A Forest So Deadly (Pioneer Falls Book 2)

by Heather Davis

  From Ramsey, Morgan seemed to have gotten his strong stature, his broad shoulders and a touch of Ramsey’s square jaw. While Morgan wore his hair long, Ramsey favored a short, nearly shaved look but maintained a small goatee that was mostly gray. Far from his regal mate, Ramsey had a tough look about him, a scar below his eye that jutted to his left ear, tattoos showing at his collar. Several of his fingers were bandaged, which I hadn’t noticed last night, but maybe that was from his meltdown in the motel room. Still, I got the impression he didn’t need a security detail or a henchman. He did his own dirty work.

  “Nathaniel! Jonah! Are you all right?” I yelled, earning a stern look from Dad.

  A second elapsed, then a shout came from inside the house. “We’re all right.” Nathaniel, followed by the rest of the pack, came out onto the porch. Jonah had a shotgun in his hands. Ezra hobbled on a crutch. Gladys lingered in the doorway, gawking at Scarlet and Ramsey.

  “You see,” Scarlet said, gesturing toward the pack. “Fit as fiddles. Well, practically, anyway.”

  “It seems your new friends here won’t provide us with our lupine stones,” Ramsey said, his eyes narrowing. “Perhaps you can convince them for us, George, old boy.”

  “We’re not giving anyone squat,” Ezra said, spitting over the side of the porch.

  “You wanna have a go at me, mate?” Ramsey said. “I’ll rip your throat out. I don’t even need to transform for that.”

  Lips curling, Jonah and Nathaniel flanked Ezra. He seemed emboldened by their proximity. “You’d have to take on the three of us.”

  A measured, slow smile spread across Ramsey’s broad mouth. “And we’d be three as well.”

  “I count two,” grunted Ezra. “You going to have your lady fight us?”

  “There’s a wolf here who owes me,” Ramsey said, glaring at Dad.

  “No,” I spoke up, advancing toward the porch. “There’s no way my dad is joining you. This fight is not happening.”

  “Lily, stand down!” Dad commanded. He put out a hand, but I shrugged it off.

  “You’re not going to hurt Ezra’s pack!” I insisted.

  “You need to control your pup,” Ramsey said, his lips twisting as he gazed at Dad.

  Scarlet put a hand on her hips. “Very impulsive, reminds me of her father,” she said.

  Morgan growled and said, “Lily’s right. There’s not going to be a fight.”

  Ezra’s mean look returned and he puffed out his chest. “We three Smiths could take you easily. And I’ve got a foot missing.”

  “You think I’d jump into the scrum with you?” Dad said, leveling his gaze at Ramsey. “You don’t think I learned my lesson those years ago when you took power? I bloodied myself enough under your direction. That’s not who I am anymore.”

  “Who you are is a common thief,” Scarlet said, amusement edging her scowl. “Surely you’ve told Lily. She must know who her father really is by now.”

  “Don’t be cruel, dear,” Ramsey said. “He’s got a chance to redeem himself. Fight with us, George, and your debt is canceled. We may even let you borrow a stone.”

  “He’s not doing it! Dad, you’re not considering it, are you—Dad?” I pulled on his arm. “You can’t trust any of these guys. You know that, right?”

  A hurt look flashed across Morgan’s face.

  Meanwhile, Jonah grunted out, “Are we fighting or not?” as he glanced between Ezra and Ramsey. Nathaniel shushed his brother and folded his arms, staring down Ramsey.

  “This is madness,” Morgan said. “Ezra, your pack needs to surrender the lupine stones.”

  “You have a death wish?” Jonah said, holding up his shotgun.

  “That’s not what any of us wants. Careful with that firearm.” Dad’s right hand slid to his gun belt again. “No one has to get hurt here.”

  “Oh, you’re one to talk.” Ezra speared Dad with an accusatory look. “This is all your fault, you coward. You brought them here and you won’t even join in their fight?”

  “My dad came here to help you!” I yelled at Ezra. “After all that you did to us—he came to help you!”

  Something changed in Nathaniel’s expression, a micro-shift in his frown.

  Dad started to say, “Lily, this is—”

  “You have a call on the radio you need to answer,” I said between clenched teeth as I dragged Dad back a few steps. “We should go.”

  Ramsey leveled a glare at Dad. “You leave, George, and we’ll exact our debt from you another day. Don’t you think it’s time to give the devil his due?”

  “Don’t listen to him,” I pleaded.

  Dad’s voice was hushed and pained. “I can’t leave. Three alphas at a crossroads. There’s gonna be a fight.”

  Scarlet let out a little laugh, maybe at the idea Dad was referring to himself as an alpha, but he was to me. “You’re a police officer,” I said. “You have a job to do. Let them fight it out to the death or whatever. Let’s not care anymore.”

  “We have to,” Dad said, whispering to me. “Because once Ramsey has these two stones back, they’ll come for the stones keeping Rose and Fawn safe. They won’t be satisfied with these two.”

  “So if they do, then we deal with it!” I took another step back, fury raging inside of me. “I’m done. I tried to help these wolves to prove they didn’t kill Ivan, you came here to save their stupid butts—and they still won’t give them back. So let the London pack take them. It’ll be hard for Rose and Fawn, but at least they’ll live true.”

  “We can’t just—”

  “I don’t want you to be any part of what you were with them. You’re not a thief. You’re not a killer. You’re a good man.”

  Dad’s eyes misted. “Lily…”

  “So touching,” Ramsey said, sneering from the porch.

  “Let’s do it. Let’s get out of here and take whatever comes next,” I said.

  “What about Morgan? I know what he means to you.”

  “I love him,” I said, not caring who heard it. “But you’re my blood and I love you. Blood has to win.”

  Dad’s chin lifted and he stood a little taller. “You’re brave,” he whispered, taking a step back with me. “Braver than I ever was.”

  “No—you had the courage to steal those stones once. That was brave.”

  “Don’t you do this!” Ramsey warned, his face contorting with rage. “You know what it means to betray us.”

  “I do,” Dad said, his voice shaking. “But I’m my own wolf! You don’t control me.”

  I’d never felt more proud of my dad than when I followed him to the squad car that morning. When he put his foot to the gas pedal and we sped away from the bowling alley, I saw fear in his eyes. But I also saw something else. Something I hadn’t seen in weeks—self-respect.

  ***

  Dad dropped me back at the coffee shop before he responded to the complaint at the Pioneer Inn. After I hung up my coat, Maggie took one look at me and asked me to go sit down in the office for a while to decompress. She could tell something bad had happened. After a fresh mocha and a good face-washing, I felt like I could punch in and start helping with the late morning rush. It was good to be normal, to do work like a human and keep busy so I didn’t think about the wolf brawl going on behind the local bowling alley.

  I hoped Morgan was all right. I hoped everyone was all right.

  Things died down after the post-church service crowd cleared out. Maggie traded her normal jazz playlists for some classical music, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and I took the bus tub back to the sink. I loaded mugs into the dishwasher and stood staring out the window, trying hard not to worry. But that was pretty much impossible. I kept seeing the rage in Ramsey’s eyes, the dejection in Morgan’s. He’d spoken up for me, but it was clear he was afraid of his father. I didn’t blame him. For as mean as Ezra seemed, Ramsey was big and scary. I didn’t want to think about what he’d look like in wolf form.

  “Hey.” Maggie touched my shoulder and then added some empty p
lates to the pile in the tub. “It’s a little early for your shift to end, but your ride is here,” she said, patting her on the back. “Looks a little worse for wear.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

  Maggie let out a little laugh. “Who else? Morgan. Is there any other hunk you’d be expecting?”

  I rinsed a plate and added it to the washer’s rack. “He’s alone?”

  Maggie gave me a funny look and then gestured toward the dishes. “Why don’t you finish these up and then take off.”

  “Sure.” I sprayed water at cinnamon roll crumbs on a plate. “Tell him I’ll be out in a sec.”

  “Oh, don’t forget—tomorrow, I’ve got a meeting in the evening so you’ll be on your own a little earlier than usual.” Maggie held my gaze for a moment. “You sure you don’t want to talk about anything? You were pretty upset when you came in. It’s not about Morgan, is it?”

  “No, it’s…family stuff.”

  “Well, I’m a good listener if you need me.” She gave me a concerned smile and then went back out front to the counter. Sweet Maggie, maybe she thought I had guy trouble. But it was wolf trouble, and that wasn’t something I could share with her, or anyone else.

  I started up the washer and then went to check my phone. Morgan showing up at the coffee shop worried me. There weren’t any texts from Dad. I hadn’t heard from him in hours. I hung up my apron and got my stuff from the hooks, slipping my bag over my shoulder.

  Morgan waited on one of the couches near the front of the shop. He looked up and I saw he had a cut adorned with small strips of tape above his left eye.

  “What happened?” I asked, rushing over.

  “Well, no one died.” He smiled grimly.

  “That’s a relief.”

  He got up from the couch. “Walk you home?”

  I glanced back toward Maggie, who had paused in wiping the counter with a cloth, watching us. I gave her a wave good-bye.

  I waited until we were outside to say, “I don’t mean to judge, but your parents…wow.”

  “It was really brave of you to try to stand up to them,” Morgan said. “People don’t usually do that.”

  “Are Nathaniel and his pack all right?”

  “Just about now, Ezra’s probably waking up from a head-butt that knocked him out. My father’s signature move. Jonah gave me this,” Morgan said, gesturing to his forehead, “but my father broke his arm. Once Jonah was down, Nathaniel gave up easily. I don’t think he’s hurt.”

  I winced. It sounded awful. I was glad I hadn’t stayed for it, and that my father had walked away. Even if that meant retribution.

  “What about Gladys?” I asked. “And your mom?”

  “Gladys ran off.” Morgan’s shoulders slumped a little. “My mother watched the melee from a lawn chair. She’s unharmed.”

  “I can believe you fought them,” I said, shivering a little as we crossed the street. “I knew Ezra’s pack was violent, but I didn’t expect that from yours.”

  Morgan’s gaze dropped to the sidewalk. “That’s how wolves work things out when diplomacy fails. We’d normally scrap in wolf form. But the sons wouldn’t take off the lupine stones to change, so we fought like blokes. I held my father back from killing them. I know you didn’t want that.” Morgan’s gaze dropped to the sidewalk. He kicked at the carpet of leaves crunching underfoot. “I didn’t want that either. They aren’t bad wolves, only desperate.”

  As we turned the corner of Main Street to head toward my house, I reached for Morgan’s hand. He winced a little and I realized he was sore from fighting. “They surrendered the lupine stones?”

  Morgan nodded. “Father has them for safekeeping. He’s not giving me one any time soon.” That made sense. If Ramsey did give Morgan one of them, what was to keep him from staying longer in Pioneer Falls, or giving it to me?

  “What about the other two pendants—yours and mine. The ones my sisters are wearing?”

  “My parents aren’t going to hurt the girls,” Morgan said. “But our families will have to come to terms about them.”

  I managed a smile. “Honestly, I think Fawn might enjoy being a wolf.” We paused at a crosswalk, waiting for a car to roll through the intersection. “I’m glad you’re all right. Except for this.” I touched Morgan’s forehead, cringing a little.

  “Why do people insist on doing that? Poking things that smart.” He kissed me to keep me from doing it again and then we moved across the street and down the block. I was uncertain about what was going to happen, but for the moment, feeling his arm around my shoulders made things better.

  “Look,” Morgan said, stopping on the sidewalk to point at the home we were passing on Larch Street.

  It was a Craftsman two-story with beautiful stained glass and new siding. An American flag billowed in a holder on the freshly painted porch. A red Mini Cooper was parked in the driveway. The license plate “HUNYLPZ” was all too familiar.

  “This isn’t Mrs. Gillingham’s house,” I murmured. “What is she doing here?”

  “Maybe having dinner with a friend?” Morgan said, following me as I traveled up the driveway. “Hold on, where are you going?”

  “I want to know who she’s visiting,” I whispered. I checked the house number and noticed the flag flying. “I think this is Mr. Gray’s house, the postmaster. I didn’t know they were friends.”

  Before Morgan could stop me, I was up on the front porch. Through a large window, I could see into the dining room where Mrs. Gillingham, outfitted in a pink dress with flashy rhinestone jewelry, lifted a glass of wine to her lips. Across from her, Mr. Gray laughed at something and pointed toward the cake in the center of the table. Mrs. Gillingham set down her glass and puckered her lips, stretching from her chair to kiss him on the cheek.

  “You shouldn’t be doing this,” Morgan cautioned. “They could see you.”

  “It’s like they’re on a date,” I replied, still mesmerized by the scene unfolding around that dinner table. “But she told me she loved Ivan…his funeral was like, ten days ago.”

  Mr. Gray looked up suddenly and I ducked down. I didn’t hear footsteps, but I slowly backtracked down the porch just in case. Steps ahead of me, Morgan was at the walkway, moving back to the street.

  “Do you think Mr. Gray saw us?” I said, catching up to him.

  Morgan pulled me to the cover of a broad elm tree trunk. “I think we’re in the clear,” he said, folding me into his arms. “You know what curiosity did to the cat, don’t you?”

  “I’m a wolf, so I think I’m safe. Besides, I can’t help but be curious. She told me she was worried about the town gossiping about her, but she’s canoodling with Gray?”

  “Canoodling?” Morgan said, sounding amused. “I think I could use some canoodling.” He kissed my hair.

  “I’ve always wanted to say that word,” I whispered as his lips moved to my forehead, then my cheeks, then my lips. I felt the rough tree trunk at my back, supporting me as Morgan’s kiss weakened my legs, made my body felt like it was melting. His tongue rolled in little waves against mine, and the heat and taste of his kiss made my skin flush, my stomach flip-flop.

  If we weren’t careful, this elm tree was going to burst into flames, I thought, pulling away from him. He stared at me, his breathing ragged, moving a hand over his mouth. His amber eyes showed a spark of fire as they focused on mine. He felt it too, the intensity between us that had always been there, the sense of inevitability and maybe that feeling of falling. Falling when you can’t fight it, so you surrender to the drop.

  We started walking down the street, my body seeming weightless after the kiss, my steps through the dry leaves littering the sidewalk more like skips. Morgan lagged behind, strolling slowly. It worried me a little, like something was on his mind. The thing neither of us wanted to talk about. What it meant for us that Ramsey had two of the stones back. How long Morgan had left in Pioneer Falls.

  Nervous, I decided to go with small talk. “I had no idea when I woke up
I’d be witnessing a wolf duel.”

  “To be fair, a duel is usually to the death. That was like a…beatdown.”

  “Okay, a beatdown.” I laughed at Morgan’s use of such an American term.

  He plucked a perfect golden leaf from a tree branch and handed it to me. “In my humble opinion, this place seems pretty normal. Believe me, there’s more out there than you can ever imagine. From what I’ve seen, this is a strange, strange world.”

  “Yeah.” I let the leaf flutter down to the ground. We kept walking, only the sound of crunching leaves and the occasional call of a bird in the nearby trees breaking the silence. “So what do we do now?” I said finally.

  Morgan reached for my hand, taking it carefully as we started up Wallace Street. “We wait and see, lass. That’s always the hardest thing.”

  “They won’t make you leave?” I said, feeling my chest tighten.

  “They’ll try. But rest assured, you’re the best thing in my life,” Morgan said, as we reached our front gate. “And…apparently, you love me.”

  “Oh man.” On reflex, I punched him lightly in the arm, not exactly the most elegant or romantic thing I’d ever done. But the way I’d shouted out how I felt about him at Ezra’s trailer, in front of everyone, hadn’t been romantic either. I stared at him, a mixture of embarrassment and expectation bubbling inside me. I didn’t know what to do, I felt so vulnerable.

  True to form, Morgan rescued me from the awkwardness—he dipped his head to kiss me. “I love you, too, Lily,” he whispered. “But you already knew that.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The smell of hamburgers filled the air as I hung my coat in the mudroom. Everybody sat around the kitchen table eating, as if Dad and I hadn’t been involved in a werewolf fight.

  Dad lowered the french fry on its way into his mouth. “Everything go okay at the coffee shop?” He was still in his uniform, but I took it as a good sign there was no blood on it.

  “Yeah. There wasn’t any trouble.” As I grabbed a soda from the fridge, I noticed that the corsage was gone. Rose must have taken it to her room. “Morgan walked me home.”