“Table five needs a refill, Kate.” Grumbled her disgruntled co-worker.

          Kate winced inwardly, worrying her lower lip as she peered over her shoulder to a group of snickering teenagers glowing her way, some purposely holding their half-empty glasses in a ‘come hither’ motion.

          “And three is still waiting to get their order in.”

          “Lighten up, Campbell!” Julie snapped as she stalked around the counter, planting herself firmly before the stout, tattooed waiter. “I do recall a time when you yourself started and nearly set fire to the kitchen.” She raised a brow and lightly dabbed his chest with a manicured finger, “It’s her first week – don’t be an ass.”

          He muttered an intangible curse beneath his pungent cigarette breath and wiped kitchen grease onto his stain riddled apron. “Get to the customers.” He demanded and stormed to the back.

          Kate sighed heavily and sank into a stool, her shoulders sagging. “I’m not sure I’m waitress material.”

          Julie snorted, “Oh please, don’t let Johnnie Campbell deflate your confidence. He’s all bloat and hot air.”

          Kate suppressed a grin and gathered to her feet, noticing a few sharpening glares as she retrieved her tray. “I best get to my hungry patrons.”

          “Let me know if you’re in need of saving.” Julie teased, squeezing Kate’s shoulder reassuringly as she swept by her.

          “Will do, Capitaine.”

          Half way into the week of her newfound profession and she’d already manage to discombobulate every order, forget refills and topple a tray here and there – so much for blending among the norm.

          You need this. Her sound mind attested from afar.

          She had to admit – its crumb infested, tap-watered, impenetrably buttered counters were not idealistic to most – but it appealed incredibly to her broken self.

          She found the constant noise of the diner somewhat comforting, all to the fixed sounds of silverware pealing and children giggling to the smooth and dulcet tune of B.B King streaming from the jukebox in the corner.

         There was no silence – none of that deafening, detestable flatness that prompted terrible and frightening things.

         Though her security would always remain in questioning and not entirely restored, this tiny piece of what most viewed as a nine-to-five, was a gesture of hope, even if her customers appeared none too pleased with her service.

       “We’ve been waiting ten minutes –“

       “Excuse me, miss!” shouted one of the teenagers who wore a ridiculous amount of eyeliner and an odd shade of lipstick, shook her glass forcibly with a deepening scowl.

       “One minute – “ she called softly.

       “She is not getting a tip.” Another teenager exclaimed irritably.

       Kate clenched her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, clipped tones and menacing leers coming from every angle – breathe.

       “Miss?” somehow, amongst the buzz of complaints, a gentle voice compelled her from her thoughts.

          She opened her eyes to find table three to be an elderly woman whose senescent eyes glinted invitingly despite their unearthly gleam as they swept Kate from head-to-toe. It was somewhat unnerving but the woman was anything than a danger. She merely studied Kate, intensely, forming a solid thought behind a dark burnished gaze.

          The woman smiled then, “You’re new to Black Mountain.” It could’ve easily been mistaken as a question but it wasn’t said as such. The woman was certain in her assumption.

          Kate stiffened in her plain shoes. She had expected a bit of exasperation from the woman for her lack of presence or the start of an appetizer, but the sudden interest in her?

          She cleared her throat and did a curt nod, “Are you ready to order, ma’am?” she hadn’t meant to sound impolite but she needed to deter this conversation pronto.

          The woman’s smile remained steady and though she had barely uttered a word her eyes bespoke quite the opposite. There was a certain understanding forming behind that polished gaze, rendering Kate with a profound gut instinct that the older woman knew something she didn’t.

          “Just a cup of tea, please.”

          She nodded a bit robotically and quickly shuffled away.

          “Do you know that woman?” Kate asked beneath her breath as Julie fell in beside her.

          Julie paused in her refills to peer curiously at table three, “Ah, yes that’s Adeline. She’s a town elder.”

          Kate frowned, “Town elder?”

          Julie nodded, glasses clinking as she tossed in some ice. “Yes, she’s lived here since …well forever.”

          “She grew up here?”
          “Yep, she’s a nice old woman a bit strange though.”

          “What do you mean?” Kate prodded.

          Julie straightened, planting her hands on her hips as she turned cerulean eyes to table three. “Well, she smells strongly like my mother’s medicine cabinet.”

          Kate’s jaw went slack before she burst out laughing, “You’re hopeless!”

          Her shift had been a long one that carried well into the early morning. By the end of it, she was bone weary and eager to sink deep into her claw foot tub.

          Julie was waiting for her outside the diner along the curb.

          “Need a lift?” she called.

          Kate nodded, finding even that small gesture a great effort in all her exhaustion. She slipped gradually into Julie’s jeep and sank deep into the leather.

          Julie chuckled softly, “Tired, eh?” and reached over to flip on the radio.

          The drive was short as she drifted in and out to the sound of the Beatles. She wasn’t aware of Julie’s avid fascination for the 60’s English rock band, until then.

          She had dreamt a little. They were like snapshots, some obscured and others fleetingly vivid. Somehow John Lennon had stolen into her dreams but only passing her by. It was the darker parts that were most disconcerting. They held strongly to her secrets and amidst it all she detected a shape, its solid form, much like that of an animal prowled the lines that divided the dark and the light, the good and the bad.

          Kate awakened with a start, blinking to find that they had pulled before her house.

          “You okay?” Julie grasped her shoulder gently, blue eyes glinting earnestly of concern. “Do you need me to stay?”

          She glanced over, “No thanks, you go on home.” She climbed from the jeep and pulled the edges of her sweater closer against the sudden chill that crept in.

          “Kate –“ she turned halfway to find Julie reaching beneath her front seat.

          Frowning, she watched curiously as she proceeded to prod for something. It wasn’t until she pulled out a 9mm revolver that Kate turned utterly frozen.

          “I want you to take this.” Julie handed it over, the gun suspended there as Kate stared horrified at the weapon.

          “I can’t accept that.” She whispered incredulously.

          Julie’s expression darkened, “I’m not a fool, Kate. I know you’re running from someone. You’re out here in this big empty house, practically isolated from civilization with no means of protecting yourself? And now the late shifts at the diner? You’re every bit a prime target for a crazed assailant.”

          Kate shook her head, “But a gun? Do you even have a license to carry that?”

          Julie nodded, “It was my daddy’s gun. Take it, please.”

          “I wouldn’t even know how to use that thing let alone bring myself to shoot someone.”

          “I’m not asking you to use it, Kate. Just wield it. If you can appear confident enough to grip and aim, you’re attacker will think twice about whatever he’s planning.”

          Kate felt a lump lodge tightly in her throat at the thought of drawing a weapon on Danny. It was a riveting and terrifying image that prompted a shiver of trepidation. How did they even come to this? She’d never even handled a gun before.

          “Always ensure the safety is on.” Julie gestured and then clicking it back, “Safety off – simply point and pull the trigger.”

          “You speak as though from experience?”
          Julie put the safety back in place and set it down on the passenger seat. “Just target practice I can assure you. I’m a good shot.”

          “I’m not.” Kate attested, eyeing the 9mm with a tinge of apprehension.

          “And you don’t have to be.” Julie assuaged, “Sometimes, size can be in your favor. After all, you’re not shooting a Pepsi can.”

          “I’m not shooting anything.” She vowed. The very thought of touching it made her blood run cold. But whether she liked it or not, Julie had somewhat of a moot point. She had no means of security, nothing but a meager lock on her front door that if tested would fail miserably against anything.

          She reached out and gingerly lifted the gun from the seat, feeling its cold weight in the palm of her hand.

          And then Julie asked, “This man, whoever he is to you, would he kill you if he found you?”

          Kate was momentarily taken aback by her intuitiveness and she knew from that moment on things between them would be different. Julie knew more than she had cared to let on.

          Her eyes settled heavily on the revolver weighing her fingers down, “He tried once – “ she said solemnly, shuddering at the vision it prompted. “I have every reason to believe he would do so again.”

          And then Julie said something that made the world come to a standstill.

         “Then you empty that 9mm, Kate.”

          She watched until Julie’s tail lights vanished, enveloped by the darkness, before starting for the house, all the while, those chilling and haunting words replaying within her head. Even now as she held the revolver tentatively between her fingers, it absolutely sickened her to the very core of her being. How could she possibly take a human life, even one as despicable as her ex-boyfriend?

          No. She surmised. She would be no better than Danny.

          It would go in the top drawer of her nightstand. Out of sight and out of mind, some would say. But it still didn’t relieve that disquieting fear that settled like a knot in her stomach.

          The hour was late she realized, a little after 3 in the morning. It was some dog hours but she didn’t mind it.

          As she made her way to the door, holding the gun as carefully as possible, something occurred to her and she froze just before the porch steps. Her heart was a sudden solid beat against her breast as she surveyed the encompassing darkness, noticing the peculiar and odd, oppressive calm. As she listened to the uncanny, deafening stretch of silence, her stomach tightened uneasily with its stillness. Not a cricket chimed and not a limb stirred.

          There was nothing – but not entirely nothing she thought. She felt something.

          That eerie sense of someone watching propelled her heart into overdrive and she scrambled into the house. Between grappling with the revolver and her keys, they fumbled between her and she muttered a curse, somewhat panicked by it all.

          It wasn’t until the door parted and she hastened inside, slamming it soundly to sink to the floor. She sat there a moment, along the edge of the rug and hardwood, peering at the 9mm displayed at her feet as she attempted to pull her frantic heart into a semblance of steady rhythm.

          Her veins were pumping wildly with adrenaline and all traces of exhaustion were practically non-existent. She gathered to her feet and moved quickly to conceal the gun in her nightstand to be forgotten.

          With that, she made her way to the kitchen, somewhat relieved to not be holding it anymore. The contents of her refrigerator were a pitiful sight. A bag of red apples and a half carton of milk. She decided a trip the market was in schedule for later.

          Opting for an apple, she washed it beneath the tap and headed for the upstairs. The steps protested noisily beneath her shoes, the only sound permeating the quiet of her home and it unnerved her some. Reminding her of just how much she truly enjoyed the crowded and disorderly setting of the diner.

          She started a bath, all the while taking hearty bites of her apple. She was eager to escape the confines of her uniform and wash the grime from her hair.

          Grabbing a change of clothes from her bureau, Kate disrobed, tossing her wrinkled uniform to the side. Sinking deep to the bottom of the tub, she unwittingly began to hum a piece of Come Together by the Beatles.

          As she sank beneath the tepid water, she thought about the events earlier that night, recalling the older woman whom Julie had called Adeline. The woman had appeared perfectly harmless but that unusual way about her had certainly left an impression. Perhaps it had been her too observant stare, forming there thoughts of her, knowing her secrets.

          Kate nearly laughed aloud at the absurdity of it. The older woman couldn’t have possibly known her secrets, let alone anything about her.

          It shouldn’t have bothered her, the way the older woman had intensely studied her, as if to unravel all her past woes, but it had troubled her immensely.

          She tuned her thoughts elsewhere only to be taken aback by the sudden vision of piercing slate eyes. A tiny breath escaped her despite her effort to quell the image of Ronan Morrissey now perfectly aligned with her thoughts. He somehow slipped unconsciously to her thoughts, stealing her of all her senses, most assuredly of breath.

          Her heart jumped madly against her chest, recalling his mouth and its claim on her. Despite all her willpower to think of something other than this insufferably and incredibly good-looking Adonis, she failed in doing so. She couldn’t simply think of anything but Ronan and how he had unraveled her composure, melting every ounce of her defenses to a senseless puddle of nothingness. For a moment, wrapped in his arms, she’d forgotten her pains.

          She would remember how he had tightened his hold on her, crushing her firm against the solidness of his chest. What man nowadays had such a magnificent chest like that?

          Ronan Morrissey just didn’t fit the description of a present day, law-abiding citizen. No, she thought amusingly. He was more befitting on a battlefield donned in chain mail and equipped with a menacing sword, barreling upon his enemy without pause. The image she envisioned prompted a laugh from her throat.

          She quivered beneath the water, taken aback by its sudden onslaught realizing it had nothing to do with the draft in the room.

          When she had first encountered him, that moment at Club Red, he had instilled nothing but fear in her. How could a man like him, head-to-toe muscle, dressed in leather with eyes like icy shards, be capable of any type of kindness? She had believed him the worst kind of man, one comparable to the likes of Danny.

          But when he kissed her, he had kissed her with such surprising gentleness – a tenderness that completely bewildered her. Was she wrong about him?

          He had made her feel incredibly feminine and beautiful while entangled in his lean, possessive fingers. He was raw masculinity that disinherited her of every sound thought. He was simply the wrong type of man for her, something she continuously had to remind herself of. But trying to forget a man like Ronan Morrissey was proving to be far more complicated than she expected.

          It didn’t matter though. Hadn’t she made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t interested in him?

          What bothers you most, sweet Kate, that I kissed you or that you kissed me back?

          She clenched her eyes shut and groaned inwardly, her face reddening some as she recalled his heated words and the truth behind them.

          Noticing the water had turned vastly cold; she drained the tub and climbed from it. She quickly dressed and towel dried her hair.

          She proceeded to her bedroom, admiring the slivers of moonlight as they pooled softly across her bed where she settled, succumbing to the sudden exhaustion that had returned with a vengeance, and from there dreaming of a man with slate-gray eyes.

          Ronan sat within his wolf-form, peering through slits of black, listening intently to silence.

          She’d fallen asleep. Even from where he sat, perched below her window, his keen ears caught the even sounds of her breathing. And the lovely cadence of her heart beat softly in accent to his own.

          He realized the foolhardy in being there and yet he couldn’t turn away. This human female had consumed his every conjuring thought.

          She was profoundly intoxicating to him. He’d kissed her and since that fiery moment he could think of none other than doing so again. His body burned for her in a fierce, carnal way. When in human form, his skin tingled until ablaze with a maddening hunger – a desire deemed almost uncontrollable.

          He wanted this green-eyed beauty and not just once. He wanted to stake claim to her, a claiming regarded most peril to his alpha rank.

          This yearning for her was damn near insufferable and he pegged it simply on the sole fact that she had refused him.

          But he was beginning to suspect that this burning went deeper than a mere rejection from a one-night stand.

          What was most confounding was how his wolf responded to Kate. His beast had reacted naturally to the other women, somewhat roused, stirred by their efforts, but not in such a manner where he felt as though his loup-garou self would rip through his human skin.

          He was realizing that his desire for her, this intolerable need to have her was beyond anything in the bedroom.

          Ronan knew full well the throes of the Bonded Calling. He’d witnessed many wolves succumb to its heated grip. Most of the wolves were fortunate to find mates; others were not so lucky, potentially bringing about their rogue selves.

          He knew he was within the Bonded Calling but the direction in which it steered him was a certain path of peril and treachery to his pack.

          If he so much as acted upon his urges, he would be in jeopardy of breaking the Feral laws.

          But he couldn’t fight it – whatever this attraction was to her.

          And after tonight, having witnessed an exchange of a 9mm revolver, all of which Kate appeared quite reluctant to accept, he wasn’t so certain he could stay away. It had only intensified his interest in her, unraveling a bit of the mystery that surrounded her.

          He should have detected this. She was every bit sealed and prone to fleeing. It never had occurred to him that she may be running from something.

          There was a sudden snapping of earth, a feeble twig caught beneath the presence of another that jarred him alert. Ronan shifted onto all fours, turning widely attentive to whoever emerged. He felt an ominous growl arise deep from within his throat to rattle within his jowls, while baring his canines.

          A solid shape, discernibly wolf, broke the darkness and approached. The familiar scent that greeted his senses somewhat eased the tension from his muscles but he remained on edge.

          What are you doing here? He growled to his Beta.

          Micah raised his dark eyes. I should be asking you that.

          I’m prowling the area. Ronan suspected Micah didn’t believe a damn word of it.

          Ron, if the others knew – he let the latter fall, allowing its impending insinuation to settle.

          Ronan rose up higher, leveling a hard, meaningful glare on his Beta. There is nothing to know. He asserted. What I do with my time is my business and mine alone. If you are questioning my loyalty to the pack –

          Micah padded closer, his eyes glinting sharply of their honesty. I have no doubts in your loyalty. You have done right by our pack and I will stand with you. But there are others with wavering loyalties as you know, and they seek to find any fault in you. Nico will find a reason to steal rank.

          He would have to kill me first, something not easily done. Ron felt his beast rouse at the intriguing thought.

          What of the woman?

          He stiffened and kept from peering to the window he had gazed upon moments ago. There was much he needed to turn over and consider, without any interference, especially from the pack.

          The woman knows nothing.

          Micah nudged his head in a curt nod. With that, Ronan ushered him along, eager to get back before dawn. He longed to look back but dared not too. Micah was right, there were traitors among the pack.

**********