Raging Kane:The Wolfe Creek Series(3)

My mind was running wild with paranoia. What if now that I'd painted  him, I wouldn't dream of him anymore? Rushing into the room where my  painting stood, I looked into his eyes and he was sad. I didn't notice  that I had rendered him that way, but I guess I did.

Standing there staring at it, I thought of The Picture of Dorian Gray by  Oscar Wilde. The Hollywood life force must be getting to me. I shook my  head. It wasn't like the image was going to change for me. A part of me  wanted to destroy it so my dream man would come back to haunt me, but  another part was afraid if I did, he wouldn't come back. What would I do  then?

"You, mister, are a menace." I tapped my finger along his jaw line, my  temper building. Fucking nutty; that was what I was becoming.

I needed to get back to my normal life and forget about my handsome stalker.





Chapter Four


After I left Creed's place, I couldn't sleep. I'd spent the whole day  working like a zombie and hoped I would make it through the night  because I was exhausted. I needed to learn to calm my feelings and stay  asleep long enough to get to know her.

I drove back home after a very long day. It was well past eight now, so I  showered and ate something small. Picking up a book, I read War and  Peace. It wasn't long before I passed out.                       
       
           



       

There she was, tears in her eyes just as before. This time, I got a  little farther along before I lost my cool- not much, though. The next  words out of her mouth after the "I hate you" was "Leave now".

The next three months, I got little to no sleep. I had to force myself  to take mini naps throughout the day while I searched for her somehow.  There was no way to know who she was because my dreams still hadn't  progressed. My breaking point was coming soon- six months wasn't going  to work for me. I would be lucky if I made it another day.

I had to meet with Hunter and his new Beta, Erik Smith and act as their  backup. Someone who'd been involved in trying to kill off the Grey  family had been spotted. I offered to be of any help I could be. It was  fucked up that I had accidentally fallen asleep before I was to meet  them. My assistant knocked on my door before coming in to get some  documents, thinking I was somewhere else. When she saw me out cold on my  couch in my office, she tapped on my shoulder. "Sir, you need to wake  up. You have an appointment."

"Oh, shit," I shouted and jumped up, grabbing my suit jacket off my chair as I went out the door.

By the time I got there, they were both on edge and I was too exhausted  for this. It didn't take long before the girl caved and confessed to  just thinking she was making a prank call to Erik, who happened to be  the Wolfe Creek sheriff. Hunter knew that she was not only a pawn, but  also a potential target, so she was taken back to her parents' place  where she would be under intense supervision and protection.

Needing to keep busy so I didn't pass out, I accepted Hunter's offer to  go to his house and have dinner. It was a life-changing decision.

"I feel out of place," I said. It was very uncomfortable to watch these  lovers look at each other with longing while I was standing there like a  fifth wheel.

"You'll find her soon," Hunter's wife Cat said, patting my arm with a  look of pure sincerity. I liked her. She was special and already made a  big impact in their pack.

"I know where you're coming from," Hunter reassured me.

"Hell, we all do. I fell in love with Chloe, and I thought we weren't  mates. I felt pain every day," Erik admitted. I didn't know that, but  shit, he suffered longer than Hunter did. I hoped it didn't take that  long or I'd be dead.

"Erik, that's why you wanted to quit, isn't it?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, it was." Hunter patted Erik's shoulder as Erik carried Chloe to the door.

The moment they stepped out of the room, I turned toward the television.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There she was on the screen in a  towel as a man looks at her through the mirror. Hell no. "Who the fuck  is she?"

Cat said, "I don't know her name." Then she shouted out for Chloe to come back. "Chloe, get your ass back here."

I was growling and howling. I couldn't breathe. She was an actress and half-naked on Hunter's huge screen for anyone to see.

"What's going on?" Chloe said.

"Chloe, what's her name?" Catherine asked.

"Oh, that's Evelyn Denney. She's a new actress."

"She's mine. How do I find her?" My eyes were wide and glowing. The  Alpha wolf inside was demanding to be let out. I saw the scared look  between the two women, and what happened next damn near ripped out my  heart. Cat tried to pause the movie but it froze too late and her  breasts were plastered all over the big-ass TV.

I knew I was going to lose it. Erik and Hunter looked worried that I was  going to flip out. Erik was holding onto his wife like I'd hurt her for  some reason. I was pissed, jealous, and hurt, but I wasn't a danger to  any of them. My wolf was starting to break through my skin, and I could  feel my hairs coming out. I rushed to the TV and ripped it off the damn  wall, smashing it to the ground. Hunter came to me, Alpha to Alpha, and  tried to calm me down.

Hitting up IMDB, Chloe searched her name. There wasn't much info on her  because she was pretty new to the scene, but it gave us her  hometown-Redwood City, California.

"Hunter, I'm sorry about the TV. I'll get you a new one soon, or bill me  because I don't know how long it's going to take me to find her." I was  still shaking, but I'd get some answers soon.

"I understand-just glad it was only the TV," Hunter said with a chuckle.

I turned to him and asked for a huge favor. "I'm really sorry, but I need you to do me a solid while I'm down there."

"Anything."
                       
       
           



       
"Look in on my uncle in Redding." I was worried after what happened to  him a few months back. He'd been shot in the head and damn near didn't  survive. My uncle was like a father to me and the incident really shook  me up.

Hunter gave me a nod then a gentle but stern reminder. "Remember, she needs to fall for you."

"Oh, she will." I was out the door and on my way to get my trip set up. Her anger was starting to make sense now.





Chapter Five


The dreams of him didn't go away after the first painting; they were  back that night. His haunted eyes were etched in my head and I had  memorized his face so well. My sketchbook was full of his beauty. The  fight in my mind still wasn't clear. Even though the dream grew, it  never got past my telling him to leave. It was so frustrating. I didn't  understand how I could have the same dream over and over again- night  after night.

I'd been dealing with so many sleepless nights that I became  absentminded. I'd accidentally left my sketches and paintings out when  my sister came to visit me and she reveled in teasing me. She pointed  out how deliciously handsome he was and how she would love to meet him  for herself.

She was lucky I didn't rip her pretty hair out. I was livid as all hell.  Something about her wanting him was too much even though he was just a  dream. Even though he never even spoke to me. I didn't know what he  sounded like, but I felt like I knew him in my soul.

Once she left, I was back to my nightly fantasies of my hurting anger.



"Leave now," I cried.

"No," he grunted. I felt him get closer to me, invading my space and  driving my heart nuts. My breathing was erratic as his head tilted and  bent toward me.

Then I was jolted out of my dream, awake and in tears. "Damn it." This  was getting out of control. Pulling out my sketchbook from under my  pillow, I tossed it in the kitchen trash. I wanted sleep and this stupid  fascination with a fake person was ruining my existence. I had a  creative career that needed to flourish and it couldn't when I spent all  day daydreaming of the beastly hot man. Pissed, I took a shower then  climbed back into bed, hoping that tossing out the drawings would help  me sleep. I closed my eyes and, this time, my sleep wasn't interrupted.



My cell had to be put on the charger because I was making calls left and  right, looking for ways to find Evelyn before she went to bed with  another man. Fuck if I was going to let that happen. The internet was a  cache for all the information on her acting career, but nothing about  her family and home. I found out she was working on a science fiction  picture on a studio set in Hollywood, so my flight was booked for two  hours from now.

Everything was packed in the back of my truck when Gage knocked at my  door. He was Hunter's younger brother and Chloe's twin. Gage was our  latest historian learning from my great-uncle, the eldest of the  historians in our region.