Wild Shadow : A Sweet Paranormal Romance

by Martha Dunlop

  ‘You moved into the cottage on the main street.’ Rachel turned her chair and wheeled over to the door. ‘I saw the removal van. I was going to pop around and introduce myself, but you’ve beaten me to it. I’m Rachel and it’s lovely to meet you.’

  The woman smiled. ‘Tabitha.’ She walked over and held out her hand.

  Rachel took it. ‘Well, Tabitha, the boys will be playing soon. Why don’t we get to know each other by the bar while we wait for the music to start?’

  Tabitha. The name sent a thrill through Dylan. He would have to find out more about her from his mum later.

  Tabitha tilted her head, watching Rachel for a moment, and then she smiled. ‘I’d love to, thank you.’ She stood back to allow Rachel through the door and then turned. For a moment, she held Dylan’s gaze.

  His face heated.

  Linden chuckled.

  Tabitha raised her eyebrows and then turned and walked out through the door, before shutting it firmly behind her.

  Dylan leaned over, pretending to adjust his drum kit, hoping the guys wouldn’t see the flush of his skin. This woman made him feel like an awkward teenager again, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. But the thought of her watching him play set his heart beating fast.

  When he straightened up they were still staring at him. Linden had his arms crossed, an amused smile on his face. GJ’s lips were tight.

  ‘Well, the new girl seems to have made an impact on you,’ Linden said, sitting down and rocking his chair back on its legs. ‘I’ve never seen you this flustered.’

  ‘I’d love to chat, but that room is filling up.’ Dylan stood and rested his drumsticks on the snare. ‘I’ve warmed up enough. I’m going to get changed.’

  The last thing Dylan heard before he slammed the door to the bathroom, was Linden’s laughter.

  3

  Dylan

  ‘Welcome, welcome,’ Bob, the landlord, shouted from the platform.

  Backstage with Linden and GJ, Dylan rolled his shoulders, loosening up for the workout to come.

  ‘It’s time to welcome the band that needs no introduction! Wildley Forest’s very own Instantaneous Rock! Show them some love, people!’

  Nothing could spoil Dylan’s mood once he was ready for a gig. He twirled a drumstick and strode onto the stage in his combat shorts and black tank top, the huge tiger tattooed on his upper arm visible to the audience. He could almost feel it growling and shifting as he took his place behind the drum kit. He tapped his foot, the rhythm already coursing through him like a heartbeat.

  Linden picked up the mic. ‘Good evening, Wildley Forest, we are back in our favourite place, ready to play for you. Can I hear it for Instantaneous Rock?’ He put his hand to his ear and grinned as the audience cheered. ‘Come on, you can do better than that.’ They were louder this time. ‘Now you’re talking! Take it away, Dylan!’

  Dylan started a quiet drumroll that built up to a pulsing crescendo. He nodded when Linden came in with the bass line, sending the music through people’s bones and down into the floor through their feet. He saw them sway, felt the link the music created, pulling them all into the same bubble of energy. Riding the wave, he surfed Linden’s song, GJ’s guitar solo, and the rolling excitement of the audience. He kept going with the pulsing heartbeat that held them all together and allowed the others to soar.

  Looking out into the room, he saw Tabitha sitting with his mum at the bar. All her reticence was gone. She stared at him, lips parted, following the movements of his arms as he caressed the drums, weaving a pulsing magic. The song drew to a close and she took a deep breath. Leaning forwards, she murmured something in Rachel’s ear and then pulled back to look at her, eyebrows raised. His mum grinned, turned to the band and pointed directly at him. Adrenaline pumped through his system when Tabitha nodded and raised her eyebrows at whatever Rachel had said. The older woman threw her head back and laughed, reddening Tabitha’s cheeks.

  Dylan felt his own cheeks flush in response. Gritting his teeth, he played the intro to the next song too fast, ignoring GJ and Linden’s furious looks.

  Something caught Dylan’s eye to the left of the audience, and he turned his head. He saw a flash of white, and then it vanished. He blinked. It couldn’t be. One minute there was nothing there, the next, a white tiger was threading its way through the bodies on the dance floor towards the stage. Dylan almost faltered. His heartbeat sped up. He wanted to scream, to shout to everyone to get out, but he was frozen on the stool, locked into the motion of the song. His foot kept hitting the pedal of the bass drum. His arms stayed loose, his wrists flexing as the sticks flew over the drumheads. How could his body be so finely tuned in this moment and so unresponsive to the fear pumping through his veins? He closed his eyes. When he opened them, the tiger was gone. Nobody else had noticed it. He shook his head, and then sought out Tabitha at the back of the room. Her eyes shone, warming him. He swallowed. He needed to get a grip. Ever since he’d laid eyes on Tabitha, the world had tilted. Her long, silky hair had wound its way around his heart and was reeling him in without words. She was so different and his steady, predictable life felt choking in its lack of possibility.

  He was used to the girls crowding the stage, running their fingers over his tiger tattoo, watching his muscles flex while he played the drums. He liked the attention, but it always felt empty. Tabitha was different. He knew it. Did it mean anything that she was watching him?

  She leaned over, whispering something in his mum’s ear and smiling. Rachel threw her head back for a deep, belly laugh. For a moment, he felt transported across the room. His mum liked her. His heart rate increased while the women chatted, sipping their drinks as they watched him. His drumsticks matched the growing pace of his body, pushing the other band members out of their comfort zones.

  ‘Dylan,’ GJ said, ‘what are you doing? I can’t play that fast.’ Linden frowned, watching GJ struggle with the intricate guitar solos while his bass line continued at a steadier pace. Dylan didn’t care. The pulse was driving him forwards.

  GJ began another guitar solo, but they were going so fast now that he stumbled over it, fingers falling over themselves in an attempt to keep up. He gritted his teeth and kept going, but the song was off now. His chords were out of time and jarred against Linden’s melody. Exchanging looks and nods, GJ and Linden cut out a few verses of the song and went straight for the ending, forcing Dylan to wind it up.

  ‘Get yourself a drink,’ Linden hissed at him when they had finished, his hand over the microphone. ‘I don’t know what you’ve got going on over there, but this is a paid gig and we need to be professional. Leave your crap out of it and get your head back in the game. Do you hear me?’

  Dylan nodded, not caring what Linden thought. He saw amusement on his mum’s face and knew she had tracked everything. His mum always knew what was going on. She had an intuition that bowled him over and helped him understand the world in a way he knew his friends found inexplicable.

  Balancing his drumsticks across the snare, he jumped off the stage leaving Linden and GJ to play a slow song. The people in the front row surged around him, swallowing him whole. He pushed his way to the back of the room, ignoring the hands that reached for him along the way. By the time he got to the bar, his mum had a pint of his favourite beer waiting for him on the table. He sat down, propping his legs up on the empty chair next to him and leaned back.

  Tabitha eyed the tattoo on his shoulder and he instinctively flexed his muscles. Her lips twitched as though she was trying not to laugh.

  He held out a hand. ‘Dylan. It’s lovely to meet you properly. I tried to introduce myself earlier outside your cottage, but I met your cat instead. She’s beautiful.’

  ‘Tabitha.’ The woman nodded. ‘I’m Tabitha, my cat is Emily and she’s not normally that accepting of strangers.’

  Her eyes were on his tattoo.

  ‘You can touch it if you like,’ he said, moving his arm towards her. ‘There’s something so magical about tigers, isn’t t
here?’

  She nodded, not saying a word, but her finger drifted up to his bicep and traced the lines there. A shiver shot through him sending his heart racing. ‘You like tigers.’ It was more a statement than a question.

  Dylan smiled. ‘I do. He’s my guardian.’

  ‘From what?’ Tabitha asked.

  There was a shuffling in front of them. The crowds parted and Linden and GJ appeared. Linden’s sculpted face was dark with anger as he stood, legs apart, hands on his hips in front of Dylan. ‘What the hell was going on with you up there?’ Girls hovered in the background, waiting for the chance to talk to him, but he ignored them.

  ‘I can’t help it if you can’t keep up.’

  ‘Can’t keep up? You’re supposed to keep time not blast right past it. What is wrong with you?’

  ‘He was showing off,’ GJ said through gritted teeth. He glared at Tabitha.

  Tabitha raised her eyebrows, coughed, and then turned her gaze to the table, where she picked intently at the label on her bottle.

  ‘Stop it!’ Dylan hissed at the guys. ‘You’re embarrassing yourselves.’

  ‘I’m embarrassing myself?’ Linden asked. ‘I’m not the one who trashed our performance, all because the new girl was watching!’

  ‘Oh God,’ Dylan closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. ‘Okay, you’re embarrassing me. Please stop. I’m so sorry, Tabitha. They’re not usually this bad.’

  Tabitha stood up, looking at the men in front of her. She was small, but at that moment her presence loomed above them, making them seem tiny by comparison. ‘Don’t worry, I’m leaving. Good night, Rachel.’ She strode over to the door without turning back. In a moment of silence, the door slammed behind her.

  ‘What do you think you’re playing at?’ Dylan’s voice was low and brittle. ‘She’s new here for God’s sake.’

  ‘So what?’ GJ slammed a ten-pound note on the bar and held his hand out for a drink. ‘She’s messing with Instantaneous Rock.’

  ‘Messing?’ Dylan stood up, hands clenched into fists by his side. ‘She came to watch us play. We’re normally pleased to find new fans. That up there, that was all me. It wasn’t her fault.’

  Linden stepped towards him until they were nose to nose. His voice was low. ‘Just remember: the band comes first. Tonight was going great until she arrived, but you’ve been jumpy ever since. I will not let her interfere and ruin everything.’

  ‘Get over yourself, Linden.’ Rachel’s voice was sharp. ‘Nobody’s trying to interfere. Tabitha came to Wildley Forest to paint the tigers at the zoo. She wanted to open a shop, which, quite frankly, could bring trade into the village from outside. If people come from far afield to look at her art, they will spend money in the cafe; your mother’s cafe, no less. She will be an asset to this village. So mind your manners and if you can’t be kind and welcoming, keep your mouth shut. Now, are you going to play again, or should I just go home?’

  Linden stepped back, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he looked at them again, his gaze was clearer. ‘We are going to play, but this conversation is not finished.’

  ‘Too right it’s not.’ Dylan slammed his drink down on the table, slopping beer everywhere. He got up without a word and strode up to the stage, settling in behind the drums.

  Linden and GJ followed him up. GJ started a song Dylan could have played in his sleep, and he fumed as he drummed on autopilot.

  A few songs later, Linden took the mic. ‘For those of you who are new to Instantaneous Rock, let me introduce the boys. On guitar we have the cool, the fabulous GJ.’ GJ launched into an elaborate riff, his fingers flying over the fretboard. Someone whistled, someone else whooped and there was a smattering of applause. ‘At the back we have the tiger himself, did you see his tattoo? The fabulous Dylan McKenzie.’

  Dylan launched into a drum solo, losing himself in the complex rhythms that flowed out of his drumsticks like an extension of his own heartbeat. He knew his sticks would be a blur. So for a moment he stopped, sticks in mid-air, allowing the silence to fall through the echoes of his own beats. Then he counted himself in and flew through the final riff. The crowd were silent for a moment, and then they roared.

  Dylan stood up, raising his sticks into the air, and then shifted slightly so they could see his tattoo.

  ‘Thank you, Dylan.’ Linden rolled his eyes. ‘He does love the spotlight, that one. And finally, I am Linden on bass and vocals. Wildley Forest, I give you, Instantaneous Rock.’

  4

  Dylan

  The club was dark. The bass pounded through Dylan’s bones while he queued on the grand staircase in the entrance hall. He paid, and then walked down the corridor to the bar, peeling his feet off the sticky floor with each step. The club was sweaty and dank, and he shuddered as the stink of stale beer seeped into every pore of his skin. He had no idea why he had come. He was furious with Linden and GJ and wanted nothing to do with them. He had to get better at saying no.

  ‘Here.’ GJ handed him a pint.

  Dylan took a mouthful, nearly gagging when the watered-down beer hit the back of his throat. ‘Urgh, what is that?’

  GJ shrugged. ‘It was on offer.’

  ‘Great.’ Dylan gave the glass a disgusted look.

  ‘Well, you get in the next round then.’ GJ rolled his eyes and turned his back on Dylan.

  ‘We should get a late-night gig here,’ Linden frowned at the DJ. ‘We’d be a million times better than this.’

  ‘You want to be working at this time of night?’ GJ spread his arms wide. ‘You’ll have to do that one without me. Don’t get me wrong, I love performing, but after a full day’s work and a gig, I am definitely off the clock.’

  ‘What about you Dylan, would you be up for it? A double act, maybe? Or will you be too busy chasing after your new girlfriend?’

  Dylan’s anger boiled. ‘She is not my girlfriend and you know it.’

  He turned his back on them and pushed his way to the bar. Linden had an unnerving instinct for which girls Dylan really liked and bulldozed his chances every time.

  Ditching the watered-down pint, he ordered a bottle and a shot. Maybe oblivion would help. At the very least, he would forget this miserable evening. He downed the shot, ordered another and took a deep glug of beer. The alcohol warmed the edges of his consciousness and the racket in the club receded.

  He wondered what it would take for him to leave them behind and start something new? He had locked himself into this band a decade ago and seemed unable to let it go.

  He walked over to his friends, stumbling from the drink.

  ‘Are you okay there, mate?’ GJ suppressed a smile when Dylan gripped his arm. ‘You seem a bit cooked.’

  ‘Don’t be an arse.’ Dylan took another gulp of beer. ‘I’ve had enough of your games.’

  GJ’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Games? What games? You think Instantaneous Rock is a game?’

  ‘No, I think it’s a prison.’

  Linden narrowed his eyes. ‘Is it Wildley Forest that’s a prison? The band? Or just us?’

  ‘Don’t you want to get out of the village? To build a place in the outside world? To be free to be yourself?’

  Linden’s tone was glacial. ‘I have a place in the world. I don’t need another.’

  Dylan slammed his pint down on the table. ‘I’m going to the loo. Make sure they don’t clear away my drink.’

  He felt their eyes boring into his back as he wove his way towards the toilet, looking for a moment alone. He had called these men friends for a lifetime, but really they were drinking buddies. They didn’t know him much more than the fans who swarmed around the stage when he performed. They knew the Dylan they wanted to see, not the one that stood, isolated, below the surface. He paused in the hall outside the toilets and leaned against the wall, dropping his head back and closing his eyes. Anger threatened to swamp him.

  He didn’t know how long he’d stood there when a growl jerked him out of his reverie. His
heart pounded as he opened his eyes. Shit. The white tiger was back. Its gaze was locked on him from the opposite end of the hall, and it was coming his way. He took a deep breath, pushing his hands into the wall to steady himself.

  ‘It’s not real,’ he whispered. ‘It can’t be real.’ A real tiger would have caused panic in the pub. Besides, he had been the only one to see it.

  It growled again, louder this time, and moved silently towards him. He grunted, backing down the corridor, not taking his eyes off the tiger. The alcohol rolled through him and he tried to steady himself.

  He hit the end of the hall. Shit. There was no exit. He turned, putting his back to the wall.

  The tiger froze a mere foot away, rumbled again, and then turned around and walked back down the hall.

  ‘What the hell?’ Dylan whispered.

  He held his breath, watching it go. The moment it turned the corner he scrambled back down the hallway, lurched to the toilet letting the door bang against the wall, fell against the urinals and threw up, emptying his stomach.

  When he had finished, he collapsed against the floor, leaning his forehead against the cold tiles.

  ‘Dylan, are you okay?’ GJ’s voice was soft.

  Dylan felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. ‘No, I … did you see …?’ Dylan’s head pounded. He shook it, and then winced. ‘Never mind. I’m drunk. Ignore me. I’m going home.’ He climbed to his feet, picked up his jacket and pulled it on.

  ‘How much have you actually had tonight?’ GJ put a hand on his upper arm, steadying him.

  ‘God knows.’ Dylan dropped his head into his hands. ‘I need to get out of here. I need fresh air.’

  ‘I’ll take you home. Let me prop you up.’ GJ looped Dylan’s arm over his shoulders, taking his weight, and dragged him out of the toilets and down the hall.

  ‘About the new girl,’ GJ said.

  Dylan tensed. ‘What about her?’

  GJ’s jaw was set, his shoulders raised towards his ears. His eyes narrowed.