The Hidden (Heartfire) Read online

  What Dylan did with it was up to him.

  The worst part was, I couldn't think of a single way to help him. It sounded crazy. I knew that. How could you help a monster?

  Even if that monster had a heart of gold.

  But something inside me kept saying that I should- maybe even that I was the only one who could help him.

  How was that possible?

  If Dylan was ill- or under some sort of a curse- the moon had brought it out last night. He was a danger to himself and others. Well, not everyone. He hadn't been a danger to me.

  He'd protected me. Maybe that was what had started this. Maybe the fear and anger from the attack outside the stadium had made him change...

  As scary as it had been last night, I knew now he wouldn't have hurt me.

  It wasn't in his nature.

  He had proved that last night. He could easily have overpowered me. Forced himself on me. It was clear he wanted me badly. He could have just taken what he wanted. I would never have been able to stop him.

  It didn't even matter that he was amped up from the change last night. He wouldn't have needed super powers to do that. He was a big guy and I was... not.

  For a moment it had seemed like he would have pushed me to go farther than I wanted to. Instead he'd curled up around me, refusing to let me leave, but doing nothing. He'd held me until he'd fallen into a deep sleep, his arms locked around me as the moon started to sink towards the horizon.

  I had tried to extricate myself from his grasp but he'd held me firmly, growling softly in his sleep each time I'd tried to move away. It was terrifying, but in a way it might have been worse if he'd let me go.

  Because at the very least, Dylan gave off a lot of heat. He was basically a big, incredibly strong furnace. It had been dark but I could have sworn he was hairier than usual too.

  Toward dawn he'd started to change back again. To his normal self. His breathing had evened out, his features shifted, his muscles transforming from super sized to their normal, already substantial state.

  I had slipped away finally, watching in morbid fascination as his body contorted. It looked like it hurt him to change. Even though I'd been frightened, I had hated seeing that. I didn't want him to hurt.

  Ever.

  I could have just left him there. Maybe I should have.

  But I didn't. I almost felt that I physically couldn't leave his side. But tonight I had done what I should have done last night in the woods.

  I'd walked away.

  Dylan

  Chapter Three

  ♆

  I stared up into the stands as I ran out to the field. Kaylia had been avoiding me all week. I'd decided to give her time to come to grips with what had happened. We both needed to wrap our heads around it.

  I'd done my best to be mature about it.

  But I could feel the familiar pressure growing inside me. The urge to see her was so strong that it felt like there was something ferocious in my belly, waiting to be let out.

  I had texted her at least five times this week already. She hadn't responded to any of them. She hadn't worked her shifts at the field house either.

  I wasn't the only one who noticed that.

  All the guys wondered about the fine ass woman who served the mashed potatoes.

  They'd all noticed her over the semester, that was for sure. They made comments almost every time she was there. Comments about what they'd like to do to her, and what they would like her to do to them.

  They were very descriptive. Creative even. Disrepectful and disgusting.

  If it wasn't Kaylia I would have tuned it out. It was just locker room talk. Instead I wanted to rip their heads off.

  I wanted to rip everyone's heads off.

  And that was before I showed up for Freshman Lit and Kaylia was nowhere to be found.

  Dammit! She was hiding from me. That wasn't playing fair. We had to talk. We had to work things out. I needed someone to talk to about what was happing to me. To us. It's not like anyone else would understand. But she wasn't even giving me a chance.

  Now I was starting to get worried. And pissed off.

  Really, really pissed off.

  Howl at the moon pissed off.

  I smirked. That was almost funny.

  I wondered if Kaylia would think so.

  I pushed my mouth guard into place and took position. The game was almost over. We were already winning by a lot, but it didn't matter. I wasn't going to hold back. I wanted to crush the opponents.

  I wanted to break something.

  So I did. I called a play that had me running with the ball instead of just throwing it. I smashed through their defensive line like the players were cardboard cutouts isntead of real people.

  It was better to think of them like that. Not flesh and bone. Just paper.

  It made it easier to bash through them.

  Fifteen minutes later and I was in the locker room, getting slapped on the back. I'd dominated the end of the game. The whole game really. Every game.

  There were reporters waiting in the locker room to interview me and snap pictures.

  Even the national sportscasters were talking about me now- they did a segment called D-watch. Agents were calling too. I was insta-famous. The new rage. An anomaly.

  If only they knew why... It would a whole different sort of news frenzy. As it was, I was the flavor of the month. And it showed no sign of slowing down.

  It was insane. It was more than I'd ever dreamed of when thinking about going into sports as a career. It was more than I wanted.

  Much more.

  I loved playing ball but I really didn't like the attention. It made me want to crawl out of my skin and hide. At this moment I wanted to be anywhere but here.

  But I smiled and gave the interviews, trying to keep them short. By the time I was done the locker room was empty. I pulled on my jacket and walked out, checking my phone for a message from Kaylia.

  Nothing.

  I wasn't going to put up with this much longer. I was going to have to go over there and-

  CRACK

  Something me in the back. Hard. I turned to see a man lifting a two by four and swinging it towards me.

  Right at my head.

  I dropped and rolled into the guy's legs without even thinking. I felt the two by four fall to the ground, brushing my shoulder as the man above me screamed.

  Guess I must have knocked out his kneecap. He'd probably walk with a limp for a long ass time. Maybe forever.

  Good.

  There were others there, in the shadows. I could sense them without even looking. Four of them jumped out at me and attacked. I fought ferociously, without thought, like an animal.

  They yelped in surprise at my ferocity. It was clear they'd expected to be delivering an ass whooping, not getting one. But that was exactly what was going down.

  Surprise, dirtbags!

  Two guys tried to grab my arms but I just lifted them up and tossed them away. They fell to the ground, struggling to get up again. One guy punched my stomach and I just looked at him. His jaw dropped as he gripped his injured hand. I put him on the ground with one punch. Then I dealt with the two cowards who had tried to hold me down.

  That left just one. This guy looked familiar. I had a feeling he'd been there the night Kaylia had been attacked. Probably all of them had.

  My blood started to boil.

  I grabbed him by the throat while he swung at me again and again, barely even feeling his fists. That's how feeble he was compared to me. I took a moment, wondering what the most satisfying way to deal with him would be.

  I wanted to hurt him. Badly. In the darkest part of me, I probably would be glad to end him once or for all.

  I decided not to choke him. Kaylia wouldn't like that. And I didn't want to get in trouble.

  So I threw him instead. I decided to let gravity decide how badly he was injured. Then my hands would be relatively clea
n.

  Karmically speaking anyway.

  He hit one of the support beams and slid to the ground, unmoving.

  In minutes it was over and there were five men laying on the ground whimpering. As the red haze started to clear from my mind I recognized who they were. These must be the guys I'd beat up after the last game. Big guys, too. They had been surprisingly easy to take down. I was tempted to make sure they stayed down, to really hurt them. That was a risky move though. And Kaylia wouldn't like it. Hopefully after this time, they'd stay away.

  For their own good.

  I brushed myself off and walked home.

  Kaylia

  ♆

  I stared at the alarm clock across the room. I'd been doing this for hours, closing and opening my eyes endlessly, unable to get back to sleep. The blue lights rearranged themselves again.

  4:45 AM

  The dream had woken me up from a deep slumber. Or rather, I'd somehow torn myself out of it. The rending had been so abrupt that I'd literally felt myself land back in my body with a heavy thump.

  For the first time ever, I'd gotten spooked in the dream.

  I never got scared in my dreams. The dream world was my domain. I was more powerful than anyone I'd ever encountered. Asleep, I was pretty much a queen.

  A bad ass queen.

  But last night I'd felt completely taken by surprise. Once again I'd been drawn, pulled almost against my will to Dylan's suite. Each night since the full moon I made the familiar journey. The campus looked ordinary in dreamland, as I traversed it in what felt like the blink of an eye.

  Once I got inside his suite though, nothing had looked normal. This was not a college campus. This was not a dorm room, or even a type of room I'd ever seen before. His room looked almost... medieval.

  That wasn't what spooked me though.

  I hadn't noticed him at first. I was staring at the dark stone walls, wondering if I'd jumped to Rome or someplace farther than I'd ever been.

  The room was more or less a stone cavern. It took me a moment to notice the table at the center of the room. Dylan was strapped to it.

  No, not strapped.

  He was chained.

  I had been shocked. He was struggling against the chains, clearly in pain. My first instinct was to help him, set him loose, to do something.

  Anything.

  But as I'd crossed the room it became apparent that he was chained for a reason.

  Dylan was thicker, bigger, more feral looking than a human should be. He was in his other state- not himself- a powerful creature with a heavy brow and thick jaws.

  But his eyes- his glowing red eyes- had been full of pain and fear.

  I remembered how slowly I'd walked over to him. How tentatively I had reached out and touched him, laying my hand on his chest. A shock went through me at that moment that I could still feel.

  The moment I'd touched, his eyes had changed to a softer yellow. He'd stilled, his breathing slowing until he seemed almost calm. Peaceful. His eyes were gentle when he stared at me. The look in those eyes took my breath away.

  They were full of love.

  That's when I felt it. Behind me. My perception shifted until I could feel it.

  Someone else was in the room with us.

  I turned in time to see a beast come tearing out of the shadows. Like Dylan, but larger, more ferocious.

  And not chained.

  That's when I catapulted back to my body, leaving Dylan behind to face the creature alone. I'd nearly screamed from the jarring sensation of landing on the bed. Thankfully I'd covered my mouth. There was no reason to freak out my roommate.

  Charise was pretty much the only 'normal' friend I had.

  So now I was awake, wondering what the hell I was going to do.

  I sighed and turned over, pulling my special quilt around me. I sniffed it, catching a whiff of the homemade detergent my grandma made at home. I had a ziplock baggie of it here to do my wash in the dorm laundry room.

  Gran didn't believe in store bought. Or waste. I wished I was back home right now... I wished I could talk to my mother.

  But she wasn't here. No one knew where she was. Or if she was even alive.

  I gave up on falling back to sleep and reached for my sketch pad. I started to draw the room we'd been in. The table. Even the beast.

  Who else had been there? Were there more people- creatures- like Dylan?

  The idea that this was bigger than the two of us was terrifying. If there was another man who was cursed like Dylan- well, I understood just about nothing about the world I lived in- awake or asleep.

  Whatever else might be happening I knew one thing. I wasn't going to let Dylan face this alone. I felt an almost urgent need to see him, touch him, to know he was okay.

  For the next two hours I sketched the dream. The odd chamber, the chains, Dylan's transformed visage. And him- the other that had been there. A distinct white streak of fur had run up the side of the creature's face from it's muzzle.

  I traced the fur with my finger, pulling it back sharply. As if the image could burn me. Or see me.

  Or bite.

  I scooped up my phone the minute that Charise's clock turned to 7:00 am. I tapped in a few letters and hit send, before laying back on my bed.

  A feeling of relief flooded my body as I glanced at the message on my phone. Of giving into the inevitable.

  'You win'

  Dylan

  Chapter Four

  ≣

  I clutched my phone, willing her to answer it. We'd been exchanging texts all day. It had all started this morning when I got her text.

  'You win'

  I knew what it meant. I knew she was going to be mine, fully and completely. I knew, but I had to make sure. I needed to hear it. I'd written back immediately, sleep still heavy in my eyes.

  'Does that mean what I think it means? You'll be my girlfriend for real? Don't tease me Kaylia'

  She'd written back one word.

  'Yes'

  The heavy chains of the dream fell away. I felt free. Kaylia was mine.

  My face felt warm as I thought of all the things that entailed. Touching her. Kissing her. Sex.

  Lots and lots of sex.

  Lord knows I was pent up enough.

  Oh yeah, I had ideas. I was going to treat her so good, I'd make her forget all about the rough stuff she'd been through. Losing her mom. The hardships of growing up poor. I'd make it all go away.

  I'd keep her safe.

  But most of all, I'd keep her close.

  That created a problem though. I couldn't bring her here, and she had a roommate. I wasn't sure Kaylia would go with me to a hotel or not. She might feel uncomfortable doing that, or worry about the money.

  Then inspiration struck.

  We didn't have a game this weekend.

  That meant I could take her away somewhere. Just the two of us. To cement our relationship.

  I closed my eyes, imagining a whole weekend to be with her. It wasn't just the sex I was looking forward to. I just wanted to be near her. To pamper her.

  To wake up with her in my arms.

  I texted her back.

  'I need to see you tonight. Meet me after your shift.'

  'Okay. I get off at 9.'

  'Good. I cant wait to kiss you Kaylia.'

  Her reply made me laugh.

  'I hope you like the smell of french fries.'

  I hadn't missed a beat. I was grinning like a kid on Christmas morning when I wrote back.

  'I love french fries.'

  And I love you.

  I didn't say it. But it was there, in everything I did. I loved her.

  I would tell her this weekend.

  I went online and started looking for places to go.

  The day flew by. I was spaced out in classes. The first time I wasn't thinking about my plans for the weekend was on the field at practice, and that's because I was slamming into things.

  After, in
the showers, I realized what had been different last night in the dream. It was in the back of my mind all day, but I'd been distracted by more pleasant thoughts.

  I'd been chained to the table again, the metal somehow tearing into me as I changed. The other had laughed at me, hiding in the shadows. It was hell, torture, until I saw her.

  Kaylia had been there.

  Kaylia

  ≣

  I tossed my apron into the basket by the kitchen door. It had been a long shift and I was hot and sweaty. I wasn't psyched about how I looked but there wasn't much I could do about it.

  I shook my head and thought about it. Maybe I should make an effort to be less grungy. Tonight was kind of a big deal. And Dylan had mentioned something about kissing...

  That did it.

  I grabbed my bag and ducked into the tiny employee bathroom with the flickering light.

  I splashed cold water on my face and applied a thin layer on lipgloss. I combed my hair and spritzed myself with vanilla body spray- a new gift from Charise. I looked at myself in the dingy mirror and shrugged.

  That was the best I could do.

  Dylan was outside, waiting. I knew it without a doubt. Techincally he'd already been waiting. For almost three hours at this point. He hadn't come until the second half of meal time. He'd gotten his tray and gone straight to my station. Then he'd just sat in the back, watching me.

  It was a little disconcerting.

  But also kinda sweet.

  I stepped outside and blinked in the darkness. There was a bright light over the trash and recycling but there were shadows everywhere else. It was after 9 pm and most of the staff were still inside eating their free meal that came with the shift. I had skipped it, though usually it was one of the best meals I had all week.

  Almost as good as Gran's home cooking.

  I didn't want to keep Dylan waiting.

  "Kaylia."

  I stepped forward tentatively, immediately swallowed up by the darkness. I looked around, letting my eyes adjust. I could barely see a thing in the dim light.

  "Dylan?"