Erin looked up to Blu and for some reason when he looked back at her she saw a flash of something she thought she may have seen before, but she couldn’t place it. A change came over his eyes and suddenly there was something behind them, something dark and animalistic. And even though it should have frightened her, it didn’t. Erin was becoming more and more intrigued by the second and she couldn’t pull herself away.
Blu nodded to the man behind the bar as they pushed their way through the crowds and he came over to them and wrapped his hand around the back of Blu’s neck and pulled his forehead against his.
“I still can’t fucking believe it,” he said to Blu and Erin couldn’t help but smile at the sincere and emotional greeting.
“Well you’re all going to have to start believing,” Blu said. “Because whether the other’s like it or not, I am back.”
The man behind the bar let his hand come down from around the back of Blu’s neck and clasped his hand in his.
“You’re damn right you are,” he said.
Blu pulled out a high stool and motioned for Erin to sit down. She smiled and accepted before she turned and looked behind her. There were so many people in there, but suddenly it felt as if their own little space at the bar had been cleared for them as if everyone in there knew that Blu was important and he had priority.
“Blu…” Erin whispered. “What’s going on?”
She looked up at him and smiled, almost embarrassed that she had to ask the question. But Blu looked down at her and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
“This is just where I used to hang out,” he said genuinely. “And with me being out of town for so long, I think everyone’s just really pleased to see me.”
He trailed off as he said it and looked into the distance. Erin could tell that he wasn’t being entirely truthful, but it was only their first date and the last thing she wanted to do was push him into opening up sooner than he was ready.
She sat back in her seat and let him order her a drink.
“There’s only one thing you can drink in here,” Blu said with a wicked grin. “And that’s a bourbon sour…” he laughed as he looked down at the floor as if he was remembering something from long ago.
“Sounds like an old man’s drink,” Erin teased.
“It is,” Blu nodded. “But one of the best old men I’ve ever met… He and his family make the bourbon themselves and it’s kind of legendary around here.”
“Wow,” Erin said, genuinely impressed. “Well then you’re right, I should try it.”
Blu leaned over the bar and ordered two and then he leaned back, moved closer to Erin and put his arm around the side of the stool she was sitting on.
“So you’ve gotta tell me… what brings you to town, Erin?” he asked as he eyed her curiously.
She wanted to tell him she had no real reason other than that she was on the run from her past, but she knew that it would only open up a conversation she simply wasn’t ready to have. So she looked down to the floor, shrugged and smiled.
“I’m just a wanderer,” she said. “But Lost Creek, I don’t know, it seemed like the right place to stop for a while.”
Blu smiled a big wide smile and bared his teeth.
“I like that,” he whispered and he ran his hand through her hair as he looked deep into her eyes. “I think you and me are going to get on very well indeed…”
8.
They sat and talked for what felt like minutes but was in fact almost two hours. Blu was funny and kind, and it was apparent from every single person that came into the bar that he was highly revered. Erin enjoyed seeing how the men who were wandering into the bar reacted to him, but she was also quick to pick up on the fact that there was a small select group who seemed more important to him than the rest.
He told Erin stories of some of the residents of the town, but he seemed to segregate off a selection of friends that were obviously a lot closer to him than the others. Erin found herself looking for them amongst the crowds and she could see them all sitting together right in the corner of the room around a low, dark table in the shadows. The majority of them had been outside when they had arrived, and she got the feeling that they were all bound together by something, but she couldn’t tell what.
“Luna is lovely,” Erin said when they finally stopped laughing at each other’s stories and they were on their third bourbon sour.
“She is,” he smiled warmly. “She’s a great kid, I’m lucky to have her.”
Erin waited for him to say more, but he seemed guarded. She debated whether to just ask outright about Luna’s mother and where she was, but as if he had read her mind Blu suddenly spoke up.
“Luna’s mom was killed in an accident when she was just a baby,” he said as he looked up from his drink and his eyes met with Erin’s.
It took a moment for the words to register with her, and for a while, she actually thought that maybe she had imagined that he had said it. But she looked into his eyes and she knew that what she had heard was real.
“She died?” Erin asked as tears swam up and began to cloud her eyes. The coincidence was almost too much to believe, but after arriving in Lost Creek, Erin was starting to become a believer in fate.
“Yes,” Blu said sadly. “It’s one of the reasons I had to leave town.”
He shifted uncomfortably on the spot and then took another sip of his drink.
“I can’t believe she died,” Erin said, her mouth gaping open.
She hadn’t spoken about her own tragedy to anyone in years, but there was something running deep between Blu and Erin that made her want to open up to him. And now with the realization that they shared something ever deeper in common, it only seemed right that she tell him her own truths.
“I can’t believe it because I’ve been through the same thing,” she said almost in a whisper.
Blu turned and looked at her, his own eyes now full of emotion and as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Erin brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and used her pinky to dab at a tear in the corner of her eye.
“My fiancé,” she said. “He was killed in an accident two years ago.” The second she said it out loud, it felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. For years she had been carrying around her grief with no form of release or absolution. But now she had found someone who knew what she was going through, someone who she could finally have a true and real conversation with, without them just feeling sorry for her and giving her the platitudes that she was so sick of hearing.
“Really?” Blu asked in disbelief.
Erin nodded slowly and realized that her hands were shaking as she lifted up the drink to her lips and took a long, drawn out sip.
Blu reached out and rested his hand on hers.
“I think we’re going to need a couple more of these,” he said with a half laugh.
“I think you’re right,” Erin smiled shyly.
They sat together and nursed their drinks and offloaded the years of pain that no one else could possibly understand. Blu told her everything, of how he had been involved in some kind of disagreement with a gang in the town and how it had split them all down the middle. Now Lost Creek was a town of two halves, and somewhere in the past, a lot of people believed that he was to blame. But in the crossfire of it all, his fiancé and Luna’s mother had been killed.
“How did she die?” Erin asked sensitively.
Blu suddenly tensed up and looked down at the ground.
“It looked like a bear attack,” he said as anger flashed across his eyes.
“A bear?” Erin asked with confusion. “But then how would that have anything to do with the feud in the town?”
Blu opened his mouth as if he were about to say something but then thought better of it. He looked into Erin’s eyes and smiled and then he squeezed her hand.
“We’ve told each other a lot tonight,” he said, almost
changing the subject. “And I honestly can’t believe I’ve been lucky enough to meet someone as beautiful, caring, and understanding as you. But not only that, now we have something like this in common… It’s just so hard to comprehend…”
Erin knew exactly what he meant.
“I never thought I’d ever meet anyone by chance that had been through something similar to what I have,” she told him genuinely. “I never thought I would ever be able to have a conversation with someone who knew what it felt like.”
“That must explain why I was so drawn to you,” he smiled. “I knew the second I saw you that I had to get to know you.” His hand brushed her thigh and Erin felt something inside of her clench.
“I haven’t opened up to anyone in a very long time,” Erin said. “And it’s not easy… But with you, I don’t know, it just feels right.”
Blu looked deep into her eyes and pulled her chair to the side so that she was completely facing him. He was so strong he did it effortlessly and it made her giggle.
“I know more than anyone how hard it is Erin, I’ve spent years running and years in pain… But I feel like I’m coming out of the other side now, and one day, you will too.”
His eyes were so enchanting she felt as if she could get lost in them and never find her way back out. They could have been the only two people in the room in that moment, the noise and activity in the background around them all seemed to fall away. She felt herself moving in closer as if he had her on an invisible string and was pulling her towards him. Every part of her wanted to reach out and touch him, to run her fingers through his hair and grab onto his neck and pull him close so that their lips touched. She instinctively bit her bottom lip. The attraction was powerful and overwhelming, even after the severity of their conversation. It was as if their souls were meant to heal one another’s and there was no denying the almighty pull to save them both.
He was so close to her she could feel his breath on her face and she was aching inside from want and need. She wanted so badly to have the courage to reach out and touch him, to let him sweep her up in his big, rough arms and hold her close before doing things to her that she had barely dared dream about in so long for fear of unlocking all of her forgotten desires. His fingertips grazed her chin and he tilted her head up to meet his and their eyes locked again. There really was something behind those eyes that she couldn’t explain. There was something dark and carnal… Something wild, like an untamed animal. As Blu leaned forward, his hand wrapping up in her hair and their lips about to touch, Erin’s heart slammed forward in her chest and she became dizzy with anticipation. Their lips were so close and the heat bounced between them, but just as they were about to lock suddenly from behind them, deep within the bar, there was the sound of snarls, growls, and smashing glass.
Blu sat back quickly and pulled Erin to him. His lip curled and he let out a loud, terrifying snarl from the lips that were about to kiss her. She was startled and clung to him, totally unaware of what was even happening, but knowing by the sounds of it that it wasn’t good. Something terrible was happening inside The Nowhere Bar.
“Get back,” Blu snarled as he grabbed hold of Erin and pulled her off of the stool and towards the counter.
From behind her, she could hear the smashing of more glasses and what sounded like tables being overturned and animals fighting.
Animals? She thought with confusion. What the actual fuck?
Blu’s hands were big and rough and he took hold of her protectively and ran with her behind the bar. He pulled her down to the floor and wrapped his arm around her.
“Erin, you’ve got to stay here,” he said. She could tell that he was panicked underneath and was taking what was happening very seriously, but his demeanor on the outside was as cool as ice.
“What’s happening?” she gasped as she clung to him.
“Just stay down, I’ll be back…” he got to his feet and turned away before he dived out from the back of the bar and into the main body of the room.
From her hiding place, Erin could hear the sounds of people running and the doors slamming again and again behind them.
“Everyone out!” a gruff voice cried, but over the top of it, there were the sounds of snarls and growls.
“Not now,” Blu shouted. “And not here!”
“Well, where would you suggest then, Blu?” A voice that Erin didn’t recognize seemed to spit the words with venom.
“A lot of tourists and town’s people have just seen you burst in here Thorben… they heard the growls, and they can see what you are.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” the voice spat back. “I’m here to see you, that’s all I care about.”
“Well then, like I say, not here,” Blu was adamant and standing his ground.
“Doesn’t sound like the Blu I remember,” the other voice, Thorben, continued. “The Blu I knew once would have been up for a fight anywhere and tried to rip me to shreds the second he was cornered or surprised.”
“The Blu you knew died a long time ago,” he said. “You took care of that when you branded me a murderer and then went out and killed Maria.”
Erin’s eyes almost popped out of her head. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
“You never should have come back here,” Thorben snarled. “You knew that it would drag up the past and cause no end of trouble. And yet here you are, selfish as ever!”
“Now that’s enough!” another voice cut in from somewhere on the other side of the room and the sounds of howling and growls grew louder. It sounded to Erin as if she were in the middle of a forest at night and a pack of wild wolves was surrounding her…
Wolves…
Suddenly she felt an icy chill wash over her as she remembered the look in Blu’s eyes and the way she knew that there was something different about him. She had known the second she had seen him that there was something familiar about him, something that she had seen before but couldn’t put her hand on…
But now, as she hid behind the bar and she heard the noises around her, it was all starting to make sense. The picture at the Bed & Breakfast… the wolf in the woodland watching the woman from the shadows. The way she was turning to look back over her shoulder, as if she knew the creature was there, but also that she was longing for it.
Blu… Erin thought… He is that wolf.
She didn’t know how to make sense of the realization, but she knew that she had to stand up and see what was happening behind her. She had to know what was going on in that bar, and where she had chosen as her home.
As she got to her feet her legs shook and she felt weak at the knees. She had no idea what she was about to face, but she knew that whatever it was, she could handle it. She had already been through enough tragedy, nothing could possibly phase her anymore, no matter how insane or crazy it may be.
She stood up tall and looked out across the room. What had only moments before been filled with writhing bodies and drunken fun was now an upturned mess of smashed glass, broken chairs, and a group of men, wolves and bears all in the center of the room. Erin rubbed her eyes, completely shocked into a stupor.
Could she really be seeing this? Or was it some crazy dream?
The bear and wolves were huge, bigger than any she had ever seen and she knew instantly that they weren’t regular animals. There was something different, very different about them, and as she stood there with her mouth gaping open she realized that Blu was beside her, pulling her backward, telling her to cover her eyes.
“No Erin,” he was saying. “I told you to stay down!”
The snarls and growls seemed to reach a breaking point, and Erin felt dizzy and faint. It was all too much. The emotion of the night and now the shock of what was happening around her, she thought she was strong enough to handle it, but she was clearly wrong.
She clutched onto Blu’s side as her legs gave way beneath her and she felt herself crumbling to the ground. The heat was intense and the whole world suddenly went black.
; 9.
Her head was swimming and she felt light as air. She was comfortable, but there was something inside of her that was churned up and frightened. Something had happened. Something bad.
She rolled onto her side and ran her hands along the mattress underneath her. It was soft and warm with her body heat and as she tried to blink and open her eyes she felt the gentle, yet rough hand of someone she recognized sweeping across her forehead.
“Erin?” Blu said almost in a whisper. “Can you hear me?”
She tried again to open her eyes. The light hit her and made her vision even more blurred, but as everything came into focus it was Blu’s eyes she saw first. Deep and intense and fully hers. Thank god he was with her. They were in her room at the B&B and she was lying on her bed with Blu right there beside her.
“Blu?” she croaked as she tried to sit up. “What happened?”
He helped her lie back down and took her hand in his.
“Shh,” he soothed. “Don’t try and get up, you need to rest.”
“But what happened?” she asked again, her mind awash with confusion.
“You passed out,” he said. “In the bar.”
All it took was that little bit of information for it all to come flooding back. They had been having a drink, a date, and then something had happened, people had burst in and there had been a fight. Blu had tried to hide her, but she had wanted to see. She had disobeyed him and now they were here.
“Those men…” Erin stammered. “And the wolves… the bear…”
“I know,” Blu said lowly. “I never should have taken you there.”
“Who were they?” she gasped. “What were they?”
Blu shook his head and sighed as if he couldn’t even begin to tell her everything that was going on around them, and the truth about the town she had stumbled upon. But Erin knew that if she was going to spend another moment with him, he was going to have to.
“Tell me Blu,” she said. “After all I’ve been through in my life, I can take it.”
“I’m not sure whether you can,” he sighed as he rubbed his temples. “I know how hard it is for someone who isn’t one of us to understand what we are all about.”
BLU: Paranormal Fantasy Romance (LOST CREEK SHIFTERS NOVELLAS Book 3) Page 5
