Chapter 6 #2
Unlacing my skates, I trekked up the steep hillside barefooted and sat at the top affectionately termed the “crow’s nest”.
The popular spot was worn from years of foot traffic from both staff and teenagers alike, sneaking a free movie.
I popped a squat a few feet back from the edge as I devoured my fries while I listened to the film.
Enjoying the cool breeze drifting by, I reveled in how perfect a summer night it was.
Man, it was beautiful up here. It was almost the full moon, and the sky was clear and bright.
As I was sipping my coke, something caught my attention. A peculiar smell, mixed with an inner alarm bell, made me pause and glance around. I didn’t see anything, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Getting to my feet, I dusted off my rear end. I had ten minutes left to my break, but I no longer wanted to be here alone. Just as I was about to go back to work, someone stepped out of the trees and blocked my exit.
He was a big man. Massive, actually. I recognized him from the other night at Chubs.
Kane, Ace had called him. I also remembered how concerned the president of the Night Stalkers had been when he’d turned up with his friends.
Combined with what Kelsey had said earlier, this “chance” second meeting didn’t bode well for me.
Icy fingers of dread skittered down my spine as my primitive brain, the one we all had left over from when the world was nothing but fear and danger, registered him as a threat.
There was no way I could just run around him either.
The hillside was too steep, and he was too big, easily blocking my path.
What were they feeding these insanely large bikers, by the way?
Whole sides of beef? Geez, he must have been six-three and two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle.
His blond hair was knotted at the top in some intricate braids while the rest was shaved to the skin on the sides like a Viking from a bygone era.
Needless to say, this imposing man gave me the shivers.
And not in the good kind of way, either.
“Hey there, Kitty Cat,” Kane greeted, his deep voice passing over me like an oily residue. “Where do you think you’re going?”
His cold blue stare held me in thrall as I willed myself to run. However, I knew if I ran, this apex predator would give chase, and he would catch me. Of that, I had no doubt.
Staying still, I tried to compose myself before I fibbed and said, “I’m going back to work. My boss is texting me that they’re swamped with customers and need me back from my break early.” I hoped my lie carried a note of truth alongside my obvious fear.
“I bet you’re a terrible poker player,” Kane accused in a roundabout way, taking several steps forward before I’d even realized he’d moved.
There was something so unnaturally stealthy about the man that it made me horribly uneasy. He gave me the impression of a creature out of a dark fairy tale that lurked under your bed at night, just waiting for the lights to go out to finally show himself.
Without his hard aura, he might have been an attractive man. But because of how predatory he was, Kane came off more creepy than anything.
“I’m not lying,” I stammered, forcing some steel into my words as well as my spine. “He’s going to come looking for me if I don’t show back up or respond to his texts. I’ve got to go.”
Kane made a tutting sound as he maneuvered even closer. “I’ve been watching you for a while, Cat. You haven’t touched your phone. You’ve been intently watching the movie. Your boss isn’t looking for you. You’re just looking for an excuse to leave.”
Could you blame me? This man was straight-up nightmare fuel. He really couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to stick around and chat after he’d been lurking in the woods and spying on me? If all that wasn’t bad enough, the first time we’d met hadn’t gone any better.
Deciding that acting like a scared little animal wasn’t helping me any, I changed tack then. I might have to fake being brave, but you know what they say: fake it till you make it. I was willing to give it a try, if it meant coming out of this sketchy situation unscathed.
“Look, Kane, that’s your name, right?” I checked, trying to do the unthinkable and speak reason to the insane.
The man’s face lit up for a second and he almost looked human. Almost. “So, you do remember me. Good, because I can’t stop thinking about you, Cat. Or the way you smell.”
He did the equivalent of scenting the air, like a hound might do to track his quarry.
The act was somehow both unsettling and vulgar at the same time.
It had a note of sensuality to it. Not just like he was smelling my perfume or my shampoo.
It was like he was smelling me. The most intimate part of me. My inner essence.
Suddenly, I remembered he’d said something about my smell that night outside the bar, too.
I’d had a few drinks, so I thought I’d misheard him.
But now I knew I hadn’t. To put some much needed distance between us, I took a tentative step back.
I had to be careful though, because if I went much further, I could tumble down this steep hill and really injure myself.
“Look, Kane, I don’t know what you want out of this conversation, but it’s not happening,” I carefully warned.
“Is that so?” He taunted, his intense blue gaze seeming to glow in the dark. “Why not?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and unsuccessfully tried to stop the shiver coursing through me.
“Because you showed up at my work, after getting into a fight with my friend,” I paused, not sure how to categorize my relationship with Ace.
After all, we’d known each other for less than ten minutes before we’d been interrupted.
I wasn’t about to confess how I still lusted after the biker to this bizarrely intense man for any amount of money in the world.
“Then, you stalk me from the woods, comment on my body odor, and refuse to let me go back to work. All of which is making me really uncomfortable.”
Kane grinned like he’d just been complimented. If I didn’t already know he was insane, that alone would have sealed the deal. The man was completely unhinged.
“You don’t know,” he said with a bit of awe, that same smile pulling up the corners of his cruel mouth. “He never told you.”
I didn’t know what the hell he was going on about, but it was best to keep him talking because at least then he wasn’t assaulting me. “Know what?”
Kane asked another question instead of answering mine. “Are you feeling more energized lately? Sleeping less?” He tossed a look at the empty carton of fries in my hand. “Eating more?”
Ok, was this guy hitting on me or calling me names?
What a weirdo. Now I was pissed. This must be the famous “negging” I’d heard women talking so much about.
When guys try to shoot down your self-esteem so that they actually have a shot with you.
Jokes on him. My self-esteem would never be so low as to accept a date from this mouth-breather!
“What the hell is with all these personal questions?” I demanded, anger suddenly overcoming my fear.
Close enough now to reach out and touch me, Kane tilted his head like a dog who’d heard a high-pitched noise that was inaudible to everyone else. “I can see that he didn’t. What a fool. To leave his little prize ignorant and unattended. Ace is going to live to regret that.”
I knew this man was crazy, but what the heck did his fixation with Ace have to do with me?
“Is that what this is about? Are you jealous of the guy or something? Look, I’m not interested in being the bone the two of you fight over.
I’m not even with Ace. We’d only just met the night you showed up at Chubs.
If you want to get to him, I’m telling you now, I’m a poor choice of weapons. ”
Kane’s face hardened faster than quick set concrete at my blunt words. “I’d never be jealous of a Night Stalker.”
Okay, I guess I miscalculated how much the two clubs despised one another.
Telling Kane he was jealous of Ace had been an exceptionally poor choice on my part.
It seemed to make the biker even more cold and detached from reality than he already was.
An impressive feat, given the man was already the human equivalent of the Arctic.
“I’ve got to get back to work,” I reminded him, hoping I sounded bored, and not terrified, like I actually was.
Kane, pressing his advantage, came toe to toe with me then. His hands locked down on my shoulders and he leaned in so closely I could smell his cologne.
No, not cologne. His personal scent. It wasn’t unpleasant, per se, just not to my liking. Kind of sweet, though it held a bitter note, like burned sugar, which turned me off completely.
Because the biker was so tall, he blocked out the moon behind us by looming over me with his hulking frame. His nose trailed slowly along the column of my neck as I helplessly shuddered at his unprovoked touch.
“Fuck me!” he purred, his own body beginning to tremble. Not with fear, but unspent lust. “You’re the best smelling omega I’ve ever met. I want to roll in your scent and get it all over me.”
There was that word again. “Omega”. He’d said that to Ace outside the bar, and now he’d used it again in reference to me. What the hell did it mean? Why did he keep using it in regard to my scent?
In a sudden burst of bravery, and a healthy dose of self-preservation, I shoved against the man’s rock-hard chest with all my strength. To my utter disbelief, he didn’t even budge an inch. Was this man made out of stone or something?