by C. R. Jane
The bearded man emerged from the mass, leering at me, his hand on my neck so fast, I barely had time to react.
Ice filled my veins at the way he looked at me with all the wrong intentions.
But just as quick as he reached for me, he screeched, flinging his arm from me as if he’d touched acid. He ripped my necklace off as he fell. And in that exact moment, his arm appeared clawed, fingers tipped with razor-sharp nails.
I screamed, backing away.
He scrambled off the floor and then pressed himself into the masses, vanishing while the wave of bodies kept me imprisoned.
Fuck, what the hell was that? I couldn’t think straight, but I hastily bent over and picked up my torn necklace, barely avoiding getting my hand trampled.
When I stood up, I found myself crammed and squeezed right outside the door with the flock, my heart beating frantically. I finally burst free from their cluster, stumbling to freedom, sucking in fresh air as I pushed the impending panic attack away. Frantically, I scanned the area for the bearded man to see if I was going insane and seeing things now.
No sign of him.
Shit, did I really just see his hand transform into claws?
The group from the pub trampled over the lawn and made their way either over the bridge or toward the homes on this side of the river. Only faint lights from nearby buildings pierced the darkness.
Sweat dripped down my neck from how hot it had become in there, not that it made a huge difference being out here as there was nothing timid about the heat outside either.
I started heading back inside, wanting to reach my room and lock the door. My head remained too blurred to make sense of what exactly I’d seen and if it had been all in my imagination. Before I reached the door, a shadow fell over me, and I tensed that the man had returned.
I twisted around quickly, dread tightening around me.
But it was Wilder who stood in front me. I should have been relieved, but how could I be when he was standing there, bloody from the fight, his face perfectly expressionless? I stumbled back a few steps, remembering the power he carried. I wasn’t exactly in the mood for a lesson from him on the dangers of being outside in the dark, since it was kind of his fault I was out here in the first place.
“Did you enjoy the fight?” he growled out. He picked up a lock of my hair, then leaned forward and inhaled deeply.
Nothing about Wilder made sense to me, and I shoved his hand off me. “Sure, I love when grown men act like children,” I said with a scoff.
His nose wrinkled, while that spark deep inside me erupted, tearing me in two directions, the battle between hating and desiring this guy buzzing around inside of me.
When he stepped closer, I backed away several steps, until my heels hit the stone wall of the inn.
I glanced over to the door, only three feet away. “I’ll scream if you try anything.”
“Go ahead,” he prompted, pitching both hands on the wall over my shoulders, caging me in. The breeze smothered me in his scent, a blend of faint cologne, his masculine, woodsy smell, and something almost earthy. Regardless, the way he smelled shouldn’t have turned me on or made me imagine what his lips tasted like, but damn, it did.
“You’re going to regret coming here.” His gaze traced every inch of my face, pausing on my lips, his mouth parting slightly.
My breath caught in my throat while a dangerous look crossed his face. “I—It’s not like I had much choice,” I murmured back, frozen to the wall.
“You have no idea what you’ve walked into.”
I swallowed hard as he pulled back, and I followed him, desperate suddenly to know what he was talking about.
“What do you mean?” I called after him.
But he only merged into the shadows, completely vanishing from my sight. And then he was gone without a sound.
I was alone.
The hairs on my arms stood on end, and I suddenly didn’t feel safe outside.
I turned and ran inside the inn.
6
Rune
Last night had been fucking crazy.
There was no other way to put it. I shook my head, remembering the claw I thought I saw. Maybe this town was making me crazy too.
I’d just gotten out of the shower, and I stood in front of the mirror brushing my hair that fell almost all the way to my ass. As a child, I’d always hated the color. It was such a light shade of blonde that it was almost white. I’d been called “albino” and “freak” more times than I could count growing up. I’d had to ask my mom what albino even meant the first time I’d heard it. Her hair was a rich, russet color, and I’d always wished she’d passed it on to me. Evidently, the father that I’d never met had black hair, so apparently, I was an anomaly. Just another lucky thing about my life.
The comments had faded over time though, and the pendulum had swung the opposite way where my hair gave me too much attention from the male population. There’d even been a time I’d been considered the hot girl at school. I laughed bitterly at the thought.
I was a far cry from that now.
Haunted blue eyes that were too big for my face stared back at me in the mirror. I continued to study myself as I went over last night’s events and continued to critique myself. I fingered the edges of my frayed hair, not able to stop myself from comparing my looks to the crazy chick from last night. When was the last time I’d done something like put on makeup or style my hair? When was the last time I’d cared?
There was that hair salon down the street. I could go there. Just for a little trim. And even though I was supposed to be saving every cent, I needed something to make me feel better about myself. I hadn’t cared what I looked like for a long time. What was the point when the person you loved the most in the world despised you?
Maybe I would dye it. Start totally fresh. Yes, I would do that.
Excited about the possibilities of shedding the past…at least physically, I hurried and got dressed. After I left the inn, I decided to stop by the doctor’s office on the way to the salon to check on the wolf from yesterday. Hopefully, they’d actually gone to help it.
On the sidewalk, I almost ran into a man who was walking with his head down. I stuttered to a halt when he clipped my shoulder and lifted his head to look at me. Pale blue eyes stared into mine. He quickly looked away and hurried past.
But those eyes stayed with me.
They looked just like the injured wolf’s eyes from yesterday. I was seeing things because I was subconsciously worried about how he was doing, I told myself.
But I was beginning to suspect that I wasn’t crazy.
I busted into the doctor’s office similar to yesterday, and once again, scared the receptionist. She held her chest and took a deep breath, laughing nervously when she saw who it was.
“You’re a ferocious little thing, aren’t you,” she commented before giving me a practiced smile. “How can I help you today?”
I shifted awkwardly in place. “I was just wondering how the wolf from yesterday was doing.”
Her smile fell for a second before she quickly replaced it. “It’s fine. Already released back into the wild. The bite wasn’t bad at all, nothing to be concerned with.”
I gaped at her, unsure if I was hearing her right. I knew what I’d seen. And it hadn’t been “nothing to be concerned with.”
“Anything else I can help you with?” she asked politely, obviously wanting me to leave.
I shook my head and mumbled a goodbye as I left the office very confused. That weird feeling in my gut was back. I walked to the salon, lost in my head.
Shaking the tingles I was feeling off, I looked through the glass door of the salon and saw the redhead that I’d seen before working on an older woman with silver streaked blonde hair. A little bell on the door announced my entrance as I opened the door and walked in. The redhead’s eyes lit up when she saw me. “Oh Lordy, you’re here. I was fixing to come hunt you down if I didn’t see you in the next week. I’ve been dying to
work on your hair since the first moment I saw you,” she all but squealed. She was holding a spray bottle in her hand she’d been spraying on her client’s hair, and in her exuberance, she sprayed water all over the woman’s face.
“Whoops!” she hollered as she grabbed a tissue from the work station in front of her and dabbed the water off. Her client rolled her eyes but didn’t seem surprised at the accident.
I couldn’t help but grin, a move that was surprisingly becoming easier and easier after a few days of doing it. The wolf slipped out of my mind.
“You settle yourself down right there while I finish Gloria up, and then we’ll get to work. I’ll be done in a jiffy, ya hear?” she ordered.
I meekly nodded and then sat down on one of the comfy padded chairs that were set up against the wall. While the two women chatted back and forth, I looked around the place. It was definitely catered towards women. Muted pinks, silvers, and blacks were all over the place, creating a sleek modern feel that was a bit out of place in this town with all of its quaint architecture. There were three stations set up, pink chairs in front of Hollywood style mirrors with the big bulbs. And black frames were set up on some of the walls, featuring old black and white movie posters.
I loved it.
I was so lost in my observations, I didn’t notice that she was finished until she snapped her fingers in front of me as she passed by to check out her customer.
“Go ahead and get yourself settled in that chair. We’ll get to work in just a minute.”
“Okay,” I said softly, feeling shy in the face of her exuberance as I switched chairs.
She checked the woman out and then grabbed a broom and started sweeping up the hair lying on the black tiled floor. “I like the black aesthetic, but it certainly shows everything,” she complained as she finished up.
I nodded like I knew anything about aesthetic or design in general. She gave me a grin, showcasing two front teeth that had a slight gap in between them, giving her an extra dose of charm. Her hair was big and curly, fitting the Southern twang she had going, and she had freckles lightly peppering the bridge of her nose.
She held out a hand in front of me, and I shook it awkwardly. “Miyu,” she commented.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“Miyu, that’s my name,” she said with another wide grin. “It’s weird, I know.”
“I like it,” I told her. “It’s unique.”
“Unique,” she repeated, appearing to savor the word on her tongue. “I’m going to start using that.”
“Most people think my name’s going to be Darla or Dolly, something fitting these large hooters of mine,” she explained as she put a silver cape around my neck, gesturing to her chest, which was indeed larger than the average woman’s. “I wish I could say my mother was drunk on moonshine when she came up with it, but apparently, the name came from my older brother, who was one at the time, mind you. My mother swears on her life that he pointed at her stomach and said ‘Miyu.’ He was of course babbling because he was a baby, but you could never convince her otherwise.”
I giggled as I envisioned the scene in my head. “Didn’t your dad have anything to say about it?”
“My father was a smart man. When you’re married to a woman like my mother, you learn to give in to her craziness. Happy wife, happy life as they say.”
I snorted at the phrase. I’d heard it. I’d just never seen it in action. “My name’s Rune,” I told her.
“Ah,” she said. “So you know all about ‘unique’ names then.”
“I’m an expert,” I replied, and she let out a horse like snort.
“All right, so what are you thinking today?” she asked as she dragged her bright pink painted fingernails through my hair.
“I was thinking dark, like a dark brown or something,” I blurted out, still set on a major change.
“Nope and nope,” she commented as she pushed me up and began to lead me towards the sinks which were set up on one of the walls.
“What?” I asked, sure I hadn’t heard her right.
“Girl, this hair was given to you by the gods. No way am I touching it with any color. We are going to give you a nice cut though. You kind of look like one of those polygamist chicks. No offense,” she added as an afterthought as she began to wash my hair.
A loud laugh erupted out of me, and I quickly covered my mouth, shocked at the sound. When was the last time I’d laughed like that, so hard that it had reached into my stomach?
“Do you tell all your clients what to do?” I asked after I’d stopped laughing.
“No, but I tell my friends what to do all the time. And I think that’s what we’re going to be.”
I’d gone from laughing to trying to hold in a sob at the sweet statement. Talk about whiplash.
“I’d like that,” I said quietly.
She hummed, pretending to ignore the emotion in my voice as she washed my hair. My eyes slipped close as she massaged my scalp, and a little humming sound came out of my mouth which she thankfully ignored.
It was over too soon, and then she led me back to the chair with a large towel wrapped around my head.
“Stunning,” she murmured as she began to comb out my hair. “So, where are you visiting us from?”
I tensed at the question. “Chicago,” I finally said, figuring there was no harm in telling her.
She froze for a second, her eyes flashing strangely as I watched her in the mirror. It was only a moment’s pause, and then she continued on as if nothing was wrong.
“This is probably a bit different for you then,” she finally said as she picked up her scissors and started to get to work. I watched with butterflies as pieces of my hair fell to the ground.
“Very,” I agreed, wishing I could say just how much it differed.
I told her about the tree incident and the animal that had passed in front of my car. “Do you have a pack nearby?” I asked her. “I hear them every night.”
She smiled as if I’d said something funny, and that strange feeling started in my chest again. “There are actually two packs here,” she informed me. “I’m sure you’ve been warned not to be out at night alone.”
“I have,” I told her, a little shocked and scared at her words.
“Is everyone all right with having that many wolves around?”
This time she outright laughed, and I knew she was party to some kind of joke at my expense right now.
This town was weird.
“I’m pretty sure they’re okay with it,” she finally answered. “Has everyone been okay to you? There are lots of strong personalities here.”
“It’s been a mixed bag,” I muttered, biting my lip just thinking about Wilder…and Daxon. I blurted out the whole story with Wilder, and by the end, she was laughing so hard that she could barely stand.
“Be careful with those,” I told her wide-eyed as her scissors barely missed stabbing my head in her exuberance.
She straightened up and wiped a tear from her eye. “That’s Wilder, all right. He’s an asshole, but he has good intentions. He owns half of this town, and he rarely steers us wrong.”
I mulled over that. I’d known he owned the diner…but half the town?
“I met a man named Daxon as well. He and Wilder don’t seem to get along.”
She pursed her lips like she’d tasted something sour. “Those two have hated each other almost since the moment they sprung from the womb. Arcadia just made it worse.”
“Arcadia?” I asked, knowing immediately she was talking about the raven-haired beauty who had it out for me.
“They’ve both been in love with her for as long as I can remember. She’s always been the it girl round here, if you know what I mean.”
I nodded before remembering she was trying to cut my hair, and she gave me that small, strange smirk again. Jealousy threaded through my insides thinking of her with them. I felt feverish just thinking about it actually.
“Arcadia loved that attention. I mean,
who wouldn’t though? Having two men who look like that at your beck and call. She dated both of them on the sly. Told each of them she was giving up her virginity to them. It was a big scandal when Wilder and Daxon found out about each other.”
“So they dropped her, right?”
Miyu just shook her head, disgust carved into her features. “Daxon loved her. Wilder too, but Daxon…well, you’ve met him. He’s a sweetheart. Totally fell for her weak ass explanations. Everyone told him to drop that girl. But love makes men fools. Plus, he was getting it on the regular, and I hear Arcadia’s an animal in the sack.” She snorted to herself, as if she’d said something funny.
The jealousy had become flat-out hate as unbidden thoughts of Arcadia and Daxon wrapped around each other flashed through my mind.
“And Wilder?”
“Hates her guts.”
“I saw them just the other day though. And he definitely did not seem like he hated her.”
She raised an eyebrow at that news. “Well, that’s a new occurrence.”
“So are she and Daxon still together?” I asked hesitantly, trying to come across as just curious, but I knew Miyu could see through me all too easily.
Miyu sighed, her shoulders drooping at my question. “Arcadia broke that boy’s heart. Rumor is she got pregnant with his baby…and then got rid of it without even telling him about it. Daxon went through a wild streak after that, screwing a bunch of women, but I think he’s through that now.”
My mouth dropped open in shock, even as an unbidden thought of my own stomach rounded with a tanned hand on top of it struck me.
I was crazy. It was official.
“That’s just a rumor though, right?”
“There’s always a lot of truth to rumors in this town, Rune. And I have no doubt that rumor’s the real deal. Arcadia would never allow herself to be burdened with anything like a child, even if it was Daxon’s…or Wilder’s.”
