by Martha Woods
* * *
Skylar sat in the living room downstairs and stared out the window. She wasn’t usually one to sit and brood but she didn’t know what else to do. It was getting dark and Liam hadn’t come home yet.
“Sheesh, the man sure can keep a grudge,” she murmured.
She had long gotten over their fight and was presently busy worrying about his safety. Farah wasn’t even there to listen to her complain about how immature Liam had behaved. It was Friday night and she had gone to town to have drinks with Mrs. Porter to catch up on the latest gossip. Mrs. Porter was like a walking, talking Boulder Junction tabloid magazine. Farah claimed to not like her and only entertained the woman because she liked to know what was going on in the town.
So Skylar had been sitting at home alone for hours. She didn’t like it one bit because that left her with plenty of time to stress about her father. It irritated her that she kept getting threatening phone calls when the nameless mob boss - no mob jackass - had agreed to her paying in installments. He had changed his mind and was demanding more money each time. The worst part was she didn’t even know if her father was still alive because she wasn’t allowed to talk to him.
She wiped a tear that seeped from her eye and rolled down her cheek. Maybe she should tell Liam what was going. She didn’t want his money though. She simply wanted to talk to someone and let off some of the burden. Resting her hand on her chest, she fiddled with the pendant her mother had given her. Her finger brushed over the charm Farah had added to it. It was a circle with intricately twisted pieces inside of it. Farah had said it was some family heirloom and she was touched that she had given her such a thing of value. She didn’t have the heart to tell Farah that it was hideous and so she wore it on the chain of her mother’s pendant with pride.
The silence had gone on too long and it was getting to her so she reached for the TV remote. Before she could switch on the TV, she heard footsteps on the porch. Letting out a relived breath, she threw down the remote. It sounded like either Liam or Farah had come home.
“It’s about time.”
Minutes ticked by and no one came through the door. She frowned and walked to open the door. Stepping outside, she glanced around.
“Liam, are you out here? Look, let’s just forget about what happened this morning? Come inside and let’s talk. I won’t pry into your family business again, I swear.”
No one answered. Maybe she hadn’t heard footsteps after all. It was probably her mind playing tricks on her. With a sigh, she turned and headed back inside. Before she made it through the door, someone appeared in the living room. She gasped and jumped back. The man stared at her with malicious content.
Skylar stood frozen but her mind raced. The stranger almost looked like Liam. He even had similar green eyes. She opened her mouth to scream but he asked, “Where is he?”
“Who? And who are you? How did you get in?” She took retreating steps as he advanced.
He looked her up and down. “His scent is all over you.”
“W-what?”
The stranger laughed. “Well, well, things just got even more fun.”
Skylar knew it was time to run. She knew danger when she saw it and the man smiling wickedly at her meant to do her harm. Immediately, she turned and ran down the steps. She considered running to her car but remembered that the keys were in the house. There was nowhere else to run but into the woods and she wasn’t thrilled about that. Nothing good ever happened in the woods.
Looking back, she let out a scream when instead of the man, she saw a huge furry creature dashing toward her. “What the f-” She stumbled over a tree root and quickly turned her eyes forward and steadied herself.
What was she running from? A wolf? Wolves didn’t grow to be that big, did they? It wasn’t humanly possible to outrun it, she knew, but she was never one to give up. Skylar shrieked when something heavy hit her in the back and she went flying forward. Landing on the ground, she realized that the gigantic animal had knocked her down with a paw. She rolled over and scrambled backward, staring up at the animal with wide eyes. Well, this was it. Her life was about to end.
To her surprise, the wolf growled and stepped back. It was staring at her chest and shaking its head from side to side wildly. She took a second to glance down. It was staring at her necklace. The animal tilted its head to the side as if confused. It advanced on her again but stopped abruptly and whimpered, ducking it’s head.
Skylar wasted no more time. Taking advantage of the animal’s distress, she set off again. To her dismay, footsteps pounded behind her again. “Shit, shit, shit!” She could only keep running for so long. She forced her terrified mind to think. “A tree!” She headed to the tree in front of her and began climbing. Thank God she had experience with climbing up and down fire escapes, walls, and fences to evade mob henchmen so climbing a tree wasn’t so hard.
Feeling like she was high enough, she glanced down to see the monster of a wolf circling the tree. It started up at her and she could swear she saw his eyes flash from yellow to green, reminding her of the man that broke into Liam’s house. But when she blinked, its eyes were glowing yellow. The animal growled.
“Ha! See if you can get me from up here, you filthy beast. You’re going home hungry tonight,” Skylar goaded.
She gasped when the animal stood on hind legs and began using its lethal looking claws to climb. Okay, if she survived she decided she would Google if such large wolves could climb trees or if such large wolves even existed. She shook with fear as she wondered what to do. There was no escape that she could see. The only thing she could do was step out onto a limb that felt like it was about to give under her weight.
Her eyes were glued to the animal as it stopped, realizing that it too would fall out of the tree if it continued to stalk her. Its claws lengthened right before her eyes and Skylar’s mouth fell open. What in the hell kind of wolf was it? Claws slashed toward her and she screamed and jumped back, missing her step and falling. Her hands grabbed onto the limb and she was left dangling. She shut her eyes tightly as her weak arms began to shake from holding herself up. Regret that she never exercised more presented itself and she let out a hysterical laugh.
“This is just freaking awesome,” she hissed.
If the fall didn’t kill her, she would break something. If by some miracle she didn’t break anything, the wolf would make its way down and make her dinner. Any way she looked at it, she was screwed.
Her hands finally gave way and she began her fall. She tried to use her hands to catch her fall and hit the ground with a loud thud. The sickening sound of bone cracking reached her ears. Dazed, Skylar rolled onto her back and pain zipped through her skull and her left wrist. So she hadn’t died. But she had hit her head and her wrist was definitely broken. Her vision was blurred as she looked up in the tree, searching for sign of the predator. She heard when it landed next to her and she closed her eyes, slipping into unconsciousness.
Chapter 11
Liam stepped through the back door and cocked his ear. It was silent. His heart fell. He had hoped Sky would be home so he could apologize as soon as he stepped in. He wanted to tell her she was right about him always running when it came to dealing with anything emotional. That would get him back on her good side. Women always liked to hear that they were right. His lips turned upward at the thought. On his way through the kitchen, he paused. There was a familiar scent that didn’t belong to Sky or Farah.
Lucas. What had his brother been doing here? He heard the front door open and immediately knew it was his housekeeper. But there was no scent of Sky. Farah stopped when she saw him.
“Oh, you’re back. I hope you two kissed and made up.” She frowned when she saw his face. “What is wrong, sir?”
“Sky isn’t with you.”
“No, I left her here. Her car is outside.” Her eyes widened, detecting that something was wrong. “She is not here?” Her accent was more pronounced and thick with concern.
Liam shook h
is head, a bad feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. “My brother was here.”
“Which one, sir?” She had been with him since he arrived back home and had picked up on his family dynamics. She knew enough to know that one of his brothers didn’t like him so much.
“Lucas.”
Farah erupted into lines of rapid French. “She is in trouble, I can feel it. She’s terrified.”
“What? How do you-”
She held up a finger and went still. Liam stepped back when her eyes took on a pure white appearance. He drew in a breath. His housekeeper was a witch?
“She ran north, toward the river. She’s hurt,” Farah whispered as if she was in agony.
Liam’s heart lurched. “Where exactly is she, Farah?”
She swayed, holding on to the dining table. “I don’t know for sure.”
“You’re a witch,” Liam murmured in disbelief. His gaze roved over her.
Farah rolled her eyes. “Oui monsieur. What were you expecting, an old hag with a pointy hat and broom stick? Damn stereotypes,” she muttered. Seeing the look on his face, she said, “Just like you have always thought me peculiar, I have always known that you are very strange.” She cocked a brow.
Liam’s mouth fell open. She knew what he was. “How-”
“I always know things, boy. Just like I knew you needed love in your life and put a spell on that job ad you had me post. Sky responded so she is the one for you. You had better go and find her now.”
Liam gazed at her stunned, but quickly recovered. He bolted through the door at superhuman speed. He didn’t bother to shift so as not to frighten Sky when he found her.
* * *
Cayden heard the wolf before he saw it. The massive animal was standing over someone, going crazy. Anger brought his blood to a boil. It seemed the abomination had an innocent human trapped. But why wasn’t it attacking? It was almost like the animal was going crazy. He inched closer and saw blonde hair spread out on the forest ground. Cayden muttered a curse. It was a woman.
He moved toward the beast with deadly purpose. His eyes widened when he saw who lay on the ground. His heart stilled.
“Skylar.” She was deathly still and pale. “No.”
The wolf’s head swung to him and it growled. Cayden heard a soft moan and felt relief rush through him. She was still alive. He couldn’t spare her a second glance as the wolf sprang toward him, fangs bared. Cayden fell to his back, using his legs to kick the wolf over his head. Agilely jumping to his feet, he spun and walked to the beast.
“It must be my lucky night,” Cayden whispered. “I finally get to kill my first shifter here in Boulder Junction.”
The wolf rolled over and malevolence shone in its eyes. Cayden grinned, anticipating the attack. He pulled his blade from the strap on his thigh and sprinted forward to meet the shifter halfway. Flipping over the animal’s head, he spun midair and sank his blade deep. He landed on his feet and lifted the blade to sink down again. The wolf howled and kicked its hind legs, sending Cayden flying into a tree.
“Son of a bitch,” he muttered when the wolf took off. He got up and glanced at Skylar. He couldn’t leave her. Then he heard a voice in the distance calling her name. It was Conway. For once, he was happy to know that the man was around. Conway would find Skylar and get her to safety so he could go after the monster.
He took off in the wolf’s direction, following the trail of blood.
* * *
Skylar moaned more out of annoyance than the pain shooting through her entire body. Something wet kept slapping against her cheek.
“Ew, what is that?” she groaned, forcing her eyes open. There was a tongue lapping at her face. “What the hell?” She glanced sideway and opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out.
“Get away! Get away!”
The wolf whined and nudged her jaw with its nozzle. It then lay down and rested its head on its paws. That’s when she realized that it wasn’t the same wolf that had chased her and tried to kill her. That one was full brown. This one was brown with spots of white. It was staring at her with golden eyes that suddenly changed to brown. She gasped. Its eyes seemed human. She got the impression that the animal was smiling at her.
“Hi,” she whispered. “You aren’t trying to eat me. Interesting.”
The wolf tilted its head and huffed.
“Any chance you could help me up?” she asked and laughed, feeling ridiculous for talking to the animal.
When it shook its head, her smile fell. The wolf grunted and she could swear she heard a chuckle. The entire night was beyond strange.
Skylar attempted to sit up and gasped. The wolf lifted its head and whined. “You’re right, I should stay down.”
“Skylar!” The voice was a welcome sound.
“Liam,” she croaked.
Her eyes swung to the animal when it stood up and howled and Liam came running through the bushes seconds later. “Sky.” His jumped to the wolf. “Michael.”
“Michael?” Skylar repeated. “What -”
He reached her side. “Sky, talk to me. Are you alright?”
“I’ve been better.” She let out a breath, happy to see him. “I can’t believe I’m alive.”
“Jesus, Sky, don’t scare me like this again.” His fingers ran over the gash on her forehead.
“Um, you don’t seem at all perturbed by the gigantic wolf that you called Michael.”
Liam glanced behind him. “Yeah… um, he’s harmless.” The wolf growled and Skylar grabbed Liam’s arm with her uninjured hand. Liam snorted. “He’s all bark and no bite.” He suddenly turned serious. “Where is he, Michael?”
The wolf turned its head and Liam’s jaw clenched. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Liam, why are you talking to the animal? What’s going on?” She stared at him, confused.
“I’m going to get you home, Sky. I’ll explain everything later, I promise.” Lifting her gently, he winced when she groaned. “I’m sorry.” He turned to the wolf and nodded, throwing Skylar into more confusion when the animal dipped its head and ran off.
Chapter 12
“She is fine, Mr. Conway. She isn’t going anywhere.”
Farah’s whisper pulled his attention from a sleeping Skylar. He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “Don’t be so sure.” When he told her the truth about him and his family, she was going to run for sure.
“If she loves you, she will stay.”
“She never said she did.”
Farah sighed and patted him on the shoulder. “Well, she’s all patched up. You should get her to bed.”
“I don’t want to wake her.” And he didn’t want to jar her and cause her any more pain either.
Farah grunted. “What I gave her will knock her out until morning, trust me. She won’t feel a thing. Get her to bed, sir. I’m going to rest and you should too.”
“I don’t need much sleep. I’ll be up half the night wondering how the hell Sky got away from my brother.” In his experience, humans didn’t fare well when being hunted by a shifter.
“Oh, that hideous thing on her necklace is laced with a protection spell,” Farah said nonchalantly. “It’s a damn good thing I gave it to her. I lied about it being a family heirloom so she would feel pressured into wearing it,” she added with a chuckle.
Liam swallowed. “Thank you.” All the witches he’s ever heard about weren’t nice, but Farah had helped to save Skylar’s life and he would love the woman forever.
“Anytime, sir. So we’re okay, right? I mean with me being a witch… do I still get to keep my job?”
“Of course. There’s no way I’m giving up a cook like you.” He grinned and she smiled back before leaving.
Liam gathered Sky in his arms and carried her to his bedroom.
* * *
He marched toward the cabin, shoving several members of the pack out of his path when they tried to stop him. Word had spread that Lucas had attempted to kill Liam’s woman and everyone was on hig
h alert, anticipating his retribution.
“Liam, stop right there, son.”
“Out of my way, Isaac,” Liam hissed, giving his father a snarl.
Isaac stood his ground, blocking Liam’s path. “I can’t allow you to challenge Lucas this night, Liam.”
“All of a sudden your precious pack laws can be broken? Lucas harmed my woman and that means I get to challenge and kill the bastard. Pack rules. Now get out of my way.”
“Son -”
“Don’t call me your son.” Liam shook with rage, his control over his human half quickly vanishing. His eyes flickered and claws replaced fingers.
“Liam, please calm down.” His mother’s weak voice seeped into his raging mind.
He glanced up at her leaning against the door, barely able to hold herself up. He softened just a bit. “Mom, get back inside.”
“I heard what your brother did.” A single tear slid down her cheek. “There is no excuse for his behavior but he’s your brother, Liam. I don’t see why the two of you can’t talk about things.”
Letting out a mirthless laugh, Liam shook his head. “You’re damn right, Mom. You don’t see, you never see.” She didn’t see the deplorable way her husband treated her or his children. She didn’t see that if she stayed she would die faster. Seeing the tears shimmering in her eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to say those things.
“Liam, you have every right to want to kick Lucas’s ass but you might want to wait until the asshole can actually stand on his own two feet before you do that.” Liam turned to his brother, Michael, with a frown. Humor sparkled in his eyes. “It won’t be much of a fight if you kill him now. He’s injured. You were right about the presence of a hunter in town. Stuck a silver blade in Lucas’s hide. I would say he deserved it for what he did you your woman.”
Liam’s interested quickly shifted from his anger. “Did you see him?”
“The hunter? No, I don’t even know if it’s a he or a she. Caught a glimpse of someone chasing Lucas. I didn’t want to leave the woman so I didn’t follow.”