I'm Not Afraid of Wolves (The Cotton Candy Quintet Book 4) (4 page)

“Werewolves?” I asked incredulously. “As in, real life werewolves?”

“See? I told you that you wouldn’t believe me,” Sara groaned. She put her head in her hands and started to cry.

“Yeah, yeah, I do,” I said gently. I put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off, angrily.

“I mean, werewolves are supposed to just be in movies,” Sara said. “Like in those horrible late night b-movies. They’re not supposed to be real!”

“Just tell me what happened,” I said firmly. Maybe I could get to the bottom of what she was talking about.

“Okay,” Sara said. But then her face crumpled and she started crying again.

Whatever it was, it must have been terrible.

“So, I met this guy named Chad,” Sara said. “At a bar in Decatur.”

I didn’t know anything about Atlanta’s geography, but I nodded just to keep her talking.

“And we really hit it off, you know? He was nice and handsome, and everything I was looking for in a boyfriend. He took me out to dinner, we had a couple of dates. I thought, ‘Wow, I found the last gentleman on Earth, and he’s all mine.’”

Sounded a lot like what happened between Shane and me. I clenched my jaw.

“Go on,” I prompted.

“We’d been dating for about five months,” she said.

“So it’s pretty serious?” I asked.

“Was,” she corrected softly. “For our five-month anniversary—because Chad is so romantic—he wanted to take me out on the town. During a full moon. I should have known.”

I didn’t agree that a full moon would have told her that something was off, but I gently pushed her with, “What?”

She let out a breath. “He took me to dinner, where he told me that he wanted to move our relationship to the next level. And I stupidly agreed, because you know, I fall hard for any man that comes my way. I thought he meant moving in together.”

She did have a habit of falling hard. I’d witnessed it firsthand. It had burned her so many times in the past too, I’d hoped that she would have learned her lesson by now.

As I said, some people never change.

Sara continued. “So I accepted, not really knowing what he meant by ‘the next level’. And he said that he wanted to introduce me to his family and friends. THAT NIGHT.”

“Weird.”

She glared at me. “More than that. But I went with him to see his family and friends, because, ‘Oh this is a romantic little surprise. He really loves me.’” She scoffed and combed a hand through her hair. “I was so wrong.”

I didn’t interrupt her; I let her keep talking.

“So we go over to this bar. It’s in…well, it’s in a rough part of Atlanta. And then I meet his friends and family—and they transformed before my very eyes.”

“Transformed?”

“Into werewolves!” she cried. “They transformed into these big furry
things
and Chad tells me—just before he transforms too!—that we’re going to be mated for life. And then he bites me.”

I froze. “He bit you?”

“Yeah.”

She reached up and pulled down the neck of her shirt down to her shoulder. Underneath was a long, scabbed bite mark that looked like it came from something inhuman with sharp teeth. It looked to be about a month old, but then again, I wasn’t a doctor or anything.

“Sara, why didn’t you get this stitched up?” I asked. “It could be rabies—or—”

“It’s werewolves!” she cried. “See, you don’t believe me, Christine!”

I swallowed back my retort, because if I argued with her anymore, she was going to shut up and not tell me her story. I needed her to calm down long enough to tell me.

“He bit me and told me that I was going to turn into a werewolf. And he wanted me to be his mate for life at the initiation during the next full moon.”

I fought the urge to glance at the sky, where the full moon was watching us. “You look pretty human to me. It’s a full moon now, and the only thing that’s wrong is that you’re crying.”

She nodded. “He said that I’d have to…complete the transformation with him. That he’d find me and make me his mate.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know! I’m not a werewolf!”

“Okay, okay. So that’s why you wanted to get away from Atlanta?”

“Uh huh.” She licked her lips. “I tried breaking up with him, but he refused. And then threatened me and—”

“Did you call the police?”

She gave me a hard look. “You know what it’s like, being in a relationship with someone you’re afraid of.”

That felt like a punch to the gut, and I had to take a deep breath to steady myself as the world tilted underneath me. “Are you feeling okay?”

Her bottom lip trembled. “I think so? I don’t feel any different.”

“Have you talked to anyone else about this?”

“Who would I talk to?” she asked.

Good point. “So you left Atlanta during a full moon. Does he know you’re here?”

She shook her head. “No.”

I nodded. “Good. Okay.” I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Look at me, Sara. You’re going to be fine. We have three more days to figure this out. You can move in with me in Jacksonville. You can go the police. Anything. You can get yourself out of this.”

Tears filled her eyes and she hugged me, tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered into my chest. “Thank you so much, Christine. I can always depend on you.”

I held her and let her cry.

And I watched the moon, as if it were mocking us.

I could tell it was.

***

It was sometime after midnight before Sara was able to fall asleep. After we left the deck, I tucked her in like a little child and told her that everything was going to be all right. Eventually, her tears subsided and then became light snores.

And I was the only one awake in the house.

I stood outside, watching the full moon flit in and out of cloud cover. I kept turning Officer Donnelly’s business card over and over in my hands. Debating on if I should take the Jeep and drive until I got cell phone reception to call him. Or to check the others’ phones to see if they had more luck than me. Sara might be mad in the morning once she found out that I called the cops, but I couldn’t stand by when someone had threatened my sister.

And if there was one thing I couldn’t stand, it was someone in a position of trust threatening those I loved. I had a breaking point when it came to people being jerk offs, and I just found it.

Officer Colton Donnelly, Park Ranger.

My mind kept mulling his name over in my head, as if I could send the distress call via telepathy.

I wondered if the other two women here knew about her situation, but I doubted it. Sara put on a brave face for everything. If there was an asteroid about to decimate Earth, she’d throw a baseball party and just pray that someone else would hit that hunk of rock back out to space.

“You think I’d be better about dealing with this kind of stuff,” I groaned out loud, putting my face in my hands.

And I should.

I’d been in Sara’s predicament before, and I knew how hard it was to pull myself out of that hole. How scary everything was.

I met Shane during my freshman year at the University of Jacksonville. I studied ballet and he was in school after he spent four years in the Army. We shared a huge lecture class together and I kept noticing the “hot guy” in his uniform all the time. I went and stalked Facebook until I finally found him, and even then, it took another friend messaging him to get us to start talking.

And talk we did. At first through instant messaging and then with a cup of coffee.

That first cup of coffee with him lasted three hours, and we would have kept talking if we hadn’t gotten kicked out at closing.

I fell for him. And hard.

I started spending every waking moment with him. We were inseparable; you’d never see one of us without the other. My dancing suffered because of it, but hey, I was a stupid kid in love. There are worse crimes in life, but I still paid for it.

When Shane was shipped off to Iraq, I fell despondent. For two years, my identity had been with him and when he wasn’t there, I no longer had any idea who I was. I stopped going to class. I stopped caring.

I dropped out of college waiting for him. I took a job at a restaurant to pay for my living wages. And when he came back, I still waited for him. Because the man who came back wasn’t the same Shane that left. This was a battle-hardened man that I barely knew. Sure, I said yes when he asked me to marry him. We got married too early. We moved in together too early.

At first, I’d convinced myself that this was all right. That this was how love should be and love had rough patches. I worked at the restaurant while he took a job at the bar in a seedy part of Jacksonville. We were getting by, albeit, we weren’t together most of the time.

I think that was when we started drifting apart.

And that was when the hitting started. The screaming. The accusing glares.

I hid the bruises under my heavy waterproof makeup. I blamed myself for what my fledgling marriage had become. The man who was now Shane was a different kind of beast from the one I originally fell in love with.

And I would do anything I could to repair it. Unfortunately, he took me up on my offer to do that.

A howl rent through the night, making me snap my head up, crashing through my memories of the past.

Was that a wolf? It sounded a bit too close for my liking, but then again, we were out in the wilderness of Georgia, and Officer Donnelly had said to look out for wolves. I guess they were close by no matter where we were out here.

That solidified my decision that I was not going to go out in the Jeep and find cell reception, especially in unfamiliar woods.

I thought about what Sara had said about werewolves, and I wondered for a brief second if that was a werewolf indeed. There was a full moon, after all.

Did I believe her story about werewolves? Sure. But that’s because I’ve seen a lot of things in my lifetime, from a baby dolphin jumping an impossible distance to things like—

Another howl. This one much closer, followed by an answer.

I shivered and pulled my cardigan closer around me, even though the summer air was hot and humid. I forgot how true fear can make your insides turn to ice.

Maybe it was time to go inside.

I opened the sliding door and stepped into the darkened great room. I locked it, and pulled the curtain shut, blocking out the full moon. What was out there could stay out there, and I was going to sleep in here, safe and sound.

Scrrraaaaa—tch.

The sound echoed throughout the cabin, and I froze in place, hearing the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.

It’s just the wind, Christine. A tree branch or something scratching on the window.

I wished I could convince my nerves of that. There weren’t any trees close enough to do that.

I jumped as I heard something big hit the roof with a thud, and then scuttle along one side of it.

I couldn’t convince myself that it was the wind this time.

And then I heard the screaming.

“CHRISTINE!”

Sara was screaming my name, spurring me into motion. I glanced around, trying to find a weapon, anything that could do damage to an assailant. I wished Andrea’s family were hunters, but I couldn’t see any sign of guns.

A kitchen knife would have to do. I practically tore the drawer off its track and jostled the cutlery. I pulled out the biggest knife I could find, which was still woefully small for whatever was attacking us.

A loud crash brought me to a run. It sounded like a window upstairs, in Sara’s bedroom.

I ran towards it, hoping that I wouldn’t get there to see my sister torn to pieces or—

Halfway up the stairs, I ran smack into her. Luckily, not with the pointy end of my knife.

“Christine!” she cried. Her eyes were wild and her fingers dug into my upper arm. “They’re here! They’re here!”

“Who’s here?” I asked, although I knew the answer.

“Chad. And—”

Another crash, followed by another scream. Emily, it sounded like.

“Look,” I told Sara, taking charge of the situation. “Go down to the basement.”

“Don’t leave me!”

“Sara!” I shook her shoulder. “Trust me on this, okay?”

She was white as a sheet, but she nodded. “Basement?” she whimpered.

“Hurry, and don’t open the door until you hear me on the other side, okay?”

“’K.”

I knew what they said about splitting up. But with the way that Sara looked right now, she’d get herself hurt and me as well. As big of a risk as it was, she had to hole herself up somewhere safe. I just hoped that safe place was downstairs.

“Go,” I told her. She bounded down the stairs as I went up. Towards danger. Towards the unknown.

Both of which were terrifying.

I held the knife in front of me, ready to slash anything that pounced on me.

Should I call out Emily or Andrea’s name? Let them know I’m coming? Or should I stay silent?

I opted for the latter and reached the landing as quietly as possible. Sara’s bedroom door was wide open. I didn’t dare look inside. I just had to make sure that Emily and Andrea were safe.

The door to the room where Emily was staying was slightly ajar. My breathing was quick as I pushed it open and peered in.

At first, I saw nothing. Then I saw Emily in a heap on the floor with a huge, hulking figure standing over her, its back to me. At first, I couldn’t quite identify what it was. While it was on all four legs, it felt like it took up most of the room. A grey wolf.

My ears picked up the sound of it sniffing the air, like it knew I was there.

Then it turned towards me, and I saw the red, bloodshot eyes.

I screamed as it howled at me.

But then I surprised it. Instead of cowering in fear or running, I charged it, brandishing the knife (which, I knew for certain, was way too small for this monster) like a madwoman and aimed to plunge it into its chest. I’m no knife expert, but I stuck it somewhere.

The knife pierced the beast in its side, and it threw back its head and screamed. Before I could react, it scrambled on all fours and leapt out the window.

Leaving me with an unconscious Emily.

One look at her, and I knew that she was just knocked out cold with no permanent damage, except maybe a conk on her pretty head, but it would have been much worse if I arrived later. I bent down and heaved her arm around my shoulder and practically dragged her out of the bedroom.

Was that the only werewolf in here? Were there more?

I knew for certain now that there were indeed werewolves after Sara. As much as it was terrifying, it also broke my heart to know that my sister was entangled with such creatures.

Maybe I got the only one that attacked us?

Better to be safe than sorry.

So, Andrea’s room it was. I pulled Emily alongside me as I crossed the landing to Andrea’s room. Unlike the other two doors, this one was closed. Hopefully that meant she was safe.

I banged on it three times, before trying the doorknob. Thankfully, it was unlocked and it opened easily. In the dark room, nothing seemed like it was out of place, except for Andrea sitting bolt upright in bed.

“What the—?” she started, angry at my intrusion.

“Get to the basement.” I turned on the light, blinding both of us. “
Now.
”

She opened her mouth, but then saw me supporting a limp Emily. Before she could ask what happened, another thud hit the roof, much closer now that I was on the top level. We both jumped at the noise, and Andrea let out a little shriek.

Wordlessly, she got to her feet, although her breathing was shallow. She would hyperventilate if she didn’t get herself under control.
Keep it together.

I followed her out of the room.

“Sara?” she asked as she looked at the open doorway to where my sister had been sleeping.

“She’s already downstairs,” I told her. “C’mon.”

Between the two of us, we somehow got ourselves and Emily’s unconscious body down two flights of stairs. When we reached the basement level, I saw that it was closed and locked to my relief.

Good girl,
I told Sara silently.

I pounded on this door. “Sara, it’s me!”

There was a pause followed by the sound of the lock being turned. As if it would protect her, she cracked the door open to confirm that it was just us. Our eyes locked and she threw open the door with a sob.

“Oh, thank god!”

I didn’t have time to hug her or tell her that everything was all right. I shuffled inside, bringing Emily with me.

“What happened to her?” Sara cried, her hands covering her mouth. Andrea shut the door behind us, locked it, and put a chair under the handle. We’d all seen enough movies to know the drill during a home invasion.

“She’s just unconscious,” I said. “She’ll be fine.”

I’d been in the basement earlier today, but I hadn’t spent much time here. There was just a couch on which I laid Emily, a coffee table, a television with a shelf of DVDs next to it, a small fridge, and a cabinet with some drawers. Maybe something could be used as a weapon, but not against odds like this.

“What the hell is happening?” Andrea hissed. Her eyes were wide like Sara’s.

“We have intruders,” I said, not willing to get into the details of werewolves.

“Did you see one?” Sara asked.

I knew exactly what she meant. I nodded.

A long, ragged scraping noise split through our conversation. This time, it didn’t sound like it was on the outside of the house.

It was directly above us, like claws were being dragged across the floor.

Sara covered up her shriek as she looked up, her eyes following the noise. Andrea jumped and moved to the corner. Her eyes were up on the ceiling as well.

The long scrape was joined by another and another and another. Like an entire pack was standing in the great room above.

Werewolves.

They weren’t going to leave. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to do something. I’d lost my knife earlier and I certainly wasn’t going to get anything down here with which to fight back. I had to show my true colors.

I swallowed back the lump in my throat. “I’ll be back.”

Sara snapped her gaze to me. “WHAT?”

I gave her a grim smile. “I’m going to show them that they can’t just come in here.”

Andrea shook her head, slowly at first, then violently. Sara looked like she couldn’t believe what I was saying.

“No, Christine! NO!”

“I promise,” I told her, “I will be right back. When have I ever let you down?”

She looked dubious, which was a welcome sight compared to her fear.

“Just lock this door behind me and put as much furniture as you can in front of the door.” I didn’t mention that the werewolves above could tear through the floor in a heartbeat and get them. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Before they could protest anymore, I pulled out the chair and opened the door, slowly at first to see if there was anything in the stairwell.

There wasn’t.

“I’ll be back,” I promised one more.

“Be careful, Christine,” Sara said.

“Hey,” I told her. “I’m your big sister. I’ll take care of this.”

Before I could hear her response, I shut the door behind me.

It was just me and them now.