Destiny Binds (9 page)

I cautiously moved closer. There were more articles of clothing scattered around the old manʼs feet. It looked like some jeans, a shirt, a sweater, and a pair of shoes. The man picked up one of the shoes and held it in the moonlight.

The soft, wintery world froze around me. Even from a distance I could tell that it was from a pair of Adidas Gazelles.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I acted without thinking.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, stumbling down the embankment. “Where did you get those? What have you done to him?”

The man wheeled around to face me. I was close enough to smell a mixture of body odor and alcohol as he disturbed the air.

“These things are mine. I found them.” His words were slurred, but his movements were quick and jerky, like a wild, skittish animal.

Or a homeless guy hopped up on meth.

“Those are Alexʼs clothes. Where is he? What did you do to him?” I frantically looked around, terrified I would see his dead, naked body frozen on the ground.

“I didnʼt do nothinʼ to nobody. I found these things. Theyʼre mine.” He started gathering up all the clothes. I noticed that the T-shirt was a retro Spider-Man shirt, the one that Alex wore every Tuesday. I reached out and snatched it away.

“You canʼt have these things! These are Alexʼs things! Give them back!” I reached for the pants, but the man grabbed my arm with a surprising amount of strength.

“I told you, I found these,” he said, pulling me towards him so that our faces were almost touching. The smell was overpowering. His eyes had a manic glint. “I told you they were mine.” He suddenly shoved me backwards, throwing me to the ground. The intense pain from falling yet again on my backside caused me to black out for a few seconds. By the time I recovered the man was on top of me, his knees on either side of my hips. A knife appeared out of nowhere and pressed against my throat.

“I donʼt like beinʼ called a liar, girl. Ya hear me?” I couldnʼt respond, paralyzed by fear. I knew I should try to fight back, that I should do something other than just lie there, but I couldnʼt. My body seemed incapable of movement.

He rubbed himself against me, his bloodshot eyes roaming up and down my body. “Youʼre not a very pretty girl, are you? Donʼt worry, though. Thatʼs alright with me. I never did like pretty girls anyhow.”

My brain finally managed to get through to my body. My right hand came up and wrenched the knife away from my throat as my left delivered a sharp punch to his midsection. I tried to roll my body to get out from underneath him, but he anticipated the move. He pressed himself even more firmly against me and grabbed my arms, pinning me to the ground.

“Donʼt be that way, sugar,” he said with a laugh. My stomach turned at the realization that he was enjoying himself. “Weʼre gonna have us —”

His next words were cut off by a feral growl that sliced through the night and reverberated in my bones.

“What the hell?” I heard him mutter just before something flashed above me, knocking him backwards.

I should have been terrified by the scene that was playing out, but it was too surreal. I sat up to find the man sitting on the ground, the knife outstretched in his hand in an attempt to keep the wild animal standing before him at bay. The animal, which appeared to be a large dog, was crouched down, hair standing on ends as a litany of snarls and growls erupted from its throat. There was no doubt that his razor sharp teeth would have no problem ripping the homeless man to shreds.

They could just as easily have done some rather unpleasant things to my fragile flesh, yet I couldnʼt seem to make myself be frightened. Instead, I was fascinated by beauty of the creature before me. His thick coat was a blend of white, reddish-brown, grey, and black. A part of my brain determined that it was a wolf, while another part of my brain realized that I might have been experiencing some sort of trauma related shock.

The standoff finally ended when the man lunged at the animal with his knife, causing the wolf to jump back. He had just enough time to get back on his feet and run. The wolf gave chase, gaining on him as they disappeared into the night.

I pulled myself off the ground. A quick inventory of my moving parts determined that aside from a broken tailbone, some wet clothes, and possible mental scarring, I was okay. I forced any thoughts of the horror I had just experienced from my mind and focused on what needed to be done.

I knew that I was supposed to leave everything just as it was so the police could gather evidence. I watched
CSI
, I knew how murder investigations worked, but I couldnʼt do it. I couldnʼt walk away and leave his clothes laying there. It would be admitting that he was gone, and I couldnʼt do that just yet.

I was attempting to fish one of his shoes out of the creek when I realized I wasnʼt alone.

One the opposite bank, mostly hidden by the brush, the wolf sat watching me.

I choked back a scream and remained very still. At least, I tried to be very still, just like those Discovery Channel shows always say you should when encountering a wild animal.

Unfortunately, I couldnʼt stop my body from trembling or my breath from coming in loud, ragged gasps.

I was debating on whether I should run, scream, or just hope to die quickly when my eyes locked with the decidedly human eyes of the wolf.

“Alex?” It came out as a whisper, but he heard me. The wolf bolted, running back towards the spot where the creek wound its way around the hill and out of sight.

“Alex!” I called out, louder this time.

I would have been able to convince myself I was wrong. I could have rationalized that the shock of the evening was causing my eyes to play tricks on me. I would have believed I was suffering from post-traumatic stress or temporary insanity. Any of those options would have been so very easy to accept if he hadnʼt turned and looked at me once again with those familiar grey eyes before disappearing into the night.

Sleep was pretty much a lost cause. My body was exhausted, but my brain was on hyper-drive. I was shocked, scared, confused, and ashamed. Snippets of everything that happened kept playing in my head like an avant garde film whose sole purpose is to leave the audience bewildered and jittery. I was terrified of how much more I would see if I closed my eyes.

I was curled up in the roomʼs only chair - a surprisingly comfortable overstuffed blue and yellow stripped monstrosity - watching the light in the room turn pink with the approaching dawn. There were so many thoughts and questions screaming for attention, I couldnʼt concentrate on any single one. Instead, I focused on the way the light moved across Talleyʼs sleeping face and the throbbing ache I felt from the multiple bruises slowly forming all over my body.

When I first heard voices, I thought they were just part of the chaotic noise in my head. It wasnʼt until I heard someone say his name that I realized people were arguing just outside my room.

I pulled back the edge of the heavy curtain and breathed a sigh of relief. Alex was there, alive. Unharmed. Human. His clothes were beyond dirty, despite my most valiant efforts in the Mapco stationʼs smelly bathroom, but he looked good. Better than good, actually.

Getting out of the chair was a bit difficult with the pain that radiated from my tailbone. I wrapped the fuzzy blue hotel blanket even more tightly around me, casting a quick glance at the heater where I had left my clothes to dry. I could have tried to put them back on, despite the fact they were still damp, but I didnʼt. The need to speak to Alex, to see if he was really okay, outweighed my inhibitions. I inched the door open, inviting in an arctic breeze that caused an outbreak of goosebumps.

“Weʼre leaving now,” Liam was saying. “You know what happens if they find us. I canʼt believe you would risk that, risk everything, for some girl.”

“This isnʼt about ʻsome girlʼ! Itʼs about —” Alex looked up and noticed me standing in the doorway. “Scout.”

“Hey,” I said, closing the motel room door behind me. The intensity with which Liam regarded me made my knees threaten to give out, but the joy I felt over the fact that Alex wasnʼt dead or walking around on four legs kept me from slinking back into the room.

Alex pushed past Liam to get to me. “Are you okay? Where are your clothes?” I regretted not taking the time to put them on. The expression on Liamʼs face was not doing stellar things for my self-image. I adjusted the blanket so the only things sticking out where my fingers and head.

“Theyʼre wet,” I mumbled, staring at the site of my bare toes on concrete.

“Youʼve got five minutes,” Liam said to Alex with all the love and warmth I expected, “then weʼre gone. Understood?”

I watched in relief as Liam crossed the parking lot and climbed into a battered old Jeep Cherokee. The moment we were alone, I started becoming increasingly aware of my unbrushed hair, make-up free face, and near-nakedness, which is why I just blurted out,

“Youʼre a werewolf.”

Alex shifted his weight back onto his heels and fixed his gaze on the foot of sidewalk between us. “You noticed that, huh?”

Yeah, Iʼm just crazy observant that way.

“I donʼt understand.” I took a deep breath and tried to get my nerves under control. It was one thing to suspect someone of being a monster and another thing all together to have them confirm it. I was tempted to run back into the hotel room and bar the door, but my desire for answers outweighed my fear. “How is that even possible?”

“Can we not have this discussion right now?” His eyes kept flickered over to the spot where his brother sat watching us.

“Okay,” I said. Even I could hear the edge of hysteria in my words. “So, how about this weather?”

I mean, really, where was the conversation supposed to go after,
Hey, arenʼt you some sort
of mythical creature?

Alex chuckled. “Itʼs cold. Too cold for you to be out here without shoes or proper clothes on.”

“The cold doesnʼt really bother me.”

“Is that why you were out last night in the freezing snow?” I shrugged. “I needed to go for a walk.”

Alex took a step forward and cupped my face in his hand. Any discomfort I may have been feeling due to the frigid temperatures quickly vanished as a glowing warmth spread from the place where his flesh touched mine to every inch of my body. Despite everything, he was still Alex and I still felt giddy at his touch.

“Scout, Iʼm so sorry,” he said in a whisper. “I thought you had gone to bed. I went to hunt and didnʼt even realize you were outside until I heard you scream.” I resisted the urge to reach out and smooth away the creases in his forehead. “Donʼt be sorry. You saved me. If you hadnʼt got there when you did...” My voice trailed off, unable to put the horror of what might have happened into words.

Alexʼs thumb gently traced along the edge of my cheekbone causing a shiver to run through me. “Donʼt worry. Heʼs never going to touch you or anyone else again.” His hand trailed down my face before resting on the back of my neck. I could hear him pull a deep breath into his lungs as he slowly licked his lips and inclined his head towards me.

At that moment I no longer cared that Alex turned into a wolf and might possibly be a murderer. The only thing that mattered was that he was going to kiss me.

And then the horn of the Jeep blared, causing Alex to jerk away as if he had been electrocuted.

“I guess thatʼs your cue to leave.” For some idiotic reason, I was giggling.

“So it seems.”

Liam honked the horn again, and Alex immediately took off across the parking lot. “Iʼve gotta go,” he called over his shoulder. “Tell everyone that I got sick and had to go home, okay?”

I just nodded mutely. He was nearly to the Jeep when I realized what I forgot to say.

“Alex,” I called out. He turned to look at me. The motion was eerily the same in his human form as it had been the night before. “Thanks. You know, for being my hero and all.” He waved one last time and then climbed into the Jeep. I watched it pull out of the parking lot before returning to my room.

Talley was awake and waiting for me on the other side of the door.

“Did you just walk outside in nothing but a blanket? What happened to your clothes? Where is Alex going? What happened? Are you okay?” Talleyʼs questions came out in such rapid succession I had trouble picking out any single one.

“Slow down. My brain is too sleepy to work that fast.” Talley looked me over, taking in my puffy, bloodshot eyes and slow, stiff movements. “You havenʼt slept at all,” she said. “What happened?”

Oh, you know. Not much. I got in a fight with a cracked-out homeless guy, which I lost, by the way. No worries, though. Alex came by in just the nick of time. Hey, did you know he turns into a wolf during the full moon? I do, because there just happened to be one of those last night. Incidentally, heʼs a pretty hot wolf.

“Nothing.”

“Then why are your clothes covered in mud and not on your body?”

“I went for a walk because I couldnʼt sleep and fell down.” Which was basically the truth. I was just leaving out a few minor details.

“And what were you doing outside with Alex just now?” What was it that Monty Python used to say about not expecting the Spanish Inquisition?

“His brother came to pick him up because heʼs sick. He just stopped by to say good-bye before he left.”

“Youʼre lying to me,” Talley said. “Scout, itʼs okay. You can tell me, whatever happened.” I could. I could also end up with a nice padded room of my very own.

“Believe what you want, Tal,” I said walking into the bathroom. “Iʼm taking a shower.” I was pleased to discover that after two sessions with the cheap bar of hotel soap my skin had faded to a nice jaundiced yellow. I twisted my hair into a french braid and attempted to get as much of the dirt off my clothes as possible, but still looked like death warmed over when I arrived at the McDonaldʼs Ms. Ryder had designated as our gathering spot.

Talley was obviously still upset with me over our earlier conversation. She hardly said three words to me after I got out of the shower, which must have taken a great deal of effort on her part. Usually she was a regular Chatty Kathy in the mornings. After we got breakfast, she sat with Jane Potts, leaving me at a table with James Kiplinger.