Territory - Prequel (9 page)

Chapter
8

Sleep
eluded
Chloe
again that night.  ‘Our confrontation is coming’.  The words played over and over as she tried to decipher their meaning. 
While the implications were terrifying, she was slightly relieved that Dell too had realized that something strange was happening between them.  She couldn’t explain her sudden fainting spells when he touched her and that odd warm sensation that washed over her whenever she was in his presence.  For the first time, she actually entertained the idea that he might actually be a shifter and that her reaction to him had something to do with the fact. 
“Great!  Now I’m buying into their bullshit.”

The remainder of the night was spent tossing and turning and thinking of Dell
and for the following week, t
he
days passed
at an agonizingly slow pace. 

Chloe had taken all her vacation at once, knowing that her mother would need her for as long as Chloe could afford to be away from
the office
.  She truly didn’t mind missing work.  As an investigator for the state’s child support enforcement division her job was as monotonous as it was draining.  She’d accepted the position with great enthusiasm.  She’d had high hopes
of doing work that mattered.  Unfortunately,
her heart just wasn’t in the work
but it paid well and offered sick leave and vacation.   Between both Chloe was able to take two-weeks off to spend with her mourning mother. 

She and her mother had spent the first week entertaining the stream of visitors that stopped by with cards or flowers.  Donnie had been well known and even more well-liked.  The townsfolk, like the family, were still having great difficulty coming to terms with the fact that he was gone.

When the second week came,
Chloe preoccupied herself with cleaning her mother’s home, preparing meals, and helping her mother come to terms with the loss of
her son
. 

She
awoke one morning to find Bea fully dressed and sneaking out the door
.
S
he confronted her
mother
.

“Mom!  Where are you going?”

“To work.”

“Work?  I
hardly think you’re ready.”

Her mother turned a frown on her, “I
hardly
think you
’
r
e
qualified to offer up such an opinion.”

Still in her pajama bottoms and a loose t-shirt, Chloe attempted to smooth down her disheveled hair.  “You took two weeks off
.
You still have a few days
.  Why are
you
rushing this?”

Bea reached around to lock the door from the inside
,
her car keys jangling in her palm. 
“Because when you get to be my age you have to keep your mind pre-occupied.”  She took a step out the door.

“Mom!”

Bea halted, her shoulders sinking as she stared up at Chloe in resignation.  “
I’ve gotta keep moving baby.  If I stall out now, I’ll never get re-started.”

Chloe recognized the vulnerable truth in her mother’s words.  She dropped down to sit on one of the carpeted stairs
, her own shoulders slumping as the fight left her
.  “You sure?”

Bea smiled, “I’m sure.”  She eyed Chloe then, “Maybe just a few half days to start.”  She eyed her watch impatiently, “Call me around noon, we’ll have lunch.”

Chloe stood to quickly descend the stairs and place a warm kiss on her mother’s cheek.  “Lunch.  Noon.  Got it.”

Then her mother smiled and left for work leaving Chloe standing in the doorway wondering if she too shouldn’t cut short her
leave and return to the office.

Fuck that!  I’ve got vacation days and I’m g
onna
use ‘em.
 

Now that she didn’t have to make breakfast for her mother, and not hungry herself, she bounded back up the stairs to throw on her freshly washed running gear.

Ten minutes later, she stepped into the woods.  She
opted
to keep her I-pod in her pocket
this time.  Hoping that if she paid more attention, no wildlife would sneak up on her.

She didn’t push a full on run, but settled on a stead
y
jog.  Thirty minutes in she’d broken a sweat and slowed to a walk. 

She heard the crunch of pine needles behind her and turned to eye the forest. 
Seeing nothing, but feeling slightly spooked she faced forward and resumed her jog. 

Movement in the corner of her eye had her stopping. 
Red fur?
  She focused and saw the movement again, verifying that it was in fact red fur. 
Fox.
  Too small to be any real threat, Chloe ignored the fox and continued her jog, but after a few moments she noted that it was shadowing her.

She wasn’t some fanatical animal rights activist, but she did believe in not disturbing
an animal in its own habitat.  She veered left, hoping to leave the fox to its portion of the woods.  She jogged a few minutes and didn’t spot the animal.  Satisfied that she’d left it undisturbed she focused on her jog when she caught sight of the red fur again.  Still on her right, the animal was a little closer.  She ventured further left and jogged a little faster.

Unfortunately, the fox seemed determined to shadow her.  It pressed closer, forcing Chloe to go further off the path than was comfortable.  She wasn’t familiar with this portion of
the woods and knew she could easily get turned around, yet she figured a few more minutes
of
jogging then she’d turn and head back. 

She was just about to stall out and turn to head back to town when the fox crashed through the brush and lunged at her.  Shock tore through her when she realized it wasn’t a fox at all.  It was a small red wolf. 

The wolf nipped at her heels, forcing Chloe into a dead run.  She looked back and saw the wolf giving chase.

Shit!
  This wolf was nothing like the other she’d encountered.  While smaller, it was more threatening. There was no calm serenity washing over her when she looked in its eyes, instead terror lanced through her when the wolf lunged at her feet.

Chloe jumped and sprinted faster.  She had no idea where she was heading, but pushed harder.  She jumped downed logs and was slapped by more than a few branches as she ducked and ra
ced through the foliage. 

She checked behind her again and the wolf was still there.  It appeared to be restraining itself from attacking her.  She knew it could outrun her and couldn’t understand why it didn’t take her down. 

She crashed through a clearing and faced forward just in time to throw her body to the ground.  She slid a few feet along the
dewy
grass as both arms snaked out and clawed into earth.  She twisted her body until she was on her belly and kicked at the ground with her feet as she continued to slide toward a cliff that dropped God only knew how far.

Her hand snagged a tree root and her body was jolted to
jarring halt.  Pain tore through her shoulder as it bore the brunt of the full force of her weight jerking to a standstill.

Instantly, her eyes turned to find the red wolf, but it was gone.  Her breath sawed back and forth and her body shook from exertion as realization slowly dawned.  She pulled back her left foot, horrified that it hung just over the cliff that very nearly just killed her.

She forced herself to a sitting position, her hand reaching up to
cradle her throbbing shoulder.  She stood on trembling legs and tip-toed to peer over the ledge of the cliff from where she stood.  She couldn’t see the bottom and the revelation had her belly convulsing.  She dropped to her hands and knees and coughed as her body tried to wretch.  She didn’t have anything to eat or drink that morning so there was nothing for her to throw up, so she dry heaved a few moments until the wave of nausea
passed.

Shakily, she got to her feet and took a
tentative step towards the tree line.  She kept her eyes intently focused searching for any sign of the wolf.  When there was none, she dropped her arms and broke into a dead run, heading back down the mountain toward home.
 
I am so done running in these woods!

Back home, she showered and
debated calling her friend Eden who worked for the local Fish, Wildlife, and Parks department.  She’d been sure the wolf was stalking her, and if she didn’t know any better she’d have actually thought the wolf was forcing her to run in the direction of the cliff. 

She considered explaining the story to Eden then decided it sounded so foolish that she
didn’t want the embarrassment.  She didn’t mention
it
to her mother either when they met for lunch.

Chapter
9

Later that evening
Chloe was going
stir crazy
.  She’d cleaned her mother’s entire house and then with nothing else to do, she cleaned in again.
  She’d cooked dinner, fed her mother and cleaned
up the dishes so her mother could turn in early.  She sat in front of the TV flipping through the channels quickly with the remote, not really watching the TV at all.

“
Ughh
, I
gotta
get out!” She picked u
p her cell off the coffee table.  She hadn’t talked to her best friend Marissa since the morning of the funeral and be
cause the two were also co-workers, Chloe dialed her friend with high hopes of being distracted by work-place gossip that she’d missed over the past few days.

“Hello?” Marissa answered.

“Hey,” Chloe didn’t attempt to disguise the relief in her voice.  “it’s me.  What are you doing?”

“Chloe!
 
How are you doing
?”

“
Fine,” she winced at the pity in her friends tone. 
“
I’m
going fucking stir crazy.  You busy, wanna have a drink?”  She crossed her
fingers silently praying that Marissa was free.

“Hell yeah I
wanna
have a drink.  Who’s car we taking?”

Chloe smiled her relief
.  She could always rely on Marissa to be there when she needed her.  The two had been friends for years, and Marissa’s boisterous nature was the
perfect
compliment
to Chloe’s more reserved attitude. 
“Do you just
wanna
meet me
at that new Irish pub on main and seventh?”

“
Betcha
I beat
ya
.”  Marissa hung up and Chloe smiled to herself thankful that her best friend was always there when she needed her.

She touched up her make-up, and laced on some boots before checking on her mother and sneaking out the door.  She left the TV on so that if her mother woke, she’d think Chloe was still zoning out on the couch.

Fifteen minutes later she pulled her silver car into the
parking lot of the Irish pub and noted that Marissa had indeed beaten her to the bar.  When she entered the establishment, Marissa waved to her from where she stood at the bar.  She leaned casually against it, one hip jutted out in form fitting jeans while two men hovered over her, drooling over her low cut shirt and exposed ample cleavage. 

As Chloe approached, Marissa
let her eyes rove her friend disapprovingly before she whispered to one of the men then stepped away to meet Chloe.  “Seriously? 
That’s
what
you’re
wearing?”

Chloe’s brows shot up.  She knew better than to be offended.  “Sorry
, I’m not really in the mood for male company right now.”

Marissa turned her eyes and plucked a pretzel from a bowl on the bar before popping it in her mouth and shrugging one slim shoulder.  She turned to Chloe and smiled broadly before winking.  “More for me.”
  Then she turned and sauntered back to her place at the bar with Chloe on her heels.  “Sorry guys,” Chloe heard her offer, “
girl’s
night only.”

“What?” One of the guys sounded genuinely offended.  “Come on
baby.  Two men, two ladies, what’s the problem?”

Chloe smirked, she knew Marissa was a huge fan of the opposite sex, but nothing turned her friend off more than a pushy guy.  She watched as Marissa turned abruptly to the man that had remained silent.  She stepped close and pressed her body into his.  “Well if he’s gonna pout, then I’ll take
your
number.”

The guy
jerked his wallet out of his back pocket and yanked out a business card as he smiled and handed it to Marissa.  The other guy cursed under his breath and stomped off.

“I’ll call you.” Marissa kissed the guy on the cheek
, leaving a smudge of red lipstick on his smiling face before she
turned to Chloe, “Come on, we’ll grab a booth.”  Marissa
stopped
to rap her knuckles on the bar, “Celeste, two bo
ttles of
Bud light
please.”  Then she followed Chloe to a booth by the window.