Page 17 of What I Should Have Felt

All I could make out through the darkness were two beady, blood-red eyes set deep beneath thick brow ridges.

Oxygen seemed as much my enemy as O’Connor, hiding in the dark. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t voice a word.

The man hard up beside me trembled. The gun in his desperate hold rattled as he pivoted around as slowly as possible.

I couldn’t look away.

I couldn’t move.

I refused to let someone else fight my battles for me, but this wasn’t a someone.

The muscles in my body were as tight as the bonds holding me captive. My blood stilled, turning to ice within my veins as the creature raised his massive paw, tipped his head, wrapped his claws around the man’s head, and jerked.

Like wood splintering, bones crunched, and the man’s body crumpled like a sack to the floor in front of me.

The creature’s red eyes returned to mine as its broad chest rose and fell, thick shoulders pulsing with each breath. As rhythmical and threatening as the scream lodged in my throat. Footsteps faded with a tinkle of the bell, indicating a few cronies had escaped. And the lack of O’Connor’s grating voice told me without looking that I was alone.

Alone withthis… thing.

Red eyes. Bigger than a human. Disheveled hair draped around its face. A face that, from its nose down, was hidden beneath a strange mask with detailing I couldn’t quite make out in the dark shadows that slithered around it. Razor-sharp teeth had to be waiting behind the mask but restrained by the metal casing of its curse.

“Rougarou,” I whispered involuntarily.

The creature raised its massive paw again, and my eyes slammed shut. It was my turn. I hadn’t left thirteen objects out to confuse it. And I certainly hadn’t practiced Lent in at least ten years. Plus, I just spoke its name. All notions of this strange legend had left when fantasy met the real world, and I was burdened with debt and a life I couldn’t escape.

Yet here I was, about to meet my demise by a creature who shouldn’t exist. Whodidn’texist.

The floor rattled beneath my feet, and something snapped through the air. I dared not open my eyes as I felt the bonds around my ankles fall, and my shoulders finally rotated forward.

I waited even longer for silence to once again become my sole companion.

Something had just saved me.

A creature who didn’t exist. Who shouldn’t exist.

And I would say nothing about it because, even though I saw it, I still didn’t believe it. I would simply go to bed and pretend like nothing happened. I would return early in the morning and clean up the mess that was made and somehow find a way to dispose of the body or bodies that were left behind.

Because a Rougarou wasn’t real.

But men were. Men with terrible intentions. Men who were going to go after Azelie.

And I had to find a way to stop them.

Chapter 7

FORD

Iwaited.

Like a dog drawn to a bone, I waited in the shadows of the forest, watching the place I’d grown up. The sun hadn’t yet peeked over the horizon, and my mind drifted to the woman who owned me. Where was Colette’s wedding ring? I could rationalize her not wearing it to the clinic to do doctor shit, but she hadn’t had it on last night at the restaurant. In fact, I hadn’t seen her wear it at all, nor seen anything of her husband.

I closed my eyes, once again haunted by the image of Colette smiling at a man who wasn’t me. She’d looked so happy when I returned four years after leaving. I’d gone back, ready to fight for her. To hell with everything that had forced me out of town. The threats. The lies. I wasn’t willing to run anymore.

But she’d clearly moved on, and I couldn’t blame her. She believed I’d left her for nothing more than a petty ass rivalry. And when I’d seen herhand in his wearing a massive diamond ring, I’d decided to take my secret to the grave. She was safe with him. She was happy. I could live with that.

I’d lost her that day to someone else, and somewhere along the way, I’d accepted that fact because she was protected. And happy. That was all I ever wanted for her, and I had to respect her decision. So, where was he? Why hadn’t I seen this dude? I needed to clear my head and talk to someone who’d always helped me figure out what the right thing to do was.

Waiting for my parents to leave for the day was a waste of precious time, and I decided to utilize this quiet moment and wander back down the road where I’d stashed my Harley.

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