The Truth About Kadenburg (3 page)

“He spoke of you often,” the
male continued with a nod. “He thought the world of you.”

Lorcan’s vision was starting to
blur as he felt the first shudder of the oncoming change.
Not yet,
he
warned.
Wait a few minutes….

The man lifted his hand to run
his fingers through short, dark red hair as he kept his hazel hues on Lorcan’s
face. He still made no effort to move closer. Good. That would be a bad
decision on his part.

Lorcan’s eyes darted to look
around the man. He didn’t smell anyone else. Why would one of
them
come back alone? He was either brave or stupid.

Do not start a fight,
the wiser voice in his mind spoke.
Do not stoop to his level. Ursithropes
are peaceful beings.

Lorcan
mentally rolled his eyes as the other man finally took a step forward. The
beast within began to stir with fury as Lorcan released another low growl.

“Don’t take another step,”
Lorcan warned.

The man ignored his warning as
he stepped forward again, his heavy boot crushing a twig in its path as he
moved towards where Liam’s body had been found.

Perfect, he’s stupid and
deaf,
Lorcan muttered in his mind as he felt his incisors beginning to
lower once more. He kept his eyes on the man as he crouched down near the
place where Liam undoubtedly took his last breath. Pain and anger began to
soar through Lorcan’s body as he clenched his teeth, trying to keep his
incisors out of view.

He watched as the man reached
down to pick up a leaf, twirling it between his fingertips as he frowned.
I
hope you feel guilty as hell for what you did,
Lorcan thought as he shifted
his weight, evenly distributing it between his feet as he felt his bones trying
to stretch. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could fight the beast that
pleaded to be released. Every fiber of his being begged to rip the man from
limb to limb.

“He was the most beautiful soul
I’ve ever met,” the man confessed quietly. His voice was so low that it would
have gone unheard by a human, but Lorcan heard it clear as a bell and it made
him hesitate.

He frowned as he watched the
man’s head bow and he was sure he could see his shoulders shaking. Was he
weeping?

“When my alpha found out I was intending
to be with someone not of our kind, he didn’t take it very well,” he
whispered. He didn’t look at Lorcan as he curled his fingers around the leaf
resting in his palm. His eyes remained focused on the ground. Why was this
mutt telling Lorcan his personal problems? He didn’t want to hear them. He
wanted to rip him to shreds.
One of them
had to pay for what they did
to Liam.

“I told Liam that it was too
dangerous,” he continued in an emotional voice. “I was scared of what would
happen to him. I told him…” his voice trailed off then as his head bowed lower
and he lifted his hand to wipe at his eyes.

Lorcan’s body relaxed a little
at a time as his mind attempted to work the puzzle pieces together. The
devastation that radiated from the other male’s body was genuine and for some
unfathomable reason, Lorcan was allowing his self to be strung along. It had
to be a trick. This was some sort of ploy to distract him from the reality of
the situation. A lycanthrope would never mourn the death of an ursithrope. Lorcan
had quickly learned they were natural enemies, no matter what form they were
in.

The man lifted his head then,
gazing straight at Lorcan as the sunlight caught the glistening of a tear
against his cheek. He swallowed hard as he sighed, standing once again as he
kept his eyes on Lorcan.

“I imagined meeting you for the
first time to be very different,” he spoke as his voice broke. Lorcan could
see he was fighting to keep his composure as he extended his hand towards him.

Did he expect Lorcan to shake
it?
He’s crazy,
Lorcan sneered mentally. “Who are you?” Lorcan
demanded, not obliging the handshake.

The other male lowered his hand
then as he licked his lips. “I…Liam never told you about me?”

He almost seemed distraught
that Liam hadn’t mentioned him. But why the hell would his brother talk about
a damn lycan?

Lorcan gave a firm shake of his
head as he frowned. “No. I don’t have any idea who you are,
Wolf
, but
you don’t have any right to be here.”

“I have every right to be
here,” the man responded defensively. “You really don’t know who I am?”

“Hell no, I don’t,” Lorcan stated
between clenched teeth. He was becoming agitated very quickly. He was
beginning to wonder why he hadn’t disemboweled this man yet. It would be
justified for what they’d done to Liam.

The man sighed as he lifted his
hand to run his palm down the length of his face. He chewed his inner cheek
for a second before he spoke again.

“My name is Dimitri Fridolf,” he
extended his hand once more as his eyes stayed on Lorcan’s. “Liam was my
mate.”

Everything that Lorcan thought
he knew up until that very moment suddenly vanished as the color drained from
his face. Everything his father had taught him in the ways of the ursithrope
became null and void as his eyes bore into the hazel hues of the man standing
before him. Some things became confusing while others became clear, and
Lorcan’s entire world turned upside down.

Three

“T
hanks for giving me a chance,” Presley said
as she eased the tray of syrup dispensers onto the counter and then turned to
look at Nana Hettie.

“I’m only doing this for your uncle, Presley. He’s a
good man and he’s done a lot of things for me. I owe him this favor,” she
stared at Presley wearily before she pointed a finger in her direction. “But
you better dot your i’s and cross your t’s because I don’t hesitate on firing
lazy people.”

Presley chewed at her lip for a second before she
picked up an empty dispenser to clean. “Yes, Ma’am,” she nodded.
Sheesh.
Nana Hettie always seemed to be nice to everyone except for Presley, and she
just didn’t understand why that was. Presley hadn’t done anything to her as
far as she knew. Then again, she hadn’t really been the poster child for teenagers
in Kadenburg.

Presley didn’t like to think about how stupid and
reckless her behavior was back then. She had gone through a terrible phase of
wild hormones and the need to rebel against society.
Maybe
she’d done a
few things that tarnished her name, but it wasn’t like she murdered anybody!

The first two hours on the job of being a waitress at
Nana Hettie’s diner passed fairly quickly. The breakfast crowd filed in for
their usual meals-as if they expected Presley to read their minds-and then they
were gone, leaving behind an hour’s worth of messes for her to clean up.

It’s money,
she reminded herself.
The sooner
you save up, the sooner you can get out of here.
She could do this. It
wasn’t so bad. She’d done factory work before and
that
had been bad.
She really admired the people who could do such a repetitive task all day,
every day. Waitressing was definitely the luxury job to have in Kadenburg. It
was the only motivation she needed. The rest of her five hour shift passed in
nearly the blink of an eye and then she was heading out the door.

She didn’t want to head straight back to her Uncle
Arnold’s just yet. The evening was young as far as she was concerned and even
though the town rolled up its streets by 8pm on any given day of the week,
Presley was determined to find somewhere to pass the time.

One drink wouldn’t hurt
, she thought as she pulled
into the parking lot of Jimbo’s. Jimbo’s was the only bar in Kadenburg and
Presley wasn’t a stranger to the smoky atmosphere of drunken men. As soon as
she was legal, she made it a weekend ritual to take up fort in the small
building, shooting pool with men who
thought
they could play, and
listening to the country classics such as Hank Sr. and Johnny Cash. Sometimes,
it was the only thing a girl could find to do when she lived in a hick town.

This is a bad idea,
the more reasonable voice
echoed in her mind.
Don’t rely on old habits.

Presley rolled her eyes, ignoring her own voice of
reason, as she killed the engine and got out of her car, making sure the doors
were locked before she walked towards the entrance. The bright green neon sign
overhead flickered. The ‘J’ was dark-someone needed to fix that. It was only
going to be one drink. That’s all she needed, a little something to help her
relax for the evening. She deserved it after slaving away in the diner anyway,
didn’t she? That was the argument she was going to go with. One drink
wouldn’t hurt anything.

Once she was inside and seated at the bar, Presley
gazed around to see if there was anyone she recognized. Kadenburg was an
extremely small town, but there were still travelers who passed through and
made the bar their home during their stay. She couldn’t imagine why
anyone
would actually
want
to stay there, even for a short amount of time.
Aside from the old drive-in theater, there was nothing else to serve as
entertainment for the locals; let alone people travelling.

When she didn’t see anyone she recognized among the
small crowd of faces, Presley turned her attention back to the bartender who
gave her a big grin.

“Presley Goult, back in town to raise some hell?” He
asked with a chuckle. He placed a cold beer bottle in front of her before he
moved back to the small sink to wash some glasses.

“Who, me?” Presley laughed as she lifted the bottle for
a drink. “Would I do that, Jim?”

The older male turned his head to gaze at her over his
shoulder, shaking his head slowly as he chuckled. “You’ve still got a mighty
prestigious reputation around here, young lady. One that nobody else will ever
live up to.”

Presley took a large sip of her beer, letting it slide
down her throat and pool in her stomach as she winced from his words. She’d
never meant to be as bad as people made her out to be.

Rearrange the drive-in advertisement sign to imply
the mayor prefers beef over taco and everybody thinks you’re a criminal,
she rolled her eyes before she tilted her head back to chug over half the
bottle she had planned on nursing.
Forget it. I’m getting drunk.

It wasn’t her wisest
decision-and she had a whole list of “stupid things Presley shouldn’t do, but
does anyway” stored in the furthest corner of her mind. After three more
beers, she knew she’d crossed the line. She hadn’t had a single drop in nearly
two years. She had been doing
so
well.

“Time to close up,” Jim stated as he turned off the
lights that kept the back part of the building visible. “You need me to give
you a lift home, Presley?”

Presley slowly lifted her gaze to the blurry image
before herself as she laughed lightly. “Nah,” she started. She tossed her hand
into the air, wiggling her fingers. “I think I’ll be okay.”

“Presley,” Jim said more sternly. “You’re three sheets
to the wind, kiddo. You can’t drive home in that shape.”

“I’ve done it before,” she slurred, frowning.

“Well, you’re not going to do it under my watch. I’m
taking you home.”

Presley couldn’t put up much of an argument as Jim
rounded the bar and wrapped an arm around her waist. For an old man, he sure
was strong. He guided her out the front door and then made sure the door
locked before he led her to his jeep. Much like Uncle Arnold’s, it was a
clunker. Apparently no one in Kadenburg ever believed in updating their
vehicles.

“There you go,” Jim said as he eased her down into the
passenger seat. He leaned over her with the seat belt, securing her in place
before he shut the door and made his way to the driver’s side.

Presley was giggling at nothing in particular as she
gazed out the window towards the woods. It was awfully dark. Sometimes she
wondered what it would be like to go out there this late at night; something
her Uncle Arnold had warned her never, ever to do. A mountain lion had been
spotted several times within the past thirty years or so.

A mountain lion,
Presley thought with a frown.
That’s
what killed Liam.
Her uncle Arnold had told her about it on the way home
after running into Lorcan only days before. She still couldn’t believe it.
She couldn’t imagine the pain his family was going through. Even if Mrs. Bamey
didn’t like her, she didn’t like the thought of the woman losing her son.

Her mind wandered over a variety of topics as Jim drove
down the dark road that would eventually lead to her home. She only lived
about five miles out from the main part of town anyway. Kadenburg, in general,
was only ten miles in radius. Sure, there were smaller towns in existence, but
there were much bigger ones, too. She missed Jacksonville.

You do not miss Jacksonville,
her mind screamed
as she frowned.
That idiot lives in Jacksonville, and so do all of those
bad memories.

She didn’t want to be reminded. She didn’t want to
think about that last agonizing week in the Sunshine State. No, she was stuck
in the Volunteer State once again and god, she didn’t want to die there.

“So, are you adjusting to being back home?” Jim asked
as he eased around one of the many curves on Jessen Bend Road. Jessen Bend
Road was the main road that took everyone from one end of Kadenburg to the
other. For a brief moment, Presley wished she was taking it straight back to
the interstate.

Don’t be stupid,
her mind warned. She sighed,
shifting restlessly in her seat as she turned her head to look at him. “I
guess so. Not much has changed around here.”

Jim chuckled again as he eased off the gas pedal,
slowing down a little as they came to a crossing famous for psychotic deer who
had a death wish. Too many cars had been totaled because of the deer that came
running out of the woods and right into the
windshield of passing cars.

“It’s changed a little bit,” Jim offered. “I mean,
shoot, we’ve got ourselves one of those fancy coffee places now.”

A fancy coffee place? Presley was fairly sure that
Mrs. Hodge’s House of Coffee couldn’t count as a ‘fancy’ coffee place. She ran
it on the corner of Bluxom Street, right in the very spot where a poorly
advertised comic book store had once tried to rise to stardom. No one was
interested in comic books anyway, which was a shame.

“I saw that,” she commented with a small grin as she
moved her attention back to the trees as they passed by in a blur. Everything
was blurry at the moment. She wasn’t even sure how she was holding a coherent
conversation if she was going to be honest with herself.

“Let’s listen to some music, huh?” Jim asked as he
leaned over to turn the small knob on the stereo. It was such an old jeep.
The stereo had a cassette player for cripes sake.

Presley closed her eyes, allowing familiar country
crooner to coax her into a sudden sleep. She rested her forehead against the
cool glass of the window as Jim’s voice became distant in her mind.

The sudden shout of surprise from Jim and then the
screeching of tires had Presley’s head snapping up in an instant as she turned
to see the look of fear on the man’s face.

“Hold on!” Jim cried as he slammed his foot on the
brake and jerked the wheel to the right, hard.

Presley had no idea what was going on. Her body was
overwhelmed by panic and fear as the front of the jeep broke through the guardrail
on the side of the road, sending the jeep down the bumpy mountain side at fifty
miles an hour.

Presley squeezed her eyes shut as she silently prayed.
This couldn’t be happening. She wasn’t even sure how long she’d been asleep
and there was a good chance they hadn’t passed by Jessen River yet.

Oh god, don’t let that fear become a reality,
she pleaded as she gripped the dashboard until her knuckles turned white.

“Hold on,” Jim repeated as he pumped the brake again.
“Shoot. I think the brakes are gone.”

“What?” Presley squeaked as she turned her head to look
at him again with widened eyes. This wasn’t happening! She hadn’t really
meant it when she said she’d die in this town. She wanted to take the
statement back before it was too late.

“Oh shit..Hold on, Presley!”

Presley turned to gaze through the windshield again as
she saw the clearing ahead, and most importantly what was just past it.
The
River.

“Oh god no,” Presley whispered
as she shut her eyes tightly.

Her life suddenly flashed in front of her like a vivid
film. She felt like she was in an empty movie theater with her life on the
screen. All she could see was her Uncle Arnold and his smiling face. When he
taught her to tie her shoes; when he taught her to ride a bike; her first day
of school. She could see Lorcan sitting the third row back on the bus and Liam
right behind him. They were both grinning at her as she made her way past them
to sit in the fifth row.

Lorcan turned in his seat to peer back at her, his
smile only growing bigger. “Hi. I’m Lorcan. What’s your name?”

But just as quickly as she heard herself saying hi back
to him, the images fast forwarded to junior high. Her first real dance with
Curtis Woodley. Man, she’d had such a crush on him. Westlife’s “Swear It
Again” echoed in her mind as she stood by the punch bowl and waited for his
return while he was in the bathroom. Lorcan appeared then, dressed in a nice
blue dress shirt and a black tie as he smiled and offered his hand to her.
“Want to dance with me?” He asked.

She was flung forward again, this time to only two
months back. She was in the bathroom of her apartment that she shared with Tim
and she was smiling so wide it made her face hurt. She could remember that.
She was holding something in her hands as she picked up the phone to call her
boyfriend.

“It’s positive!” she shouted with joy.

Then she was thrown into the darkest part of her
memory, sitting on a hospital bed with her arms hugged tight around herself as
the doctor patted her shoulder gently. “I’m sorry,” he said. “There’s nothing
I can do to stop it.”

Presley wanted to get as far away from that memory as
she could. She could feel herself clawing at the images, needing them to
disappear from her mind as pain surged through her wrist. She cried out as she
heard glass breaking and simultaneously she could see the images of her life
ripping apart. There was nothing left but darkness.