We all had our duties. Harper’s was to manage and run the ranch, and mine...mine was to join the Therion Tribunal. The Tribunal had enough soldiers, though, and Harper didn’t have nearly enough help.
With no sign of Harper, I trotted back the way I’d come, and up toward the farmhouse.
There, sitting peacefully in a rocking chair was Harper, sipping a glass of what looked like iced tea. She was wearing different clothes than before—a white t-shirt and dark-washed denim shorts.
I let go of the wolf and shifted back to human form as I reached the steps.
Harper stopped rocking, and watched. She was still as stone.
“I will never get tired of watching you do that.” Her voice was quiet, her eyes wide.
“Is that so?”
“Absolutely.”
There was a promise in her words—she wanted to see me again, another day, another week. She saw me in her future. It wasn’t necessarily the same way I saw her in mine, but I’d take it.
“You didn’t happen to pick up my clothes, did you?” I asked.
“You think you need clothes?” Her lips curled at the corners as she fought to keep her face impassive.
“Are we still going to check out the library at my place?”
“I’m tempted to say no. I mean, you are naked, a present delivered right to my porch.”
“That’s true. I would have been here sooner, but your pig is trying to kill me.”
“I was worried.” Harper’s smile faded. “I ran after you, but the two of you were way too fast. When I couldn’t find you, I came back here. She’s never done that to anyone before. Usually she’s just a big marshmallow, so maybe she’s trying to play with you. I raised Riblet. I’m sorry she chased you.”
“It’s okay. I’m faster that she is.”
She smiled, but it didn’t meet her eyes. “Chase…”
“Yes?”
“Was it you in the woods, the wolf that Riblet went after before?”
“It was.”
She nodded. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay.”
I smiled.
“Your clothes are inside on the counter. We should probably get ready and check out that library, huh?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Harper opened the door for me and I could feel her eyes on my ass as I stepped through the door.
“Enjoying the view?” I asked.
“Hell yes.”
I winked at her over my shoulder and she grinned shamelessly as she stared.
She turned and walked past me, pausing on the bottom step. “I’ll be right back.”
It was my turn to watch her go, the gentle bounce in her step, the way her hair swayed behind her, the flex of her calves.
When I was alone, I returned to the kitchen. It was a cozy space of antique cabinets and a long table with benches. There on the counter was a neat stack of my clothes, and a sandwich the size of my face.
My stomach growled.
I ignored it and threw on my clothes, then I stared down the sandwich while I waited for Harper to return. It could be her meal, and I couldn’t take that.
Roast beef, swiss, tomato, lettuce, and mayo on what smelled like freshly baked bread. My stomach whined.
“That sandwich is for you,” Harper hollered down the stairs.
“Thank you!” Without hesitation I dug in, and damn it was good. Sated and clothed, I washed the plate in the sink, just in time to hear Harper skipping down the steps.
She’d put on a thick gray sweater.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
“Yep.”
With that, we set out for my place. We took the old pickup that was parked by the barn. Harper drove and I told her where to turn. She seemed happy and relaxed, until we arrived at the front gate.
“You can just park in the grass here,” I said.
“Okay.”
We climbed out walked over to the gate.
“Lennox Manor,” Harper read the wrought iron letters above us as I punched in the access code. She turned to me as the gate began to open. I could feel the tension coming off of her, and I could see it in her shoulders.
Maybe she was just mirroring my nervousness. I’d never brought a girl home before, or any human.
“Chase, I don’t know, maybe you should do the research and just fill me in later.” Was she nervous about meeting my family?
I couldn’t blame her.
“Please, Harper, I want you to be with me.”
“Are you sure it’s okay? You said last night that they’re real strict about who knows about them. I don’t want to cause any trouble for you.”
“It’ll be fine.” I took her hand in mine. “Trust me.”
“I do.” She answered without hesitation, and smiled softly up at me.
Harper squeezed my palm, and I led her up the hill to the house.
Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. Everyone could be here, or no one. The pack liked to run together a lot of evenings, so with any luck everyone would be out. I wasn’t embarrassed that my mate was a human, but suddenly I couldn’t stop thinking about all of the things I should have told her before we got here.
No one greeted us as we entered the manor. Our footsteps echoed through the long hallways. As we walked, Harper took in everything in silence. I wondered what she was feeling. A mix of nervousness and curiosity was my guess by scent, and by the way she looked around at everything. It really was a lot different than her place—cold and modern whereas her place was rustic. I liked hers better.
It seemed like no one was home—good. I wanted Harper to be able to meet my pack, eventually. But who knows if someone would scare her off at this point. This relationship that we were developing was still so new, so fragile.
Plus, we had a job to do. We needed to figure out what that monster in the forest was before it hurt someone else.
“How many of you live here?” Harper asked as we turned down the far hall.
I had to think for a moment.
“Our pack is made up of four different families. There’s about twenty wolves living here right now.”
“Is that a lot? For shifters, I mean.”
“I guess so,” I said. “It really depends on the area. Packs in more populated places can number in the hundreds.” Harper looked surprised. “All humans walk by shifters your entire lives, without even noticing.”
“I’m glad I finally noticed.” She tucked her arm under mine and leaned her head on my shoulder.
“Me too.” A few more steps and we had reached the entrance to the library. “Here it is.”
The ceiling in the library was vaulted, and shelves lined the walls. At the far side of the room was a fireplace and a set of uncomfortable, tall-backed chairs. In the center of the room was a small table and two less uncomfortable seats.
“Wow,” Harper said.
“It should have everything we need.” I pointed at a set of shelves on the far wall. “That’s where we keep the books on the spooky stuff.”
I pulled out an old leather-bound tome titled Noctis Monstra.
Harper lingered at the shelf, looking over the books. “Vampire Clans of the Old World, Binding Rituals for Drakes and Dragons, Sprites of the Air and Aether. Are all of these things...real?”
“Vampires are, and you wouldn’t want to meet one. I’ve never seen a dragon, or a sprite, but I’ve heard stories.”
Harper shook her head and sighed before joining me at the table.
I touched her hand. “It’s a lot to process, I know.”
Harper shrugged. “I’ve got you and a shotgun, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
I’ve got you—more than she even knew.
“Let’s find this goat-legged bitch,” Harper said.
I opened the book and flipped through the pages. There were hundreds of sketches of the vilest monstrosities imaginable, accompanied by vivid descriptions of the torturous acts the creatures committed. I hoped the medieval authors of the book had taken
a bit of artistic license with some of these.
There it was—the woman in the dark red dress. The illustration exaggerated the length of the claws and chin, and the size of the black eyes, but with those hooves, it was too similar to be anything else.
“Baobhan sith,” I read from the top of the page.
Harper pulled the book closer and continued reading the description. “Drinks human blood.”
“How do we kill it?” I asked.
“It says ‘it is of the fey, and as such is vulnerable to the application of ferrum.’ What’s that mean? And please don’t tell me it’s a sex thing.”
I laughed. “It’s a kind of fairy. We’ll need iron.”
“Aren’t fairies supposed to be cute and nice?”
“Just like people, some are and some aren’t.”
“Fair enough.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “Now what happened when I found you out there makes sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“I shot the bonbon sift or whatever, and nothing happened. But when I stepped closer, it poofed away.”
“I don’t follow.”
“The lead buckshot didn’t bother it, but I was strapped with twenty pounds of steel. It wasn’t scared of being shot, but it must have been scared of the iron in the guns.”
“And we know I can hurt it when I’m in wolf form. My teeth broke through its flesh before.”
A familiar scent came from the library entrance. I shot my attention up—to my father.
“What do you think you’re doing, Chase?” His voice was command, and scorn.
I stood and intercepted his entrance before he could get close to Harper. “Dad, this is Harper Lennox, from Mountain Peak Ranch.”
“You know better than to bring a human here. Tell me you haven’t mated the girl.” He looked past me to Harper.
“Mated?” Harper whispered.
I wanted to explain it to her, I had to. But not here, not like this. If my father knew exactly what she meant to me, he’d understand. He had to.
“Can we have this conversation later?” I asked.
Harper joined me at my side.
My father inhaled deeply. “You know the rules.”
“Harper knows everything already.”
“Jesus, Chase. You can’t go around telling our secrets just to get girls into bed.”
Harper spoke up. “This girl doesn’t need to be talked about like she’s not here. I’m a grown-ass woman. And it’s hard to keep the supernatural under wraps when this thing is stalking my ranch,” she said, poking at the open book on the table.
My father took a step closer and looked down at the page.
I was impressed with the way Harper had handled my father. Not many people stood up to the alpha. Hell, no one did but me, until now.
“You sure this is in the forest? Our forest?” My father looked from Harper to me.
I nodded. “Absolutely.”
“All right then, we’ll take care of it,” he said.
“Thank you,” Harper replied, sounding both surprised and relieved. “I can’t wait to—"
“Not you, human.”
“Harper can handle herself,” I said.
“Yes, I can.” Harper’s brows furrowed.
“This is tribunal business, Chase.” My father crossed his arms.
“Bullshit,” Harper said. “It’s the business of everyone on this mountain.”
“You said we can injure it as wolves. It’s our duty. We protect ourselves, and them.” He nodded at Harper.
I looked to Harper, her big blue eyes implored me. I couldn’t let anything happen to her. My father was right. I hated it, but he was right. I had to protect her.
I knew it would break her heart, and mine, but it had to be done. Even if she could never be my mate, at least she’d be alive.
“I’m sorry.”
She took a step back, her mouth hanging open. “Seriously, Chase? After...after everything...fine. Fuck you both.”
My heart shattered as she walked away.
Chapter Eleven
Harper
Fucking fuckery, self-righteous...asshat. I let out a deep breath and loosened my grip on the steering wheel.
A furry little creature darted out in front of the truck and froze in the bouncing headlights. I slammed on the brakes, and tires slipped on loose gravel.
Unable to do anything but hope, I held onto the wheel and kept the pedal to the floor as the truck slid forward.
The animal remained still, small and brown with stripes on its tail and black stripes around its eyes—a racoon.
It all happened so fast, and then the truck stopped, but I didn’t see the racoon anywhere. Where did he go? Show me I didn’t hit him. Please.
The little mass of brown fur raced from beneath the truck forward through the lights, and out into the forest beyond. Thank goodness.
I sat there watching the woods for any sign that he was coming back or for any of his furry friends.
There was nothing, so I started driving again, this time more slowly.
It wasn’t the racoon’s fault Chase was being a dick.
I didn’t need protection just because I’m a woman. It was me who had saved his ass in the woods.
What if the problem wasn’t that I was a woman? What if he didn’t trust me to watch his back because I was human and not a shifter? A flood of anger coursed through my veins.
But anger wasn’t helping.
I pulled the truck in next to the barn and threw it in park. With a turn of the key, the headlights went out and the engine stopped. I leaned my head back against the seat.
When I was little and I’d get mad about something, I’d come out here and throw rocks at the side of the old barn. It was always Dad who would come and find me. He’d say the same thing every time—Harper, how long do you want to be mad? When he put it that way, I remembered, my emotions were within my control. Who wanted to be angry? No one. No one with any sense at least.
My fury never lasted long after that. I’d throw a few more rocks, but all the feeling was gone. Then I’d run back inside and do whatever I was supposed to.
I missed Dad. He was the backbone of the ranch, taking over when his dad got too old to run things. Then with me and mom, and still while it was just the two of us and we couldn’t afford any help. Dad stayed strong, and so could I.
No matter how pissed I was at Chase, that creature was still out there. Not only that, but Chase and his father were going to confront it. That was an absolutely terrible idea. After what happened the last time Chase crossed paths with that thing, it was clear his wolfy powers weren’t enough to handle it.
The truth was, I didn’t want to see him hurt. And that was the reason he had pushed me away—because he didn’t want to see me hurt. I knew he did really care about me, even if he didn’t think I could fight by his side as an equal. I’d teach him otherwise.
I opened the door to the truck and climbed out.
I had to do something and hell if I was going to go to bed while Chase got himself killed.
I went inside the barn and considered the weapons laid out on the table. Having the metal of the guns with me would keep the monster at arm’s length, but shooting it with lead bullets wouldn’t do much good.
But there were a couple of boxes of steel shot shells in the cabinet, or at least there had been. With any luck, they were still there.
I opened the cabinet and found one box left with a dozen or so shells inside. It would have to do. Shotgun loaded, and guns draped over me for protection, I headed out to the edge of the barnyard.
It was too dark to see much beyond the fence into the valley, even with the moon high in the cloudless sky. Wherever I went, I’d be at a disadvantage in the black of night.
There were two options—start by the hundred-year-old oak where Chase had found my father, or in the glen near the pond.
Chase had said the creature had come to him, he didn’t find it, so where had it come f
rom? All right, I’d start with the pond. That was the last sighting of the monster.
The sound of shuffling movement came from behind me.
I turned to find Riblet standing there, her little tail wiggling.
“Sorry, girl, I don’t have any apples tonight.” The pig gave a little squeal and walked out of the open gate. Then she turned back to me, like she was waiting for me to follow.
“Are you trying to lead me somewhere?”
Snort.
Maybe that was a yes. Either way, she didn’t smell Chase or she’d have taken off running.
Riblet sniffed the ground and kept on walking down the pasture toward the woods.
I was going that way, too, more or less, so I followed.
It was a slow march toward the woods, with Riblet stopping every few steps to sniff the ground or the air. But it wasn’t like I had an appointment with the monster, so who knows, maybe Riblet knew where she was going.
Finally, we reached the tree line.
The air was cold, but was it colder than before? No, I didn’t think so. Sound check—there were crickets. Still, I knew that bonbon monster could pop up out of nowhere at any time.
Riblet seemed to share none of my apprehension as she crashed headlong into the brush. I kept my head on a swivel and the shotgun ready as I followed. We trekked over steep banks thick with trees and hopped over small boulders that lay in our path, half-buried in the earth.
As the branches grew denser, little moonlight reached down to the forest floor. Each of my steps was less sure than the last, and I started to worry that I’d lose Riblet.
Just as I was beginning to regret not bringing along a lantern, light broke through the trees ahead. Strange, given how far we were far from civilization.
Someone else had to be out here. Chase maybe, or poachers.
Riblet plowed ahead and I considered telling her to wait. She wouldn’t listen anyway, and if she gave Chase a good tusk in the ass, he did deserve it. If it was poachers, I had my shotgun at the ready.
Still, my stomach tightened. If it was poachers, they could hurt her.
I followed a little faster, hoping the branches that tugged against my legs wouldn’t make me fall.
The trees opened into a clearing, one I had never visited before. It was maybe fifty feet across, with boulders strewn around the edges of the deep green grass. At the center of the clearing, the grass almost seemed to glow a blueish color.
Midnight Wish: A Werewolf Shifter Romance (The Protectors Quick Bites Book 1) Page 6