Embracing the Wolf

by Catherine Bybee

  The happy parents accepted congratulations and listened patiently to several pieces of unsolicited advice. It was near to impossible to slip out of the room. Even with the crowd.

  Janet tapped the side of the bed suggesting Kate sit down. A small amount of concern etched itself upon her face. Kate slid a glance to Richard who was busy talking to one of Janet’s friend just outside the door of the room.

  “Is everything okay?” Janet whispered.

  Not wanting to burden the new mother she lifted the corners of her mouth and said, “It’s been a long night. I’ll bet you’re tired.”

  “I am about to hit the wall.”

  “Want me to push everyone out?”

  “In a few minutes.”

  A few minutes turned into thirty. Richard and Max successfully removed all visitors, promising they could come back the next day.

  “Can we bring you back anything from the house?” Kate asked before they left.

  “No, we have everything.”

  Kate kissed Janet’s cheek and told her to get some sleep before the three of them left the room.

  Richard said very little as they walked through the halls of the hospital. Instead of returning to the Emergency Room, he reached into his pocket and handed a foil wrapped pill to her.

  “What is this?”

  “One of the ER doctors visiting Janet was able to get this for you, without the wait,” he said without emotion. “It’s what you wanted, right?”

  Joey pulled away and pushed the down button on the elevator.

  She lowered her eyes and tucked the pill in her purse. Right at that moment, Kate wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Heat came in the form of sweat beading down her face and neck like the flow of a river. She had to hurry! Why, she didn’t know. If she didn’t her life would change forever, and not for the better.

  She had to find him, quickly before the others did. He would die if left alone.

  The sky was dark, illuminated only by the light of the full moon. The air was thick, humid like a summer day in Ohio.

  Kate stopped. Her lungs struggled for breath. Her chest heaved with every ragged bit of air she pulled into her body. She twisted in circles trying to hear him.

  Nothing.

  Then, a howl went up, shattering the silence.

  “Oh, no!”

  She started running again. He had to be close. The wolf told her he was...

  Kate shot up in bed, her breathing erratic.

  “Dammit!” She shook the dream from her head and tossed back the covers of her bed. Her empty bed.

  Every night since Richard left her side, she had the same dream, each one more intense than the last.

  She went over to the window, opened it, and tried to catch a night breeze. The still air coming through her window wasn’t enough to erase the nightmare that woke her.

  Grabbing her robe, she opened her bedroom door and silently walked down the hall to the stairs.

  The backdoor would chime, but only three little beeps. Kate didn’t care. She needed air, and she needed it now.

  Outside the night fell around her. The cool late spring evening wasn’t cold by any means. Refreshing was a better definition.

  Kate walked over to the night blooming jasmine and took a deep breath. The sweet smell of flowers calmed the rapid pace of her heart.

  Her life was out of control. It didn’t take a psychologist to analyze her dreams. Useless and unable to get out of her current situation left her feeling vulnerable and unsure. Kate remembered similar dreams before Joey was born, dreams of running, hiding, and fear.

  They had returned, and with them the same sense of dread and trepidation a pregnant teenager faced.

  She needed to get her life back. Kate closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair in frustration.

  The sound of a twig snapping on the backside of the pool caught her attention and had her straining to see the cause.

  Kate searched the darkness, her heartbeat started to rise.

  Crickets chirped or did whatever it was that made their noise, and the occasional hoot of an owl kept the night from complete quiet.

  Off to the right, a blur of movement had her swallowing hard. Something was there.

  Her breath caught, her eyes grew wide.

  I’m losing it. It’s probably nothing more than a rabbit or a raccoon.

  Still, the uneasy feeling of someone or something watching, weighed upon her like the thick dark of night.

  ****

  He couldn’t sleep. Three days and three nights had passed since their argument. They said very little to each other in that time. During the day, the house overcrowded with family and friends, all wanting to see Brandy and to congratulate the new parents.

  His parents met Kate and Joey. Both, separately, gave him their approval. Not that he’d asked for it, but his parents had never mastered the art of staying out of his personal life.

  Avoiding Kate’s bed to clear his mind was a challenge. Finding her in the Emergency Room sent him a message of uncertainty.

  Oh, he understood her motives.

  What he didn’t understand were his own.

  Kate didn’t do anything wrong ‘taking care of their careless behavior,’ in fact she simply did what Richard had hoped many of his past lovers would have done in the same situation. But with her it was different.

  Wrong somehow.

  Tossing back the sheets, he reached for his boxers and pulled them on.

  Outside his door, he heard the soft chime of a door opening.

  Instantly on alert, he turned on his monitor and scrolled through the video surveillance of Max’s home.

  Outside on the back porch, he saw her. Both hands rested on the wrought iron rail. Her head hung between her shoulders in a defeated stance.

  Glancing at the clock, he noted the time, 2:30 in the morning.

  He walked down the hall and heard footsteps behind him. Turning, he saw Max coming his way.

  “Did you hear the door breach?”

  “It’s Kate, she’s out back.”

  Max nodded and glanced back toward his bedroom.

  “Go back to bed. The baby’s bound to be up anytime.”

  “All right.” Moving like a zombie, Max retreated.

  Neither he nor Janet had recouped from the delivery before Brandy started making demands on their every hour, Richard thought.

  Richard smiled and made his way down the stairs.

  The smell of fear and scent of a stranger hit his nose long before he made it out the back door.

  Kate peered off in the distance and didn’t hear his approach. A sixth sense told him they weren’t alone.

  He placed a hand on her shoulder.

  Kate’s scream pierced the air as she turned in his direction. “Don’t do that,” she yelled.

  Movement in the bushes beyond the perimeter of the yard caught his eye. Without a word, he pulled Kate into the house and hit the floodlights illuminating the whole yard.

  He stepped out and lifted his nose to the air. Turning his head, he heard the faint sound of running. He considered giving chase, but from the scent, the man was too far away to catch.

  After walking back inside, he shut off the lights and closed the door behind him.

  “Was someone out there?”

  “Yes. You shouldn’t have gone outside at night without someone with you. What are you doing up anyway?”

  Kate ignored his question and peered through the glass of the door. “How could you tell? I didn’t see anything. I thought it was a rabbit.”

  “It was a man.” Only a man, he added for himself. Not a werewolf. “If I hadn’t heard the door chime, he could have snatched you right off the porch.”

  “Shouldn’t we call the police?”

  “He won’t be back.”

  Kate put a hand to her chest and took a deep breath. “How can you tell? How do you know it was a man?”

  “I just do. You have
to trust me.” Now wasn’t the time to explain his ‘soon to be furry existence.’

  His eyes met her pinched brows.

  “I’m not a child, Richard. I would appreciate you not treating me like one,” she scolded.

  “When are you going to realize the threat to you is real and stop taking unnecessary risks?”

  She backed away, eyes flaring. “What risks? I’ve done everything you said for almost a month.”

  “Not when you snuck down to the Emergency Room.”

  “Oh, so that is what this is all about? You’re still angry about that.”

  Moving away, he did his best to keep his elevating temper at bay. Yeah, he was ticked about it, but not for the reasons she thought. He almost wished she would end up pregnant so the decision to keep her by his side would be easy. Maybe it was a coward’s way out of admitting his feelings for her, but he didn’t care. Somehow marching up to her and saying, ‘Well, okay you’re pregnant. Guess that means we’re getting married,’ would be easier than asking and possibly being rejected.

  “Just stay inside.”

  “For how long? My arm’s nearly healed and my rent is due. Sooner or later I need to get my life back.”

  He swallowed hard. A life without him wasn’t an option. “I don’t want you going back to that apartment.”

  Her mouth gaped open. “Who died and left you boss?”

  “I mean it, Katie. You’re not going back to that rat trap.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are? Sleeping with me doesn’t give you the right to dictate my life.”A quick pivot and she moved toward the living room.

  He grasped her arm and turned her towards him. “You can’t go back there.”

  Tugging her arm free, she met his glare and lowered her voice to an icy pitch. “I can go where I want, when I want. If there is such a threat to me here, maybe I should just pack Joey up and get the hell out of Dodge.”

  This conversation was digging a very deep hole, and he started to realize what the woman in front of him was capable of doing. The last thing he wanted was her disappearing into the night.

  Alone.

  “I didn’t mean...”

  A small voice reached them from the stairs, “I don’t want to go away, Mommy.”

  Joey held his life-long blanket in one hand and wiped away tears with the other.

  “Oh, Joey.” Kate rounded the stairs and knelt by his side.

  “Are we going away?”

  Richard watched while she pulled her son into her arms, lifted him, and went down the remaining stairs. Once seated on the couch she leaned back to consider his tear-streaked face.

  “We can’t stay here forever. The Ritters have been very gracious, but this isn’t our home.”

  “Can we stay with Richard?”

  Kate glanced beyond her son directly at him. Uncertainty crossed her face.

  “Of course―”

  “No, Joey,” she interrupted him. “Richard and I are friends, but that doesn’t mean we can live with him.”

  He wanted to correct her, but doing so would confuse the child and make matters worse.

  “Can’t Richard move in with us? You like me and Mommy, don’t you?”

  Everything was simple in the eyes of a six-year-old.

  “You and Mommy can sleep in the same bed like you did at your house. That would be okay, right?”

  Kate sent Richard a pleading look.

  “It’s really late, sport. How about we talk about this in the morning?” Richard knelt down next to them both and placed a reassuring hand on Joey’s shoulder. He was trembling. “Everything is going to be okay.”

  “But you and Mommy were fighting.”

  “We were talking, Joey. Sometimes grownups talk a little loud, but that doesn’t mean we’re fighting. Come on. Let’s get you back to bed.”

  Kate stood, put Joey’s tiny hand in hers, and led him up the stairs. She glanced at him over her shoulder, lowered her eyes, and left him staring after her.

  ****

  “That was stupid, fucking crazy.”

  L.J. ran his finger through his hair and wished his partner had more of a backbone. Putting fight into Cutter proved fruitless. She was standing right there, no one around, and nothing to stop them from nabbing her. Then Mr. Dickhead showed up. All Cutter could do was moan.

  “Pick another broad!”

  “Shut up! Just shut the hell up!” He had to think. Time was running out. With only two days until the full moon and no chance at bagging the chick his monthly quota wasn’t met. By now he normally had them pegged, bagged and caged if they weren’t already turned.

  L.J. took the curve at a high rate of speed, putting distance between his soon-to-be conquest and himself.

  “Sally was giving you the eye. Why not stay with her for a while? She has big tits and everything,” Cutter called from the passenger seat.

  Sally did have a set, but an old set by his standards. He’d already seen them and done them, he needed someone new to get him going. It was time for new. Ideas formed in his head. New, fresh ideas. Tomorrow would be a better day. A much more fruitful day.

  ****

  Kate snuck out of Joey’s room as quietly as she could to keep him from waking. It had taken over an hour to get him back to sleep.

  In the hall, beside her bedroom door, Richard had fallen asleep. She stopped and stared at his head fallen back against the wall, his hand limp in his lap.

  What was she going to do with him? Just when she thought he was the most unreasonable person in the world, he goes and does something like this...sleeping in the hallway waiting for her.

  Kate gave his shoulder a little shake. He came to life immediately.

  “Is he asleep?” he asked, trying to act as though he hadn’t been in slumberland himself.

  “Much like you. What are you doing out here, Richard?”

  He stood and signaled for her to follow. Inside his room, he flipped on the light and motioned for her to sit.

  “I don’t think he needs to hear us argue.”

  “I agree,” she wiped the tired from her eyes. She was sick of arguing, too.

  “Listen...”

  “Listen...” they both spoke at the same time. Kate smiled and lowered her head. “We’re both tired. We can talk in the morning.”

  Richard watched as she stood but didn’t move away from the door. “I’ve had a lot of things on my mind, a few of which I need to tell you about.”

  Something in his voice kept her wondering exactly what he was thinking. “Can it wait, until we’re both awake?”

  He nodded, “Yeah, it can wait.”

  Kate moved around him, shoulders touching. He stopped her with his arm, gazed into her eyes. In one stealthy move, he placed his lips to hers, which sent her heart to flight. He wanted her. God help her she wanted him, too.

  Pulling away before a simple kiss turned into something more, he stood back. “Try and get some sleep,” he told her.

  Fat chance. “You too,” she said instead.

  ****

  Kate stretched her limbs with the first rays of sunshine that poured through her window. Surprisingly, Joey wasn’t at her side. Then again, most likely he still slept after his late night drama.

  Sleep was near to impossible for her as well, and eluded her until nearly five o’clock. Visions of Richard, Joey, and the dratted wolf from the holdup kept her awake.

  Kicking off the covers, Kate padded her way to the shower and turned on the water. In the few hours she lay awake, Kate had made some decisions.

  Living with the Ritters indefinitely was not an option. Joey was starting to confuse the situation and push Richard into a role he simply wasn’t ready to take on. Oh, his chivalrous I’ll take care of you attitude, was nice and all, but to her son, Richard’s gallantry was developing into fatherhood.

  Shaking the water off her limbs proved pain free. A sure sign her body had healed from her ordeal. It was time she got her life back. Of course, the possibility of a m
an hiding on the Ritter’s property the previous evening and stalking her slipped her conscious mind. She had already excused it away as an animal.

  Kate nestled her cell phone to her ear and made the call that should put her back in the driver’s seat of her life. It was a risk, but one she needed to make. As the phone rang, her anxiety increased. The person picked up, and Kate swallowed hard and prayed she wasn’t making a huge mistake.

  ****

  Kate went downstairs to gurgling noises coming from the kitchen. The unmistakable sounds of adults making baby talk brought a smile to her face.

  Janet appeared exhausted and hunched over a cup of coffee while she watched Uncle Richard ogle over Brandy. Glancing at her when she walked in the room, Richard’s already grinning face lit up further.

  ”Good morning,” Janet said.

  Kate reached for the coffee pot and helped herself.

  “Good morning. Where’s Joey?”

  Janet put her cup down and went to the refrigerator. “I thought he was with you?”

  “No, he didn’t come in my room last night,” Kate said. “Richard, have you seen Joey this morning?”

  “He’s probably not up yet.”

  It was after seven. Joey was up at six thirty religiously. Unease slid up her spine. The coffee forgotten, Kate went back upstairs and pushed open the door to Joey’s room with a little nudge. Expecting to see his small head resting on the pillow, she was more than a little alarmed to find his room empty.

  She stepped inside and said his name. Her heartbeat sped up. “Joey?” her voice called louder. His closet was empty.

  Down the hall where he used the bathroom the door was open, the room dark. “Joey?” Shivers ran down her spine. “Joey!” she was yelling now and just this side of panic.

  The hallway loomed in front of her. Her recent nightmares unfolded into reality. “Joey!”

  She ran down the stairs, everything blurred as terror took over. Richard stopped her flight out the front door with a questioning stare.

  “He’s gone.”

  “He’s not up in his room?”

  “No. He’s not.” Pushing past him, Kate moved to the front door, opened it, and yelled at the top of her lungs. “Joey!” She flew off the porch.