The Great Wolf: A Legacy of Kilkenny Novel Book Three (The Legacy of Kilkenny Saga) (19 page)

~~~~~~

We’d no sooner walked through the gates for the game, when
we were bombarded by a group of screaming girls.  Ruby has never had a shortage
of so-called friends.  I never trusted them; they only seemed interested in our
half-brother Stone.  His father is from Spain, mixed with our full-blooded
Native American mother Pearl.  His exotic look and big smile turns heads
wherever he goes.  He works as a ranch hand, which made him big and bulky, the
kind that teen girls and cougars find sexy.  Ruby would bring someone home and
they’d no sooner walked in the door, and would ask where Stone slept.

Knowing Ruby would be gossiping for another ten minutes,
girl can talk!  I decide to bite-the-bullet and stand in the concessions line. 
I stand there staring at my cell phone, pretending to be engaged in an
important text conversation.  I glance up; my gaze lingers into amber-colored
eyes.  He’d been looking down at his phone a second ago, now, his eyes boring
into me.  My heart flutters as we lock eyes. 

Don’t stare Sapphire, that’s rude.
My mom’s words
running through my head.  I drop my gaze, but not before he gives me a crooked
grin. 
He is not walking over here.  Oh yes he is.
  I take mental
inventory of my surroundings.  Habits die hard with me, especially since I was
attacked during my sophomore year.  I left the library one night after dark,
but my car was parked right in front of the building so I didn’t pay much
attention to the parking area .  I didn’t hear him sneak up behind me until it
was too late.  It wasn’t until the librarian closed up and she saw me face down
in the parking lot.  My shirt had been ripped and I had my throat slit open.
The weeks that followed consisted of me in the hospital and police guarding me
day and night.  They were concerned the person would come back to finish the
job since he thought I could identify him.  Truth is, I don’t remember anything
about the attack.

“Hey there, did I catch you at a bad time?”  The deep voice
startled me out of thoughts.  He put his hands up, “I didn’t mean to scare
you.”

Have you ever looked at another person and known that you
were in trouble?  Not in the bad kind of trouble, the kind of trouble that is
sinfully good.  I couldn’t help but smile at him.  “Oh, sorry, I was thinking
about something.  Do I know you?”

He put his hands half-way into his front pockets of his
faded Levi’s.  He was making red flannel the sexiest material I’d ever seen
before.  My eyes dropped from his gaze and I snuck a peek at his chest.  Only
fair since I caught his gaze drop to mine too.

“No, I’d remember you if I’d met you before,” he replied. 
Even though it sounded like a line, it came across as if he meant what he
said.  “I saw you come in with your friend, and couldn’t help but notice she
ran off.”

I’m not used to guys walking over to talk to me, at least
not good looking sober ones.  “Yeah, that’s my sister Ruby; she still has
friends that go to school here.”

“I’m Parker, my friend Collin’s younger brother is playing
tonight.  He’s told me he’s been training for the Olympics for the last two
years.”  He holds out his hand for me to shake.

“Next,” the woman in the concession stand says.

“Excuse me for a second,” I say to him and turn to face the
PTA mom.  I order a bottle of water and some peanut M&M’s.  Before I had a
chance to dig two dollars from my pocket, Parker has handed the lady the
money.  “No, you don’t need to pay for my junk food.”

His eyes smiled at me and I knew he did it out of kindness
and nothing expected in return.  “If I can’t buy a pretty girl a bottle of
water, what’s the point of working?”

“You’re good at this,” I grin at him as he holds a hand out
to me.  “I’m Sapphire, but my friends call me Phire.”  We shake hands as we
walk away from the concession stand.  I look around checking if I can see Ruby,
but of course she has disappeared.

“Ruby and Sapphire, I like the names and I love that you’re
called Phire.”  His five o’clock shadow was a couple of days old and I watched
as the sun glinted off his auburn whiskers.

All around us were cheers and the sound of gravel as we
crossed over towards the bleachers.  His friend stayed next to the chain link
fence, and was yelling out with the rest of the crowd.

“Yeah, my mom has always said she’d never have anything more
precious than her children, so we ended up with names of gems.  My brother
didn’t get as lucky, his name is Stone.”

He and I walked up the metal bleachers; he puts his hand on
my elbow and guided me to the top seats.    A couple of girls nudged each other
as we walked past.  I didn’t blame them at all; he was nothing short of a
younger, healthier, better looking Marlboro man.  I’d almost expected him to
smell like tobacco, he was that sexy.

Sitting down next to him gave me the feeling of belonging to
someone, I felt protected. 

PARKER

Ten minutes until the game starts and I swear I’m going to
pull out the tonsils on all the screaming girls.  Collin’s little brother is
vying for a spot on the Olympic team, Collin asked me to come out and watch him
play. I’d been home-schooled by the family that I’ve lived with most of my
life.  I graduated when I was 17, now I’m 23, and I feel old around teenagers. 
Most of the time, I live at the Phelan farm, it’s on the outskirts of Choctaw,
Oklahoma.  I have a trailer I use as an office when I’m on special assignments
for the pack.  Choctaw is about a thirty minute ride from Oklahoma City, which
was plenty of distance in my book.   The trailer is the complete opposite
direction, placed in the woods outside of Piedsville.   The city has too many
people, their smells and noises make my sensory system overload.

I’d been restless the last few days with energy I couldn’t
explain.  The wolf in me was edgy and ready to find some trouble.  I’m a
werewolf, I can shift any time I want, unlike the myth where we only turn on a
full moon.  Our pack is private, and we keep to ourselves.  We run on our own
land, and do our best to keep a low profile.  The General, our alpha, has been
getting ready for the Great Wolf.  The legend says a wolf would be born to
human parents and will grow to rule all packs.  Our pack princess Pru, the
daughter of the General, has located the Great Wolf and now the pack is
preparing for major changes.  Pru’s been in training and will soon introduce
him to our pack and let him know he’s a werewolf.  Thankfully, I’m not the
assigned bodyguard to protect Pru, she and I don’t always see eye to eye.

“Hey man, I’ll be back in a minute,” Collin says. 

“No problem, I’ll be right here,” I reply.  Without thinking
about it, I take mental pictures of everyone and everything.  The moment I
check the concession line, I see her.  A few minutes ago, I watched her and
another girl who looked like a younger version of her come through the gates. 
Without warning, her eyes caught me watching her.  Instead of turning her head
away as most people do when their
flee
instinct kicks in, my inner wolf
nodded his head in approval. 

I’m not usually attracted to human girls, they have too many
hang-ups. My head was telling me to stay away; my wolf was telling me he’d make
life miserable if I don’t meet her.  Never one to ignore him, I walked over to
her.  Her scent is distinct, and sends waves of desire to my wolf.  She’d smell
better if she didn’t have on perfume, but I could smell the real her. 
Something about her is animalistic, and something about her is trouble.  All I
want to do is grab her by the waist, and throw her over my shoulder and take
her home.  Something in her is damaged; I feel it all around her. 

I lean in and pay the two dollars for her candy and water. 
Her dark hazel eyes sparkle with curiosity.  She tells me her name is Sapphire,
and I’d never known a name so appropriate before.  A gem that is both beautiful
and mysterious.  Her heart rate stayed steady as she talked to me, giving me an
insight to her instincts.   I wondered if it would matter to her if I ran off
with her and claimed her as mine.

“Are you and your sister sitting anywhere in particular?”  I
ask.

She smiles; showing off her perfectly straight white teeth. 
“My sister doesn’t believe in sitting at a soccer game.  I on the other hand
like to sit up high, away from everyone.”

“Would you like to sit with me?”

Her eyes sparkle as she nods her head yes.

My kind of girl.  “We’ll go up there,” I say and point to
the top of the bleachers.  Guiding her to the top, I am keenly aware of her
every move.  The next hour and a half I sat spellbound by her every word and it
flew by too fast.  We talked about nothing and everything at the same time. 
She never mentioned boyfriends or exes and never talked about life beating her
down.  I couldn’t let her leave and not get her number.

“You want to go have a beer?  Ruby and I are going over to
the casino, they have a small bar and karaoke.”

“Yeah, believe it or not, I’ve never been to the casino
before.  I bet I could twist my friend’s arm.”  Twist his arm until I feel the
bones break if he tries to screw this up.

“I’ll tell you what; I’ll give you my number if you show
up.”  She grins at me and looks up through her eyelashes.

My insides are rumbling as we walk down the steps to meet
her sister.  “You’ve got a deal.”  This time, her heart did skip a beat.  My
wolf growled at the thought of letting her out of my sight.  Breathing her in,
I satisfy his need to be near her.

~~~~~~

“The casino, really?  I saw that girl you were sitting with,
she’s foxy,” Collin said with a slight inflection of his voice.

“Foxy?  Who says that?”

Collin smiled and shrugged.  “I heard my brother say it the
other day; I thought I’d try it out.”

I shook my head in disbelief.  “Yeah, it’s not working for
you.”

“Noted.  Which casino; you know they’ve put one on every
reservation?”

“The one in El Reno.”  She didn’t specify which one, surely
she meant that one.  She told me she is Arapaho, and that’s where the Cheyenne
and Arapaho reservation is located.

Climbing into Collin’s jacked up truck made me wish I’d
driven tonight.  He had antennas and a giant metal toolbox in the bed of the
truck.  The interior is the precise way I’d expect from him and his O C D self. 
The strawberry air freshener stings my nostrils and I must adjust my sense of
smell.  I bet it costs him over a hundred dollars a week in gas to drive back
and forth to work. 

He cranked up My Chemical Romance and headed for the
highway. 

My inner-wolf has never reacted to a human before meeting
Sapphire.  The restlessness was getting worse as we made the forty minute drive
to the casino.  Like a kid anticipating Christmas morning, waiting to unwrap
the gifts from Santa.  I close my eyes for a moment as I imagine unwrapping
her.  The idea is irresistible.  

Could they place a casino any further away from
civilization?  The waning crescent moon didn’t offer much light as we drove
down the desolate road.  Like a blaring beacon, the sign for the casino flashed
colorful lights.  The drone of the tires, after a long ride, would have
typically put me to sleep.  I was too wound up to be sleepy.

We drive around the packed parking lot until we find someone
leaving.  Thankfully, they are driving an oversized SUV, leaving enough room
for the giant truck.  The moment I open the door, I pick up her scent.  No
longer worried about being at the wrong casino,  I’m filled with anticipation.

Collin said he needs to make a quick call.  I can’t help but
hear him on the phone.  He asks his brother to meet us at the casino to be our
designated driver.  Ready to get our drink on, we walk through the automated
doors.

“I’m going to hit the ATM, and the bathroom, I’ll meet you
in the bar.  Don’t take this personally, but if she stood you up, I’m gonna
laugh,” Collin says as he walks away.

“I didn’t get stood up,” I say with confidence.  We part
ways as I look around for the bar.  I follow the sound of someone singing “Wind
Beneath My Wings” off-key. 

The bar looks the same as every other nightclub.  The lights
dimmed low to make everyone look better in the dark.  The back of the bar has a
small stage, big enough to hold a band and a karaoke machine.  A group of
giggling drunk girls take the stage, and pick a song to sing.  Two round tables
are pushed together, and that is where I spotted her.  Ruby is telling a story
to a guy who is obviously hoping to get lucky tonight.  I can see Sapphire’s
profile, she looks anxious, by the way she bounces her leg up and down. 
Without coaxing, she turns around and faces me.  Relief washed across her face,
her leg quit bouncing, and she stands up, and walks over to me.

Her grin alone was worth the forty minute drive.  She flings
her arms around me like I’m a long-lost friend and whispers; “You made it.”

Instinctively, I hug her back and mentally inventory every
part of her that’s touching me.  Like a puzzle piece, Sapphire fits perfectly
in my arms.

She pulls away and blushed.  “I’m sorry, I’m a hugger.  Come
on over, I’ll introduce you to my friends.  We’ll get you started with a shot
of tequila.”  She takes my hand and leads me over to her friends.

The waitress leans down to take our order, not without
brushing up against me.  Like a cat marking me, and I can’t stand cats.  “Bring
her a shot of your top shelf tequila, and I’ll take a Jack and coke.  Come to
think of it, bring the rest of the table whatever they are drinking,” I say as
I reach for my wallet.  The waitress continues to flirt, not attempting to hide
it from Sapphire.  I have a feeling that if it were to come to blows, Sapphire
would kick her ass.  There’s a vibe from her that she can handle her own, and
I’m counting on it.