The Siege of Kadenburg (2 page)

Things did seem somewhat normal. Aside from the fact she, and nearly everyone she knew could turn into bears or wolves; life was just as ordinary as ever. Everyone seemed happy, and the new ursithropes settled down to start anew in the tiny little town Presley had once hated with a burning passion.

It was amazing how much stronger love could be, wasn’t it?

Even the Kress family moved back. Presley was very glad they decided to stick around, especially for Greg’s sake. No matter what Breslin had done to the boy, he was on their side and everybody knew that. Louisa was always with him, and Dimitri was doing a hell of a job as his stand-in alpha.

Rutley was adjusting well to his new lifestyle, too, and Presley took comfort in knowing he wasn’t alone on his journey to rediscovering himself. She could still remember her first few moments as an actual
bear
, and how very hard Dimitri had tried to help her feel calm.

I was way too hard on him,
she thought as she took another bite of honey and then turned on the faucet. She quickly washed the spoon and put it back into the dish drain before moving into the equally small living room. Sure, this place didn’t seem like much to other folks, but it was now
hers
and she loved it.

Lorcan had been very serious about a house, and though it wasn’t the one bedroom house Jim had, it was still a lovely little place. Maybe it was his way of trying to give her a clean slate, or maybe he was tired of listening to everybody’s complaints about their ‘late night hanky panky’, as Mr. Bamey worded it. Either way, Presley was delighted to have a house and she was going to do her best to make it the homiest little place in Kadenburg.

“Darlin’, can you bring me the nails on the table?” Lorcan called through the open door.

Presley bit back another smile as she did an about face, returning to the kitchen to pick up the small box of nails he would need to finish the renovation of their quaint little porch.

“Coming,
Darling
!” She stated excitedly, nearly skipping towards the front door.

Life was finally perfect and wonderful.

But they all knew it wouldn’t last very long.

J
ust once, she wished she could sleep past five thirty. She absolutely loathed the fact that her body liked to rise before the sun did, and all it ever seemed to do was put her in a cranky mood. At least, she was cranky until she got into the water.

The water made everything better. Water was the source of happiness and relaxation Sammy had to have in order to survive-
no
, to tolerate the miserable world.

Living in a tiny town didn’t give her very many options for swimming. There was a decently sized creek just off Manor Lane, but it was hardly suitable for the type of swimming she wanted to do. She craved an Olympic sized pool…..she also craved Starbucks, but that wasn’t going to do her any good.

She’d lived in Kadenburg for nearly three years, and she still wasn’t used to the rural atmosphere. She came from a bigger city and it took a long time to adjust to the quiet, sleepy town she now called home.

As she stood beneath the gushing water, allowing it to pelt down against her face, she sighed. Water really was the best thing in the world. She often missed her days on the high school swim team. Coach Elliott always said she was the very best in their town, and eventually she got the chance to prove she was the best in the state, too.

She’d almost made it to the national championship…..

God, Sammy, don’t do that to yourself,
she groaned, resting her head against the cool tiles of the wall.
It’s over. Done with. Forget about it. This is your life now.

She would never fully understand why her life got turned upside down the way it did. She would never know what she’d done to deserve what happened to her and her family, but that’s why she’d moved to Kadenburg in the first place. It wasn’t because she needed a change of scenery, though the fresh start was definitely half-true; she wanted to find out what
really
happened to her parents when they decided to take a trip to see ‘old friends’ in the mountains of Tennessee.

Running her fingers through her damp brown hair, Sammy gazed at her reflection in the mirror. At least her complexion looked better now. Water
always
did the trick. She felt more energized already. Yep, she was ready to face the day.

After drying her hair and pulling it back in a tight ponytail, she started the painstakingly slow process of putting on her work uniform. God, she hated it sometimes. It was hard to get the gig line perfect. She always had to make sure that her zipper, belt, tie, and shirt lined up perfectly with one another. She didn’t always have the patience for that, but she didn’t want to hear her boss nag anymore. He’d been especially moody lately and she wasn’t in the mood to hear him fussing.

“Okay,” she sighed, smoothing her palms over her stomach as she examined herself in the full length mirror positioned in the corner of her room. “I think I’m ready.”

Grabbing her wide brimmed hat from the dresser top, Sammy made her way out the front door of her tiny apartment and headed for her car. At least it was a decent car. It got her from A to B. So what if it wasn’t the type of vehicle most of her old school mates were driving around in? It was a means of transportation, and hell, who didn’t like playing with lights and a siren?

“I hate this day already,” She mumbled, getting into the driver’s seat and putting her seatbelt on. She slowly turned the key in the ignition, listening as the old clunker hummed to life. She rolled her eyes, putting it into reverse as she glanced over her shoulder. “Why can’t I just stay in the water?”

That was the heaviest thought on her mind as she made her way towards the Kadenburg Sheriff’s department to start another long, boring shift.

———————————

“A
ll right, Mrs. Hagenbrook, that should have you taken care of,” Beau said with a small smile as he patted her on the knee. “Make sure to keep taking your antibiotics and call if you have any more trouble.”

The elderly female laughed softly as she eased down from the examination table, grabbing for her purse as she stared up at him with sparkling blue eyes.

“You are just the sweetest doctor I’ve ever had, Beau. I love you to bits.”

“I appreciate that, Mrs. Hagenbrook.” Beau replied as he turned on the faucet and began to wash his hands.

“I hope you plan to stick around. We need more good doctors like you.”

Beau was trying to adjust to life in Kadenburg. He was putting a lot of effort into pretending to be happy for Louisa’s sake. It was a small sacrifice to make, seeing as he was able to find a position at the local hospital. He did like to help people, and although he enjoyed helping his fellow ursithropes, it had never been part of his lifelong plan to remain in a tiny town without much room for growth.

Well, perhaps that wasn’t entirely true. He’d always been meant to take his father’s place on the high council in China. He’d been groomed for the position since birth, but what was he supposed to do now that his village was gone? The ursithropes his father and grandfather protected and guided for so many years were gone, too, and Beau felt lost. He didn’t like that feeling-at all.

He knew that Louisa was happy here. He knew that she was developing feelings for the ursi-lycan before she realized it herself. Who was he to stand in the way of her second chance at happiness?

He wouldn’t do that to her. He would stick around and wait for the right moment to say goodbye. He would continue studying, working, and watching out for her until he was certain she was ready for him to leave. Then -and only then-would he move forward with his own life.

He wasn’t entirely horrible. He knew what the Kadenburg ursithropes thought of him. Sure, they were grateful that he’d saved so many lives and such, but he knew they thought he was cold and heartless. That simply wasn’t true.

Beau had a lot of heart. Most of it was still trying to mend, but he did have one. It wasn’t his fault that no female had ever shown interest in him, and it wasn’t his fault if people said stupid things that deserved snarky replies. He was doing the world a favor.

“Beau, you’ve got another patient coming in at two.” The petite nurse’s aide said as she poked her head into his small office.

“Oh, thank you, Joy.” He nodded. Sighing, he put the paperwork he’d been spacing out on down, closing his eyes. He’d gotten lost in his thoughts again. It was happening more often than usual and he wasn’t sure he liked that. He zoned out at the wrong times. Just last week, he’d nearly poked a patient’s hand on accident while trying to give an injection. He really needed to get a grip on things-and fast.

I’ll be out of here soon.
He promised himself as he pushed up from the desk and grabbed his stethoscope.
Then I can finally find some happiness of my own.

That was his last thought as the double doors suddenly burst open and he literally had to leap out of the way in an effort not to be hit by the paramedics entering the unit.

“What in the….” Beau’s eyes landed on the unconscious female lying upon the gurney and the scent of the blood rushing through her veins slammed into him like a raging hurricane. It felt like somebody had hit him with a defibrillator, fully charged. The electricity surging into his heart made his knees buckle. He reached out to grip the side of the wall, gasping for air.

“What the hell was that?” He asked aloud, to no one in particular.

“Beau! Are you all right?!” Joy asked as she rushed to his side. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head furiously, glancing at the nurse’s aide briefly, “Nothing. I’m fine,” he said reassuringly. “What information do you have on that patient?”

Joy gazed at him in bewilderment, furrowing her brows as she glanced towards the gurney and then back at him.

“Not much,” She replied hesitantly. “She’s thirty years of age and appears to be in perfectly good health. The caller advised she was complaining of a headache before she collapsed.”

“A headache?” Beau quirked a brow as he glanced at the gurney again. “I think it is more than a headache,” He mumbled before he moved briskly towards the unconscious female. He carefully stepped around the male EMT standing by her side, allowing his gaze to fall upon her face.

“She works at the sheriff’s department?” Joy asked, observing the light tan uniform she wore.

She’s beautiful,
was the very first thought he had.

Shit. No. He wasn’t going to think about a woman’s attractiveness when she was in obvious need of medical attention. He was a doctor for Urseth’s sake. He couldn’t check out every patient he had!

“Do we have a name for her?” Beau asked, reaching his hand down to check her pulse. He pressed his fingertips gently against her pulse point, glancing at his watch as he timed the soft beats.

“Samantha Josephine Calder,” the EMT replied. “That’s really all we know about her right now. She doesn’t have any medical records here.”

Beau’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead as he met the EMT’s gaze, “She has not seen a doctor here before?”

“I’m afraid not,” the female EMT said as she approached them with a folder in her hand. “She’s been a resident of Kadenburg for three years, but she’s never selected a family doctor. We were able to locate some medical files for her out of Sero City.”

“Sero City?” Beau blinked. “I’ve never heard of that place before.”

“Welcome to the club,” the male EMT chuckled. “Who the hell knows where that is in California? All I know is that this lady is in need of
your
care, Doctor.”

“Perhaps we should wait for Doctor Bishop,” Beau frowned. “He hasn’t made it back from lunch yet.”

“Then I guess today’s your lucky day,” the female EMT smiled at him. “Come on. We’ll get her set up in a room so you can examine her. If she was having head pain before collapsing it could mean a number of things. She’ll probably need to get her noggin checked.”

Beau was still trying to get used to how people talked in the South. Sometimes it was highly amusing to listen to them, but right now, he wasn’t sure he liked the female referring to his new patient’s head as a ‘noggin’.

“Very well,” Beau sighed. “I’ll get cleaned up and I’ll be in there in a minute.”

He watched as the EMTs pushed the gurney into an open room. As the curtain closed, Beau leaned against the wall and exhaled heavily. His heart was still beating erratically and he couldn’t figure it out for the life of him.

Why did he feel as if he’d just met the woman he’d entered the world for?

H
is nostrils flared as the sweet scent attacked his nose and it took a full five seconds for his brain to register that the mouthwatering pheromones belonged to a female. She smelled good enough to eat.

“Do you smell that?” Rutley asked as he tilted his head to the side.

Dimitri looked up from the two gallons of paint he’d been trying to choose between for the past ten minutes, his brows furrowing.

“Yeah,” he nodded, sniffing again before releasing a low breath. “Do you know what it is?”

Rutley knew this was a test. Dimitri had been drilling him for weeks over this or that, trying to see how well he could hone his skills. It wasn’t easy being a werewolf-at all. In fact, it was a pain in his ass.

It really didn’t have anything to do with shifting. Been there, done that. Never again. It was everything else that came with it. Like the fact he had to avoid his father at all costs, and now he had to deal with this excruciatingly delicious scent that had him going cross-eyed. What. The. Hell?

“A female,” Rutley finally replied after a few seconds. “She’s a wolf. I think.”

“You think?” Dimitri rolled his eyes. “You can’t
think
, Rut. You have to
know
. Try again.”

Rutley released a low breath, muttering softly as he rubbed the back of his neck. They were in the middle of the hardware store, trying to pick up some items for Presley and Lorcan….how was he supposed to figure out if she was a bear or wolf? There were dozens of humans roaming about. There was no way he could do it.