Strictly Taboo(95)

As Katie began following the trail into the woods, she reached up and touched the bump. It was still sore and the doctor said it would be for a few days, he had told her she could take Tylenol to take the edge off, but Katie refused to take any medicine that was not going to save her life. She had worked too hard over the years to maintain her health and she refused to compromise it simply so she did not have to endure the pain she had caused.

Katie took her time walking through the woods and picked at a biscuit she had brought with her to eat. She knew that it was not the best choice but wanted to find Sam badly. She felt awful for not calling the police and telling them about him the night before and she knew she would be to blame if something had happened to him.

Katie had not walked far when she began hearing twigs cracking in the woods around her. She stopped as the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Suddenly, out of nowhere Sam walked out of the woods.

“What are you doing back,” he said, looking at her with concern.

“I had to make sure that you were okay,” she said, feeling a little silly as she looked at him. This time he was wearing a pair of shorts, no shirt and no shoes. His muscles bulged making her realize that if he could not protect himself there was nothing that she could do to protect him.

“I am fine,” Sam replied, gently nudging her, “Now go back to the hotel and do not come into the woods again.”

Katie pushed back against Sam, not understanding why he was being so rude to her. She had come to make sure he was okay and now he was telling her to never come back.

“What is wrong with you,” she said, jerking her arm as he reached out for it.

“I told you these woods are dangerous,” he answered her, lowering his head, “you need to leave now.”

“Dangerous,” Katie laughed, “What do you think is out here dragons?” She rolled her eyes as she talked not willing to accept the local lore as fact. “Plus, I have you to protect me,” she added.

Sam stood staring at her knowing that she was not going to leave, but fearful of what could happen to her. These human women never seemed to understand that there was real danger in these woods and this was why many of them never returned.

Sam knew that if his Alpha found out that he was helping this woman he would want her dead right away. The Alpha did not want humans coming upon their camp, he wanted to make sure that instead they continued to believe the dragons had been extinct. It had become harder as more and more people visited the island, though, many of them looking for dragons, trekking off into the woods only to meet their untimely death.

As he stood in front of Katie he knew that he could not allow this to happen to her. He had never met a human woman that caused such a reaction inside of him and he knew that it was looked down upon for any dragon to have feelings for a human.

Years ago the dragons would breed with women allowing them to raise the baby until the age of 12. Then the dragons would take the child back to their own camp and teach them the ways of dragon life. There were times that the dragons would fall in love with the women that bore their children and would bring them to the camp to live as one of their own but those days were gone and it was no longer accepted.

The Alpha blamed these women for the murders of so many dragons over the years. He called them a threat stating that if women continued to join the pack more men would come looking for them and the pack would be discovered.

Sam knew how the world worked, how people killed what they feared without asking any questions. The truth was that the dragons would never be a danger to people if people would have learned to accept them but Sam knew that would never be.

“Dragons,” Sam asked, trying to pretend that he did not know what she was talking about.

“Oh yes,” Katie said, with a smile. She took Sam’s arm and began walking down the trail deeper into the woods with him. “I read all about them last night,” she continued, “How they live in these woods and how so many people go missing each year and how the dragons are to blame.”

“Where did you read that,” Sam asked, stopping suddenly.

“It is all over the internet,” Katie said, cocking her head to the side. She did not understand why it was such a big deal or why he was getting upset. “There are silly stories like that all over,” she continued gently tugging at his arm trying to get him to walk with her, “ever place has their own lore.”

Sam began walking with Katie as the fire flashed in his eyes. He looked down at the ground, hoping that she had not seen it. Anything that would cause a threat to his family was something that the Alpha needed to know about, but Sam knew there was nothing that could be done about it. It would only anger the Alpha and cause more problems for the people on the island.