The Chase

46 Luca

I had called Moira. Telling her Evie and I would be away for a little bit off the grid, she had filled in mating moon, like it was a thing. Which saved me the pain of lying to her about exactly where we were going and what we were doing. It was so nice to hear the happiness in her voice over the phone as I tried to say good bye and somehow thank her. I didn't have the time, or brain capacity to pull such words together, instead I told her I loved her, before we quickly boarded the bus and took off.

"So no more magic anything?" I asked her. Phase one was travel to our destination. By way of check points that Evie would text out to the drivers navigation system. No one knew where we were going yet, except Evie. She just said it was far, and all the fridges and cupboards were stocked with food, and there were extra coolers and other staples in the undercarriage. We weren't really stopping except to swap drivers every five hours. At least one Rover was to be in the large driver's cabin as muscle if needed. Physical muscle, because the moment Evie unleashed enough magic to be of any tactical use, any creature seeking a burst of magic would immediately come looking. Which is why this bus had to keep going. On it's own like the little engine that fucking damn well better or everything and everyone is going to die a terrible death.

Evie looked at me, sensing my worry, making her worry. Worry more. "It's going to be ok. Just imagine we're on a train, this would be a pretty luxurious room on a train car. For two days." She looked down, before looking back up at me, letting me know she was trying to subtly tell me as much as she could.

I kissed her cheek, over and over. She giggled as the slight stubble on my chin danced over her soft skin. "That tickles." Her body drawing closer to mine.

"Just one kiss for every freckle, then I'll be done." Whispered in her ear just as she turned her head to meet mine, our lips meeting. I felt a giant burst of love from her heart. No longer a storm, her heart had become a deep, still pond. You just had to understand her.

"You're too much sometimes." She pulled back, ending the kiss. It wasn't near enough of her to satisfy me.

Evie was already pulling her shirt over her head before I could do it for her. "The windows are tinted, don't rip the clothes, we don't have that many." I saw her look at her wrist. Made a face like she was cross and disappointed before turning her face away, pointedly holding her wrist away. "Vi'Ja does not like my plan." She said, I looked at her, desperate to know more myself. "I can't tell you yet either." She looked apologetic, and the mood shifted.

She grabbed her tshirt, pulling it back on, and moving to sit in a chair in the small seating area around a folding table. Doubt filled her. I reached for her hand, thankfully she gave it, slipping her hand in mine, finger's interlacing. "You're doing what you think is best, I trust you Evie." I told her, and I meant every single word.

"Don't let me be evil Luca. Please." It hit me like Alpha's punch in the chest. Evie's anxiety wasn't about her plan failing. No she was more than confident what she wanted to do. There was a sharp line, diving what she knew was possible, and what actually scared her. I could feel that thread of her heart, she was on a mission. Her doubts were about what came after.

I went to her in a single quick movement. Pulling her into my arms. "I wont have to. You know what to do Evie." I told her again. I'd keep telling her how much I believed in her until she believed it. Until my belief flooded over any of her doubts. She snuggled into my chest, pressing her ear over my heart. I could feel her. Just the bond between us, nothing more, as she let my feelings in. Calming down again. Her heart rate slowed, breathing was even. Back to a still pond.

"How good are you with maps?" She asked me. Catching me off guard. Until she brought out a very old looking map, that didn't seem to have the city of Seattle marked. Instead there was the Blue Willow Pack, Then known as Thorne Cairne Park. I could read the flowing scrip marking ley lines, salt deposits in the earth, The gateway willow. Other symbols I didn't know. Evie then unrolled a nearly transparent paper with modern map markings, and lined up the willow, with the willow.

"We need to pick a spot to build a home somewhere here." She drew a crooked line around a random chunk of the territory following some sort of guidance from the magical markings on the lower map. Because physically the lines went against everything for making a physical territory until a drunk madman had decided to section of a map blindfolded. I looked at the elevations, swamps, bogs and wetlands, two rivers. Several ravines and other less than ideal home locations. There was one spot. Near by to the willow, and by association Laurel and Ash's homes. Not far from Melody. Farthest from the other settlements in the pack. Even well distanced from the new feline village currently under construction.

Hugged by the river nearly all around was a slightly raised field, nearly two acres of space with only a narrow arc unprotected by the river. Just enough room to have a secluded home, that couldn't be snuck up on. Evie's line followed the river in a heavy dark line. It was the edge of her boundary. I pointed to the spot, the only one in the space she had mapped that a home would even fit comfortably for our children to have a yard large enough to run and shift in, if they were shifter's.

"Our children will be wolves, they just might have magic. Maybe." She offered. Before looking at me shocked. "No magic, I just knew." She smiled. "I could feel it, our dreams lined up. It was nice." She looked at my choice. Studying the markings around the location before grabbing a ruler and measuring the distance to the willow.

"It's right at the edge, but has everything I needed." She looked at me. "You sure? This is literally the map I plan to give Raven to show her the lands I am taking. There is no where better you would want?" She asked, trying to give me the space to choose.

"Your map made the choice, there isn't anywhere else inside your line that could house the kind of family home I want." She smiled across the table, calculating various runes before nodding.

"I don't know what the modern markings mean, it is a perfect spot." She took a picture of the map. "I can't send it now, but I want to be ready. I can't wait to start our lives in our new home." Putting her phone away. Taking out a deck of cards. "Now, I know you saw my dreams about our family, right down to names and number of dogs. Time for you to reciprocate." She dealt me out eight cards. "It's a long trip. We are going to talk and play crazy eights countdown."

At the first stop Evie quickly turned a cheap package of ramen and a couple extra ingredients into a decent meal with nothing more than a microwave and kettle to cook with. There wasn't much broth in the bowls, which was likely for the best since the bus started to crawl forward once again. Evie brought out the next burner phone and sent the next coordinates for the next stop. Leaving us free to relax in our tiny moving apartment for another five or so hours. Plenty of time to watch Lilo and Stitch of all the movies in the universe to be in the entertainment system.

Evie was enraptured by the movie. She was crying by the end. "Ohana is really nice." her voice barely loud enough to hear as she kept crying while seemingly to not even notice the tears on her face. "I've never cried at a movie like this." She looked at me, mischief in her eyes again. "I've never done a lot things I'm about to do." She wasn't talking about her battle plan.

This was a much less stressful plan. Evie rose up, taking my hand with a gentle tug to urge me up to follow when I had already started to. She led me to the small, separate bedroom. Looking over her shoulder, "I've never had sex in a moving car." That smile she had, the one that was all filthy pleasure seeking minx. I had never imagined that I could be so lucky as to have a mate like Evie.  

**Only two more Chapters until the end. Thanks for joining me on Evie and Luca's love story**