Early the next morning, I got ready to head back down to the clearing, but this time, I had a plan. Sort of. Darcy had ruined my life once more. So I had to fix it. My cover was blown now so that I couldn’t use it. The only thing left to do was to kill the wolves. Two could play at this game. He couldn’t threaten me.
I dressed in dark jeans, a dark jacket and armed myself with an athame. Before I left home, I had spelled the athame to give it extra strength, but as I made my way down the hill today, I quickly gave the blade another once-over with the spell, fortifying it. I couldn’t take any chances. This had to end today. I wanted to get out of this country before Darcy could ruin my plans again.
When I made it to the clearing where I had last seen the wolves, instead of waiting at the tree line for the wolves to appear, this time I crept through the undergrowth and through the dense bushes toward the place I had seen the wolves disappear into. As soon as I pushed aside the low-hanging branch and a shrub, my dragon night vision kicked in and illuminated a dark crevice underneath the base of the rocky outcrop. This must be the werewolves’ den.
I pulled my sword as quietly as I could from my boot and crept toward the den. It was early morning, just before dawn, so I prayed they were still asleep. I tread as quietly as I could into the cave, relying on my supernatural senses to look and listen to my surroundings. The only sound I could hear were crickets and the scurrying of small birds or mammals in the undergrowth outside the cave. The further I got inside the cave, the colder the temperature got, and I heard fewer animal noises.
When it was dark enough, I began to see small balls of light on the roof. Glow worms. Every so often they would dim or get brighter. On the plane, I did a bit of reading about New Zealand and found out the brighter a glow worm was, the hungrier they were. These particular glow worms were quite hungry. I kept walking into the dark of the cave, and soon, I heard another sound. It grew louder the further I walked into the dark. It was the sound of rushing water. Soon, the water became so loud that it drowned out every other sound around me. It was so loud that I didn’t hear when someone crept up behind me and hit me over the head. I fell forward, and my world went black.
***
I woke up sometime later with a killer headache and a foul disposition. I’d been in a bad mood since last night when Darcy ruined my plans by sending my boss the photo, but now I was even more pissed. I looked around and realized I was no longer in the glow worm cave. I was no longer on the ground. I was lying on a soft red velvet chaise inside a shabby chic style office. I wasn’t inside my little cabin on the mountain anymore. I was studying the mismatched furniture when the door opened and in walked my worst nightmare. I threw my feet off the couch and went to stand, but I felt drained of energy.
“What the hell? What have you done, Darcy? You’re the last person I want to see right now after what you’ve done.”
“Yeah, well. I can live with that. I did what had to be done.”
“By discrediting me and embarrassing me by sending a photo of the she-wolf to my boss? By hitting me over the head and kidnapping me? What else should I add to the already long list of offenses, Darcy?”
“You gave me no choice, Emma.” He walked over to me and handed me a bottle of water. I ignored it and crossed my arms. Darcy shrugged and placed the bottle on the floor near my foot. As I looked down at my foot, I realized my boots were missing.
“Where are my boots?” My heart froze as I realized my athame was missing too. I checked my jeans and the rest of my body just to make sure. Nope. It was gone. “And my athame.”
“Relax. They are safe. I couldn’t have you throwing the blade at me again. Especially since I know you’ve placed a spell on it.”
I slumped back against the couch. “Ugh. You’ve ruined my life, Darcy. Again.”
Darcy waved me off and sat down on the wingback office chair behind the antique wooden desk in the center of the room.
“Yes, yes. But I did what must be done. You’ve put all of us in danger.”
“Me? How have I put us all in danger? The wolves did when they decided to reveal themselves to the humans.”
“They weren’t harming the humans. They were living in harmony with the humans before you stepped foot in their territory and decided to try to kill them.”
“Ugh. There you go again with the protector crap. Ever since you made it your mission to protect and be all paternal with the creatures, you’ve really rained on my parade.”
“I could say the same about you and your mission to kill them all.”
I stared at him. No, it was more of a glare. He was staring at his computer on the desk. I willed him to look at me, and when he finally did meet my gaze, we had a standoff that took me back to the moment I first met him—the moment where we fell in love. His glowing red eyes were like a magnet, and I was stuck. At that moment, where time froze between us, I forgot all the reasons I hated Darcy.