Diamond Butterfly (EJ Hunter pack Book 3) Read online

  Awkwardly I pulled myself to my feet using the door knob. I walked into the house. Dave couldn't have gotten here before me. I pulled out my phone to see if I could find out who was using the cabin. There were no bars on the phone. I was too tired and too wet to continue this line of thought.

  I unzipped my jacket and unwrapped my son. I checked his fingers and toes, looking for hypothermia. He smiled at me and I smiled back. He was in my arms as I searched the house. If someone attacked me, I would have to run again. In the back bedroom, I found a bed, cradle, and a diaper bag.

  There was a dresser filled with baby clothes. There was a rocking chair in the corner. I changed my son's diaper and then put him in the cradle. I tried not to think.

  Someone knew I was coming. I felt my stomach drop and I went back to the living room. I could leave. I listened for the baby's cry. My son had to be hungry. I looked out the window. The snow was piling up outside. If I left now, my son and I would die in that snow.

  I couldn't leave. I warmed up a bottle that I found in the fridge. I walked as calmly as I could to the back bedroom. I picked up my son and sat in the rocking chair. I rocked back and forth as he eagerly took the bottle.

  The closet door was open. I could see T-shirts and sweatpants in my size hanging in the closet. They were probably my size.

  For a minute I felt indignant. "I'm no whore," I said aloud. I wasn't. For everything I used here I would find a way to pay Dave back. Still, I needed to change into something, because I was shivering. Once my son finished eating, I settled him in the cradle. Then I changed my clothes. My legs were already blotching and I was shaking. I needed to eat.

  While I was in the back bedroom, someone had made a sandwich and left it there for me to find. Someone was in the house. I found a large flashlight near the door. I picked it up and went from room to room but no one was there.

  There was a howl right next to the window. I looked out. A pack of wolves leaped up and down in the snow. It was more playful than scary. Still, I stepped back and ran to the cabin door to make sure it was locked.

  It was locked and I hoped sturdy enough to stop the wolves. I breathed a sigh of relief. I heard another howl. I went back to the bedroom with the sandwich in my hand. After eating it, my eyes drooped. I wanted to stay awake to protect my son. Even so, I was fast asleep in moments.

  Chapter Three

  I woke up to my son’s whimpers. I changed his diaper and cleaned his bottom. Before I warmed another bottle, I needed to check the house for intruders. I still felt that lingering uneasiness from the night before. The howls still rang in my mind.

  Someone had been in the house.

  I knew it because someone had made the sandwich I had eaten last night. They had been in the house when I was feeding the baby. It made me nervous.

  I carried the heavy flashlight across my shoulder as I looked through the bedroom again. Tucked behind the cradle was baby formula. Someone had been expecting us.

  I rushed through the other two bedrooms. I found nothing suspicious.

  It was a normal cabin in the woods. The outside was made of half-cut logs. The inside was white walls. I knocked on the walls. The wall made a dull sound. I had tried this method before when looking for studs to hang pictures. Maybe there was a hidden space or door but I didn’t find one.

  How did someone get into and out of the cabin without my hearing or seeing them.

  There was no dust in the cabin. Normally, dust would be everywhere. It was the only clue that someone came here regularly.

  I opened the front door and felt the cold air rush into the cabin, swirl around me and redden my face and ears. I glanced at the steps to the door. They were piled high with about four to five inches of snow. No one had come up these steps except me. There weren’t any rabbits or wolf tracks either. I heard the baby cry. I shut the door and locked it. I wasn’t going to make it easy for anyone to get into the cabin.

  If I had anywhere else to go and a car to get there, I would have left right then. Since this was the only place to stay until I could get help, I would defend this cabin and my baby like a mother bear. I felt my fierceness return. I had been running from some thugs who had probably killed my grandmother. I hoped she had survived the home invasion, but I didn’t feel hopeful. Now I had to hunker down and look for weapons. In the woods, most people only lived here in the summer because they could get snowed in for weeks and sometimes even months. This year already looked like it would be a heavy snowfall year.

  My son began screaming and crying. When I reached the bedroom, his face was red and he had kicked off his blankets. I leaned down and smelled his diaper. No, he hadn’t pooped. I felt in the front of his diaper. He hadn’t peed either. Must be hungry. I picked him up and put his head on my shoulder. I held his neck as I walked to the kitchen. I still had a couple of bottles in the refrigerator. We had had electricity during the storm, but I couldn’t count on it. I would have to check to see if we had a generator here. I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the bottle.

  With the baby still in my hands I looked for a pan. I found a soup pan, filled it with running water, and put it on the stove. The stove was electric. As soon as the bottle was warm enough, I checked the milk on my inner wrist. I didn’t want it too hot for the baby. It was lukewarm, so I popped the bottle in his mouth.

  I carried him back to the bedroom and rocked him while he drank. He was greedy and I smoothed the black hair on the top of his head. He had been an unusual baby. He had all of his hair at birth. It was smooth and silky. After I pounded on his back, he gave a big long barrrrump. Then I rocked him and sang lullabies until he fell asleep.

  “A pretty picture,” said a man’s voice. “You’re what? Sixteen?”

  I wanted to cringe in the chair but I remembered. I am the mama bear and mama bears protect their cubs. I straightened my spine and looked at the doorway. No, it wasn’t my friend Dave although he looked a little like him. Dave was a shorter, stouter man than this one.

  This one was tall and muscular. His hair was long and braided on both sides. Although he had dark skin and dark hair, his eyes were a dark brown.

  “Who are you,” I demanded, as I stood up and put the sleeping baby in the crib. “What are you doing here?”

  “Darling,” he drawled. “I’m here to protect you. I got a call from Dave that you were heading this way. I’ve just been down the road to look at your car. That car is going nowhere…for a long time.”

  I had felt attraction before. But this time it rushed through me and I was scared. I could see in his eyes that he knew how I felt. I refused to be intimidated. I ignored the rush as it tingled through my body.

  “Out,” I whispered, so that my baby would stay asleep. “Out of this room.” I tried to sound fierce. I failed.

  He left. I shook as I pulled out my cell phone. I wanted to confirm that this man knew Dave. I didn’t even know his name. The bars on the phone weren’t there. I didn’t have a dial tone. Even if this was an emergency, I wouldn’t be able to call out. I would have to deal with this man.

  For now, I would believe him. I didn’t have any other option.

  ###

  He was in the kitchen when I came through the door. I stopped for a moment to admire how his white T-shirt stretched across his back and outlined his muscles. His jeans were ragged but still gave the impression that his butt and legs were magnificent. I didn’t gasp. I had that much control over my reactions. I was mad though.

  “Would you like some bacon and eggs?” he interrupted my thoughts. “And there is coffee brewing.”

  I heard the crackling of the bacon, and it smelled divine. My mouth began to water. Whatever I was going to say to this man could wait. “Yes,” I said simply.

  Moments later there was a plate on the table with bacon, medium yolked eggs with enough yolk that the eggs weren’t dry. He pointed to a drawer where the silverware was located.

  He set another plate on the table across from mine and poured cups of coffee fo
r both of us. I was so hungry that I was already eating. He watched me for a moment and then dug in. I was glad he didn’t say something cheesy like “I like my women to eat hearty.” I would have pushed myself from the table, grabbed the flashlight, and hit him.

  I was hungry. My stomach growled even though I was shoveling the food into my mouth. He ate more politely and slowly. If I weren’t so hungry I might have been ashamed of my manners. I had expended a lot of energy during my walk through the woods. I know suspected that the sandwich last night that appeared out of nowhere las night was made by this man. It was the only thing I had eaten since I rushed out of my grandmother’s house.

  When I was full enough to think again, I asked. “Who are you? And what are you doing in this cabin?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing.” His eyes were a dark brown. You could drown in those eyes. I shook my head. I couldn’t get distracted by this guy’s looks. I had learned early that really good-looking guys were not always trustworthy. The ones had I met, especially my son’s father, didn’t last for even a full pregnancy. I frowned at him, which helped to lessen the attraction.

  “Well?” I waited for him to speak again. His voice was like hearing whiskey poured on the rocks. It was slightly growly and rich. I had the feeling that if I talked first he would win. So I waited. I felt a brief exultation when he smiled and then said, “I am Jake, one of Dave’s cousins.”

  I had felt masculine power when I was close to Dave. Jake’s was ten-fold. It wrapped around me like a cushion. I pushed myself from the table and stood, putting the chair in front of me. My legs trembled a little. My hands whitened as I gripped the chair. My voice was steady. “Why are you here? Dave didn’t tell me anyone was here.”

  There was a flicker in those dark eyes that I interpreted as amusement. “I come here every few months and make sure the place is not being inhabited by bears. I have an arrangement with my aunt and uncle, so that I can stay here a couple months of the year. You are lucky because I was getting ready to leave the cabin before the snowstorm. So I’m here and you’re here.”

  There were sexual undertones to those last words, but I ignored them. “How can I believe you?” I had to protect my son. What if this man was part of the group that had invaded my grandmother’s home? I felt sick. I didn’t know what they wanted, but in my heart I knew they were there to take my son away. I just didn’t know why.

  “Until I contact Dave,” I said, “I can’t trust you.”

  I could feel his eyes follow me as I ran down the hallway and to the bedroom. This time I locked the bedroom door behind me. It wouldn’t save me from him if he was determined to bust down the door. But I would have time to react. I still had the heavy flashlight; I pushed a few chairs in front of the door. My heart beat faster and faster as I thought of my situation in this cabin with a strange man.

  Then my son woke and cried. It was loud and I began checking his diaper. Damn. The bottle was in the kitchen and I didn’t have anything for him to eat. I had tried to breastfeed him, but he was allergic to my milk. The only thing he had been able to drink was goat’s milk. It was another reason I had worked to make enough money to feed him. It wasn’t a hardship. My boy cried even louder. I looked at the chairs against the door and sighed.

  I pulled them away from the door and left the baby there while I went back to the kitchen. Jake was sitting at the table and eating bacon and eggs. He didn’t even smile when I prepared the bottle. After checking the heat of the milk by squeezing a few drops on my arm, I marched back to the bedroom. I didn’t look to see if he were watching me.

  I picked up my son and he started hiccuping. After a moment his eyes focused a little and he looked into my face, then he smiled. For a moment I melted. I put the bottle’s nipple into his mouth, and he grabbed the nipple and began to suck. I rocked him as he drank the bottle down. Then I braced him against my neck and banged his back with the flat of my hand until he burped. It was long and low. A little of the milk came out of his lips and I wiped his face with a towel.

  Then I began to rock him, holding him close, and singing. Soon he was fast asleep. I was so tired that I closed my eyes for just a minute. It was only a minute and I asleep too.

  I was awakened by a knock on the door. The baby was lying on my chest. I got up and put the baby in the crib. “Who is it?” I asked through the door.

  “You know who it is.” Jake’s voice rattled me just a little. “Let me in. We need to talk.”

  He must have heard the click when I unlocked the door, because he opened it and pushed through it. He stood by the crib and looked at the baby. I heard my son gurgle at him. Jake picked the boy up and held him. He murmured something in the baby’s ears. I moved quickly and took the baby back.

  Jake sat down on the bed and watched as I changed the baby’s diaper. "Babies need to be changed a lot" was an errant thought that entered my mind. Jake watched us. There was a sadness in his eyes. “Your son’s father was a werewolf.”

  “What?” the exclamation burst through my lips. “There are no such things as werewolves.”

  “Yes, ma’am, there are,” he said very calmly. He waited for me to scream or yell. I wanted to ask him if he was one of the home invaders, but I didn’t. I gave him the stink-eye.

  He waited as if he had given this news to other women in the past. “You want to take my baby.” I almost shouted it. I would not. Ever. Give up my baby. I picked him up and held my son against my body. I could feel my son begin to whimper as I yelled.

  “Get out. Get out.”

  “We’ll talk more when you are not so volatile,” Jake said. He stood up and walked out of the bedroom. I heard the front door open and close. I heard a howl. No, my son was not a werewolf. If my son’s father had been a werewolf, then I would have known.

  Jake was lying to me.

  Chapter Four

  I wandered through the small cabin like a ghost. There was no TV or wireless Internet so I had no entertainment, and couldn’t play games on my phone. The baby fell asleep again. He was still at the age of eat, sleep, and poop. Finally, I filled the kitchen sink with hot water and washed dishes. The suds came up to my elbows. My shoulders relaxed as I did this mindless task. It didn’t take long before all the dishes were sitting in a drying rack.

  Even though I had survived through the help of my grandmother, I had been one of the smarter students in high school. When I became pregnant, I lost my ambition. I had seen what happened to unwed mothers. Many of them went on welfare and had more children, while the State paid for their food, clothing, and shelter. A lot of these welfare children didn’t know what it was like to be raised by an adult. They raised themselves in the streets and were little better than feral humans. I didn’t want that for myself or my son. Without the help of my grandmother, who raised me after my father died and my mother walked away, I would be just one of them— fighting for survival.

  She had wanted me to go to college. Because she lived on a fixed income, she had not been able to help me with tuition. Before my pregnancy, she had done her best to find scholarships even when I had been a wild child in the bars and dance clubs. I drank heavily then.

  I sighed as I wiped the dishes with a dish towel that I found in a drawer.

  Unconsciously, I listened for the baby’s cry. I heard a soft coo. I relaxed and finished the dishes. Then I swept the floors and straightened the table and chairs. After that I dusted the cabin from top to bottom. I needed to keep moving.

  I looked out the window and saw the snow heaped over the ground and trees. It was a wonderland. My breath blew across the glass and turned the condensation into fractal patterns that sparkled.

  I returned to the bedroom to check on my son. His face was red and it looked like he was ready to bellow. I laughed. I changed more diapers, made more bottles, and burped him again. I pulled the rocking chair in the living room so I could rock him and watch the shadows change. I wondered where Jake had gone, but I was relaxed and dismissed him
from my memory. He would come back soon. I was sure.

  The sun went down earlier than I was used to— the shadows grew longer and soon the sun’s light was so weak that it couldn’t reach the ground. I shivered. My son didn’t want me to set him down. While we were rocking, his eyes darted around. It wouldn’t be long before he would become more interested in the world around him than me. He would walk and talk and eventually want to be independent. I wanted to enjoy this time when he needed me.

  I set him on a blanket and jingled the car keys in front of his eyes. He followed it and tried to grab them with his tiny fists.

  I was laughing when the front door opened. I knew it was Jake. I could smell him, a hint of musky wet dog. When I finally looked, he was in a pair of jeans and his chest and feet were bare. He was looking at us with a speculative look and a little sadness.

  “I got someone to tow your car to the shop.” He said. He crouched near the baby. Every movement was graceful. I wanted to slap myself. Every time I got involved with someone who made me sit up and look, I got into trouble. I was a mother now. I needed to take care of my son. If Jake came back after my son was an adult, I might be interested. I shut down my hormones … hard.

  I took a deep breath.

  “Would you please tell me why you had to run to this cabin in the middle of a snow storm?” Jake asked. His tone was neutral. Yes, it did look bad that I had run away preparation, especially in the the worst snow storm we had seen in decades.

  I looked up at him. “Some guys broke into our house. We were putting up Christmas decorations.” A tear trickled down my cheek. “I don’t know if my grandmother is safe, or dead.” I wiped the tear away from my eye. I didn’t want to show emotion in front of Jake.

  I continued. “She threw us out the back door and handed me the car keys. I heard yelling when I left and I know they were following us.”