Summer Romance (Harbor Moon)

by Mitchell, Traci

  Chapter 5

  That evening I swore to myself not to mention what happened with Eric to anyone, not even Jennifer. That’s the last thing I needed was for her to tell her summer boyfriend, Jeff that Eric was a werewolf. The drama surrounding that episode would be too much to bear. Not to mention what my parents would say.

  I pulled my laptop out and checked my messages. Nothing new, just some spam and an email from Grandma. My charm made a tapping noise against my computer and I stopped. Looking down at the bracelet, I rolled the chain around to examine the wolf charm carefully.

  Immediately, I typed in wolf family crests and ran a search. Nothing really important came up except the last name Wolff with the family crests. Then I tried wolf charms. I found the charm with the statement, “wisdom and protector of family”. I wondered what that meant.

  A wolf symbolizes wisdom and is a protector of family. I played the words over again in my mind. What did this have to do with a family crest? Okay, maybe it wasn’t me who was the crazy one this time. The information said this pendant is a pagan symbol which gave me another reason not to tell Mom and Dad.

  Slowly, I sat back in my chair, allowing my mind to wander. This didn’t make sense. It didn’t add up. Could my real family be pagan worshippers? Who was my real family? But the biggest question that remained unanswered? What did this wolf charm have to do with me?

  Suddenly a cold chill ran up my spine, tingling every nerve ending in my body. What if the dreams and the charm were related? A person could go mad thinking about all of the ‘what if’s’. The only one who knew anything at this point was Eric. I really needed to find out what he knew about me and maybe about my family.

  Determined, I closed the laptop and headed out to see Eric. Maybe he could tell me what I wanted to know. Besides, I did owe him an apology for the way I freaked out.

  “I’m going for a walk to the camp post.” I announced to my parents who sat in lawn chairs outside the camper while cleaning tomorrow morning’s breakfast.

  “Okay dear, be careful,” Mom replied softly.

  “Need some money?” Dad leaned forward, shoving his hand into his back pocket.

  “No, I’m good, but thanks anyway. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Still anxious about facing Eric, I used the walk to control my fear and build up my nerve. It gave me time to mull over how I would explain my reaction to him. I mean, it wasn’t like I’d ever seen someone turn into a wolf. Eric might have saved my life, but he sure did scare me to death.

  The further I walked, the harder I tried to convince myself he was a nice guy, despite the fact he was a werewolf. “Deanna, you know you like this guy, so stop it,” I said aloud to myself as I entered the clearing of the camp post.

  The door was a few yards away. Quickly, I reached into my pocket and checked my money. I had to buy something, to justify my walk. Luckily I still had a ten dollar bill with me. When I looked up, Eric walked out the front door. I froze. He froze. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach when I watched him turn and walk toward a red jeep parked in front of the store.

  It took all my courage to muster up the nerve to move forward.

  “Eric!”

  Without looking up, he climbed into the driver’s seat and started up the jeep. My heart caught in my throat. No, this wasn’t going to happen.

  “Eric!” I yelled again, this time rushing to the driver’s side. “Wait a minute.”

  Eric’s cold expression sent chills down my spine. “What?”

  “Look, I’m sorry for the way I acted earlier…it’s just that…”

  “No problem.” His lips formed a thin line.

  My brows drew together. “No…I mean …”

  “I said no problem. Just forget it.”

  “Look, you were the one who...” I couldn’t believe this. “I’m trying to apologize for the way I acted. You’re acting like it was my fault.”

  Cold shivers ran through me when his black eyes met mine. “Deanna,” his stern voice shot fear in my heart. “It’s not your fault. This is entirely my fault. I should’ve known better than to even try to get to know you. We are different, our two kinds don’t mix.”

  I snorted a disbelieving breath. “You make it sound like you are breaking up with me or something. I …”

  “Breaking off something that never should’ve started in the first place. We are too dangerous around one another. So it’s best we keep our distance.” He started the jeep. “I’m sorry Deanna, good bye.”

  Before I could say another word, Eric pulled away. I stood in front of the camp post wide eyed with disbelief. He wouldn’t even let me explain. I guess Karma did come back around. My heart shattered. Did I really like this guy that much? Someone I just met?

  Tears welled in my eyes, threatening to fall if I so much as blinked. Clutching my fists together, I fought hard not to release them. So this was to be my fate? Attending a new school this fall and already I’d made my first enemy. Great job.

  Chapter 6

  Day five of the wonderful camping episode started off with a bang. I awoke to another nightmare of chasing wolves again. Each time the wolf got away from me. Still, I couldn’t figure out if I was trying to kill or capture it.

  The smell of frying fish drifted into the camper when Dad walked in to wake me. He wasn’t the type to step lightly, so I heard him before he reached my door.

  “I’m up Dad.”

  “Well, get up then and let’s get going.” He poked his head in the door.

  My head rose quickly. “Get going? Where are we going?”

  “Well,” He paused. A large smile broke on his lips. “You’ve been bugging me for the last 3 years about the Indian Reservation down the road. A group of us are getting together and going there. It’s a surprise I planned for you.”

  “A group? Like who?”

  “The Blankenships and the Taylors.”

  “Taylors? As in Jeff and Cliff Taylor?” I hoped he was joking.

  Dad sent me a precarious gaze. “Yes. Is there a problem?”

  I released an irritated sigh. There was no way I could tell him about what Cliff did. “No. I just don’t like them.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard him laugh.

  “You know Deanna, it wouldn’t hurt you to be nice to the boys sometimes.”

  “What?” I sat straight up.

  “Okay, you think I don’t notice how these boys look at you? That nice boy, what’s his name…Eric? And don’t tell me that one of those Taylor boys doesn’t have an eye for you.”

  Yeah, one that I would like to scratch out.

  “Dad, aren’t you supposed to be the one to keep boys away from me? Like lock me in a tower or something?”

  “Honey, you locked yourself in a tower. One that’s so high any normal guy couldn’t reach you.”

  “Oh. That is so not true,” I snapped.

  He laughed again. “All I want you to do is have a little fun. AND I mean a little. I’m not saying go all gung ho over these guys, but just talk to them a bit. Spend some time to get to know them.”

  I shook my head. Only my father would try and have a conversation that my mother should be having with me.

  “So what did you do when you were that age? Or can you remember that far back?” I gave him a cheesy smile.

  “Huh! Cheap shot.” He rolled his eyes and turned around. “Let’s just say, if I catch them doing what I did at that age, they will have serious surgery on various parts of their body.” He walked away.

  I smiled. That was my dad.

  It didn’t take me long to shower and dress, but my final revolt was breakfast. The anxiety of being around Cliff Taylor for longer than five minutes hit me harder than I expected. On top of that, I was still suffering from the sudden separation from Eric.

  Sitting at the table, I picked through my mother’s culinary masterpiece. Instead of fish and cheese grits, it was fried fish with a side of ham & cheese hash browns. My stomach twisted into a tight
knot preventing me from swallowing another bite. Just the thought of what today held made me ill.

  I wanted to talk to Eric, at least to find out why he cut me off so quickly. “Our kinds don’t mix. We are dangerous to one another,” he’d said. What did he mean? I have never hurt anyone. I couldn’t imagine why he would even think I’m dangerous, after all he was the one who turned into a wolf.

  “Deanna?” Mom leaned forward peering into my face.

  I raised my head and looked at her then Dad. “What?”

  “Honey, are you okay?” She asked in that concerned mother voice.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Because you’ve been picking at your food for the last fifteen minutes,” Dad replied sourly.

  “I guess I’m just not hungry.” I pushed the plate aside and finished off the orange juice.

  “Is something wrong Dear? Do you want to talk about it?” Mom persisted.

  I forced out a fake smile. “Everything’s fine Mom, no need to worry.”

  “I think it’s those boys that’s put her in a turmoil.” Dad’s eyes twinkled with humor.

  My stomach twisted again, bile crept into my mouth. I was going to hurl. Swallowing hard, I fought back the urge to puke. Not a good sign. Tiny beads of sweat formed on my forehead and my skin suddenly became clammy.

  “Deanna!” Mom breathed out and rushed to my side.

  Just as my Mom reached me, it felt as though my skin was on fire. I remember burning my hand in a flame once. This was worse. The blue sky and clouds spun around me and then I went forward into her arms.

  Chapter 7

  I opened my eyes to a cold white room and a soft beeping sound. The last thing I remembered was my mother catching me in her arms. I was in the hospital with an IV attached to my arm.

  “Deanna?” Mom moved to my side from her chair.

  “Mom, what happened?” I tried to sit up.

  “Wait, Honey. Let me help you.” She pushed the bed’s control buttons to move me to a more comfortable position. “The doctor doesn’t know. He thinks it might be an allergy or something. You were running a fever of 103.”

  “Allergy?” I’ve never had allergies in my life!

  “He said it would take some testing to find out what caused it.”

  “Where am I? I mean what hospital? How did I get here?”

  “You’re in Lakeview Hospital in Twin Harbor. Mr. Taylor drove you and me here while your father followed in the RV.”

  “Where’s Dad?”

  “He’s down stairs picking up something for us to eat. How are you feeling? Are you hungry? I can call for a …”

  I shook my head. “No, I’m not really hungry. I just ate breakfast this morning.”

  Mom pursed her lips together, her eyebrows drew into a frown. “Deanna, you’ve been in this hospital for two days.”

  “What? You’re kidding right?”

  “No.” She shook her head.

  “Whatever it is that caused this allergic reaction …well they had to heavily sedate you to calm …” she waved her hands in the air. “Whatever that terminology was he used…down.”

  “When can I go home?”

  “The doctor’s coming by today to check on you and let us know.”

  “Mom, you look awful. I mean really, have you had any sleep?”

  She smiled weakly. “Some. I was just so worried about you.”

  Before I could say anything else the door opened and Dad and a doctor walked into the room. Dad was trying to balance two cups of coffee and two sandwiches between his hands and his chin. I smiled. The doctor took mercy on him and held the door open as my father continued the balancing act.

  “Deanna, glad to see you’re awake. My name is Dr. McCoy. No relation to Leonard McCoy of the Starship Enterprise, I promise.” He held out his hand to me.

  I was bowled over by his good looks; he was hot. He was really young, way too young to be a real doctor.

  “Well, you don’t look like a Storm Trooper.” My joke was met with a chuckle.

  “It seems you are feeling better.” He moved closer and pressed his fingers under my jaw into the sides of my throat. “Any pain? Numbness?”

  “No.”

  “Nausea? Blurred vision?”

  “No.”

  He stepped back and flipped through his chart. “Well, what we have determined is you had a severe allergic reaction to something. It might have been something you ran into while on your camping trip. Your parents tell me you were camping at Leech Lake?”

  “Yes. But we’ve gone there for years and I’ve never had any problems before.”

  He glanced through my records. “I see. Well, you did turn sixteen a few months ago…sometimes the body reacts a little differently to things when you get older.” His eyes returned to me with a smile. “You don’t remember coming into contact with anything unusual or different? Something maybe you had never seen before?”

  After giving it a few seconds of thought, I remembered I did come into contact with something unusual and different, however, I wasn’t about to tell Dr. McCoy I ran into a werewolf. He would be the first to lock me in the nuthouse. Could I be allergic to Eric? Was he what brought this on?

  “No. Nothing that I can remember,” I lied. The good doctor seemed to know I was lying. His eyes peered straight into me.

  “Well, whatever it was, I’m sure it won’t happen again. I’ve seen a couple of cases like this and very rarely does it happen more than once. It’s the body’s way of preparing itself against future attacks.” He forced out a smile and then turned to my Mom and Dad. “I have a follow up scheduled for her in seven days. The nurse will provide you with all the information at the release. I see no reason why she should have to stay here another night.”

  “Thank you Dr. McCoy,” my parents said in unison.

  He turned his attention back to me again. “And Deanna, welcome to Twin Harbor. I’m sure you’ll find everything here is very interesting.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Well then, if you need me or have any problems, my number is on the release papers. Don’t hesitate to call.” He patted me on the arm.

  I returned the smile and looked toward my parents. Dad could barely wait until the doctor left the room before he tore into that horrible smelling egg sandwich.

  “Dad!”

  “What? I’m starving!” He forced out in between chews.

  Chapter 8

  We went back to the new house, and it didn’t seem real. Thanks to my allergy attack our vacation was cut short. That was so weird. I’d never felt that bad before in my life.

  Today was Monday and I wanted to finish unpacking some of my clothes and do something with my bedroom. Make it more me. I contemplated wall color while I placed the remainder of my clothes on hangers and stacked shoes neatly on the closet shelves. At least I had a large closet for my clothes. Maybe that was one good thing about the move…more living space.

  “Deanna?” Mom opened the door and then knocked.

  “Yeah, Mom?”

  “Oh good, you’re finally unpacking the rest of your things. I just wanted to remind you about the appointment with Dr. McCoy today. Are you going to be ready soon?”

  OH, SNAP! I’d forgotten all about the doctor’s appointment. I couldn’t believe it had been seven days since I was released from the hospital.

  “What time is the appointment?”

  “Three. We need to leave in about an hour.”

  “Okay, I’ll be ready. Thanks Mom.”

  She smiled and closed the door behind her. I didn’t have much time to worry about drying my hair; it would just have to be a little wet. The shower went fast and so did the dressing. I brushed through my hair quickly and headed downstairs with a grand total of five minutes to spare.

  “Okay. Let’s go.” I breathed out while shooting past Mom toward the car.

  The drive to the hospital took us past the high school I would be attending. Harbor High was a new school and very modern looking. I
hoped there were modern people who went there too, but I wasn’t planning on raising my hopes too high.

  Lakeview Hospital was a total of ten miles from Harbor High and my mother pulled into the parking lot. From the car we made it to the inside of the hospital and onto the elevator. Lovely elevator music played while we waited for our floor. A soft ding and we were there. Once we stepped off the elevator I followed Mom to the counter where she announced our arrival. The receptionist greeted us promptly and pointed us into the direction of the doctor’s office.

  Apparently, Dr. McCoy was an outdoorsman. His waiting room was filled with pictures of wolves, ducks and hunting scenes with dogs. I really expected to see some sort of dead animal head hanging on his office wall.

  Within a few minutes, I was called back to the examination room. Mom followed behind. After all the routine stuff, temperature taking, pulse and blood pressure, the doctor arrived with a folder tucked neatly under his arm.

  “Well Deanna, it’s good to see you again. And Mrs. Lansford.” He shook hands with both of us. “So have you had any problems?”

  I shook my head.

  “No headaches? Problems breathing?”

  “No. I feel fine.”

  “Okay then. Well, like I said before it was probably just something you ran into while you were camping. Are you sure you didn’t run into anything unusual and strange?”

  I raised my hand nervously and pushed my hair back behind my ear. Seven days had gone by, but my memory of Eric changing into a wolf remained clearly in my head.

  “No.”

  His attention turned to my bracelet. “My, that’s an interesting charm you have. May I see it?”

  I held my arm out for him to examine the wolf charm. This charm sure did seem to grab a lot of attention. First Eric and now the doctor.

  “This is very interesting. Do you know where this charm came from?” His eyes lifted to mine.

  “No not really.”

  “Someone mailed it to her as a birthday present. We don’t know where it came from,” Mom spoke up quickly.