Preternatural: An Erotic Paranormal Romance Collection (3 Book Bundle) (6 page)

About twenty minutes later Lucas stopped at a convenience store on the other side of town and bought a small cooler, some meat, drinks and a few other odds and ends which he loaded into his car with a whistle and a skip in his step. About an hour or so later he turned onto a gravel road which led back into the woods, three towns over.

Lucas whistled, with the drivers side window down and his left arm hanging out, his hair blowing in the breeze, and drove until he found the almost invisible, dusty trail, he knew that lead up to a rickety old, deserted cabin. And best of all, no one ever came to this part of the woods. The trees grew almost on top of each other, there was lots of wildlife – bears, pumas and the like. But what mattered most to Lucas was the fact that it was really far out. Too far out, in fact, for anyone to find this place – unless it was their purpose was to come here.

Lucas unpacked in minutes, changed clothes and then sat on the porch as the sun dropped slowly behind the trees, drinking a cold beer. He sat there and smiled knowing he had made it back here safely. Two short days and he’d be back with Jennifer in his arms. He congratulated himself for his accomplishment. Nice work, Luke!

He knew he still had to tell her his secret one day, but the fear of what her reaction might be worried him so much he just kept putting it off. He was so afraid of losing her. I mean, how many people are in love with a werewolf – but might not know about it? And even more importantly, how many people are in love with a werewolf – and still know about it?

About an hour after he arrived, just after it was completely dark, Lucas’ skin started tingling. He tried to ignore it and control the changes with his conscious mind, but tonight it was not just working. It was almost time for the change and he knew it, so he stood up and headed into the cabin.

Just as he pulled the front door open in front of him, he heard a twig snap off in the distance. What was that? He froze in place and instinctively listened for something, anything else, to happen – silent as a mouse. Then a few seconds later another twig snapped, and then another… and another. And then he heard a gasp.

“Shit!” he said under his breath, still standing frozen on the porch.

He panicked at the thought that someone was way out here – particularly at this point in time when he was so close to changing. Who was it? Why was someone out here now? What did they want?

Either way, Lucas knew that he could hurt them. And if they were still around when he changed, he would hurt them. So Lucas quietly stepped inside the rickety cabin and locked the door behind him, hoping that whoever it was, would think the place was deserted and would just go on their way – and fast.

Lucas stood by the front door and waited. Seconds ticked by, minutes felt like hours. Lucas listened… but didn’t hear any further sound. Finally, just when he breathed out, thinking the danger had passed, he heard steps on his front porch and a knock came on his front door. He froze in place again.

“Knock, knock!!”

And then another knock. Faster and more deliberate this time.

And then he heard a voice…it sounded so familiar. No way… it can’t be! And as he realized that he knew who it was, his heart sank to his knees, and he collapsed into a heap. It was Jennifer!!

“Luke! Lucas!!” she was calling, “Lucas, I know you’re in there.”

He leaned against the front door, closed his eyes, wishing everything to simply vanish as the twitching of his skin became more and more prominent. But her voice brought him back to reality in an instant.

“Luke! Open up, we really need to talk. Right now! What are you doing here?”

No answer.

“Luke, I followed you. Why are you way out here? Why did you lie to me?”

Suddenly Lucas’ eyes widened in terror. His skin itched constantly now, he felt tense and antsy and he could feel the change coming on, but Jennifer was now on the other side of the door!

“Please… go home, please, baby,” Lucas begged her fighting the change as best he could.

“Lucas… come out right now!” she yelled, still pounding on the front door.  “I’m not going anywhere until you explain to me what you’re doing out here. Are you on drugs?”

“Please, Jen,” he started to explain, but then a pain hit him in the chest like a pro baseball player hitting a homer into right field. He roared out in pain.

Jennifer grew quiet on the other side of the door for a second. Then, she started yelling again, “Lucas! Lucas! Are you okay? What’s wrong Luke?”

Lucas lay there in pain, unable to speak. Then she started to yank on the doorknob when he did not answer her!

“Nooooo!” he yelled, but just then another pain ran through his body and he curled up on the floor.

He instantly knew that tonight was going to be one of those really bad nights. One of those nights where he would change more than he wanted to. Right then the door flung open… Jennifer looked about the cabin searching for Luke, with the light from the full moon shining behind her, silhouetting her beautiful frame. After a second or two of looking about the room she found him, her eyes filled with worry and concern.

But before she could step closer to him he saw her face twist with horror as he changed into a werewolf, right then and there, right in front of her! He fought the urge to kill her since he still had the mindset of a person inside that huge furry body… but he knew that would only last for a short while longer.

All Jennifer saw, though, was her man morphing into a scary, eight foot tall, hairy wolf-type thing, with horrible yellow eyes, fangs bared dangerously, drool dripping from the incredibly large mouth… standing there in the moonlight looking at her as he wobbled drunkenly from one foot to the next.

Jennifer was not a stupid woman. She turned and ran.

Lucas, the man, wanted to run after her, but he knew there was no way that Lucas the werewolf, would ever be able to talk to her now, not looking like this. He would only scare her to death… or maybe worse. Tonight’s change was already much stronger than usual and he didn’t know for sure how long he would be able to control his bloodlust. Jennifer was the last person on earth he wanted to hurt.

He couldn’t, and wouldn’t, be able to live with that knowledge if he did hurt her. So he waited until her heard the sound of her car driving away before he dared move a muscle. Lucas the man was quickly fading away in his mind… the feeling of helplessness, of not being able to talk to Jennifer and explain things to her… it was becoming harder and harder for him to form a thought. And then there was only blackness…

The angry werewolf tore the forests apart that night, venting his anger; he only knew that he was angry, but not why. And he was hungry too… so he started looking for prey. In his derangement, he pulled up a couple of trees, flattened the fence around the cabin, dented his car pretty good in a couple of places, scratched up the hood and roared himself hoarse.

The next night, well, it was even worse. The blood rage overcame him again, even after eating everything in his tiny cooler, so he wandered a few miles away from the cabin in his werewolf state in search of something to eat. The next morning he awoke to a full stomach… a very full stomach.

When he turned his head, looking about as he tried to get up, completely naked, he saw the carcass of half a deer lying right next to him – the bottom half. He had devoured half a deer and who knows what else! His stomach ached and from looking at the “beer belly” he now had, he knew the rest of the deer was in there!

But things could have been worse. He knew that – and he hoped that the deer was the worst thing he did since he had no memory of basically anything else from the last few nights. As soon as Lucas made his way   back to the cabin, totally naked, he rushed into the pitiful cabin that he called home once a month, got dressed as best he could with the new distended stomach, packed the car and hurried back home to explain things to Jennifer.

He hoped he could explain everything in a manner she would understand and he knew she would have a million questions when he got back. In just under two hours later he pulled into the driveway of the house they now shared. He hoped that they could work this out, what they had was just too good to throw away. He got out, not even unpacking the car, and headed straight for the front door. Lucas was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he never even noticed that Jen’s car was missing.

“Jen,” he yelled happily as he pushed open the front door. She always loved when he called her Jen!

But the house was empty. Okay, he thought to himself, maybe she’s out with some of her friends. He made his way back through the house, still calling to her, looking for signs of her. When he made it back to the bedroom he noticed that her clothes were missing from the closet. Weird. He walked back through other rooms and then on to the kitchen. No sign of her anywhere – in fact, no sign of any of her personal possessions!

At that second he looked out the kitchen window. It wasn’t until then that he really noticed that her car was gone. Shit, her car’s gone!

Instantly, and without even thinking, he pulled out his cell and dialed her number with shaking hands.
The phone rang five or six times before she answered it. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Jen, baby… please…”

“No Lucas. Stay away from me, do you hear me… don’t contact me again. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“But baby…“

“Baby, hell!” She hung up.

Lucas didn’t know what had happened. He felt like he was caught up in a tornado or something. Really, honestly, though, he was in shock. He just  stood there… alone in the bedroom. He was alone and unable to process what had just happened to him. Two days ago he was the happiest man alive – and now he was the exact opposite! Is this really happening?

Then he screamed a scream… unlike any a mere human could make. The full extent of Jennifer’s words had dawned on him. “Stay away from me, do you hear me… don’t contact me again.”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she said.

And then the wolf inside him took over. He pushed over the 500 pound desk like it was a piece of kids furniture, he tore the drapes down in one swipe, he threw a dresser across the room which shattered into kindling in an instant. Before he knew it, his temper tantrum ended in him, basically wrecking the entire house. It seemed like hours passed before he actually came back to his senses. Then he collapsed on the floor like a rag doll, and cried like a baby for what seemed like days.

Days turned into weeks, and still no Jennifer. She had not answered any of his calls or texts. He was going crazy with the loss. Lucas went to work, mostly just going through the motions after he had missed a few days. His boss was not sympathetic to his plight at all. So he went, not really being very productive… but at least he was there. He kept up his old routine as best he could, hoping soon Jen would join him in it.

Lucas was very miserable. Even at work, things that were once a breeze for him to accomplish were now filled with errors. He switched his mind off, hardly ate, hardly slept and looked more like a hollow shell of the man he once was. Days passed and eventually it was time for the full moon again. He was so out of it that he stayed home, not even trying to get out of town. That night the change was fast, and the terrible beast in him was fed over and over at the expense of several innocents.

By the next full moon, he was ill. Visibly ill. He was exhausted and merely skin and bones. Lucas no longer ate, other than his hunts as a wolf. He was bearded, dirty, and now, unemployed too. He could no longer even consider life without Jen as a possibility. He waited for death. And starving himself and the wolf too eventually was the only way he could think of to do it.

Then the full moon came around again. Lucas was so weak he couldn’t  control his thoughts from the beast anymore. When the change came he must have been thinking of her because that is exactly where he went – to her house! He ran and ran and ran – he didn’t even know how the wolf knew where she lived now – but he did. Lucas didn’t want to hurt her, but the wolf, he could never be too sure about him.

The thoughts of Jen were the only thing in his mind as a man – maybe the wolf now wanted her too. The wolf paced up and down in front of her house in between all the bushes and shrubs and trees just out of sight all night long, growling and grumbling and occasionally howling too. The wolf was an emotional mess too! He knew Jennifer was somewhere inside there, he could smell her, and he could hear her too.

The next morning after full moon had passed, when the sun reached over the horizon, he finally collapsed in between the hedges and turned back into a man, right there in her front yard. He was so weak he could barely move on the grass, breathing in shallow gasps. His vision was terrible and he could only see images as if through the film of a thick substance.

Then he heard the front door knob turn on her house. Lucas tried to roll over as he lay there helplessly, desperately trying to cover his nakedness not knowing who it was that was coming over to him. Before he passed out, the last thing he smelled was Jennifer. He heard her walking across the lawn. She was carrying a blanket that she covered his naked body with. Before he passed out, he was sure he smelled salty tears running down her cheeks.

Lucas woke up hours later… in his own bed. His vision had returned to him somewhat and from the light in the room he knew it must be late afternoon. The smell of coffee surrounded him and there was a tray with toast and a cup of coffee on the night stand next to him. He sat up, hopeful, looking for Jennifer. His house was silent. He was the only person here, he instinctively knew that.

He stood up, still weak and shaky and walked to the kitchen. No trace of her. Where is she? He wobbled about, still nursing hope. Stepping over to the counter, he looked for a note but found none. As he wandered back through the house he found the rooms had been straightened up – no longer the nasty mess he had been living in for weeks now. Then he just walked back to their old bedroom and lay back down on his bed staring blankly at the plate of food and cup of coffee.