All of these pictures depicted a very happy family and a pain stung my chest at my own loss. I had had memories like that as well.
As I stared at the photos of a once happy Dane, I recognized the feelings I had for him stirring inside like wild butterflies in a jar begging to be set free. It took my breath away.
I sat the photo in its place and stepped back, suddenly realizing that it was a mistake to be here. I was putting my heart in further danger with every passing minute.
“Fancy, I think we should leave.”
“Cali, I think I found something,” she called to me from another room.
I located her in one of the bedrooms. She was staring down at a piece of paper. “Look at this.” She handed it to me.
As I read it, my heart broke. It was an obituary of his parents. They were both killed in what the paper described as a freak hunting accident, but I knew the truth. That meant that a were-creature had killed his parents; just like what happened to Blake and us.
“Cali!” Fancy’s voice was alarmed. I heard it too; a car door shut.
I put the paper back in its place and grabbed Fancy’s arm. We rushed for the window, but it was too late. He was on the front porch, fondling his keys.
“Fancy, you have to leave out the back. I’ll distract him. I’m sure he’s caught my scent by now anyway.”
“But…”
“I’ll be okay. Now, go.”
She headed for the back door just as Dane entered the front door.
“Cali?” He said into the air as he came into the living room.
I took a deep breath and tried to steady my heartbeat. I knew I was gonna have to wing it. “Yes, it’s me. I’m right here,” I responded, planting my butt quickly on the sofa.
He turned on the lamp beside me and stared down at me. “What are you doing here?” He then studied the open window behind me. “I see how you got in.”
“Yeah, umm, sorry about that. I needed to get out of the house, you know, all the girl drama and stuff. When I saw that you were gone, I thought I’d come in and wait for you. I know it’s not cool. I’m sorry. I went against my better judgement.”
“No, it’s okay,” he was saying as he glanced around the room. “I smell Fancy.”
“Oh, well I was with her right before I came here. You probably smell her on me.”
He nodded slightly, eyeing me with suspicion. “Yea, you’re probably right.”
My breathing slowed a little at the thought that he was buying my story. Whew!
“Are you sure you’re not here for another reason?” he asked, his voice turning stern.
I followed his gaze to the mantel. Oh crap! One of the photos had fallen over!
“Oh, weeeeell…” I stood and began to walk backward.
He approached me with fervency in his stride, and within seconds had me backed against the wall with both hands placed on either side of me.
I was trapped.
“Why is it that you’re really here?” he asked, his warm breath brushing against my face like a caress. His rich golden eyes peered deeply into mine, and I was lost.
I couldn’t think. My brain had turned to a thick mush and I went on mere instinct. My lips brushed against his, quick and soft. I pulled back and peered into his eyes, questioning. The look in his eyes had changed. The anger was gone, replaced by desire. I had never seen it in the eyes of a man looking at me before, but there was no mistaking it now.
His response was swift and scary. His lips came down on mine hot and hard as his arms wrapped around me, pulling me against him.
I inched my hands into his hair as the kiss continued to deepen.
“Mmm, you taste like candy,” he whispered, not even breaking the kiss as his grip tightened around me.
I knew I was gone, because I could no longer feel anything but his lips and hands on me. I never wanted the moment to end…and then it did, quickly and abruptly. He pulled away from me and stepped back a few feet.
He rubbed his hands through his hair as if he was distraught. “I’m sorry about that, Calico. I-I lost control. I try never to do that.”
“It’s okay, Dane. It was more me than you.” I tried to approach him, but he backed away.
“I’m sorry, Calico. This is not about you. It’s just better if we stay friends. Trust me, you don’t want a guy like me. I have a hard time staying in control.”
I approached him this time and he didn’t back away. “You should let me be the judge of that. I’m not a little girl anymore. I can take care of myself.”
His eyes softened and compassion filled his expression. “Yea, I can see that, but you don’t understand. You and I, we’re, well we’re not the same. I am different. It would be a bad idea if we gave into these feelings.”
All I heard in that speech was the words ‘feelings’. “So you do have feelings for me then?”
He sighed. “Yes, of course I do, but you’re not listening to me. I am a monster. I’m not a were-cougar or anything like that.”
Suddenly my ears perked up to what he was saying. And if what he was saying was true then we really couldn’t be together. Were-creatures didn’t mix unless they were close, like a were-cougar and a were-jaguar or something like that. Sometimes we even fell in love with humans, but that was extremely rare. Actually, I had only heard of that once with the Drake werewolf pack, but the werewolves were bolder in defying the rules.
I lowered my head in defeat. “I get it.” Then I lifted my head and stared into his gentle grey eyes. I touched my hand to his face and stroked it softly. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch.
I dropped my hand and backed away as the anger at the situation grew within me with a great intensity.
“Let me just go on record to say that this really sucks! Okay!” I was suddenly in a full-blown hissy fit, pacing about the room and swinging my arms around like a madwoman. “I mean I have never fallen in love before and as soon as I do fate would laugh at me like this!!”
“Wait!” Dane said, grabbing my arm and spinning me to face him. “Did you say you were in love with me?”
The look on his face brought tears to my eyes. “It doesn’t matter anymore. We can never be together.”
He dropped his hands and lowered his head. I took that moment to run from the room and out of the front door.
“Calico!” he called after me, but I couldn’t stop.
Once I was in the safety of my bedroom, I collapsed on my bed and the waterworks began. It didn’t stop until the wee hours of the morning when I was exhausted and every tear was spent.
Chapter Fourteen
Thankfully, the next day was my day off. The girls all had to work so I had the house to myself. This was bad because I had no one to hold me accountable. I stayed in my pajamas and ate all day, feeling sorry for myself and watching soap operas. First, I ate a whole jar of Nutella from the cabinet and three rolls of Spree. After that, I finished the tub of strawberry ice cream and then moved to the awful cookies that we made to torture Dane. Just the thought of him brought a pain to my chest. I cringed as I ate one cookie after the other. It wasn’t like I would be putting any more cookies in his mailbox anymore. That gig was up. It had lost all its appeal. I mean if I had known that I could never be with Dane I would’ve just continued on denying that I even liked the guy. I should never have gone to his home. Seeing his family so happy and knowing we both shared in the same pain of losing our parents, it sealed the deal for me.
By the time the girls came home from work, I was feeling really sick from all the junk I had eaten and had vomited three times. Being in love really sucks!
When the next day arrived, I knew I couldn’t call out sick; I hadn’t been working at the library long enough. It would look bad, so I sucked it up and got dressed.
I made it through my shift without any tears, or vomiting, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get my frown to turn upside down. My breath caught in my throat when I spotted Dane. He strolled into the library and sat s
ome books down on the counter.
He smiled gently and walked to his normal bookshelf and disappeared.
In that brief moment, I had observed that he had bags under his eyes and looked as bad as I felt. I had never seen him look any way except pulled together and confident. This gave me some comfort. At least I wasn’t the only one, suffering all alone. He appeared to be affected as well.
I waited at the counter for him to resurface. It took fifteen minutes before he reappeared. He had several more books in his arms and he approached slowly, placing the books on the counter in front of me.
“How are you, Calico?” His voice was a soft whisper.
I looked up and our eyes locked. “I’m doing okay,” I lied. “And you?”
“I’m doing okay,” he also lied.
This was a sad scenario and it broke my heart. Here we were two people who had finally admitted we had feeling for each other after all this time, and the rules said we couldn’t be together. Things would be so much easier to accept if I only knew what he was. But I was not going to break into his home again.
I managed to focus on my task in ringing up his books. I handed him his receipt and his hand swept across mine as he took it. I gasped and looked up at him. He gave me a weak and forced smile, took his books, and left the building.
That evening, I didn’t have an appetite for supper; instead I went out onto the front porch and sat in the swing. I didn’t even have the heart to swing. I just sat there, slumped over and sulking.
I didn’t look up as Tabby came out and took a seat beside me.
“Want to tell me about it?” she asked. Her voice was gentle and full of love as she placed her hand on my leg.
“Tabby, why does it have to be so hard to be like us?”
“Oh, Cali, it’s hard to be anyone these days. We’re just blessed to be alive and to have each other. We always make the best out of what we’ve been given. You know it’s not bad to be different.”
I looked up at her then. “Sometimes it is.”
“Does this have anything to do with Dane Savage?”
“Why do you say that?” I asked, pretending to be oblivious.
“I’m not stupid you know. We all have seen the way you two interact. You have had feelings for each other since the very beginning.”
I sighed. “I think I’m in love with him,” I confessed.
“Yes, I think you’re right.”
“But it’s so soon. We shouldn’t be in love this soon, right?”
“Cali, you guys have been going back and forth for months now. Besides, were-creatures aren’t like humans. Our feelings are hard to ignore, and once we love, we love hard. But we all knew Dane was different than us. You had to know this could happen, right?”
“The truth is I didn’t think about that. I mean I knew he was different, but I thought perhaps he was a jaguar or even a cheetah. In that case we could still be together. He must be something powerful, like a werewolf or a were-coyote, or maybe even a were-fox. In any of those cases we can never be together.”
“Oh, Cali, don’t be so sad. This might work out yet. Let’s just take it day by day and see what happens.”
I nodded in agreement, but I couldn’t stop the moisture growing in my eyes. She pulled me into her arms and cradled me as the tears spilled down my cheeks.
“It’s times like these that I really miss Mom,” Tabby said. “She would be so much better at this than I am.”
I hugged her tighter. “Oh, Tab, you’re doing just fine.”
Chapter Fifteen
Dane stayed away from the library for the next couple of weeks. I guess it was actually a good thing, but I missed seeing him.
I was shocked when I opened my front door, heading to the car, and spotted Blake swinging on my porch swing, waiting for me.
“Cali, can we talk?”
“Um, well, I have to get to work.”
“Please. It’ll just take a minute.”
“Fine,” I said as I walked to him and took a seat on the swing.
“I know you’ve been avoiding me. What I need to know is why? I thought we were getting along well.”
“Okay, the truth is I have feelings for Dane Savage. I didn’t really realize it until recently. I’m sorry, Blake, but I can’t help the way I feel.”
He sighed and lowered his head, looking down at his feet. “I was afraid of that. I thought I sensed that you two had feelings, but I hoped I was wrong. I thought if you got to know me that maybe you would fall for me instead. I mean, I’m a cougar just like you. Who knows what that sissy Savage guy is.”
“It doesn’t matter what he is. It wouldn’t change the way I feel about him. I still wouldn’t be able to care for anyone else.”
I could tell my words hurt him. I really hated that, but I had to be honest with him. He deserved that much. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him how I couldn’t be with Dane. That might only give him hope, and I knew that was a bad idea. Even if I could never be with Dane, I knew I would never love Blake. He had his qualities, but he was not for me.
“I’m really sorry, Blake. I really am.”
He took hold of my hand and squeezed. “I know, Cali. I know.”
I agreed to let him drive me to work one last time, as friends. I wasn’t, however, expecting to see Dane’s truck parked in the library parking lot.
“Oh boy,” I said as we pulled up to the building. “This is not good.”
I was about to open the door when Blake pulled me into a hug, catching me off guard. “I’ll miss you, Cali.”
“Wait. You’re leaving?” I asked, pulling quickly from his embrace, and then looking out the window at Dane. I hope he hadn’t seen the exchange.
“Well, there’s nothing for me here, so I better get going. You take care. Maybe I’ll see you again sometime.”
I smiled and touched his hand. “Yeah, maybe. You take care, Blake, and thanks for the ride.”
He shrugged. “No problem.”
I jumped out of the car and shut the door behind me. I took a deep breath and turned. Dane’s truck was already gone.
* * * * * *
Blake’s POV
I pulled Cali into a hug knowing that loser Savage was watching us. It gave me great pleasure to stab him in the heart. After all, he had stolen the girl of my dreams right out from under me. But that was about to change.
I punched the button and waited for the gate to finally open. After the camera confirmed me, the gate opened and I drove past. I glanced up at the mansion and gulped. It never ceased to send a chill down my spine, knowing the angry Creed was inside—waiting. I had called and told him I had news. I felt a little guilty for betraying the girls, but more than any of that, I wanted Calico all for myself. As long as Creed could guarantee me that, I would easily give up their location and with no further regrets. Things were finally going my way, and nothing was going to change that—nothing.
* * * * * *
Blue’s POV
So, Creed had found the location of the girls. I knew that Blake was a little weasel. I had done all I could to keep those girls safe in the past. Now I had a choice to make, and I would not make it alone.
I called in Talon and some of the others I trusted.
“Okay guys. Creed is going after the Cross sisters. We have a decision to make. Let’s take a vote.”
* * * * * *
Calico’s POV
Celia asked if I could stay after closing so we could rearrange some of the bookshelves. Of course I agreed.
It was already dark when I excited the building. The parking lot was empty and quiet and my sisters hadn’t arrived yet. It was slightly creepy to be all alone in the dark. I could’ve gone back inside where Celia was still closing up, but she would think I was a scaredy-cat, which at that moment I totally was. I pushed forward and walked toward the street where the girls would be pulling up any at minute.
I observed that the deli had the lights on so I figured someone must still be there. I heard a
noise from behind me and spun. I glanced around but saw nothing. “I have a bad feeling about this,” I whispered to myself. Then I heard a noise from the other direction and spun, but there was nothing there either. I grabbed my phone and called Tabby.
“Hey. Are you guys almost here?” I asked into the phone. I could’ve texted her, but we had a rule that we never texted while we drove and I knew she was probably driving on the windy road that led to downtown.
“We’re almost there. What’s wrong? You sound a little shaken up,” she asked me.
“I am,” I responded. “I think someone is here, watching me.”
“Okay, hang on. We’re almost there.”
“Okay,” I responded and then hung up the phone. I heard it again and spun in the direction of the noise. It sounded like a combination of a whistle and a growl. I didn’t see anything, but whatever it was it was getting closer.
“Is anybody there?” I called out and then waited for a response—followed by silence.
I decided to make my way to the deli. It wasn’t that far so I started walking. I heard the noise again and quickened my pace. Within seconds I was in a jog. I could hear the noise getting closer so I picked up the pace until I was in a full out sprint. I was only a few feet from the deli, and I could almost feel a presence right on my heels.
I reached the door and pulled. It was closed. I banged on the door. “Hello! Is anybody there?!” No one came. I looked around me in desperation. That’s when I spotted the dark figure in the road, running toward me. It was too dark to see who or what it was, but the figure went from running like a human to instantly running on all fours like an animal. I knew I was in trouble.
Just then the car squealed to a stop in front of me. “Get in!” Kiki yelled, swinging the door open wide. I jumped in and slammed the door as Tabby sped the car out in the opposite direction, headed toward home.
Calico Cross (Cross Series Book 1) Page 6