Chapter 17

TWELVE HOURS LATER

With a slight groan, I tossed my arm over my eyes. What the fuck did I do last night? Every goddamned part of my body hurt. With stubborness, I stretched my legs, hissing. *Fuck*! My muscles damned me to hell for the action, screaming I’d been ripped apart and incorrectly put back together. With stubborness and dedication, as otherwise I wouldn’t have done it, I brought my arm down, then feeling as if my eyes were bleeding, I forced myself to lift off the forest floor.

As my gaze landed on my hands, I took in the blood-stained tips of my fingers, at the same time becoming aware of the coppery ting of blood on my tongue. I’d killed last night. 

Sickness and loathing washed over me. I had taken a person’s life, ripped them to shreds by all appearances. I’d killed before, so killing wasn’t new to me, but I had never taken an innocent life. I’d killed enemies out of necessity to survive, but it had been to keep the Lafoa species and my species alive, as well as to keep the dynasty intact. In fact, killing sickened me, but the monster who lurked within me would, now it had tasted blood, thrive on it.

With a shake of my head, I climbed to my feet, then peered down at my naked body in revulsion. Blood, dirt, leaves, and I didn’t want to think about what else was smeared across my chest, arms, and legs. My feet were filthy and blood-stained as well. 

I tried wiping at the blood on my chest, but it was already dried and my administration was useless. I had to get the remnants of the hours forgotten off me before Leighton came in search of me, as I knew he would. The first time I had shifted, Leighton had found me the next morning, and with his usual forethought, he had come with a bag of clothing. As a sylph, plus being brothers, we had the ability to sense the pure atom of the other, to know the other's general whereabouts at all times. And up until this morning, I had been thankful for the tethering. But this morning, as I gazed at myself, I wished he wouldn’t come. I didn't want to face him—I didn’t want him to see what I had done. 

Neither of us had been certain until the first shift, if the ability would continue when I was no longer myself. But Leighton had felt the shift, the disturbance within my  atoms. Now, even as I cursed our connection, I could hear him blowing toward me. To become one with the air was a much faster form of travel, and all too soon, he was materializing in front of me. I couldn’t meet his eyes, shame overtaking me.

I could feel his eyes perusing me then he breathed, “Damn, dude.”

Slowly, I raised my eyes, and by the look that greeted me, he knew the agony I felt. Stepping forward, and regardless  of the blood I wore, he embraced me. “It’s not your fault,” he soothed, "YOU are not what lurks within you.”

Leighton knew about what had transpired between Sydney and me, and the reason why. He hadn’t said anything at the time, and I thought I had lost him, but when he came to me and clothed me after my first shift, he’d told me, “I may not have agreed with your decision on how to quit the claiming, but I understand why you did it. You were her guard and you were fulfilling your duty, regardless of the consequences to you, now, come home.”

After that, Leighton appeared before me every time I shifted, bringing me clothes, and as I slipped into the clothing, I peered at him now, trying to find words. 

He just shook his head,  “No words needed, brother.”

Moisture sprung to my eyes, and I swallowed thickly. 

SYDNEY

As I made my way up the aisle, placing two cans of vegetables in my buggy, I overheard the three women gathered in front of me talking.

The woman closest to me confided to the other two. “I heard that the body was ripped to shreds. Chunks taken out of its stomach.” 

One of the other women nodded. “Same.” 

The third woman questioned, “Do they have any idea of what could have done it?”

The first woman shrugged. ”No. They are still guessing at this point. But whatever it was, to take a Mountain Lion apart like that, was huge!”

Slowly, I pushed my cart around the women, continuing down the aisle as I considered their words. The only thing we had large enough to cause that kind of damage to a big cat, was a bear or alligator, but it was strange that the wildlife department hadn’t immediately known what had killed the cat. They were usually on top of this kind of incident.

As I pushed my way down several more aisles it seemed the killing was the talk of the town, and everyone had a different opinion of what had killed the cat. Life, I decided, must be damn boring in our parish for this to be the biggest gossip of the day. The last time we had good fodder for gossip, Janelle Cruso had gotten knocked up by the Mayor’s son…who was married.

After I’d checked out at the cashiers, I made my way back out into the blistering heat of the evening. The air held a heaviness to it, and I wondered if we were due a storm. Wiping at my forehead, I decided when I got home I’d turn on the television and check the weather.

With my groceries stashed on the passenger side, I climbed in behind the steering wheel then slammed the pickup door shut behind me. Afterward, I cranked on my air conditioner as I began making my way home.

###

The air blowing in through the air conditioner vents cooled the perspiration on my forehead and on max flow, it teased my hair, causing it to lift slightly, caressing my cheeks and bare arms: flirting with my neck and shoulders.

As I made my way through the center of our little town, I realized it was time for our Crawfish Festival. Breaux Bridge is a small town in St. Martin Parish, and crawfish are one of the town’s main exports. Firmin Breaux came to the area in 1765, and by 1786 he was one of the largest property owners in the Bayou Teche country. In 1799, he built a footbridge across the Bayou Teche for easier passage. Then, in 1829 Scholastique Picou Breaux, formerly known as Scholastique Melanie Picou, married Argicole Breuax, Firmin’s son. She and Argicole replaced Bayou Teche’s suspension footbridge in 1817 with a vehicular bridge for wagon passage, allowing for better commerce. At thirty-two, Scholastique became a widow, and being the determined Acadian woman she was, she drew up plans for the city of Breaux Bridge, becoming the city’s founder. Every first weekend in May, we celebrated our humble little mudbug, and this year was no different. Everything was already in full swing in preparation, and before the festival was over, Brielle and Leighton would have pulled me into the celebrations with them. I could only wish Declan would come as well.

The sun was beginning to set as I pulled up in front of my house and shut down the engine. After climbing from the cab, I slammed the driver’s door shut behind me and began making my way around the bonnet of my pickup to the passenger side when my skin began to crawl. *You know that feeling when something isn’t right, but you can’t quite put your finger on what it is? Yeah, well, that is where I suddenly found myself*. Something was watching me…again.

Steps slowing to damn near a crawl, I scanned the area, my gaze searching. I didn’t see anything at first, then a huge hairy figure appeared out of nowhere, almost as if the air had spit it out. Feet spread wide and head lowered, its ears were pinned to the side of its massive head, as glowing yellow orbs of insanity locked me within their gaze. Its grotesquely huge jaws snapped together, as baring its teeth, it growled low and threatening, foamy spittle dripping from its teeth and lips.

Sucking in a breath, I began scrambling backward, trying to make it back to the driver’s door of my pickup. However, I’d only made it to the fender, when the creature launched in my direction. Sweet mother of God, I thought, panicking. I was mere feet away from safety, and at the speed the Lycanthrope was coming, I would never make it.

Dropping to my stomach, I rolled under the pickup, hoping to Heaven that its size would prevent it from reaching me. The thing was freaking massive!

Tucked under the pickup like a rolled up armadillo, I fought to retrieve my phone from my pocket, then hit the last number I had dialed. As Brielle picked up, I screamed, “I got a fucking monster after me. Call Leighton. Tell him to bring a gun, the army…fuck, I don’t know what. But whatever he brings, tell him it better be big enough to kill an elephant, and I’m not kidding!”

“What?” Brielle shouted in return. “What do you mean you have a monster after you?”

“Dammit, Brie, just what I fucking said. I don’t have time for this. Now listen close—I have a goddamn werewolf holding me hostage under my pickup—now fucking send help!”

Minutes passed, and as the beast suddenly stopped pacing and dropped to its knees, it lowered its head and peered beneath the pickup at me. As its eerie eyes gazed at me, another pool of drool dripped from the side of its mouth as it let out a snarl, and I realized how utterly ridiculous my hiding place actually was.

Scooting further back, I smashed myself up against the passenger rear tire, as further lowering itself, the beast dropped a shoulder onto the ground, then shoved an arm under the pickup, blindly feeling around as it couldn’t put its head and arm under the carriage at the same time.

As the monster continued groping around—it couldn’t be called anything else as it sure as hell was no Twilight wolf—a shiver went through every particle of my being. This damn thing stood well over eight-feet, weighed a good four-hundred pounds with all that freaking hair, and it walked on two legs. Think Wer, the 2013 horror film by William Brent Bell and you would have what I was seeing.

Raising my hands, as I couldn’t use my fire magic, too close to the gas tank, I tried to banish it. But as I had never used it on something so large, I wasn’t successful. At a loss for the moment of what else to do, I chanted quickly, “Out of my sight, back into the night. I bid you, leave me be. I bid you leave me be.” Though it wasn’t my best work, it was all my brain could come up with.

Rising, the beast once again began to pace around my pickup, then, at the sound of a vehicle coming toward my cabin, it let out a loud roar and fled into the forest.