RIVER

by Samantha Leal

  Her head was spinning.

  Wolves, bears, magic? None of it made any sense, and yet she knew every word he was telling her was true. She could just feel it.

  “Your grandfather and grandmother were a controversial coupling,” he said tentatively. “Did you ever meet your grandmother?”

  Stacey shook her head. She had never been told anything about her, and she assumed she had died young and her father had painful memories.

  “My dad never talked about her,” she said. “He only ever talked to me about Gramps.”

  “That’s because your grandmother was a witch,” he said.

  Stacey’s whole body went cold and she felt stiff and overwhelmed.

  What did he mean, a witch?

  “She seduced your grandfather,” River continued. “She bore his child, and she created something incredibly powerful. The mix of a witch and a shifter wolf. She started something that could destroy our kind.”

  “My dad?” she asked with confusion.

  River slowly shook his head.

  “No,” he whispered. “Your mother.”

  Stacey felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. Ever since she was a child, she had been led to believe that her mother had been killed in a tragic accident. Was River about to blow apart her whole life?

  “Your mother is a powerful mix,” he said. “She’s half wolf, half witch, and when she met your father and fell in love with him, they had you and now you have that same half wolf and half witch blood running through your veins.”

  It all sounded completely crazy, but she felt it in her bones. She wanted to know more. She needed to know what had happened to her family.

  “What happened to my mother?” she asked.

  “She was killed,” he sighed. “Murdered. And now you’re the only last living person with the blood of both a witch and wolf, and they want you, Stacey. The witches are coming back for all of us. And if they find you and get their hands on you, we are all in terrible danger.”

  “But my dad, gramps… I don’t understand?”

  “Your gramps was your mother’s father, but to keep you safe, we made sure the truth never got out.”

  “How do you know all of this?” she asked with wide eyes.

  “Because, our grandfathers were in the same pack, The Lost Alphas. It’s the pack I’m in now; me, Blu, Zeke, Scar, all of us. And our grandfathers, well, they chose me to protect you.”

  “Protect me?” she stammered.

  “I’ve been watching you for your whole life,” he said as he squeezed her hand again. “I’ve been making sure nothing bad ever happens to you. I’ve been making sure you’ve been looked after. I’ve been there, always.”

  She swallowed and looked up into his eyes.

  He was being so sincere, she knew he was telling her the truth.

  “And you…” she asked nervously. “What does this make you?”

  “I’m a shifter wolf, Stacey,” he whispered. “I’m half man, and half beast. I can change.”

  She looked down at his hands. At the cuts and the blood, and the mud. She thought back to the claw marks on her driveway, and the sounds that had come from up there on the roof.

  She knew it had been a wolf.

  Could all this be possible? Could the wolf have been River?

  “You know I’m telling you the truth,” he said. “I know you do.”

  She faltered for a moment and didn’t dare answer.

  She did believe him, but she didn’t know how. It was as if he had just spoken the words and she could feel it. She just knew it was true. He spoke them and, suddenly, a lot made sense.

  She breathed in deeply and rubbed her eyes. This was all too much to take in.

  “So, tonight, on the roof,” she continued. “You saved me from whatever was up there?”

  River nodded slowly.

  “For some time, we have known the witches were trying to find their way back to Lost Creek,” he said. “They are the ones who could potentially destroy us all, our town would be wiped out and there would be no wolves or bears to protect anyone. If this happens, the whole world is in danger.”

  “So, you think there was a witch on my roof?” she asked, she couldn’t help but raise her eyebrow and smile.

  “It sounds funny, I know, but the kind of witch we’re dealing with… well, they’re not funny at all. Not one bit.” He paused. “You heard the noises coming from up there. You heard the screams. Those things are evil, they are wicked enchanters and all they want to do is cause destruction.”

  “And where do Esme, Zeke, and Magnus fit into all of this?” she asked with wide eyes. “Why do they need to hide?”

  River cleared his throat and looked up to the sky.

  “Magnus is the next generation of Lost Alphas,” he said. “And now our kind is more vulnerable than ever, we need him.”

  Stacey thought back to all the times she had heard the name Magnus before. She knew there was someone else in town with that name, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Where had she heard it? Who had spoken of another Magnus?

  She wanted to try and remember, but at the same time, she couldn’t think of anything else, her brain was on overload.

  According to River, she was the descendant of a witch, and she had half wolf and half witch blood. She was powerful, and she was being hunted by an evil witch clan that wanted to destroy the entire world, but not before they had completely wiped out her hometown, and everyone she held dear.

  She shivered, she suddenly could feel the cold more than ever.

  “I can’t go back home,” she said.

  River shook his head.

  “No, you can’t,” he agreed. “But you will be safe with me.”

  They looked into each other’s eyes and she felt warmed through. She knew she would be safe with him. She was being drawn to him in ways she had never imagined possible. There was something about River that had taken her completely by surprise and now the more time she spent with him the more she felt as if she never wanted to be parted from him again.

  He squeezed her hand tight and she let her head fall onto his shoulder.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered.

  She was sitting in the dead of night, cuddling up to a man who had just told her that her life was in danger, and that he could turn into a wolf at will. And yet, she had never felt safer.

  She wasn’t going to leave his side for a minute. Not until this was all over.

  “Come with me,” he said as he rose to his feet. “I’m not going back to the bar tonight. I told Blu what had happened, and he obviously understands.”

  She nodded her head and let him pull her up to meet him. They stood in front of each other for a moment, tension rife between them, and the connection between their eyes growing stronger by the second. She felt connected to him. Joined by not only circumstance, but something much deeper. Something that had been created long before either of them even had.

  Their grandfathers had been brothers in arms, and they had vowed to keep Stacey safe, now River was rising to the challenge and explaining to her all of the holes in her past that had never made sense.

  It was frightening, but she knew she needed to hear it.

  “You’ll stay with me,” he said. “At my home in the forest.”

  She nodded her head, she knew it wasn’t a question but an order.

  “We will be safe there,” he continued. “The witches can’t come into that part of the forest, not with all the wolf magic that is running through it and keeping it protected.”

  He gripped her hand in his and began to walk with her out of Middle Park and toward the long road that led out of Main Street and up toward the darkest parts of the forest.

  She was going to River’s home.

  She was being taken to the woods to be kept safe from harm, and she looked up at him and smiled to herself.

  She had someone to look after her now, and she truly knew that she wasn’t on her own any more.
r />   9.

  The walk into the woods was nerve-racking, but only because Stacey now knew that she had to keep looking over her shoulder. River held her hand tightly and walked on without saying a word. She ran to keep up with him, and with each little twist and turn, as they delved further into the forest, she could feel the magic rising around her.

  She had never been into these woods before, and now that she was in and amongst them, she could feel the power running through her veins. She had a deep connection with the place, she could sense it. Her eyesight and her hearing were heightened, and as she looked from one tree to the next, she was sure she could see the life within them. She could see and feel the glow coming from deep inside.

  “It’s not much further,” River said as he looked down to her and his wild eyes flashed an intense blue.

  Now she knew why his eyes were so engulfing and enchanting. It was because they were magic. They weren’t the eyes of a man, they were the eyes of a wolf. A wolf that had been sworn to protect her since she was born.

  They began to climb up a small rise, and River stopped to sniff the air. Now he had told her what he truly was, she could see the animal in him. It was prominent and powerful, and he was letting it out into the world around her now that he knew that he could.

  The gnarled tree roots and rocky ground evened out and disappeared into a flat, muddy surface ahead of them, and then River slowed and pointed into the distance.

  Nestled between two incredibly big evergreen trees was an idyllic log cabin. Sealed off and hidden away in the center of this magnificent forest.

  “Home sweet home,” he said with a smile as he continued forward and pulled Stacey with him.

  All around them she could hear the sounds of wolves howling through the night, and when she looked up to the sky, she noticed the peak of an almost full moon coming out from the side of a large, fluffy cloud.

  “It’s waning,” River told her when he noticed she was looking.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “I saw that it was full a few nights ago.”

  “The night Magnus was born,” River confirmed.

  Stacey felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and a tingle run down her spine. Everything within her seemed to be more powerful and alert, and her feelings and energy seemed to be boosted.

  “Come on,” he said. “We need to get inside.”

  He approached the door of the cabin and slipped a key in the lock before he opened the door and flicked on the lights inside.

  Stacey stepped in behind him and looked up and around the room and smiled as she realized just how River the place was.

  It was an ultimate bachelor pad, but it was clean and tidy. It was all black granite and sleek lines, he had black leather couches and gun metal standing lamps. He had adapted the back section of the house, so although it looked like a quaint little cabin from the front, at the back it was modern and slick. The back wall of the house had been removed and replaced with glass and looked out over a beautiful clearing in the forest and an ice blue lake that was reflecting the twinkle of the stars and the light of the moon.

  River reached up and pressed a button on the side of the wall.

  “It’s a hell of a view,” he said. “But maybe, for tonight, I should close these.”

  A huge set of steel blinds began to unfold and curl down the side of the house, sealing them in and keeping them private.

  “I got these for this very reason,” he said. “In case, one day, you were in danger and needed a place to hide.”

  He pulled off his leather jacket and let it fall down to the ground. He kicked off his boots and ran a big hand through his hair and sighed.

  “You look tired,” she told him as she kicked off her own shoes.

  “I rarely sleep,” he admitted. “Usually, I have too much energy, it makes me restless.”

  The sound of howls came from out in the forest again and it made Stacey jump.

  “That’s nothing to worry about,” River told her. “It’s Scar, I can tell. I would recognize that howl anywhere.”

  “What is he doing?” she asked.

  River shrugged.

  “Letting off steam, more than likely,” he laughed. “Night is the only time we can truly run and be ourselves.”

  “Where do you go?” She cocked her head to the side. Suddenly, she wanted to know everything about him and his secret life. The more she knew, the better she could be prepared.

  “Deep into the forest and up into the mountains,” he smiled. “It’s a time when the whole town is away from here, no tourists or innocents around to get in our way or wander into our path.”

  “What would happen if they did?” she asked him nervously.

  “Nothing bad,” he reassured her. “We can all control our urges.”

  She swallowed hard. She didn’t even want to know what those urges were. She remembered the story around town from when she was a little younger. A boy had been killed out by one of the fishing spots and wolves had been to blame.

  Could it have been one of them?

  Surely not… she had worked with them all for years, and none of them had ever been anything but genuine and kind.

  She thought of her grandfather and wondered what had happened all those years before between him and her grandmother. She thought of her mother. She thought of every single person in her life who had been important but had been taken from her. And now there she was in River’s home, hiding away because of some ancient power she was carrying around inside of her.

  She had always wanted the simple life, and she had ended up with anything but.

  “You can have the bedroom,” he said. “I never sleep in there, but there’s a bed.”

  She looked over to him and he was pacing the kitchen.

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Of course,” he replied. “I don’t sleep anyway, and with you here, the last thing I’m going to be doing is bedding down for the night. I’ll be roaming around here and making sure that we’re safe.”

  She smiled. She did feel safe with him, she had to admit.

  She went into the kitchen and got herself a glass of water, but when River offered her something to eat, she shook her head and declined.

  “I don’t think I could stomach anything after what you’ve just told me,” she said.

  “It’s a lot to take in,” he admitted. “Get some rest and in the morning, we can talk some more.”

  She nodded and reached out and pulled him close to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled into his side. She hugged him so tightly, she didn’t know if she would ever be able to let him go. She had so much affection for him, and now that he had come clean and told her the truth, she felt as if she owed him forever.

  He had been protecting her.

  So much was all slotting together and making sense.

  “Good night, River,” she said as she let go and looked into his eyes.

  There was a tension between them, and she felt her nipples harden. She was attracted to him in so many ways, but she knew she had to stop herself from getting carried away. River was on alert and he was guarding her. If they let their urges overcome them, what could it mean for their safety?

  “Good night, Stacey,” he said. “I’ll be right here. If you need anything, just shout.”

  She smiled and walked off into the hallway, lit by tiny little wall lamps that dotted their way all along down to a door at the end.

  She pushed it open and stepped inside and saw instantly what he had meant. It was a bedroom, but it clearly wasn’t his bedroom. It was pristine and perfect, sheets and blankets fresh out of the box and a bed that was quite clearly untouched. There wasn’t one single personal item in there. It was as if he had moved in and never set foot in there. She opened a side door and was relieved to see an adjoining bathroom. She pulled on the light via the chord and looked in the mirror. She looked as if she had been put through the mill and been spat back out again. She had bags under her eye
s and a look of fright about her.

  She truly had had one hell of a night.

  She ran the tap and splashed warm water all over her face and then patted herself dry with the towel at the side of the sink. When she wandered back through to the bedroom she flicked off the light and climbed onto the bed, pulling one of the outer blankets over herself and closing her eyes.

  Her body was aching and so was her mind.

  She had so much to process, but all she could keep coming back to was what River had told her about her grandfather and his grandfather. How they had chosen him to protect her because she was important.

  She thought back to other moments in her life when she had felt as if someone had been watching over her. She always had felt as if she’d had a guardian angel. What if it wasn’t an angel at all, but had been River all along?

  She remembered once when she had been in a minor car accident. She had been driving along Main Street and was heading out toward the mountain roads. A truck had been riding her tail and she had slowed to let it past, but then it had gone to overtake her on a sharp bend and another truck had come flying around it on the opposite side. The one passing her by had nowhere to go except into the side of her, but, somehow, it missed her and plunged into the barrier ahead and spun around, and the other truck crashed into the side of it. She was missed completely, but she never knew how. She had closed her eyes and the truck had been coming right for her, then, somehow, it had been moved off course.

  When she had gotten out of her car and looked, her car wasn’t even scratched. She was completely unscathed, and a bewildered looking driver was staggering around and being screamed at by the other.

  “What the fuck man!” one had shouted. “You could have killed us all.”

  Stacey had gone home shaken, but unhurt, and she had thanked her guardian angel for stepping in and saving her. And that wasn’t the only time she had felt that way; regularly, when she had been walking home from the bar, she had felt as if she had someone watching over her to make sure she got home safe. She had always told herself that it had been her father looking out for her, shining down from the heavens. She had never felt nervous or afraid, and she had never felt as if she were at risk in the small hours of the morning as she walked through town, even with the drunks around her.