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Serena stared at the kitchen floor. One bloody rose petal had escaped her cleaning frenzy, lying like a liquid teardrop on the well-worn surface of the floor. Everything was arranged. Her need was getting worse with Gabe so far away, not better, and the only fix she could think of was getting the hell away from Colorado and back home to Maine, where the heat would fade until it was just a memory. It would take two airports and a stop in Chicago, but she’d be out of here tonight. And that was what was important.
She’d had lunch and was halfway packed. She’d have a last early dinner in the main ranch house with a few very regretful members of the council, and then one of them would drive her the five hours to the airport. Then she’d be on the plane and sleeping the wee hours of the morning away. If she could sleep.
A long mournful howl rose up inside her, but she squashed it down.
It was hell having her wolf so close to the surface. Everything she did felt like she had a second skin. Smells were stronger, and she couldn’t believe she’d ever thought the vase of roses smelled pretty. Now, the astringent cleaner that had been used to wipe the glass clean of fingerprints stank in her nostrils, and she wrinkled her upper lip in a snarl.
She paced back and forth in the cabin, forgetting what she was doing, only coming back into her senses at a knock on the door. She crouched, ready for an intruder, then wrestled her body back from her wolf, shoving it back and straightening up. She was a dreamwalker, damn it. She had the upper hand. Not her wolf.
She went to the window and peered out. Vince’s green car was outside, and she smelled the now nearly overpowering scent of his cologne. Her wolf growled. This wasn’t the right one. They wanted Gabe.
She shook it off and went to the door, checking who it was before unlocking it. Opening it wide, she pasted a friendly smile on her face. “Hi, Vince. How are you?”
“Did I hear you’re quitting and going home? How could you do that now that you’ve got Nancy on the run?” He pushed past her into the cabin.
She barely pulled her initial reaction of lunging at him and taking a nice bite of his plaid button-down-covered shoulders. Instead, she counted to five before answering. “I’m sorry, it has nothing to do with the job. Or Nancy. I just have some personal stuff going on.”
“It’s the Wulfric brothers again, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “It’ll be better for me to get away from here.” A breeze blew in from the open doorway. It smelled of fresh air and pines, and she suddenly longed to be outside racing through the forest, almost forgetting about Vince sitting in her kitchen.
“Can’t I talk you out of it? I feel like we’ve gotten so close.”
At his quiet request her wolf retreated. The Serena she knew reasserted itself. He was right. They’d become sort of friends over their lunch hours and skirmishes with Nancy.
“What if we take a quick walk,” he said. “I have a special spot, not far from the ranch, where I like to go and think. Would you come with me and I can show it to you?”
She looked back into the bedroom at her half-packed bag. She wasn’t leaving until later. She had time. And she had nothing to do this afternoon but fret over leaving Gabe. “Sure. Let me get my things and we’ll go.”
His smile was huge, and she did her best to match it. It was calming to be around Vince. He wasn’t the mate her wolf was looking for—no fate here—so her wolf backed away when he was near. She could use their walk to get a break from all the chaos raging inside.
She grabbed her purse and jacket, and they left. Locking the cabin behind her she got into his car, looking around for the enforcer who was supposed to be on duty outside of the cabin.
“Hey Vince, did you see the officer who was here? Sheila Houndstooth?”
“Um, yeah. I saw her on my way in. She’s doing a perimeter check. I told her I was taking you for a break.”
Ignoring the flare of suspicion from her wolf, she shut the car door and buckled her seatbelt. Her wolf was on a rampage, seeing monsters behind every door. How shifters dealt with it, she’d never know. She’d be better off when life and her wolf were back to safe, sane normal.
“You’re going to love it, Serena. Just wait and see.”
Serena half-listened to Vince chatter on as she watched the cabin recede in the side mirror. Just think, this time tomorrow she’d be back home. No Nancy. No Sam. No Gabe.
Somehow it was all more depressing than it should be.