He could see the head on the passenger seat nod. It had to be him talking.
“What are you going to do to him?” The voice of the freak’s friend shook as he spoke.
“You must not worry about that my friend. First, you will follow us back to the place where he is now. We will do what we came here to do.”
The freak’s friend nodded.
The car drove off.
The freak’s friend watched the car leave him, and head off to Gary’s left.
Gary did as well, and then turned back to the freak’s friend in time to see him likewise turn and head off back into the trees behind him. He watched him disappear back into the shadows of those trees. What in the hell is going on now? He looked from the spot that the freak’s friend ran into and turned back to his right. A foul smell was on the air. It smelled like decay. It smelled almost like death itself. However, the smell intrigued him some even more than the way they all sounded. With everything, it made his mind wonder. He turned back to the road, and could tell that the smell came from it. Behind it, he could smell something else. He couldn’t describe it. He had no idea what it was. Something is going on here. Something, or someone, is doing this. He could feel it. Now, more than ever, he had to find out what that something was.
He turned to the road. He stepped out to the center of it and stopped. He now knew that he had to look for his answers. He had to find what he was looking for.
26
Rachel had her meal and after paying the bill, she headed back out to her car. It started getting dark. Jimmy would soon come to find her. She had to get back to the motel, before he arrived there. She couldn’t wait to see him again. With knowing that, she felt excited. She felt wanting, but she also felt nervous. It’s time to find out. It’s time to get all of my answers.
She left the parking lot and headed back to the motel. Arriving there, she saw two people standing at the front of the building, waiting in the parking lot. She didn’t need to see them clearly to know who they were. Seeing him again, her heart melted instantly from the sight.
Jimmy looked and saw the car. He smiled with seeing it.
Rachel pulled to the front of the motel and parked. She stood out of the car, almost forgetting even to shut off the engine—she felt that excited. “Jimmy?” She felt rushed. She just couldn’t wait to touch him again.
Both he and Sasha turned to the car, but only he walked over towards her after she came towards him. “You finally made it?” He reached her at the car’s hood. A smile flashed heavily on his face. Any thought he had of her not being there, disappeared like a flash of light.
She smiled. “Why wouldn’t I?”
God he loved her smile. It felt like watching someone preforming magic right in front of his eyes. “I’m glad that you did.” He stepped up to her until he stood toe to toe with her. “I missed you.” His smile widened.
With the parking lot light behind them, and with the brightness of the moonlight overhead, the lighting of his face only made her face light up even more than she already did. She couldn’t resist not touching him, so she reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist.
He did the same, but kept his arms up to her shoulders and embraced her tightly.
Sasha felt her face blush over, watching them together like this. With seeing it, everything she thought before, all vanished right out from under her. She, in all actuality, loved what she saw. Never before this did she ever think this way, but watching them right now, they looked perfect together. Their love looked pure. Their emotions seemed almost right. She could feel nothing but happiness with watching them, but there was also a little bit of envy there as well. Seeing them, she now longed for a mate. She hoped that it would have Jimmy, but that hope faded fast with seeing them now, so she tried to push the feelings aside from her heart. It felt worth it. She knew the time would come when she too would find the exact same thing herself.
Their embrace turned into a kiss. His lips touched hers with such softness; it made her almost feel dizzy from it.
They kissed for several long moments, until he released her, but he didn’t let her go.
“I missed you too.” She smiled. His smell consumed her body. His warmth consumed her soul.
Sasha continued to blush. She felt the need to say something, and didn’t know what that was, but she came up with something anyway. “Hi Rachel.” She stepped forward and stood by his side.
She turned to her, even though it felt hard to do it right. She had trouble taking her eyes off his. “Hi Sasha.” She smiled. It felt half-subdued. His power felt beyond strong to her. It took everything she had to pull herself away from him. “I’m glad that you’re moving around again.” She turned back to him.
Sasha smiled. “Not much can keep us down.” She looked to Jimmy. All she could see was the side of his face. She didn’t need to see him to know that he had to be smiling. She could feel it.
Jimmy turned from Rachel’s hypnotic gaze and turned around back to the motel behind them. “Which is yours?” He turned back.
Rachel released his grip. She flew both of her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “Brandon is here with me.” She held her words. He made it hard for her to try to breathe right, so with that, she had to catch her breaths.
Jimmy turned back towards her. “Why did you bring him?” he had to ask. Bringing him with her, he hoped she wouldn’t do. He would get in the way. Danger always seemed to follow them, and being like that, he didn’t want to risk someone else any more than he already did.
“He wanted to come. He kind of insisted.” Rachel heard the strong hint of doubt in his voice. She knew what it meant. She would have agreed with his thoughts if she could have heard them for herself.
He nodded. “Oh well.” He turned back.
Rachel watched him. She could feel there was more doubt in his voice, and it wasn’t just because Brandon was with her. She felt something else there. She could feel that he felt different somehow to her. She could feel that something happened since the last time they saw each other. She could have almost smelled it, if she could have. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” He turned back to the front of the old motel. He looked to the doors that lined its outside walls, and noticed that most of them looked unoccupied. Seeing that, he turned back to Rachel. “We should go to your room.” He smiled.
Rachel nodded. “It’s room six.” She looked at Sasha. “This way.” She held out her right arm to their respective lefts.
She led the way to the side of the motel and walked them to the room. As she passed the window into the room, she looked into it and noticed that the room looked dark. She went to the door, opened it, and went inside it first. It was just that—dark—so she reached for the light switch, just to the left of the doorframe, found it, and flung it up and on.
With the light now on, she noticed instantly that Brandon was gone. “I wonder where he went.” She turned back to Jimmy and Sasha who now stepped inside the doorway and watched them join her inside the single room.
Jimmy saw both beds. He looked to the back wall and could see what looked like another door to the left of the room. No one else was there. He didn’t pay any of it any mind.
Rachel smiled. “He must have gone out to get something to eat or something.” She had no other explanation for it, so she just accepted it for what it was.
Jimmy shrugged his shoulders. Again, he had nothing to say, so he didn’t.
Rachel walked over to the dresser and stood between it and the bed. “He’s been acting kind of strange lately, Jimmy. I think something happened to him back home. Back in Redford Forge.” She crossed her arms over her chest. As she did so, the light tan blouse she wore almost made both of her arms disappear within the color of the shirt.
Jimmy looked to her with wide eyes and an open mind. “What do you mean?” Brandon always acted strange. He knew him long enough to know that. Some days, he was better, while others days he wasn’t. His mood
always depended on which day that was.
Rachel shook her head. “I don’t know. He doesn’t remember certain things. It’s just odd.”
He nodded. “That sounds like him.” He smiled. It did at that.
Rachel shook her head again. “You’re right.” She looked to Sasha. He would know him better than me. If he’s not worried about it, than I shouldn’t be either.
Sasha looked back. Never before had she felt like being in the middle of a party before, especially one that she didn’t belong to. What was the line; being a third wheel. Being in a pack, there was no such thing, but being human—well that felt different. Feeling it and seeing the look in Rachel’s eyes, told her that she didn’t belong there. She now felt the need to go and leave them alone. Besides, she was getting rather hungry from their trip, and knowing that they hadn’t eaten anything for days, and seeing and feeling what she was, it told her that it was time for her to do just that. “I think I’m going to leave the two of you alone for a little while. Give you the time to talk some.” She smiled to both of them.
Jimmy shrugged his shoulders to her. “You don’t have to go.” He smiled. Part of him felt happy that she chose to leave, but the other part of him wasn’t. He wanted, and needed, to spend time with Rachel, but at the same time, he didn’t want her to go out alone. He knew they had to keep together. The feeling tore at him some, so he wasn’t sure of how to feel about it.
Sasha paid him a heartfelt smile. “It’s okay. I’m going to go out and see if I can track down something to eat. I’ll be all right.”
He smiled.
Rachel heard the eat part and it caused her to have to swallow a shallow wince. With her feelings for Jimmy and seeing him again, she completely almost forgot about what they really were. With that knowledge back strongly again, all of it came rushing back into her heart like a vise. She couldn’t help herself. She was only human after all. She had no other way to feel about it.
Sasha could feel her tense up. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep to the wildlife.” She smiled.
Jimmy did too.
Rachel felt her heart flutter and her face grow hot. She tried to blink it away but couldn’t, so she just stopped and smiled instead.
“Be careful.”
“I won’t be long.” Sasha shrugged, turned quickly, and headed out the door and out into the night.
Jimmy watched her leave. He felt more and more for her as his daughter, more than he ever thought he would, but right at that moment, it became unavoidably stronger than ever. Watching her leave without him, only added to that feeling. It had to be like watching your only baby girl heading out on her first date. The feeling of dread was there. The feeling of pride was with it. He could think of no other way to describe it. Watching her leave him felt like, made him feel stabbed through his heart. He suddenly felt empty. He suddenly felt lost. He sighed with a hearty, hefty gust of wind watching her leave him.
Rachel turned to him just after Sasha left. “I’m happy to see her better. I’m glad that she recovered.”
Jimmy sighed again, louder the second time around than the first. “She’s gone through a lot because of me. I don’t know what I’d do without her.” He looked back to Rachel and closed his eyes.
Seeing him again like this, made her heart melt even more than it already did, and she knew why. He was their alpha male, and it made him look like a father more than anything else did. Right then, she loved the sight of it. She even loved him more for it.
“Well.” Jimmy slapped his hands together in front of him and between her and him.
The sound and action almost caused her to jump straight out of her skin. It sounded just as unexpected as it was loud.
“Shall we.” He smiled.
She turned to him feeling rather dumfounded for what he just asked. For a brief instant, she had no idea what he was even talking about doing. Maybe it was because she felt lost in their moment, or maybe it was because of her trip, but she just simply felt lost, and she didn’t know why.
He saw the look on her face, and laughed because of it. “When do you want to start with the drug you brought?” He looked on her with aw. As far as he felt concerned about it, it was what she came there to do. He still wasn’t all that sure that he wanted to do this, but he did make his decision to do it. Besides, she told him that it was temporary. He would still be the wolf in the end, and with him being there with her, what did he have to lose to try it.
She returned his smile, but the feeling of being lost still seemed there. She didn’t really think that he was going to let her give it to him. Now that he said just that, she couldn’t help herself, but to wonder because of it. “Are you sure?” Her smile vanished and the look of concern replaced it entirely. “There’s no rush.”
He nodded. “I thought that’s why you came here.”
“It is, but I thought that you’d want to take some time to think about it some first.” She uncrossed her arms from her chest and brought both of her hands down to her hips, and rested them there. In fact, they felt heavy and seemed to feel somewhat out of place. She didn’t know what to do with them, so she just placed them there, oddly.
“What’s there to think about?” He turned back to the door and shut it. “You wanted to test it, right?” He turned back around to her beautiful face. He looked deeply into her equally beautiful eyes. They almost sparkled back towards him like diamonds. “I thought that’s what you wanted me to do.”
She did as well. “There’s no rush. We can do it tomorrow, or whenever.” She turned from him and made her way towards the bed, trying to get closer to it, and farther away from him. Like that’s even going to matter. She almost felt like he was now forcing her to do something that she didn’t want to do, and she didn’t know why. I thought that’s what you wanted. You want him with you. You want to be with him, but now, that it comes down to it, I’m not sure that I want to do it. Now, she felt hesitant. She felt longing. She felt almost like she was doing something wrong and that feeling raked through her soul like nothing else would.
“Why wait?” He stepped away from the front door and made his way over towards her, stopping right by her side. “Again, I thought that’s what you wanted me to do.” He scoffed some. He couldn’t figure out why she felt so hesitant about doing this. When we talked earlier on the phone, she brought it up to me in the first place. She sounded like she couldn’t wait to try it. So, what changed? Again, why is she now acting like this? What does she know that I don’t know now? It all seemed too weird. It all seemed so out of place. He should have been the one that was hesitant, and not her. The whys were almost too much for him to bear to deal with at once?
She turned to the bed, and brought her head down.
Her black hair fell to the sides of her face, and it made him melt because of it.
“I don’t know.” She looked back up from the light blue colored bed cover, and turned to his beautiful and youthful face. “I didn’t think that you wanted me to do it.” She tried to smile but couldn’t bring the muscles in her face to make the expression feel right. Instead, it felt halfhearted and it was probably more than just that.
Right then, he realized how much she picked up on when they talked over the phone. Realizing it and hearing her say it made him feel suddenly guilty. He felt disjointed. He felt out of place. “Well.” He swallowed some. Doing so, made his throat hurt because of it. “I’m not sure if I really do.” He took his right hand and brushed her deep black hair away from the side of her face. “I’m not sure of anything anymore.” He touched her cool soft skin with the back of his hand.
His touch felt more than just warm, it felt almost like the sun itself caressing her skin. “Jimmy?” She turned to the hand. She turned to his soft dark eyes. “I don’t want you to do something that you don’t want to do. I’m not going to make you do it.” She again tried to smile but failed once again at doing it right. “I don’t want you to do it for me.”
He smiled to her attempt. He loved her now more tha
n ever. He didn’t know how that was possible, but it was. “I don’t know if I can live without you with me.” He swallowed and dropped his hand back to his side. “I’m not sure if I can live without the wolf either.”
A single tear formed in her right eye. A second tear formed in her left. “I’ll take you as you are Jimmy. I always will.”
He listened, and couldn’t believe what she just said. It all sounded too good to be true. She was telling him that she didn’t care about what he was. She was saying that she could live with him and the beast inside him too. That was all too much for him to hear. He just couldn’t believe it, but there was more to it than that. There was more to being the wolf. There was more to him. He didn’t know if he could deal with that himself, even if she did seem to be able to do it. He couldn’t hurt her. He couldn’t let her hurt herself for him. “You don’t know what you’re saying.” He turned back to the front door, walked to it, and stopped there with his head bowed down some to the floor. “I can’t let you make that decision.” He breathed so deeply that the air hit the door and bounced back to his face with force. He could even feel it on the front of his jeans.
She listened. However, she didn’t agree with anything he said. “Don’t you think that’s my decision to make, and not yours?” She left the side of the bed and joined him by the door. She took his left hand into her right, and held it tightly to her side.
Her soft touch coursed a shiver down his arm. He squeezed her hand inside his. He then shook his head as her words sunk in. “I can’t allow you to do that Rachel. I can’t allow you to take that chance.”
She scoffed some at that one. “It’s a chance that I think is worth taking.” She smiled.
He shook his head, stronger yet. “No.” He let go of her hand, left her at the front door, and made his way over to the center of the room. He now felt like running, but with the lack of a way to escape, that was as far as he could go. Either way, he had to get some amount of distance between them. Moving to the center of the room was the best that he could do. “I won’t let him harm you, ever.” He crossed both arms across his chest. He let out another loud and powerful breath.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 69