by Tasha Black
Ainsley nodded.
“The file was only a few pages long. There was no autopsy report. There was nothing in there from Animal Control. There wasn’t even a statement from you. Someone didn’t want a record of what happened.”
“Maybe that’s because I’m a wolf. What did you say you do when a wolf crime happens here?”
“It doesn’t make it to the report in those terms, Ainsley, but it is recorded. If someone thought you had killed Brian, there would be references here that would make sense to a person who knew what to look for. But there are no code words here, no mis-directions. There’s really nothing here at all.”
“Who filed that report?”
“Sheriff Warren, Sr.”
Ainsley was silent.
“So, Ainsley, it sounds like Brian is telling you the truth. Do you want to see for yourself?”
“What do you mean? Did you bring the file?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I meant do you want to see what really happened?”
Grace’s hands were held out to Ainsley. She was offering to make a circle.
Well, she had certainly hit rock bottom. There was no way anything could make her feel worse. Ainsley took Grace’s hands in hers and closed her eyes.
“Brian,” Grace called in her soft voice.
Ainsley felt him immediately. She opened her eyes. He was standing by the window.
“I’m sorry for what happened last night, Ainsley,” he said without looking at her.
“It wasn’t your fault, Brian. Thank you for warning me.”
“Brian, I know it’s not pleasant for you, but can you take Ainsley back to that night. She needs to see what happened,” Grace interjected.
“I told her what happened.”
“She needs to see it.”
“Ainsley, I don’t want you to see this.”
“It’s okay, Brian,” Ainsley heard herself say, “I can handle it.”
“Please pay attention. I don’t want to do this ever again.”
Ainsley nodded.
“Shut your eyes, Ainsley,” Grace whispered.
Ainsley shut her eyes.
In an instant she was floating above the college woods. She could see herself running across the pine needles into the woods below, with Brian in swift pursuit. They both wore excited smiles.
Ainsley had relived this moment a thousand times, but somehow, witnessing it all play out from above gave it a surreal, detached feeling.
She watched herself stop and turn to Brian, throwing her arms around his neck. Brian then spun her against a tree. The scene went from sweet to sultry very quickly. They made out for a minute and then suddenly she saw Brian pull away and her younger self begin to cry.
Brian began to talk to young Ainsley, but before he could say much, she cupped his face in her hands, whispered something to him, and kissed him again.
Her younger self had not been afraid to go after what she wanted.
Wrenching her thoughts away from her current problems, Ainsley turned her attention back to the scene at hand in time to see a younger version of Clive Warren groping his way between the trees. How long had he been watching?
Clive chose the moment of Ainsley’s kiss to take advantage of their distraction. He leapt up and knocked Ainsley away from Brian. Her head hit a tree hard and she staggered.
From above, Ainsley watched herself expand into a red wolf, bursting out of the clothes she wore before collapsing limply on the ground.
So she had shifted that day after all.
She looked like a fairytale creature. Her silken fur moved slightly with the breeze and her massive ribcage rose and fell.
Meanwhile, Clive had lifted Brian up by his shirt and was yelling at him. Brian yelled back and Clive’s face began to get red. He gestured madly and dropped Brian to the ground.
He let out a roar and dropped to all fours, shredding his football jersey as he shifted into a massive wolf.
She knew what came next. Ainsley wasn’t prepared to see Clive tear Brian to pieces. As soon as it began, she opened her eyes and let go of Grace’s hands.
Suddenly, back in the real world, Ainsley was assaulted with sensory information. The floor was cool and hard against her bottom. She could hear the tick of Grace’s watch clash with the tick of the clock in the bathroom next door. The smells of the egg outside mixed with the scent of her own lotion. Her eyes searched the room for Brian. He was still next to the window but he was fading. His outline was already harder to make out.
“Brian, I’m sorry. I wish I had known what was going on in Tarker’s Hollow.”
“Ainsley, it’s not your fault. You’re free now – from this,” he gestured to his wounds. “And I’m free too.”
He smiled his shy smile at her and once more his injuries were gone. Although he was now completely translucent she swore she could see the hazel of his eyes and the soft brown sprinkling of freckles on his cheeks. He tugged his backpack higher on his shoulder, turned to the window, and disappeared.
Silent tears coursed down Ainsley’s cheeks.
Poor Brian.
And poor Ainsley. How quickly she’d grown up. She had spent so many years in penance over something she hadn’t done.
The freedom was dizzying.
“Ainsley, are you okay?” Grace asked.
Ainsley nodded, but didn’t trust herself to speak.
“Let’s get you out of here, then.”
Chapter 8
Erik Jensen was having a long day.
Clive Warren had been all over his case from the moment he’d arrived at the job. Erik had expected as much, but hadn’t realized that Clive would coerce Everett Stopes into trying to shut down the site. It had been hard enough keeping his own wolf at bay, and his workers were ready to revolt.
He’d ended up handing the foreman his credit card for burgers and beers at a pub in nearby Springton for all of them. Then he’d gone to the borough office to walk through the codebook.
By mid-afternoon, he’d ended up calling a lawyer to see what could be done. It sounded like he was going to be shut down for a few days at least. That meant paying his guys to sit around now and then trying to beat the clock later in the process.
Of course, there was a ticket on his car when he arrived at the college lot. And this was in spite of the fact that the campus was private property and that he had a permit. He paid it at the borough office on the way home and got a receipt.
The crazy thing was, in spite of everything, Erik felt like a million bucks.
Ainsley Connor was at his house, right now, waiting for him. He knew she wasn’t there to stay. But he was going to enjoy his time with her while it lasted.
He pulled up by the house. As soon as he stepped out of his truck, he was assaulted with strong smells. At once he could smell chemicals, smoke and something sweet.
He leapt up the stairs and crashed in through the screen door. Cressida was supposed to be on patrol. What had she allowed to happen to Ainsley?
She wasn’t on the porch, which was a bad sign, since the porch was the nicest room in the house. He burst into the living room and stopped in his tracks.
Ainsley stood before him on a ladder. She was wearing a paint splattered t-shirt and a pair of his jeans. She had a paintbrush in one hand and a small bucket in another.
Her long, dark hair was in a high ponytail, exposing her heart-shaped face in a way that he hadn’t seen since middle school. Her cheeks were pink with excitement. She was gazing at him with a mixture of hope and terror. She was so lovely that he could scarcely take his eyes off her.
Ainsley’s eyes darted away from his, to the ceiling.
Erik scanned the room. All the woodwork was gleaming. It looked about three shades lighter. The ceiling was painted the creamy white color he’d purchased for it but never had the time to apply. And Ainsley was doing something to the painted wood beams that ran across the ceiling.
“I only meant to clean up the woodwork. But when I went to the
basement to look for Murphy’s Oil I saw the paint that said living room ceiling, so I put on a prime coat. And then I realized that your coffered ceiling is chestnut, not pine. Wood that beautiful shouldn’t be painted white like it was - it should be stripped, so I got it started. I hope you don’t mind…”
“Ainsley, it’s amazing – you’re amazing! What did you do to the woodwork?”
She blushed with pleasure.
“Oh, it just needed a deep cleaning and a little Murphy’s Oil.”
“But why do I smell smoke?”
“Shit!”
She flew off the ladder and ran toward the kitchen.
Erik followed her, appreciating the way her round ass looked in his jeans.
Whatever she was taking out of the oven probably rued the day she had found it.
“It was the chicken that was in your freezer,” she said shaking her head.
Her ponytail bobbed back and forth with each disapproving shake, spilling chestnut hair over her shoulder and back alluringly.
“I’m glad you burned it,” he said firmly.
“Why?”
“I want to cook for you. You fixed my creepy living room. Do you know how long I’ve been putting that off?”
Her whole face lit up and it made him feel so good it almost hurt.
He grabbed cheese and butter out of the fridge.
“You still like grilled cheese?” he asked.
“With tomato soup?”
“I think there might be a can in the cabinet somewhere.”
“How was your day?” She perched on the stool, smiling at him to beat the band.
“Awful,” he said cheerfully, “I’m glad to be home.”
“Cressida said Clive was trying to shut down the site.”
Cressida.
Erik’s blood began to boil. He tried to stay calm. Ainsley wasn’t his and if she wanted to keep messing around with Cressida it was none of his business.
When he looked up at her to reply, he could tell that she had seen his reaction. Her face was aghast.
“She stopped by before her shift, just to tell me what happened. We just, you know, just talked.”
Thank fuck.
Erik was confused about his strong reaction. Of course the idea of any two women together was hot, the idea of those two ought to have driven him wild. But thinking about anyone else with Ainsley was making him see red.
He could kill Clive Warren.
After all this time, Ainsley was home. She had been in his bed this morning, warm and receptive. But when he had taken it further she had panicked and tried to cover herself up. Erik’s heart ached thinking about it. Who knew how long Clive’s attack would haunt her? She might never want anything to do with another wolf.
In spite of the way his heart pounded when he allowed himself to remember this morning, Erik was fully committed to giving Ainsley the time and space she needed to recover. He didn’t care if it never happened. He didn’t care if she never chose an alpha at all. Erik wanted only to protect her.
“So is it true?” Ainsley asked.
“Yes, it’s true.”
“You don’t seem upset.”
He thought about that.
“Neither do you – and you have much better reason to be upset than I do. What did you do today – besides bring my living room back from the dead?”
“Something life changing.”
He turned at the wondering note in her voice.
“What was it?” he asked, leaning on the counter across from her.
He was so close he could see the flecks of gold in her green eyes. Her lips were parted and he longed to slip his tongue between them. He fought for patience and control.
“Grace came and got me and we went back to the house. It was awful there. People had egged it and there was graffiti inside. And of course I went up to my room and it was completely empty.”
She paused there and seemed to be trying to stay calm.
“I’ll get you some clothes in town tonight,” he offered gruffly,
“Thanks. It’s just that all the family pictures and personal stuff were in that room. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, it’s just stuff. What’s really important is what happened next.”
She looked into his eyes and cocked her head slightly, like she was sizing him up.
“What happened?”
“Do you know why I left town?”
“Did it have something to do with the new boy?”
She winced a little and nodded.
“His name was Brian Swinton. And, yes, I thought I killed him.”
What?
“Why would you think that?”
“I was in the woods, kissing him, and then I blacked out. When I woke up I was home in bed, and everyone said he was killed by a bear. I couldn’t understand why I didn’t remember anything and why the bear didn’t kill me too. That’s when my parents told me I was a wolf.”
“Did they think you killed him?”
“No, they said I probably turned to protect him and passed out because it was the first time.”
“But you didn’t think so.”
“The simplest explanation is usually correct.”
“Occam’s Razor.”
She looked surprised.
“Yes, I read. Just because I’m a wolfman doesn’t mean I’m a cretan,” he teased.
She shook her head with a smile and continued.
“So I was very sure that I killed him. That’s why I ran. And that’s why I never turned again.”
“What happened today to change your mind?”
“You know how I have…magic?”
He nodded. She looked a bit uncomfortable, but continued.
“Grace has it too.”
Erik managed not to look too surprised, he hoped.
“Okay.”
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
He shook his head.
“She created a circle and let me go back to see what happened. I didn’t kill Brian!”
There was a triumphant light in her eyes.
“Of course you didn’t! Wolves don’t kill people, Ainsley. We’re predators, not murderers. We don’t kill for sport.”
“Well that didn’t stop Clive from trying to kill me last night. And it didn’t stop him back then either. Clive killed Brian. I saw it. It was…awful. I think it was because he wanted to be the alpha, even then.”
What she said made sense. Erik shook his head, trying to understand how Clive could have done such a thing. And if he had done that back then, what might he do now, in his desperation?
“So all this time, you never changed, because you thought you might hurt someone?”
“Yes.”
“But now you know better.”
She nodded.
“Ainsley, you need to learn to shift and how to be a wolf. It’s the best way to protect yourself. Will you let me teach you?”
He could see excitement behind her solemn eyes.
“Yes, please Erik.”
“Lunch first,” he said.
He’d better feed her well. If this was anything like his first run as a wolf she probably wouldn’t want to change back again for hours.
It was exciting to think that he would be a part of her first time.
Chapter 9
Ainsley devoured her grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup in record time. Now that she’d made the decision to change, she wanted to do it right away. Her mind kept returning to the beautiful wolf with reddish brown fur.
Could that really be Ainsley Connor? What would it be like to be that wolf?
When her plate was clean she looked up. Erik was gazing at her, a smile curling the edges of his lips.
Suddenly Ainsley was embarrassed about how quickly she had wolfed down her lunch. She looked down at her hands.
“I like a woman who doesn’t pick at her food.”
His voice was so deep, it seemed to resonate inside her. She smiled at him, hoping he liked her enough to look past wha
tever was stopping him this morning and let her draw his alpha.
He gathered their plates and put them in the sink.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Suddenly Ainsley could think of about a hundred things she ought to do first. She took it as a sign that she must be nervous. So instead of insisting on washing up the dishes she nodded bravely.
Erik reached out his hand to her. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world to place her hand in his and head outside.
The sun was warm on her hair. It smelled incredible outside. Ainsley could almost taste the pine of the woods and the grass Erik must have mown recently – all of it carried the lush, heavy scent of the recent rain.
And Erik’s hand was warm and reassuring around her own. There was a lightness in her chest, a happy feeling that had escaped her during all these years of guilt and pain. She felt like she could fly.
When they reached the edge of the meadow, Erik let go of her hand.
“Let’s talk about this for a few minutes before we try to do anything, okay?”
He looked so solemn. She loved his serious eyes. He was looking at her like he was afraid she might break.
“Okay.”
“Turning should be easy. It shouldn’t hurt. Did anyone ever explain to you how it was done?”
Ainsley shook her head. She had never given anyone the chance.
“Do you have to get angry?”
“No. Anger can be a trigger. But to find your wolf, you have to tap into your primal side – find your power. Power is what it’s really about. My dad told me the best thing to do is to picture the wolf. Imagine your long, sensitive snout, your big paws, your strong legs and back. Then draw on your power. Hang on.”
He pulled off his clothes.
Ainsley stood in awe. Erik was breathtaking. In full sunlight she could see every curve and bulge of his muscled arms and chest. The tall grass danced around his legs, making it hard to keep her focus above the equator, though she tried valiantly.
He had a little smile that told her he was aware of her plight. Ainsley colored and tried to focus her eyes on the horizon.
“Watch me,” he said.
He closed his eyes. Just as his impossibly long lashes kissed his cheekbones, he melted into his wolf.