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Chapter 3
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2020-11-30 08:10:24The air was already hot and humid, mosquitos drawling blood on her skin, when Leila opened her eyes on a bed of moss the next morning. She groaned and swatted at the infernal bugs biting her exposed skin. She decided that mosquitos most definitely had been a part of the original plague the Lord himself set upon the Egyptians after they had thoroughly pissed off the man above.
Dried blood, crusted and coated down her chin, neck, and chest just made her current situation even more uncomfortable, and her mood worse. Not that she often didn’t wake up coated in blood when her wolf took control, but really would it be too much ask for the beast inside her to go trapesing through some water after a kill?
The smell of death was in the air. Along with the smell of soured, brackish waters, decay, and rot from the swamplands all around her. Leila sat up and her eyes gravitated to the carcass lying less than twenty feet away from her naked body. It was hard to tell from the mangled
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By the time Leila pulled up to the Stillwater Bar and Grill with the windows rolled down in her beat up old Chevy s10 because the air-conditioner had never worked, she could already smell that Clyde’s body had been removed. Stale blood still permeated the air, and lots of it. It seemed that Clyde had been practically exsanguinated by whomever or whatever took his sorry life. Leila felt bad that she didn’t feel bad the man was dead. But she knew many others in the small town felt the same way.The gravel lot was empty beyond several police cruisers, Sterling’s Ford heavy duty truck, and Zenia’s old tan VW bug. Was it bad that the last thing on her mind should be if Sterling’s large truck was a good comparison to the size of what was between his legs? She somehow doubted he was overcompensating for something. Not that she would be in Stillwater long enough to find out.Leila lost faith in Stillwater’s finest rather quickly when despite the lot being overpopulated with law
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The sun was starting to set, the firefly’s twinkling, the crickets and frogs playing their melodies, not a cloud in the sky, the moon and stars peeking out, and the night not too hot, but just right. With Sterling in her arms, it felt almost romantic. Like the perfect set up for some hot, steamy kiss full of pent up sexual tension where the girl and guy realize they are right for each other and no longer deny their sexual chemistry. Leila looked up into Sterling’s blue eyes, and he looked down into hers. She drew a bit closer towards those luscious lips of his, until the beam of a high powered flashlight blinded her. Leila tried to clear away the spots, and drew back from Sterling’s strong, corded embrace. If looks could kill, the deputy holding that damn flashlight in one hand and an evidence bag in the other would have dropped dead on the spot.“Sheriff I have something you’ll want to see,” said the deputy, out of breath.It was clear the man had run out the back door
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Sterling lived in a charming little, Spanish inspired white bungalow with an orange slate roof, the type which seemed just perfect and cozy for two. The main section of the house was accessed through a cute little courtyard behind a stone arch. The courtyard was a garden with a variety of colorful flowers, a stone bench nestled in the middle, with a view of the bird bath. A hammock swayed in the breeze. Leila’s imagination got the best of her imaging herself tucked against Sterling on a balmy night like this one, gazing at the stars. And perhaps both of them wearing nothing but sweat.Sterling eyed Leila as she took in his home and garden. She was surprised a bachelor pad had such a well-kept garden. Not surprised the lawn and home itself appeared well maintained and taken care of. Just like the owner himself.“I don’t have a green thumb. This is all my mother Lucille’s doing,” explained Sterling with a grin. “I tend to kill plants. And small animals unfortunately. Not i
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Leila stowed her ratty old duffle bag on the seat beside her and said a thanks to the man above when her Chevy started on the first try. She had stuffed everything she cared to bring along in the tattered bag, and left her apartment keys in her mailbox. She wanted to put plenty of miles between herself and Stillwater before the sun can up. She didn’t have a clue where she was going, her plan to just get in the truck, pick a direction and drive. Let the wind take her where it would.She ignored the heavy feeling in her chest as she put the truck in reverse and headed towards the only highway out of town. Her phone rang on the seat beside her. She glanced at the screen, and drew in a deep breath when Sterling’s name and number flashed across the lighted screen. She sat the phone back down on the seat and continued to drive. She had made her decision. The call went to voicemail.Her window stuck and refused to roll down. She cursed and drove on towards the only gas station
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Leila had planned to lie low that day, stay at home, and just wait for Zenia’s call tonight when it was time to head to the morgue. She had showered off the swamp, burnt her bloody clothes from the night before in case the Sheriff came poking around, and tidied up her apartment.She hadn’t been able to help herself from calling to check on Sterling that morning. He hadn’t answered, but sent her a text saying he was being interviewed again. She hated the Sheriff even more at that moment, as poor Sterling had barely been given any time to rest.But by early afternoon Zenia called to ask her to come to the bar. Lucille Mount had marched into the Stillwater Police Department with a lawyer in tow, and several minutes later her son was released from police custody, with no charges filed so far at least. Lucille had spent several hours fussing over son, as she had just arrived back in town for a church sponsored ladies retreat and nearly had a heart attack w
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As Leila headed in the front doors of the morgue, she got another ping on her phone. She read the text from Zenia quickly, autopsy room is straight down hall on right can’t miss it. Mike and I are in the coroner’s office. Don’t worry I’ll be loud. She wondered how she was to gain access to the morgue after hours, but nearly laughed when she noted that Zenia had somehow propped a tampon at the bottom of the metal door so it didn’t latch properly. Leila took a deep breath and slowly and quietly slipped in through the door.&n
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Once the adrenalin had worn off, Leila found herself exhausted. She dragged herself into her small apartment and ran a warm bath into the claw foot tub. The apartment had been designed for a soul occupant or a couple. It was one large room with a curtained off area that served as the bathroom. The bathroom sink was one of those antique deals that mounted directly into the wall with its metal plumbing exposed underneath. The bathroom walls were tiled with those white subway tiles and had a checkered floor. Shelves were built along the wall for storage. The kitchen however had left the nineteen fifties behind and moved into the seventies. Dark brown cabinets, a green oven mounted between some of the cabinets. Green plastic laminate countertops, a small cooking range, and dingy linoleum flooring. At a yard sal
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Leila parked on the side of the street quickly and sprinted over to the house. She made it a great deal up the front path before Sheriff Thorne blocked her path with his wide girth and smug expression. “Miss Dupree, big surprise to see you here. But I can’t allow you to pass. We have executed a search warrant on your boyfriend’s property. So I suggest you turn around and return to your vehicle.” “Where is Sterling?” Leila asked.
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Sterling stood tall and awaited his fate without flinching. The picture of surrender and compliance. This was a fight he knew he wouldn’t win, and there was more than one way to fight, to win. He had faith that the truth would come out at his trial and he would be found innocent. Leila tried to keep that faith too and wondered, if he stood strong and proud while facing down the law, for her benefit as much as his. To reassure those he held near and dear in the bar that night that true justice would prevail in the end.But Sheriff Thorne had a wicked glint in his eye, one that unsettled Leila and spoke of violence. One she knew all too well. He postured like a man with a small grasp of power in his hands, one who craved more, and was willing to get it at any means necessary. Men like Thorne were a plague to society, tale as old as time, and would be its ultimate downfall. Leila had known many of his kind among the wolves in the Blackwood Pack.“Sterling Mount, you are under arrest for
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Leila should have been stunned, but she had heard versions of this before. The Sheriff had made claims that she’d been sleeping around with several men at the bar. But she was curious to hear this latest gossip on how Clyde’s death was her fault. Had Peggy fed this line to the Sheriff or had it been the other way around? Thorne had been insinuating Sterling had killed Clyde in a jealous rage because of Leila.Leila chuckled, “Let me hear it then Peggy. Go on. This town calling me a slut is nothing new because I don’t wear a wedding ring and don’t go to church, which neither do you come to think of it…But tell me why I’m the reason Clyde is dead?”The look on the shrew’s face was worth it alone. Peggy was insecure and jealous of Leila, and was probably the one who had spearheaded the smear campaign against the pretty young newcomer since Leila moved to Stillwater. Leila had never been overly flirty with anyone in the bar, except for Sterling, and had staved off all unwanted advances fr
Bad Moon On The Rise Chapter 37
Leila arrived early for her five p.m. shift at the bar the next evening to see if an extra pair of hands was needed to help get the bar up in running. But she soon saw that Ster had everything in tip-top shape, the window Gary Kline had busted was replaced, the food prep done for the night ahead, the place shiny clean, and even the band’s equipment was in tune for their eight p.m. set.She still tried to make herself useful. Her boss grinned at her from behind the bar with a dazzling smile and came to meet her halfway when she walked in. But Sterling let Leila control how far they were willing to take this, especially with an audience present. Amos Fox was visible through the kitchen window as he readied for the dinner service. Leila didn’t know the fifty-something man well, but he always talked about his wife Glory. They’d been married longer than Leila had been alive and it was a long running joke around the bar that Glory couldn’t cook a lick and burned water.Amos was a loving but
Bad Moon On The Rise Chapter 36
It wasn’t the warm, welcomed summer rain that sent Leila and Sterling indoors, as they lay naked and entangled in one another by the smoke of the dying out fire. Their passion for each other was not cooled by the rain or dampered by the smoke that curled around their still heaving bodies like the ivy that snaked up the side of Ster’s cottage. If anything, both Leila and her wolf were ready for round two, in fact she stole a kiss from his plump lips, and deepened the kiss when her tongue plunged into his mouth. He rose up to meet her kiss and the ferocity of her tongue stroke for stroke. One glance down between his muscled thighs told Leila all she needed to know. She threw a leg over his hip and made to straddle him. It wasn’t even the clash of thunder that parted the lovers, but rather the streaks of lightening reaching out across the inky sky. It touched down far too close to the ground for comfort. Thanks to her wolfblood, taking a lightening strike would likely only stun her, but
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After the young lovers roamed the places on each other once forbidden, the moon was high and bright in the sky, and Leila dizzy from his kisses, Sterling wet his lips as his fingers stilled at the hem of her dress. A question danced in his bright cerulean eyes. He waited for Leila to control where they took this new and beautiful thing forming between them. He was so careful not to press his weight down on her. So far, his touches and kisses had been almost chaste. But Leila wasn’t sure she wanted him to remain a gentleman tonight.The wolf inside her longed for him to tear her dress to shreds and devour her. Her human side wanted all the promises making love entailed, emotions and feelings which had been denied her since she gave her body to the first boy she’d loved. Since Miles, the times her body had been taken, and the times she’d shared it willingly had met a carnal need, but never anything beyond those basic primal urges. Tonight, she wanted to feel it all. Something that trans
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Leila was surprised how easy it was to carry on a conversation with her boss without Zen around to fill lingering silences or nudge the lovebirds into the right direction. Of course, now the man was so much more than just her boss to her. Looking back though, she realized Sterling Mount had always been more to her from the start. A friend when she needed it starting over in a new town with little money and no prospects. Never pressuring her like the others before him did and expecting her to sleep with him to show her gratitude Those friends had come with conditions. But the handsome bar owner had never expected anything in return for his good deeds of finding her housing and giving her a job. He was a good man and those were hard to find.They continued on with their flirty banter throughout their first course, and some of that nervousness dissipated like the ashes in the wind from the fire. Leila knew Sterling was also feeling more at ease and enjoying himself, if not for the smile
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Zenia dropped Leila off at her apartment with the explicit instructions to take the rest of the night off from sleuthing and focus on her date to come with Sterling. But that was easier said than done as thoughts of this mystery woman kept intruding in her head as Leila got ready for her date. Was this scorned woman the key to solving this case? The smoking gun they so desperately needed to save the man she loved from being accused of a crime he didn’t commit? Or would this motel hook up prove to be just another dead end or red herring?Leila replayed it all in her head as she showered, hoping to pick apart any clue she might have missed. It would be hard to locate this woman when they had so little to go on about her. Hopefully, they would learn more when Spencer contacted them about whatever data he was able to recover from the dead man’s phone. As Leila scrubbed herself pink, took a razor to every inch of her body, then doused herself in scented oils like she was christening hersel
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Leila and Zenia scoured the lot looking for guests, especially ones that looked like tenants. A man in a dark hoodie in the mid-July sun didn’t stop to even acknowledge them, which was probably for the best. He made a beeline across the cracked asphalt and disappeared into a room. It was likely he was about to take a hit of whatever he’d just scored. The sores Leila had seen on his face held credence to her theory. Meth and Heroin were the drugs of choice in these parts. Leila wasn’t as sensitive to the hot or cold since being turned, but even she began to feel like an egg frying on the pavement after twenty minutes of loitering around the rundown motel. She swatted at a mosquito and then it’s entire family it’d brought along to feast on her. Zen’s mood was deteriorating just as rapidly, especially when she stumbled on a pothole and about twisted her ankle. “Fuck this. I don’t want to catch hepatitis around here. I think this is a waste of time girl. Most of these people are asleep a
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“Well fuck,” muttered Zen, “but I can work with this.” “Good luck. Looks like a tough crowd. I’m guessing you didn’t need to bring the girls to the party after all,” grinned Leila. Both women shared a look before they walked deeper in the lobby with dingy, linoleum floors, dim lighting, and the smell of unchanged cat litter permeated the air. At least Leila thought the obnoxious odor was from cats, but there was the possibility it was human waste in nature drifting from the bathroom with an Employee’s only sign on the door. Some past its prime potpourri was in a glass bowl on the counter near a small display of local town attractions, which held about three brochures in total, boasting an outlet store, a pizza joint with a nineteen-fifties theme, and a bowling alley. Dust mites flitted through the air in the breeze from the open door, and possibly some cat fur, giving Leila more credence to her belief of a feline also living on the property. The clerk gave an irritated glance in the
