by Leah Rhoades
Hastily, Luke plated the food as he heard the car door open and shut, giving him just enough time to wipe his hands on his old jeans and hurry to answer the door. Seeing Crystal in front of him awoke a torrent of emotions, stamping out his issues with dear old dad.
The guilt shifted, and he knew he had to make a decision that would potentially change the course of his entire life. He hated having run out on her, could see the hurt and hesitation in her eyes where admiration used to be. But he also felt guilty for wanting her, knowing just how much more pain he could inflict.
“Come in,” he said, his voice thick and gruff.
Crystal offered a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and quipped, “In a way, it’s ironic, having to be invited into a place that was once my home.”
It could be your home again. Luke didn’t say it out loud. The last thing he needed was to spook Crystal with an over-the-top pronouncement of undying devotion and eternal commitment. You just didn’t do that after a couple of dates and a cowardly dismissal.
Taking a deep breath, he shrugged and offered, “It’s just a formality. You made it just in time. Dinner’s ready.”
He let her walk ahead of him and didn’t miss the way she seemed to peer into the kitchen before entering, as if expecting to find his father in the room. She seemed to relax, her shoulders sagging slightly and her heart rate slowing when she found the room empty and the table set for two. “Dad’s in bed,” he told her. “He hurt himself a couple days ago, stepping off the porch wrong, and the injury’s causing him a lot of pain and a bit of a fever.”
She rounded on him, her eyes wide and her mouth pulled into a thin, worried line. “His foot?”
Damn. He’d said more than he intended. But his guard was down with Crystal, and that was probably the reason Luke had gotten himself into trouble and had to haul ass out of her apartment. He didn’t watch his behavior, and he didn’t filter his thoughts. Everything poured out like vomit after a bender, and he was just asking for trouble.
“It’s minor. He’s just got the underlying problems that make everything worse.”
She stared at him for a moment before turning and taking a seat at the table, and Luke breathed a sigh of relief. This was going to be a difficult enough conversation without him screwing up ahead of time. He knew what she’d come for, and he knew what he intended to say. Still, he needed a buffer, so he poured the iced tea slowly and took his time getting seated across from her. They could start eating before they engaged in the most outrageous discussion two people could have at the dinner table.
***
I fought the swirling desire low in my belly as I met Luke’s wildly beautiful eyes across the table. They were so expressive, and I saw uncertainty, hope, and something like pain behind them right now. I wondered what was on his mind and wished for an instant that I was psychic. But that passed quickly, knowing I didn’t need to be privy to anyone’s private thoughts and certainly didn’t want to share mine.
“Can I speak first?” he asked, the words tumbling out in a rush. “I feel like I need to fix my mistake, or the tone of everything else will be wrong.”
I needed to speak, fearing that I’d lose my courage if I let him give the apology I knew was on the tip of his tongue. At the same time, I was feeling a bit weak and thought maybe I might be better off if I ate something before trying to express my thoughts. I nodded and picked up my fork, the smell of the chicken stir fry in front of me making my stomach growl.
I watched Luke’s chest rise and fall with a deep intake of air, and his eyes flinched as if he was hurting, though I saw no outward sign of injury. I wanted to ask if maybe he was an empath and felt his father’s pain. After all, he seemed to intuit how I was feeling far too easily. At the same time, I didn’t want to reference Everett Wesley’s foot injury. It struck a chord that I didn’t need to hear because, when I rolled the subject around in my head, it was too odd to consider as a possible reality.
With a nod, I gave him the floor and waited as he seemed to gather himself.
Finally, he spoke. “I’m so sorry about the way I left you the other night. Please know that I didn’t want to leave. I had to leave.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, frustration marring his perfect brow. “Crystal, I’ve never felt anything so intense in all my life, and it terrified me. I wanted you, in every way. I wanted you in that moment, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the future and how much I wanted to just be with you, and I don’t mean physically. I felt completely out of control, and I’ve never experienced that before. So I ran. And it was wrong of me.”
I nodded. “I appreciate that.” What was I supposed to say, that he’d ripped my heart out and stomped on it the first time I’d let someone touch it since I was a child? That the idea of spending the rest of my life with him wasn’t terrifying but appealing?
“I don’t think you understand,” he continued emphatically, shaking his head. “And it’s my fault because I’m doing a terrible job of explaining.” He huffed out an exasperated sigh and sat back hard in his chair, looking like a young boy who didn’t have a large enough vocabulary or wide enough world experience to explain himself.
My heart went out to him as he tried again. “It’s like I’ve been waiting for something special all my life, and coming here, you walked in and filled that space. I know we hardly know each other, but I feel like I’ve known you my whole life, like you’re already a part of me, like I would do anything to keep you safe and happy. And that takes away every ounce of control I have over my life. But when I stop to really think about it, I welcome that, and I want a chance to show you.”
Now, a knot rose in my throat, and I tried in vain to swallow past it. The emotions overwhelmed me, and I fought tears. If he was telling the truth, then I understood completely. Fighting to find my voice, I whispered, “That’s why it was so hard to come out here. I didn’t know if I could face you, thinking that I couldn’t have you. And after you hear what I have to say, I’m not sure you’ll want me anymore.”
Luke reached across the table, slipping my fork from my hand and clasping my fingers in his. He squeezed reassuringly, excitement and determination replacing the plea in his expression. “Crystal, I don’t think there’s anything you could tell me that would make me not want you. I believe in soul mates, and even if it terrifies you to hear it, I think you might be mine.”
I bit my lip. Soul mates. It sounded ridiculous, but I remembered vaguely hearing my mother and father refer to each other that way. I hadn’t understood the meaning exactly; I was too young. But it left an impression on me, and I wondered if it could be real. I couldn’t find any other explanation for the way I was drawn to Luke. Still, I couldn’t acknowledge that at the moment. I was too concerned with the reaction he would have when I issued my warning.
“Let’s not make any guarantees,” I told him, speaking carefully and slowly.
He shrugged. “Try me, Crystal. I don’t think anything could scare me more than I scare myself when I’m with you.”
Somehow, I doubted that, but I couldn’t back out now, even thinking that my silence might buy me the love of my life.
Chapter 12
Trust.
The word rang in Luke’s head as he stared at Crystal, waiting for her to say whatever it was that plagued her. If she’d come with accusations, she would never have stepped inside the house. So, what exactly did she mean to say?
His heart nearly jumped from his throat, where it rested, all the way out of his mouth, the fear tasting like rotten meat on his tongue, but he swallowed it and let the word resonate through him, hoping he wasn’t being ignorant.
The idea of trusting Crystal directly opposed his father’s advice, and while he strongly disagreed with his father’s assessment of the situation, Luke couldn’t help but feel the need to tread lightly under the circumstances. If he said too much, or if he spooked her, Crystal had the power to destroy everything. And yet, he wanted to share it all with her, put his belief in her.
<
br /> Trust.
“Talk to me, Crystal.” Her distress grew, and he brushed his thumb over the back of her hand soothingly.
“These woods aren’t safe,” she blurted out. “The thing that killed my grandmother…”
“The animal?” he supplied when she trailed off.
She puffed out her cheeks and squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s still out there, Luke, and it’s going to come for you and your father.” She opened her eyes and begged him to believe her. “It wasn’t an animal, Luke. I don’t know what it was, but it had the most intelligent eyes, like there was a human brain behind that monstrous face, and it’s going to stalk anyone who’s here.”
Her fear of the creature she described was so profound that Luke couldn’t stop himself from speaking his next words. “It’s alright, Crystal. There have been a wave of attacks by a rabid wolf at a nearby campground, and my father and I hunted it down and killed it a couple of nights ago. There’s nothing else to worry about.” He winced, the words sour on his tongue, but he spoke them adamantly.
But she was already shaking her head emphatically. “No, Luke, there’s more than one of them! I know it for a fact. I was here, two nights ago, and I stabbed one of them in the paw. It was huge, and it knocked me to the ground. I lost my shotgun, and…”
Luke shot out of his chair, running a hand down his face as he started pacing. This was worse than he’d thought. “Why were you here, Crystal? Why didn’t you come to me then?”
“I tried!” she cried, standing and flailing her arms. Her skin paled, her pallor tinged slightly green, and Luke could smell the terror and anguish from across the kitchen. “I came here to tell you about the woods, but no one answered the door. The SUV was here, and I thought maybe you and your father had gone hunting and gotten lost in the forest in the dark. I worried that your father was sick, and you couldn’t get him out, so I got my shotgun and my knives and ventured in after you. And instead, I was attacked by something that should never exist in nature!”
Tears glistened in her eyes, and Luke fought not to get any closer to her. Something dangerous lurked just beneath the surface, rumbling under his skin, and he couldn’t seem to hold it back if he smelled her, caught a whiff of her intoxicating scent fresh on her skin.
Still, she went on, “I’ve spent two days, thinking you and your father might be nothing more than a pile of bones and raw meat because I still hadn’t heard from you. And I didn’t want to call you because you made it perfectly clear you didn’t want to be with me! I gave in and called because I would rather know you chose not to call than continue to worry that I’d lost someone else I care about the way I lost my grandmother!”
She swallowed a sob, obviously trying to maintain what she felt was her dignity, and Luke hated himself instantly for everything he had put her through. He had to fix this, had to give her something to help her, even if it was just an Easter egg shrouded in mystery. He’d found his soul mate, whatever that entailed, and he wouldn’t watch her suffer a breakdown, feeling as though no one believed her or cared about her.
He took three long strides, covering the distance between them. “Crystal, I don’t think you’re crazy. I…” He put his hands on her shoulders to pull her toward him, but she flinched, a wave of excruciating pain crossing her face as she dropped her left shoulder away from him. She moved quickly, but not so fast that he didn’t feel the insane heat pouring from the skin or the extra padding under her long-sleeved shirt.
Luke frowned. “What’s wrong with your shoulder, Crystal?” She averted her eyes and attempted to hide the pain, but he could see it in the lines forming around her eyes and the corners of her mouth, the way she held her breath. And then he noted the coppery scent of blood, and his own ran cold. “Crystal, what happened?”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she muttered. “It’s just a scratch.”
“A scratch?” There was no way she would pull away like that if it was just a scratch. Images ran through his head, and several nightmarish scenarios played out in the space of a few heartbeats. “Show me,” he demanded.
Her jaw dropped, and she stared at him as if he’d just told her to strip down to her underwear. “No!”
“Why not?” he asked, his tone challenging and sharper than he intended. Trying to be gentler, he said, “I have some medical training, Crystal. Let me look at it.” When she still made no move, he tightened his jaw and gave her a hard look. “Your shoulder is so feverish I can feel it through the shirt and whatever bandages you have, and that means it’s severely infected. Don’t give me the ‘it’s just a flesh wound’ line. You could lose your arm. Now, you can take off your shirt, or I can tear it off, and I don’t care if you call the police as long as I know you’re going to live.”
She gave him a skeptical look, but finally she nodded shortly. With trembling fingers, she hesitantly reached for the hem of her shirt and drew it up, lifting it over her head. She wore a thin camisole underneath. While Luke had to cover a sharp intake of breath as he admired how well it clung to her perfect shape and the roundness of her breasts, he was more concerned with the bloodied bandages on her shoulder and the red lines on her skin peeking out from beneath.
He swallowed hard and gingerly touched the bandage, feeling her tension grow. “I’m going to be as careful as I can taking this off, but it’s probably going to hurt.”
She gave a single curt nod and turned her head. “Just rip it off.”
Luke braced himself, not wanting to see what was hidden beneath the gauze and yet transfixed on what he would find. With firm resolve, he peeled the bandage off and gasped at the ragged tears in Crystal’s skin and the boiling infection brewing. This was bad.
***
I jerked away from Luke, wishing I hadn’t let him see the wound. I told myself if I covered it and ignored it, it would just go away. But having him look at it with that horrified expression made it real, and I knew it was dangerous. “Crystal, this isn’t a scratch!” he boomed. “What happened?”
Now that he’d seen it, I had to tell him the truth. There was no way to play it off anymore, and I didn’t have the strength beyond the agony of it to try to lie. “I told you, that thing attacked me. One of them knocked me to the ground and tore up my shoulder before I could shoot it. When the second one came, the first ran away, and I thought the new one was going to finish me off, but it hesitated, and I ran.”
I shook my head and finally met his eyes. “It saw the shotgun, Luke. It knew what I was going to do, and it didn’t attack. It was intelligent. Not a rabid wolf.”
He was torn about something, and I wanted him to spill whatever was on his mind. But I was afraid to know, just like I was terrified that pushing him too hard would make him clam up. So I waited, watching as his gaze fixed on the fevered shoulder. Finally, he asked in a low voice, “Did either of them bite you?” His voice was gruff, filled with resignation and something else I couldn’t place.
I shook my head. “No, no teeth. Just claws.”
He shook his head and all but manhandled me into a chair. I sat down, all fight gone as he crouched in front of me and held my eyes with his. “Crystal, those beasts…you have to understand.” He waited, seeming to search my face for something, but I just stared at him blankly. What was he looking for?
“You have an open mind,” he started again. “I know you do because…” He sighed. “Well, hell, you’re studying cryptozoology. Right?” He was talking to himself now, his tone a bit distant. But he recovered and said, “Those beasts are something beyond what most people are willing to accept as reality, but I know you have the capacity to believe.”
I frowned, finding his words difficult to follow, and I wondered if the fever had reached my brain. I didn’t speak, not sure I could be coherent if I was suffering from a rampant case of staff. When I said nothing, he went on, “The things that you saw, the thing that attacked, it was the same thing that attacked your grandmother, wasn’t it?”
I nodded. I would never for
get that monster, the one I’d seen throw my grandmother down. The one that had looked at me with human intelligence. It had appeared in my dream, morphing out of Luke’s face, and two of them had come to me in the woods two nights ago, with the same human eyes.
“Werewolves, Crystal. That’s what you saw.”
I laughed. I don’t know why. It was hysterical, maniacal, but the laughter bubbled out of me, and I knew I had to have fallen into a fever-induced hallucination. Luke had not just looked at me and used that word. “Werewolves. That’s funny, Luke. Come on, you don’t have to placate me just to keep me around. I mean, cryptids could exist, sure. But werewolves just seem so farfetched.”
Anger flashed in his eyes, and the giggles subsided, though I couldn’t quite wipe away the smile. “I’m serious, Crystal. And these gashes…they could have infected you. It’s not safe for you to go back to the city.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. Was he serious right now? Did he truly mean to tell me that I’d been infected by a mythical creature in a way that was going to cause me to turn into some crazed beast on the night of a full moon? Or was this something else? If I’d been afraid before, it was just a child’s imagination that caused me to worry. Now, real terror set in as I realized what was going on.
I jumped from the chair and backed away from Luke. “Are you kidding me? Do you expect me to just take your word that there are supernatural beasts running around, turning humans into creatures that turn into hairy monsters when the moon is full? You don’t give me much credit, do you? I can see right through this!”
“Crystal, please, I’m being brutally honest with you here!” he cried, and I backed away further, until I was against the counter.
I held my hands up, wishing I wasn’t so vulnerable, on display with my shirt hanging over the back of the chair. But he stopped moving toward me. “I should have known from the start, Luke. I should have realized what you were doing. I hardly know you. I don’t even know what you do for a living!” I was rambling, but the words running through my head were even more ridiculous.