Free Bound (Dark Reflections Volume 1) by Dean Murray Page B

Arizona.
    There wasn't much to do but go find someone and figure out just how much trouble we were in. I pulled some clothes on, grabbed my phone, and walked out into the hall. Our rapid healing was sure nice when it came to getting us back up and mobile after a fight, but it tended to leave muscles sore and subject to cramps, so I gingerly stretched my arms and torso as I walked.
    The hotel was a single-story, sprawling structure that was kept clean enough that I was having a hard time picking up scent trails from any of the other shape shifters, so I walked to the front desk and tapped the girl manning it on the shoulder.
    She turned around and I nearly gasped in surprise. I'd spent so many weeks and months wondering about the girl from my dreams and here she was. I was at such a loss for words that the silence stretched out into something uncomfortable.
    "Can I help you?"
    It was like I'd been punched in the gut. The voice wasn't right. It was silly, I couldn't remember my dream girl ever having spoken, but the voice I'd just heard didn't belong to the person I was looking for. That realization caused the rest of the illusion to unravel. This girl looked very much like my blonde, but there were differences. The eyes weren't quite the right shade of blue and her lips were slightly too full.
    "Sorry, for a second I thought you were someone else."
    The semi-annoyed, startled look was gone from her face. Her expression was much more inviting now.
    "I'm pretty sure that we've never met—I think that I'd remember you."
    I made it off of the estate so infrequently that it still took me by surprise when a female showed interest in me. Part of me wanted to respond in kind, to get to know her, to pursue the possibility of a relationship, but I refused to be so selfish.
    It was impossible for my kind to have a normal, healthy relationship with a human. If I'd had any doubts of that watching my mother and Kaleb for so many years would have cured me of them. Actually, now that I thought about it, the odds were overwhelmingly on the side of the blonde from my dreams being a human as well.
    The thought was depressing enough that I didn't manage to keep my feelings entirely off of my face.
    "Are you okay? You suddenly look like someone drowned your puppy."
    I mustered a smile that I knew from experience was believable for anyone that didn't know me well and shook my head wryly. "I'm sorry, seeing you made me take a stroll back down memory lane, which is always a dangerous thing to do when you've had as rough a week as I've had."
    She looked like she was about to ask me more questions but I beat her to the punch.
    "I'm in room 139 and I've got a friend who's staying here too, but I don't know which room he's in. His name is Jack Donahue. He's in his late forties and is about my size. He probably comes across as being pretty intense, maybe a little scary from time to time. Have you seen him around?"
    I got a bit of an odd look, but she was still smiling. "Jack spends a lot of time out next to the pool. At least I think that's the guy you're looking for. He's the right age and size, I just wouldn't describe him as scary."
    "Thanks, I'll go see if I can find him."
    It wasn't until I was walking away from the desk that I realized I probably should have asked her where the pool was. I didn't actually need directions as my nose, even in human form, was more than equal to the task of following the smell of chlorine, but it was the small things that helped keep up the appearance of normalcy.
    Jack was sitting cross-legged on one of the deck chairs that was positioned only a few feet away from a tiny fountain. He didn't open his eyes, but he no doubt smelled me coming as soon as I stepped into the pool area.
    "You're up sooner than I expected, Alec."
    "Then I must have been even more injured than I realized. I expected to be back up and moving around way before now."
    He opened one eye and arched his eyebrow at me. "You've been out for less than a