a grizzly awakening
Chapter One
~ Scarlett ~
“I’m telling you, he was there the whole time,” a balding man insisted to his girlfriend as we followed them into the crowded pub.
The place felt lived-in, with dark wooden furnishings and unfinished brick walls. To my left was a pair of tall pub tables, each with two chairs. Through an open doorway I could see a pool table with red felt. A large square bar, lined with captain-style barstools, occupied most of the space in front of us. Beyond that was a long banquet table with enough seating for twenty people, and four doors: male and female restrooms, an office, and a swinging door that likely led to the kitchen.
As the couple ahead of us went right to go around the bar, I heard the woman say, “Thankfully, I did not see any ghosts at the LaLaurie house—holding their heads or otherwise. I did see a monk though. He just appeared out of the mist by the cathedral. Not that anyone else noticed him. They were too busy gawking at that Jesus-shaped shadow.”
My lips twitched, but I managed to stop the smile before it took shape.
“A smile is only a physical representation of the underlying emotions, Scarlett.” The reminder came from Faith, a close friend, as she walked beside me.
When we reached the bar, I bent down to her ear and spoke low enough that only she could hear me. “That’s true, but only a nosy empathy demon would read those emotions without asking first.”
“Moi? Nosy?” She asked, fluttering her lashes with her hand over her heart. “I’m simply pointing out that you are, in fact, amused. And—dare I say—happy.”
I cut her off. “If you say ‘I told you so’, I’m going to strangle you.”
She laughed and climbed onto a recently vacated barstool. With the front doors propped wide open, it was cold enough that we both left our coats on.
“I won’t say the four dreaded words, if you admit that you had fun.”
Faith leaned back, one eyebrow raised in expectation. She looked nothing like my mother, with her blonde curls and glasses. When she wore that expression on her face, though, I could swear they were twins.
Knowing she could sense my emotions, I grudgingly gave her what she wanted. “Fine. I’ll admit it. When you asked me to go on one of your ghost tours, I thought you were crazy. But it was actually a lot of fun.”
As I slid onto the barstool beside hers, a deep voice broke into our conversation. “That’s because Faith is the best tour guide in all of New Orleans.”
The voice belonged to the bartender who asked, “The usual, Faith?”
Faith nodded. “And one for Scarlett too.”
He turned toward the counter behind him. Clear plastic cups filled every inch of space between the sink and the register. Each of the over-sized beverage containers held enough red liquid to send the average human straight from sober to drunk, without passing buzzed. When he came back, he placed two of them on the bar in front of us.
“Noah makes the best Hurricanes in town.”
She immediately lifted her cup and took a sip, but I was more interested in checking out the bartender. The brief glimpse I had of his backside showed me it was definitely worth a second look, and the front of him wasn’t bad either. His black T-shirt stretched over his muscular chest and arms in a way that had my eyes lingering long enough to be embarrassing. When my gaze finally landed on his face, he grinned at me. Amusement danced in his hazel eyes.
Faith cleared her throat. “You give me too much credit this time, Noah. Spine-tingling fear and cold chills I can do, but tonight, the drunken tourists actually saw ghosts.”
I picked up the nearest plastic cup, and snuck a covert glance at Noah, while I sipped the fruity alcoholic beverage inside. He looked to be in his late twenties, which was a few years younger than Faith and I appeared to be. He was clean shaven with a strong jaw, full lips, and though his brown hair was tied back, I guessed it was about shoulder length. There were no rings on his fingers, or marks where one had been removed.
“If you weren’t responsible for the spectral sightings, then who was?” Noah asked.
“Scarlett, of course,” Faith replied, and I choked on my drink. I sprayed half the bar before I got control of myself.
Noah handed me a napkin without comment. Then he grabbed a towel and cleaned up while Faith went on to say, “Without physical contact, I can only enhance emotions that people already feel, but Scarlett here has a true gift. She can delve into your mind and make you see your worst nightmares—or the dreams you desire most.” She added the last part with a shrug.
Noah cocked his head to the side and eyed me. I thought he might be waiting for me to confirm or deny her outrageous claims, but I had no idea what Faith was up to. As far as I could tell, Noah was human. As a general rule, we never told humans about our special abilities, or why we had them.
Deciding Faith knew what she was doing, even if I didn’t, I played along. “I can also disappear from sight, bend an I-beam in half, and make you have the best orgasm of your life without touching anything but your wrist.”
Noah’s mouth dropped open for a second before he burst out laughing. Faith and I joined him, though on my part at least the laughter was a bit forced.
When his laughter died down, Noah shook his head. “I’m used to Faith saying off the wall things, but I didn’t expect that from you. You seemed... I don’t know... A bit more grounded?”
“Are you calling me an airhead, Noah Osbourne?” Faith smacked at him, like a sister would a brother. He dodged out of the way, faster than any human I’d ever met.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Faith. You have a good head on your shoulders, but you do get carried away by your imagination.”
“And I don’t strike you as someone with a good imagination?” I asked, tilting my head to the side and eyeing him like he had me a moment ago.
He grinned at me again, and my heart skipped a beat or two. The reaction was unexpected, but not altogether unwelcome. I came here to forget about another man, and an old wound that had recently been ripped wide open. Spending some quality time alone with Noah would go a long way towards helping me reach that goal.
As soon as the thought entered my mind, I imagined him in a sea of red sheets and pillows. He gazed up at me with parted lips as my hands traced the sculpted contours of his chest. My hips moved with a slow, sensual rhythm. Mmm... The feel of his hard flesh sliding into the wet center of my body was exquisite.
“Scarlett!” Faith hissed. I shook myself to clear my head of the naughty vision.
Her eyes darted to the side where Noah had his palms braced on the bar. When I met his wild gaze, I knew my fantasy hadn’t been private. It was obvious he’d seen, and felt, everything I had. I started to erase my slip from his mind, but Faith stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Claire said we should never hide anything from Noah.”
Everything came to a full stop. With Claire being psychic, I had to wonder what she knew about this man that we didn’t.
There was a loud cheer from the back of the room. Moments later, a gray-haired man slapped some money down on the bar and ordered drinks for everyone, on him.
Noah took a deep breath, and straightened to his full, quite considerable height. “I’d like to discuss your vivid imagination further. Will you be around later?” He waited until I nodded before leaving to help the man.
The instant he turned his back, I grabbed Faith, dragged her out the front door and down the street. Once we were relatively alone, I asked, “What the hell is going on, Faith?”
“I don’t know any more than you do,” she insisted, yanking her arm out of my hand. “When Noah came to work at the bar a few months ago, Claire dropped by to say I should treat him like one of our own. I don’t know why, or what makes him special, but I always follow Claire’s advice.”
“Claire dropped by? Are you listening to yourself? This is New Orleans—home of our worst enemy, Travali, and his army of vampires. Truce or no truce, the mother of our king should never set foot in this city.”
Faith snorted. “And who’s going to stop Claire from doing anything she sets her mind to? Besides, you’re not really worried about Claire’s well-being. You’re upset about Noah, and your reaction to him.”
My chin came up, and I gave her the same line I was trying to feed myself. “He’s an attractive man. My reaction to him was perfectly normal.”
“So you meant to share that erotic fantasy with him? The two of you were so hot for each other, I almost had an orgasm.”
Arms crossed over her chest, she tapped her toe and waited for me to deny it. I couldn’t lie to her. No more than I could lie to myself. I hadn’t meant to project that vision. The fact that I had was more than a little worrisome. When I didn’t say anything, she reached out and tucked my hair behind my ear. It was a comforting gesture that she’d done a thousand times since she came into my life more than four hundred years ago.
“I think you should head back over to Myths and Legends now.”
“I told Noah I’d be here later,” I replied, confused by her sudden change of heart. She’d practically begged me to come to New Orleans, and now she was telling me to go home. It didn’t make any sense.
Faith bit her lip, and I knew I wouldn’t like whatever she was about to say. “I’m sure Noah wants an explanation, but given your reaction to him, I don’t think you should see him again.”
“Why not? I’m single. He’s single—”
She winced, and I thought I understood the problem. “He’s not wearing a ring.”
“No, he’s not, but he lives with someone and they’re engaged to be married.”
Rage burned through me like a forest fire. On some level I knew the reaction was way over the top. That didn’t stop my foot when it snapped out and connected with one of the horse-head-topped poles that lined the street. The pole bent at an odd angle. Two men staggering towards us quickly changed direction to cross the street. I turned, but managed to stop before I drove my fist into a brick wall. A sound that was half growl, and half scream, tore out of my throat.
Faith stepped up behind me.
“Don’t bother, Faith. I’m not going home tonight, but I’ll stay away from Noah. Tell him I hope he has a nice life with his bride-to-be.”
She put her hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off and walked away. Noah was apparently off the menu, but that didn’t mean I had to spend the night alone. All I needed was a willing partner. Luckily, I knew exactly where to find one.
~ Scarlett ~
“I’m telling you, he was there the whole time,” a balding man insisted to his girlfriend as we followed them into the crowded pub.
The place felt lived-in, with dark wooden furnishings and unfinished brick walls. To my left was a pair of tall pub tables, each with two chairs. Through an open doorway I could see a pool table with red felt. A large square bar, lined with captain-style barstools, occupied most of the space in front of us. Beyond that was a long banquet table with enough seating for twenty people, and four doors: male and female restrooms, an office, and a swinging door that likely led to the kitchen.
As the couple ahead of us went right to go around the bar, I heard the woman say, “Thankfully, I did not see any ghosts at the LaLaurie house—holding their heads or otherwise. I did see a monk though. He just appeared out of the mist by the cathedral. Not that anyone else noticed him. They were too busy gawking at that Jesus-shaped shadow.”
My lips twitched, but I managed to stop the smile before it took shape.
“A smile is only a physical representation of the underlying emotions, Scarlett.” The reminder came from Faith, a close friend, as she walked beside me.
When we reached the bar, I bent down to her ear and spoke low enough that only she could hear me. “That’s true, but only a nosy empathy demon would read those emotions without asking first.”
“Moi? Nosy?” She asked, fluttering her lashes with her hand over her heart. “I’m simply pointing out that you are, in fact, amused. And—dare I say—happy.”
I cut her off. “If you say ‘I told you so’, I’m going to strangle you.”
She laughed and climbed onto a recently vacated barstool. With the front doors propped wide open, it was cold enough that we both left our coats on.
“I won’t say the four dreaded words, if you admit that you had fun.”
Faith leaned back, one eyebrow raised in expectation. She looked nothing like my mother, with her blonde curls and glasses. When she wore that expression on her face, though, I could swear they were twins.
Knowing she could sense my emotions, I grudgingly gave her what she wanted. “Fine. I’ll admit it. When you asked me to go on one of your ghost tours, I thought you were crazy. But it was actually a lot of fun.”
As I slid onto the barstool beside hers, a deep voice broke into our conversation. “That’s because Faith is the best tour guide in all of New Orleans.”
The voice belonged to the bartender who asked, “The usual, Faith?”
Faith nodded. “And one for Scarlett too.”
He turned toward the counter behind him. Clear plastic cups filled every inch of space between the sink and the register. Each of the over-sized beverage containers held enough red liquid to send the average human straight from sober to drunk, without passing buzzed. When he came back, he placed two of them on the bar in front of us.
“Noah makes the best Hurricanes in town.”
She immediately lifted her cup and took a sip, but I was more interested in checking out the bartender. The brief glimpse I had of his backside showed me it was definitely worth a second look, and the front of him wasn’t bad either. His black T-shirt stretched over his muscular chest and arms in a way that had my eyes lingering long enough to be embarrassing. When my gaze finally landed on his face, he grinned at me. Amusement danced in his hazel eyes.
Faith cleared her throat. “You give me too much credit this time, Noah. Spine-tingling fear and cold chills I can do, but tonight, the drunken tourists actually saw ghosts.”
I picked up the nearest plastic cup, and snuck a covert glance at Noah, while I sipped the fruity alcoholic beverage inside. He looked to be in his late twenties, which was a few years younger than Faith and I appeared to be. He was clean shaven with a strong jaw, full lips, and though his brown hair was tied back, I guessed it was about shoulder length. There were no rings on his fingers, or marks where one had been removed.
“If you weren’t responsible for the spectral sightings, then who was?” Noah asked.
“Scarlett, of course,” Faith replied, and I choked on my drink. I sprayed half the bar before I got control of myself.
Noah handed me a napkin without comment. Then he grabbed a towel and cleaned up while Faith went on to say, “Without physical contact, I can only enhance emotions that people already feel, but Scarlett here has a true gift. She can delve into your mind and make you see your worst nightmares—or the dreams you desire most.” She added the last part with a shrug.
Noah cocked his head to the side and eyed me. I thought he might be waiting for me to confirm or deny her outrageous claims, but I had no idea what Faith was up to. As far as I could tell, Noah was human. As a general rule, we never told humans about our special abilities, or why we had them.
Deciding Faith knew what she was doing, even if I didn’t, I played along. “I can also disappear from sight, bend an I-beam in half, and make you have the best orgasm of your life without touching anything but your wrist.”
Noah’s mouth dropped open for a second before he burst out laughing. Faith and I joined him, though on my part at least the laughter was a bit forced.
When his laughter died down, Noah shook his head. “I’m used to Faith saying off the wall things, but I didn’t expect that from you. You seemed... I don’t know... A bit more grounded?”
“Are you calling me an airhead, Noah Osbourne?” Faith smacked at him, like a sister would a brother. He dodged out of the way, faster than any human I’d ever met.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Faith. You have a good head on your shoulders, but you do get carried away by your imagination.”
“And I don’t strike you as someone with a good imagination?” I asked, tilting my head to the side and eyeing him like he had me a moment ago.
He grinned at me again, and my heart skipped a beat or two. The reaction was unexpected, but not altogether unwelcome. I came here to forget about another man, and an old wound that had recently been ripped wide open. Spending some quality time alone with Noah would go a long way towards helping me reach that goal.
As soon as the thought entered my mind, I imagined him in a sea of red sheets and pillows. He gazed up at me with parted lips as my hands traced the sculpted contours of his chest. My hips moved with a slow, sensual rhythm. Mmm... The feel of his hard flesh sliding into the wet center of my body was exquisite.
“Scarlett!” Faith hissed. I shook myself to clear my head of the naughty vision.
Her eyes darted to the side where Noah had his palms braced on the bar. When I met his wild gaze, I knew my fantasy hadn’t been private. It was obvious he’d seen, and felt, everything I had. I started to erase my slip from his mind, but Faith stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Claire said we should never hide anything from Noah.”
Everything came to a full stop. With Claire being psychic, I had to wonder what she knew about this man that we didn’t.
There was a loud cheer from the back of the room. Moments later, a gray-haired man slapped some money down on the bar and ordered drinks for everyone, on him.
Noah took a deep breath, and straightened to his full, quite considerable height. “I’d like to discuss your vivid imagination further. Will you be around later?” He waited until I nodded before leaving to help the man.
The instant he turned his back, I grabbed Faith, dragged her out the front door and down the street. Once we were relatively alone, I asked, “What the hell is going on, Faith?”
“I don’t know any more than you do,” she insisted, yanking her arm out of my hand. “When Noah came to work at the bar a few months ago, Claire dropped by to say I should treat him like one of our own. I don’t know why, or what makes him special, but I always follow Claire’s advice.”
“Claire dropped by? Are you listening to yourself? This is New Orleans—home of our worst enemy, Travali, and his army of vampires. Truce or no truce, the mother of our king should never set foot in this city.”
Faith snorted. “And who’s going to stop Claire from doing anything she sets her mind to? Besides, you’re not really worried about Claire’s well-being. You’re upset about Noah, and your reaction to him.”
My chin came up, and I gave her the same line I was trying to feed myself. “He’s an attractive man. My reaction to him was perfectly normal.”
“So you meant to share that erotic fantasy with him? The two of you were so hot for each other, I almost had an orgasm.”
Arms crossed over her chest, she tapped her toe and waited for me to deny it. I couldn’t lie to her. No more than I could lie to myself. I hadn’t meant to project that vision. The fact that I had was more than a little worrisome. When I didn’t say anything, she reached out and tucked my hair behind my ear. It was a comforting gesture that she’d done a thousand times since she came into my life more than four hundred years ago.
“I think you should head back over to Myths and Legends now.”
“I told Noah I’d be here later,” I replied, confused by her sudden change of heart. She’d practically begged me to come to New Orleans, and now she was telling me to go home. It didn’t make any sense.
Faith bit her lip, and I knew I wouldn’t like whatever she was about to say. “I’m sure Noah wants an explanation, but given your reaction to him, I don’t think you should see him again.”
“Why not? I’m single. He’s single—”
She winced, and I thought I understood the problem. “He’s not wearing a ring.”
“No, he’s not, but he lives with someone and they’re engaged to be married.”
Rage burned through me like a forest fire. On some level I knew the reaction was way over the top. That didn’t stop my foot when it snapped out and connected with one of the horse-head-topped poles that lined the street. The pole bent at an odd angle. Two men staggering towards us quickly changed direction to cross the street. I turned, but managed to stop before I drove my fist into a brick wall. A sound that was half growl, and half scream, tore out of my throat.
Faith stepped up behind me.
“Don’t bother, Faith. I’m not going home tonight, but I’ll stay away from Noah. Tell him I hope he has a nice life with his bride-to-be.”
She put her hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off and walked away. Noah was apparently off the menu, but that didn’t mean I had to spend the night alone. All I needed was a willing partner. Luckily, I knew exactly where to find one.