The Wild Within (Book 2)

by Jeff Hale

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, organizations, clubs, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  THE WILD WITHIN Copyright © 2012 Lezlee Cheek Hale and Jeff Hale. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Cover art design by Lezlee Cheek Hale

  This book is dedicated to all of our family and friends, who encouraged us and supported us in this grand adventure. Thank you!

  Novels in the

  Aetheric Elements

  Universe

  The Demon’s Corruption Chronicles

  The Paragon Element

  The Wild Within

  The Pure Soul*

  The Shifting Storm*

  The Dark Flame*

  Stand Alone

  Beyond The Reflection

  *soon to be released

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Epilogue

  About the Authors

  PROLOGUE

  Katelyn

  Magic.

  That was the only word I could use to describe the night. As Aerick held me in his arms and we swayed to the cover of “Time After Time” that the goth rock band was playing, I couldn’t think of anyplace else I would rather be.

  I’d been shocked when Aerick had shown up unexpectedly at my door to ask me to his Prom. He’d flown all the way from Las Vegas to Tri-Cities to get me and all I could think at the time was that this amazing guy had come all that way for me.

  My arms were over his broad shoulders, my hands resting on the back of his neck under the softness of his dark-brown medium-length hair. I lifted my eyes, letting them roam the rough features of his face, the strong jaw and straight nose. He was gorgeous, all the best features of Norwegian and Russian rolled into one perfect package. I had to suck in my breath when his bright blue eyes met my sea-blue ones, and I felt my heart leap into my throat as it looked like he might finally be considering giving me the kiss I had been waiting for all night, the kiss I had been dreaming about since I had first laid eyes on him months ago.

  Then his eyes left mine, focusing on something over my shoulder and narrowing, and I could have sworn I saw something go through them like anger or hatred. We continued to dance, but I felt the tension in his body now and his attention was no longer solely for me.

  “I’m… I’m sorry, Kat. I have to go,” he said suddenly, then pulled out of my arms. He moved past me, almost running, and when I turned to see where he was going, he was heading for one of the exit doors.

  “Aerick!” I called out, confused. What the hell was going on? Had I done something? Maybe I had expected too much, maybe that promise of a kiss had made him feel guilty. But I wasn’t just going to stand here like a moron and let him run off. He had already flaked out on me on all of our previous dates and no way in hell was I going to let it happen again. I pulled the skirts of my slinky black dress up a little so I wouldn’t trip over them, and hurried towards the exit Aerick had just disappeared through.

  The Prom dance was being held in the New York, New York, and on the other side of the door was the casino. I caught sight of Aerick as he headed across the main floor, the press of people in the casino keeping me from catching up to him. Not that I could in the heels anyway. By the time I got through crowd, another exit door was just closing and when I opened it, it led outside to the parking garage.

  Aerick was nowhere in sight. I stood there with the door open, scanning the area, when a brilliant flash of reddish light from around one corner of the building got my attention. I took a step, still holding the door open, then froze when I heard what sounded like my name from somewhere in the parking garage. I knew with absolutely certainty that it hadn’t come from Aerick.

  A hand on my arm forced a small shriek from me.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you, Kat. What’s going on?” Nina pulled her hand back and gave me a worried smile, crossing her arms so that they rested over the white lacey bra she was wearing. That, a white leather skirt that was short in the front but long in the back, and thigh-high white vinyl boots, were what she considered appropriate Prom wear. The rest of us, including her boyfriend, Dave, hadn’t agreed, but this was Nina after all and she loved the shock and attention it got her. Dave stood right behind her, conservative in a dark suit and jacket, his newly disturbing short, dark-blonde hair, well, disturbing.

  I gestured out into the parking garage. “Aerick. He took off. And I have no clue why.” I couldn’t keep the disappointment and sadness out of my voice, or the irritation.

  Nina and Dave shared a knowing look that I didn’t understand and wasn’t about to question and Dave shrugged. “Yeah, we saw him leave and saw you chase him. Figured we’d better see what was wrong.”

  “Is he always this… this…?” I didn’t finish the question, shaking my head helplessly. My hair was coming loose from its pins and a lock of dark auburn fell forward over my shoulder.

  “Irresponsible? Flighty?” Nina suggested, frowning. “Not usually. It was probably something important.”

  “Important? At Prom?” I sighed. “He did seem agitated though. Upset. I just don’t know if it was me, or something else.”

  “Why would you think he would be upset at you?” Dave asked, his brow furrowing. “He really likes you.”

  “I dunno. Maybe because I think he was about to kiss me. Maybe he felt guilty, you know? Because of… her?” My voice dropped to almost a whisper on the last word. The ‘her’ in question would be Serena, Aerick’s girlfriend from years ago that had died. I could understand if that was the case, but something in my gut made me think that it wasn’t. Maybe he had just thought better of it after all, maybe it was just me. It wasn’t like I had a stellar track record with guys. Hell, I didn’t have any track record with guys. Depression and anger suddenly surged through me and my shoulders slumped. “Whatever. This is what, the third time he’s ditched out on me? And what’s that saying about ‘third time’s the charm’?” I harrumphed out a snort and folded my arms defensively over my chest.

  Dave reached out and put a hand on my arm. “I’m sure something just came up, something that couldn’t wait.” He gave me a half smile.

  “Yeah, well, whatever. I’m getting really tired of him getting my hopes up and then dashing them. I feel like a frickin’ yoyo.” I hated to say it because I really liked Aerick, hell, I almost loved him, but his uncertainty was driving me nuts. I felt tears prick at my eyes and the hot wetness as one slipped down my cheek. “I just want to go home.”

  Nina put an arm over my shoulder and squeezed gently. “C’mon, Kat, why don’t we head back to my apartment so you can change and then we’ll take you back to your hotel?”

  “Sure,” I said, sniffling and allowing the two of them to lead me back to our table. We
collected purses and jackets, then went to pick up the printed copies of the pictures that had been taken as we had come into the Prom, then went to find our limo.

  The ride back to Nina’s apartment was almost excruciating. I huddled miserable in my seat while Nina giggled and cuddled with Dave. At one point I could see him give me an almost apologetic look, but I couldn’t exactly expect him to ignore Nina when she had her hands all over him.

  Dave let the limo go once we got to the apartment. He was going to spend the night with Nina and she would take him home the next day. I changed as quickly as I could, giving my dress a sad frown as I put it in its cover. Nina and Dave dropped me off at the Mirage and offered to come keep my company if I wanted it. All I could imagine was the three of us in my hotel room, with the same scenario as in the car; me all depressed and lonely while the two of them made out. I told them thanks, but no, that I would be fine, and besides, it was Prom, they should go enjoy their Prom night.

  I cried myself to sleep after they left and woke the next morning in a rotten mood. The ticket Aerick had bought me was return flight as well, so I called the airport to book the earliest one back home. I called Nina to tell her I was leaving and thank her for taking me shopping. Then I headed to the airport to wait. While I sat there listening to music on my Ipod, my cell phone rang, the caller ID telling me it was Aerick.

  I just stared at the phone. Part of me wanted to snatch it up and answer it, to forgive him, no questions asked, but another part was still angry and unhappy, and it was that part that won. I ignored the call and he didn’t leave a message.

  Later, as I looked out my window on the plane and watched Las Vegas dwindle away, the tears came again. I’d only spent a few months here, and Aerick and I had never really had a ‘relationship’, but it felt more like home to me than my own did and I felt like I was leaving a huge chunk of me behind.

  I glanced down at the picture on my lap, the one I’d paid for last night despite everything, of me and Aerick in our evening wear. A sad sigh escaped me. I would just have to face the fact that we were probably never meant to be, and hope that I could find a guy back home that would make me forget all about Aerick.

  I almost had to laugh at myself. Sure, like that was ever going to happen.

  (a few weeks before the Fall of the Barrier)

  ONE

  Katelyn

  The music washed over me, the plaintive lyrics of an old Mötley Crüe song swimming in my brain as I whispered along with it. The wall was cool against my back, arms wrapped around my legs, chin resting on my knees, my hair a crimson curtain past my shoulders as I rocked back and forth in the darkness. I could taste salt on my tongue from the tears that slid down my cheeks.

  Pain, a bleeding in my soul that made me ache with the want to make it stop, but no real knowledge of how to. A small part of me wished that I had the courage to just end it all, but was afraid I would fuck it up. The larger, more hopeful part still believed that tomorrow would bring a better day. The practical part of me knew that things always looked better in the morning.

  But morning was a long ways away, and the promise of it did nothing to stop what I was feeling now.

  I couldn’t say exactly what had set it off this time. The snide comments overheard in the hallway at school, the rolled eyes as a boy caught me staring, the sad wistfulness of what could have been with Aerick. I guess in the grand scheme of things the fact that I did not and had never had a boyfriend—I didn’t count the couple of half-dates that Aerick had taken me on, or the botched Prom less than a week ago—was nothing major. But to an eighteen year old, it is a life crisis, made even more hurtful when your peers treat you like crap and you really have no clue as to why.

  The doorknob turned, rousing me enough to lift my eyes. A sliver of light spilled through the door as it opened and my mother entered the room. She looked at me briefly where I sat huddled miserably in the corner of the family room, her blue eyes almost seeming not to see me, before she walked on past to the utility room.

  I heard the fridge open, saw the glow from its light. It closed and my mother made her way back through the room I was in, a beer can in each hand, glancing at me again before heading out the door and shutting it behind her.

  She hadn’t said a single word. She hadn’t any of the other times either.

  Mom was an alcoholic. She only drank beer, managing to polish off a twelve-pack an evening most nights, sometimes more if she started in early enough. It had gotten to the point where she pretty much drank all day. I had come home from school enough times to find her in varying stages of drunk.

  She hid beers in the bathroom so she could drink in there and my step-dad wouldn’t know. At least, she was under the assumption he didn’t know. After I had gotten my driver’s license, she would have me drive if we needed to go to the store so she could drink on the way home and pitch the cans. Of course, he was the reason she drank in the first place. He was a bit of an asshole.

  I amend that, he was a fucking asshole.

  She’d been a teacher before she married him when I was eight. I’d only ever remembered seeing her have the occasional drink on the holidays. She’d given up teaching for him, to be a stay at home wife. He wanted all of her attention on him and he most certainly didn’t need the extra income.

  Sure, he’d been a cool step-dad to begin with, showering me with toys and affection, but once I became a teenager, his attitude had changed. Suddenly, as far as he was concerned, I could do no right, I was sleeping with every boy at school, and if I so much as tried to wear any kind of clothing that was the least bit revealing, I was planning on whoring around. Mom had come to my defense at first, but the fights they had, and the things I was suspected he did to her, but never had proof of, had quickly had her seeking numbness in the bottom of a beer can. I was left to deal with him on my own.

  Please… you honestly didn’t think I was in a mental crisis that included suicidal thoughts just over some stupid boys, did you?

  The music was my release. I hated crying in front of people although sometimes I just couldn’t help it. Only one person ever got to voluntarily see my tears, the one person on the planet who could understand my pain, share it with me, and help me believe that someday things would be okay.

  But she was too far away, at least for the time of night. I could call her, but that meant leaving my little nest of pain. Part of me wished I could just go back to the school in Las Vegas, where I had spent this last winter. At least I felt I had fit in there.

  The song ended and I crept across the carpeting towards the stereo, switching the CD out for Godsmack’s Awake and leaving it on the first track. Certain songs were my catharsis songs, the ones I played in the dark, so I could cry, wallowing in my own misery until I couldn’t cry any more. After, I generally felt somewhat better. It was the same tonight. I could already feel myself winding down and becoming very tired.

  I made my way to bed several minutes later, slipping quietly up the stairs to my room so as not to be seen. I crawled between the sheets of my bed, sniffling myself to sleep again, wishing summer and graduation would get here faster, wishing my step-dad would go away and never come back, wishing my mother would quit drinking and just once ask me what was wrong, and only halfheartedly wishing that I just wouldn’t wake up in the morning.

  Morning hit sooner than I expected. It seemed that I had just barely fallen asleep when my alarm clock went off, jarring me awake. I hate alarm clocks; I think they are the most sadistic thing ever invented. Right now, mine was gleefully telling me that it was 6:00 am. Yay.

  Time to get up and begin another wonderful day. Despite the early hour, my emotional state was better. I wasn’t happy, but I wasn’t in weepy mode either. Like most days, the thought of the wind, sun, and fresh air on my face drew me to want to leave the house.

  I grabbed clothes, dark blue jeans and a teal t-shirt, took them with me into the bathroom off my bedroom, and crawled into the shower, soon falling half asleep against the sho
wer wall. I stayed that way for a few minutes before I roused enough to finish my shower, then drag myself out and get dressed, putting on the minimal makeup that was my norm. I used eyeliner on my blue eyes with judicious abandon, but I was still working my way toward heavy shadow and stuck with light browns and golds. Makeup just never seemed a ‘me’ thing I guess and I was told by my best friend that I was pretty enough without makeup anyway. I scowled at my hair in the mirror. The black dye on the tips was starting to fade.

  I headed downstairs and into the kitchen, feeding my cat, Angel, first. The cat was mine, so my responsibility. She was named Angel because, well, she wasn’t one. She was white with silver tabby patches on her head, back, and tail, and huge owl-like green eyes, a small cat. She rubbed at my legs before settling down to eat.

  Gary, my step-dad, was nowhere to be seen, which meant he was in his office. That was fine with me. I grabbed my own quick breakfast, eating fast as I headed out to the bus. A few minutes later I was settling into a back seat, my backpack at my feet.

  The bus ride was a long one so I drowned out the rest of the world inside my headphones, eyes closed, letting the heavy bass thump of my favorite Marilyn Manson song, Mobscene, carry me along. I was startled out of my reverie sometime later by someone sitting next to me. A finger poked me in the side.

  “You okay?”

  I cracked an eye, hit pause on the Ipod and pulled my headphones off. A pair of heavily eye shadowed grey-blue eyes under a mop of short blonde hair stared at me in concern. She wore a pair of worn blue jeans and a tight, red V neck t-shirt. She poked me again.

  “Ow, Kris, stoppit. Yeah, I’m okay. Why?”

  She rolled her eyes at me, giving me that ‘uh huh, yeah right’ look. “This is me yer talking to, Kat. Don’t try to bullshit me.”