Unknown Touch

Unknown Touch

Werewolf Series - Book One

by

Gina Marie Long

Black Rose Writing

www.blackrosewriting.com

© 2009 by Gina Marie Long

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

The final approval for this literary material is granted by the author.

First printing

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISBN: 978-0-9825542-5-8

PUBLISHED BY BLACK ROSE WRITING

www.blackrosewriting.com

Printed in the United States of America

Unknown Touch
is printed in 12-point Times New Roman

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD

Werewolves...they just don't get enough credit or attention quite like vampires do. Now don't take me wrong - I have no problem with vampires, the good ones, of course. As a matter of fact, I even know several of those mesmerizing vampires and consider a few to be close friends. Most of them mean no harm to the average human being. Some have accomplished miraculous deeds throughout the centuries. But, stories about werewolves just aren't as popular or common. Most are pictured as dirty, hairy, evil, snarling beasts that want to rip your throat out then savagely feast on your body. Sadly, that is true for some of the uncivilized werewolves who have struggled to find a balance in this modern world and slipped to the dark side. I have personally come to know many well-mannered, gentle and caring werewolves that just want to blend in with society. Of course, they do occasionally have to deal with those in the pack that have become too aggressive, that have committed violent crimes and are heading down a path of destruction. Attempts are made to get the wild ones under control (one way or another) and to keep the existence of werewolves hidden from society. That is all easier said than done...let's go back a bit and I'll explain where I fit into this intriguing little story.

Chapter 1

Introduction

It was a dreary, cold November morning. I hadn't slept soundly through the night. In fact, I'd been having trouble sleeping for several weeks. My dreams seemed so vivid and realistic that when I woke up, it took a couple of seconds to force myself into recognizing I was actually awake and not still dreaming. One particular dream I had every night involved a mysterious, exceptionally masculine man who seemed to be very disturbed with life...but I just couldn't remember it all...

"Kara! Are you eating breakfast here this morning or not?" my overly-concerned mother shrieked from downstairs. I knew Dad was lounging at the kitchen table sipping his usual cup of black coffee, munching on buttered, half-burnt toast while reading the morning paper. Mom had already finished eating, cleaned up her mess, and was pacing the floor wondering why I hadn't come downstairs yet.

As I am the only child in my family, my parents had a tendency to treat me as if I was still 14. They hated to see me grow up. Well, in another few weeks, I would turn the ripe old age of 21. Yippee. Perhaps since I was still living at home, had chosen not to attend college, basically had a dead end, low-paying job and no steady boyfriend, my folks felt they had the right to treat me like a teenager.

As far as boyfriends go, I had gone through several over the years, but none held my attention and most frustrated me to the point I always did the breaking up. The dating would start out normally with their trying to impress me. After about a month I'd notice their true boring, egotistical sides. I would try to drop hints and ideas hoping they could miraculously change their personalities to specifically suit me. Sometimes this persuasion actually worked…for a while. But then the whole relationship took on a very phony tone that made me uncomfortable and eventually I'd break up with the poor, unsuspecting losers.

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror as I meticulously brushed my teeth and hair and tried to hurry myself along. My dark, blonde hair could have used some highlights but I just didn't want to bother with it lately. And my bloodshot brown eyes looking back at me in the mirror did not appear at all well rested from sleeping. I looked like I had experienced a nightmare.

Finally, I wandered downstairs to eat my lukewarm oatmeal at the kitchen table. Soon, I'd be heading out the door to my lovely little job at the local bakery. Exciting... Oh boy, another fun-filled day whipping up nice calorie-ridden cakes, pies and cookies. I didn't even like baking.

Glancing up from his newspaper, Dad inquired, "So, are you coming directly home from work tonight to help me with raking and burning the leaves?"

I trudged out to my trusty (and rusty) Chevy Cavalier which was parked outside while my parents' vehicles sat all toasty warm in the garage. During the month of November in the tiny town of Marine, Illinois, you had a 50/50 chance of having to scrape your windows off in the morning, which I fully hated with a passion. On those days I was forced to scrape frost, I would end up with four ridiculous and dangerous one foot by one foot circles of cleared off glass that allowed me to peer through on all sides of the car. At least there wasn't any frost to be found that morning. It didn't take long to drive the whole six miles to work in Highland; sometimes I wished for a few extra miles of driving just to get my head on straight for the day. I would attempt to relax and listen to some music, if you could find any broadcasting at that time of the morning.

As I crossed the dam which stretched over Silver Lake, it seemed like my steering was not under my control anymore. It felt as if someone else had remotely taken over my car and rendered me totally useless as the driver. I was absolutely terrified as I attempted turning the wheel left and right but nothing was working at all. The brakes, gas pedal – nothing responded. I knew I was in trouble and everything was happening so fast I didn't know how to react. My car veered off to the left, crossed the opposite lane that luckily had no oncoming traffic, crashed through the guard rail and plunged head first into the lake. The impact of the car hitting the water caused the airbag to deploy. I was brutally forced backwards into the seat. Terror flooded my mind, while water slowly flooded the car. I was absolutely freaking out and saw no possible escape.

Suddenly a dark image passed near the passenger side window. Was someone trying to rescue me? How could anyone have found me so fast? Then with a loud explosion, the window burst inward from the pressure of the water, or had something smashed into it? I wasn't sure. I just knew I was going to drown in this freezing cold water. That's all that kept bouncing around in my head. I was going to die. My heart was pounding so hard I felt like it was going to jump out of my chest...and then at that point, I must have passed out.

I'm not sure how long I was unconscious, probably about an hour if I had to guess. An unfamiliar voice was trying desperately to awaken me. "Kara? Can you hear me? Are you alright?" a person next to my right ear kept repeating the questions. There was a sense of urgency in his voice and I responded to him immediately.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I think. What happened? Where am I?" I felt like I'd run a four hour marathon and had collapsed from total exhaustion.

"I'm Dominic. We rescued you from your car in the lake. I know you're terrified but everything will be explained to you in detail. This is a special underground facility that is completely safe and very private. You are here because we need your help…To be blunt - you can be very useful to our group," he stated with complete honesty.

I stared at this man as if he was truly insane. What in the world was he talking about? I just about drowned for heaven's sake and he's telling me some group needs MY help?! I thought I was the one needing help here.

It appeared I had been placed on an old hospital bed of sorts, completely covered with thick blankets. I was drenched from head to toe and felt cold and clammy in my wet clothes. I did not understand what had happened to me and felt at a loss for words. The last I recalled, my car took a nose dive into Silver Lake and since I was not much of a swimmer...well, drowning seemed pretty evident at the time. Now here I was with a stranger staring at me assuming that I should just casually accept what was occurring and what he was telling me as the truth. Dominic handed me dry, fresh clothes and pointed to a restroom about twenty feet away.

"Here – take these and get yourself cleaned up. I'll explain everything when you return."

I didn't question him at that moment as I headed to the restroom. I was wondering, though, how could he have known what size clothes I wear. Just the fact that there were extra clothes sitting around this place to begin with seemed odd. As I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, I noticed a large, red bump on my forehead, obviously from the accident. Otherwise, I appeared unscathed, just smelly from the mucky lake water and suddenly realizing I was freezing from the wet clothes.