Chapter 42
I scooped up the camera and brought it into the guest room where my personal laptop was set up. Locating the camera cord, I plugged it into the computer and crossed my fingers.
When I saw the camera had been successfully connected to the computer, my heart leapt in my chest. Maybe this would actually work. I waited a few more moments before a window popped up on my screen and the camera’s pictures began uploading.
I sat back in my desk chair in wonder. All this time, I’d thought I’d lost the memory card, but I guess I’d never put one in to begin with. It seemed like the pictures I’d taken that day had been saved on the camera’s memory.
I waited with bated breath while the images loaded, knowing there was only one that I needed to see. When all the pictures were finally up, I scrolled through quickly until I found the one I was looking for.
Dread curled in my belly as I looked into the face of my attacker. Well, the wolf form of him. His eyes weren’t black like they’d seemed in the woods, but a dark hazel. They still haunted me as I scanned the photo, looking for any identifying markers that might help me figure out who this was.
I wished Abraham were here. He’d probably recognize this wolf from his years of living with all of them.
Finally, I spotted something that looked oddly familiar.
When I’d snapped the picture, the wolf had been lunging toward me, mouth open to bite. I remembered that moment in the dark woods and a chill ran down my spine. But I couldn’t look away from the wolf’s mouth because one of his front bottom teeth was chipped. The gap formed a dark triangle in his mouth that I was sure I’d seen before.
I wracked my brain but couldn’t come up with where I remembered it from. Despite the fact that I still didn’t know who this was, this was easily the biggest piece of evidence we’d had.
I hopped up from my chair and ran around the house looking for my cell phone. Finally finding it back in the kitchen where I’d started my cleaning journey, I scooped it up and scrolled through my contacts. When I reached Abraham’s, I quickly called his number, my body vibrating with tension.
The other line rang and rang before the voicemail finally picked up.
“You’ve reached Abraham McCoy. I’m not available right now, so please leave a message.”
Just hearing his voice made my heart clench in my chest. It had only been hours, but I already missed him so much. I wished again that he was here with me.
At the same time, if I hadn’t come home early, I never would have found and plugged in my camera. It amazed me that all this time we’d been sitting on something so huge. I couldn’t believe it had taken me this long to try my camera, but what was done was done.
I scrolled through my contacts again and stopped when I found Evey’s. Her phone rang too before switching over to voicemail. I looked at the time in the corner of my screen and saw that it was after midnight.
Was everyone asleep?
Or was the party still going on and no one had their phones on them?
Jealousy raced through my system as I thought about all the fun my friends and pack were having while I was alone here in Raleigh.
I looked around my apartment and saw it in a completely new light.
This wasn’t home.
It hadn’t been in a long time.
I realized then that I’d been holding on to all the wrong things. Instead of listening to my heart and letting it lead me to Abraham, I’d stubbornly refused to change anything about my life. What I didn’t realize at the time was that my whole life had already been changed.
I was no longer Elizabeth Montgomery, criminal attorney. I was El or Ellie depending on who you were, and I was a werewolf.
Those two Elizabeth’s couldn’t coincide, and I’d been trying to get them to do just that for weeks. Like pressing magnets together that are the same polarization. No matter how hard you squeezed, the two just aren’t meant to be together.
I swiped through my phone until I found Callie’s number and called her too. The phone only rang once before there was a knock at my door.
My heart leapt in my chest.
It must be Abraham.
He’d ignored me and followed me back home. Now I’d get the chance to apologize properly before surprising him with this break in the case.
I was so happy, I practically skipped to the door. But, when I opened it, my smile slipped from my face.
“Hey, princess,” Calvin said with a smile.
Princess.
Princess.
Princess.
Suddenly, the finer details of the night I’d been attacked came back.
The killer had called me princess that night. The reminder of his cold whisper swam through my head and I fought off a shiver.
Instantly, all the blood drained from my face and my body went cold. I was frozen in place as my mind tried to catch up to what my body already knew.
I closed my eyes and opened them again, hoping I’d see something different when I did, but the image was still the same.
Calvin’s smile was marred by a chipped tooth on his bottom row. The gap formed a perfect triangle in his smile that I remembered noticing before now.
Calvin was the wolf that attacked me.
Calvin was the serial killer.
Calvin was here, with me, alone.
My brain swirled with these thoughts on repeat as my body stayed locked in horror.
Finally, Calvin’s smile dimmed. “You all right?”
I realized I had two choices. I could confront him, or I could act like I didn’t know who he really was. Considering he was about twice my size, I immediately knew that confronting him was out of the question.
So, I forced a smile on my face. “I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
Calvin ran a hand through his hair and I watched in sick fascination. Those hands had hurt me. Those hands had killed so many women. Those were the hands of a killer.
“I just couldn’t leave you here like this,” he said.
I snapped my eyes away from his hands and focused on his eyes instead. It didn’t make me feel much better.
How had I never noticed how lifeless they were? Like the light was on, but nobody was home.
“Elizabeth?”
I shook my head and gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Sorry, I’m just tired.” I stretched my arm above my head and did my best to fake a yawn. “I was just about to head to bed. I’m fine, but thanks for checking on me.”
His smile fell a fraction of an inch. “Do you think I could come in for a little while? I hear you’ve got a great guest room, and I don’t think I should drive back to Asheville tonight.”
My stomach clenched, and my hands began to shake.
I couldn’t let him in here.
I gave him another weak smile. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I really just want to be alone tonight.”
Calvin’s smile completely fell from his face and in its place was stark determination. He took a solid step forward, and I had to back up if I didn’t want to be run down.
“I would really like to stay the night,” he said as he took another step and shut the door behind him.
“Calvin, what are you doing?” I whispered.
Where was the friend that I’d made? Where was the man who’d seen how upset I was and given me a ride home from Del’s show? Where was the man who was the calm antithesis to his surly brother? The one who was always there to calm him down and smooth over any rough patches.
I couldn’t believe that he was the one who attacked me in the woods that night, but the proof was right there in front of me.
Calvin took another step until he was so close, I could smell the liquor on his breath. “Did you know that I can smell your fear?”
I gulped audibly. “I’m not afraid.”
His smile was patronizing as he looked down at me.
“You’ve been drinking,” I said softly.
Calvin smiled and reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. “I needed some liquid courage.”
I knew I was going to regret it, but I had to ask. “Courage for what?” I whispered.
Calvin’s face morphed before my eyes. When before he’d simply looked like a concerned friend, now he had a sheen in his eyes that made my palms sweat.
“For this,” he said roughly before grabbing the back of my head and slamming his lips against mine.
I struggled in his hold as he wrapped his other arm around me. My body was begging me to shift, but I held off for now. I didn’t want to do that in the middle of my apartment if I didn’t have to. Charlie might get hurt or it could enrage Calvin and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
Finally, he pulled away, a contented smile on his face. “I’ve been waiting so long to do that.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “What’s gotten into you? You know I’m with Abraham. Why would you do that?” Fear for my safety fled my mind and in its place was shock and indignation.
I couldn’t believe he’d just kissed me.
Calvin’s eyes turned hard. “You were never meant to be with him. I made you for me.”
Oh, so all pretenses were gone? Super.
“So, you tried to kill me, so you could be with me? How does that make any sense?”
Calvin shook his head angrily. “I wasn’t trying to kill you, I was just trying to subdue you.”
I took a step back and bumped into my couch. I had nowhere to go. He’d cornered me.
A voice inside my head whispered, and I took heed like I had every other time.
Do not show weakness.
I dredged up bravado I didn’t know I had and tilted my chin up in defiance. “Why, Calvin? What is all this for? What’s the end game here?”
He shook his head again and paced away from me. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this!” he yelled, and I jumped in place at his sudden outburst of anger. He rubbed his hands roughly down his face before looking at me again. “Abraham wasn’t supposed to interrupt me. I’d watched you for a while before I attacked. I needed to make sure you were perfect.”
I was so confused.
“Perfect for what?”
He turned to me with a fanatical gleam in his eyes. “I needed to make sure you’d be the perfect mate.”
My hands shook as I tried to understand what he was talking about. “But, I wasn’t a werewolf. Shouldn’t you be looking amongst your own kind?”
He shook his head. “No. I wanted you.”
His words settled in the base of my belly like a lead anvil.
“And now, that you’ve gotten past your first shift, I know we were meant to be.” He stepped closer again and ran his fingers down the side of my cheek. “We’re gonna be together forever.”
I did my best to not move as he touched me, afraid of angering him.
I’d never seen this side of him before. He’d always seemed so level-headed and calm. How had he hidden this perverse side of him for so long and from everyone out in Asheville? How had we missed the crazy that was lurking beneath his good-guy exterior?
I didn’t want to make him mad, but I thought maybe if I talked rationally, that I’d be able to make him see reason.
“Calvin, I’m Abraham’s fated mate. We can’t be together.”
His hand shot out and gripped the back of my hair, tugging my head roughly to the side so my neck was exposed. He leaned down and kissed the tender skin as he spoke. “You were made for me. You’re mine.”
I was trembling in his arms, my body begging me to shift, but I held off still. Once I took it to that place, there was no going back, and I wasn’t ready to give up on reasoning with him.
“Calvin, you’re hurting me,” I whimpered.
He released my hair and cupped my face between his hands. “I’m sorry. I never want to hurt you. I’m going to love and protect you for the rest of my life, you’ll see.”
I took a steadying breath and met his eyes. “Calvin, you’ve already hurt me.”
He pulled away and ran his hand through his hair. “That was necessary. I needed to bite you to make you into a wolf, so we could mate.”
I swallowed down my revulsion. “And you had to strangle me to make me a wolf?”
Calvin’s eyes flashed dangerously. “I told you already, I was just trying to subdue you. I wouldn’t have killed you.”
“What about all those other women in the woods? Why were you hurting them when you wanted me?”
He shrugged, like we were talking about the weather and not the murder of numerous women. “At first, after I lost you, I thought I could make another mate. So, I found them, and I bit them, but all their wounds got infected, so I killed them.”
I closed my eyes briefly as I tried to digest what he was saying so nonchalantly.
He took a step closer to me until I could feel his breath on my face as he spoke. “But then I realized none of them were you. You were special. And you were meant to be mine.”
“So why did you keep killing then?” I asked softly.
“Because I hated them.” He clenched a fist and smacked it against his other palm. “None of them were you, and I couldn’t have you, so I killed them.”
It amazed me that something like taking a life was so simple to him. He said it as easily as someone would read a grocery list. It was then that I truly knew how crazy he was. And how dangerous of a situation I was in.
I thought hard and fast, trying to come up with anything that could possibly dissuade him. “Calvin, if I’m away from Abraham for too long, I’ll get sick. You don’t want that.”
He shook his head. “No. You won’t. You weren’t sick because you missed him, you were sick because you missed me. Didn’t you notice how just being out in Asheville made you feel better? That’s because you were close to me. We are fated, not you and Abraham,” he spat.
Another realization struck me at that moment.
Calvin was not only a psychopath, but he was also delusional. I knew from years of working criminal cases how dangerous of a combination that was.
And I was stuck alone with him, hundreds of miles from anyone who could help.