Feral Awakening (The Feral Series-Book 2) (3 page)

 Kat woke up the next
morning feeling like she had barely slept. Her night had been filled with
nightmares of monsters chasing her again, robbing her of her sleep. She figured
the latest round of nightmares may be due to Ava’s disappearance. Shaking off
the images of flashing fangs and slashing claws she tucked her legs up under
her quilt. With a deep sigh of appreciation she inhaled the steam rising from
her coffee cup and took a sip, waiting for the caffeine to clear the cobwebs in
her mind. Several sips of coffee later her stomach grumbled loudly, protesting
that she had given it nothing but coffee so far.

 With a groan she
untangled her legs and headed inside to the kitchen. For some reason she was
starving this morning so she decided to make herself three eggs instead of her
usual two. She cracked the speckled brown eggs into the frying pan and marveled
at the dark golden orange of her homegrown eggs. She didn’t really have time
for livestock on her little farm but she did have six chickens and a couple
barn cats for chasing mice.

 She just didn’t have
time for much else what with the shop and taking care of an old farm by herself.
It was funny really, keeping chickens was even starting to catch on in the city
and seemed to be part of the latest pet craze. She could understand though, the
chickens really didn’t need much and were easy to take care of. She would just
lock them up at night and let them back out in the morning. Fresh food and
water and they were happy girls. She had named them all after famous people. Cher
was the black one and Reba the red, Brittany was the buff. She got a kick out
of watching them peck around the yard and the fresh eggs were amazing.

 Done with breakfast
Kat brushed her teeth, washed her face and threw on a pair of old jeans and
t-shirt. Walking towards the front door she grabbed her old barn coat off of
the hook next to the door. She was going into work late today so she had some
time to work on a few projects out in the barn. First she needed to head over
to the chicken coop and let the girls out though. They got mad at her if she
waited too long.

 Closing the front door
behind her she headed across the yard towards the old red barn. The coop sat
next to it with a small fenced in yard around it. As she got closer to the
coop, Kat’s steps slowed. Why did it look like some of the girls were already
out? Had she forgot to lock them up last night? Confused at what she was
seeing, Kat picked up the pace and hurried towards the coop.

 Kat stood at the
little fence with her hand over her mouth in shock. “Oh my god! They are all
dead!” Flinging open the gate to the chicken coop she crouched down next to one
of the little birds. With a gasp of horror she stood up and stumbled back from
the bundle of feathers. Little Cher’s head was missing. For several moments she
just stood and stared at the carnage before her. “What would do something like
this!?”

 Coming out of her
shock, Kat walked over to examine the door of the coop. The whole coop door was
missing! Looking around the yard she spotted it several feet away, ripped off
its hinges. “Oh, my god. What the hell happened?” Chicken’s often fell prey to
predators, that’s why they had to be locked up at night. There were many wild
animals that would love to make a meal out of her chickens. So what kind of
predator would have killed them but not eaten a single one? All six of the
birds were still here. What kind of animal could have pulled the door off and yet
didn’t eat any of the birds?

 With tears of anger
blurring her vision Kat walked around the chicken yard looking for foot prints
or anything that might give her a clue about the animal that did this but found
nothing.

 With a growl of
frustration she gave up and headed to the barn to get a shovel. She couldn’t
very well leave the birds where they were. She would bury the girls together
next to the garden. Poor babies. Tears blinded her as she stormed to the barn.

Taking off her muddy
work shoes on the front porch, Kat gave up on working in the barn today and headed
to her bedroom to change into some running clothes. She was pissed off and
needed to let off some steam. Her movements were jerky as she yanked off her
jeans and changed into her favorite leggings and sports bra. Zipping up her
jogging hoodie she put on her trail running shoes and grabbed her MP3 player.

 Reaching into the top
drawer of her dresser she pulled out a large canister of mace that she rarely
felt the need to take with her and stomped her way to the front door. Her blood
boiled with her anger and she felt overwhelmed by it. The energy that seemed to
simmer just below the surface of her skin these days flared to life. Her cheeks
flushed with heat and the energy radiating from her core roared for an outlet. So
far, running was the only thing that seemed to calm her when she got like this.

 Turning towards her
favorite trail in the woods Kat placed the ear buds in her ears and turned her
music on. She started running before she even got to the trail. Breaking
through the brush, Kat’s shoes pounded the dirt underneath them. Jumping over
the occasional tree root and dodging branches she ran through the woods. Kat
had always loved to run but here lately she
needed
it. She had started
trail running a year or two ago. The first few miles of the trail were fairly
level with just a few hills and Kat could feel her muscles warming up and
settling into a familiar pace.

 The woods surrounding
her little house had been one of the reasons she had bought it. She loved being
surrounded by nature and loved the privacy she had. She had a bit of a drive to
get to work but it was worth it. Her property bordered acres and acres of
forest and she had explored quite a bit of it. She usually zoned out while she
ran but today thoughts of her missing friend Ava and visions of her mutilated chickens
ran through her mind.

 Tapping into the
restless energy that burned through her body Kat pushed herself a little bit
faster. Tears of anger and frustration began to run down her cheeks. Ava’s
disappearance dredged up painful memories of her mom’s disappearance too. She
hated feeling so useless. She had checked in with the police but there had been
so many cases of missing persons lately they were spread too thin to devote
much time to Ava’s case. Both Ava and her mom were gone and there was nothing
that she could do about it. Nothing she could do to bring them back.

 With a yell she jumped
the tiny creek bubbling in front of her instead of picking her way across the
rocks like she usually did. The muscles in her legs burned as she pushed
herself even harder. Her breaths came out in harsh puffs and she poured her
anger into the run. She had to burn out the anger and frustration before it
consumed her. Attacking the hill that rose before her, Kat didn’t slow down and
pace herself like she usually did but instead pushed through the added resistance
of the hill. She didn’t care if she had any energy left to finish the trail
with, all that mattered was right now.

 Little by little Kat
began to feel lighter. The restless energy inside of her lowered to a simmer
instead of a boil. Easing her pace to a more controlled speed Kat began to breathe
easier. She could feel her body begin to tire as she neared the end of the
trail.

 Breaking through the trees
she walked to the middle of her yard and dropped to her knees in the soft
grass. Closing her eyes she tilted her face to the sky and took deep calming
breaths. Awareness slowly returned to her. Looking around the yard in surprise
she glanced at her watch. That couldn’t be right. How could she possibly be at
the end of the trial already? It didn’t make sense. Even on her fastest day a
five mile run like that usually took her just under an hour.

 Kat looked at her
sports watch again and tapped at the glass. She had just done it in less than thirty.
“What the hell? That can’t be right. Stupid watch.” Rising to her feet she
headed back to the house. Maybe Patrick was right, maybe she needed a vacation.
Sweaty and flushed from her run she started to strip out of her hoodie and
t-shirt as she walked. The cool fall air felt good on her over-heated skin. What
a terrible day, she may as well take a shower and get ready for work. 

 Dark glowing eyes
watched her as she pulled her clothing off, baring her pale skin and revealing
the swell of her breast above the black sports bra. His female had clearly
enjoyed the present he had left for her. He could almost taste the anger
pouring off of her as she ran through the woods and he wanted to howl with glee.

 He had barely
restrained himself from chasing her as she ran. The only thing stopping him was
that he didn’t
want
to catch her yet. Instead he had followed her at a
distance, stalking his tiny prey. Even in her anger he could feel her presence
calming him. His nostrils flared as he drew in her scent. His female’s scent
surrounded him and he could feel his body harden in response.

 His hunger for her was
growing to an unbearable level and he savored the feeling. For so long he had been
incapable of feeling anything but his rage. The rage had consumed him and he
reveled in the power of it. It gave him unimaginable strength and fueled his
beast. The rage was all that he needed, that was until he had scented his mate.
The little female awoke feelings he had buried long ago along with his dark
soul. Soon he would claim her. For now though he would savor the hunt.

 The bottom of the box
Kat carried through the storeroom suddenly gave out, dumping the contents
inside onto the concrete floor and sending parts rolling to the far corners of
the room. With a fierce curse she sent the remnants of the box flying across
the room before stomping away from the mess at her feet. Patrick of course came
running to see what the loud crash was and was just in time to see Kat pick up
one of the tools off the work table and zing it across the room in a rage.

 With a girly squeal
Patrick ducked his head as the screw driver imbedded itself in the plaster wall
about a foot away from his head.

 “Kat! Have you lost
your mind?” Patrick screeched at her.

 Realizing what she had
done, Kat stared in shock at the protruding screw driver and then hurried over
to Patrick.

 “Oh my god! Patrick! I’m
so sorry.”

 “That’s it Kat! You
have been stomping around here scaring off customers for days and now you
almost speared me with a screw driver. Girl, you are freaking me out. You have
been a mess for days. This just isn’t you. I don’t know from one minute to the
other if you will be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. I don’t want you in here tomorrow.
You need to take a few days off. This is getting ridiculous.”

 “But Patrick…”

 “No! That’s it. Go to
a spa. Go get drunk. Go get laid. I don’t care but you have to get control of
yourself.”

 “Are you kicking me
out of my own shop?” Kat fumed at her friend.

 “Kat honey, it’s not
like that and you know it.” Patrick walked over to her and wrapped his arms
around her stiff shoulders. “Sweetie, look at me. We have been friends for a
long time and this just isn’t you. I know loosing Ava has been hard on you. It’s
been hard on both of us but I know that your history with your mom makes it
that much harder. Take a few days off to get your head on straight. Cause girl
if you don’t, I’m liable to knock it on straight for you.”

 With that Kat broke
into a teary chuckle. God she was tired of the emotional roller coaster she had
been on. “Okay, your right, maybe I should take a break. What about the shop
though?”

 Patrick waved off her
concerns with a flutter of his hand. “Girl don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll call
my cousin to come help me out for a little while. Everything will be fine.”

 Patrick headed back
out into the shop while Kat knelt down and started to pick up the mess she had
made. With a heavy heart she picked up broken pieces of an antique lamp. Well,
she had finally done it. Even Patrick was tired of her bad attitude.

 The sun had just
started to set as Kat put a couple of boxes into her truck. She thought she
might work on some new pieces while she was grounded from the shop. Benji had
shown up again tonight and she could feel him watching her as she loaded her
truck. Kat knocked the tailgate dust off of her button down shirt dress and
centered the skinny leather belt again while sneaking another peek at Benji.

 She wondered what his
story was. Kat knew that her “vision” was both a blessing and a sickness. She
had a way of looking at everything as though there was potentially something
beautiful hidden underneath. Dark stringy hair hung over his eyes and a full, grizzly,
beard covered his face. It was hard to tell what he would look like underneath
all the hair.

 Maybe he was a war
veteran, maybe even a hero with post-traumatic stress syndrome. Maybe he had
seen so many horrors he could no longer function in the real world. Maybe he
had been a happily married white collar man who had lost his wife and kids in a
horrible accident. Maybe… maybe she needed to stop romanticizing about Benji’s
past. Maybe he was some kind of escaped murder. Yep, Kat’s overly active
imagination was in full gear but she couldn’t seem to help herself. Again, it
was a blessing and a curse.