They chewed the banana, woman and creature regarding each other with open interest. “See? You’re not so scary.”
“Callie, get away from it!”
Scrunch dropped the remainder of his fruit, let out a sound resembling a girl’s screech, and disappeared into the woods. She whirled toward Pete’s shout and saw the brothers charging through the pool then onto land. Without bothering to get dressed, they dashed past her in pursuit of Scrunch.
“No! Stop! Come back!”
When they kept running, breaking through the trees and underbrush, she did the only thing she could think to do. Drawing in a big breath, she let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Within a few seconds, Blue reappeared, bringing his brothers along with him. “Are there more of them?” He scanned the area around her, just as Pete and Raine did. “I don’t see any.”
“That’s because you ran off the only one that was here.”
The concern on his face morphed into irritation. “Then why the hell did you scream for us to come back?”
“I had to do something to get you guys to stop chasing that poor thing. He wasn’t doing anything to harm me.”
Blue opened his mouth to speak again then slammed it shut. Pete muttered a curse while Raine gave her a hard stare.
“You don’t know what you’re messing with, Callie.”
“Then don’t you think it’s about time you tell me, Pete? The only thing I’ve heard is that he’s dangerous and I should stay away from him.”
“So why aren’t you heeding our warning? And it’s an it. Not a he.”
“Whatever he is, he isn’t dangerous. Not once did I feel threatened. Not when I saw him at the pit, and not here.” She hadn’t told them the total truth and had, in fact, been afraid of Scrunch. Or leery to say the least. But they didn’t need to know that.
The men dressed, each glancing toward the forest. Blue stalked over to her and grabbed her arm.
“Hey! You’re hurting me.”
“I’m trying to save your pretty hide.”
He pushed her to the rock and motioned for her to sit down. Although she wanted to refuse simply on the principle that she didn’t like him ordering her around, she pushed herself onto the rock then crossed her arms. “Do tell.”
“You were told that they were trouble and you didn’t listen. Are you listening now?”
“Go ahead. Give it your best shot. But I know what I know.”
“You don’t know a damn thing.”
Raine edged his brother away and urged him to calm down. Once Blue had done so, he confronted her. “Callie, you don’t understand.”
She softened a little and decided that maybe she should hear them out. If she really trusted them—and she did—then she had to give them the chance to say their piece. But why wouldn’t they trust her when it came to Scrunch? “Fine. Then make me understand. What has he done to you?”
“I don’t know that he’s done anything, but his kind have.” He settled on the rock beside her and she relaxed. As relaxed as she could get around any of the Deacon men. As soon as they got anywhere close to her, her body started to burn with need. She concentrated, determined not to let her wayward libido keep her from paying attention.
“They’re called The Cursed.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” His sharp look kept her from going on. “Sorry.”
“They’re like us, but different. I know it’s hard to believe, but the tales say that they were born to, uh, werewolves, but that they couldn’t change right.”
If he hadn’t looked so serious, she would’ve laughed. “Werewolves? You’re kidding me, right?”
“No, I’m not. Things are different inside The Hidden. We have things, beings here that myths and fairy tales are made of.”
“I know this place is thought to be magical, but I didn’t know I should take that literally.” Her incredulousness, however, was getting harder to hang on to.
“Yeah, I know it’s hard to believe, but have you ever seen anything like it, like him before?”
“No, but…” Her nerves leapt to life. Hadn’t she had a similar thought? That he was the Missing Link? If what they said was true, then what was Scrunch really?
“From what we know, the children of werewolves will transform within a few weeks of being born. But those poor creatures we call The Cursed can’t go through the change. Instead, their ancestors were born like that, caught in a partial transformation. They’re stuck being half-werewolf and half-human.”
“And you’re saying Scrunch is one of these Cursed things?”