The Calling (3 page)

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 his 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.

"Yes, we are," Rayna said. "We've been driving for over an hour and there's nothing here. Just trees and..." She looked out the window and made a small sound in the back of her throat. "Well, just trees." The car suddenly veered and she sucked in a harsh breath, her entire body clenching until Mitch gained control and steered them back onto the road. She glared at him when he grinned and made an apology. He was trying to drive and read the map at the same time.
Typical
. She sighed, shifting in her seat again to try and get comfortable.

The entire trip was a whirlwind of planning that she'd spent half the night preparing for. Clive had been thrilled when she called him at home and told him she'd take the case. Of course, he wasn't too happy about her leaving immediately. And neither was Mitch. She'd ruined his big triumphant dance around the office while he gloated about them going away together. When he'd asked what her hurry was, she'd lied and told him the sooner she could expose Malcolm for the conniving little troll he was, the sooner her life could get back to normal. Malcolm had been a pain in her ass for the better part of the year and if giving in and making an appearance in his little town was all it took to stop his harassment, then she'd do it.

No one needed to know Garrett, and his refusal to be civil with her, was the real reason.

She'd left the bar the night before a total mess. Watching him flirt with the blonde and then have his hateful words thrown at her had nearly killed her. Seeing him follow her to the parking lot, she'd been half tempted to just run him over but the fear of actually hurting him made her sick. Not that he had any of the same qualms. Hurting her seemed like his new life mission. Why that was still baffled her. He's the one who broke it off between them. If anything, she should be the one throwing hateful words at him, not the other way around. It was almost as if he went out of his way to offend her at every turn and no matter how hurtful his words were a small part of her was just grateful he was still talking to her. Just seeing him made her pulse race and caused her belly to ache. She missed the stupid jerk. Missed the way his arms felt around her and the way he smelled of earth and things alive and fresh. She missed his kisses and the things he said to her in the dark, of feeling safe and protected.

As pathetic as it was, she was still crazy about the asshole.

She shook thoughts of Garrett away before she once again slipped into pity mode and focused her attention on Malcolm, and the trip, and pushed Garrett to the back of her mind where he needed to stay. She knew this excursion was going to be interesting, regardless of her own personal beliefs of what was really happening in the mountain community of Wolf's Creek. After calling Malcolm herself, and the little speech her boss, Clive, gave her, she knew she had no excuse but to take the case seriously and do a proper story. She still wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, though. Werewolves. Honest to God, shape-shifting humans. The idea alone was preposterous.

In all her years as an investigative journalist she'd yet to come across anything as bizarre as this.

Of course, she knew the claim was false. There weren't any werewolves in the world but the story was still interesting. An entire town, living with the belief that they could all shift their shapes into something else was just... well, it was a goldmine is what it was. Mass delusion. And it was a delusion. She did find that piece of information during her Internet search the night before. A rare disorder referred to as Lycanthropy. A condition that caused its victims to believe they could shift their shape into other creatures. In this case, werewolves. She almost felt sorry for them. The reporter in her was eager for the story, damn the consequences. The human side pitied them.

The car slowed and Rayna glanced out the window. A town sprang up from nowhere amongst the trees and she turned her head to Mitch when he slowed the car and pulled up next to the curb. He was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"I told you we weren't lost."

The urge to stick her tongue out at him was great, but she refrained. She did roll her eyes before sitting up straight in her seat and peering out the window at the town. It looked to be exactly one street and they were on it. The sidewalk stopped a block down and turning to look behind her, she was met with the same sight. "Are you sure this is it, Mitch?"

"Yes, I'm sure," he said."

"Well, where's the hotel then?"

"That, I'm not sure of."

He turned the car off and opened his door, stepping into the deserted street. "Hello! Is anyone here?"

Rayna watched him walk a few feet from the car and yell again before she looked at what was supposed to be a town. There were exactly eight buildings on the right side of the road and seven on the left. A single stoplight hung from a line crossing the street. She'd thought Bluff's Point was small but this made the seaside community she'd called home all her life look like a bustling metropolis.