Free The Calling by Lily Graison Page A

was one of those... things? Her Garrett? The man she'd spent months giving herself to? She felt sick all of a sudden and sat down, putting her head between her knees. Garret is a werewolf? She almost laughed. It was absurd! How...? No. It wasn't possible. She'd spent six months with him. Six months with him in her life... in her bed. If he'd been one of those... No. Jacob was wrong. She would have known.
    How would you have known? Did Bryce look anything less than human? Does Judith? Jacob?
    No.
    Garrett is a werewolf? Tears burnt her eyes and she stared at the dark floor between her feet and let them fall. Is that why he'd stopped seeing her? She raised her head and wiped her face. "How long?" she asked.
    "How long what?"
    "How long has Garrett been..."
    He turned to look at her. "That's not my story to tell."
    "How long?" she said again, almost growling the words.
    He sighed and looked back out the door. "Twenty-six years."
    Rayna gaped at him, stunned. "Twenty-six years?" she said, before running the numbers in her head. Her eyes widened. "He's been a werewolf since he was ten!"
    Jacob laughed and turned to face her. "No. He was infected when he was twenty-four."
    Now she was completely confused.
    "We don't age like humans, remember?" Jacob said. "The aging process slows down. Its why we remain hidden."
    "Twenty-six years?" She did the math inside her head again and laughed. "So, you're telling me that Garret is-"
    "Close to fifty?" he said, grinning. "Give or take a few years. I can't remember his exact age but that's probably pretty damn close."
    Rayna laughed louder and the tears were back. She blinked them away and shook her head. "You're crazy," she said. "You're all crazy." She stood and paced the length of the cabin, the entire night replaying inside her head. She still couldn't believe half of it but she'd seen it with her own eyes. Werewolves really existed. They shifted shape under a full moon and were ten times scarier than any movie she'd ever seen. Monsters were real and Garrett was one of them. Her chest hurt with that bit of knowledge. Garrett was one of those... monsters. The reality of it was mind numbing. The attack she'd witnessed was even scarier. The moment she thought of it, and of Mitch, tears bit at the back of her eyes. Looking up she asked, "Did they kill him?"
    "Who?" Jacob asked.
    "Mitch."
    He shook his head. "No. He was still breathing when I saw him. I don't think their intention was to kill him. You either for that matter."
    "Did you know?"
    "Know what?"
    "What Malcolm had planned?"
    "No."
    She wasn't sure she believed him but something in his eyes told her she could trust him. When he turned and slid down the wall by the door and sat down, he leaned his head back and looked at her.
    "I don't agree with Malcolm's method but what he's trying to do is for the benefit of us all."
    "And what exactly does he hope to accomplish?"
    "The majority of us just want to live normal lives," he said. "To be able to do normal things. Go to McDonalds for a hamburger or go to the movies. We don't have any of that here. We have to travel over thirty miles just for the supplies we need. There's nothing here."
    "What about the town?"
    He grinned. "It's just for show in case anyone stumbles on us. There's nothing there, not really."
    "Then why bother erecting buildings if nothing is there?"
    "We didn't. The town was abandoned when the old ones found it. They pooled their resources and bought the land. Most of the mountain is owned by the pack. No one bothers us here and we don't venture out unless we have to."
    "Why not," she asked, stopping by the crumbling fireplace. "Other than the whole shifting thing, you all look perfectly normal. You can blend in as well as I do." Garrett did, she added silently to herself.
    "We still have to shift once a month, regardless of where we are. Imagine living next door to one of us. How do you think the average person will handle that if they ever found out? If people knew we