Howl & Growl: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by Various Authors

  "Adanna," I muttered, mostly to myself. "Who else?"

  "Who else indeed," he said. There was a meaning behind it, but I couldn't read his face.

  "I have to work tomorrow," I said. "But maybe after?"

  "Sure," he said. "I'll talk to her. Let her know what's happened. I think she wants to talk to you anyway, about the fountain and all that."

  My head was swimming, but I just nodded and laid back on the sofa. "You have somewhere to stay tonight?"

  "Yeah. Down at the motel on Hobart Road." He jerked his thumb in a random direction. "Hasn't changed a bit."

  I laughed. "Same TVs, same fridges, same pillowcases - bless 'em."

  He paused awkwardly in the hallway, like he couldn't figure out how he was supposed to say goodbye. A kiss? A hug? Another round of bone-crackingly passionate sex?

  Yeah, no. That was a bad idea.

  I was almost one hundred percent sure.

  "See you tomorrow, Heather," he said, finally, his voice very soft. "Thanks for…you know. Not running away screaming."

  "I bet you say that to all the girls," I said, staring at the ceiling.

  "Nah," he said. "Just you."

  A few moments later, I heard the sound of my front door creaking shut.

  Chapter Four

  "Excuse me?"

  A voice roused me out of my distracted musings behind the counter at Joe's Automotive. I felt my lips draw into a thin line. It was Arthur Craven. Of course it was Arthur Craven.

  "Hello, Mr. Craven," I said, pasting on a smile. "What can I do for you today?"

  He folded his arms across his chest. "I want to know," he said. "I want to know what you people are doing."

  I clenched my teeth so hard, I swore they started to disintegrate.

  "Joe," I called over my shoulder. "Mr. Craven wants to know what we're doing."

  My smile got a little more brittle as I waited, but it stayed put. I turned my attention to shuffling papers on my desk, pretending that I couldn't feel Arthur's eyes boring a hole in me.

  Joe emerged, wiping his hands with a greasy rag. "You're going to have to be more specific, Artie."

  I looked up, just in time to see Arthur cringe. He'd always been very clear about his desire to be referred to only as Arthur, and Joe had always been very clear that he didn't give a shit. The level of perfectly polite hostility between these two men was an absolute joy to behold.

  "Who did the last tune-up on my car?" Arthur demanded, taking a step closer. Joe took a step as well, to meet him. His chest was squared, and I prayed - not for the first time - that they'd actually come to blows. They never did, but a girl can dream.

  "I did," said Joe. "You have a problem with my work?"

  Arthur paled slightly, but continued. "It's rattling," he hissed. "Someone explain to me why my car would be rattling right after you so happened to touch it."

  "I can think of quite a few reasons." Joe cracked his knuckles. "None of them are my fault, though."

  "Well, isn't that convenient," Arthur sneered. "I'm going to get it looked at. Somewhere else. If they tell me differently, you can believe I'll be back - and I'll be calling the Better Business Bureau. And you can kiss goodbye to that five-star Yelp rating." He made a poof gesture with his hand. "Gone!"

  Joe was already halfway through the connecting doorway. "Have a great afternoon, Artie."

  "Oh, my God," I muttered, my head dropping on the desk as soon as the door slammed. I had a low tolerance for Arthur's bullshit on a good day. But now, when I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my ex-boyfriend was a werewolf…

  Emphasis on the ex part of ex-boyfriend, of course. Even if we were fucking on the regular.

  God damn it, how did I get myself into this situation?

  "Heather, Adanna. Adanna, Heather." Cole cleared his throat. "Sorry, I'm not up on the etiquette for introducing people who've known each other for a decade."

  Suddenly, Adanna's secretive smile had taken on a whole new meaning. I shook her hand, trying to wrap my head around everything, and failing miserably.

  "Welcome," she said. "There are precious few people who've seen what you have seen, Heather."

  I swallowed with an effort. "I understand that. And I appreciate your, um…hospitality." That definitely wasn't the right word, but it was the best one I could think of.

  She nodded, making a gracefully dismissive gesture with her hand. "It's bound to happen from time to time, and we try to take it in stride. It's risky, you understand - as much as possible, we try to stay unnoticed by the world at large."

  "Of course."

  Cole was standing, silently, in the corner. Overall, he had the bearing of someone who was introducing his new girlfriend to a family member that he found mildly frightening.

  Not that I was his girlfriend, of course.

  Adanna rose and walked around the desk, going to a sleek black filing cabinet in the corner. It was adorned with trailing plants, their tendrils so long they almost reached the floor.

  "Cole tells me that you're very concerned about the fountain," she said, removing a file and flipping through it briefly. "The clan will be having a special council meeting very soon to discuss all the issues surrounding the sale of the land. If you like, you're more than welcome to attend as my guest."

  "Thank you," I said, glancing at Cole. He remained mostly unreadable. "I'd be honored."

  Adanna smiled. "You can say no, if you'd rather not. I won't be offended. But I know that this place means as much to you as it does to anyone else attending that meeting. Sometimes, this clan makes the mistake of thinking they're the only ones whose opinions matter."

  I stifled a laugh. "I think a lot of people make that mistake, from time to time."

  "True enough." She set the file down on her desk and sat again, leaning back in her leather captain's chair. "Tell me, Heather, what do you know about the fountain?"

  Was I being tested? Her tone was light enough, but there was a certain weight in the way she was looking at me. I had a feeling that my answers mattered, but I wasn't sure why.

  "The same as anybody else around here, I guess." My right eyebrow ticked up, slightly, without my permission. "Unless you all know something that the rest of us don't."

  Adanna's smile grew. "Heather, exactly how many of your kind do you think live here?"

  Feeling stupid, I clasped my hands in my lap. "Uh, well, I guess I don't know."

  "Most commonfolk won't live around us for long," she said, her smile growing more gentle. "They grow uncomfortable. They feel that they don't belong. But you're different than most, aren't you?"

  I had a feeling I was supposed to nod.

  Adanna went on. "Always a misfit? Never really understanding where you fit in with your peers?"

  Well, that was true enough. I nodded again.

  "You're not one of our bloodline," she said. "But you are one of our kin. Your mind and your body know it, even if your brain didn't. It's an old concept, very old - as old as the faiths that our people founded, the ones that worshipped the rocks and the trees and the phases of the moon. Most commonfolk mistrusted us, but some didn't. We called them kin. But of course, that was before the wars."

  She sighed, her expression going dark for a moment.

  "But," she said, forcing a smile again, "the point is, Heather - you're the only one still here. Everyone you know in Douglas Mountain is one of us."

  It should have been a shock. By all rights, I should have fainted right there on her luxurious gray carpet. But I just let it sink in, and found that I wasn't surprised. The explanation made so much sense, in a way that completely redefined what the word "sense" even meant.

  "I see," I said at last, carefully. Every single one of them. Even Steve and Andrea. By all rights, my head should have been spinning by now - but maybe I'd just maxed out on bizarre knowledge to the point where my brain had no choice to accept it. Maybe later tonight, I'd wake up screaming.

  "So," Adanna said, glancing down at t
he folder again. "The fountain - what do you know?"

  "Um." I looked down at my hands. "It's really more about what I don't know. Nobody knows who built it, or where the water comes from, or why it's here. That's pretty much all I've got."

  "Thank you," she said, closing the folder. "But I'm not interested in what you've been told about the fountain. I want you to tell me what you know about it."

  I'd never had to put my experiences with the fountain into words before. But something about Adanna's face told me that nothing I'd say would surprise her.

  "It's…." I hesitated. "It's…different, isn't it? There's something special about that fountain." I looked up at her, but she just smiled, her eyebrows slightly raised.

  "Go on," she said. "This isn't a test. There's no wrong answer."

  "It feels peaceful," I said. "But exciting, at the same time. Like anything could happen. And whatever it is, you're going to be okay."

  She was nodding. "Have you ever lost time?"

  I thought about seeing the sunset, right after I'd left work.

  "Yeah," I said. "I guess."

  "Has anything else happened at the fountain that you can't explain?"

  Yeah. My werewolf ex-boyfriend walking back into my life after nine and a half years of pretending like I didn't exist. And me deciding it would be a good time to take him home and fuck his brains out.

  "No," I said. "At least…I don't think so."

  "Thank you, Heather." Adanna closed her notebook. "I don't have any answers about the fountain. None of us do. We're trying to understand it, just the same as you. But whatever it is, we know it's important to protect it. This clan's been protecting it for generations. Or maybe it's been protecting us."

  I cleared my throat. "I don't think I understand," I admitted.

  "Neither do I," she said. "But not everything important has to be understood."

  I couldn't tell if that was profound, or just very confusing.

  Cole and I left shortly after that, since Adanna had a lot of work to do. All in all, it was a drier meeting than I'd been expecting. For some reason I thought she'd show me her animal form; looking back, it seemed absurd. Like she'd do it for me, as if it was some kind of parlor trick.

  "Have you ever lost time at the fountain?" I asked Cole, as we walked back towards my place, by some kind of silent agreement.

  He nodded. "Most of us have. We were never sure if it was just us, you know, because - well, losing time isn't exactly a foreign experience for us." He half-smiled, a little ruefully. "So it's interesting that you've felt it, too."

  Much like everything else I'd been digesting over the last few days, the strange time loss wasn't bothering me as much as it should have. It was simply a thing that happened. I was fine, I felt fine, I didn't see any orbs or rods or wake up with probes in places they shouldn't be.

  But still - how strange.

  "I must have like…gone catatonic, or something," I said. "I don't know. It's weird."

  Thinking about it like that, it should have given me chills. But I felt calm. In a way, I felt like everything I was experiencing now was meant to happen, somehow. Like it was all part of some big, interconnected galactic puzzle. Me and Cole were just two tiny threads in a massive tapestry. Hardly visible, but still a part of the design. And if you tugged too hard, everything would unravel.

  That doesn't make any sense. But then again, none of this does.

  "Every time I think about the fountain, I feel like I should be afraid of it." Cole kicked a rock fragment with his toe, and it went skittering across the pine needles. "But I never am. When I go there, it feels right. Everything feels right."

  "I know what you mean."

  We were supposed to meet there. The fountain helped me forget all the bitterness, and let go of my anger, so that we could be together.

  I almost snorted out loud. That was easily the stupidest thought that had ever crossed my mind.

  Thanks, high school Heather.

  Whatever, bitch. You know I'm right.

  When we got to my front door, Cole hung back, even while I held it open for him.

  "You coming in?" I asked, finally.

  "Nah," he said, looking regretful. "I have to take care of a few things. But I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

  "Okay," I said.

  I wanted to kiss him. God help me, I wanted to kiss Cole Jackman goodnight, like I was his girlfriend or something.

  Narrowly, I dodged the temptation.

  "Goodnight, Cole."

  "Goodnight," he said.

  I shut the door before he had a chance to say anything else - with him on the other side of it.

  And as I sat there, in the desolate silence of my apartment, I tried to convince myself it was some kind of moral victory.

  Chapter Five

  My Cole-less evening was spent with the TV droning on in the background, while I flipped through the same shitty coupon magazine five hundred times, not actually seeing any of it. Hours passed like this, somehow, until I finally got irritated enough to fling the magazine at the TV, which was currently explaining to me how tires are made.

  When I heard someone knocking on my door, my eyes immediately went to the clock.

  It's past midnight. What the fuck?

  I assumed it must be Cole. But it wasn't like him not to call first, or at least text. Maybe there was something wrong.

  Frowning, I hurried to answer it, not bothering to check the peephole.

  What I saw on the other side made my jaw drop, and my heart freeze in my chest.

  "Hello."

  It took me a few seconds to find my voice.

  "Dad," I said, numbly, stepping back from the threshold.

  He was smiling, a cold and un-comforting smile. But that wasn't unusual for him. I was momentarily taken aback by how much, and how visibly, he'd aged - his hair almost completely gray now, and his face so tired and wan compared to the man I remembered.

  "It's good to see you, Heather," he said, making a movement like he was considering a hug - but then wisely pulling back. "How've you been?"

  A ridiculous question. But I answered it anyway.

  "Good," I said, not even attempting a smile. My face felt completely cold and bloodless; I must be white as a sheet.

  "Well, that's good. That's good." He made a few aborted gestures with his hands, looking around the room. "Can I sit down?"

  Not waiting for an answer, he went to the sofa and made himself comfortable, plunking his feet on the coffee table, his boots scattering little clumps of dirt all over my old National Geographics. I cringed, but said nothing.

  "Listen, before you say anything, I know I should've called." He sighed, as if he was already annoyed at the lecture I wasn't giving him yet. "I know I should've come to visit sooner. But every day goes by, it just gets easier to ignore it - you know?"

  He was asking me to take responsibility for my own failure to reach out to him. He didn't want to be the one solely to blame. I just nodded, and sat down gingerly on the other end of the sofa.

  "I never stopped thinking about you, or worrying about you," he said. "I'm glad to hear you're doing well. But there's a lot of things changing right now, Heather - stuff that's going to affect both of our lives. And you'll need to make some decisions. You'll have to step up to the plate. Do you think you can do that for me?"

  What the hell is he talking about? Is he dying? Does he need a kidney?

  Finally, I found my voice.

  "What are you talking about, Dad?"

  He cleared his throat. "I heard about what happened," he said. "In the woods."

  Instantly, my heart constricted in my chest. I knew what he was talking about before my brain even processed his words, and a hot flush of embarrassment crept up my chest. I'd thought Cole and I were alone, after he…changed. Otherwise I never would have -

  "How?" I whispered. "We were…"

  "Don't worry about that," he said, waving his hand dismissively. I was starting to get the sense that maybe h
e didn't know about what happened afterwards. Maybe he really was just talking about Cole's transformation. Relaxing slightly, but only slightly, I looked at him.

  "Is it true, or isn't it?" he asked, planting his feet back on the floor and leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, and his face turned slightly towards me.

  "It's true," I said, though he clearly already knew. "Why? What do you know about it?"

  My father crossed his arms. "First, tell me what he told you."

  "Almost nothing," I said. "Just that he's always been this way. There's other people like him. Around here. They're sort of like his family. But he wouldn't tell me who."

  That was all my father needed to know.

  He nodded, his face twisted into an expression I couldn't quite read. "And you didn't ask any questions?"

  "I asked a few," I said, feeling instantly defensive. "But like I said. He wouldn't tell me much. Why are you asking me about this? How did you know?"

  "I told you not to worry about that!" he exclaimed angrily, thumping his fist on his own thigh for emphasis. He calmed down a moment later. "I'm sorry, Heather. This is a lot for you to take in. But you have to trust me when I tell you that there's certain things I can't explain right now. I'm going to try and be as clear as possible. There are a lot of things I should have told you when you were a little girl. But I didn't, so you just have to settle down and listen to me now. Okay?"

  I didn't answer, but I didn't need to.

  He started speaking again.

  "There are creatures like Cole all over the world. They tend to stay in packs. That's their nature. This here is one of the biggest. Or it was, until they split off into Foxwoods and Alki. They don't exactly present a united front, nowadays. But they used to be our biggest enemy."

  "I…" Where did I even start? "I don't really understand what you mean. Who's 'we?'"

  "You and me, Heather," my father said, smiling humorlessly. "You and me. Well - you, me, and your mother, technically. But she's left the life behind now." His face clouded over briefly, but he moved on. "There are others, around the world. A lot fewer of us than there are of them. Around here, there's just our family. We're all that's left of the bloodline in the Pacific Northwest. The rest of them inter-mingled and cross-bred with ordinary people. They've lost everything that makes us different."