Shifter’s Baby (Alpha Fantasy Paranormal Billionaire Shifter BBW Romance) (91 page)

Sam continued to pull Katie until they were almost to the edge of the woods. “Run, Katie,” he said, as she heard several twigs popping around them. Katie did not protest, she could see the seriousness in his eyes and his face.

Katie did not stop until she was back in the hotel. That was when she noticed how everyone was looking at her. One of the workers ran up and asked her if she was okay while looking at her head. Katie reached up and felt the dried blood on her forehead.

“Can you send a doctor to my room,” she asked the hostess.

The hostess nodded and headed to the phone. Another worker came to her and helped her back to her room. Katie sat on the edge of the bed while the worker waited for the doctor to come. She thought about the events of the day and Sam. Her head was foggy and she could not remember where he had come from. She felt stupid for going into the woods alone without wearing the proper shoes, it was something that she knew better than to do but she was thankful that Sam had shown up.

It was only a few minutes before the doctor walked into her hotel room with the hostess, the two workers that had stayed with Katie left her alone with the doctor. He checked her eyes, her breathing and her heart. He had her move around and when he was done he told her that she would be fine, but her head would be sore for a few days.

“You are lucky you made it back,” he said to her as he turned and began packing his supplies, These woods are not safe after dark.” The doctor left and Katie headed back to the shower. She had to clean up and change out of her dirty torn maxi dress. As she stepped into the shower, she could not get Sam out of her head, she also wondered why people kept telling her that the woods were dangerous after dark. It intrigued her to know what they meant. They had been very vague in what they had said, but they had made it very clear that there was a real danger.

Katie stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel before walking to the window she looked out at the woods and began thinking about Sam.

Something about his eyes had drawn her in, he was her hero and she wanted to thank him for what he had done, but then she realized that she had left him alone in the woods and had no idea what had happened to him.

Katie grabbed her laptop and began looking for anything to do with the area and the woods. What she found was that each year many tourists disappeared in those woods and on the off season several people would wander into them and never be seen again.

Then there was something else, it was what the locals called the explanation for all of the disappearances. The local shapeshifting dragons. It was said that many believed the shapeshifters had gone extinct years ago, but with all of the unexplained disappearances, many believed that these creatures had just been in hiding.

Katie thought about the hotel that she had been staying in and realized that there were dragons in every part of the hotel. Even the sign that was outside of the path she had walked on had a beautifully painted dragon on it. She became more and more interested in the local lore surrounding the dragons. Even though she knew there was no way it was possible for there to be shapeshifting dragons she wanted to know more about what the locals believed.

The lore stated that the dragons had lived on the island hundreds of years before people had ever discovered them. There were two types of dragons that were said to inhabit the island, those of the water and those of the land.

It was said that the great lizard was sworn to protect the island from being taken over and his alliance was with nature and not with people. There were stories of human women falling in love with the shapeshifters, leaving their families and becoming one of them, there were stories of dragons attacking settlers as they tried to build their communities and stories of men attacking the dragons and killing them all.

There were also stories of dragons impregnating human women, while taking on human form and passing their blood line on through humans and it was said that those that were left of the dragons lived in the woods right outside of Katie’s hotel.

Katie closed her computer not able to wrap her mind around the idea of a shapeshifting dragon making itself look like a human and giggled a little. She had heard some wild stories in her life, but as she crawled into her bed, she was in awe that people still believed in monsters.

Katie laid back in her bed and thought about Sam, she smiled at the idea of him being some terrifying shapeshifting dragon. No, he was just a beautiful man that had rescued her when she needed it the most.

That night for the first time, Katie had not dreamed about her past or her ex, she had instead dreamed about the mysterious man, she dreamed about Sam.

The next morning Katie awoke with a smile on her face, she quickly dressed and headed down to grab some breakfast. She slipped a few extra muffins into her bag and headed out the door. She was headed to the woods again, this time she was prepared. Katie wore a pair of yoga pants, a T-shirt and tennis shoes. She brought a flashlight in her bag just in case the woods got too dark and she brought a compass. She was not going to get lost today.

She knew that some people would have called her crazy for going back out into the woods alone, but she could not get Sam out of her head. She had to know that he was okay and she had to see him again. She had not felt this way about a man since she had first met her ex, there was something intoxicating about him, but Katie wondered if that had not been because of the large bump that was still on her head.

As Katie began following the trail into the woods, she reached up and touched the bump. It was still sore and the doctor said it would be for a few days, he had told her she could take Tylenol to take the edge off, but Katie refused to take any medicine that was not going to save her life. She had worked too hard over the years to maintain her health and she refused to compromise it simply so she did not have to endure the pain she had caused.

Katie took her time walking through the woods and picked at a biscuit she had brought with her to eat. She knew that it was not the best choice but wanted to find Sam badly. She felt awful for not calling the police and telling them about him the night before and she knew she would be to blame if something had happened to him.

Katie had not walked far when she began hearing twigs cracking in the woods around her. She stopped as the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Suddenly, out of nowhere Sam walked out of the woods.

“What are you doing back,” he said, looking at her with concern.

“I had to make sure that you were okay,” she said, feeling a little silly as she looked at him. This time he was wearing a pair of shorts, no shirt and no shoes. His muscles bulged making her realize that if he could not protect himself there was nothing that she could do to protect him.

“I am fine,” Sam replied, gently nudging her, “Now go back to the hotel and do not come into the woods again.”

Katie pushed back against Sam, not understanding why he was being so rude to her. She had come to make sure he was okay and now he was telling her to never come back.

“What is wrong with you,” she said, jerking her arm as he reached out for it.

“I told you these woods are dangerous,” he answered her, lowering his head, “you need to leave now.”

“Dangerous,” Katie laughed, “What do you think is out here dragons?” She rolled her eyes as she talked not willing to accept the local lore as fact. “Plus, I have you to protect me,” she added.

Sam stood staring at her knowing that she was not going to leave, but fearful of what could happen to her. These human women never seemed to understand that there was real danger in these woods and this was why many of them never returned.

Sam knew that if his Alpha found out that he was helping this woman he would want her dead right away. The Alpha did not want humans coming upon their camp, he wanted to make sure that instead they continued to believe the dragons had been extinct. It had become harder as more and more people visited the island, though, many of them looking for dragons, trekking off into the woods only to meet their untimely death.

As he stood in front of Katie he knew that he could not allow this to happen to her. He had never met a human woman that caused such a reaction inside of him and he knew that it was looked down upon for any dragon to have feelings for a human.

Years ago the dragons would breed with women allowing them to raise the baby until the age of 12. Then the dragons would take the child back to their own camp and teach them the ways of dragon life. There were times that the dragons would fall in love with the women that bore their children and would bring them to the camp to live as one of their own but those days were gone and it was no longer accepted.

The Alpha blamed these women for the murders of so many dragons over the years. He called them a threat stating that if women continued to join the pack more men would come looking for them and the pack would be discovered.

Sam knew how the world worked, how people killed what they feared without asking any questions. The truth was that the dragons would never be a danger to people if people would have learned to accept them but Sam knew that would never be.

“Dragons,” Sam asked, trying to pretend that he did not know what she was talking about.

“Oh yes,” Katie said, with a smile. She took Sam’s arm and began walking down the trail deeper into the woods with him. “I read all about them last night,” she continued, “How they live in these woods and how so many people go missing each year and how the dragons are to blame.”

“Where did you read that,” Sam asked, stopping suddenly.

“It is all over the internet,” Katie said, cocking her head to the side. She did not understand why it was such a big deal or why he was getting upset. “There are silly stories like that all over,” she continued gently tugging at his arm trying to get him to walk with her, “ever place has their own lore.”

Sam began walking with Katie as the fire flashed in his eyes. He looked down at the ground, hoping that she had not seen it. Anything that would cause a threat to his family was something that the Alpha needed to know about, but Sam knew there was nothing that could be done about it. It would only anger the Alpha and cause more problems for the people on the island.

Katie walked off of the path and found a large patch of soft moss for the two of them to sit on. She sat down and looked up at Sam. Realizing that she wanted him to join her he walked over and sat down. Katie began pulling items out of her bag. She pulled out food, bottles of water and napkins causing Sam to worry even more about her.

It was obvious that she was being more than kind to him and he knew that this could put her life at risk, there were dragons all over the woods and if one were to get her scent and find them together it could mean not only his death but hers as well.

“What if they are real,” Sam said, picking up a bottle of water.

Katie jerked her head and looked at him, “What are you talking about,” she asked, “Dragons?”

“Yes,” Sam said calmly, “What if they are real.”

Katie laughed almost causing herself to choke on her water. “Real,” she asked, “Dragons?”

Sam only nodded his head and she realized that he was serious.

“If they were real,” Katie said, looking back down at her bottle, “I think people would have found them by now.”

Katie looked up at the sky thinking about what Sam had said.

“Do you believe they are real,” she asked, looking back at him. She could not believe that such a sweet and attractive man would believe in something like dragons and more than that, shapeshifting dragons. She shook her head as she thought about how crazy, he must be to believe something like that.

“I do,” Sam said not taking his eyes away from hers.

Katie wrinkled her brow not sure how she should respond to him. She was a logical woman, she knew there was no proof of any monsters existing in the world and that people who believed in them were just reaching for anything to believe in.

“Why would you believe that,” she finally blurted out.

“I have been here my entire life,” Sam said with a sigh, “I have lived in these woods and I have seen things that others would never understand. When I tell you that your life is in danger I do not say it because people disappear. I say it because I know what is out here.”

Katie chewed on her lip as Sam spoke, unable to wrap her mind around what he was saying. She looked at him and he could tell that he had only confused her more.

“Katie,” Sam continued, “I do not want to scare you, but the things you have read about, they are true. It is dangerous for people to know what is in these woods and it is dangerous for you to be here,” Sam paused for a minute and looked away. He knew no other way to make her understand.

As he looked back at her, his eyes were filled with fire, bright red and yellow. He could see the fear on her face as she looked at him. “With me,” he finished.

Katie tried to stand up, she wanted to run, but was unable to move quickly enough. Sam wrapped his arms around her and held her in place. She looked back at him, his eyes back to their normal gray color. “I am not going to hurt you Katie,” he said, gently, “I am trying to protect you.”

Katie struggled to gain control of her breathing. She leaned back on the moss suddenly feeling sick and wishing she had never left her hotel room.