Adam came and sat down next to me on the bed as my mother left the room. He looked over at me as we sat next to each other. He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind my head, and I was suddenly very conscious of my hair loose over my shoulders, my thin nightgown, my lack of makeup.
“You look beautiful. I’ve never seen you right when you wake up.”
“You could have,” I murmured.
His face fell. “I know. I left you that night in the woods, and I shouldn’t have. I was overwhelmed.”
“I know,” I said, ashamed that I had even brought it up in the first place.
“And I left you last night, too. I am so sorry.”
“Harry told me you had an emergency at Wolf’s Peak. Is everything all right?”
He rubbed his temples. “It’s...under control.”
I frowned. “What happened?”
He hesitated.
“Is Christine all right?” I asked, concerned.
“Oh, yes, she’s fine,” Adam breathed.
“Well, what happened? Adam, I’m concerned.”
“Last night, Christine overheard a conversation between Jasper and Seth that she wasn’t meant to hear, and she discovered some family secrets.”
“Family secrets?”
“There was a reason that Jasper had needed to find a wife. If he didn’t have a child before he turned thirty, he would lose his standing as the alpha.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed. I would be upset as well to learn that I was only there to give the duke a child.
“She was upset. She fled into the woods, and Seth followed in his wolf form. He tried to attack her.”
“Oh my God!”
“Everyone is all right,” he reassured me. “Jasper tracked him down before he could hurt Christine, but Jasper got injured and Seth escaped. We spent the rest of the night trying to track him down.”
“Is Christine all right? She must be shaken.”
“It’s been a lot for her to process, I think.”
I paused. “Does she need someone there?”
He tilted his head at me. “Are you wanting to go visit her?”
“I would love to.” I couldn’t imagine how overwhelmed she must be by everything.
“Why don’t I have Clara make you some breakfast while you get ready, and then we’ll go?”
I nodded. “That would be good. Thank you.”
I got ready to leave in a simple lavender gown, and as soon as I had eaten a quick breakfast, Adam and I climbed in the carriage and started off toward Wolf’s Peak. In another situation I might have been thinking about embracing Adam, but my thoughts were consumed by Christine. I was so concerned for her.
I was thankful that despite growing up in wolf country, I had never been attacked by a wolf. It had to be a terrifying situation, to be attacked by an animal that was so vicious and so easily able to tear you to shreds, yet still had the mind of a human.
We pulled up to Wolf’s Peak, and together, Adam and I stepped out of the carriage. Adam didn’t bother knocking, and opened the door. Once again, I stepped into the great hall. My mind wasn’t on the grandiose decor but on my friend.
The butler met us at the door and had us wait in the parlor while he checked to see if Christine was up for a visitor. He returned a moment later, telling us we were welcome to come upstairs. Together we followed him to the second floor. From the right side of the hallway, Christine came from a room. She shut the door behind her and turned to see us. When our eyes locked, she rushed across the hall and wrapped me in a hug.
“Oh, Hazel, thank you so much for coming,” she said, squeezing me tight.
“Of course,” I told her, trying to soothe her. “I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through.”
“I’ve been such a wreck,” she said, pulling back and wiping tears from her eyes. Adam reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, handing it to her.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice shaky.
“I’m going to go talk with Jasper,” Adam said, giving us a nod. “I’ll leave you two ladies be.”
Christine gave him a small nod of assent as he moved down the hall and entered the room she had just left.
“Where are my manners?” Christine asked with a sniffle. “I should ask you to sit down.”
“You’ve had a long night,” I said. “It’s all right to disregard manners for a moment. Why don’t we go sit in your room?
“That sounds lovely,” she said, and together we crossed the hall into the bedroom she had stayed in when we’d been here together.
We sat down in the chairs beside the window.
“How are you doing, really?” I asked her. “I can’t imagine what last night was like for you.”
“Did Adam fill you in on everything?”
“I think so,” I said. “He told me that you fled into the woods, and that Seth attacked you.”
“I thought for certain that I was dead. Thank God Jasper showed up when he did.”
“You must have been terrified.”
“I was,” she admitted. “And yet…”
“Yet?”
“Yet I’m not sure that’s what I’m having the most trouble getting over.” Her voice was hesitant.
“Adam mentioned that the duke needs an heir. I think I would want to run away as well.”
Christine dabbed at her eyes with Adam’s handkerchief. “I just don’t know how to feel. It’s almost a betrayal. I thought Jasper fell in love with me, when he just wanted me to bear his children.”
“I’m sure that’s not all,” I said, reaching out to touch her arm.
“He says he does love me. Yet I’m not sure if he’s only saying that because if I leave, he has no heir.”
I considered that. “Do you want to know what I think?”
“Desperately.”
“From the moment I saw you two together, I could feel the love Jasper has for you,” I said. “I felt it when we all ate dinner together, and at the wedding, and at every other social event we’ve attended with you.”
She gave me a small laugh. “Funny, that’s how I feel with you and Adam.”
I flushed. “And yet, we have our ups and downs as well.”
“Really? You?”
“You’d be surprised,” I sighed. Not really wanting to go into details, I changed the subject. “How is Jasper feeling?”
“He was injured, but the doctor assures me he’s healing nicely.”
I nodded. That made sense. The wolves healed rapidly.
“So Seth is on the loose now?” I asked her.
She nodded. “I don’t think I’ll feel safe again until he’s caught.”
“I’m sure it will be soon,” I said, in an attempt at reassurance.
Adam knocked on his door soon after, and I let Christine go back to her injured husband.
“How is she?” Adam asked as I climbed into the carriage.
“She’s holding it together,” I said. “I’m worried about her, though.”
“If you’d like, we can come visit more often,” he said.
“That would be lovely.”
We began back toward my house, and Adam turned to me. “I’d like to apologize again for last night.”
I thought of Christine’s teary eyes. “You have no need to apologize. I understand why you had to leave. It’s your job.”
“Still, I’d like to make it up to you.”
I smiled. “I’m all right with that.”
“Are you free tomorrow night?”
I scoffed. “I’m free always.”
“I’ll be gone during the day to help track down Seth, but I’d love to do something in the evening. Perhaps dinner again?”
Was it too much to hope for more? “That would be perfect.”
Our carriage pulled up to the house. This time, it brought me to the door, and Adam didn’t rush me out but helped me out of the carriage. We walked together arm in arm to the front door.
“Oh, what’s this?”
I said, kneeling down to inspect a box on the ground.
“It’s got your name on it,” Adam said.
“Odd, I didn’t order anything.”
I picked up the box from the ground, and together Adam and I brought it inside to the parlor. I set it on the table and Adam pulled out a small switchblade to undo the bindings. With the strings free, I lifted the lid off the box.
“What on earth?” Adam murmured.
Lying in the box was a doll. The doll had a familiar look to it; the hair was matted but the same sort of golden brown mine was. Freckles had been added to the doll’s cheeks. And the clothes, those were familiar too. The fabric of the dress looked just like the dress I had worn to Christine’s wedding. The shoes were the same white suede as my shoes. The gloves were lace with green trim, just like my gloves. Around the neck of the doll was my peridot heart–shaped necklace.
None of those were the most alarming thing. The alarming thing was the knife sticking out of the doll’s stomach.
Chapter Twenty–Four
Adam and I stared down at the doll, our mouths agape.
“Is that supposed to be you?” Adam asked me.
I pulled the doll out of the box. “I think so,” I said. “Those are my clothes, the ones that went missing. The dress, the shoes, the gloves. That’s my necklace, too.”
Adam reached over and pulled the knife from the doll’s stuffed body. “It even looks like you, sort of.”
I frowned. “My freckles aren’t that obvious, are they?”
“Way to focus on the important thing,” he sighed. “Is that real hair?”
“I think it was taken from my hairbrush.”
“Who would do this?”
I shook my head, staring down at the doll, whose green glassy eyes stared back at me. A lot of work had gone into this miniature duplicate.
“Do you think Seth could have something to do with this?”
Adam took the doll from me and turned it in his hands. “This seems too intricate for Seth. He’s more of a reactionary type of person. He’s not so good with the plotting.”
“Who could be so hateful?” I asked.
He looked down at me. “I can’t imagine.”
Briefly a thought flickered through my mind. The only people who had threatened me like this had been Lillian and Hattie, but I couldn’t imagine I took up enough space in their thoughts for them to put this amount of work into their threats.
I looked to see Harry coming from the back of the house. He raised his eyebrows when he saw us standing there, heads bent over a box and a doll.
“What’s going on here?” he asked as he drew closer. Once he sidled alongside of us, he looked down at the doll.
“Is that supposed to be you?”
“That’s our current theory,” I sighed.
“Who’s it from?”
“No idea,” said Adam.
“Was there a sender’s name on the box?”
“If there was, don’t you think we’d know who sent it?”
Harry shrugged. “Just asking.” He took the doll from Adam’s hands. “It does look like you, though.”
“It had this knife in it,” Adam said, gesturing to the knife he’d set down on the side table.
“That’s ominous. Who did you anger, Hazel?”
“I certainly don’t know,” I said, unable to keep my eyes off of the doll. “The only people who are angry at me are Hattie and Lillian. You don’t think they could be behind this, do you?”
Adam and Harry exchanged looks. “I have a hard time imagining that,” said Harry. “I can’t really see them spending the time to do something this meticulous. Besides, I don’t think either are particularly violent.”
“Are you going to be safe here tonight?” Adam asked, resting his hand on my arm. “I’m supposed to help the other councilmen search for Seth, but I can stay here.”
“I’d hate to pull you away from your job,” I protested.
“I can keep an eye out,” Harry said.
Adam hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“I’ll keep her safe, I promise. I love her too, Adam.”
I glanced over at Adam, who gave me a long gaze. We’d never uttered those words to each other before, and it created an awkward tension in the room that Harry didn’t seem to notice.
After more reassurances that I would be safe in the house, Adam gave me one final look. He leaned in, and after a glance at Harry, kissed me gently on the forehead.
“Boo,” Harry said. “Give her a real kiss.”
“Harry!” I cried out, mortified.
“I’ll see you tomorrow evening, Hazel,” Adam said with a small smile, before rolling his eyes at Harry and leaving the house.
Adam left, with Harry following after him to keep watch. I went up the stairs to my bedroom, changing into my nightgown and brushing through my hair with my third hairbrush of the month. Hopefully now that the creepy doll had been delivered, my hairbrushes would stop disappearing.
With my hair smooth and falling around my shoulders, I glanced out my window to the lawn below. I could see the shape of Harry in his wolf form making laps around the house. The hazy moonlight caught on his tawny fur as he stood watch over me and the house.
I climbed into bed, but I struggled to fall asleep. My mind was racing in so many different directions. There was turbulence in the wolves’ world right now, and I was concerned about Christine, concerned about Adam, and I was concerned about whoever it was that was trying to threaten and stalk me.
When I finally managed to fall asleep, my dreams were full of anxious nightmares. I dreamed that I was trapped in the woods, unable to find my way, with a wolf following me in the shadows. I woke up several times in a cold sweat, only to fall back to sleep and find myself in the same dark world.
I finally managed to pull myself out of sleep when the bright sunbeams pierced through the window. Fatigued, I climbed myself out of bed, pulled on a dressing gown, and made it down to the dining room for breakfast.
My mother was in perfectly perky spirits, and glanced between Harry and me. I tightened my lips as I met his eyes, begging him to stay silent. I didn’t want my mother knowing about all of this; she’d either dismiss it or make it into a huge deal, and I wasn’t sure which was worse.
“Were you out last night?” my mother asked Harry.
“Just getting some running in,” Harry said, looking at me for confirmation that this was an all right excuse. “Felt like I needed to stretch my legs.”
“Didn’t get in trouble, did you?” my mother asked.
“Of course not,” my brother said, while my mother scoffed.
“What about you, Hazel? You look almost equally as tired.”
“Just struggled to sleep,” I said looking at my plate.
“That’s hardly becoming. Aren’t you spending the evening with Adam?”
“Yes,” I said, softly.
For my date with Adam, I finally managed to wear my favorite new gown, the sage green one with the chiffon sleeves and skirt. My mother had gone somewhere with my father, so I didn’t have her around to help me get ready, which was part of the reason I had managed to get into the green dress. I did my own hair, braiding it and twisting it into a bun, and put just a puff of powder on my face.
Right on time, Adam arrived, and I met him in the parlor.
“It’s quiet in here,” he said.
“Yes, my mum and dad are gone, and Harry is God knows where.”
“Are you ready?”
“Absolutely,” I said with a grin. Adam led me toward the door, but before we could leave Harry came bounding down the stairs. “Hold up, wait?”
I shot him a look of annoyance.
“This is important,” he told me.
“What is it?” Adam asked.
“I kept watch around the house all night last night, but I didn’t see anything.”
“You had to stop us for that?” I asked.
“I thought you’d want an update,” he
said.
“Thank you for keeping an eye out,” Adam said, putting his arm around me.
“Like I said, you aren’t the only one who loves her,” Harry said.
Adam and I left the house, and I was surprised to see that there was no carriage waiting for us.
“We’re going this way,” Adam said, taking my hand and leading me across the lawn into the woods that separated our property.
“Oh,” I said, dropping his hand and picking up my skirt as we started through the trees.
“Here,” Adam said with a grin, scooping me up in his arms. I giggled as he carried me through the forest.
“Where are we going?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
“You’ll see,” he said. When we reached the yard of Adam’s house, he put me down, my feet hitting the grass, and we linked arms as he led me behind the house.
“Really, where are we going?” I asked.
“This way,” he said, leading me to the tree line at the back of the house. He pulled me to a cobblestone path that led through the trees, and together we walked to the waterfront.
“Oh, look at this!” I cried out as we stepped to the pebbly beach. Adam had set out a picnic, with a soft blanket and a basket full of treats.
“I hope it doesn’t rain,” Adam said, looking up at the sky. It had been bright early that morning, but dark clouds were rolling in now.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” I said as we sat down on the blanket. Adam opened the basket, pulling out bottles of wine, cheese, grapes, and small cakes.
“Here,” he said, holding up a slice of cheese. I opened my mouth, and he fed it to me. I laughed as I chewed.
We had knocked back a glass of wine or two when Adam leaned in, his lips brushing mine. I leaned in, readjusting myself so I could be closer to him.
“Oh!” I cried out as a raindrop hit my face.
Both of us looked up at the clouds as the sky opened up, drenching us in a sudden downpour. Adam and I scrambled to our feet, working quickly to pack up the picnic and blanket. The rain soaked through our clothes as we piled everything into our arms and bolted back down the forest path to Adam’s house. Together we stumbled in the back door, depositing the wet blanket and basket on the kitchen table.
“You’re shivering,” Adam said, turning to me. My dress had soaked completely through, the chiffon clinging to my arms. My hair had come partially undone, water dripping from the loose ends. My lip was quivering.
The Wolf's Choice (The Wolf's Peak Saga Book 4) Page 19