A Forest So Deadly (Pioneer Falls Book 2)

by Heather Davis

  “He’s going to leave,” I replied. “Soon. He’s supposed to go back to London.”

  “Oh, no.” Rose came over and took a place next to me up at the headboard. “I’m sorry.” Her blue eyes were filled with compassion.

  I leaned my head against her, a wave of sadness starting to sweep over me. “I try not to think about it, but it’s going to happen, right? What good is it to ignore the inevitable?”

  “It’s not easy for him, I bet,” Rose said, slipping an arm around my shoulders. “The way he looks at you, I’m sure he wants to stay.”

  Fawn took a seat on the end of the bed, the pink chiffon of the gown she had on puddling around her legs. “If you’re meant to be together, then somehow it will work out.”

  Rose’s expression darkened. “That’s kind of insensitive.”

  “I don’t mean it to be,” Fawn said. “I think about that with me and Lewis. What’ll he do when he learns the truth someday?” Her green eyes were glassy.

  I sucked in a deep breath. “Okay, hold on. Please…just go back to raiding my closet. There must be something in there you want to wear to the dance.”

  “Maybe the teal one?” Fawn said, getting up from the bed.

  “Sure. What about you? You’re not going with your friends or something, Rose?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to see Alex at the dance. It’ll make me think about our birthday party when he was all cute in his Star Wars tie and acted all heroic.”

  “Too bad his father is a hunter,” Fawn said.

  “Don’t remind me.” Rose let out a little sigh as her eyes welled with tears. She hugged a throw pillow to her chest. “Morgan loves you, Lily. I can tell. I want someone to love me like that. Is anyone ever going to love me?”

  “Of course they will.” Dad stood in the doorway, watching us. “All I ever wanted for you girls was to feel loved. And if someone can’t accept you for all that you are, then you don’t want them anyway.”

  “So you didn’t want Mom?” Fawn said, her face clouding. “She found out the truth and she took off.”

  Dad straightened. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

  “But if I tell Lewis, he’s not going to want me,” Fawn said.

  “You can’t tell him anyway. It’s not safe. We have to live in this town,” I interjected.

  Dad ran a hand across his stubbly jaw. “Someday you’ll meet someone you can trust. Someone who’s ready to know the real you. That person you can tell. You can be braver than I was.”

  Rose sat up taller against the headboard. “Okay, but Lily’s found someone she can trust, so why would you try to keep them apart?”

  “Rose, don’t,” I said, shushing her.

  A muscle in Dad’s jaw twitched. “I’m not trying to keep them apart. I wanted them to slow it down a bit, to see how things would shake out.”

  “What things?” Rose asked.

  “Bad blood between me and his pack,” Dad said, his gaze on the floor. “I did things I’m not proud of. I knew they’d eventually catch up with me, but I hoped you’d be grown by then. Even people you love do things they know are wrong sometimes.”

  “Can you two clean up this mess?” I said to the twins and then grabbed Dad by the arm, pulling him into the hallway. “If there’s something I should know about Morgan’s pack, please tell me.”

  “When Morgan leaves town, I’ll be sleeping better,” he said quietly. “I know it must hurt to hear that, but it’s the truth.”

  “It looks like he is going to leave. So I guess you’re getting your wish.”

  “Lily—”

  Ignoring Dad, I stormed back into my room where Fawn and Rose sat on the straightened-up bed, looking at me expectantly. “He doesn’t want to talk about it,” I said, then waved them toward the door. “Still holding out on us. Like always.”

  Sensing the fashion show was over, Fawn snagged the pink chiffon dress from the closet. “This one will do,” she said as she slipped out of the room.

  Rose hustled out behind her, shooting me a sad smile over her shoulder.

  I shut the door behind them, the feeling that everything would be coming to an end crashing around me. Rose’s question haunted me. Who would love me if Morgan went away? There was no one else I wanted, or that I trusted like I did him.

  When you found your person—your one person you could be yourself around, that meant everything to you—how could you ever let him go?

  Chapter Ten

  School was a blur the next day, but the newspaper came out, my story on the Harvest Festival severely edited into a puff piece I’d never include in my portfolio of clips. When I showed her later, Maggie was pleased that Jeanie’s article on special food and drink had mentioned her pumpkin-spice fall pastries. Ms. Wilson had predictably selected Tom Lindstrom as the editor-in-chief for the semester. I hadn’t submitted an application, anyway. I couldn’t deal with anything on top of what was currently going down.

  When the bell rang on Friday, I was so ready to lose myself in the routine of the coffee shop. I didn’t plan on going to the homecoming game, or watching Fawn primp and fuss getting ready for the dance. I figured I’d work my shift, then make popcorn with Rose and commiserate with her, maybe watch a rom-com. Sighing, I collected my stuff from my locker and headed out with the flow of students headed toward the parking lot.

  To my surprise, Morgan stood amidst the rows of trucks and cars, leaning against his rented SUV. His tall frame, longish hair, the signature green wool scarf all gave him the otherworldly, handsome look that had first caught my attention. I pressed my lips together, trying to revive the lip gloss I’d put on an hour ago.

  As I approached, I caught his scent, but also a trace of the coffee shop. “What are you doing here?” I asked, kissing him on the cheek but also glancing around to see if my sisters or anyone were watching us. Dad hadn’t lifted his separation order for me and Morgan and I didn’t want to make things worse.

  “I could use some company,” he said, opening the door for me so I could climb in. “I’m doing a delivery for Maggie. By the way, she said for you not to come into work today. She’s got her cousin filling in tonight for you.”

  “But I usually work Fridays.”

  “She thought you could use a day off,” he said, giving a little shrug. “I may’ve helped convince her.”

  As I climbed in the car I sniffed the air. “Wait—why does this car smell like bread?”

  “That’s a customer’s order,” he explained, sliding into the driver’s seat and shutting the door.

  “Not buns…for the bowling alley? No.”

  “One and the same. Maggie’s the only shop in town making rolls from scratch. It’ll be a quick stop, then I’m all yours.” Morgan started up the engine and drove out of the parking lot. “I’ve never bowled. Can you believe it?”

  “It’s not hard. I haven’t been in a while, though.” I glanced at the stacks of bagged buns in the back of the vehicle. “Are there extras we could sample? Those smell delicious.”

  “That would wreck your appetite for dinner,” Morgan said.

  “Dinner? Where?” Panic rippled through me. I didn’t know where we’d go, or the twins or my dad wouldn’t hear that we were disobeying his request.

  Morgan sent me a sideways smile, his eyes twinkling. “We have plans.”

  “Um…I hope it’s not fried chicken with sketchy wolves.”

  He threw his head back laughing. “Nothing of the sort.”

  A few minutes later, we pulled into the bowling alley parking lot. The giant lumberjack on the animated neon sign was lit, but the building remained dark. The bare sidewalk looked freshly swept and several new shrubs were planted in the beds near the doorway. A sign announcing the grand opening on Saturday night was threaded between posts of the entryway.

  “I have a bad feeling about this. Why did you want me with you?” I shivered, remembering how calculating the pack was and determined they were to put down roots in our town. Ugl
y, annoying, and criminal roots.

  “If anyone can reason with them, it’d be you. Your father’s a bit of a hothead.”

  “Is that what your pack said about him?” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but still curious.

  Morgan got out of the Subaru and popped the back door. “The information isn’t exactly forthcoming. We’re a secretive sort, wolves.”

  I joined Morgan at the back of his SUV. The heavenly scent of buttery, yeasty bread rose from the stacks of bakery boxes. I’d smelled Maggie testing various doughs over the last few days, but she’d kept silent on the special order, maybe sensing that I didn’t care for Nathaniel or his family. Maybe that was why he’d been in the coffee shop last week.

  Morgan surveyed the order, seeming to count the boxes. “We should probably carry a few at a time. Maggie doesn’t have a proper transport rack.”

  We loaded bakery boxes in our arms and headed toward the building.

  As we got closer, Nathaniel opened a side door. I was surprised to see he wore a white coat. He had on the checkered pants I’d seen him in the other day, and a black bandana across his forehead held his hair back. He actually looked the part of a chef.

  The scent of chopped onions and barbecue sauce perfumed the air as we entered with the order. Inside, the kitchen looked as professional as any I’d seen on food TV shows. It couldn’t have been cheap. Steel tables, a new convection oven, and a big gas stove with a flat top grill stood waiting for the cooking to begin. A health inspection certificate and safety instruction posters were pinned to a corkboard near the sanitation sink.

  “You can set the boxes on the counter there. I’ll put them in the walk-in freezer. Once they’re frozen I’ll bag them up,” Nathaniel said.

  “You have a nice setup,” I said politely.

  Nathaniel’s cheeks pinked. “Thanks.”

  I gestured toward the appliances. “Probably could have baked them yourself with a kitchen like this.”

  He shook his head. “No Hobart mixer like Maggie’s got. For the quantity we’re going to use, that much dough would take forever to prepare.”

  I gaped at him. “You know about Hobart mixers?”

  Nathaniel’s gaze flattened as if I’d offended him. “We did have jobs in our last town. I worked at a restaurant.”

  “Oh, yeah. Of course,” I said. “I forget that you’re people, too.”

  He glowered at me. “Hard to remember when we’re categorized as killers.”

  “I don’t think that…much.”

  Morgan touched me on the shoulder. “Let’s get the rest of the buns.” Back at the Subaru, he stacked more boxes in my arms. “I’m gonna wait a moment before I come in with the invoice and the last bit here. Why don’t you try a softer approach with Nathaniel. He’s the most reasonable, remember?”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” I said, giving him a half-smile.

  When I entered the kitchen with my next stack of boxes, Nathaniel had the door to the small walk-in open. I found him at the back of it, setting the bakery boxes carefully on shelves in the freezer compartment. I held out my stack to him. He scrawled dates on the new boxes with a pen and set them on the shelf.

  “Morgan has a few more. I think he’s getting the paperwork for you.”

  Nathaniel shut the freezer door and led the way back through the fridge part of the walk-in. When we were both out, he shut the door and secured it with the giant handle. Then he took a seat at the small desk near the back of the kitchen and started writing on a pad of paper.

  I moved closer, seeing it was a prep list he was making out, something similar to what Maggie did when she baked for the day. “So this is a real thing for you. You guys are staying?”

  Nathaniel looked up, a wry smile on his lips. “You don’t have any idea what a relief it is to get a chance to run something like this. Ezra wants us to have a life here. When he found this place and the old owner was willing to make us a deal, he couldn’t say no.”

  “Why did you have to leave your old town?” I asked, leaning against one of the steel counters.

  Nathaniel sighed. “We got a little out of hand hunting. But we never killed people. Just cattle. That’s what ruined things.” His dark eyes glassed over a little. “Hunters killed half of our pack. My mother… That’s why Ezra brought us here and why we were so desperate.”

  “Gladys isn’t your mom?”

  Nathaniel shook his head. “She’s my father’s girlfriend now.”

  “But why Pioneer Falls? Why not some town where there wasn’t already a pack?”

  “Ezra wanted to return to where he’d lived as a young wolf. Honestly, the idea that you girls were here was appealing, but when he heard about the lupine stones surfacing he saw a chance for Jonah and me to have a better life.”

  “But the thing is, those stones were our better life,” I said. “I’m not sure I’ll go off to college anymore. Not without one.”

  Nathaniel’s mouth flattened. “We never even got the chance to apply to colleges. You have no idea the privilege your father gave you.”

  I felt my cheeks warm. “Hey—we didn’t even know what we were. We didn’t mean to take it for granted.”

  Nathaniel crossed his arms. “How could you not know? I always felt different from other kids. Then there was that whole thing about my father never aging in the way other parents did. Crazy dreams about the forest. Those are signs.”

  I glanced toward the door, wondering when Morgan would be coming back. “So you and Jonah have the two stones that were supposed to be given to my sisters on their birthdays. My father’s was crushed in the alley. That means two of you don’t have to run during the full moon. Who’s going to man the bowling alley on those nights?”

  “Jonah and I will alternate running with Gladys. We don’t have a choice. Ezra’s missing a foot. He’s at a disadvantage now.”

  I tried not to show I felt bad in any way for Ezra’s accident. He’d been chasing me through the dark forest when he’d run into that snare. “We really want those stones back. Can we buy them, trade something? There must be something you want.”

  “You can’t get them back,” Nathaniel said flatly. ”You’re the same as any other unlucky wolf.”

  I stood up straighter. “Then you’re screwed when the full moon arrives, too. Rick Bowman will be out there, waiting for the those of us who have to run.”

  “Only him? Not Cooper, too?” he suggested. “He must think we’re the ones that chewed up his old man.”

  “I’m trying to prove you didn’t kill Ivan. When I do that, he’ll be back on our side,” I said. “You gave me a clue, about that SUV…but I need more. Did you see who drove it? Remember anything else?”

  “The driver was big. A man, most likely.” Nathaniel stood up and stepped close to me. I couldn’t quite understand, but I didn’t get a menacing feeling from him, just an overwhelming sense of sadness. He smelled like food he’d been prepping, along with the scent of hand soap, and underneath, as with all wolves, lay the faint hint of the forest over the musk of his skin. I moved back.

  “Don’t be afraid of us,” he said. “I know we screwed up in how we approached the town. How we introduced ourselves to you. The fight with your dad. But Lily—we’re no different than you. We’re your people.”

  Just then, Morgan entered the kitchen with the last boxes and a clipboard with paperwork on it. He paused in mid-step, seeing how close I stood to the other wolf.

  Nathaniel paled. “I’ll go cut you a check, McAllister.”

  “No need, mate. Maggie said she’ll pick it up herself tomorrow night at the opening,” Morgan said as he plucked the invoice from its clip and deposited it on the top box.

  Nathaniel gave me an uneasy smile. “See you tomorrow night?”

  “Maybe.” I followed Morgan out of the kitchen, shutting the door behind us, and filling my lungs with the refreshing smell of pine trees and nearby river.

  Nathaniel wasn’t a bad person, just desperate. What had Dad said a
bout doing the wrong things for the right reason? That’s what Ezra had done, something bad so that his sons would live a better life.

  But they weren’t going to let those stones go. And they weren’t planning to leave town. With a sinking feeling, I realized we were going to have to find a way to live together. We’d have to make peace with Ezra’s pack.

  ***

  I felt better once we’d put some distance between us and the bowling alley. “Where to next?”

  “It’s hardly a surprise if I tell you,” Morgan said,

  “I can’t believe Maggie would give me a night off tonight. She’ll be busy after the early football game. The game starts at five.”

  “She said there’s a dance afterward.” Morgan stole a glance at me.

  I put a hand to my cheek, leaning on the armrest of the door. “Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be interested in going to some lame school thing.” I chewed my lip, aware of how dumb it sounded saying it out loud.

  “Lily!” Morgan let out a little laugh of disbelief. “You would’ve gone if you were still with Kyle.”

  “Ugh, don’t even bring him up,” I said, putting a hand over my eyes.

  Morgan stopped the Subaru at an intersection and made a turn. “From what I gather, it’s a normal American thing to go to your homecoming dance. Particularly your senior year.”

  I lowered my hand and saw we were in front of Maggie’s house. “I’ve given up on normal things, I guess. Okay—what are we doing here?”

  Morgan parked in the driveway. “A little surprise is in store,” he said, reaching into the back seat and pulling out a bag I hadn’t noticed when we were unloading the delivery. “You’ll need this.” He handed the bag to me.

  I peeked inside and saw emerald green fabric and sparkles. “Oh no. What did you do?” I said, laughing.

  “It’s a loaner from Maggie. She said it should probably fit you. Come on.”