Wolf Mountain Peak Complete Series, page 70
part #1 of Wolf Mountain Peak Series
At that moment, she heard quick, heavy footsteps on the concrete. It was none other than Raul. The Alpha strode through the open door, his face as hard as stone.
“I just received word from Ray.” He spoke in a deep voice, as he pursed his lips. “He and Julia were going out for a drink in Shandaken, when they saw the FBI cars, just outside of town. He followed them; they drove all the way to I-87 South.”
“They’re going back to New York,” Helena concluded, concern and fear creeping into her voice, stealing its nerve. “The question is ‘why.’”
“Let me get my car keys,” Kate suggested, shuffling off towards the kitchen counter.
“Your car keys?” snorted Helena, her brows popping up. “No, no, no; this is wrong, Kate. This is wrong, and you know it!”
“Yes, it is!” Kate affirmed, her face twisting into an expression of panic, as she grabbed her keys from the counter. “I’m sorry, Helena, but, you’re the one closest to him. You need to find out what they know. It’s got to be done tonight. Tomorrow may be too late.”
“Ok, first of all, we don’t have his address,” Helena’s anger strengthened her voice, as she took a big step closer to her friend. “Second, he’s not going to tell me why he took off like that, for the same reason he didn’t tell you. Third, do you remember how badly I felt, when you drove me up to his hotel? Fourth, what’s he going to think, if he finds me at his apartment? I’ll come off needy; desperate. Last, but not least, what am I supposed to say to him? ‘Hey, I got lonely.’?”
“You’re not going to ask him,” Kate responded in a firm tone, as she intensified her stare. “You can’t do that; he’ll get suspicious. You’ll have to use…” she faltered, “…unconventional methods. You had a date with him last night. How did it go? I don’t need to hear any details. Just give me the basics.”
“It was wonderful,” Helena replied, the memory of her night with him making her voice sweet. “We danced, we drank wine… he was fantastic to me. We spent the night in his hotel room. I told him to call me today.”
“And has he?” Kate squinted down at her.
“No,” Helena retorted with a sigh. “Not yet at least.”
“There’s your reason, then,” Kate continued, as a wily smile spread across her face. “You guys slept together, and he didn’t call you back.”
“I drove all the way from Paxton to New York to complain to him for not calling me back?” Disapproval and surprise sent her voice one octave up, as Helena furrowed her brow. “That’s got ‘desperate’ written all over it. Besides, we still don’t know his address.”
“We already have his address,” Kate replied emphatically, as she clenched her jaw. “I had Julia do a little research on him, when you said you liked him. Don’t yell at me. You’ve done the same when it came to us, over and over again. And since when do you care what he thinks?”
“Since last night,” Helena’s rebuttal was sharp, as her voice returned to normal.
“Look, I don’t like to repeat myself,” Kate said in a more mellow tone of voice. “I’m pretty sure you remember our little talk the other night. Now, I’m asking you…” she paused. “Please, find out what they know. You’re our only hope.”
At that, Helena let out a huff of exasperation, wishing she was not in this dilemma. Once again, she had to choose between lying to Cliff and the safety of her family. Seeing him again made it as difficult, as it made it appealing. They had not seen one another in almost twenty-four hours; she was starting to miss him, and she would love to pick up where they had left off. Still, her choice was easier than she initially believed. She had lied to Cliff before. Although it would hurt her deep inside, she could do it again.
“Let’s go,” her voice came out flat, in a monotone, as she unfurled her arms.
“Thank you,” Kate breathed a sigh of relief, as she reached her own arms towards her friend, to pull her in a tight embrace. “Thank you, Helena. You’re amazing.”
“I’m a fake,” she thought to herself. “I’m everything Roman accused humans of being: treacherous; false; manipulative. If only I could be honest with you, Cliff. If only you didn’t wear that badge.”
Chapter Fifteen
Unlike their two, recent drives, Helena and Kate hardly opened their mouths, during the long trip to New York. It seemed that the gravity of the situation had stolen the fledgling witch’s will to be her usual, sarcastic self. Kate kept her eyes on the road, stealing a few glances down at Helena, as if she had been trying to get her to speak. Even so, the seasoned witch was too preoccupied with her own issues to start a conversation. In a way, this reminded her of the night that Cliff had been intoxicated. Her motives might have been the same, but, this time, she felt even worse. Why? Because: he was no longer a stranger to her. She didn’t know him well yet; after all, they had only been out on just one date, but it was enough for him to show her some aspects of his character. Those aspects appealed to her, proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that he deserved much more than the lies she had been feeding him. Cliff Daniels’ aspiring girlfriends had to treat him with honesty. There were a lot of things Helena could give him. Honesty was not one of them.
She pondered her next move as her friend parked her red Honda outside a medium-sized, well-preserved building on 143rd street in Manhattan. Sadly though, her options were too limited. What she and Cliff had was not a relationship. It was a charade based on lies and deceit. Helena desired him; he was a fine man and a very thoughtful lover indeed; but, she couldn’t act anymore. It would be better for the both of them if she ended it tonight. She would stop having to lie to him all the time; it would give him a chance to meet someone else to be with; he could find someone who wouldn’t manipulate him the way she had.
“If I hadn’t known you any better, I’d say you’re a guy,” Kate’s comment snapped her out of her thoughts. “I mean, you lied to get him into bed?”
“Has a man ever gotten your knees shaking, just by looking at you?” Helena wondered, keeping her voice down, as she turned to her.
“Yeah; Dean,” Kate confessed with a smile. “When Monica introduced him to me, I said to myself: ‘Yum. Pin me up against a vertical surface and show me a good time, baby.’ You get that with Cliff?”
“It’s one of the reasons I wanted to stay away from him in the first place,” Helena spoke in an even lower voice, leaning her back against her seat. “I knew I’d find it really hard to resist him. Now, look at me. I went out with him: told him all kinds of crap about myself; he was so kind to me that he made me want him even more. By the time we went upstairs to his room, I couldn’t restrain myself anymore.”
“Normally, I’d have something nasty to say about that,” Kate whispered, reaching her right arm out to put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Now’s not the time, though. Take my advice. End it now, while you can. Go. Good luck.”
“Wait a minute. What if he’s not home yet?” Helena inquired, silently agreeing with her friend’s suggestion, as she grabbed the door handle. Kate parted her lips, but the rumble that resounded through the neighborhood at that moment forced her gaze away from her. By then, Helena had heard the sound of the diesel engine so many times that she could recognize it from a quarter mile away. The two of them ducked, as the SUV closed the distance between them. Its high beams lit up the interior of Kate’s car, just before the driver turned left and into the underground parking lot of the building. Helena opened the car door with steady fingers, understanding that she had to be quick. Fixing her gaze on the apartment building entry door, she started forward, as a shot of adrenaline rushed through her veins. Seconds before reaching the entrance, as she stared into the darkness of the hall, she closed her eyes, and held her breath. The echo of her boots was lingering in the ear, as she opened them again. Without any time to waste, she began jumping over the steps to the first floor. The view of a gray number “2” on the front door greeted her, as she hurtled up the stairs. A glance down at the tiny gap between it and the floor told her that she had gotten there first, as the lights in Cliff’s apartment were still out. A sense of relief washed over her. The last thing she wanted was to knock on his door. Helena turned her body to the left, and faced the railing as she breathed in pants. She sat down on the top landing, waiting to catch a glimpse of the elevator light, to the left of the door.
“I was wrong about coming off ‘needy’ and ‘desperate.’ It’s worse than that. Cliff’s going to think I’m crazy, showing up here in the middle of the night.”
The car stopped only seconds afterwards, but Helena did not consider getting up, fearing that she would spook him. A large arm emerged from the elevator, as its door was pushed open. Cliff pressed the light button on the hallway wall, as she raised her eyes to meet his.
“Holy crap!” he shouted, his voice echoing back from the walls of the building, his eyes wide in disbelief, as he stepped out of the empty car. “Helena? What are you doing here?”
“I’m still waiting for that phone call,” she managed to reply in a stiff tone, as she rose to her 5’6” height. “It’s not polite to keep a lady waiting.”
“You drove one hundred and thirty miles to tell me that? How did you even get in here?” Cliff spoke, his baritone filled with confusion.
“That, too; one of the tenants had left the door open,” Helena uttered, nodding at the same time, as she noticed a large dossier in his right hand. “What have you been doing all day, Cliff? Is this how New Yorkers treat women? Because if it is…”
“I don’t know about other people,” he interrupted, putting some force in his voice. “I don’t do that. There’s a very good explanation for all this. Follow me. I don’t want to talk about it in the hallway.”
“Fair enough,” she murmured, as he pulled his keys out of his pocket. Another act had come to an end. Yes, the fact that he had failed to call her had not gone down well with her, but there was no way that she would go through all this trouble, just to express her annoyance. Cliff’s job was very demanding. He could have been too busy to call her, or was planning to do so, later that night. Still, even if he didn’t call her at all that day, it was a mistake she could forgive. Helena had met lesser men than him, men who were only interested in taking advantage of her. She could tell that Cliff wasn’t one of them.
“I got a phone call from my supervisor this morning,” he began, as they strolled into his living room. “He was mad at me and my team for not being able to come up with any solid clues. He gave us twenty-four hours to find a viable lead. If we failed, we were to return to New York. We interviewed quite a few locals, but still, no luck. We were talking to one, when my phone rang. I need your professional opinion on this.”
Upon finishing his sentence, Cliff flipped over the cover of his dossier, and then put it in front of Helena. However, nothing could have prepared her for its horrific contents. There were pictures of every single, charred body in the science facility. Close-ups, and also from a distance, they made her stomach churn. Among the photographs were a few frames of Tom Riker’s body. He was lying on his back. The blood from his skull had soaked the soil beneath him. But, as Cliff flipped through the rest of them, disgust turned into pure terror. The bite marks on the victims’ necks were quite visible, even though the fire had distorted them, both in shape and appearance.
“I was going to call you tonight, see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat, but the coroner’s phone call ruined my plans,” Cliff stated. “Two of those people bled out. They were bitten in the neck. The M.E. is unsure about the identity of the animals that did it. He says it’s either a wolf or a bear. You’ve studied these animals. You live in the countryside. Which one do you think it is?”
“It can’t be a wolf,” Helena shook her head sideways lightly, staring down at the puncture holes in the neck of one of the victims. “Wolves’ fangs are not long or wide enough to have inflicted this kind of damage. The same goes for black bears. I can’t think of anything else, other than a grizzly bear.”
“Is that normal grizzly bear behavior? Working together, going after humans in a closed environment?” Cliff asked her, a hint of suspicion in his tone.
“I’ve never heard of anything like this before. No, grizzlies are solitary. My guess is a few of them converged here, and just tolerated one another, because there was a lot of food available. They do that in the wild. I don’t know what those scientists were working on, but something lured them in. They followed their noses. The people just got in the way. Their bodies were whole. This goes to show they weren’t the targets,” Helena responded, pursing her lips. “Please, take these away. I think I’m going to throw up.”
“So, my brother died for coming between a bear and its food.” Cliff’s voice reeked with a mix of frustration and sarcasm, as he shut the dossier.
“A charging grizzly can scare the life out of anybody,” Helena sighed, lifting her gaze up to his. “They’re the largest of the land predators. Huge canines, unbelievable strength…”
“I can understand that,” he responded in as calm a tone as he could muster while he tossed the dossier down across his couch. “It’s a wild theory, but it makes sense, kind of. Can I trust you?”
“Yes, of course,” the words came out of Helena’s mouth, before she even allowed herself enough time to think about his question. “Isn’t it what you just did with all those crime scene photos?”
“Yeah, but that was personal. I needed to know about my brother. What I’m about to say has nothing to do with Jonathan,” Cliff explained, the intensity in his voice vanishing more and more by the second. “Tom Riker bled out, too. He had a big, gaping wound in his skull. At first, the coroner thought he’d fallen off the roof, but then, he said gravity alone wasn’t enough to cause this kind of damage. It wouldn’t have been possible, even if the ground was made out of cement. He also had eight shattered ribs, and a fractured cheekbone. Correct me if I’m wrong, but, this doesn’t sound like a bear attack, does it?”
“No,” she uttered, cold sweat washing over her, as she realized what he was getting at. “Bears usually swipe their paws to knock their victims out. They go for the neck, as soon as they can.”
“What in the hell could have done this to a 6 feet tall man weighing 180 pounds?” Cliff wondered, his voice dropping to a whisper, as he tipped his head up to peer ceiling-ward. “The coroner told me it’s like he was tossed up against the wall. It would take at least three grown men to do that to him.”
“I really don’t know what could have done that to him. Frankly: I’m a little tired to start speculating,” Helena asserted, managing to keep her concern out of her tone. “I did come here to complain to you for ignoring me, but, on my way over, I realized how hard it would be for us to keep seeing each other.”
“I know,” he gave a sad nod, his face hardening, as he leaned towards her. “In fact, it’s all I’ve been thinking about since our date. But, I don’t care. I really like you, Ms. Lockhart. You’re the kindest, classiest woman I’ve ever met. And I’ll be damned if I let you go, because you happen to live two-and-a-half hours away from me.”
“I like you, too,” Helena admitted with a whisper, feeling her knees trembling, as she gazed into the greenness of his eyes. “I’ve never known a nobler man than you. But, what choice do we have? You’re in New York tonight, but you could be sent out to Vermont tomorrow. That doesn’t leave much room for a personal life. I’m really sorry, Cliff. We can’t.”
She waited for some kind of response, with bated breath. Yet, her short speech was met by silence. A long, deep sigh escaped him, as he slowly lifted his hands up to her neck. Cliff tangled his fingers into her red, silky strands, his gaze still fixed on hers. He pushed some of her tendrils back, as he leaned in. Helena closed her eyes, eagerly anticipating feeling the intoxicating kiss of the only man who had moved her in such a long time. His last kiss… his lips brushed hers, as she sensed the delicate touch of his thumbs on the sides of her neck. The tenderness on her mouth sent her senses reeling, as he gently pulled her closer to him. Once again, her temptation was sweeping her off her feet, making her heart race in her chest, as waves of emotion poured into her veins. Second by second, the magic in his kiss pulled her into his world: a world of color, feeling, and truth. The one thing she could not offer him was abundant in his affection, as he cradled her neck in his hands. Alas, the facts that she was forced to hide from him shattered her heart. A tidal wave of guilt swept over her, as she recalled the real reason behind her decision. Lost in his embrace, she felt tears rising up in her eyes. Helena couldn’t savor this. She thought that her lips were like daggers, driven into his heart, the gentle heart that had brought all this joy into her life.
“Stop…” she helplessly whispered, her lips shaking, her eyes still closed, as if she was clinging to the moment.
“Goodbye, Ms. Lockhart,” he said quietly as he exhaled, tentatively brushing his mouth on her chin as he trailed his thumbs across her jawline. “Thank you for being there for me.”
Helena’s eyes snapped open, as his last sentence rang in her ears. She couldn’t believe him. Even now, he had shown her his nature. He had expressed gratitude, even though she had rejected him. Before she could offer him a rebuttal, the moisture that his irises were swimming in gripped her heart in a powerful vice. Her eyes were not cheated by any spell. Cliff was actually on the verge of tears: for her. Helena parted her lips, but the only thing that came out of her mouth, was her faint breath. As much as she would have liked to speak to him, she could not work up the courage to do so. She tilted her head down, taking her eyes off of him, as she drowned in her shame. The witch turned left, as the urge to tell him the truth festered within her. Helena squeezed two tears out of her eyes, as she shuffled off towards his front door. The pounding in her chest subsided, as she put distance between them. She was dying for one more glance: maybe one more word; just one last kiss. Deep down, however, Helena knew that, should she turn back, the kindness in his eyes, the one she was forced to give up, would compel her to reveal everything to him. Therefore, she continued walking away, down the staircase, feeling her tears roll down her cheeks.
