The Violet Hour (The Violet Hour Series) (18 page)

“… told us a story of only one other case in history when two werewolves gave birth to a child,” I heard him say, his voice muffled under the sound of my crashing heart.

I’d hardly noticed he had gotten up and kneeled down by my side, until he put his hand on top of mine.  His touch sent electricity through me that jolted me from the numbness I had sunken in.  My body slowly turned and I met his eyes.

“Logan, those werewolves want you dead because you’re unique.  You’re going to become one of the two most powerful werewolves to ever exist – an Alpha.  Dr. Hanson told us the only other case in history where two werewolves gave birth to a child resulted in Xavier.”

I put my hand up in front of my father’s face and took a breath while shaking my head.

“You’re kidding me, right?” I spit.  “This is ridiculous.  I believe you, and Kate, and Luke, and Jack and Jesse are werewolves because I’ve seen it with my own eyes – even Rachel.  And you’ve told me my mother was a werewolf, which I’ve grown to accept, but now you want me to believe that
I’ll
become am immortal werewolf on my eighteenth birthday.
And then,
to top it all off, you want me to
also
believe I’m going to be an Alpha?”

“This isn’t a joke, Logan,” my dad asserted, placing his hand on my shoulder with a firm grip.  “That’s why I wanted to tell you myself.  Luke told you everything you needed to know so you had perspective.  Now you know just as much as the rest of us do.  I’ve arranged for you to be out of school the end of this week so we can visit Dr. Hanson in London for more answers.”

My head began to hurt from the speed my thoughts were racing.  I dropped my face into my hands and ran my fingers up through my hair.  I couldn’t process one thought from start to finish.  I couldn’t even picture myself getting up from the chair and walking out of the restaurant, let alone leaving the country later this week, let alone the next twelve months and beyond. 

I felt my dad shaking my shoulders.

“Logan… Logan, honey… say something please.”

I looked up at him staring deep in his eyes.  I saw my reflection in them… my human reflection.

“Take me home.”

Andrea Wells – The Violet Hour

Chapter 19

   I only listened to the first few words from my father when we got inside the car, things like, ‘everything is going to be fine…’ and ‘we’ll figure this out.’  I quit listening as I rifled through my bag for the bottle of pills I had recently started carrying.  Pills that were going to get me out of the nightmare I was certain I was having.  Kate had filled a prescription for me to help combat my night terrors. I built up saliva in my mouth, popped two blue pills and swallowed.  The countdown until I fell sound asleep for the next eight hours had begun.

I thought of one word on our drive home: betrayal.  When someone acts in a way that is contrary to the promise they made to you, that is betrayal.  I was alone. I had been betrayed.  If there was ever a moment I wanted, no, needed, my mother, it was now.  She was the furthest away and yet, I felt the closest to her because everyone else had let me down.  Maybe it was because I felt like I’d just died.  My life was flashing before my eyes like a movie.  I wanted to hit stop because 368 days was not enough time and I wanted to hit rewind to go back, so none of this would’ve happened. 

When we pulled up to the house, I tapped my phone until it connected to the wireless printer in my bedroom.  My dad stopped in front of the barn so he could park his car inside and I immediately got out and high-tailed it to the front door.  By the time I put my hand on the doorknob, he was standing next me.

“I just need to be alone tonight, Dad, okay?” I said before he had a chance to speak.  As far as I was concerned, he had already said enough.  I opened the door and went inside, not waiting for his response.

I didn’t look back as I headed upstairs. 

“I’m leaving to meet the boys,” he called from below.  “I need to hunt before we leave for London on Wednesday.  Kate is patrolling the property and will be back shortly if you need anything,” he finished, a breath before I locked my bedroom door.

When the light flashed green, I grabbed the last page of the document I had sent to the printer from my phone, folded the pages in half and shoved them in my purse.  Moving like a robot, I kicked off my heels, stripped out of my clothes and shuffled into the bathroom to brush my teeth before climbing into bed.  With only minutes to spare, I turned out the lights and collapsed.

As planned, I didn’t wake until the alarm on my phone went off the next morning an hour earlier than I usually got up for school.  Though still dark outside, I knew it was going to be a gloomy day.  I crawled out of bed and paused to listen to raindrops pattering lightly on the roof.  Groggy, I threw on my sweats and walked downstairs.

“Good morning, Kate,” I said when I entered the kitchen.

Acting as if she expected me to either be ignored or yelled at, she returned the greeting nervously and continued reading the newspaper, keeping one eye on me.

I knew I had to play it cool in order to get around her acute senses.  More than likely, she knew my father had told me everything, but was unaware of I’d reacted.  I headed back upstairs with an apple in hand, telling her I needed to get ready for school.  Going immediately to my closet, I grabbed my biggest Louis Vuitton handbag and threw a new outfit inside along with my makeup and hair products.  I dumped schoolwork from my backpack into my lingerie drawer, filling the empty bag with my favorite Calvin Klein bathing suit, a pair of Louboutin’s and as much clothing as I could fit.  Reaching for the top shelf of my closet, I knocked the shoebox down I had hidden up there weeks prior.  I threw five-thousand dollars cash and all of my mother’s jewelry into my purse.  When I dropped the bags on the edge of my bed, a single sheet of folded paper floated off the nightstand onto the floor.  A note from Luke. 

I grabbed the page and reached into my top drawer for the rest of his notes, taking them into the bathroom.  I found a black ribbon in my jewelry box, neatly tied the letters together like a gift and put them a top my purse.  I double checked everything in my room one last time.  After a shower and makeup, I was ready.  I headed downstairs shoving a few bites of apple into my mouth.

“Have a good day at school,” she said, while I chewed the mouthful.  I waved the apple at Kate with a smile and closed the door behind me.

I tossed the book bag and extra purse in the trunk, putting my other purse in the front seat.  I gripped the steering wheel to keep my hands from shaking.  A part of me wanted to run to Luke, but an even bigger part of me knew that wasn’t an option.  Love is blind, and I was more than in love with him.  I’d lost sight of a very important goal in my life to find someone I could trust.  In the few short weeks I’d known him, he’d betrayed that trust twice.  I wasn’t going for the ‘third time’s a charm’ theory.  Not to mention my dad had been keeping the same secrets from me since the day I was born.  I was tired of being torn apart by the people I loved.

I held my breath and put the car into drive.

I slammed the brakes and yanked the car back into park in front of the barns.

Grabbing my purse, I ran out into the foggy morning air toward Luke’s room.  No one ever locked anything, so I was certain it would be open.  I let myself in as my emotions began to overwhelm me.  I was angry with him for hurting me and sad he wasn’t there when I needed him.  I was happy I’d met him and heartbroken because I had fallen in love.  Reaching inside my purse, I removed the stack of notes he’d written to me and placed them on top of his pillow.  My heart beat with agony to let them go.

I waited until I was in the school parking lot before pulling the documents I’d printed from my purse and started reading.  I normally wouldn’t have printed them but wasn’t about to trust the GPS coverage through the mountains.  I had hope no one would notice me, but of course that fell through.  Ashleigh pulled into the parking spot beside me and tapped the passenger window.

“What are you doing out here?  You’re gonna be late for class… the bell’s gonna ring any second,” she squealed as I shoved the pages under my thigh.

“I know, I’ve got a note already ‘cause I thought for sure I was going to be late when I left this morning.  Since I’ve got a free pass, I thought I’d study for our history test,” I lied.

“Oh!  Well, study in first period.  Don’t you have Adams for Calc?  She’s oblivious most of the time,” Ashleigh offered.  Before I could respond, we both heard the faint ringing of the warning bell.

“Go ahead!” I yelled, “I’ll be right in, save me a seat at lunch, okay?”

Ashleigh nodded while she sprinted toward the front door.  Maybe it was better I’d run into Ash, I thought.   She could place me at school in the morning if asked.  That would give me several hours before anyone would notice I was missing.  I pulled the directions from under my lap.

“I could make it halfway to Cali by then,” I mumbled to myself.

Without a second thought, I took the car out of park.

Andrea Wells – The Violet Hour

Chapter 20

   When the gate opened, I pulled into the driveway and took the first deep breath I’d taken in almost twenty hours.  I rolled the window back up and trapped warm, moist ocean air inside my Mercedes.  It had been almost one year to the day that I had first driven my car for the very first time when my mother and Richard delivered it to me as my sixteenth birthday present.  It seemed like the car was the only thing that hadn’t changed.  I dug through the center console and found the garage door opener.  The house was pitch-black inside and out, so I knew Richard wasn’t home.

I quickly shut the garage door as I pulled inside so no one driving by could spot me.  I popped the trunk and grabbed my luggage.  Underneath, was a white garment bag with Jackie’s shop logo in black lettering.  Kate had given me an early birthday present the week before that I hadn’t opened.  I threw it over the other bags and headed inside, wondering what Richard’s plans were for the house, though I wasn’t about to call him and ask.  Not yet at least.  

When I got inside, I sighed at the furniture still in the same places it always had been.  I walked straight for my old bedroom, turning on as few lights as possible.  I didn’t want the neighbors, specifically Lindsey, knowing I was back in Laguna yet.  The paparazzi were bound to find out soon after. 

Then, common sense, dawned on me.  Maybe they wouldn’t have to find out.  I grabbed my phone from my purse.  It was just after two in the morning, and I scrolled through my contacts until I found Diego.  Sending him a quick text message that demanded confidentiality, he, surprisingly, texted back almost immediately with the simple words: ‘I’m in!’  On that note, I could sleep for a few hours before he arrived.

*****

“I don’t see anything,” I heard someone say from beneath my slightly cracked bedroom window.

I sucked in a gulp of air and held my breath as I slid to the floor and crept toward the sound of the voice.

“I assure you, Mr. Keller, I don’t see anyone inside and her car’s not here.  I promise you, though, if I see anything out of the ordinary, I’ll let you know,” she said.

I peered over the ledge of the window to confirm the voice belonged to my ex-best friend.  Lindsey was wearing sweats, no makeup and her hair in a messy pony – still not ready for school.  I heard her flip her phone shut and watched as she jammed it in her pocket, giving my bedroom window a last longing look.  She headed back to her own house through the garden that separated our properties. 

I grabbed my phone and called Diego while I crawled away from the window.

“Hey, girl,” he squealed, forcing me to yank the phone away from my ear.

“Hey, Diego,” I mumbled.  “Isn’t it a bit early for you to be so giddy?”

“Girl, I’m just too excited to see you and that mop on your head again.  I read about you having to move back east somewhere.  Bru-tal!  Where do you want to meet up?” he asked.

“I want you to come to the Laguna house, but park on the street,”

“You want me to carry all my stuff to the house?  You’re crazy!” he retorted.

“Diego!  No one can know I’m here.  Got it?  If you want to touch this mop of mine ever again, you’ll just have to carry your things from the side street to the service door in back.”

“Fine, I’ll be there in about an hour,” he replied flatly, snapping his phone shut on me.

After freshening up, I snuck toward the far end of the house to check on the neighbors just as Lindsey was backing out of her garage.  I made certain she wasn’t trying to pull into our drive before I headed toward the kitchen for something to eat.  When I came up empty handed, I texted Diego to stop for Starbucks.

A red blinking light in the kitchen caught the corner of my eye.  The answering machine flashed with one new message and a chill raced through me.  I stood in front of it debating whether to hit ‘play’ or ‘delete.’  I held my breath, pressed ‘play’ and slid my finger over the ‘delete’ button, making sure I was ready. 

“Logan…,” he said, tender and low, pausing for what seemed like minutes, “Please call me.  I need to know you’re safe.”  He paused again as if hoping I’d pick up the phone before finally hanging up.

I fell back against the fridge and slid to the floor, tears flooding my vision on the way down.  I couldn’t handle hearing Luke’s voice.  I needed to stay strong and committed to my plan.  Thankfully, before I got too entrenched in my thoughts and sobbing, the service doorbell rang. 

Cautiously, I peeked around the windows to see if anyone was watching before I quickly opened the door.  Diego side-stepped inside and I slammed it shut.

“Girl, what’s going on?” he said, thrown by my cloak-and-dagger behavior.  I threw my arms around him pretending to embrace someone else. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I lied.  “No need to worry.  Just needed to get out of there.  If I hadn’t, I was risking being stuck in some hick-town the rest of my life.”

“Well, I’m glad.  Just in time for your birthday too.  Why are you hiding out?  Does ol’ Richey-Richard not know you’re back yet?”

“No!  He’ll be pissed because he spent all that money to ship everything I own there.  Not that money’s any object for him, but it’s certainly a hot topic if you’re wasting it.”

“So, when are you planning to tell him?” he asked, excited for juicy details.

“I don’t know, I just got in last night.  I need some time to decide what I’m going to say,” I said, playing it cool.  “Besides, Richard never comes to Laguna, so I’m safe for a while.

Diego rolled his eyes, remembering what a jerk Richard could be.

I motioned Diego up the grand spiral staircase toward his usual spot – my bathroom.  After a few weeks in Sheridan, I really appreciated how truly large it was.  Stark white with floor-to-ceiling mirrors on almost every wall, one of many physical examples of the life I’d left in Cali.  I sat down in one of the chairs and let my hair fall out of the ponytail.  I needed to change things up if I was going to lay low for the next couple days. 

“Are you really ready to give up that gorgeous blonde hair, dear?  It’s its own icon, you know that?  I’ve built up a masterpiece on that head of yours and you’re going to get out the crayons and scribble it into a mess.”

“I know Diego, I know.  But, I want to fly under the radar until I decide what I’m going to do.  Richard can’t find out from the pap’s before I tell him or he’ll be furious and ship my butt right back.  I gotta do what I gotta do.  Brunette it is!”  I declared.

He frowned at me in the mirror and started digging through his bags.  I grabbed a gossip magazine from his stash and began thumbing the pages.  As if to slap me one last time across the face, pictures of Luke and I in the boot store took up two glossy pages. 

“See?  Are you sure?” Diego asked, pointing his brush at the pictures.

“Positive,” I replied, glaring at him in the mirror.  He began working on my hair while I quickly flipped to the next page, refusing to make eye contact with the faces in the photographs.

*****

Two vanilla lattes and five hours later, I was officially an artificial brunette.  Deep shades of chocolate fell around my face ranging from dark to a milky light brown.   

“Girl, you know I was pretty pissed at you for doing this to that gorgeous head, but I hate to admit I’m absolutely speechless.”

“You like it?” I asked as I ran my fingers through the silky strands.

“I love it!  My, oh my, it makes those teal-blue eyes pop.  You look modelesque,” he squealed.

“Diego… I am a model.”

“Well girl, now you’re the real deal!  I think you should keep this look for a while.”

I stared at a reflection in the mirror I barely recognized, hoping my plan would work. 

“Thanks, Diego!” I said, standing to give him a hug.

I couldn’t keep my hands away from my hair while Diego packed up his bags and made his way toward the door.  I inspected all the windows again, both upstairs and down, including the ones facing Lindsey’s house, before letting him leave. 

Early afternoons were good for two things in Cali: shopping and sunbathing.  I wasn’t quite ready to test my new identity while shopping just yet, so I figured I’d literally test the waters.  I changed into a plain black bikini, oversized straw hat, black Ray Ban’s and headed for the sand.  I couldn’t risk lying out on the private water front behind the house, so I drove to Main Beach and parked my car between two minivans – convincing myself it blended in there.   

People stared as I made my way toward the shoreline, but I knew it wasn’t because they recognized me.  A couple of guys even whistled as I edged through the crowd which assured me my gamble had paid off.  Normally, I would have been harassed for autographs and photos by now. 

I unintentionally thought of downtown Sheridan and the peace and quiet of the mountains and my father’s log home nestled in between a sleepy town and untamed wilderness.  I thought of the people in that home and immediately felt a pang of regret in my side.  I quickly stopped myself.  I needed to focus. 

I neatly laid my towel down between other sunbathers so I’d blend better with the masses of people getting their last kicks on the beach before it started to cool for winter.  The sun felt pleasantly warm soaking into my skin.  I set the alarm on my phone, closed my eyes and thought about nothing more than the sunshine.  

Thirty minutes later, the alarm woke me from a shallow nap, letting me know I needed to turn over to my other side.  I tucked my hair into a bun as I watched a group of people playing volleyball a few hundred feet away.  Just as I started to put my head back down, I noticed three guys fully dressed from head to toe walking through the middle of the game as if on a mission.  I kept my face down to hide my stare as they continued walking in my direction.  It wasn’t until they briefly paused about fifty-feet in front of me that I realized who they were.  I held my breath and looked down.  The heat of the sun couldn’t keep my body from breaking into goose bumps. 

Floating gracefully over the sand, each glaring in a different direction, they were attracting attention.  I’d only seen one of them briefly before, but it was obvious to me who they were and what they were hunting for. 

Xavier, Raphael and Alexander couldn’t see or smell what they were obviously tracking, so they kept moving down the beach, passing me by.  As soon as they were out of sight, I casually gathered my things and headed for the car.  When I got there, fear washed over me, stopping me in my tracks.  A single sheet of paper stuck under the wiper on my windshield.  I quickly scanned the area before I approached the car, grabbed the note and jumped inside, locking the door behind me. 

My hands shook as I opened the neatly folded note.  Dumbstruck, I flipped the note over and over again to find both sides were blank.  It was possibly scarier than if something was written.  I instantly regretted leaving behind the notes Luke had given me, because I knew he hadn’t left this one.  If they could find me in a small restaurant hidden in a little western town, then they could find me anywhere.  I started the car and headed home, taking the longer route.

I left the car running in the garage as I ran inside to grab my things – which wasn’t much, I mentally noted.  To help keep my nerves calm while I packed, I dialed the only other person in Tinsel Town I trusted to not give me away to the paparazzi.

“This is Gretchen Westwood,” she answered.

“Hey, Gretchen?”

“Logan?  Oh my gosh!  How are you?”

“I’m doing okay.  Hey listen, I don’t really have a bunch of time, but I’m back in town and need your help, but I need you to keep this on the down-low…”

“Sure, sure!  What’s going on?”

“Well, I needed to get outta Wyoming, so I left.  No one knows and I’m sure my dad’s pissed and looking for me, but I just couldn’t take anymore,” I whined.

“I don’t blame ya!” she cut in.

“I know.  So, I need you to style me for my birthday tomorrow night and pick me up a few things,” I requested.  I reached for the birthday gift I had yet to open.

“What can I get for ya?” she asked without a moment’s hesitation.  If I knew her well, by now she had me on speakerphone, using her phone to take notes as I gave her my list.

“Hang on…” I said before I sat the phone on my bed and pulled the zipper open on the garment bag.  I inhaled sharply as soon as I saw what was inside.

“What?” I heard Gretchen ask in a concerned tone.

It was the purple sequin dress I had tried on when I first arrived in Sheridan.  My eyes grew misty as I remember the image of me in the mirror.  In the background, Gretchen kept talking into the phone.

“Sorry,” I finally said, paying no mind to what she was saying.  “I just need you to get me a few things.  It’s my seventeenth birthday and I wanna go out one last night…”

“One last night…” Gretchen cut me off.

“Well, I mean, one last time before I announce I’m back in town.  I need some time to tell Richard,” I lied.  “I have a dress already, so I just need shoes, accessories, etc.  I’ll message you a pic of the dress when I hang up and you can take it from there.  I don’t care what it costs, just call me tomorrow morning and we’ll meet up.”

“Sounds good.  Are you sure everything is okay, though?” she asked in a genuinely concerned tone.