by Cynthia Hart
The kids finish their lap, and together we begin the next step.
Seduced by The Werewolf
Cynthia Hart
Seduced by The Werewolf
Copyright 2017 by Cynthia Hart
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to a person, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Warning: Due to mature subject matter, such as explicit sexual situations and coarse language, this story is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older, and all acts of sexual nature are consensual.
Table of Contents: Arousing Suspicions
Arousing Suspicions
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
EPILOGUE
Seduced by The Werewolf
The Boss’s Mistress
Doing Inventory
High on Biology
Chapter 1
I arrived at Hardy’s Café just after ten and let myself in the back door that was already open. My locker was the one in the corner, and it had been mine since I’d started working here when I was eighteen.
“You’re in early,” Dana said, coming in after me. I put my coat and my boots in my locker, swapping them for an apron and the black ballet flats I wore while I was serving. When I’d replaced them halfway through my nine-year run as a server at Hardy’s I’d managed to find the exact same pair.
“Don’t tell me you had something better to do with your time than arrive early for work,” I joked and looked at my face in the faded little mirror on the inside of my locker door. I finger combed my hair away from my face and bound it with a hair elastic. Dana sat down next to me, untying her lace-up combat boots. Her dirty blond hair fell over her shoulder in a thick braid, already done for her shift. I was jealous of Dana. Since we’d become friends in middle school, she’d been the prettiest girl in class. She was curvy, blond and beautiful. I was skinny with dark hair and eyes almost the same color which just made me look brooding, not ethereal the way she came across.
“I have news,” Dana said, tying her apron around her waist. I stopped fussing with my hair and looked at her. Her green eyes shimmered when she looked at me.
“I’m leaving.”
I blinked at her. “What?”
“Josh proposed.”
I gaped at her. “You’re going to Arizona?”
She nodded, her grin almost contagious. “Yeah. I can find a job as a waitress there and maybe even study part time. We can finally be together.”
I forced a smile. “That’s great,” I said.
Dana sighed. “Come on, you know I can’t be stuck here forever. No one should be, not even you.”
I turned to my locker and put my phone away. I didn’t want her to see how upset I was about the news. She knew, anyway.
“Come on, Alice, can’t you be happy for me?” she asked.
“I can. You know I can.” I forced a smile again before I turned around. “It’s just sudden, that’s all.” And she didn’t know Josh very well since they’d been doing a long-distance relationship for the past three years, and it wasn’t that easy just jumping into a new life with your eyes closed. Although, I didn’t know that part because I hadn’t gone anywhere in my life. I had grown up in Milford with my dad. I’d never been further than Dunfair, the next town over.
“I know,” Dana said. “But we will still keep in touch. I just… need to make something of myself, you know? I have to get out of this place before it kills me.”
Someone knocked on the locker room. “You’re running behind, girls,” Mr. Hardy’s deep voice traveled through the locker room door. Dana rolled her eyes at me. Mr. Hardy had opened the café two years before we’d started working here and he’d been old to start off with. We’d been serving for him for seven years, and he was still going strong.
“Coming, Mr. Hardy,” Dana said, and I followed her out of the locker room. I wanted my friend to be happy. I wanted her to have the life she’d always dreamed of. She’d doodled Josh’s name on her notebooks since we were fifteen. I just hadn’t thought anything would change.
Only a handful of us had stayed behind when the rest of our class had moved away. Everyone left Milford, eventually. It wasn’t the place where you went to create a new future. It was a small, sleepy town at the foot of the mountain in Oregon, surrounded by trees. The forest was so close to the town border it felt like it was trying to swallow it whole. I liked being in the forest – the air felt cleaner, and it was easier to be alone, to imagine my life was different. When I was there, anything was possible. It was only when I walked back into town that I felt like I couldn’t breathe, again.
I’d had dreams of leaving, too. I’d felt confined by this place since I could remember. My mom had died just after I was born, my dad had stayed in Milford, and the community had helped him raise me. I had wanted to leave to find a life where I could belong, where I could find love the way my dad had and make it work.
When he’d gotten cancer, I’d pushed away my dreams. I would stay behind and take care of him the way he had taken care of me. I would stay in the one place I’d always thought would eventually suffocate me and I’d given my dad the best years of my life.
Now that he was gone, I had nothing left besides the job I had committed to, to cover our bills, the house that was full of ghosts now and the few friends that had been there for me before.
Dana was leaving now though, which meant I had very little left.
I helped Dana take the chairs down from the tables and put table cloths over. I added the menus and centerpieces. Dana scribbled the specials of the day on a chalkboard at the entrance, and we were done and ready for lunch service at eleven on the dot.
I strived for excellence in my work because it was all I had, and if I couldn’t do this, well, God help me, my whole life would be a waste.
The café was closed again between three-thirty and six when we opened for dinner service. In that time, I went home again. I ate the complimentary meal I got from the café, and I read. Reading was the only way I could escape from reality. It was the one way I could cross the borders and travel the word without having to leave at all. And I could read about other things than what was real, I could let my imagination take over and find a life that was a hundred times more interesting than my own.
Werewolf and vampire stories made me feel like there was something magical out there. I chewed on a grilled cheese sandwich and curled up in the lounge with my book. It was about a man, a werewolf, who had fallen in love with a human woman. The love they were capable of was the stuff of fairytales.
“You have to stick to my side,” Gina whispered under her breath. Maria had come with her to the meeting. The alpha had heard about her, and he’d wanted to know what a human wanted with werewolves. Gina had told Maria it was his business when his pack was involved. Maria just hoped he wouldn’t see her as a threat.
If anyone felt threatened, though, it was her. Being around werewolves made her feel like her own life was in danger. Jewel tone eyes looked at her from every direction, and not one of them was human beneath t
hose stares. Animals slid behind their eyes even though they were still in human form and Maria felt like running.
“They can smell your fear,” Gina said to her in a low voice.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“Because I can smell it. It’s sour. Stick to my side and don’t do anything your instincts tell you.”
Maria frowned. “Does that make sense?”
Gina glared at her. “Your instincts are telling you to run. If you run, instinct will take over, and they will hunt you down and kill you without thinking about it.”
I shivered. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what that had to be like. I wanted to feel anything other than the numb existence I had in this small little town. I took another bite of the forgotten sandwich and carried on reading.
The magic in the air picked up like fog until it was hard for Maria to breathe.
“What’s happening?” she asked Gina.
“He’s here,” she said under her breath. Her whole attitude was reverend now, Maria got the vibe of a dog deferring to its master from her even though she was still just a human. Maria looked around, looking for the man that had to be the alpha. There were so many preternatural creatures around it was hard to tell one apart from the other.
Until her eyes fell on him. Dark hair, skin the color of caramel and eyes so dark they looked black. Onyx. When they fell on her Maria squirmed. This was the alpha. She could feel it vibrate through her body. She tingled at her core. Something about the way he looked at her made her avert her eyes, too.
“Good, girl,” Gina whispered next to her like Maria was a dog.
Embermane slowly climbed the big rock in the middle of the clearing where they had gathered. When he stood above everyone, the magic was so thick it pushed its way down Maria’s throat. She gasped for breath, looking up at the man that was so far away from the human he was practically animal before he’d even shifted.
“There is a human, here,” Embermane said, looking straight at Maria. Her gut clenched and she felt his stare at her core. It was animalistic, primal. A part of her reacted. He was the most attractive creature she had ever seen.
Did that make sense? He was a wolf. Maria glanced at Gina who still had her eyes turned down.
“Don’t stare!” she hissed.
Maria looked down immediately. She hadn’t realized what she’d been doing.
“He’ll kill you for it – it’s a challenge,” Gina added.
No one said or did anything for long enough that Maria dared to look up again. Embermane wasn’t on his rock anymore. She looked around, searching for him. On the one hand, it was like seeing someone that made your heart stop, only to lose them again. On the other, it was like a killer disappearing from your sight, and you had to find him again for the sake of your own life.
Suddenly, Embermane was in front of her. His eyes were like bottomless pools of black. She met his stare full on, and something inside her jumped. Gina backed away, and Maria was alone in front of the alpha. He was curious, but he was dangerous, too. She was very aware of it. He could kill her so easily.
He lifted his hand. Was this it? Was this where she died? Visions of him ripping her throat out flashed before her eyes. When he touched her, she jumped, but it wasn’t a touch to kill. In fact, it was so gentle it was almost non-existent. Except for the current that ran through her body the moment his skin touched hers.
Embermane frowned. Maria couldn’t tear her eyes away from his. She was falling into those eyes, and she feared she would never come back up for air.
And she feared she wouldn’t want to.
My phone rang, ripping me away from the magic. I scrambled to find it and pressed send, holding it against my ear.
“Where are you?” Dana asked. “Dinner service is starting in ten.”
“Shit,” I said and closed the book. “I lost track of time. Be there in five, thanks for calling.”
“Yeah, you owe me,” Dana said, but I didn’t have time to agree or argue. I hung up on her and ran out of the house, the book and the sandwich abandoned on the couch. Back to real life, it was.
Sometimes – not very often at all, because I was a realist – I wished that the things that happened in my stories could be true, that love like that was possible, that magic was real.
Of course, that would never happen, but a girl could dream, right?
Chapter 2
Sometimes I woke up before sunrise and I couldn’t go back to sleep. On mornings like this, I felt like I was the only person awake in the world. I was the only conscious being, the only one able to feel. I was lonely when I was around everyone else, every day, but when I was alone like this, I liked it.
I got dressed into jeans, a long-sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt with a hood. I put on my running shoes and stepped outside. It was already starting to get light, but the sun still needed to fight its way over the horizon. The cold mountain air clutched onto the remnants of the night and even though winter was still far off, my breath made small bursts of mist into the morning.
I set off from my home, running through the deserted streets. My feet beat out a tattoo on the tarmac, my heart was bursting in my chest, and I timed my breathing – in for two steps, out for two steps. It didn’t take me very long to get to the edge of town where the houses fell away, and the trees got denser. I crossed a small field that flanked an abandoned cottage and set into the forest.
When I was out here, I felt like I could breathe. The air was crisp, so cold it burned my lungs on its way in. I weaved my way through the trees until I found the old hunting trail, so dim now it was just a memory. I followed it further and further away from Milford. Sometimes, when I ran, I pretended I could just keep running and never turn back.
That would never happen, of course. I got tired, eventually, my legs screaming, my lungs burning with exertion. I stopped in a small clearing and leaned forward with my hands on my knees, breathing hard. After a while I straightened out, taking deep, slow breaths, trying to catch my breath again.
I sat down on a fallen log and stretched my legs out. The muscles in my thighs twitched with the exertion. The forest around me was dead quiet. The night still hung thick between the trees so that I couldn’t see very far.
A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I twisted, snapping my head around to see who it was. The forest was quiet and empty. Had I just imagined it?
I looked around, straining to see as far as I could, listening for a sound. Nothing.
I turned back, but I was alert, now. I wasn’t alone. I didn’t know how I knew. It wasn’t just paranoia, either. It felt like I wasn’t alone. It felt like I was being watched.
A cold finger dragged down my spine, and I shivered. I got up, shaking my body, waking my muscles up again. I had to get back.
I wasn’t running away because I was scared, I told myself. I just had to get back.
By the time I reached the house again, the sun had peeked over the horizon, and everything in town was splashed with gold. The eerie feeling had stayed behind in the woods and fleeing seemed silly now.
I showered and ate before leaving the house again.
Today was my off day. I had to do a grocery run, so I had food to eat when I wasn’t at the café, and I needed new clothes. My clothes lasted long, but I was pushing six or seven years with some items. It was time for change.
My phone rang.
“I’m going to Dunfair. Do you want to come with me?” Dana asked.
“Sure,” I said. “I can do with a change of scenery.”
“I’ll pick you up in ten.”
She pulled up in the red Jeep she’d driven since she’d gotten her license and I got in. The car coughed into the morning air as we took off, following the only road that led into and out of the city.
“So there’s news traveling around town,” Dana said when we were on the open stretch between Milford and Dunfair, leaving the mountain behind us.
“Bigger than your engagement?” I asked.
/> Dana chuckled. “I haven’t exactly announced that yet, so yeah. You know that abandoned cottage? Apparently, it’s in use.”
I frowned. “I ran past it this morning. Looks pretty deserted to me.”
Dana shrugged. “I’m just telling you what I heard. And you’ll never guess by who.”
I glanced at her. “Someone, we know?”
Dana nodded, her lips curling up into a smile. She loved to gossip. She loved being the one to share the news that no one else knew.
“Hemming Turner.”
I blinked at her. “What?”
“That’s what I said. I didn’t think he’d ever come back. But there it is, Hemming is living in the abandoned cottage. And apparently, he’s gotten weird.”
I looked through the passenger window. People didn’t come back. No one ever came back.
Hemming Turner used to be the hottest guy in school. He’d been the guy that everyone had had a crush on, including me, but he’d never dated anyone. He was one of those that had gone to prom without a date because he could because being a rebel was so much more fun than conforming. I remembered him as a light-haired kid with a ton of swagger and an easy smile.
“Wow,” I said.
“Right?” Dane sighed. “Why do things only start to get interested when I’m about to leave?”
I shrugged. “You’re not leaving right away, and I doubt it would be interesting, anyway. It’s just Hemming.”
Dana raised her eyebrows at me, taking her eyes off the road for a moment.
“Right. Just Hemming. It’s only the boy you’d been swooning over for years.”
I laughed. “And that was ten years ago. We’ve all grown up,” I said. “I’m happy with my life.”
“Right,” Dana said. She didn’t have to say anything more. We both knew it wasn’t the truth and there was no point arguing about it.