Triumph: Wolves of Gypsum Creek (A Paranormal Romance Story) Read online

  Jessie nodded, then said, “Danny, I need to talk to you outside.”

  Danny's heart sank; now would come the lecture and yelling he’d been waiting for all night. It was a bit of a relief not to have to worry about when it was coming any longer. “I’ll see you later,” he said to Kara, then followed Jessie outside.

  Jessie headed straight for the barn, and Danny had to run a little bit to catch up with him. When they got inside, he flipped on the light and pointed to the bushel baskets of produce stacked everywhere. “We’re going to load these tonight so that I can get an early start in the morning.”

  Danny's heart sank. “I thought I was going to go to Marshall,” he said, trying not to sound like a whining child.

  Jessie turned and looked at him. “You have a guest, in case you’ve forgotten. I’ll handle the produce; you see to it that Kara’s car gets fixed, and fast.”

  Danny wanted to protest, to suggest that Kara could come with him, but he kept his mouth shut. It took them almost an hour to load the truck, an hour in which Jessie didn’t speak a single word, and he wasn’t sure that it wouldn’t have been better if he’d yelled.

  “I’ll be gone before dawn tomorrow, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. While I’m gone, you can clean the barn and the outbuildings,” Jessie said after they’d loaded the last basket.

  Danny wanted to laugh, wanted to tell Jessie that he’d been sure that barn cleaning was in his future, but didn’t dare. Jessie wouldn’t find it funny, and the last thing he wanted to do was make him angrier, so he just nodded his head and headed for his room.

  It wasn’t long before he heard Sophie’s voice. “I think you’ll be comfortable enough up here,” she said, then he heard footsteps on the stairs to the upper floor of the barn.

  “Thank you. I really am sorry I caused so much trouble. I was just trying to fulfill a promise I made,” Kara said.

  There was a long silence, then Sophie said, “Jessie’s been through a lot. The people that live around here don’t care for him much. He’s been alone most of his life, so having people here has been an adjustment for him, but don’t worry, he’ll come around; just give him some time.”

  Their voices faded, and he heard the door of the upstairs room open, then close. He walked over to his bed and sat down, his mind spinning with all that had happened that day. When he’d made the choice to leave his family and friends to move up here, he’d never dreamed that it would become so complicated so quickly.

  For a second, he thought that he should have just left Kara stranded in town, should never have brought her up here. But then he remembered how scared and sad she’d looked standing next to her car and knew that he’d had no choice. He tried to tell himself that he would have done the same for anyone but knew that it wasn’t true.

  He’d brought her up here because he wanted to be close to her, couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her in town to sleep in her car. She’d awoken something deep inside him, something primal and wonderful, something he couldn’t just ignore.

  But his selfishness had hurt the one person he would never want to hurt. Jessie had been treated unfairly for most of his life, and now he’d added to that, reminding him of the mother who hadn’t wanted him. Promising himself that he’d push Jack to get Kara’s car fixed, he climbed into bed knowing that he’d lose something when she left, but that it was the right thing to do.

  ***Kara***

  Kara woke to bright sunlight streaming into the little room Sophie had given her the night before. They’d sat together in the cabin for a long time, neither speaking, but Kara knew that there were things that should be said, that she should try to explain.

  Finally, she couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “I’m sorry I upset Jessie so much. I didn’t realize that it would hurt him,” she said, thinking about the woman who had been her mother.

  She had only good memories of the woman who had been her mother, a woman who had loved and protected her all her life. If she’d been angry with her at first when she discovered she had brothers she’d never met, she’d understood when her mother had finally told her the whole story.

  The anger had quickly faded when it became clear that her mother had regretted her decision for her entire life, that the one thing that haunted her was the boys she’d given away. She’d understood that giving them away was the only way to save them from a horrible life, a life of running and hiding, the life she’d been living.

  At least here, Jessie had been able to live free and grow up; although she wasn’t sure where her other brother was, she was sure that he was close. Part of her wanted to go looking for him, but she was too scared to take that step; he might be even angrier than Jessie.

  She wished she could make them understand that whatever they’d been through here in Gypsum Creek was nothing compared to what she’d been through in the last two years. But that was something she’d never be able to make them understand, she could see that now, and that meant that the help she was looking for wasn’t here.

  “He just doesn’t do well with strangers, and then when you brought up his mother, well, you just have to understand that it’s an old wound that might never heal,” Sophie had answered after a long pause.

  Kara nodded, “I’ll leave as soon as my car is fixed.”

  Sophie reached over and patted her hand. “He might come around; give him some time. I think it might be good for him to talk to you, but he’ll have to come to you on his own. Now, I think its time we all got some sleep. It looks like they’re done loading the truck. I’ll show you the room in the barn.”

  Sophie had made her promise to come over to the cabin for breakfast the next morning, but now she wasn’t sure she was ready to see Sophie again. What she really wanted to do was get in her car and drive away, take her chances with Sebastian; even that sounded better than all the trouble she was causing.

  But then she remembered that Jessie was going to be gone all day, and her stomach was growling. She tried to clean herself up a little, but there wasn’t much she could do since they’d left all her stuff in her car. Looking in the little mirror in the bathroom, she decided that she looked as good as could and headed down the stairs.

  She could hear someone in the barn as soon as she opened the door and her heart began to pound in her chest. Worried that she might find Jessie downstairs, she took the steps slowly, bracing herself for the sight of him.

  But it was only Danny; he was in one of the stalls, a pitch-fork in his hand. When he saw her, he set it down and came toward her, a smile on his face. “Good morning, hope I didn’t wake you.”

  Kara shook her head, “No, I didn’t even know you were here until I came out of my room.”

  Danny gestured to the big pile of dirty straw in the middle of the barn. “My punishment,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, feeling even worse.

  “It’s okay, I probably would have ended up doing some of it anyway,” he said, grinning at her and for a second, she thought she felt a stab of desire deep inside her.

  She pushed it away, knowing that it was probably only gratitude. Danny was certainly not the kind of man she was usually attracted to, and he was just a kid, probably barely out of high school.

  “I guess I should check on my car. Jack didn’t say how long it would take to fix it, and I need a few things out of it. A change of clothes and a toothbrush would be nice,” she said, hoping he’d offer to go with her.

  He got that funny look on his face again. “I’d go with you, but I have all of this to do. There’s a trail on the other side of the garden that will take you right into town.”

  Kara tried to hide her disappointment, a bit surprised at just how disappointed she was. “Oh, okay. Maybe you could show me the trail, so I don’t take the wrong one, but first I have to go see Sophie.”

  “That’s a deal. I’ll be right here,” Danny said, then picked up the pitch-fork and went back to work.

  As she walked to
the cabin, Kara realized again that she was far more disappointed than she should have been that Danny wasn’t coming with her. She was only mildly worried about getting lost; after all, she’d spent plenty of time in the mountains all over the country.

  One of her favorite ways to avoid Sebastian and his men when they got too close was to head for the mountains. Sometimes she’d spend weeks camped out in remote locations, sleeping in a tent and cooking over an open fire. She’d learned to catch her own food, how to navigate difficult trails, so hiking down into town was no big deal.

  After turning other reasons over and over in her mind, she came to the only conclusion she could. She was attracted Danny; just thinking about him made her heart beat a little bit faster, and a tingle erupt deep inside her. Shocked at the depth of her feelings after only having known him for a day, she pushed them away, knowing that in only a few days, she’d be gone.

  Chapter Five

  ***Danny***

  Danny watched Kara walk down the trail, feeling guilty for making her go alone, but the idea of going into town again made his stomach hurt. Talking to Jack had been easy; he’d been part of the group who wanted to help Jessie defend his home. But George, his former boss, mayor, and sheriff was also in town, and he just wasn’t ready for a confrontation with him.

  Of all the people who seemed to either hate or fear Jessie, George was the loudest, and siding with him would make Danny one of his least favorite people now. It was cowardly to avoid George, but he just wasn’t ready to see the hate in the eyes of a man he’d once thought of as an uncle.

  He understood why George hated Jessie, had heard the stories of what he’d done to the store all those years ago. But he’d always thought that George’s reaction was too extreme, that there was something else going on. He’d picked up on it a few times when they’d been talking about Jessie and werewolves, had felt an unnamed emotion under his words.

  But it didn’t matter why George hated Jessie: he did, and now he’d hate Danny as well. That was when he realized that they’d sent Kara back to town without a warning, without telling her that it would be better not to mention where she’d been staying.

  He was tempted to run after her, to give her that warning, but felt sure that Sophie would have done so. Strangers were never welcome in Gypsum Creek, and when the town found out that she was staying with Jessie, it might not be a pleasant experience for Kara.

  Hoping that Sophie had warned her, he headed for the cabin, knowing that until he knew for sure, he wouldn’t be able to work. He found Sophie outside hanging clothes on the line in the sunshine; when she saw him, she waved and gestured for him to come over.

  As soon as he got close enough for her to hear him, he asked, “Did you warn Kara about the people in town? You know what people are going to say when they find out she’s staying with us up here.”

  Sophie nodded. “I told her that strangers aren’t very welcome, but I didn’t really explain any more than that.”

  Danny looked at her shocked. “We just let her go down there totally unprepared. People are going to talk, Sophie; they’re going to tell her all kinds of lies about us. She probably won’t come back.”

  Sophie stopped what she was doing and turned to face him. “I’m aware that it’s a possibility,” she said, “but she came here to fulfill a promise she made to her mother, and I think she’ll come back as long as there’s a chance Jessie will talk to her.”

  Danny shook his head. “He made it very clear last night that he wasn’t going to. She knows that.”

  Sophie picked up one of Jessie’s shirts and hung it on the line. “I think given some time, he won’t be able to resist talking to her. I think he wants to know about his mother; I think he’s thought about her more than he’s letting on.”

  “Is he still angry with me?” Danny asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

  “A little, but he’ll get over it,” Sophie said, smiling at him. “Now don’t you have a barn to clean? Kara will be fine one way or the other. If she comes back, we’ll handle that, and if not, well then, whatever she came to say will go away with her.”

  Danny felt an acute sense of loss when he realized that he might never see Kara again. “That’s easy for you to say,” he said under his breath and headed for the barn.

  Sophie watched him go, a smile on her face; it didn’t take a genius to see that Danny had a crush on Kara. She wasn’t sure it was a good idea, wasn’t sure that Kara understood what she’d walked into when she’d come home with Danny.

  But she’d sensed something in the young woman that spoke to her of strength, the kind of strength that came from surviving under difficult circumstances. She knew deep down that there was more to Kara’s story than she was telling, something she was hiding. It both worried and intrigued her, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

  ***Kara***

  Kara followed the path down the mountain, thinking that she could get used to these mountains. Compared to the Rocky Mountains, they were just rolling hills, but they were no less beautiful. Fall had sprinkled some color into the otherwise green landscape, and the reds, yellows, and oranges stood out.

  The air was tinged with the smell of moisture, and she longed to experience it fully, so, for the first time in a long time, she let her gift flow through her unchecked. As her senses intensified, she let the forest envelop her, let the sound and smells penetrate deeply.

  She’d always felt more comfortable in places like this, away from the cramped spaces of the city, where she could roam freely. It rarely happened that she could stay long, usually just long enough for the full moon to do its magic and then she’d have to seek out a city again.

  Thanks to her mother, she’d long ago learned to control her impulses during a full moon. Her mother had taught her that control, had given her all the love and support she’d never been able to give her sons. Thanks to her, other than a brief time with Sebastian when she’d been under his control, she’d never harmed anyone when she became a werewolf.

  Thinking about Sebastian brought her abruptly back to where she was and why. Shutting down her gift, she headed back down the trail; she’d wasted enough time already. It was going to be weeks until the moon was full, and she’d be long gone by then, wouldn’t be able to experience a shift in this wonderful place.

  When the trail dumped her into town, she was standing across the street from the garage, and the first thing she saw was her car parked out front. Not sure if that was a good sign or a bad one, she crossed the street and walked into the office. Jack was sitting behind the counter on a stool, an overflowing ashtray at his elbow.

  He was talking on the phone, but when he saw her, he quickly ended the conversation. “Looks like you survived your night up on Swensen’s mountain,” he said, with a grin that was more like a leer.

  Trying not to let the disgust show on her face, she asked, “How is my car? Is it fixed?”

  Jack looked at her for a minute, letting his eyes roam over her body, “Well, it’s definitely your radiator hose; everything else looks fine.”

  Kara breathed a sigh of relief, “Is it fixed?”

  “Now there’s where we run into some trouble,” Jack said, getting to his feet and coming around to stand next to her. He pointed to her car, “What you’ve got there is an old car and the problem with old cars is that it’s hard to get parts.”

  Kara’s heart sank, “You can’t find one?”

  “Oh, I’ll find it,” Jack said, flashing her a big grin. “It’s just a matter of how long it’s going to take me. You might be here in town for a while. I put the word out a few hours ago, should be hearing back from my suppliers in an hour or so.”

  Kara was beginning to feel uncomfortable, and the last thing she wanted to do was sit in the smelly office with Jack for the next hour. “I think I’ll go explore the town,” she said, backing away from him.

  Jack gave her another big smile. “That shouldn’t take long, but if you’re interested, there’s
a soda fountain in the back of the store. I’m sure George would love to meet you,” Jack said.

  Kara stepped out of the office and took a breath of fresh air; there had been something slightly menacing about Jack’s words, but she couldn’t see the harm in visiting the store. She wondered who George was, and why he’d want to meet her, and for a second, she thought about just going back up the mountain.

  But in the end, she turned right and headed toward the store. When she walked through the door and the little bell jangled, she smiled at the welcoming sound. A man came out of the back of the store a smile on his face, but when he saw her, the smile disappeared and his eyes filled with curiosity.

  “You must be the little lady who owns that old car over at Jack’s; heard you had some trouble out on the main road,” he said, walking over and holding out his hand. “I’m George: mayor, store owner, and sheriff.”

  Kara held out her hand, feeling a strange sense of recognition when she looked at George. He reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite place who it was. “It’s nice to meet you, George; I’m Kara,” she said, shaking his hand.

  “So, what brings you in?” he asked, walking behind the counter. “I heard you were staying up on Swensen’s mountain.”

  Kara was surprised that word had spread so fast and could only stare at George wondering what else people had been saying. He laughed and said, “Word travels fast in a small town like this one; people don’t have a lot to do. Tell you what, I’ll make you a soda and you can tell me all about you.”

  She wasn’t wild about the idea of talking about herself, but a soda did sound good. “I’ll take that soda, and maybe you can tell me about Gypsum Creek,” she offered, hoping he was one of those people who liked to talk.