The Beast Within (The Elite Series) - By Jonathan Yanez Page 0,9

Sanctum, here.” She reached into the center console of her car and pulled out a business card. “Call me.”

“I will.”

Connor closed her car door and she was gone. Connor’s mind was reeling in so many different directions he didn’t know what question to answer first, or if he could even answer any of them.

He looked down at the business card in his hand, what kind of nineteen-year-old girl had a business card? It was light tan with black writing. In bold letters it read Laren Abelardus. Underneath her name was what had to be her family business, Abelardus Real Estate, Inc. and her phone number. The card wasn’t fancy, and besides these two lines and number, would have been completely blank had it not been for a rough spot in the upper right hand corner of the card. It was stamped with an emblem, the same emblem Laren wore around her neck.

CHAPTER 3

THAT NIGHT CONNOR HAD A hard time falling asleep. Half his mind was still reeling from his incredible night. The other half was asking why Randolph had called her “Larentia” and what was that other word he had used—Beastia?

A few years back, Connor came to the realization that Google was the answer to practically everything. He got up from his bed and crossed his small room. A large window sat across one wall, blinds drawn. His bed was in one corner, a computer desk, and an old wooden dresser that had seen to many years of service rounded out the furniture in his room. Sitting at his computer in a cut off sleeve shirt and black shorts, he started with her last name. Pages upon pages of information came up as a result from his search.

The Abelardus family was one of the wealthiest names in New York. They owned hundreds of acres of property, acres of property that had been developed as well as land that was still forested. In fact, they even owned a large portion of the Catskill Forest Preserve.

One website brought up a list of properties they owned, everything from luxury apartments in the city, to small businesses like his mother’s. It seemed as though they had their hands in everything. Try as he might, Connor couldn’t find any pictures of the family. Website after website was full of info on the family’s rich heritage matching the information Laren already told him and the meaning of their last name, “noble strength,” but no pictures.

Abandoning that search, Connor tried a different route, looking up the meanings of Larentia and Beastia. His eyes widened as Google responded to his request.

One belief in Roman mythology held Larentia, a modest shepherd’s wife, as the adopted mother of Remus and Romulus. Larentia saved their lives and nursed them when they were babies. As the two brothers grew up, they discovered their royal heritage. Romulus eventually killed his brother, Remus, over a land dispute and the empire he built, Rome, was named after him.

The other mythological view told a similar story of the infants being abandoned in the wilderness and a female wolf providing for them and nursing them until they were found by humans and cared for. This wolf’s name was also Larentia.

Connor didn’t know if this held any new information. Laren told him that her family was very traditional, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that they had named her after the provider of the founder of Rome and possibly an ancient ancestor.

Turning to his last word, Beastia, Google told him that it was the Latin translation of the English word, animal. What was the context that Randolph had used when he had referred to Laren?

‘My fellow Beastia? My fellow animal?’ What had he meant? Was it some kind of insult? But he had said it more as a fact, not so much as a slight.

Now Connor wished he hadn’t even opened the question. It was like finally escaping a maze only to realize that the end of this maze was the beginning to a larger one.

Connor forced himself to fall asleep that night and he woke thankful the next morning that his sleep hadn’t been disturbed by any sinister dreams.

Connor woke late and had to skip his run. It was Wednesday. That meant it was delivery day at his mother’s store. Grabbing a brown banana, Connor headed out the door. Jumping into his truck, he rambled down the suburban road on the way to his mother’s shop. The day was cool and Connor was thankful