Digging the Wolf: a paranormal romance (Werewolves of Crookshollow Book 1)

by Steffanie Holmes

  “Can you run over to my tent and grab some clothes for me?” Her voice quivered.

  “Oh, yeah.” I grinned. “They’re not going to suspect anything if they catch me rifling through your stuff. Here.” I tossed her a shirt. “Put this on over your jeans, and tie your jacket on over the top. No one will see that it doesn’t fit, and it’s long enough to hide the tear in your jeans.”

  She stared at the shirt for a couple of moments, then grabbed it from my hands. “Great idea, thanks.”

  “See? I’m more than just a pretty face.”

  Anna pulled on all the clothes and shoved her feet into her boots. My body ached with disappointment to see her beautiful body covered up again, but she couldn’t very well stay in my tent fucking all day. More’s the pity.

  “How do I look?” She smoothed my shirt down over her ruined jeans.

  “Absolutely fucking gorgeous. Just a moment,” I grabbed her just as she was lifting the flap of the tent and pulled her in for one last, lingering kiss. Her scent devoured me, the softness of her tongue against mine making me even harder. My veins burned with the itch of my inner wolf and the tug of the connection between us. I pulled back before I tore all her clothes off again. My cock jerked in protest. “OK.” I patted her arse. “Now run for it!”

  Anna yanked the tent flap open and stepped outside. I grabbed the flap from her hand just as she let it fall, and watched her as she made her way towards her own tent…just as Ruth came around the corner, carrying a clipboard.

  “Anna!” She called out. “I didn’t see you at breakfast. You’ve got to get going. There so much to do. Frances has a film crew arriving any minute. Where have you—” her words died on her lips as her eyes fell on my face, and then dropped down over my body. Only then did I realise I was standing in the entrance of my tent, wearing only my boxers and an enormous erection, staring after Anna, who had very clearly just come from my tent.

  Fuck.

  “Well,” Ruth smirked, her eyes flashing as she tapped her pen against her clipboard. “This is interesting.”

  “I was…er…that was to say…” Anna stuttered. She was turned away from me, but I could see the back of her neck turning crimson.

  Shame overwhelmed me. This was all my fault. Anna was so worried about making a good impression on Professor Doyle and I’d ruined it for her. My mind reeled. Think, Lowe. You need to come up with some reason for her being in your tent.

  “I’ve just been giving Miss Sinclair a private forest safety lecture,” I explained, keeping my voice stern. “Of all the health and safety violations I’ve observed here on the site, hers has been the worst. Wandering into those caves at night unaccompanied?” I sneered at Anna. Her face crumpled. I wanted to run to her and wrap her in my arms, but I pressed on, desperate for Ruth to believe me. “It was irresponsible and could have ended very badly. So, I thought it best Miss Sinclair underwent a practical experiment.”

  “I’m sure,” that smirk hadn’t left Ruth’s face.

  I glanced from Anna, to Ruth, and back again, then burst out laughing as though the awkwardness of the situation had just occurred to me. “Oh, I see what this looks like. You don’t honestly think I’d be sleeping with her,” I said, my voice dripping with disdain. “Rest assured, if I had a woman in my bed last night, you’d have heard her crying my name the whole length of the valley.”

  “Oh, I am sure.” Ruth’s mouth tugged at the corner.

  “I am teaching Miss Sinclair about survival tactics, in case one found oneself lost in the forest and had to use one’s clothes to create a shelter or make a signal. Unfortunately, Miss Sinclair was using her jacket as a shelter last night, and she tore her clothes on a bush, so I lent her some others rather than let her freeze.” I pointed down at my rapidly deflating erection. “She just happened to catch me at a somewhat embarrassing moment, as you can see.”

  I was proud of my ingenious lie for solving the problem. Ruth looked disappointed, but at least somewhat convinced. When Anna turned around to face me, I was surprised to see her face red with fury. Her hands were balled at her sides. I’d just saved her arse, and she was pissed off. Really pissed off.

  “If you guys will excuse me,” Anna said, her jaw clenched, her face flushing with anger.

  I watched her stalk off towards her tent, desperate to go after her, but not able to with Ruth still watching. I ran over everything I’d said in my head, but couldn’t come up with anything that might’ve triggered Anna’s response. I remembered the way she’d shut down the other night, when I’d asked her about her father, and how worried she’d been when she woke up. I wondered if these things were connected.

  The itch clawed at my skin, breaking me out of my thoughts. I had to get as far away from the camp as soon as possible. I’d already left it too late. I didn’t want to leave while Anna was still mad at me, but I didn’t have a choice. If she was pissed off with me now, there was no telling how upset she’d be if I tore apart the entire camp in my wolven frenzy.

  Ruth batted her eyelashes at me. “Would you like me to bring you some breakfast, Luke?”

  I glared at her. “No thanks. I’ve lost my appetite. Shouldn’t you be on site?”

  Ruth glanced down at her watch. “Yikes. It’s late. I’ll see you down there later?”

  “No you won’t. I’ll be away from camp for a couple of days.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I have more important things to do than babysit a team of archaeologists.” I snapped. “I have paths to maintain, environmental programs to monitor, and I’d like to eat something that didn’t have to be scraped from the bottom of a pot.”

  “Oh.” Ruth looked crushed. But after a moment, her face brightened again. “Well, I hope your time away is…productive. When you get back, can you take me on private wilderness training, too?”

  “You don’t need it. A girl as well adept at saving whales as you are can survive practically anywhere.” I gave her a wave with my hand in what I hoped was a dismissive fashion. As I lifted my hand, I noticed a line of grey hair sprouting from my forearm. My fingers tingled as the nails curled over into claws. I shoved my hand behind my back. “So…bye. Don’t forget to wear your hard hat.” I yanked the tent flap shut before Ruth could say anything else. My heart pounded double speed. I grabbed another shirt. My claw tore a hole across the shoulder as I pulled it on. Fuck fuck fuck. I had to go.

  As much as I longed to stay near Anna, and the caves, I had to get away now, before they all saw me shifting into my wolf form. I pulled on my trousers, not even bothering to do up the fly, and draped my hood over my head to hide the grey bristles sprouting from my cheeks. I shoved my clawed paw into my pocket, and lifted the tent flap. Ruth had gone. I bent my head down and sprinted for the truck, not looking back as I gunned the engine and sped away from my mate.

  9

  Anna

  As I searched through my bags for a change of clothes, Luke’s words buzzed in my mind. The sentences turned over and over like a skipping record.

  I’m just teaching Miss Sinclair wilderness survival…wilderness survival...

  Ruth knew. She knew what had happened to Ben. Everyone at the university knew. Ben had been a popular guy, president of the Student Society and the Ecology Club. His death had been in all the papers. Reporters had interviewed me. I’d even been in the Daily Post. STUDENT HEARTBROKEN AFTER BOYFRIEND FALLS TO GRISLY DEATH. People asked me so many questions, as though I’d been able to read Ben’s thoughts in his last moments. Why had Ben decided to cross the crevice without equipment? Why had it taken the forest rangers so long to find him? Had I got some kind of bad feeling when he’d left for the weekend, some kind of premonition of his doom?

  The idea of it was ridiculous, but I often found myself turning our last conversation over in my head, wondering if I should have sensed the grim reaper over his shoulder, if I should have inspected his equipment or specifically warned him not to do any freeform rock climbing. But Ben was an experienced hiker a
nd climber, and he was going with a friend. I didn’t think any more of it.

  And now I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  Luke didn’t know about Ben or how he’d died. I wasn’t ready to tell him. But that didn’t stop the guilt from gnawing at me as I’d woken up and felt that warm body beside me. The familiarity of waking up next to someone…I’d thought for a moment it was Ben, before my mind registered what had happened last night, and where I was.

  Guilt gnawed at my stomach. I felt as though I’d cheated on Ben, which was ridiculous. He was dead and I had to move on. But that knowledge didn’t change how I felt. And Luke’s comments to Ruth only rubbed salt on the wound. I knew I’d reacted viscerally, but it was the way he’d said it, so mocking, as though wilderness survival was this basic skill that everyone should have, as though people didn’t make mistakes…mistakes that cost their lives.

  I tugged on some polka-dot thermals and a work shirt, and pulled a hoodie on over top. I knew I was being stupid, and unfair, but I was still reeling from everything that had happened. Losing my bracelet, finding the paintings, discovering Luke was a werewolf, and then last night…last night...

  You’re angry at Luke because you feel guilty, the voice in my head scolded me. You didn’t even think of Ben, your poor boyfriend who died a horrible, excruciating death only a few months ago. He’s barely even in the ground and you’re jumping into bed with a werewolf. And that’s really why you’re angry.

  Damnit. I couldn’t think about all this now. I wiped the tears forming in the corners of my eyes, grabbed my trowel and raced down to the site, checking all my buttons were done up and my hair smoothed as much as possible.

  I could tell from the way Frances eyed me when I jogged over to the caves that Ruth had told her what she’d seen. My whole face burned with a fierce heat as I came to a stop in front of my professor, who stared at me with a strange look on her face.

  “Hello, Anna.” She said, a wry tone in her voice. “I’m glad you could join us. Ruth was saying Luke has been giving you some additional health and safety training.”

  “Yes. In wilderness survival. It wasn’t meant to interfere with our work but I…er, overslept.” I said, a lame excuse both of us knew was a lie. Frances pressed a memory stick on a chain into my hand.

  “That’s fine. I need you to go into Crookshollow village and email these photos to Barry. He’s waiting on them for the press release. They’re hi res, so you’ll probably need to upload them to the file database and send him the link.”

  “I thought you’d want to do that,” I said. “You said yesterday you wanted to go to town to send some emails and have a proper shower.”

  “The BBC are showing up this morning,” Frances beamed. I noticed she was wearing a line of wobbly eyeliner around her eyes, and her lips were done in a deep red. She was ready for her close-up.

  “But I’m the one who discovered the paintings!” I cried. “Shouldn’t I be talking to the BBC?”

  “Frances is the director of the excavation,” Ruth said, moving in to stand beside the professor. She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. “It doesn’t matter who discovered the site. What’s important here is the research. These paintings are an incredible discovery, it will be an honour to write my thesis on them.”

  “What?”

  “Ruth will be working alongside me for the preliminary research period,” Frances explained, her words cutting through my skin like a dagger. “It’s important that she be present for all media sessions so her name becomes associated with the site as well.”

  “But—,” I spluttered, angry tears forming in the corners of my eyes, “—why is Ruth working with you and not me? I thought I’d get to—”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You didn’t honestly think just because you happened to stumble upon these paintings first, that you’d get dibs on them over a PhD student?” Ruth sneered. “I’ve already completed my masters. I’m the one in the best position to get the work done and have a proper paper published about the discovery. This is not some first-year essay assignment, Anna. It’s serious archaeological discovery. We can’t leave it in the hands of a bloody student.”

  “Ruth,” Frances scolded. “That’s not—”

  “Maybe if you didn’t spend so much time swanning about with that ranger, learning all about wilderness survival, you’d have figured out how things work around here.” Ruth added in a bitchy tone.

  My blood boiled. I wanted to tear Ruth’s throat out. But what could I do? Ruth was right – she was a PhD student, and I’d just handed her the perfect doctoral thesis topic on a fucking plate. Her throwing me under the bus was just a fun side effect.

  I turned on my heel and stalked back towards the camp, my fingers crushing the USB stick into my palm.

  “Anna, wait.” It was Frances. I sucked in a breath, trying in vain to compose my face. I turned around.

  Frances tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, accidentally smudging the corner of her eyeliner. “I can see you’re upset. Ruth was very rude. I’m sorry she gave you the impression that—”

  “So it’s not true?” I said. “You haven’t already made plans with her?”

  “She spoke to me as soon as we confirmed the discovery. So yes, she’ll be helping me with the initial publication of the paintings. Now, don’t worry about it. There is plenty of work to be done, enough work for several graduates.” Frances said trying to soothe me. “I imagine we’ll be studying the caves for at least three more seasons. I am sure by the time you’re ready for your doctoral thesis, Anna, there will be a project here for you, as well. But for now, I really need those photos.”

  “Fine.” I shoved the stick into my pocket. “I’m on it. I’ll be back around lunchtime. I can even pick up some Cornish pasties for everyone if you like.”

  “Don’t worry about that, I’m planning to cook fennel and black pudding soup for the whole team and the film crew.” Frances beamed. “It’s my mother’s special recipe.”

  I resisted the urge to gag. “In that case, don’t worry about me. I’ll go see my mum, if that’s OK, and have lunch with her.”

  “That’s fine. Thank you, Anna. You really are a tremendous help.” Frances patted my head, as though I were a puppy, and then jogged back to the caves.

  I stormed back to the camp, catching sight of Luke just as he was getting into his truck. I ran towards him. I needed to apologise. It wasn’t his fault I felt guilty…and I was desperate to feel the heavy warmth of his arms around me, to hear him say something completely evil that would take away the sting of this horrible morning. But his face shot with panic, and he held up a hand, indicating I shouldn’t come further. His other hand was shoved deep into his jacket.

  “Where are you going?” I called out to him.

  “Away,” he replied, his voice coming out strained. He glanced up, and I gasped in shock. His cheeks were covered with thick grey fur, his nose already starting to morph into a snout.

  Of course. The full moon must be right around the corner. That meant Luke could no longer control his shift. It looked as though he was only seconds away from becoming a wolf. He must be leaving to go deeper into the forest, until his wolf form no longer controlled him.

  Which meant I had at least a few days on site without him. Two long days with Ruth tormenting me. It would be hell, but maybe it would help me sort my feelings out.

  Luke slammed the door behind him. I jogged alongside the road, and his truck bumped past me. “Anna!” Luke wound the window down, his face now completely covered in fur, his nose twisting before my eyes. “Are you still mad at me because of what I said to Ruth in the camp? I swear, I didn’t mean it. I didn’t know it would hurt you. I just wanted to save you from embarrassment.”

  “I’m not mad about that,” My fingers brushed against the USB stick in my pocket. A fresh surge of anger rushed through my veins. “It was sweet, actually. I’m so sorry about the way I acted. My reaction had nothing to do with you. I will explain later, I pro
mise.”

  “You don’t owe me an explanation. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “I’m sorry I told Frances about the paintings.” I burst out. “I shouldn’t have done that. She’s got film crews coming and funding applications already filled out. People are going to be swarming all over the site.”

  “It’s done now.” Luke looked pained. His hand tightened around the steering wheel. “I can’t wait much longer. The shift—”

  “Ruth is taking all the credit for finding the paintings,” I said, my voice wavering as a lump rose in my throat. “And Professor Doyle is letting her.”

  Luke closed his eyes. “Anna. I promise you that I will help you, but right now I have to go.”

  “OK. Luke…”

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t kill anything small and cute.”

  He smiled. “I make no promises.”

  I watched him drive away, my stomach somersaulting. As his truck turned the corner, I looked away, tears pooling in the corners of my eyes. Luke made my body sing, and my heart clench tight. But feeling this way felt like a betrayal to Ben. I still saw Ben’s face when I closed my eyes, his friendly smile, his kind brown eyes, his blotched, broken skin when I’d gone to identify him at the morgue.

  The grief was still so fresh, still blanketing my mind in this haze of impossible sadness. Here, in the forest, where Ben had loved to spend his time, I sensed him in everything. He was the rustle of leaves in the trees. He was the crunch of twigs beneath my boots. He was the fresh smell of rain trickling through the foliage and the twittering of birds as they went about their business.

  And amidst it all, was Luke. He smelled like wildness personified, like adrenaline pulsing through your veins, like the wind in your hair while you ran. He wasn’t of the forest, he was the king of the forest. It was sexy as hell, but was it what I really wanted? Was I into Luke because he was so different from Ben, because he exuded this raw masculine authority, because he was exactly what I needed, or because he was the last thing I needed?