“Where are we gonna go?” Avery asks, clicking her seatbelt into place.
Asher assumes his position in the front passenger seat and shoots me the same expectant gaze.
I shrug slightly before putting the Highlander into reverse. “I don’t know. All I do know is that I’m going to be as far away from the house as possible when those movers turn up.”
“Agreed,” Asher says, inhaling loudly through his nose.
“Can we hang out at the mall?” Avery asks.
I glance at her through the rearview mirror. “Sweetie, this town is pretty small. I’m not entirely sure they have a mall.”
“You moved us to a town with no mall?” Her mouth gapes open, unleashing her angsty teen vibes.
I chuckle under my breath. “I mean, I don’t know for sure…”
“Why don’t we just go to a movie or something? That’ll occupy a couple of hours and I won’t wish for the good old times when I was being held hostage,” Asher says, shooting me a look. “Then we can grab supper and hopefully come home to a house full of clutter and no homicidal movers.”
My eyebrows rise. “It’s weird when you sound like the reasonable one.”
“Well, someone has to be,” he claps back.
“Oooh, well played.” I chuckle. “Sorry, Avery, but I think Asher has won this one.”
Avery crosses her arms over her chest. “That’s fine. I wanted to see the new Ghostbusters movie anyway.”
“Yeah, me too,” Asher says, nodding.
“Well, that settles that,” I say, driving toward town and hoping it’s the right direction. “Find the nearest theater and showtimes.”
* * *
Nearly five hours and two calls from the movers later, we’re on the way back from our town-bound excursion.
The movie was decent, though it certainly could have been better. The sushi, on the other hand, had been great. And overall, the time out together had been exactly what we needed. In an effort to rewrite the day, I even took the kids for ice cream.
The last few hours were the most normal part of the move to Oregon so far.
I can only hope there’ll be many more times like it.
However, the drive home puts me on edge. I don’t know if it’s the anxiety of returning to the house or the fact that we’d have to return to reality. Then, there are moments where I swear I can sense Stone nearby—which is utterly ridiculous.
Way more often than I’d care to admit, my mind rolls back to those moments before we left when I swear I could hear conversations I should never have been able to hear. Like the one with Seth talking on the phone to Stone…
It was like they were talking gibberish. They threw around words like invocation and pack…but they were all out of context and if I’m totally honest, they kinda scared the shit out of me.
“Mom, look out—” Asher says, bracing his hands on the dashboard.
I blink away my thoughts and slam on the brakes as a pure white wolf runs out in front of us. It settles itself on the ridge on the other side of the road, watching us like I’m the dumbass.
“Goddammit, what’s with the wolves in this area?” I spit, cramming my heart back into my chest. “Do they have a death wish?”
“I think it’s the same one from before,” Avery says.
“I’m sure there are lots of white wolves, sweetie. There’s no way it’s the same—”
“But I remember those eyes,” she says. Her gaze is locked on the wolf when I check on her in the rearview mirror.
By the time I turn back, it’s vanished into the treeline.
“All I can say is we better not witness another car accident,” Asher mutters, keeping his eyes fixed on the road in front of us.
The evening sun is setting behind the trees, but it’s not quite dark yet. It’s the magical space between day and night.
“That makes two of us,” I blurt out, putting my foot back on the accelerator, driving slower than I had been before.
“There’s another one,” Avery says, pointing to her window.
I look over my shoulder and sure enough, a white and gray wolf has taken to running the ridge on our left. There’s something about it that almost stops me in my tracks.
There’s something so familiar about them both…
“Where’d the other one go?” I ask, suddenly weary. I slow the vehicle down some more and scan the space as diligently as possible. The last thing I’d want to do is hit the white wolf because of my inattention.
“I don’t know. I don’t see it,” Avery says, peering through the window.
“We’re almost home. I’m surprised they’re willing to get this close to a residential area,” I mutter under my breath. I hope like hell they head back the way they came before we get to our house, but I’m not so sure that’s their agenda.
She’s nearly there.
The thought intrudes my mind and I glance over at the wolf. It continues to run alongside our vehicle, keeping pace like it’s no big deal to run forty-five miles an hour.
However, when I click on the blinker to turn right, the white and gray wolf slows, then takes a seat at the small hill that ends with the intersection.
I exhale my relief. “It’s not following us anymore.”
A few minutes later, I pull into my driveway.
Sitting on the porch steps is Stone. With his head down and hands in-between his knees, his silhouette is pronounced in the light of the porch. He’s clad, once again, in beach shorts and nothing else.
I can’t tear my eyes away from his broad shoulders and defined chest muscles.
“What’s he doing here?” Asher asks, voicing the first thing that came to my mind as well.
“He’s probably checking to make sure we’re okay. He seemed pretty adamant about protecting us,” I say, my words petering out as I see the look on Stone’s face.
I put the Highlander in park and exit immediately. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Stone glances up and the anguish pulsing through his aura amplifies. His dark eyebrows tug in, but no words escape.
“Ah, Christ,” I mutter, fumbling for my keys.
Avery and Asher exit the vehicle behind me, slowly making their way forward.
“Well, come in. I’m sure whatever’s got your knickers in such a twist is going to require alcohol,” I say, sliding the key in the lock. “I can’t promise I’ll be able to find any since I wasn’t here when the actual movers dropped off our shit, but I’ll see what I can do.”
When the lock clicks back and I move to open the door, I half expect to find the house exactly the way I left it. To my glorious surprise, there’s a couch in my living room and boxes stacked neatly against the wall. I catch a glimpse of my dining table on the other side and there is evidence the movers have been very careful about matching up the labels with their respective rooms.
They must have felt guilty as fuck for being late.
Point scored for the Breene house. About goddamn time, too.
“Yessss—” Asher says, racing to the living room and dive-bombing the couch. He rolls around on it like it’s his long-lost friend. “I’ve missed you so much.”
I roll my eyes and turn back to Stone. “So, what is it I can do for you now?”
Avery slinks up the stairs, likely excited to get moving on decorating and rearranging her new room. Chances are, I won’t see her for days now.
Stone’s green eyes darken and he flicks them over to Asher quickly before locking in on me. “Can we speak somewhere private?”
“Oh, hell-to-the-no, buddy. I’ve had enough with crazy dudes for one day. Anything you gotta say to me can be said open and in public of my domicile. I hide nothing from these kids,” I say, holding my chin up.
“What’s a domicile?” Asher asks, his head bobbing up like whack-a-mole from the other side of the couch’s arm.
Stone snickers softly. “Share everything except your vocabulary, it seems.”
I slap him on the chest with the back of my hand and instantly regret it. A pang of something that feels suspiciously like lust crawls across my skin and slithers southbound.
I wish he’d put a shirt on.
“Seriously, what do you need? I have a bedroom to rearrange here, too,” I say, clamping my mouth shut.
Why the bedroom? Why did I have to say the bedroom? I have a whole house to unpack.
I run my hand over my face.
“I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say,” Stone says, the veins on the side of his jaw popping out as he clenches it tight.
“Wow, okay, Mr. Cryptic. Can you be any more vague?” I say, meandering toward the kitchen.
This is definitely going to require a drink.
He follows behind me, not saying a word. Instead, a thought keeps playing over and over in my mind.
She’ll never believe me.
Thankfully, there’s a box on the kitchen counter labeled glasses. I rip open the tape and pluck two of them from its innards. Spinning on my heel, I assess the other boxes quickly and locate the Holy Grail. The small box marked “liquor cabinet.”
Inside is a bottle of watermelon-flavored vodka, vermouth, and for some godforsaken reason, cinnamon-flavored whiskey. As a mostly non-drinker, I can’t say I always made the best choices when perusing the liquor store.
I set all three bottles on the counter and spread my hands out. “Pick your poison.”
“No thanks. I don’t drink,” Stone says, shaking his head.
“Fair enough. I can’t say I was thrilled with the selection here either. The hostess here sucks,” I say, walking around the counter and facing him. “So spill, then.”
“You’re not gonna like it,” he whispers.
“Well, gee, it’s almost like I coulda guessed that by the lost puppy dog look you’ve had since I got home. Does this have something to do with the invocation?” I ask, pressing on the question lingering in my mind. Did I actually hear what I thought I heard? Or am I delusional and need to be checked out.
His eyes are emerald saucers and his mouth gapes open. “Invocation?”
I’ve been with enough lying mofo’s to know when the question shot across the bow has hit its mark. I plant a hand on my hip. “Yeah.”
“How’d you—? The full moon,” he says, nodding as if that’s an actual valid reason.
“If you’re trying to say this is a hormonal woman thing…” I begin, ready to break out some attitude.
He shakes his head, holding his hands out in front of him. “No, not that. Look, Ella, what I’m about to tell you is going to flip your world upside down. I need to know that you can handle it.”
I narrow my eyes and jut out my chin. “I’ve been through hell and back, Stone. Nothing you can tell me is going to be worse than that.” Even as I say it, my heart hammers traitorously in my chest.
He presses his lips tight and nods.
It takes him a minute to collect his thoughts and I cross my arms over my chest as I wait.
“Ella, you’re gonna be a werewolf,” Stone says. His voice is so low, I’m surprised I even made out a word of it.
My mind starts to cartwheel into the realms of why can’t I attract someone into my life who’s just normal?
I nearly burst into laughter. “Get the fuck out. Am I being videotaped for America’s most gullible women or something?” I glance around the kitchen for some sort of hidden video device.
“Who says videotaped anymore?” Asher mumbles under his breath as he enters the kitchen. He meanders over to the fridge for a sec, opens it, and closes it instantly. He must have forgotten we haven’t been to the grocery store yet.
“Quiet you,” I say, holding up an index finger like I’m about to dive into a diatribe of back in my day.
When I turn back to Stone, he’s not laughing. If anything, his demeanor has shifted further down the desperate dude path.
“This isn’t a joke. Doug—when he was trapped—he bit you, right?” Stone says, his voice still a low rumble.
“Yeah, that guy bit her. We kept telling her to get it checked out, but she doesn’t listen so…” Asher says, spinning various boxes as he hunts for potential snacks.
“First of all, it’s fine. Secondly, we’ve already had a traumatic couple of days, thanks. It hasn’t really been on my mind,” I spit back.
“It wouldn’t matter anyway. They wouldn’t find anything,” Stone says. “Ella, please, this is important.”
“What’s important?” Avery asks, entering the kitchen. She meanders over to her brother, eyeing the contents of the box he’s rooting around in. She grabs a handful of Fruit by the Foot and unwraps one.
“Then be serious,” I say, shaking my head.
He pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a slow deliberate breath. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Then stop wasting—”
Suddenly, the energy of the room rises, like an intense static electricity about to be unleashed. The hairs on my arms, neck, and head, all stand on end.
Before my eyes—no, not even that—in the blink of an eye, Stone goes from standing before me in a pair of swim trunks to the largest white wolf I’ve ever seen. Only, it’s not the first time I’ve seen this wolf.
I take a giant step back and shriek, “Fuck me. What in the actual?”