket full of rain water off her hair. She dreaded catching her own reflection in the mirror but she knew she was spotting no less than a Kilimanjaro size Afro as it was.

"So listen," Trevor started again, "I got a suite for the night couple of blocks from here. It's more room than I need to be honest and I figured you could take advantage of the hot bath, maybe crash there for the night if it's not too...weird for you?"

"Why?" She asked.

He partly turned in his seat and pinned her with that stare again. She felt exposed, like he could see her beneath her still drying clothes and messed up hair. She had no doubt he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart. This wasn't something she'd ever said about a man but she trusted this absolutely gorgeous stranger and it had nothing to do with his enthralling eyes.

Well, maybe a little.

She felt a magnetic force drawing her to him, in the intensity of his eyes she felt a strange connection but then he looked away and broke it.

"You're not seeing your daughter until morning," he spoke eventually, "and any minute now I'm sure they'll ask you to leave."

"I appreciate your concern but why would you want to help me, you don't even know me."

"I have a sister." He said, his eyes lighting up. "She's got a beautiful daughter, too and I would want someone to help them if they needed it. Plus there's no way I'll sleep well tonight, knowing you're out there looking like a drowned rat when I could have done something."

"Hey!" Gypsy protested, playfully nudging him with her shoulder like she does with her daughter.

"Hey yourself," He nudged her right back. "You didn't think they'd let you sleep here, did you?"

She did, but no need for him to know that. Grabbing the overnight bag resting at her feet she gave him a big smile. "When do we leave?"

**

Turned out there was no end to the list of goods a good soaking can do the body. The mind, maybe not so much but Gypsy was determined to keep her demons under lock and key, at least for the remainder of the night.

The hotel's fluffy bathrobe was without a doubt the single most expensive piece of clothing she had ever put on her body. She felt womanly, and if she dare say so, even sensual.

Rummaging for a hairband in the overnight bag that contained all of hers and Billie's possessions, her fingers found a paper canoe, and she picked it out with a growing warmth in her heart, remembering Billie had only given her that, that morning before they were kicked out of their last shelter home.

One day Bill, one day we'll both sail to that everlasting happiness you want so bad. She thought, smoothening the paper out and carefully placing it in the bag's side pocket instead.

In the mirror a familiar stranger stared back at her as she attempted to tame her wild, dark curls after blow drying with the hotel's dryer. She seemed to have aged ten unfavorable years since the last time she had a good look at herself, her eyes had always been a little too large and vacant for her liking, and worse, they reminded her of her mother's.

She stepped out of the bathroom, her barefoot slightly sticking to the hardwood floor with each step. She tried to keep her mouth shut this time as she surveyed the enormous bedroom and the sky wide bed beside one of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. 

Farther right from her was the large open living room, distinguished from the rest of the place by the thick cream colored carpet on the floor, dark brown leather furniture and an imposing dark wood bar, where a man stood pouring himself a drink with his back to her.

His shirtless, muscular back.

And as she carefully tiptoed closer, she noticed he was covered by a thin sheen of sweat yet again even though the condition of the room didn't call for it.

"So are you a wine or scotch kind of girl?" Trevor suddenly spoke up and startled her without looking back.

"How did you do that?"

"I can smell you." He said, finally turning to face her with a whiskey glass in hand. His eyes raked her from head to toes, "Well, looks like there is indeed a person under all the hair after all."

Gypsy felt herself heat up again, she grabbed a fistful of the bathrobe's collar and buried her nose in it, "You mean the shower gel? It's quite nice, isn't it?"

"I mean, I can smell you and that shower gel got nothing on your natural scent, babe." He frowned. "You're younger than I thought though. How old are you, twenty-four, twenty-five?"

His tone was only observatory but Gypsy's guard instantly went up, she'd heard that question one too many times to know exactly what follows; how do you have a thirteen year old daughter? How old were you when you gave birth?

"Twenty-five in a couple of weeks, not that it's any of your business." She stared him down, and he merely raised a brow at her defensive tone. "What do you mean you can smell my natural scent?"

"I'm a werewolf," Trevor said, his eyes turned serious. "You must have known, you aren't entirely human yourself."

"Oh I am human," Gypsy's eyes widened slightly, "A very unlucky one but definitely human."

"That is not true."

"I'll have that scotch now, neat, please and thank you."

"Coming right up." Trevor smirked and turned to get another glass for her.

She went and took a sit on the leather sofa, crossing her legs and pulling the split in the robe together to cover her thighs. "So you from the mountains? Most Lycanthropes are."

"Not me," he approached with a shot glass in each hand. "I'm from Eclipse, a place between mountains."

She took the glass he offered, "What's it like in Eclipse?"

"Who said you get to ask all the questions?"

"I'm a witch," she blurted, then frowned. "Sorta."

"Sorta?"

"Well, I don't have a crystal ball, I can't see the future, I can't turn my luck around or make fortune smile at me for once but I can heal the sick, which in itself would be something if I didn't come close to dying each time I try." She downed her scotch in one swift gulp. "So I guess I'm just a freak of nature, and a darn useless one."

A phone suddenly trilled and interrupted whatever Trevor was about to say. He reached into his pant's pocket and pulled out a slick black cell phone. Gypsy watched his body and expression immediately tensed up as he glared at the screen.

"Your wife?" She asked, her throat suddenly dried up. She completely forgot to ask, just because he wore no commitment ring didn't mean he wasn't taken.

"Worse, my Alpha." He said distractedly, still staring at the ringing phone in his hand. "I'll be right back." He got up and walked away.

Gypsy followed like she was going to the bar to have a refill when she just wanted to be closer to eavesdrop, but no matter how hard she strained her ears to hear him, standing just a couple of feet from her with his back to her, she couldn't pick a word.

Trevor turned around just as she lifted the shot glass to her lips. He had a puzzled, yet intense look in his eyes, Gypsy knew whatever that call was about, it couldn't have been good news.

"Listen," he said, approaching her. "How do you feel about taking a trip with me to my hometown?"