The Darkness

Chapter 35

I had a fitful night filled with nightmares of Ridley's werewolves snapping at me as they chased me through the woods. I woke up several times through the night drenched in sweat with the sounds of growling and howling haunting me. The dreams were so vivid that after my third attempt at sleeping, I gave up.

I got up and found one of the books that I checked out of the library. My mind was all over the place and I didn't really pay attention to the words on the pages. My mind bounced between Colin and Todd. I I knew that I needed to leave Vulance, but the problem was how? I knew that Todd said I could leave of my own free will, but his story about mates made me think otherwise. If I was truly his mate, his other half, then there was no way he was going to let me go. But how did Colin fit in this puzzle. Rubbing my locket between my fingers hoping for a answer to suddenly appear. I was thoroughly disappointed.

I went back to my bedroom, pulling out my backpack repacking it with the things that I stuffed in there yesterday. I transferred my family keepsakes and money to it. Peeping out the living room blinds, Ridley's police car was still absent. It was close to noon and I knew the diner would be busy with the lunch rush. I decided to go to the library to return the books and jump on the internet to look up information on the surrounding area.

I scanned the library to make sure I wasn't being watched by one of them. There were only a few people in the library including the workers. I eyed each one suspiciously wondering if they were human or wolf. I couldn't go up to them and say, hey can I look behind your ear. If they were human, I would be placed in a loony bin!

The computer areas was pretty empty, so I deemed it safe to do my search. I wished I had an address of Colin's home but all I could remember was the highway I was chased down. Pulling up google maps I scanned for the nearby lake and knew it would help me find Colin's estate. Zooming in I was amazed at how large Colin's property encompassed. It was hard to tell how far his land reached because the property was surrounded by forest. Vulance was 50 miles from Colin's and I found a taxi service that had a calculation tool on their home page. It would cost me over hundred dollars to travel there.

I typed in Colin's name to do a google search hoping to come up with a telephone number. I came up empty. Hmmm, maybe I can find the number to his business. Now what was the name of it. An image of the pretty Latina popped in my brain. I remember the first days at Colin's through my exploration I enter the building where she was answering phones. Damn what did she say. Squeezing my eyes, her voice came to me, Hello this is...... Right Industries? Nah! Maybe it had wolf in it. Silver Wolf... Alpha's Inc.... None of them sounded right. Blowing out a frustrated sigh, this was hopeless. I continue my search for another mode of transportation out of this town, but came up empty handed. It was almost two o'clock and the end of lunch rush. Slinging my backpack over my shoulder, I left the library and walked the two blocks over to the diner.

"Hi Celeste." Kevin greeted me with a warm smile. "Lulu is in the back."

"Thanks Kevin." I walked through the opening at the counter and headed back to the connecting door that lead to the living quarters. Once in the living quarters, I stopped at the office door and heard music on the other side. I knocked on the door loudly and it was immediately opened by Lulu.

"Come on in darlin there's someone I want you to meet." A tall man was sitting in one of the chairs facing the desk. He had to be almost seven feet tall because he was taller than me even in a seated position. He had bright red hair that was in stark contrast to his pasty white skin. He was lanky but had a wiry muscular frame. "This here is Smithy and he is one of them." Lulu informed me.

Smithy stood up and I had to tilt my head back to make eye contact. "Hello. Ms. Lulu said you have some questions for me."

"Yes." I walked over to the vacant chair next to him and sat down. He resumed his seat and waited for my questions. "Can you have two mates?'