The Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 1) Read online

  “It’s okay, come,” he said, nodding his head a little before he continued walking.

  Katey gave in, despite her better judgment, and followed him. She kept a few feet behind and compared their heights and estimated weights. She was so vulnerable. It would be near impossible to defend herself against him. But something told her that she had a greater risk of being attacked by a shark out in the middle of this graveyard than for her to be put in a situation where she would have to defend herself against Logan.

  Now she knew the source of that peace. It must have been him. Just like her teachers, Logan radiated that same confidence in everything he did.

  He stopped at the edge of a little pebble-stoned area, surrounded by a concrete perimeter. It reminded Katey of a little sand box, minus the sand. There were no tombstones so it was kosher to walk on.

  Logan stepped over the little concrete wall and onto the pebbles, his heavy boots crunching against the rocks with each step. Katey watched and waited as he settled himself down on the stones.

  She stared at him in puzzlement.

  He let out a content sigh, folded his hands on top of his solar plexus and looked over at Katey with those dazzling eyes again. She could see that he was very physically fit. His waist was trim and from the way the light hit his black shirt, she could see the rock hard abs underneath. His broad chest steadily rose and fell with each steady breath in a rhythm that Katey could watch all night. He motioned for her to join him.

  Katey raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Okay, I know it looks weird and I know what you’re thinking, but I’m really not the kind of guy to hurt someone. At least not on purpose…” His eyes flashed with momentary hesitance. “But this is pretty relaxing and it’s a perfect view of the sky for when the comet comes,” he said sincerely.

  It was then that Katey realized she had never been alone with a guy before, let alone lay down next to him. Her common sense screamed at her, begging her to leave now while he wasn’t in the position to chase her. But the part of her that didn’t want to be numb anymore vetoed the idea.

  She joined him and gazed up at the night sky, letting it fill her vision. She’d never realized how many stars there were and the moon was huge that night. Who needed street lamps when such a natural light was already there.

  With each second that became the past, the restlessness that Katey had been feeling for months, began to ebb away. Her tense muscles released and she felt she could breathe for the first time. Her chest no longer ached with loneliness. Her mind wasn’t engulfed in the black fog of despair and doubt.

  Katey felt, for the first time perhaps in years, at home. This was her breakthrough.

  “Do you feel it yet?” he said softly.

  “Feel what?” she asked, her voice sounding loud even in her own ears.

  “That weird sensation of peace like the world is alright.”

  “Yeah,” she replied with a grin. “How’d you know?”

  “Because I feel it too.”

  Katey rolled her head to the side and met his gaze. She didn’t realize how close he was, but she didn’t care. It was exhilarating.

  He grinned and Katey couldn’t help but smile too. It was a true smile, not faked for the sake of friends and teachers. But, a true, genuine grin that she was slightly embarrassed to reveal to such a perfect stranger. She felt her face flush and turned back to the gazing at the sky.

  “I come out here probably twice a week. It’s almost like therapy,” he said. A moment of silence passed between them and she spoke again.

  “Today is actually my birthday.” She didn’t know what provoked her to share this detail with someone who she just met when she never even told her best friends. It must have been that peace he was talking about. “A little before midnight I’ll be officially eighteen,” Katey said. She didn’t really know what time she was born; she just set a random time. Eleven fifty-five at night seemed nice for the moment. Beth had always bragged that she was born at three o’clock in the morning while Lily’s parents told her she was born exactly at noon.

  “No kidding? Well…” he pulled out a watch from his jacket pocket and peered at it in the darkness. “In the case that either of us leaves before then, happy birthday.”

  Katey giggled. “Thank you. And how old are you?”

  “I turn nineteen in a about month,” he replied.

  “You look older than that.”

  He shook his head. “I get that a lot. You don’t look your age either.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she replied.

  “Good. I meant it as one.”

  They spent the next several moments in comfortable silence. A gust of wind rolled above them and Katey shivered as it leaked through her hoodie. She didn’t know whether to be frustrated that she didn’t come prepared with another jacket or that she could feel her skin crawl with gooseflesh. She hadn’t felt such a sensation since last December, almost exactly a year ago.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” she mumbled with a sigh.

  Logan ignored her and sat up to shrug off his heavy jacket. He handed it to her with a severe look like she shouldn’t argue. And she didn’t. Katey took his jacket and joked how heavy it was. But once it was around her shoulders, it blocked out the cold perfectly.

  They reclined back down, but this time Logan folded his hands behind his head, displaying his ripped body for her. Katey shivered, but not because of the cold.

  “So do you live around here?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Katey replied with a note of apprehension.

  “Where?”

  “Why? Are you going to stalk me?”

  “Not unless you want me to.”

  Katey rolled her eyes at his teasing. If he had made that comment any earlier, she wouldn’t have taken it in the way it was meant at all.

  “So you have heard about the comet, right?”

  “Yeah, who hasn’t? That’s what the party was for. Funny thing is that everyone’s going to be too drunk to even pay attention when it comes around.”

  He laughed. “And you really are not afraid to be out here all alone?” he asked, looking back to her with sympathetic eyes.

  “Nah. I don’t think there are any really dangerous wild animals here anymore. And I can usually take care of myself,” Katey said with a level of counterfeited confidence that made even herself smile.

  “But you get freaked out over a stranger trying to be friendly to you.”

  Katey shook her head. “That’s just being careful.”

  “And I still managed to get you to lay down here with me.”

  Katey laughed off his comment. “Whatever.”

  “And that thing about wild animals isn’t necessarily true,” he said softly.

  Katey looked back at him. His expression was shadowed and somber, as if everything had been merely a joke up to this point. He was perfectly serious and he wanted to make sure she was aware of it.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I’ve heard that wolves are making a comeback in this area,” he said, keeping his eyes on the moon, while she kept her eyes on his. They looked like they were changing colors, becoming lighter and lighter, mimicking the paleness of the moon. It took a moment for his words to sink in.

  “Really? Are you serious?” she asked.

  “Very serious. They spotted three just the other month from what I heard.”

  He must have been pulling her leg. If they spotted wolves, it would have been all over the news. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” he asked.

  “Not a bit,” she replied. He didn’t press the matter or try to make her believe him.

  The moon made its gradual ascension into the sky, slow and majestic in its climb.

  Katey had no idea how long they had been laying like that before a dull exhaustion crept in. She closed her eyes, but seemingly seconds later Logan spoke.

  “And
… happy eighteenth birthday, Katey. It’s midnight.”

  Katey didn’t reply, but smiled all the same. She could feel his eyes on her, but she didn’t move or look at him in return. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts. She was finally considered an adult. She could leave Crestucky, leave Mary and start a new life.

  But with that revelation came the knowledge that if she did leave town, she’d be leaving far more than a bad home and a hick town. She’d be leaving her friends behind. She admitted to herself that she had few friends, but sadly, they were all she had. And before she could stop herself from thinking it, she knew she’d be leaving Logan too. It was silly. They just met and he suddenly became a factor in her decision to leave town or not.

  “Hey, Katey… Look.” Logan knocked his hand a few times gently on her arm and she looked up. Just below the moon, a small streak of pale blue light, the color of Logan’s eyes, shot across the sky. She watched in wonder as its tail left a trail of stardust in its wake. Katey had never seen anymore more glorious.

  And all the sudden, she felt small. In the vast workings of the universe, she realized that she was just a small speck of dust, no bigger than the pin of a needle compared to what else lay out there for man to discover. Now she understood why people could be so obsessed about space.

  But Katey wasn’t concerned with space. Just her place in it. She was afraid that the depression would return and tried to force the thought out. But it wouldn’t leave. And instead of giving her feelings of grief and sorrow for her own insignificant life, it instilled something else completely different.

  Katey wanted to find her place in the world, not just accept the idea that she might not have a place. She remembered how good it felt to help Mr. Myers with his car earlier in the day. It was the feeling of fulfillment when she helped someone in need. She wanted to feel it again.

  Katey looked over to where Logan was laying to tell him all about her new revelation, but he wasn’t there. She didn’t even hear him leave. Rocks surrounded them, but somehow he managed to get up and walk away without making a single sound.

  Katey sat up and swiveled her head around, searching for him. She didn’t see him anywhere. Katey began to wonder if she had fallen asleep and only imagined Logan. As she looked around more frantically, her heart began to pound in her chest with the thought that she was alone again. The peace that she had felt only moments ago had left her. She didn’t want to be alone ever again.

  She jumped up and ran to her jeep, stumbling a little on her way. Just as she stepped over the threshold to the parking lot, she heard a long solemn wolf howl coming from the forest beyond the graveyard.

  The sound reverberated through the air like a haunting call, chilling her blood and then making it boil all at the same time. It was a bizarre sensation as she froze and listened to the last dying notes, captivated by it.

  Was it really a wolf or just a lone dog? She’d heard stray dogs bark and howl before, but none of them sounded like that. The howl was majestic and regal. Not the mangy wailings of a mutt. Could what Logan said be true?

  She quickly hopped in her jeep and sped away from the cemetery. It took her that long to realize that she was still wearing Logan’s heavy jacket. Now she knew that he must have been real and not just an illusion. But if he was real, she wondered why he hadn’t taken his jacket back.

  Chapter 3

  When she got home, Katey saw Mary’s blue car parked in the driveway. She sighed and pulled up along the curb opposite the mailbox. Katey knew this would end badly. It was past midnight and Katey hadn’t spoken to her all day. Regret settled in that she should have at least told Mary that she was going to a party like Beth suggested.

  She quickly made up a story about hanging out with Lily and Beth. She knew either of them would cover for her if Mary decided to become a detective.

  The garage door was open so Katey walked through the door that led to the kitchen. The lights were turned off except for the big-screened TV that was flickering in the living room. She saw the figure of her foster mother in her recliner, gripping the neck of a wine bottle.

  Katey softly tread across the stained and soiled carpet, trying not to cross Mary’s line of vision. There was no other way to her bedroom from the garage. If there was, she would have gladly taken it rather than cross paths with her foster mother.

  “Where have you been?”

  The hairs rose on the back of her neck and her stomach churned at the sound of Mary’s scratchy, shrill voice.

  Katey turned and met Mary’s cold intoxicated eyes that stared a hole right through her. Her foster mother’s black hair had fallen down from her tight bun onto her shoulders and the woman was pale beyond reason.

  “Me, Lily and Beth got something to eat and went to a movie.”

  “What did you eat?” she asked

  “We just got some burgers at Burger King.”

  “Whose jacket is that? I haven’t seen it before”

  Katey had to think on her feet. “It’s Lily’s bother’s jacket. He joined us at the movies and offered it to me when I got cold.”

  “What movie did you see?” she asked.

  Katey wasn’t in on what was going on in the pop culture world so she didn’t know what movies were out. But she knew Mary didn’t either.

  “It wasn’t too good. You wouldn’t know what it is anyway.” Katey replied before turning to walk towards her bedroom.

  “Don’t you talk back to me!” Mary wailed. “And you’re lying. I can tell. Where have you really been?”

  Katey stopped and turned her eyes heavenward, silently begging for a release. “You can’t tell anything through your wine goggles,” she whispered, barely audible over the static of the television.

  “What did you just say to me, young lady?” Mary stood up out of her chair and clumsily closed the distance between them, tripping over nothing and swaying slightly with each step.

  Katey gathered every ounce of courage and turned to face Mary. “You heard me. You can’t see anything through those wine goggles!”

  Mary’s bloodshot eyes went wide with rage. “How dare you talk to me like that!”

  Rebellious fury rose within her and no amount of rationality was going to settle her down now. “I can talk to you however I want. You’re not my mother!”

  “But I am your guardian and you will respect me!”

  Mary raised her hand and struck Katey across the cheek.

  Katey whimpered and held a hand over where Mary slapped her. The shock still rang in her ears as she felt her skin tingle from the blow.

  She should have been used to this by now. Mary would get drunk, she’d get mad at Katey for one reason or another, they would argue, slam doors and the next morning it would be like it never happened.

  But this had to end. Katey was an adult now and didn’t have to stand for any of this.

  Katey looked at Mary and slapped her in return. Mary reeled for a moment and then fell to the floor, spilling the wine from the bottle that was still clutched in her hand.

  Katey felt no remorse as she turned away from the unconscious woman and fled to her room to pack her things. Still fuming from the fight, she frantically grabbed everything she would need for the weekend and stuffed it in one of her duffle bags.

  Mary would probably wake up later tonight or tomorrow morning and Katey was determined to not be there. Tomorrow morning, Mary was leaving on a plane to Colorado to visit her boyfriend and would be gone through the holidays. Only when she was safely out of Florida would Katey come back. It would give her time to formulate a plan.

  ***

  Katey was deep in sleep when her cell phone buzzed on the dashboard. Lily’s special ring tone sounded throughout the jeep. She sat up, and rubbed her eyes that were heavily crusted with sleep before she reached for her phone. Katey flipped it open and pressed the talk button.

  “Hello?” she said, her voice breaking a bit.

  “Katey, where are you?” Lily’s voice screamed in her ear.
/>   Katey moaned and felt around for her glasses that were on the floorboard. The chilled air of the jeep met her when she threw off her blanket and looked out the iced window. She squinted around and saw that she was in the school’s back parking lot next to the football field behind the school’s kitchen.

  “At school,” she mumbled and buried half of her face in her pillow. Katey tried to remember last night. She remembered going to the party, going to the graveyard, coming home, arguing with Mary, knocking her out and leaving.

  But there was something else just on the tip of her mind that she couldn’t recollect fully through the haze of her tired thoughts.

  “What are you doing at the school? It’s Saturday! Oh, speaking of which, I tried to call you last night, but you didn’t answer. Where were you?” the volume of her voice rose and fell, which hurt Katey’s ears.

  “I was at a party and a graveyard… I think… My phone was in my car. I’m sorry. What time is it?” she asked, starting to come to with a few self-inflicted slaps to the face. Katey felt something heavy in her lap and she looked down to find a rugged, heavy, black jacket that looked like it had seen better days.

  Katey had completely forgotten about it. The image instantly brought back the memory of last night. The guy that just appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as suddenly. Logan was his name.

  They watched the stars, he gave her his jacket, they talked, and then he left right after the comet had faded from the sky. She lifted up the jacket and sniffed it deeply. It smelt just like him; a masculine scent with a twinge of pine and deodorant. She grinned giddily.

  Lily’s excited cries brought her back to reality. “It’s time to dance! Why aren’t you at the studio?”

  Katey jolted awake and was knocked clear out of her daydream. It was Saturday and she was supposed to be down at the ballroom dance studio helping with group lessons. She always helped on Saturdays at noon until she had to go to work at the bookstore.

  “Crap! Ok, I’ll be there, just give me ten minutes.”