Beast

by Kate Harre

  As she came to the crest of the path, which opened up into a clearing around the lookout, she switched off the torch. She hadn’t been here before, but it was eerily familiar from her dream.

  A hand shot out, yanking her off the path and into the trees, straight into a hard and very familiar chest.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ Alex hissed under his breath, his fury barely contained. She could feel his heart pounding frantically where her face was pressed against his chest.

  ‘I saw Adrian’s car in the car park and then Maria said you were out here. Did you expect me just to sit and wait?’ she whispered.

  ‘Yes! Damn it, Annie, it’s too dangerous out here for you!’

  ‘I know Adrian. I don’t think he’s going to hurt me.’ She turned in his hold, forcing his arms to loosen slightly, so she could see back out onto the track. ‘Have you seen him?’

  She felt him nod. ‘He hasn’t changed into a wolf though, so we can’t be sure it’s him.’ He dropped his arms from around her, then reached for one hand, lacing his fingers through hers in a tight grip.

  ‘We’re going to head back down. Stick as close to me as you can and don’t let go of my hand,’ he murmured grimly in her ear. He was still mad at her. ‘It’s going to be rough going off the track, but you need to step as quietly and carefully as possible.’

  ‘But –‘

  ‘No buts. Your safety is more important than finding out whether Adrian is the shape shifter.’

  Reluctantly, Annie nodded. He took a step and she followed right behind him, carefully placing her foot where his had been, grateful for the moonlight filtering through the trees.

  They had only gone a short distance when Alex suddenly froze and looked back over his shoulder at her, raising a finger to his lips. Heavy footsteps were crunching on the track from the direction of the lookout, abruptly stopping, before there was a faint scraping noise.

  ‘Who’s there?’ Adrian called curtly.

  They didn’t move.

  ‘I know you’re in there.’ A beam of light pierced through the trees. Damn – she hadn’t even noticed she’d dropped the torch on the path when Alex had grabbed her. It was only a matter of time before Adrian found them.

  Annie tried to remove her hand from Alex’s grasp, but his fingers tightened like he knew what she was about to do. ‘I’m going to talk to him. You stay here.’

  ‘Like hell!’ Alex muttered angrily.

  ‘He’ll see you,’ Annie argued.

  ‘Come out, come out, whoever you are,’ Adrian taunted in a tone Annie had never heard from him before. He sounded almost excited, she thought sickly. There was no doubt in her mind now that Adrian was the murderer.

  Alex tensed and she knew he was thinking the same thing. ‘It’ll be okay,’ she whispered. ‘He’s not going to hurt me.’

  She retraced her steps, Alex hard on her heels. ‘Adrian? It’s Annie,’ she called, and stepped out onto the path just enough so he could see her, making sure Alex would still remain partially concealed in the foliage.

  ‘Annie?’ The torch beam flashed up to her face, momentarily blinding her. She put up her free hand to shield her eyes.

  ‘Could you keep the light away from my eyes?’

  The light bounced away from her abruptly and illuminated the edge of Alex’s arm. ‘Who’s with you?’

  ‘A friend,’ Annie said carefully.

  ‘The guy you wanted to go to Prom with?’ Adrian asked curiously, understanding dawning in his eyes. ‘Ahhh, I get it. You guys were coming up to the lookout for a little alone time. Sorry for interrupting.’

  Handing the torch to her, he waved in the direction of the lookout and turned back down the path. ‘By all means, don’t let me stop you.’

  Annie released her pent up breath, but then Adrian suddenly turned around again, his eyes narrowed. ‘Why were you hiding in the bushes? Did you think I was the killer?’

  ‘Of course not!’ Annie said quickly. ‘We were just… just staying out of sight while we were… making out.’

  ‘It’s stupid to be out here at the moment.’ He frowned. ‘If your “friend” was a decent guy he wouldn’t have brought you here. Maybe he’s the elusive killer.’

  ‘He’s not.’

  ‘How can you be so sure? How can anybody really know what another person is like inside?’ He strode back up the path until he was standing right in front of Annie. He lifted his hand and ran his index finger from her temple to her chin. Her flesh puckered in reaction and she had to swallow down her reflexive gag. ‘We all have a dark side.’

  Alex abruptly released her hand and his fist flew up and smashed into the side of Adrian’s face. ‘Get your hands off her!’ he roared.

  Adrian’s head snapped to the side and he stumbled back a step, lifting a hand to his face. With an angry snarl, his head spun back around and Annie took an involuntary step backwards. Adrian’s eyes were blood red and when he opened his mouth it was full of razor sharp incisors.

  ‘Oh crap,’ she muttered. She really hadn’t wanted to be right.

  Alex’s arm shot out and he thrust her behind him. ‘Get back into the trees.’

  Adrian swiped at Alex, long claws extending from his distorted fingertips. Alex ducked, then launched himself upright, landing a punch deep into Adrian’s stomach. Annie hastily stepped off the path into the bush, not because she was scared but to leave Alex plenty of room to move.

  Roaring loudly, Adrian’s whole body arched backwards, a series of loud clicks punctuating the air like gunshots as his body realigned itself. Annie had seen this happen once before in her dream.

  ‘He’s changing!’ she yelled at Alex.

  ‘Run!’ he shouted back. This time Annie didn’t hesitate. She stomped through the bushes, circling around Adrian’s writhing body before bursting back onto the track. She looked over her shoulder as she ran down the path, checking for Alex. He was right behind her, slowed down only because he kept spinning around waiting for Adrian to appear. He didn’t have to wait long.

  The wolf came flying down the path, its muscles bunching and extending in ground devouring strides. There was no way they could outrun it.

  Alex skidded to a halt, yelling at her to keep running, before turning and facing the wolf. Annie knew she should keep going, but her feet felt like they were welded to the ground. She couldn’t take her eyes off what was happening in front of her.

  The wolf launched itself into the air, swatting Alex to the ground before it landed on the path behind him and spun back. Vaulting upright, Alex threw himself into a backwards flip, kicking the wolf in the jaw as his legs carried through the motion. The wolf howled and threw itself at Alex.

  Annie watched as Alex ducked and dived, using his greater agility and acrobatic ability to dodge the wolf time and again. The parkour he’d demonstrated to her was proving to be more useful than either of them could have imagined, but Annie could see that he was beginning to tire. Fit though he was, the wolf had the incredible endurance of his species, which Alex couldn’t hope to match in a drawn out battle.

  He rolled across the wolf’s back, avoiding its attempt to pin him to a tree, but he stumbled as he landed and lost traction. The few seconds it took for Alex to regain his footing were all the wolf needed. It jumped, its full body weight propelling Alex backwards to the ground and slamming his head into the packed dirt. Finally, Annie’s feet unglued themselves. Without consciously thinking about it, she sprinted up the track, the torch gripped in her right hand. She swung it with all her strength at the wolf’s face, smashing it right below the beast’s eye. Blood spurted out over her arm, coating Alex’s face, and momentarily blinding the wolf.

  ‘Quickly,’ she half sobbed, grabbing one of Alex’s arms and helping tug him free from beneath Adrian. Heaving in a great breath of air once his chest was free from the weight of the wolf, he stumbled unsteadily to his feet.

  Annie turned back to the wolf. It was shaking its head, trying to clear its eyes, blood clott
ing its fur and dripping off its jaw. She’d felt the fear that the two other girls had felt in this moment, but only now did she truly understand what it was like. She’d wounded it, but there was still no way they could outrun it. For a moment she felt completely helpless, but then something stirred inside her and rage set in.

  ‘Damn you, Adrian!’ she yelled, slamming her hands on her hips. ‘Why are you doing this? You’re better than this!’

  The wolf growled.

  ‘Annie,’ Alex warned, his voice woozy. Annie grimaced; the blow to his head had been hard.

  The wolf slowly stalked her, unimpressed with her angry verbal assault. Annie backed away step for step.

  ‘You’re a coward, Adrian,’ she muttered contemptuously, before she could think better of it.

  With a ferocious roar, the wolf lurched forward and swiped at her. Annie jumped back, but she was too slow. As Alex launched himself between them, the wolf’s claws made contact, dragging down her throat to her chest. The pain was excruciating, but as she fell to the ground her gaze was locked in fascination on Alex. Adrenalin had given him desperate momentum and he thrust his fist upwards into the soft part of the wolf’s throat, punching backwards and choking off the animal’s air supply. With a loud gurgle, it dropped heavily to the ground.

  Warm blood gushed through Annie’s fingertips where she tried to hold her open wound together, but she didn’t feel panicked. Alex was going to be okay. As her eyes drifted closed, she smiled.

  Chapter 15

  Jake reached across the small table in the coffee shop and covered Karen’s hand with his own. Perturbed to notice that his fingers were trembling slightly, he willed them to stop. He was a grown man and he’d known this woman for more than twenty years – it was completely uncool to be so nervous.

  Her beautiful hazel eyes flew to his. ‘What are you doing, Jake?’

  ‘I think you know.’ He cleared his throat and then decided to just jump right in. ‘I want you back, sweetheart. I’ll give up the band, move here… whatever it takes.’

  ‘Jake –‘ Karen shook her head helplessly.

  ‘Back when we first got married, I thought I needed recognition and fame. I wanted to prove to you, to everyone really, that I could make it big.’

  ‘And you did. You deserved the recognition, Jake. Your talent is remarkable,’ she said with a gentle smile, easing her hand out from under his.

  Gritting his teeth in frustration, he took a deep, calming breath. If he could explain, perhaps she’d understand. ‘All that stuff turned out to be empty. When I lost you and Annie, I didn’t notice for a while just how shallow my life was. There were so many people around me, filling those gaps, and then one day I got off the stage and there they all were… and all I could think was if my life was so great why did I feel broken?’

  Karen looked away, but not before he saw the pain in her eyes. Pain he’d put there. He’d hurt her – so many times – and now he wondered if those layers of pain and betrayal had built up a wall he would never penetrate. She cared about him, but what if she couldn’t forgive him? Facing that possibility, he was scared he’d taken too long to change, damaged her too badly.

  ‘You took away a huge chunk of me when you left,’ he said, his voice splintering over the words. ‘And I never got it back.’

  ‘It was the same for me,’ she whispered. ‘But we can’t revisit the past, Jake. We have to move on.’

  ‘I don’t want to move on. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, Karen, and… I haven’t slept with anyone else in over two years now,’ he admitted gruffly, hoping she’d see it as a sign he’d grown up.

  Karen snorted, finally meeting his eyes again. Hers were filled with a blend of amusement and disdain and it made him feel small. ‘I find that extremely difficult to believe.’

  ‘It’s true,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Sure,’ she scoffed, unwilling to give him an inch.

  Jake looked down at the table and linked his hands together. This next bit was going to be more difficult than anything he’d ever done. ‘I need to tell you about the last time I slept with someone.’

  ‘I so don’t want to hear it!’ Karen pushed her chair back and started to rise.

  His hand shot out and grabbed her arm. ‘I know. But you need to,’ he said in a desperate rush, his eyes pleading with her. ‘Please.’

  She stared at him, her delicate face strained and taut with indecision.

  ‘Please,’ he repeated. ‘Once I’ve told you, if it makes no difference, I’ll go back to L.A. – or at least I will as soon as the Sherriff’s caught the shape shifter. And I promise I won’t flirt with you anymore, try to win you back or anything.’

  Sinking reluctantly back into her seat, she eyed him warily. ‘Make it quick.’

  ‘The night you rang to tell me about Annie’s first dream, there was a woman in my bed. I could hear my baby girl falling apart in the background. I could hear the distress, confusion and fear in your voice. And while all that had been going on, while your world was disintegrating… I’d been having sex with a woman whose name I can’t even remember!’ he said, self-loathing reverberating through his voice. ‘You both needed me and I was on the other side of the country having fun!’

  Karen’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Don’t do this, Jake. You got to us as quickly as you could. You never could have anticipated something so completely bizarre happening to Annie – none of us could.’

  ‘But I wasn’t there,’ he said firmly, not letting her absolve him of the blame. ‘And that’s what I’ll never forgive myself for. If I hadn’t been so busy wanting to take everything life had to offer me, we would still have been together and I would have been there, where you both needed me to be.’

  ‘You were young, we both were.’

  Jake looked at Karen, his expression tight with pain. ‘The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do was get back on that plane to L.A. and leave you both behind again. I so badly wanted to stay with you, but I’d given up that right and I had to respect your boundaries… even though it was tearing me apart.’

  ‘I didn’t realise you felt like that.’

  ‘Why do you think I was ringing all the time, making excuses to visit New York whenever I could? I felt so useless sitting in L.A. while the two of you soldiered on without me.’ He grimaced feelingly. ‘You’re my best friend, the love of my life and for the last two odd years I’ve been missing you, needing you, wanting you with every beat of my heart.’

  ‘Jake –‘

  ‘I know I don’t deserve you. I’m aware I’ve screwed up more times than any woman should have to forgive. But I haven’t slept with anyone since that night and, to be honest, the thought of sleeping with anyone other than you kind of creeps me out.’ He shuddered feelingly.

  Karen bit back a smile. ‘Jake –‘

  ‘If it helps, I’ll promise not to sleep with you again until we get remarried,’ he continued doggedly. ‘I’m not saying it will be easy because I want you so much and even though we’re divorced, in my head and my heart, you’ve always been my wife.’

  ‘I –‘

  ‘It’s too soon to talk about that, isn’t it? I’ve rushed things again,’ he suddenly realised, his voice forlorn. ‘Please don’t hold it against me, because I really can’t bear to walk away from you one more time. I love you, sweetheart and if you’ll –‘

  ‘Will you just shut up and let me get a word out,’ Karen suddenly shouted, drawing the surprised attention of the other patrons in the coffee shop. She blushed and apologised. Then she dropped her voice to a near whisper, ‘I love you, you stupid man. And the only promise you have to keep is that you’ll never touch another woman again.’

  Jake slowly began to smile and it was filled with awe for this special woman he’d somehow been lucky enough to make love him. He held up his right hand. ‘I swear.’

  Getting up, Karen reached out her hand for his. ‘Now I’d like you to take me home so we can make out like we did when we were kids. It’s
been a long time since I’ve been kissed and I expect you to do a good job of it.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am,’ Jake drawled, a wide grin spreading across his face.

  *

  Crashing to his knees beside Annie, Alex ripped off his windbreaker and t-shirt with one hand while he anxiously felt for her pulse. It was weak, but she was still alive. Bunching his t-shirt up, he pressed it against the long wound and then passed his windbreaker underneath her back and tied it over the top of the t-shirt. Scooping her carefully into his arms, he staggered to his feet, hoping desperately the makeshift bandage would staunch the blood flow enough until he could get her help.

  His body was exhausted and his head still felt a bit fuzzy but he wouldn’t let himself think about that. If he listened to his body, Annie would die and he might as well die along with her. As he stumbled off the path into the trees, he glanced back at the wolf. He hadn’t killed it. If he’d taken the time to do so, Annie might have died too. It remained down for the moment, but he didn’t know for how long.

  ‘Hold on, Princess,’ he murmured frantically. ‘You have to hold on for me. You’re strong; just keep breathing… please.’

  He crashed through the forest, following an unseen path he hadn’t taken in months. Sweat trickled down his forehead and into his eyes, virtually blinding him and he tripped, almost falling. He struggled to hold onto Annie as he righted himself, but somehow his screaming muscles cooperated. Glancing down, he saw her blood had completely soaked through his t-shirt and windbreaker.

  ‘Please, God,’ he pleaded desperately, forcing his legs to move faster. ‘I can’t lose her.’

  At last he saw a light in the distance and pushed on, bursting into the clearing with more speed than grace. He slammed against the door of the small, isolated cottage, using his body to knock. It opened abruptly and he fell into the house, twisting so Annie’s limp body was on top of him as he crashed to the floor.