Bitten by the Alpha Wolf (3 page)

She watched as they came out of a spillway into a stretch that opened wider before leading off into several canals.

The stars shone down through the arching treetops. Landon cut the engine.

"This is one of my favorite places to be. The solitude out here is amazing." He turned those hazel eyes toward her, his gaze soft.

"I can see why. It's very peaceful out here." Kyla slid her sandals off and sat on the bench near the railing. "Thank you for bringing me out here, Landon."

She could tell that he was trying to share a piece of him with her and she appreciated it.

"Sure. It's a lovely night and I happen to have such lovely company."

He sat next to her, and Kyla was sure that her heart was going to leap out of her chest. Was this the part where he’d kiss her? It felt like he would, and oh, she wanted him to. But a part of her wanted to hold back. If he kissed her, she was afraid she’d be well on her way to falling in love with him. She didn’t know if her heart could afford the risk.

"I think that the two of us may have something here, Kyla. What do you think?"

Her chest was heaving, she was unable to speak.

When Landon tilted her chin up so their eyes met, she knew what was next. His lips touched hers, first an introduction, brushing hers, then more passion as the sparks ignited.

Kyla kissed him with more intensity, moving her lips against his, and Landon matched her fervor. His lips were soft and she enjoyed every moment of his sweet kiss.

When he pulled back, she wanted to tell him to come back over and keep going, but she still couldn’t give all of herself to him. It wouldn’t be right—she couldn’t look like she wanted him more than he wanted her.

"I have been waiting to do that all evening," Landon confessed.

For the first time that evening, Kyla felt shy herself. "I have been waiting for you to do that."

They both smiled, but the moment was interrupted by the sound of howling. Landon turned, suddenly jumping from his seat. Kyla was almost sure he wanted to dive out of the boat and rush off to the sound of the howl.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Landon stopped leaning over the side of the boat, but he didn’t sit down. His whole body looked tense. "I'm so sorry. Yes. Everything’s all right. I hope I didn't scare you."

Kyla crossed both of her arms over her chest, trying to still the goosebumps.

"You were the one who seemed startled. But those werewolves will do that to you. I mean, everyone is talking about them. How they’re here to take over the city. I've heard all kinds of stories about how they have ripped off people's heads and left their decapitated bodies in the woods. And you live out here in such a rural area. How do you do that without protection? Doesn't it scare you that you may come upon one of the creatures?"

While she was talking, she hadn’t noticed any change in Landon, but now that she’d stopped, she gaped at him in surprise. His normally easy-going demeanor had transformed into something predatory and full of rage.

“Did I—did I say something wrong?” Kyla asked, her voice meek.

Landon practically growled, "I'm not scared. That's the problem. People are always so scared of what they don't know, and then they don't take the time to get to know anything different. Play devil's advocate. What if those
creatures
are defending themselves against attacks from humans?"

"Did I offend you somehow?" she asked. “I don’t know much about the werewolves, just this recent article my friend sent me.”

"Don’t worry about it,” he said, shaking his head, as if he was trying to shake off his anger. “I'm just an animal lover. Any animal gets my vote over a human. Sometimes humans are just so careless about how they treat animals, and the earth in general."

Kyla nodded. "I hear you. But this whole werewolf thing can quickly get out of hand. There are so many legends going around, I don't know what to believe."

"Well, I understand that there are two sides to everything,” he said shortly. “There is the aggressor and the victim and depending on who is telling the story, you would have to decide who is who. Are you ready to get back?"

Although he didn’t seem so furious anymore, the air had changed between them. The romance of their kiss seemed to have drowned in the bayou, and now there was a tension that had nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with politics.

"Yes, I’m ready," she said, trying not to sound too miserable. After all, if it didn’t work out after tonight, all the better. She wouldn’t have to risk falling in love or really caring about him, or anyone else, ever again.

But as Landon started the boat back up, Kyla tried to figure out where everything had gone so wrong.

"I hope this conversation didn’t turn you off,” he said. “I have had the pleasure of having such a stunning woman in my presence and I don't want you to think I’m a bad host."

"No. I don't think you’re a bad host. I enjoyed our time together." Except for everything to do with the werewolf conflict. She didn’t need to say that, though; she could tell he already knew it.

He came over and took her in his arms. Kissing her gently, he said, “I’m sorry if I came across as a brute. I really did enjoy tonight.” The tip of his nose touched hers. "What if I asked you out again? Would you say yes?"

Kyla didn’t want to jump at his proposal. She still didn’t want to seem too into him, and a game of cat and mouse never hurt anyone. "You'll just have to ask me to see."

*

By the time Kyla made it home, it was almost midnight. Landon had been the perfect gentleman on the ride back, even cracking a few jokes to lighten the mood. She wanted so badly to know who exactly was under that tough exterior.

"Like I said, I had a lovely evening, Kyla. I would love it if you gave me the chance to take you out again sometime."

"I would like that," she nodded. "But I must tell you, my schedule is going to be hectic for the next month. We’re going into wedding season and as an event planner, I almost don't have time to breathe."

"I understand." Landon took her hand in his, gently kissing her caramel skin. "I’ll call you and we can set up a time that works for both of us. How does that sound?"

"Perfect." She tried not to smile too hard, but she couldn’t help it. Landon backed down the steps and bid Kyla goodnight. He stood at his car, waiting for her to go inside and close her door before he drove off.

She wasn’t sure why she felt so confused. On one hand, he had been a gentleman. He walked her to the door, asked her for another date, and waited until she was safely in the house. On the other hand, Kyla had wanted to do nothing more than to investigate the physical attraction that was between them by inviting him inside to see where a few glasses of wine and some tantalizing small talk could lead them.

It was for the best. There was no need to move the relationship too far forward when they hardly knew each other. She looked at herself in the mirror as she undressed. “No need jumping into anything too fast, Kyla,” she told herself. “You don’t know this guy at all, yet.”

But even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t entirely true. She might not know the facts about his life, but on a different, deeper level, she felt like she’d known him for years, that, in fact, they knew each other better than they knew anyone else. It was unsettling, and she worried that it was just in her imagination.

After a long, hot shower, she threw on her lounging clothes and got into bed. As Kyla lay there, she replayed that tense conversation with Landon over and over. He was right about one thing: she didn’t know much about werewolves, or any of those kinds of creatures for that matter.

Flipping open her laptop, Kyla began a search. At first, all she found was broad information about the history of the origin of werewolves. She narrowed her search to using the keywords werewolf, legend, Bayou Meroux.

The first thing that popped up was a news story from about ten years ago. There had been some werewolves spotted in Meroux and the townspeople were outraged. Kyla tried her best to remember when this occurred, but she couldn’t remember it. She had to have been about eight or nine at the time of the article. Several residents from the Bayou complained that their chickens and other livestock had come up missing. There had been an influx of wolf sightings prior to that. So there was an all-out campaign to drive out the wolves.

The only problem was that the wolves were not ordinary wolves. One of the oldest living residents of the bayou was now one hundred and two years old and he recounted how his family had been there over ninety years ago when the werewolves had taken over the bayou.

"It was a sight to see. People screaming in the middle of the night. Constant howling. Then people would go missing. Not to mention the livestock. My daddy lost half his farm to those creatures," the man stated in the article.

Kyla read on to find that over the years since that time noted in the turn of the century, there had been random werewolf sightings, but nothing to take note of. She clicked on another article which gave another perspective.

A woman in the bayou, known to dibble and dabble in otherworldly sciences, told a reporter that there had always been a struggle between the werewolves who originally inhabited the land of the bayou and the humans who came and moved in. To Kyla's surprise, the picture of the woman looked familiar. Suddenly she realized that it was the old woman that her mother used to get the jams and preserves from. Apparently, in the bayou, this woman was known as Madame C, a seer, an herbalist, and 'a woman who just knew things.'

According to Madame C’s recollection, there was an age old fight with the werewolves and the humans for the land in the Bayou Meroux. The article was more than twenty years old, but Madame C stated that the good residents of Meroux had never rid the bayou of the werewolves, but that the wolves simply lived among them in secrecy. She stated that was best for everyone because the wolves wanted their land, and the humans always claimed to want peace.

"We always fight what we don't know," she commented. "Bayou Meroux is sacred land and the wolves know it. They protect it. The land is nothing without them being here."

Madame C was asked if she would identify the wolves and she declined to comment.

Kyla scrolled back up to check the date on the article. At the time, Kyla would have been about eight years old. She remembered that was around the time that she and her mother stopped going to the bayou for jam and preserves.

A chill ran through her body when she thought about what could have happened to Madame C. Did something happen to her because she knew too much, or did she simply pass away because of old age? Kyla made a note to ask her mother in the morning. Until then, she lay back and continued clicking on stories about Bayou Meroux and its strained relationship with the werewolves.

Maybe Landon had been right. What if the werewolves were not totally the enemy and they were only trying to protect what was theirs?

Landon. So virile, yet he also had an air of vulnerability. She still wasn’t sure what the key to his mysterious nature was, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to spend more time with him.

Kyla drifted off to sleep with her thoughts of Landon.

*

With event season in full gear, Kyla hadn't had time to spend chatting leisurely on the phone with any of her friends. She was exhausted after twelve-hour workdays, back-to-back weddings, and simply looking ahead at her schedule of events. By the time she realized that she hadn’t talked to Landon, it had been over two weeks.

Maybe her mind hadn’t been aware of it, but her body ached with the need to see him.

With a lull in her schedule, Kyla called Jess to see if she had heard from Landon. Jess said she hadn’t. Kyla called a few times, but he didn’t return any of her calls. She felt like a fool. Everything in her mind told her to stop calling, and that he wasn’t interested in her. Everything in her heart said the opposite.

At the end of the day, she had to know for sure. Dusk was falling, and the air had an electric quality to it. Before she thought too hard about the situation, Kyla jumped in the car and was on her way to the bayou. If she had taken another minute to think, she would have turned the car around.

She wanted to see, at the very least, that Landon was all right. As she drove, the moon hung mystifyingly overhead. It was larger than life tonight, so big, round and full, she felt like she could reach out and touch it. Once out of the city, Kyla marveled at the stars, how they twinkled so brightly, and how clear the sky was.

She was impressed with herself, that after only coming out to the area once, she remembered the route to Landon's home. Then again, it was just one exit, a long stretch of paved road, and a turn into his driveway. Once she arrived, she saw his car in the driveway.

A pang of anxiety surged through her, but she had already made it out here, and there was no good reason to turn back now. Except her crippling fear of rejection. No, she’d have to get over that. If things with Landon weren’t meant to be, she needed to know. No more waiting around for a call that wouldn’t come.

She climbed the steps to the front door, which swung open before she could knock.