Chapter 3
DAPHNE STEPPED from the small, one-bedroom cabin that overlooked Harris Bay on Lake George. The sun had dipped below the mountains behind her and the darkness had enveloped the sky. A slight breeze kicked up, sending the water below gently rolling against the break wall.
She closed her eyes, sucking in a deep breath. The air smelled like freshly cut roses with a splash of lemonade. Just like she’d remembered it.
Dinner had been quite enjoyable. Not only was the pizza as good as ever with its special red sauce and thick crust, but the company had been entertaining, not to mention relaxing and easy. They’d mostly talked about the time each of them had spent in Albany. The places, bars, and even concerts they’d seen. It became a game to see if one could name a place the other hadn’t been.
He named three.
Three places her parents had forbidden her to go because the clientele tended to be of the paranormal variety. In her five years living in the Albany area, she never once frequented any of those places.
“God, I love it here,” Chaz said.
The cabin door clicked close.
She blinked her eyes open, feeling the heat from his body coat her skin like warm honey. How on earth Gerri had picked him to be her perfect match seemed too ridiculous to explore. No way could she have found someone with so many compatible common interests.
But the truly scary part for Daphne was how open she’d been about her sexual fantasies and something told her that Chaz liked things a little wild and free in the bedroom.
What the hell had she’d gotten herself into?
“When I was little, we used to rent this exact cottage.”
“Really?” he said, lacing his fingers through hers, tugging her toward the two Adirondack chairs on the front porch. “We were right across the lake for a few summers.” He pointed to a similar type grouping of cottage rentals. “And I attended Camp Uncus up on Pilot Knob Road for a couple of years.”
“I always wanted to go there, but my parents wouldn’t let me.” She leaned back, lifting her feet onto the foot rest, noticing a bucket of ice chilling a nice bottle of wine along with a tray of cheese and crackers.
“Why not?” he asked.
She studied him as he poured the wine, wondering if she should come out and ask if he was a human or something else.
No. That would be rude.
“My parents were very strict and didn’t let me do much out of their sight.”
“That must’ve sucked.”
She stared into the golden liquid, swirling it before taking in its crisp pear scent. “I didn’t know any better. The community I’m from is like being stuck in the 1950’s. I barely went anywhere other than my four corners of life. Camp had been the only thing I was ever upset over, and really, you can’t miss what you didn’t have.”
“College had to have been a shocker.”
She raised her glass. “You have no idea.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed another couple walking up the steps from the waterfront. The woman smiled and waved, but the man glowered.
And if she wasn’t mistaken, Chaz snarled.
In the distance, she thought she heard a growl.
“Oh stop,” the woman said, shaking her head. “Alpha, territorial males, whatcha gonna do?” She practically jogged up the steps, hand stretched out. “I’m Heidi and this is my husband, Cosmo. We’re in the cabin right next to yours.”
“Nice to meet you,” Daphne said, though she really wanted to tell Heidi to take a hike. “I’m Daphne and this is Chaz.
Chaz stood, puffing out his chest, shaking Cosmo’s hand and both men looked as if they sniffed each other.
Non human creatures are dangerous. They will hurt you.
Her mother’s words hung in the air like thick smoke in a cigar bar. Deep down, Daphne knew that her mother was wrong. These creatures had been coexisting with humans for decades, but the words lingered in her mind just the same.
“Sorry about the intrusion,” Cosmo said, taking a step back and folding his arms over his chest. “My wife seems to be the self-appointed welcome wagon.”
Heidi gently slapped her husband’s bicep, right over a tattoo of a dark, shaggy, dog—or maybe wolf—with dark red eyes.
Daphne swallowed the growing lump in her throat.
“We rent for the entire summer, so I like to meet everyone.” Heidi’s smile showed off perfectly white teeth, and for whatever reason, they looked as though they’d been recently sharpened. “And there is a summertini tomorrow and we wouldn’t want for you to be left out.”
“Thanks for letting us know.” Chaz inched closer to Daphne, putting an overly protective embrace around her, holding her a little closer than she thought was necessary, except for the fact that every time Cosmo glanced in her direction, he had a look of disgust in his dark, menacing eyes.
Heidi narrowed her eyes, staring at her husband. “I hope we see you tomorrow, right Cosmo?”
“Sure,” Cosmo said with a snarl.
Heidi grabbed her husband by the arm. “Nice meeting you.”
Cosmo puffed out his chest, eyeing Chaz one last time, before turning and walking away.
Chaz’s body vibrated as a deep groan…no growl, rattled in the air.
Daphne had seen men pound their chests and act like territorial morons when it came to women, but she’d never experienced anything quite like this before, and she wasn’t sure if she should feel protected, threatened, or terrified.
Both men looked as if they were settling in for the fight of the century, but over what?
She stood on the porch, listening to the rattle in his chest. He held her tight against his body until the other couple disappeared into the darkness.
“What the hell was that all about?” She took two steps back and folded her arms over her chest and stared into a set of fiery orange eyes that had once been dark brown.
“Did you notice his tattoo?”
“What about it?” She wanted to mention the shift of Chaz’s eye color, but maybe her own eyes were playing tricks on her as his slowly turned dark again.
“It’s the symbol of a rogue pack.”
“A rogue what?” She cleared her throat, taking another step back, the reality of her situation becoming clear. She didn’t want to be afraid. She shouldn’t be afraid.
But she’d been raised to be terrified.
She wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging tight, as if that would protect her from anything.
He laughed, only this time it sounded like a sarcastic grunt. “Rogue wolf pack. They call themselves the Midnight Special Pack and they are bad news.”
“I see.”
“Sure you do.” He unbuttoned his shirt.
She took another step back.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” his voice was laced with a combination of hurt and anger. He opened his shirt, tapping the right side of his chest, just over a tattoo of a moon in the night sky. “The moon represents my pack, Crescent Moon.” He lowered his shirt over his shoulder, revealing a silver badge of some kind with a set of orange eyes in the center. “The mark of a Twilight Crossing officer.”
“What’s that?” She’d heard about it before, but it wasn’t spoken of where she came from. Having only graduated with her master’s degree two years ago, she hadn’t been working at her current job for more than a year, and all her free time had been in developing her own personal teaching style, so other than her one friend, the one who set her up with Gerri Wilder, she hadn’t spent much time socializing.
“A council made up of humans, wolves, witches, shifters, Fairies, and others to keep peace between all races.” He leaned against the railing, keeping his shirt open, showing off his chiseled abs. “How do you go through, what twenty-five years of living and not come across one of my kind?”
Oh, boy. How did she answer that question? Taking a deep breath, she sat down and stared at the stars dotting the black sky. It reminded her of her Brite Light toy she used to play with as a little girl. She nearly laughed at the white puffy cloud dancing across the moon. She half expected a witch to fly across on her broomstick. “I grew up in a town called Havern on the outskirts of Hudson Falls.”
“I’ve heard of Havern and the people who live there. Havernites, as we call them.”
“We call ourselves that.”
“So, what am I? Payback of some kind?” He cocked his head, glaring at her with unforgiving eyes. “Getting back at your parents? Some kind of rebellion thing?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“You bring me here, find out what it’s like to be with the forbidden fruit, toss me in your family’s face, then go about hating my kind and pretending we don’t exist?”
“I guess I deserved that,” she muttered, lowering her head. “But I didn’t ask to be paired with a wolf. I only said I wanted someone who would understand that I wanted to… well… how do I put this?” She glanced up, catching his gaze. “I think the words I used were wild, animal sex.”
He shook his head. “Have you ever had the kind of sex you described to Gerri?”
She gasped.
“Fucking wonderful,” he muttered.
A long silence filled the night air like a thick fog floating across the woods. The sound of an owl echoed across the lake. The bats sang their high-pitched songs, making the night a scary place.
And here she was with a werewolf.
She stared at Chaz, who looked out at the water. The glow of the moon kissed his strong profile. He was a powerful, yet gentle man. She wanted to go to him, wrap her arms around him, and kiss him. But she couldn’t make her legs move. It wasn’t that she was afraid of him, but she was afraid of the wolf side of him, whatever that looked like. She’d heard stories about humans having relationships with creatures of the night that ended in injury and sometimes death. But those stories came from her hometown and as she went out into the world, she suspected they were meant to keep her terrified of what they didn’t understand.
“I’m not like everyone in Havern. I left there six years ago and have no intention of moving back.”
“But you pretend things like me don’t exist.”
“I wouldn’t say I pretend, but I didn’t open my eyes to it and avoided going to certain places or doing certain things out of fear.” There, she said it. It should have made her feel better, but all it did was serve to make her ashamed.
And she should be.
“My mother can’t stand people like you. Makes her ashamed of her own race.” He turned, his eyes filled with anger.
“Your mother is human?”
“Does that shock you?”
“Not sure that is the right word,” Daphne said, wondering if there was any way she could dig herself out of this hole. “I was raised to believe something that in reality I know is wrong, but anxiety over what I didn’t understand has hindered me, but mostly because I was never exposed to it and that kept me from engaging with anyone who wasn’t human. I know that sounds shallow and prejudice.”
“Ya, think?”
“I’m sorry. I understand if you want to call this entire thing off.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I honestly don’t know what I want.” On shaky legs, she stood, though couldn’t bring herself to close the space between them.
“Fair enough. Why don’t we sleep on it and we can talk more in the morning?” He turned his back to her. “I’ll take the sofa.”
She didn’t know if the shiver that shot up her spine was because she was relieved or disappointed.
Didn’t matter. It was for the best.
“All right. I’m going to go inside. Are you coming?”
“Not yet. I want to walk around, check things out.”
Fear gripped her heart. “You’re going to leave? I mean, what about the rogue pack? Should I be worried about him? Do you think he’s dangerous?”
“I don’t know yet.” Chaz turned. His eyes bright orange. “The question is: do you think I’m dangerous?”