The Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 1)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  “Are you ok?” she asked in between gasps, almost imperceptible to her own ears.

  Logan’s irises seemed to crystalize into a wicked shade of red and he seemed to be edging closer and closer to her face, a hunger burning in his eyes.

  “Logan?” Katey snapped. The crowd whistled and applauded around them, but Katey didn’t even notice. Her world was still spinning too much to know that anyone else was in the room.

  He blinked several times but the red never faded. He swiftly pulled Katey to stand up straight, and then tore himself away to hurry into the back room. His head hung low to hide his eyes. Katey staggered in the middle of the floor and watched him leave, her knees wobbling from the force of the heated dancing and the revelation of her true feelings for Logan.

  Half the people had left now and Lily and Forrest were standing at the podium, gawking at their performance. Forrest hastily followed Logan into the back.

  Lily looked at Katey questionably as she joined her at the podium.

  “That was awesome!” Lily exclaimed. “I didn’t know you could dance like that!”

  Katey took a few raspy breaths, still trying to recover as she braced herself against the podium. “Neither did I,” she managed to mutter.

  “But, what’s up with Logan?” she asked in a hushed tone.

  “I don’t know. He just stared at me, then walked off. What’s Forrest doing?”

  Lily looked around like she didn’t even know Forrest had gone anywhere. “I don’t know. I think he followed after Logan,” she murmured.

  They decided to investigate.

  Lily and Katey walked into the back. The boys’ bathroom door was shut and Logan and Forrest were nowhere to be found.

  “What could they be doing in there?” Lily wondered.

  “I don’t know. You go and keep track of the music and I’ll wait for them,” Katey told her. Lily nodded and walked out.

  When the clicking of her heels faded away, Katey quickly and silently tip toed up to the door and put her ear to the wall.

  Inside, Logan was standing in front of the mirror that hung over the sink, furiously rubbing his eyes until ever fleck of red was out of them and their hue changed back to blue. He snarled at himself and splashed cold water in his face as Forrest stood by watching.

  “It’s ok Logan. I’m sure she didn’t notice,” Forrest said.

  “Are you kidding? She was staring right at me,” Logan grumbled, drying his face off with a few paper towels before sitting down on the toilet lid.

  “Maybe it was too dark and she didn’t see them change?”

  “I know she did. God damn it!” Logan stood up and rammed his fist into the dry wall, denting it in.

  “Whoa! Take it easy, we have to pay for those walls!” Forrest exclaimed, holding Logan’s fist back from hurling itself into the wall again.

  Logan gritted his teeth together and let his arm drop hopelessly at his side.

  “Sorry… What am I going to do? I can’t go back out there. She’ll know what happened,” Logan growled in disgust with himself and sat back down on the toilet to hide his face in his hands.

  “Chances are she doesn’t know what happened exactly. You haven’t explained that much to her so she wouldn’t know anyway. If she asks, you can make up some excuse like you had a flash of hunger or something,” Forrest tried to console Logan in a kind of pleading fashion.

  Logan chuckled, but didn’t find it funny at all. None of this was funny to him in the least. “Yeah, and then she’ll think I was getting hungry for a piece of her leg or something.”

  “Well, then think of something else. She wouldn’t know the truth unless you told her.”

  Logan sighed heavily and looked at the ground. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. That was just so embarrassing.”

  At this time, Katey hurried away from the back room, not wanting to hear anymore.

  Forrest snickered. “Stop sounding like a preteen. It wasn’t that bad. I know, I remember when it first happened with Lily. Luckily it was in a theater so no one, not even she saw. But it was still awkward because I knew what happened… But, hey, let’s go back out there. She’s probably wondered where you ran off to.”

  Logan nodded and stood up, not quite willing to face her again. He put on his mask of steel once more and they exited the bathroom.

  Katey looked up just as they came back and Logan didn’t look pleased at all.

  Forrest had retreated to the podium with Lily and they seemed to be whispering about something, but Katey couldn’t hear. Logan fled back to the table near the door and sat down, his elbows propped up and holding his head in his hands.

  She bit her nail and cautiously approached him from across the dance floor, which only had several couples still dancing. If she thought she had been nervous around him before when she was only attracted to him, she was more so nervous now knowing that she loved him.

  Katey stayed a few feet away, anticipating some sort of outburst and leaned over as far as she could to get a good look at his face. It was twisted in a look of regret that made her heart bleed for him. She would have given such a heart to him without hesitation if he ever asked.

  “Logan?” she said softly. “Logan, are you okay?”

  Logan sat up straight, but avoided eye contact with Katey. She felt slightly offended that he wouldn’t even look at her. After such a passionate experience, he acted like he hardly cared for her at all.

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Would you mind if we left now? It’s getting late,” he mumbled, standing up and stepping a little closer to the door. Katey was pretty sure that she was ready to leave as well.

  “Sure, just let me tell Lily I’m leaving.” She turned quickly and walked as hastily as she could in high heels to the podium where Lily was still standing and talking with Forrest.

  Logan lifted his eyes as she walked away. His eyes were cold and lifeless, but only because he made them that way. If he had let them express what he felt inside, they would have convey more regret than Katey could possibly understand. A part of him wished they had never danced at all, but his heart was glad that he was given at least one to treasure.

  Chapter 21

  The drive back to Logan’s home was quiet, the road practically deserted except for the red pickup truck.

  It was a dark, frigid night and because Katey was only wearing a skirt, that didn’t make things any better. Katey hugged Captain Jack tight to her body, fingering his soft and tattered fur.

  Logan hadn’t spoken a single word to her since they left the studio. He even turned off the radio. When she had attempted to turn it on, he only switched it back off, making it clear he didn’t want any noise.

  She couldn’t take the silence though. Too much was going on inside of her to keep it bottled up.

  “Are we going to talk about what just happened?” she asked softly.

  “No,” Logan replied, his voice as cold as the air outside the car.

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want to.”

  Katey looked over to him. “That’s hardly a good reason… Are we ever going to?”

  Logan’s gaze shifted between the road ahead and the rearview mirror, but he completely avoided meeting her pleading eyes. “Probably not.”

  Katey sighed and turned to stare out her passenger side window into the black night beyond. She felt frustrated by his silent obstinence. If they never talked about what happened, how could they ever move on from it? Maybe Logan could have picked himself up and moved on from the embarrassment of his eyes turning red, but Katey couldn’t get over this new revelation that she was in love with him.

  She needed to talk about it, to confide in him, to express it in some way just to get it out of her system and he was completely shutting her out. Just when she thought they were beyond secrets and growing closer, Logan took two steps back to square one. Katey didn’t know whether to cry or scream.

  It’d seemed like they had been driving forever until Logan finally turned down a dirt roa
d that Katey didn’t even see until they were right on top of it. She willed herself to stay alert to see her new temporary home. That’s all she had ever known was temporary homes, but this one was special and new because it was where Logan lived, slept and ate. Soon, she’d be sharing that space with him and perhaps it would help to bring them back to the place where they could talk again.

  After driving through what seemed the middle of nowhere, the truck jostling over the unpaved path surrounded by trees, they came to a cleared plot of land and a house in the center.

  Katey peered into the darkness, but couldn’t see much except for a couple of lights that were still on inside the house. There were two large windows with the curtains drawn in the front of the house to the left of the front door. There was a light on in the far left room on the second floor, but she couldn’t see anything through the lacey window coverings.

  The porch light was also turned on and faintly illuminated the heavy oak doors, two thick brick columns, and half of the sidewalk that was lined with dark bushes.

  Ahead of them was a long doublewide carport pavilion next to the side of the house that sheltered all the teacher’s cars, including Logan’s motorcycle. She saw that her red jeep was parked off to the side since there was no room under the carport. She assumed that one of the teachers must have snatched her keys from her bag and brought it from school.

  Logan climbed out of the cab of the truck and began loading up his arms with duffle bags and suitcases. Katey slid out of her seat and onto the pebble drive way. Her footsteps crunched against the small stones and it reminded her of the first night she and Logan met at the cemetery and they laid on the bed of pebbles to gaze up at the stars.

  But the time she came around to the bed of the truck, Logan had taken everything but her school bag and laptop case. Katey grabbed them up with Captain Jack hanging from the crook of her shoulder.

  Logan led her up to the porch without a word and she followed in step right behind him, wondering when this silence would finally break.

  Was it really that bad? She didn’t care if he was about to change in front of everyone. The point was that he didn’t and his secret was still safe. Why was he all worked up about it? Was it because of how close he had gotten to her face? How Katey wished she knew more about loups-garous to know what was going on. Not knowing is what always drove her insane.

  As they reached the front door, Katey ogled at the beautiful tall stain glass windows on either side of the door. Logan didn’t even fish out a pair of keys, but simply turned the handle with one of his free hands and let her in.

  “Welcome home,” he mumbled with placid indifference.

  Katey gave him a weak smile and slowly walked in. Those words always opened the floodgates for memories of other homes she had been allowed to stay in. Some memories were good, others hurt just to think of them.

  The first room was a long hallway paved with dark wood panels. There was an antique console table set off to the right side that contained a vase and four separate little clay bowls, three of which held keys and extra pocket change or other trinkets like paper clips or pocketknives.

  To the left was a set of French doors with white wood trim and more lace that matched the ones in the other windows curtains.

  One of the doors was propped open and Katey stole a peek of what lay behind them. From what she could see, it led into a sitting room with an old piano, two vintage sofas and a few armchairs that featured Victorian style floral prints. A coffee table that was inlayed with marble slabs sat in the middle of the sitting area. Instead of wood, the sitting room boasted a low pile red carpet that looked to be in pristine condition, like it had just been installed that day.

  Behind the sofa across from the French doors, Katey could see a glimpse of a formal dining room with a crystal chandelier hanging over the rustic wooden table.

  As Logan was lugging the luggage into the hallway, Katey followed and they stepped through a cased archway.

  Logan flicked on the lights to illuminate the living room. There were two massive, modern style couches facing each other with an armchair on either side of them facing towards the middle of the room that was left empty for ease of trafficking. The floor of the living room was the same polished wood as in the foyer.

  Ahead of her, the wall was completely comprised of windows and a sliding glass door that must have opened out to the darkened back yard.

  To her right side was a big screen TV that looked similar to the one at her old house with two bookcases on either side of it that housed an extensive movie collection. Katey marveled at the spacious living room and walked between the sofas towards another cased archway that led to the kitchen. She hastily dropped her things onto one of the couches and walked in to explore a little more.

  The kitchen was just as spacious as the living room with white and yellow-checkered floor tiles, an island in the center grey granite counter tops and brown wooden cupboards. On the same wall as the archway, there was an open bar counter with stools underneath it that gave a clear view into the living room.

  To the right of the archway was a breakfast nook with a small circular glass table and a few rod iron chairs around it. The nook was accented by a bay window that looked out into the carport and had more white curtains to match.

  Past the breakfast nook was another hallway that led down into another part of the house that was not lit. Katey turned around and saw a thin folding door that was open to the kitchen just beyond the island that led to the elegant dining room she had seen earlier.

  Katey was fascinated with every little detail, every painting that hung on the walls, every accent table, antique chair, the different textures and colors of the rooms, and the warm feeling of the house itself.

  She wandered back out to the living room and saw Logan waiting for her with his hands hanging from his jean pockets. She didn’t see any bags, so she assumed he had taken them to her room already, wherever that was.

  “Do you like it?” he asked.

  “I’ve never lived in a house this big before,” she replied with a grin.

  Logan gave a timorous smile and picked up Captain Jack and the bags she had thrown on the couch earlier.

  “The bedrooms are upstairs,” he said, then walked past her, past the couches and disappeared into a passageway that was barely visible from where Katey was. She followed him up a pair of dark wooden stairs that led up to the second floor.

  They took a sharp turn at the top landing of the stairs and were in another hallway that was carpeted in more of the red carpet she had seen in the sitting room. The hallway took another turns, and then became more of a corridor that was lined with doors, with carved initials of their owners.

  The last door on the left side of the corridor had the initials “KM”. Logan stopped and Katey ogled at the carving and tilted her head a bit at the sight of it. She pointed to the door and looked to Logan for an explanation.

  “We figured you’d be here a while so we went ahead and put your name on the door for you. Don’t worry, I can always buff it out later,” Logan said

  Seeing those initials over the door, she felt like perhaps this really was her home. Not something temporary, but permanent. It was something that really belonged to her and no one else. She was tempted to cry as she stared longer at the initials, but forced herself to look away because she would have to explain herself to Logan. He wouldn’t understand anyway.

  Logan opened the door into her new room.

  It was at least twice as big as her old room and had every piece of furniture that she would need. The round blue rug in the middle of the wooden floor was a couple of shades darker than the walls and contrasted perfectly with the dark mahogany wood trim and furniture. Her canopy bed was covered with a dark blue floral bedspread, duvet comforter and white sheer fabric draped around the posts. She never dreamed of having such an elegant bed. A modern alarm clock sat on the nightstand nearest the door and a very old-fashioned kerosene lamp sat on the other.

&nbs
p; A desk and simple wooden chair were pushed up against the far wall in front of the solitary window and a bookcase to the left of it that was empty for now. On the right wall and farthest from her was a door that led to the closet and next to it was a tall dresser with an illustriously carved mirror attached to it. In the corner next to the dresser was an antique armchair that had blue velvet upholstered to the bottom and back.

  It was spotless except for her bags that were piled in the middle of the floor on top of the rug. Katey slowly walked in and set Captain Jack down on the mattress, marveling at all the details of her room.

  She smiled at the beauty of it all and looked to Logan. “You sure went to town on the blue,” she remarked, trying to mask her excitement with wit. If she had her way, she would have leapt into Logan’s arms and thanked him profusely for the amount of attention he gave to making her room so special. But, given the rough spot they were in through no fault of her own, Katey restrained herself.

  Logan casually leaned against the doorframe as she moved to start unpacking.

  “We all share a bathroom upstairs, but there’s a half bath downstairs too. All the guys are in bed right now. I’m just down the hall if you need anything.” Logan was about to shut the door when he turned back. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  Katey hardly even noticed the fact she hadn’t nearly eaten all day. Through all the excitement, she simply forgot to take the time, just as she always did before. She looked over her shoulder and shook her head.

  “No. But if I get hungry, I know where the kitchen is and I can help myself.”

  Logan gave her a puzzled look, hanging on the doorknob. “Are you sure?” he asked, fiddling with the doorknob awkwardly.

  Katey laughed a little and nodded. “Yes, Logan. You don’t have to fuss over me. I’m a big girl.”

  “I know you are,” he said with a crooked smile. “I’m just making sure you’ll be alright… Goodnight then.” He shut the door before she could reply.