“But what if he tries something with Katey?”
Darren sighed. “He knows the risks and he respects her enough to let it be her decision.”
Dustin leveled a look at him. “Don’t you see how attached they are? Katey is a smart girl, but she’s also a teenager, just as Logan is. Who’s to say that their hormones won’t get in the way?”
Darren was pensive for a moment and then peered at Dustin curiously. “Are we speaking of sex or changing?”
“Either… Both.”
The alpha rubbed his beard. “I wonder if Ben has caught up with his lesson plans yet,” he mused, wondering how he could get the old soldier to spy on them without getting caught.
Chapter 16
Before Katey knew it, they had arrived in the McDonalds parking lot and Logan sat up straight in his seat. He had shut off the engine, but Katey hardly noticed with her eyes squeezed shut.
“Katey?” he softly said. She opened her eyes and he was watching her from over his shoulder with his helmet off with the smuggest look she had ever seen. “You can let go now,” he said.
She didn’t realize how tight she was holding on until she had to pry her arms loose from around him. Katey took off her helmet and handed it to him.
Katey swung her leg over the bike to stand up, but she almost fell over as her knees buckled.
Logan caught her hand and helped to her dismount, but their hands remained together long after he dismounted himself and she regained her footing.
It was the most indescribable feeling. His hand was so warm in hers, but she felt warmth everywhere, not just in her hand. A hot flash flowed down her spine and her limbs tingled as if she could run a hundred miles without taking a breath. The world just seemed to grow quiet and she froze, hypnotized by his entrancing gaze. She wondered if he felt the same way too or if this was just a loup-garou thing.
Katey was thrown from her fantasy when Logan reflected her blush, let go of her hand and walked to the front door. She followed him and inside, remarkably, it wasn’t very crowded.
There were only a handful of families with little kids and a few students were at the counter waiting for their order. She felt like everyone’s eyes were on them so she edged closer to Logan, who didn’t seem bothered by the attention they received.
“What do you usually get?” Logan said before she bumped into him, not paying attention to how close she was following him until he suddenly stopped.
She quickly apologized, but Logan just sweetly smiled down to her and repeated his question. “Uh… I’ll just get a large fry,” she said as she pulled out her wallet from her bag that hung from her shoulder.
“No, don’t worry about it, I’ve got it,” he insisted as he pulled a wad of cash out of his back pocket. Katey gawked at the amount of money he had, all collected in fifties and twenties. He saw her amazement and chuckled. “Wrestling can really make you money when you do it right,” he said softly as he brushed out one of the only tens from the wad and approached the register and ordered.
“You aren’t going to get anything?” she asked.
“No, I’m not hungry. Besides, I don’t like slow food,” he said with a wink.
A bead of sweat trickled down her back at his attempt at a joke. She gave him a little nervous giggle, but he could see in her eyes that she didn’t think it funny at all.
“Oh, sorry. Too soon for jokes?” he asked as he paid for her meal.
“Just a little,” she replied. He apologized as he took the receipt and walked over near the drink machine to wait with everyone else. Katey stayed close, as most everyone in the restaurant was still whispering about them.
“In all seriousness,” he said softly to her so no one else could hear. “I can’t eat much from here. Not even the chicken nuggets. It’s too processed.”
“What about that place up in Morris- I mean, Devia.”
Katey saw his face light up the way she corrected herself. It must have done his heart good to hear the old town referred to by its original name.
“I know for a fact that the place we ate at serves, what Dustin would call, kosher food for us. They have more pure meat, less processed. It normally takes a referral from a friend of the… same nature as us before we go to a take-out place or restaurant. Either that, or we decide to be adventurous and try the food ourselves.”
Katey nodded. “I bet that’s ended well a few times,” she remarked.
He gave a low chuckle. “Let’s just say that none of us will ever eat from that taco place on Main Street again.”
Katey winced and tried to hold in her burst of giggles.
The lady at the register called out their number and Logan took the white take-out bag before speeding out the door, Katey hustling after him.
Katey did her best not scream or hold on too tight as they zoomed down the road to get to the library, whipping in and out of traffic rather recklessly.
They arrived to the library in one piece and Logan parked in a front stall, farthest away from the library doors. They took off our helmets and dismounted.
“We can’t have food in the library so we’re going to have to sit outside. Is that ok?” he asked, leaving their helmets at the motorcycle and started towards the back of the library where Katey liked to occasionally sit. A lot had happened since the last time she was here.
“Yeah, it’s ok with me as long as it’s ok with you,” she replied and followed him, trying to walk down the slope to the edge of the woods without losing her balance. They sat down and she began to eat her fries.
“So what do you like to eat if you can’t eat cheese and fries,” Katey asked as she devoured her meal. It occurred to her that if she changed into a loup-garou, she would never be able to eat fries again. She balked at such a horrible thought.
“I suppose my favorite would have to be deer. Most of the time I prefer it raw.” A piece of potato got stuck in her throat and she coughed for a moment. “Oh, sorry, too much information?” he asked with a chuckle.
“No, I just wasn’t expecting that answer,” Katey swallowed back the chunk of fry. “So you can eat both raw and cooked meat, it doesn’t matter?”
“Well, the raw tastes better to us, but when we’re in public we eat it cooked so no one gives us weird looks.”
Katey plucked out another fry from the carton and popped it in her mouth. “And you don’t get sick from eating it raw?”
“No. Our immune systems and digestive system breaks down all the harmful stuff that humans can’t normally eat. It’s actually more nutritious for us to eat it raw as opposed to cooked.”
Katey nodded. “Darren was just talking about that in class the other day.”
Logan smirked. “Yeah, Darren has so much knowledge under his belt that it kind of overflows into everything he does.”
“So, not to change the subject, but do you have any other job besides being an amateur wrestler?”
“No, that’s pretty much it. And if you’re wondering, I don’t fight humans. I only fight other loups-garous. It wouldn’t be fair if I fought humans. I’d probably kill them by accident. Other loups-garous can take a hard thrashing.”
Katey pulled up her knees to her chest and rested her arms over them. “What’s the worst injury you’ve ever gotten?”
“I think once I broke my neck, but it healed pretty quickly.”
Katey whistled at that. “Ouch. Don’t you feel any pain?”
“Yes, we feel pain, just maybe not as much as humans would.”
“You keep referring to humans like we’re a completely other species or something. Like people talking about animals.”
Logan frowned and looked away. “Well, it kind of is like that. We are different. Our whole physiology and biology is different. The way we live, eat, sleep, breath, is all different.”
“But, you still have all the same organs like lungs and stomachs. And we all bleed the same color. Why should that make use so different?” She caught herself contradicting herself based on the conversation she had with L
ily earlier that day. It made her wonder if she and Logan weren’t so different after all.
“We may have all the same things to make life possible,” Logan began feeling a little irritated, “but they just operate differently… I’ve never considered humans and loups-garous to be on the same level.”
“Do you consider me inferior or something?”
Logan looked down to her, his eyes narrowing. “No, no, nothing like that. It’s just… We’re different… I envy you and other humans for certain things and you’ve already said that you envy us.”
“How could you possibly envy a human?”
A shadow passed over Logan’s expression and his eyes seemed to grow colder. “I’ve watched this world be torn apart by wars over the century and I’ve seen how much society has fallen from what it was. It’d be nice not to have to see how much worse it’ll get in the centuries to come.”
Katey peered inquisitively at Logan as his eyes grazed over the dark woods ahead of them. “But, how do you know it won’t get better? Maybe things will improve?”
He mournfully shook his head. “Things will never improve. Everything declines, degenerates, and is never as good as it was in the beginning. If living this long has taught me anything, it’s that.”
Katey snorted and turned away. “That’s a very cheerful way to look at life,” she retorted as she stuffed three more fries between her teeth.
Logan didn’t respond to her and pulled out his MP3 player from his jean pocket. Katey glanced over and watched him unwind his earphones and begin scanning through the songs.
“I will say that I wish I had your ability to hear and see a lot better. I’m tired of having to wear glasses. And to be strong and never get sick would be awesome.”
Logan couldn’t help but chuckle at her ignorance once more. “Yeah, but try blocking out every conversation in a crowded room. I had headaches for weeks when I first changed because I couldn’t drown out all the noise I heard. Like right now, I can hear pages turning and key strokes on the computer keyboards coming from inside the library. I can hear a squirrel rummaging around for nuts in the woods over there. I can even hear a couple arguing in their car in the parking lot.” Logan thumbed behind them and continued scrolling through his playlists.
Katey listened and could hear practically nothing but the sound of birds chirping in the trees and wind rustling the branches. “I guess you have a point… So, were you lying about the whole school thing before too?”
He looked up as if debating whether to tell her the truth. “Kind of… I’ve never gone to a public school. The guys all thought it too dangerous. Just one mistake and either their cover is blown or people would get hurt. But, I finally convinced them that I would only take half a course load and we agreed I would have them as my teachers as an extra precaution.”
“Is it really that dangerous for you to be around humans?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes,” he replied, looking her straight in the eyes to convey the gravity of what he was about to explain. “It’s a constant struggle to keep myself under control. If I get too upset or too hungry, it can make the wolf within me grow restless. And that never ends well.”
Katey peered into his eyes and shook her head. “You don’t seem to be struggling right now.”
He cast his eyes down to the grass and sighed. “Because when I’m with you, it’s a lot easier to keep a hold of my humanity.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Katey said with an hopeful smile. He glanced back to her and returned the grin before skimming through his MP3 player again. “But, what about you being in all of my classes?”
“I won’t lie. I picked the classes you were in when the teachers gave me the period choices.”
Katey inwardly congratulated herself on knowing the truth all along. “How did you find out my schedule though?”
Logan chuckled and lowered his MP3 player to his lap. “Funny story, actually. The Friday that I met you, I came home and Dustin was waiting up for me. He smelt you on me and asked what happened.”
“But we barely touched that night.”
“We shook hands. That’s more than enough of a scent trail for any of us. I asked if he knew you and he did. That’s when I realized that you were the same Katey that they all talked about from time to time. Then I discussed with the others that weekend about getting into public school and I got my schedule worked out so I could have my classes with you.”
Katey couldn’t contain her girlish grin. “But, why?” she asked.
“So I would have at least one friend in the classes with me.”
“You considered us friends even before you knew more about me?”
Logan tilted his head a bit. “Well, I knew I’d get to know you more and we did. So, it all worked out…. Oh, here it is!” he exclaimed as he finally found what he was looking for on the MP3 player.
Logan handed her one of the ear buds.
Katey fastened it into her ear, as he put the other in his own ear and pressed play.
The song started out in a beautiful Celtic tune with something that sounded like bagpipes. The tune was slow and each note was drawn out sensuously. Then, a happy flute faded into the melody. To Katey, it perfectly painted the picture of a rolling Irish hillside on a cool spring morning.
Now there was a fiddle rapidly pumping out swaying notes that dominated the other tunes. Another fiddle joined in, picking up the pace on a different note. It went back and forth a few times. Then a third came in and played so fast Katey could hardly count the beats. She caught herself grinning at the music. It wasn’t hard rock, but she enjoyed it all the same.
“It’s beautiful music,” she mumbled.
“I’m glad you like it,” Logan replied with a grin.
A fourth fiddle joined the third and they continued back and forth as if battling for the starring role in the song. Katey found herself tapping her foot against the grass. A fifth fiddle now tried to slow the melody down. She could almost picture each instrument as a separate entity, going back and forth talking, arguing, singing, dancing, and telling their story through their music. It was so beautiful, Katey never wanted to stop listening.
“Do I smell formaldehyde?” Logan muttered just as Katey was finishing off the last of her fries.
Katey yanked out the ear bud and looked over her shoulder to see a tall, old, skinny woman marching across the back parking lot with an angry scowl on her face. Katey mumbled angry curses under her breath and gave Logan his ear bud back to begin packing up.
“Katey McCoy! What did I tell you about sitting ba-…” Mrs. Palmer stopped dead in her tracks as Logan glared over his shoulder at her. They locked eyes and Mrs. Palmer began slowly backing away. “Oh… uh… Never mind. Sorry I disturbed you,” she twittered nervously, then hurried back up to the library.
“What’s got into her?” Katey asked as she stared at Mrs. Palmer’s fleeing figure. Katey then looked over to Logan, whose eyes were just losing their touch of gold.
“Just a wolf,” he said slyly, then turned off his MP3 player and put it back into his pocket.
“How do you do that anyway?” she asked as she pulled the exam review packets back out from her bag.
“It’s hard to describe,” Logan began. “But, it’s fun to scare people with it sometimes. Don’t tell the guys I did that. They don’t like it when I do it in front of other people.”
“You know, I saw your eyes flash gold the other day when we were dancing.”
Logan’s voice dropped an octave. “Is that why you were frightened and wouldn’t dance?”
Katey shrugged and looked away. “It wasn’t entirely that. I mean, I was a little freaked out, but your eyes weren’t the only reason.”
“What was it then?”
She bit her lips together for a moment, thinking of the right words to really describe what happened. Hardly understanding it herself, it was difficult and all she could do was shake her head. “I don’t know if I could really say. But it wasn’t
just your eyes. It was like I felt something in my gut that scared me. Like… Oh, hell, I don’t know how to describe it.”
Logan nodded in understanding. “That’s fine. I don’t need explanations for everything. Not yet anyway. After a few months though, I think I’m entitled to explanations.”
She could tell he was only teasing her by the playful turn in his tone and she laughed.
“It’s good to hear you laugh,” he said softly, his voice a little mawkish.
“Why?” she asked as she caught her breath.
“Well, call me crazy, but I don’t think you do it enough.”
Katey flushed, knowing he was perfectly right. But she lifted her chin in mock defiance. “I laugh plenty. I just don’t do it out in public that often.”
Logan gazed at her, now enraptured by her life instead of the other way around. “And when do you take the time to laugh?”
She shrugged. “At home, watching movies I guess. Do you watch TV at all? Or are you too old fashioned for it?”
Logan cocked an eyebrow at her jest. “Very funny,” he muttered. “We do have cable. I just don’t watch it that much anymore.”
“Anymore?”
“Yes. I liked the old shows like Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy. The Dick Van Dyke Show was one of my favorites. Back before there was television, I loved to go to the theaters or sit in on vaudeville shows.”
All those shows and comedians he mentioned went straight over Katey’s head. She’d never heard of them before. “What’s vaudeville?”
Logan shot her a dubious look and laughed at her blank stare. “I’ll have to explain it some other time. It’s great stuff though. Much better than the trash they come up with these days.”
She smiled and crossed her legs in front of her, leaning back on her hands. “Do you do anything else in your spare time instead of watching television?” she asked.
“I’ll admit that I love art. I draw quite a bit and do some wood crafting when I’m bored.”
Katey’s jaw dropped. “You never mentioned that before.”
“I knew that if I had mentioned it, you’d want to see some of my work and it’s all at my home. Then, that’d mean I’d have to bring you to my house. You’d see Dustin and Ben and then that would have opened a very stinky can of worms.”
The Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 1) Page 21