Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (149 page)

“
Hurry!” Jesse
said.

My gaze
fixed on my target destination as I put my body into gear. I knew
we needed to run, but Jesse was leaning on us for support.
Thirty feet? Ugh! Why does it feel like a
freaking football field?
There was no time
to look back, but I had to take a tiny peek over my shoulder to see
how close the wolves actually were.

With their curiosity piqued, the
snarling, growling, hungry animals were gaining on us.

Twenty-five more feet.
Just fifteen more…now ten…five…three. Almost there! Just another
foot!

We climbed up the stairs and pounded
on the door.

“
Help!” I said.

“
The pack is coming!” Julie
shouted. “Just break a window!”

When I glanced over my shoulder, I
gulped as growls and snarls filled the air. I jiggled the doorknob,
but it was locked.

“
C’mon!” Julie shouted,
terrified.

“
It’s locked,” I
said.

“
Let me try!” Jesse said.
He threw his shoulder into the door, busting the lock.

I breathed a sigh of
relief, but just as I went to rush inside, powerful arms gripped me
from behind.

Chapter 6

I gasped when I glanced up and saw one
of the guys from the party, the guy Julie had been dancing with,
the “psycho” Jesse had warned us about. I flailed as Jonathon
attempted to restrain me.

In a flash, Jesse lunged at Jonathon,
knocking him to the ground.

When the fiend’s grip loosened, I
jumped to my feet.

“
Get inside!” Jesse
ordered.

I grabbed Julie’s hand and pulled her
inside. “Let’s find a weapon to help him,” I said.

“
The kitchen!” Julie
said.

We bolted inside the cabin.

With my heart racing, I glanced around
for the light switch. My fingers skimmed over it, and the lights
came on. “Is anybody here?” I screamed.

“
Help us!” Julie
shouted.

But there was no answer.

The cabin was furnished, so either
everyone was asleep or it was a rental and was vacant until the
weekend. I walked through the living room and into the kitchen with
Julie in tow. We frantically rummaged through the kitchen drawers
looking for anything we could use to defend ourselves. My fingers
curled around a butcher knife, and Julie held a long, sharp steak
knife in her hand.

“
Why is Jonathon chasing
us?” she asked. “If he wants my number, he just has to
ask.”

“
What!?
The guy’s a psychopath, Julie. Do
not
give him your
number!”

“
Maybe if I go out there
and talk to him, I can—”

“
No! He’s been chasing us.
What’s wrong with you?”

“
Maybe he just wants
something,” she said, still hung up on the guy.

“
He’s been shooting at us.
I’m pretty sure he wants us dead.”

Her eyes widened as she pondered the
situation and reality hit. She grabbed my arm. “I’m so sorry I got
you into this.”

“
Listen, just stay here,
okay? I’ve gotta help Jesse. He’s hurt and can’t fend him off by
himself.” I then rushed back to the front door, which was now
closed.

Just as I grabbed the doorknob, Julie
touched my shoulder, causing me to jump and clutch my chest in an
attempt to calm my racing heart. “Don’t go out there,” Julie
said.

“
I have to help him,” I
said. “He needs me.”

“
Well, then I’ll help too.”
She flicked on the porch light, then peered through the curtains.
“I don’t see him.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“
I want to help him,” Julie
said, “but what if that lunatic is out there waiting for
us?”

The knife in my hands shook violently.
“How’d a party turn into…this?” I asked. “This night was supposed
to be fun, not some kind of life-and-death battle with murderers
and wolves.”

“
We can’t go out there,”
Julie said.

“
Stay here. I’ll be right
back.”

“
No! Don’t you
dare!”

“
I have to see if Jesse is
okay. He’d do the same for me.”

“
What if he is gone already
and that guy attacks you?”

“
It’s a chance I have to
take.”

She took a deep breath. “Then I’m
coming with you.”

As soon as I opened the creaking door
and stepped onto the porch, a snarling, drooling wolf lunged for my
ankle. I immediately jumped back inside and slammed the
door.

With a shaky finger, Julie locked the
door behind me. “What now?” she shouted.

We peered out the window and saw at
least a dozen of the animals circling the porch and front yard;
there was no sign of any human, Jesse, psychopath, or otherwise. I
knew Jesse would never run off and leave us there. I didn’t know
him all that well, but I was sure he wasn’t the kind of guy who
would do that to us. He had, after all, risked being jumped to
sneak us out of the party. My biggest fear was that he had
succumbed to the bullet wound, that he’d passed out and the wolves
had gotten him, and my heart ached at the thought.

Julie called me from the kitchen. “The
back door is locked!”

“
Good. Can we possibly get
out that way?”

“
Nope. Wolf Central out
back.”

“
We need to see if Jesse is
out there,” I said. “He’s hurt, and drastic times call for drastic
measures.”

“
But we already tried, and
that stupid thing almost bit your foot off.”

An idea popped into my head. “Maybe we
can distract them with meat.”

“
Sure. Let’s just whip up a
medium-rare t-bone or two.”

“
Seriously, it could work,”
I said, ignoring her grim cynicism. “We could distract them, then
run for the main road and get some help. Jesse’s hurt, and we need
to help him before…” I said, but I couldn’t even finish the
thought, because it turned my stomach. We had to act fast, so
instead of arguing with Julie about it, I walked to the kitchen and
opened the fridge, only to find nothing but a jug of water, a
bottle of mustard, and a wrinkly radish in the bottom of the
vegetable crisper. “Shoot,” I said. “No doggie treats in
here.”

“
This blows.”

“
We have to think positive,
Julie. Maybe Jesse got away. Maybe he’s getting help this very
minute.”

“
Yeah? Well what if he’s
dead? And what if that crazy lunatic comes back for us?”

The wolves howled even louder, and the
hair on the back of my neck stood at attention. “At least they
can’t break into the cabin,” I said, trying to sound positive. “And
if anyone tries to come in here, they’ll be attacked. Jonathon
won’t stand a chance.”

“
But you said wolves don’t
attack humans.”

“
I know, but Jesse’s right
about these. For whatever reason, they don’t seem scared of us.” I
sighed heavily, then whipped out my cell and dialed 911, again
without success. “Still no signal,” I said.

Knock-knock!

My heart
jumped at the sudden tap on the door. I froze for a moment, then
gripped the butcher knife in my hands tightly. Even though chills
were running down my spine again, I started to sweat profusely. I
was a nervous wreck.
What if it’s
Jonathon, just playing games with us? What if it’s someone who can
help? Should we hide?
I knew that might be
risky, since our only hope for rescue might be on the other side of
that door; then again, I also knew that opening the door might seal
our fate for good.

Julie stared at me, her eyes wide.
“Don’t answer it,” she whispered.

“
I’ll just peek out the
window.”

“
No!” she whispered
back.

I ignored her and crept to the front
window, my hands shaking like a jumping bean on a
trampoline.

Outside, Jesse was leaning against the
door, and the wolves were circling him with exposed teeth, snarling
and drooling.

“
It’s Jesse!” I shouted
back to Julie.

Then, from out of the darkness, a tall
shadow emerged. I gasped again when I made out his
features.

“
Jesse!” I shouted, but it
was too late; before I could warn him, Jonathon had already grabbed
him from behind.

Somehow,
the injured Jesse broke his stronghold and lunged at him. The guy
rammed his head and shoulders into him, but with a big push, Jesse
threw the guy five feet. In a flash, the man grabbed Jesse, lifted
him over his head, and threw him like a ragdoll. Jesse crashed
straight into the door so viciously that the door flew off the
hinges with a loud
bang
.

“
Jesse!” I screamed. “Get
in here!” I shouted.

“
Can I come in?” he asked,
a strange question that made me wonder if he’d hit his head a
little too hard.

“
Yes,” I said. “Come
in!”

He hobbled in, bleeding profusely.
Droplets of blood stained the hard wood floor.

Jesse stood in the doorway, glaring at
his attacker, who was seeing red and blind with rage. When
Jonathon’s sinister gaze swept over me, my heart began to thunder
in my test. I didn’t understand why he was just standing there like
that, not trying to attack or push his way in, and there was a
moment of silence as Julie and I looked at each other in complete
shock.

“
Let’s go!” I screamed,
pulling his arm.

“
We’re safe now,” Jesse
said.

“
Maybe but for how long?”
Julie retorted. She motioned us over, and we worked together to
scoot a heavy china cabinet in front of the door. “You hit him, and
he’s disoriented, but as soon as he gets his head back in the game,
he’ll come in. All he has to do is take one step through the open
doorway.”

I snapped the shades shut on all the
windows so crazy Jonathon couldn’t see us.

“
Trust me, he won’t burst
through our barricade,” Jesse said calmly.

“
You’re kidding, right?”
Julie asked, breathing heavily in quick, shallow heaves. “If we
could move that cabinet, he most certainly can. We need to find a
landline and call 911.”

I gazed around for a phone but didn’t
see one. “While he’s dazed and out of it, let’s grab his gun,” I
suggested.

Jesse grabbed my hand. “No, don’t. You
step out that door, and you’re dead.”

Pushing the drapes aside, I glanced
out the window.

The guy held up a lighter. “Don’t
think I can’t burn you out!” he shouted.

I sucked in a deep breath. Please
don’t let him do that, I thought.

Then, he suddenly screamed as two of
the snarling wolves bit into his flesh. He flailed with all his
might, but the wolves just dug in harder.

“
A madman is after us, and
we’re surrounded by hungry wild animals waiting to tear us to
shreds. Can this night get any worse?” Julie said, then ran a hand
through her wild blonde hair. “We have to leave. We can’t just stay
in here and wait for those things to make Kibbles and Bits outta
us.”

“
I know,” I
said.

She looked out through the curtains.
“He’s gone!”

“
Did they drag him off?” I
asked.

“
I don’t know, but wolves
are still circling,” Julie said. “I don’t think that he’s our
problem anymore.”

“
One down, one to go,” I
said. “Now all we have to do is get past the pack. If we do, we’re
home free.”

A long, plaintive wail echoed through
the air, followed by a chorus of defiant howls.

I looked at Jesse, who was bleeding
profusely. “Let’s get you to the bathroom and look for medical
supplies.”

He leaned against the wall for support
and gasped. “I’ll be fine. We have more important things to worry
about.”

“
Fine my butt. You need a
doctor,” I said, my voice wavering.

He winced in pain, and his blue eyes
watered. “I promise I’ll see one in the morning.”

Julie
looked at him and shook her head. “You mean
if
you live that long. You’re
sweating like a thief in church,” she said, feeling his forehead.
“Oh my gosh! You’re burning up.” She gripped my arm. “He has a
fever of 110. We can’t stay here. If we do, the news will be
reporting a homicide tonight, one hot young guy with a bullet wound
to the chest.”

I felt Jesse’s head and realized she
was absolutely right. He was on fire. “It’s not safe in here. That
man could easily push through our makeshift barrier. We need to get
outta here and lose him in the forest, and then we need to take
Jesse to the ER.”

“
That’s exactly what he
wants,” Jesse said. “Our best bet is to stay here until first
light.”