When she glanced up to the TV after slurping up some of the leftover milk at the bottom of the bowl, a scene came up that sent a chill down her spine. It showed the final moments of the Titanic before it went down and had a collage of the old portraits of those that perished in the sinking. It would have been haunting to anyone’s eyes, but especially so for Katey as she noticed something about one of the pictures.
It was one with three men wearing old third class clothing, standing together in a stoic pose.
Her brain froze when she recognized them as Darren, Dustin and Logan, only a little younger and Logan had slightly longer hair that was pulled back. Katey almost let the bowl slip from her hands.
Did they travel on the Titanic? She quickly changed the channel and shook the incident out of her head. Well, now at least knew they weren’t lying about being so old. This certainly would be added to her list of questions for the next time she talked with Logan.
***
Katey walked into the school and took the straight path towards Darren’s room. The door was wide open so she steeled herself and walked across the threshold. She hoped and prayed that she would be able to act normal despite her new knowledge of what her teachers were.
Darren was at his computer, checking his e-mail and only glanced up at Katey with a friendly smile and continued reading the screen. So far so good.
Doing the math in her head, if Darren was over four hundred years old, that meant he would have been alive before indoor plumbing. How strange to think that he had lived to see all of the technological wonders of the age bloom into existence, while she took such things for granted today.
Logan was in his usual spot, but he appeared to be sleeping with his head down on the desktop. No one else was in the classroom.
Her first thought was that Logan was in a less than favorable mood today because of what might have happened when he came home from her house the night before. Katey wondered what kind of punishment a pack of loups-garous dished out on a rebellious member. She hoped it might not have been too severe.
Katey cautiously approached the desk and set her bag down next to him. He didn’t budge. His head was resting on his folded forearms on his book bag. His hair seemed a bit more tousled than usual.
She glanced at Darren, who was still reading the e-mail, then she guardedly edged closer to Logan’s face to get a better peek as she sat in her chair. Katey could hear his gentle breathing, though his arms concealed half of his face. His eyes were closed and he looked as if he was peacefully sleeping.
Katey slowly reached out her hand and lightly touched his arm. “Logan?” she whispered.
Logan’s eyes popped open and they flashed their beautiful luminous gold. But it wasn’t the same kind of gold from the day before. This was a more menacing, darker shade.
She gasped at the sudden change and quickly removed her hand, leaning away to give him room. The last thing she wanted was to startle him in that way. Logan had mentioned at the park that he didn’t quite have full control of himself yet. Any slip up and she might have been on the wrong end of his bestial rage.
He relaxed and blinked away the gold to be replaced by his usual blue. He stretched his shoulders out a bit and groaned sleepily.
“Sorry,” he croaked before sitting up straight in his chair and reaching his arms up over his head to stretch his muscles out.
Katey turned to Darren who was watching with an amused grin on his face. How could he have found this situation amusing while Katey’s heart rabbited in her chest?
“Let sleeping dogs lie,” Darren advised before returning to his computer.
Katey looked once more at Logan, whose eyelids drooped a bit and his arms folded across his chest as he stared down at the desktop. “Didn’t you get any sleep last night?” she asked.
“Not really. I was up for most of it,” he replied after clearing his throat.
“Doing what?”
“Just stuff.” Logan’s eyes drifted closed and his breathing steadied once more as he dozed off. Katey couldn’t help but giggle a bit as his head listed to one side and then he snapped awake again.
“The others know he didn’t sleep,” Darren stated, “so he’s going to be taking it easy for a while. If you can manage it, just let him rest. We’re going over a review for the semester exam next week, so he’s not missing anything.”
“Does sleep deprivation affect you differently?” Katey asked.
“Not too much. It’s more of the grumpiness that comes from lack of sleep that can be a little dangerous if gone unchecked.”
Katey nodded in understanding. If she wasn’t in such a jovial mood this morning, her exhaustion would be getting the better of her as well and she wouldn’t be near as pleasant to be around.
The sentimental thought crossed her mind that perhaps the reason she didn’t sleep so well last night was because Logan wasn’t sleeping well either. He was under her skin in every other way, why not feel his pain and restlessness too?
***
In English, Mrs. Kimbrough gave the class the whole period to study for their semester exam the following week.
Logan, as tired as he was, still had to pretend that he was actively participating in the study effort. Katey was about to ask if he wanted to study with her when Lily skipped over and grabbed her first.
She gave an apologetic look to Logan before she was carted to the far corner of the room. Katey didn’t mind this at all because it gave her a perfect view of Logan from where they sat. He appeared to be studying the textbook, with his head propped up against his fist, but she saw how his eyes drifted shut more than once, his body fighting sleep.
Katey wondered why he was even at school when he was clearly so exhausted. Was it because of her or the guys? Either way, he should have stayed home and took a sick day rather than force himself to endure the tedious hours of education that he obviously didn’t need.
Lily pulled out her textbook, but then turned to Katey. “Logan looked exhausted. What did you do? Keep him up all night on the phone or something?” she whispered.
Katey smiled and shook her head. “No, he was up all night doing something, but I wasn’t involved,” she whispered back.
“Are you going to ask him out or has he done that already?”
Katey thought for a moment, then looked back to her friend. “You know, I think he already did that a few days ago. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I guess it was a date.”
Lily’s face lit up with excitement and she felt like squealing for joy. “That’s awesome,” she whispered. “So are you two going steady now?”
Katey sighed. “No, we’re not.”
Lily’s face fell and she peered at her friend curiously. “But, you two went out. Doesn’t that mean you’re a couple now?”
“I guess we did go out, but we’re just friends.”
It hurt Katey to have to say it, but nothing had been spoken between her and Logan to suggest otherwise that they were a couple. Yes, he had said a lot of very sweet things and told her that she was beautiful, but that wasn’t enough to declare them an item.
She wondered if it was even allowed for different species to be together like that. Darren mentioned something about loups-garous having wives and girlfriends, but could it be that simple to just take a partner like humans would?
“But you two make a cute couple,” Lily protested.
“We’re two completely different people.”
“That’s how I felt about Forrest and me, but look how well we’ve turned out.”
“It’s not the same thing. It’s not like we have different personalities, it’s a different kind of different.”
Lily’s eyes conveyed her utter confusion and her face drew blank. “I don’t get it.”
Katey couldn’t come out and say that they were different species. Lily would think her crazy. “There really isn’t a way to explain it… We’re just different.”
“But, don’t you like being around him? I know you said he was
kind of creepy before, but you don’t seem creeped out now.”
Katey had to smile at the memories of how unnerved she was when being with Logan before. “I admit that I was. But, now I’m not. I do like being around him, but it’s not that simple. I don’t think it’ll go any farther than being just friends. I kind of wish it could, but right now it’s just not going to happen.”
Lily dropped the subject with a sigh and they turned back to studying while Logan watched the two from the corner of his eye.
***
The bell rang and Katey watched as Logan pushed himself out of his desk and began walking towards the door without her. Katey was taken aback by the brush-off, but gathered her things and followed him out into the hall.
She stepped out just in time to watch him lower himself to the floor and lean his head against the wall, with one knee propped up and the other outstretched blocking the entrance. His eyes were closed and his face was completely relaxed, but she sensed something else in his expression that wasn’t there earlier. He almost looked uncomfortable or distressed about something other than his tiredness.
Katey stood silently next to him, hoping that her presences was as comforting to him as it was to her.
Dustin walked up and glanced to the both of them.
“Logan, get up. I need to talk to you before class starts,” Dustin said with authority in his tone. Logan lazily opened his eyes as Dustin rattled his doorknob to get it unlocked and Katey could have sworn he was about to pull his lips back to snarl at the teacher. But, he caught himself, and no unwarranted wolf-like behavior came out.
Logan stood up and the two moved out of the way to allow students into the classroom. Once the other students were inside, only Katey, Logan and Dustin were left outside.
Dustin looked to her, but he didn’t look pleased. “Katey, I need to talk to him privately.”
She nodded and hurried inside, not wanting to get in the middle of pack dynamics just yet. Dustin shut the door behind her. Now, more than ever, Katey wanted to have those heightened senses so she could hear what they were talking about.
She quickly pulled out a piece of paper and her pen and began to write Logan a note.
Logan,
Are you ok? You seem more than just tired. Like you’re upset about something. If it has to do with me, I’m sorry. Is there anyway I can make it better?
Katey
She folded the note neatly and watched Logan and Dustin through the window slit in the door, nervously playing with the piece of paper between her fingers. About fifteen minutes later, Dustin and Logan walked in from the hallway. Logan’s eyes were wide now, and he seemed much more awake than before as he walked to his desk.
Dustin grabbed a handful of pamphlets off of his desk and passed them out as a review for the semester exam.
When Dustin had his back turned, Katey threw the note into Logan’s lap. Thankfully he was sitting up straight so he noticed it. He peered curiously between Katey and the note from the corner of his eyes, and then unfolded the note to read it under his desk.
Dustin walked by and Katey knew he knew she had passed the note, but he did nothing about it but give her a look. The class began to follow along with Dustin on the review and Katey saw Logan was writing a reply to her note. He finished writing it, but never sent it. Instead, he stuffed it into his jean pocket.
Katey pursed her lips in irritation, wishing he had passed it back. Throughout the rest of the class period, Katey stole glances towards Logan and noticed he was much more alert and actually following along with the review. She wondered what Dustin could have said that caused him to pull out of his sleepiness so quickly.
The bell rang for fourth period and Katey was hoping to get that reply, but she didn’t. Logan was quicker now and he was the first leave the room. Katey was soon to follow, but she couldn’t even spot him in the hall through the mob of students making their way to their next class.
Katey arrived to Mr. Myer’s room after taking a quick stop at her locker to switch out binders and found Logan was sitting in his seat, his chin resting on his forearms like he was during Darren’s class and staring ahead at the white board.
Ben was at his desk, reading e-mails as usual and didn’t pay any mind to Katey or Logan. She was thankful for their continued discretion. Though, after centuries of learning how to hide their secret, Katey was sure that this was nothing new to be excited over.
She walked to her desk and noticed there was the note addressed to her. She furiously unfolded and read it.
Katey,
I’m fine. I just didn’t sleep like I was supposed to last night and I’ve been a little worried about you since yesterday. I can see you are fine, but I still get worried. I wish there was some way I could make sure you’re really ok. I haven’t forgotten what you told me the other day about how you could put on a mask to hide how you really felt from the world. I pray you would never have to do that with the guys or me.
That being said, would you like to accompany me to “hang out”? We could go to McDonalds like we were going to the other day and then to the library to study. Don’t feel pressured to. I won’t get upset if you don’t want to. If you accept my invitation, meet me at the end of the senior hallway by the road after school.
In your service, Logan Keith
So that’s what his last name was. Keith. No surprise since Dustin was his grandfather. As long as he was okay, it didn’t matter anymore. Katey smiled at him from behind. She didn’t have to think twice about if she wanted to spend time with him. It was a definite “yes”. Katey knew it was more of a date than actually “hanging out,” but she didn’t care what it was. She’d get to spend more time with Logan, the only guy that ever seemed to truly care about her, regardless of himself, and that’s all that mattered.
***
The rest of the day passed by all too slowly for Katey. Logan was nowhere to be found after fourth period and nothing could keep her mind off of their meeting after school.
The final bell of the day made her jump and she quickly packed up her things and nearly ran out of her sixth period classroom. Katey walked as briskly as she could down the hall to her locker, put her binders away and hurried down to the senior hallway with a broad grin that she could barely contain.
Dustin was monitoring the senior hallway, as she practically skipped out the door. He raised an eyebrow at her and walked back into his classroom.
When she came out of the hallway, Logan was leaning against his motorcycle that was parked just beyond the sidewalk. He looked up at Katey and gave her a smug smile, the last remnants of exhaustion gone. He must have used the rest of his afternoon to nap and recover from his late night.
Katey smiled back and approached coolly, hoping she didn’t do something stupid like trip over her own feet.
Logan twisted behind him and grabbed two helmets, one black and one white.
“Do the teachers know about this?” she asked coyly.
He smirked and nodded. “Yes, I got permission today before third period.”
“What about my jeep?” Katey asked as she gently took the white helmet he offered to her.
“We can come back and get it in the morning,” he replied as we walked towards his bike.
Katey blinked away her confusion. “Why not tonight?”
“Because I have something planned for you and I tonight.”
There was a mischievous look in his eyes that made her giggle. “What?”
“It’s a surprise,” he replied before sliding his helmet over his head and mounting his bike. Katey stood next to it, as if waiting for it to magically transport them to McDonalds so she didn’t have to get on. The engine roared to life and Logan patted the seat behind him.
“Come on. It’s not going to hurt you,” he shouted through his helmet, the black tinted visor concealing his face.
“I’ve never ridden one of these things,” she replied anxiously.
“Just put on your helmet and hang on tight.”
> “To what?” she wisecracked.
“To me, of course.”
Katey could almost feel the grin he was giving her behind his visor.
She did as he said, slowly mounting the bike behind Logan and wrapping her arms around his stomach, but hung on loosely like in a friendly hug than in a tight grip.
She felt his body against hers and it felt exhilarating. He was defined and firm, but also soft and in a way, comfortable to be next to, inviting her to hold on tighter, so she did.
Logan revved the bike and they sped onto the road with Katey squealing behind him.
Inside Dustin’s class, he and Darren stood at the window, watching Logan and Katey race down the road and out of sight. Dustin sighed and turned to his alpha.
“Well, there they go,” he remarked.
Darren squinted at their fading figures on the highway. “Yep.”
“Are we going to follow to make sure they don’t get into trouble?”
“After that blow up last night with Logan, I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate us sending Ben to spy on them.”
Dustin walked away from the window and leaned against a desk. “So, we’re just going to let them go?”
“There’s no stopping them from sneaking off.”
Darren closed the blinds and turned to Dustin’s disgruntled countenance. It was obvious that he thought his complacency unwise. “I’m not that worried about it right now,” Darren continued. “I’ve got too much work to do to prepare for those blasted exams next week.”
Dustin gave his alpha a wary look. “You’re going soft, Darren. Logan’s never going to learn if we don’t crack the whip on him every once and a while.”
The old loup-garou gave a hearty belly laugh. “Do you not recollect all the times we have tried and failed? It’ll be little use to yell at him every time he runs off like that.”
The Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 1) Page 20