Chapter 13: Time for THE CHAT

(Logan)

My wolf is somewhat less angsty now that Jaime is here with me in my house, in an environment that I can control, where I can keep her safe.

Even though she’s made a remarkable recovery since I marked her, she is still weak. And as the doctor explained to me, I shouldn’t underestimate the mental toll of the physical trauma she went through. It is going to be a while before her strength returns.

I wonder too when her wolf will be making signs of showing up. My wolf feels that he has connected with hers on some plane, but it’s not a full connection yet. There’s some kind of barrier preventing her from coming out to play.

It could just be the trauma, or the fact that she still doesn’t know she’s not human, or maybe a combination of both. Only time will tell.

When Jaime asked me about her phone and purse, I felt somewhat stupid for not thinking about it myself yet. I had immediately linked Jonah about it, and he came back to me only minutes after I had left Jaime’s room, sleeping soundly.

They had found both her purse and her phone in the open lot around halfway between Emily’s Diner and her cottage, along with a jumper that had her scent all over it. Nothing was taken, but it proved something vital. Jaime wasn’t attacked while accidentally trespassing into Dark Moon’s pack territory. She was attacked in neutral territory and taken into pack territory against her will. That changes everything.

Pack law states that any rogue who trespasses on territory lands are fair game. A pack can pretty much do to that rogue whatever they liked, no questions asked. But the town is neutral territory. No wolf is allowed to attack any other wolf when within town borders.

It’s a sacred law that we’ve upheld since this town was established as, without it, we would all have killed each other ages ago. And that rule included rogues. Not that we have ever had many rogues coming through. Unless one flew into town like Jaime did, you’d have to travel through at least one pack’s territory to reach the town.

Jonah had also made a discreet visit to some establishments in town that are owned and operated by Moon Lake pack members. This included the town barber, Harry’s Hangouts where the youth go to play pool and darts and card games without alcohol being served, and the Claw and Mill.

He’s also paid a visit to Carmen, one of the waitresses at the Howling Wolf. That pub is particularly popular among the locals, but it’s run by Dark Moon members. Carmen is Moon Lake though, and she’s loyal to me.

I want each of these establishments to keep an eye out for an opportunity to gather DNA from Dark Moon pack members. Anything from a lock of hair or a glass they had drunk from would work. We now know it was them, and it fits the crime scene. Jaime had to have been thrown into the river in the stretch between Houndstooth Falls and Wing Falls. And that stretch belongs to Dark Moon.

If she had been thrown into the river any higher than Wing Falls, she wouldn’t have survived. And I bless the moon goddess every day that she managed to pull herself out of the main flow of the river before she went over Houndstooth Falls.

Over the years, there had been three people lost over those falls. Two were tourists who thought the pool below looked like a great swimming spot. The other was a young teen wolf who had fallen into the water not far above the falls and couldn’t swim to safety fast enough. No one has ever been able to find any of those unfortunate three’s bodies.

The pool underneath those falls have formed a treacherous maelstrom that seemed to pull water back underneath the overhanging rocks, trapping larger objects there. Or at least that’s the theory. The wolves that attacked Jaime must have thought that she’ll disappear there too, never to be seen again, all evidence of their crime vanished without a trace.

I get angry again, the flames of wrath licking at my veins, but I hold back. I need to be clever about this. I can’t risk a war with Dark Moon without any concrete evidence of exactly who the culprits are.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

At dusk I look in on Jaime. She still lay in bed, clearly awake but just staring at the ceiling. My heart reached out to her.

“Jaime, can I come in?” I ask gently so that I don’t startle her.

She nods slightly. “Yes,” she says and shifts up higher in the bed to lean her back against the headrest.

I come closer and sit on the side of the bed. I reach for her hand again and she lets me take it in hers. A slight frown appears on her forehead.

“Why do I feel those tingles when you touch me?” she asks, and her piercing blue eyes look straight at me.

This is it. Time for THE CHAT.

“Do you remember when Dr Fairfield told you he knew that you are werewolf?” I ask as an opener and her eyes go wide.

“How do you know about that?”

“He came to me after he had that interview with you. He told me that he was surprised and a bit puzzled that you didn’t know that about yourself.”

She shifts her body slightly, the frown deepening, and I can sense her discomfort.

“Where are you going with this nonsense?” she sounds agitated now. I smile and rub my thumb over the mate mark. Her heartbeat intensifies.

“It’s all relevant to your initial question, Jaime. I don’t know why you don’t know that you are a werewolf, but trust me, you are. I am one too, and so is the doctor. In fact, besides the tourists everyone in this town is a werewolf.”

I don’t know what I was expecting her reaction to be, but it wasn’t that she would burst out laughing.

“Oh shit. This is… this is just getting better and better!” she gets out in between hysterical laughs, and I realize that she’s partly in shock and my words are probably not helping.

“Please… Please don’t tease me. I really want to know what’s going on,” she asks once she’s calmed down a bit. I think the fact that I had not laughed with her finally sunk in a bit.

“I’m not teasing, Jaime. I know this is a shock and it sounds like a fairytale, but I promise you I’m serious. Look,” I say as I stand up and take my shirt off. Her eyes grow large, and I smell the fear radiating off her as she tries to scoot back even more.

“I’m not going to do anything to you, I promise. I just think that the best way to convince is you, is to show you.” I say with my arms held up in a defensive motion. She just keeps staring at me, clearly expecting the worst.

I take the rest of my clothes off with lightning speed, before she can make any further movements or sounds, and in a flash, I shift into my wolf.

To say that she’s shocked is an understatement. She sits frozen in the same position she was in when she first recoiled away from me, her mouth open in surprise and her eyes as large as saucers. She’s gone as pale as a ghost, and I can hear her heart rate beating at a mile a minute.

I don’t move. I just look at her while I try to convey as much emotion through my eyes as I possibly can, hoping she’ll see something there. A soft whine escapes from my wolf, as if imploring her to accept him.

Then, soundlessly, her expression changes into one of wonder. Her heartbeat slows down to normal levels, and I feel her fear subside, the scent of it disappearing. Curiosity takes over and she scoots closer to the edge of the bed, closer to me.

I sit down on our hind legs like a docile doggie and my wolf lets out another soft whine, lowering our head as if to invite her touch. She obliges, reaching out tentatively, clearly fascinated. When her hand touches my fur, my wolf leans into her touch like an orphan starved of love.

She sucks in a breath, her eyes wide, and runs her fingers through my fur like a caress.

“That really is you, isn’t it Logan?” she asks with wonder in her voice.

I release another soft whine and she smiles.

“I never… I mean… this is amazing. How can this be?” she asks in amazement, but it’s clear she’s not afraid of me and she’s accepting this.

I break away from her touch and step back, then I shift back into my human form. I grab a blanket from the bed to cover my nakedness and look back at her, to gauge her reaction. She had that same expression of awe and wonder again, her mouth hanging slightly open.

“Wow,” is all she gets out while she stares.

I smile at her and take a seat next to her on the bed. I take her hand in mine again.

“Now you must believe me, right? Are you okay?” I ask gently and she blinks like an owl before she nods.

“Uhm… yeah, I guess. But, how is that even possible? I saw you change into this massive wolf right in front of my eyes and then back again into a human. Werewolves aren’t real…,” it’s her mind trying to catch up with what she just saw and what she has been made to believe all her life.

“Well, we clearly are real. And what is more, you are one too,” I remind her softly.

“But I’ve never done what you did just now. How do you know I’m one?”

I smile. “Easy. It takes one to know one. But in all seriousness, all supernatural beings have a different smell than humans. Humans won’t be able to distinguish us from them just by smell, but we can. What’s more, we can usually smell what pack someone is from too.”

She’s quiet for a minute while she absorbs what I’ve just revealed to her.

“You’re right, you have a lot of explaining to do,” she says then. “But I think before we can do that, I need a shower. If what you and the doctor said is true and I’ve been unconscious for so long, I haven’t had one in quite a few days, and I think I’ll be a better conversationalist once I get rid of this filth.”