The Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 1)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Dustin shook his head and buried his face in his hands. “She wouldn’t have done that.”

  “And even if she did,” Ben interjected, “you would have just left her like you did that gal at the plantation.”

  Logan sighed at the mention of his grandmother and pulled out chunks of deer meat for his breakfast.

  “You know, it may not be too polite to talk about the dead,” Dustin replied sarcastically, giving Ben a sadistic smile as a twinge of his Irish accent began to shine through.

  Darren leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on his abs. “Then let’s talk about that nurse at the hospital.”

  Dustin’s eyes went wide in disbelief. “I swear to you, I didn’t do anything! How did this conversation turn from Logan to me all of the sudden?”

  The three others looked at him mistrustfully and Dustin shrugged. “Ok, just a little romping in the janitor’s closet… But I gave her a fake name and no number!”

  Logan swiveled his head to the living room. “She’s coming down,” he mumbled as he heard Katey’s light footfalls descending down the wooden stairs.

  Katey threw her bag on the couch and walked into the kitchen, her hair still damp from the shower. Later in the day, it would dry and take on its natural waviness that she despised, so she took a preemptive measure and pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail so it would be tamed.

  When she looked to her right, what she saw made her want to gag and claw her eyes out.

  Her teachers were sitting at the table in their pajamas. When she thought of men’s pajamas - at least at their ages - Katey thought of flannel button up tops and pants or something. Well, she was wrong when it came to this bunch. They were wearing flannel pants all right, just no tops. What’s worse was that they were all smokin’ hot.

  Katey shrieked in shock and spun around to face away from them, hiding her face in her hands.

  “Mornin’ Katey Kat!” Dustin laughed out while taking in another mouthful of breakfast.

  “I am traumatized for life,” was all she managed to say.

  “Oh come on, we don’t look that bad do we?” Ben asked teasingly.

  “I told you that you needed to work out more,” commented Darren with a light backhand slap to Myer’s tight abs. The three of them chuckled at Katey’s expense.

  Katey hesitantly looked over her shoulder and couldn’t resist a peak at their six-pack abs and chiseled pecks. She should have known that with their super strength would come the bodies to match, but she had never dreamed that she would see them like this so soon. She wondered if they were cold at all wearing so little clothing.

  She took a deep breath and walked boldly into the kitchen, averting her eyes from the teachers in the breakfast nook.

  “Sorry, Katey. We didn’t even think about that. We’ll be sure to wear shirts around you in the morning from now on,” Darren promised as he took another forkful of eggs into his mouth.

  Katey froze as she lifted her eyes and saw that Logan was leaning up against the counter holding a bowl in his hands and a spoon in the other, chewing on whatever was in the bowl. He was also shirtless and was wearing a pair of sweat pants that hung low around his hips that looked as if they would fall off if he made one wrong move.

  Katey covertly stared for a few seconds, captivated by his appearance. He didn’t seem to notice her stare at first. A twisting tight feeling suddenly plagued her stomach as her eyes roamed over his muscular body. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. Katey felt the blood rush from her face and she became a little dizzy. If he hadn’t looked up at her with those perfect blue eyes, she may not have had the sense to casually lean on the counter to disguise her faintness.

  The teachers weren’t fooled, as they could smell the arousal on her like a pungent aroma.

  “Good morning,” Logan said warmly and gave her a weak smile. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  She absent-mindedly nodded her head, mostly just to answer so she didn’t look a fool standing there staring. Logan set down his own breakfast and turned to fetch a cereal bowl down from the cabinets.

  Katey took the chance to check him out even further, watching his shoulders and muscles move under his skin with each motion. She felt her heart flutter and she wondered if this feeling was anything close to being drunk.

  Katey watched him with impious eyes as he traveled around the room to fix her a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. When he approached her with the bowl and a spoon, she lowered her gaze bashfully.

  The teachers raised their eyebrows at the two as Katey took the bowl with a breathless thank you and Logan smirked down to her before grabbing his bowl from the counter. Katey absentmindedly stirred her cereal as she watched Logan go to the fridge. What he pulled out made her almost lose what appetite she had.

  “Uh… Logan,” Katey said softly, almost too quiet that she couldn’t hear herself.

  “Yeah?” he asked, unscrewing the lid from a jug of thick red liquid and pouring it into his bowl.

  “What are you…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish her question, her hand pressed against her lips. He looked over at her and chuckled at her ghost-white face.

  “Relax, it’s tomato juice,” he said, putting away the jug and walking over to show her what was in the bowl. Most of it was the said tomato juice, but bobbing around inside were chunks of raw meat that made her squirm.

  Logan chuckled again and leaned against the counter beside Katey.

  Try as she might, Katey had a hard time focusing on her meal. Behind her, the teachers talked softly in that foreign language she still couldn’t quite distinguish, but Logan remained silent. She caught herself staring at his robust figure more than once and had to tear her eyes away.

  One by one, the teachers got up and put their bowls and glasses in the sink, then left up the stairs. Katey had a hard time not looking at them as well. She wondered how she was ever going to live here and go to school knowing that her teachers were so built underneath their clothing.

  “The guys are going to get ready to go to the school and we’ll follow about thirty minutes after they leave if that’s ok with you?” Logan said, as Ben was the last to go upstairs.

  Katey nodded and stared into her bowl, still playing with the floating balls of chocolate in her brown milk.

  “Are you ok? I’m not making you too squeamish, am I?” he asked, leaning forward to catch her eye.

  “Yeah I’m ok. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Well, you just seem a bit…overwhelmed I guess.” He was right, but she wasn’t about to admit it. “And I can hear your heart thumping like a jack rabbit.”

  “Nope, I’m fine,” Katey lied. She quickly guzzled down her bowl and placed it in the sink before fleeing into the living room. She took a deep soothing breath to calm her rattled nerves. How am I ever going to be able to face him every morning if he keeps wearing that? I’ll have to take my breakfast upstairs in bed.

  Katey moved her bag onto the floor and laid herself down on the couch and covered her face with one of the pillows, trying to hide her flushed face. She could hear Logan put his dishes away and climb the stairs to his room to start getting ready.

  She tried her best not to let her mind wander upon the things she know they shouldn’t. Although… Logan does look pretty sexy like that. His wife would be a very lucky woman… I wished that could be me… I wouldn’t mind living with him… going to bed with him every night… getting to hold him and be close to him like we were on the motorcycle or dancing…

  Katey groaned to herself, knowing that such a future couldn’t come soon enough.

  After the teacher finally left, Katey sat up on the sofa and let her eyes wander around the room. When she looked out the sliding glass door, she gasped as she caught a glimpse of a beautiful garden.

  She stood and made her way to the glass to get a better look. There was a patio with several lawn chairs and a few little round stone tables next to them for drinks. Not a few yards away to the left from the patio was a pond with a t
rickling fountain. The walls that contained the illustrious garden were covered in trellises that were laced with roses and other creeping flowers.

  The flagstone pathway that led into the backyard was skirted with all kinds of colorful flower bushes and shrubs growing out of the beds of mulch that covered the ground. At the end of the path was a large dirt circle with one or two benches on the edges. The circle was also lined with bushes and beyond that, there looked to be more than a few acres of just open green grass with trees lining the perimeter of the property.

  Katey’s eyes sparkled as they gazed upon a blue and white Victorian style gazebo just beyond the benches that looked warm and inviting.

  A bright smile spread across her face, feasting upon its simple beauty. It looked like something out of a Thomas Kinkade landscape. She had never seen anything like it in real life before.

  “Nice isn’t it?” Logan asked as he stepped up behind her, now fully dressed and ready to leave. “Darren loves nature and insisted he has a bit of it to enjoy every once and a while.” He looked out over the back yard with pride, remembering the many long days they spent planting the garden and building the gazebo.

  “It’s beautiful,” Katey mumbled, watching the pond surface ripple, glittering with morning sunshine.

  “Not as beautiful as you,” Logan said softly.

  Katey was thrown out of her reverie and she glared at him. He had to ruin the moment with such a comment.

  He looked down at her and seemed shocked by her reaction. “What?”

  “What did I tell you about lying like that?” she grumbled.

  “But, it’s true. Why do you get so offended when I say that?”

  Katey looked at him in disbelief. “Because I’m not beautiful! I’m fat, my face breaks out in acne all the time so I have to wear layer upon layer of makeup and my hair won’t stay straight like I want it to and-”

  Logan’s eyes narrowed into angry slits. He held up his hands to keep her from going any further. “Wait! What did you just say?” he asked, incredulously, not wanting to believe that she was that blind.

  Listing off her imperfections brought frustrated tears to her eyes. She didn’t like to be reminded of her own flaws, let alone to remind someone else of them. She couldn’t bear to hear the words from her own lips. She took a deep breath and started over again. “I’m fat, my skin isn’t clear…”

  Logan didn’t waste another moment listening to her ramblings. He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the stairs. He had to end this now.

  “What are you doing? Let go!” she cried, but he was too strong and too determined. He dragged her up to the bathroom upstairs and stood between Katey and the door before he slapped it shut.

  Katey felt rage and terror rise in her as Logan’s whole demeanor turned semi-violent. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice quaking. Just at the thought that they were in a bathroom alone made her worried and she wished one of the teachers were still there to stop whatever it was he was about to do.

  Logan grabbed a washcloth from under the sink and wetted it thoroughly. She didn’t like how this was going already. He gripped her by the back of the neck, snatched her glasses off and pulled her in close as he began harshly scrubbing away all of her makeup.

  Katey screamed and wrestled against him in protest, but he wouldn’t release her. She pounded her fists against his chest, but he didn’t so much as flinch. The commanding, dominating look in his eyes soon scared her into submission. Once he had wiped away one half of her face through her struggling, she digressed to squeeze her eyes shut and let him wipe the rest away without a struggle.

  Logan dropped the washcloth into the sink and turned her by the shoulders to face the mirror. “Look,” he demanded.

  Katey slowly opened her eyes and stared ahead at her reflection. Logan stood behind her, his hands gripped tightly on her shoulders to keep her from running away. After slipping her glasses on, she could see them both clearly, standing so close together gave her pleasant shivers through her body. She had never seen them standing like this before. If he didn’t have the scowl on his face, it might have been more enjoyable.

  “You have no imperfections on your face at all,” he stated sternly, his steady gaze fixed on her.

  The longer Katey stared, the more she was tempted to think that he might be right. Besides her skin being a little red from harsh texture of the washcloth, her face was clear. She wondered if all these years her flaws were all in her head, that she had imagined them. Katey gritted her teeth against the idea. She refused to believe it.

  “My hair…” her voice trailed off. Logan yanked her hair tie from her head and let her hair fall down around her shoulders. It was already half dry and she could see the strands begin to form their subtle waves. It was thick and soft with a healthy shine.

  Logan said not a word. She reached up and stroked some that fell upon his hand, feeling his tense muscles just beneath the fibers. Was her untamable hair an illusion her mind had created too? Katey shook her head at her reflection. She still didn’t want to see it.

  “I’m still fat,” she muttered, sure that would anger him too.

  Logan spun her around to face him and he shook his head, exasperated by her stubbornness. “No, you’re not!” he exclaimed. His hands shifted down to her hips. “I can feel your bones!” He placed his hands just below her chest, his fingers curling around her frame. “I can feel your ribs…” His hands lowered to encircle her waist. “You are not fat at all! You eat so little that it’d be impossible for you to be fat.”

  Katey felt breathless as he laid his hands on her. She glanced down to her waist and saw how far his hands were able to reach around her, his thumbs almost touching. Why had she never seen these things before? Was she comparing herself to something else that wasn’t real? Was it all in her head? Or did Logan just make her feel beautiful? Did his love make her beautiful somehow and she couldn’t see it in herself before?

  She felt hot tears at the corner of her eyes, as she grew more frustrated with herself and with Logan. Why did he have to shake things up like this? Why couldn’t he just continue to let her live the way she was? There was nothing wrong with wearing makeup, with caring about ones figure or attempting to look pretty.

  “Why can’t you accept that you’re beautiful?” he asked, almost in a whisper.

  All anger had faded from his face to be replaced by genuine concern. He cradled her face between his hands and wiped away one of the tears that began to roll down her cheek. Logan could feel her jaws tense under his touch, but he refused to let go. He wouldn’t let her go until she finally understood.

  “Because…” she sniffled. “Because… I thought if I was then I’d be popular and have tons of friends and I don’t.”

  “If you have friends just because they think you look good, then they aren’t true friends. The only reason people your age think that wearing makeup and being thin makes you beautiful, is because that’s what the society has told them. It’s not true beauty.”

  Katey swallowed back the rest of her tears and the lump in her throat and narrowed her eyes, trying her best to glare at Logan through the pain she felt. “And after one hundred and twenty-five years, you know what true beauty is?”

  Logan smiled and nodded. “Yes. True beauty is what’s on the inside, in your soul, that counts and not how a person appears on the outside.”

  Before she could stop her mouth from vomiting the words, she spoke. “And I’m sure you know all about that too with your species.”

  Logan’s face hardened into a wounded scowl and Katey knew immediately she had touched on a dangerous subject. He dropped his hands and took a step back as his eyes glowed gold with sudden rage.

  Katey bowed her head in shame. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “That wasn’t fair. I didn’t mean it like that.” She turned and fled to the door. Before she could reach for the knob, Logan’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist firmly beneath his fingers. She cringed at his touch, wondering if he
would strike her now as Mary would have.

  She looked back and his eyes were normal again and he seemed calmer. “Listen, I’m sorry if I upset you. Just, please, don’t shoot me down every time I compliment you?”

  How could Katey resist his plea? She blinked away what remained of her tears and cast her eyes to the tiled bathroom floor. She didn’t want to promise him anything. It would take time for her to grow warm to the new concepts he had just introduced. “Can we go now?” she asked.

  Logan sighed and nodded, slowly releasing her hand from his grasp. She hurried ahead of him downstairs to the living room and waited by the front door. While he was still making his way down the steps, Katey self-consciously played with her hair and let her fingertips graze over her skin to search for any blemishes. She could feel none. She licked her lips nervously, still shaken by this new revelation.

  Chapter 24

  After grabbing their bags, Katey instinctively walked over to her jeep, but she heard Logan snap his fingers to get her attention. When she turned around he was already on his bike, holding the two helmets.

  Katey obeyed, not willing to start another argument and mounted the bike behind Logan, carefully putting on the helmet. She had to push the thought from her mind that the helmet would mess up her hair.

  The ride to school was long and silent. She wondered how much time she would allow herself to recover before attempting conversation with Logan again. Her mind replayed when Logan washed her face and hustled her around and felt that familiar tightness in her stomach at the memory of his kind words and endearing looks.

  When they arrived to school, everyone stared at the two as they walked in through the back doors and through the halls towards Ben’ room. All the way, Katey nervously pulled and twisted her hair between her hands, willing it to straighten out somehow.

  With every fiber of her being Katey wished that she could have applied her makeup back on and pulled her hair up before leaving the house. She could hear the whispering and laughing. She couldn’t tell what they were tittering about, but she knew it must have been about her. She had never felt more self-conscious and paranoid in her life. She wanted to crawl into a hole and hide for the rest of the day, even though they had semester exams to take. A failing grade was worth saving her the humiliation.