by Lily Graison
The first photo showed a man in some sort of spasm. He was on the ground, his body contorted in pain. He was naked, his back to the camera, and Rayna could barely make out the rigid protrusions along his spine. Bony shards stuck out from under his skin. He looked ghastly white, one arm outstretched as if asking for help.
The next showed the same man only this time, his body was covered in a thin layer of dark hair. The side of his face was visible. The forehead looked wider, his nose and mouth elongated and protruding from his face. His teeth were bared, sharp and gleaming in the moonlight. A shiny substance covering his skin seemed to glow in the filtered light.
The last photo showed the man on all fours, his neck outstretched and pointing to the sky. His mouth was open. The sharp teeth bared and something dripped from lips that no longer looked human. His eyes glowed brilliant yellow-orange, the hair along his body had thickened, the torso broader. His body still looked somewhat human but Rayna could tell something was happening to him. It looked like a shape-shift from any good horror movie she'd ever seen.
Why the photos were sent to her, she had no clue.
"What is Malcolm up to?" she asked. "A handful of fake pictures isn't going to lure me to him any quicker than his other attempts."
"Why do you automatically assume it's fake?" Mitch asked, reaching for the photos.
She laughed. "Uh, probably because werewolves don't exist, boy genius."
He threw her a look and sifted through the photos, examining each one carefully. She watched him for a few seconds before remembering the note that had accompanied the pictures and reached for it.
Dear Ms. Ford,
I've spent the last seven months trying to bring my community to your attention with no luck. I felt a little glimpse into what we have to offer was in order. I hope the photos will at least peek your interest enough to warrant a few minutes of your time. We are in desperate need of your help. Please reconsider my offer to visit us and let our story be known. I'll leave the communication between us up to you as you've asked me not to call. My number is on the back of the first photo.
Kindest regards,
Malcolm St. John
"Well, what does it say?"
"What? You didn't read it?"
He blushed and grinned at her. "No. Once I saw the photos the note didn't even dawn on me. So, what does he want?"
"The same as always. The photos were just to peek my interest," she said, reaching for the pictures. "I'm not sure how this is relative to what he wants though."
"Well, he wanted your attention, Ford," Mitch said. "And I do believe he has it."
His laughter caused Rayna to roll her eyes. "I'm not that hard to impress, Mitch."
"Not in general, you're not," he said. "But when it's a story, you won't take anything but the best."
"You make that sound like a bad thing," she said, grinning. "We haven't won all those awards by taking on every piss-ass story that came along. Being selective is what's gotten me-us, where we are."
"True, but we haven't produced anything other than the serial killer in months."
"Oh, ye of little faith."
"Come on, Ford," Mitch said. "What's it going to hurt? The worst that can happen is we'll get a nice little vacation away from the city."
Rayna sighed. He was like this every time she heard from Malcolm.
"It's the perfect set-up," Mitch said. "We get paid downtime. Malcolm has practically begged you to tell his story."
"I don't care. I'm not doing it. Malcolm is crazy. Anyone who would stalk a reporter, just to have his name in the paper, can't be right in the head." Mitch's ears turned red then and Rayna narrowed her eyes at him. He wasn't telling her something. "What did you do, Mitch?"
"What makes you think I've done something?"
"Because your ears are red. You're lying to me about something. What is it?"
"My ears are red?" He lifted his hand, feeling his ear before looking at her.
"I can see it in your eyes, too. What did you do?"
He sighed and looked toward the bar. When she kicked him under the table, he yelled, "Ouch," before he turned his attention back to her. "Fine," he said. "I might have showed the pictures to a few people."
"What?" she said, panicked. "To who?"
He ducked his head and mumbled, "Clive."
Rayna's eyes widened. "Mitch!"
"I'm sorry," he said, looking up. "When I saw the envelope, I opened it. Clive walked by and saw the photos."
"This can't be happening." Rayna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Please don't tell me what I think you're going to." She opened her eyes when he didn't answer her and his cheeks reddened. "Damn it, Mitch! He wants me to go, doesn't he?"
"Yes. He said to tell you to take the case or else."
"Or else?" She had a very bad feeling all of a sudden. The look on Mitch's face only made it worse. "Or else what?"
He sighed and leaned across the table. "Come on, Ford, don't be so pissed. We haven't had anything worth reporting other than the Night Stalker in months. Harper's sorry excuse for a newspaper is selling faster than they can print them. Clive wants something to sell our paper."
Rayna laughed but there was nothing humorous about the situation. "Harper sells stories about alien's and demon spawned babies! That's not real news."
"I know, but Clive said if that's what it took to get people to buy our paper, he'd print it."
Her head began to throb, a dull ache pounding between her eyes.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?"
She shook her head. "Tell me that when we're surrounded by lunatics who think they can turn into werewolves."
He laughed. "Come on, Ford. Where's your sense of adventure?"
"This has nothing to do with adventure."
"Sure it does. You can't get more adventurous than werewolves."
"Werewolves don't exist, Mitch," she said, glaring at him.
"How do you know?"
She snorted a laugh. "Have you ever seen any roaming the streets?"
"No," he said. "And you won't either. If you were a supernatural creature of myth, one who people would fear if they knew you existed, would you really go around shouting to the world that you were one of the monsters."
"Mitch, there aren't any monsters in the world. It's make-believe crap they use to sell movies and books."
"Yes, but most of that crap is based on legend."
"It doesn't make it true."
"Maybe not, but this is still a great story."
"How so?"
"An entire town that thinks they're werewolves?" He laughed and tossed the picture down in front of her. "Think about it."
She did. She thought about her career going up in flames. She thought about being the laughing stock of the entire newsroom. She thought about hanging Mitch up by his toes and feeding him to rats. Very large rats.
"Look, I'm not asking you to believe, Malcolm," he said. "Just don't discount his claim because you don't believe him."
She was screwed. She could feel it like something sour in the bottom of her stomach. Her boss, Clive, would give her no choice in this. Pleading with him like she'd done in the past would be useless. Her instincts were dead on most of the time and something told her he wouldn't budge on this. She had no choice anymore. Crazy or not, Malcolm had sealed her fate with those damn pictures. "When does he want us to leave?" she asked.
"As soon as we can."
"Figures."
Mitch picked up the pictures again and looked through them before tossing them back in front of her. "Look, I have to go. Don't be pissed."
"Oh, I'm more than pissed," she said. "And you're going to pay for this dearly."
He laughed and stood up. "It's a date then, Ford. Just don't wait too long for my punishment."
She glanced up at him. "You're not going to enjoy it, Mitch."
"Sure I will," he said, grinning. "I get to go to work tomorrow and tell the entire office we're going away together. No punishment under th
e sun can diminish my delight in that."
His laughter rang out over the noise of the nearby tables and a few people turned their heads to look. She watched him walk away before leaning back in her seat and staring down at Malcolm's letter again. "Malcolm, you clever old bastard, what the hell are you up to?"
She reached for the photos, examining each one in turn. They were taken in the woods from what she could tell. The man was sitting in a large dirt circle and trees surrounded him. She could see a few people in the background; eager looks on their faces.
Although she knew the pictures were a fake, she had to admit they looked pretty damn real. Movie stills, maybe? She flipped the pictures over. Kodak was printed on the back. "They could still have been printed off the computer," she said to herself.
Turning the pictures back over, she looked at each one again, trying to see if anything looked out of place. A movie camera or a light, maybe... something. There wasn't anything other than the man and the people in the background.
Looking at the people in the pictures, she focused her attention on each one. Did all these people think they were werewolves and if so, what would cause them to think it? Mass delusion? She sighed. Mitch was right about one thing. Werewolves or not, she had a story here. This many people thinking something so absurd was a reporters dream.
Glancing up when the sound of feminine giggles caught her attention, her heart nearly stopped when she saw Garrett and a group of his detective buddies make their way to the bar.
As always, his very presence made the room seem smaller. The air seemed to thicken and her pulse raced as she watched him. He was dressed in jeans and a long sleeve, light blue shirt, the material clinging to his muscled arms and chest. He looked damned fine in her opinion. That panty-melting smile of his flashed as he ordered a drink. She knew he'd asked for a beer without even hearing him. Bud Light in a long neck bottle, ice cold. That's how he liked them.
She sighed and leaned back in her seat. Why the man still affected her like she was a teenager with a crush was beyond her. Just the sight of him made her want to throw herself at him and damn the consequences. The fact he'd thrown her away like yesterday's garbage didn't even diminish the effect he had on her. Sure it hurt like hell but she couldn't get her fickle heart and her stubborn brain to agree on anything when it came to him. Asshole that he was, she couldn't stop wanting him.
A young blonde slid into the seat next to him and he flashed her a smile that spoke of things she'd no longer have. It caused her stomach to cramp. Painfully. The girl said something to him and when he laughed and leaned down to whisper into her ear, Rayna turned away, staring down at the table. Eight months since he'd broken up with her and not a day went by that she didn't think about him and even though he didn't ever have a kind word for her, she searched him out just to see him. Being in this particular bar was proof of that. She was a glutton for punishment, apparently.
She took a long sip of her drink and tried not to look back over at him, staring at the pictures in her hand instead. Maybe Malcolm's invitation wasn't such a bad idea after all. Bluff's Point was a small town and running into Garrett on a weekly basis was enough to cause even the sanest of people to go daft. Why she still wanted him after the way he treated her was a mystery she'd never figure out but watching him flirt with someone else tore her heart out.
Glancing back over at him, and watching him laugh with the unknown woman, sealed her fate. She had to get out of this town. Away from him. Her heart could only take so much.
Lifting Malcolm's note, she read it again and looked on the back of the pictures until she found the phone number. Grabbing her cell phone, she slid out of her seat and started for the back of the bar, trying to find a quiet place to talk.
She didn't see Garrett's gaze follow her through the crowded bar.
* * * *
"Please tell me you didn't know she was going to be here?"
"Of course he did," Chad said, laughing. "Why else would he be out on a Friday night?"
"Fuck off, both of you," Garrett said, turning his head and staring down at the beer bottle in his hands. Like most Friday nights, he watched Rayna's apartment himself and usually did so alone, but the minute he saw her leave, dressed in tight jeans and a shirt that barely covered her ample breasts, he'd followed her to the same bar he'd met her in the night he ended up back in her apartment. He immediately called Chad. He knew if he walked in there alone and found her with someone, he'd lose it. His buddies were just there for protection.
Protection for whatever asshole tried to make the moves on his girl.
He was relieved to see her alone but he wasn't stupid enough to think she'd stay that way. Since the day he broke it off with her, he'd been waiting. Waiting for someone who wasn't him to get close to her. Someone who didn't insult her every chance they got like he did. Someone who could be with her and not get her killed, but much to his surprise, she hadn't seemed interested in dating again, which was just as well. He was sure half the town would know his secret if that ever happened. Regardless of how much control he had over his beast, the wolf would show itself to stake its claim. A claim he'd wanted to make the first time he held her, the first time she came with his name on her lips and caused the wolf to demand more.
A claim he couldn't make without running the risk of infecting her.
"Why don't you just go kiss and make up?" Chad asked. "It's obvious you want to."
"Not that simple," Garrett said. "Besides, what I want doesn't necessarily mean I can have it."
"And why is that? What's stopping you? Are you that damn scared of commitment?"
Garrett barely kept from growling. He felt his vocal cords vibrate and cleared his throat before turning to look at his friend. "I'm not scared of anything."
"Then why? I don't get it. Explain it to me."
"I don't have to explain it," Garrett said.
"Explain it anyway."
He clenched his jaw and stared down at the bar. "It would never work, Chad. A year from now, maybe two, we'd be over, and all the shit in-between would have been for nothing. There's no reason to prolong the inevitable."
"So, you know it won't last for years so you just ended it?"
Garrett picked up his beer and took a long swallow. "Something like that," he said, staring at his reflection in the mirror above the bar.
Chad laughed. "That's the craziest shit I've ever heard, man. While most men hit it until it does go bad you drop her before it does. What planet are you from?"
"The one where I don't use people I care about." He turned his head, searching the back of the bar for her. He spotted her moments later, near a darkened corner on the phone. She was smiling, her thick locks spilling over her shoulders and running down her back. His cock twitched just looking at her. The wolf still wanted her. He still wanted her. Wanted her to the point his bones ached and his teeth itched to sink into her flesh. To feel her blood coat his tongue as he swallowed her essence and marked her body and soul as his.
She hung up the phone and tucked it into her back pocket before weaving her way through the crowded bar. Garrett didn't miss the looks she got as she passed by the men in her path. His chest rumbled as he watched them stare at her, saw them smile and whisper. Thankfully she was oblivious. As she neared him, he could tell she knew he was there. She was watching the floor as she walked, avoiding all eye contact with the bar. He ran an appreciative glance down her body, watching her hips sway as she walked before looking back up at her breasts. They swelled above the scooped neck of her blouse. He knew the weight of them, how they felt against his flesh, against his tongue, and he barely contained a growl of approval at the sight of her. When her scent hit him, he ground his teeth together, balling his hands into a fist to keep from reaching for her as she passed him.
"Hey, Rayna! Join us for a drink."
Garrett turned and looked at Chad when he yelled out to her and wanted to kill him where he sat. What the fuck was he doing? He saw Rayna out of the corner of hi
s eye and took a deep breath before turning his head to her.
She stopped, met his gaze once before turning her head and smiling at Chad. "Detective Burrows," she said. "I'm not sure hanging out with Bluff's Point's finest would be such a good idea. It might give all the other reporters in town the wrong idea."
"Let them talk," Chad said, waving a hand to dismiss her comment. "What's the worst they can say?"
"Oh, that's an easy one," Garrett said, turning in his seat to face her. "That she slept her way through the department just to get a front page headline. By the way, didn't I see your name there today?" He felt like the lowest shit in the world the moment the words were out of his mouth, especially when she turned those big blue eyes on him. For whatever reason, today was the day she let his usual barbed comments affect her. He saw it shining in her eyes moments before her bottom lip trembled. She glanced at the blonde sitting next to him before looking back at Chad.
"Thanks for the invite, but I'll have to pass. Excuse me, gentlemen."
And without even a glance in his direction, she turned and walked away. When the door closed behind her, Garrett waited a full five minutes before getting up and following her.
To his surprise, she was still in the parking lot, just sitting in her car, staring out the windshield. As he neared her, he saw the tears falling down her cheeks.
"Fuck." He sighed, his chest aching to the point of pain before weaving through the parked cars toward her. She saw him before he reached her and started the car, wiped her face dry and pulled out of the parking space, nearly running him over. The last thing he saw was her arm reach out the car window and her middle finger raise as she pulled out onto the road.
Chapter 2
"Just go ahead and admit it," Rayna said, grinning. "We're lost."
"We're not lost," Mitch growled, snatching the roadmap from her lap.