by Laken Cane
“Wait,” Abby cried, but there was no one to hear her.
They’d left her.
She stood at the border of the woods, unsure. Should she try to follow them, or go back to the house?
Not even the thought of Mel was enough to make her want to face all those strangers again.
She walked deeper into the woods, pulling her wand from its sheath as she walked.
She was far from helpless, but she was also far from safe.
She’d ventured out of her hollow, and people were almost always afraid of her—at least if she happened upon people who were alone. Especially if she was alone.
Everyone knew that scared people were dangerous people.
Abby would have to be in fear for her life before she’d hurt another person, but she’d rather things not get to that point.
Standing still, undecided, she heard a sound behind her and whirled, her wand raised.
“Hi,” Mel said. He leaned against a tree and crossed his arms, his smile wide and appreciative as he watched her. “I see you’ve been abandoned. My brother is a bigger idiot than I thought.”
Chapter Five
Abby took a sip of her tea. “It’s very good,” she told Mel. “Thank you.”
He sat down at the table across from her. “Tea is easy, princess.”
He’d brought her back to Eli’s house to wait for the alpha’s return, and seemed to think he was responsible for her happiness until Eli once again took over.
“I wasn’t aware the alpha had a brother,” she said. “My clients tell me things. Eli Dean is mentioned often—but Mel Dean, never.”
“Ouch.”
She sat her teacup down, gently. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
He winked and grinned. “Don’t worry. I have thicker skin than that. I’ve heard about the sainted alpha all my life. Only met him recently, though.”
“Really! Why?” God, how freeing it was to talk openly with someone and not worry about hiding her face.
He shrugged and looked at the table. “My father sent my mother and me away like the shameful secrets we were. We had no choice. It was either go, or…”
She leaned forward. “What?” she whispered.
His smile was cold, his gaze turned inward. “Well, I’m sure you can imagine.”
She knew about mistresses and unwanted children—accidental or otherwise. And she knew how they were affected when their parents decided to play selfish games. She took another sip of her tea.
“Anyway,” he said, regaining his smile, “I’m thirty years old. I figured it was past time to clue my big brother in.”
“He didn’t know you existed?”
“So he says. And now if he can decide whether or not he trusts me, we might end up with a kinda sorta halfway decent relationship.” He took a drink of his tea. “Eventually.”
“Maybe,” Eli said, striding into the kitchen, “family business should remain in the family.” His hair was still damp from a shower, and he was fully dressed.
Abby jumped up. “Sadie?”
“She’s still tracking.”
Abby put her hand to her chest. “You left her out there alone?”
He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. “She’ll be fine, Abby. She’s not a child.”
Abby snatched her wand from the table and stuck it into the sheath. “You dashed home for a shower and a beer and left her out there alone?”
“I came to fetch you. Maybe she’s made some progress by now.” He took another long swig of his beer, then tossed the empty bottle in the trash. “Let’s go.”
“How can you possibly find her? She’s tracking. She could be anywhere.” She stomped to him and poked him in the stomach. Hard. “That was an asshole move, wolf.”
Mel laughed. “You screwed up, big brother.”
But neither Abby nor Eli were amused.
Eli shot out a hand and grabbed her wrist. “You’re a little overprotective, witch. The dog is a tracker, not an infant.”
She shook his hand off. “Just…let’s just go.”
He inclined his head. “That is a good idea.”
Mel hid a grin behind his teacup.
Eli led her out the backdoor.
“Isn’t your car around front?” she asked.
“Remy drove it around earlier.” He pointed.
She saw his car sitting in front of one of the cabins, and was inordinately grateful that she didn’t have to walk back through the house and become the focus of the wolves’ attention again.
Some of them had wandered into the kitchen as she’d drank tea with Mel, but other than a few sour looks, no one had said a word.
That could have been because they didn’t want to invite the alpha’s wrath—he’d made it clear she was to be treated as a guest—or it could have been because Mel stared them down the entire time they were near.
She understood their anger.
Honestly, she was surprised they weren’t rougher on her. All of them, including the alpha.
“Why didn’t you leave me here and track with Sadie?” She climbed into the car and buckled up.
“I didn’t want to leave you alone with my pack. I trust them to treat you well, but…” He shrugged.
“She’s making you soft,” Remy said, suddenly appearing from nowhere. She slapped the roof of the car and bent down to look into the open window. She didn’t grin, but her eyes sparkled.
Eli snorted. “Report?”
“Noah and the scouts are returning. They found nothing.” She slid her gaze to Abby.
Abby clasped her fingers on her lap and stared down at them. “I’m sorry.”
“I know,” Remy said. “If we thought you’d put us in danger on purpose, you’d be—”
“Remy,” Eli warned.
Abby looked at her but didn’t say anything. She wondered how much Eli had told his wolves. She found out when Remy spoke again.
“For the record, Eli is not a rapist. We trust our alpha, Abby. He keeps us safe.” She smacked the roof once more, then turned and loped off.
When Eli started the car and looked at her, she found herself once again hiding her face.
“You didn’t hide from me in the kitchen,” he noted. “Why are you hiding now?”
Somehow, it’d been different when Mel was there, looking at her that way. It made her forget the others would still see her as a monster.
She shrugged and changed the subject. “Where did you leave Sadie?”
“Two miles from town.”
“Then how—”
“I’ll find her.”
“How?”
“Do you forget I’m a wolf, Abby?”
She flushed. “No.” But she did, at times. “You’ll track her scent.”
“Brooke can hide from me, but your dog can’t.”
“Of course.”
“Why is it Mel can see through the curse and I can’t?”
“I don’t know. It’s very, very rare that anyone can.”
“When was the last time?”
“There’s only one other person who has ever seen through it. My friend Becky Bates.”
He grunted and dropped the subject.
“Tell me about Mel,” she requested. “You didn’t know you had a brother?”
“No. And I still don’t.”
She glanced at him, and when he kept his stare straight ahead, she kept looking. “He favors you.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“But—”
He did look at her then, his eyes narrowed. “I’m in the process of finding out. Now drop it.”
She nodded. She knew about family secrets. She had a few of her own she would rather not share.
Finally, he pulled over to the side of the road, a couple miles from town. The road was bordered by thick woods, and it was inside those woods Sadie tracked.
She hoped.
She went to town for supplies, but only when she was down to a crust of bread and in need of chocolate. There were
too many people in town, and though many of them visited her on a regular basis for potions, herbs, and readings, their visits were in her territory.
When she ventured into town, it was as though a dinosaur suddenly appeared. And people gaped. Not a one of them would ever hurt her—and even if a random townsperson were inclined to hassle her a little too aggressively, he or she would have been controlled quite quickly by Wade Hansen, sheriff of Waifwater.
She went to town infrequently enough that when he heard she had arrived, he hastened to follow her around to make sure nothing untoward happened.
“Why are you smiling?” Eli asked, as they walked into the woods.
She freed her wand from its confines and spoke from behind the hanging curtain of her hair. “I was thinking about the sheriff. He always lurks whenever I visit town for supplies.”
“Hansen’s a good man.”
“Yes.”
“You two have history?”
“We’ve known each other all our lives.”
“Just friends?”
She glanced at him. “Of course. What else?”
He shrugged, and then, before she could speak, he lifted a hand. “I caught her scent.”
“Sadie’s near?” She squeezed her wand, then slid it back into its sheath. She wanted both hands free to hug her dog. “I do not like that she’s alone out here.”
He shook his head. “You don’t see your hounds the way other people see them, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
He laughed. “Never mind.”
At that moment, somewhere in the distance, Sadie began to bray.
She’d found something.
Chapter Six
Eli sprinted through the woods, then loped back to Abby. She ran as fast as possible, but she was never going to keep up with a wolf—even one in human form.
“I should have brought my broom,” she muttered.
“You’re joking.”
“Am not.”
“I would give much to see you swooping through the air on a broomstick,” he said. “But right now, you’re slowing me down.”
She shrieked when he plucked her off the ground and tossed her over his shoulder. “Put me down,” she cried.
Eli ignored her.
After a couple of minutes she gave up punching his back and held on for dear life as he sprinted through the woods.
It was not a comfortable ride.
It was, however, fast.
He ran like a wolf, even though he hadn’t shifted.
He was fast, sleek, and powerful.
And still, Sadie brayed.
“Hurry, alpha,” she muttered.
Something was wrong, and the closer she got to her familiar, the stronger the feeling.
At last, when they were close, Eli stopped and set her on her feet.
He disappeared in seconds, but it didn’t matter.
Sadie’s voice led the way.
By the time she reached Eli and Sadie, the dog had quieted and sat on her haunches beside Eli. Both the wolf and the dog had their backs to her, but she could tell by their stillness that whatever Sadie had found was bad.
At last, she stood beside them.
“What—?” she started, but almost before the word left her mouth she saw it.
She gasped and stumbled back, barely noticing when Eli took her arm and pulled her against his warm body.
Brooke Dunn was draped around the base of a fat, gnarled tree, bloodless. Lifeless.
Dead.
“Hell,” Eli murmured. “Brooke, you little idiot.”
Abby’s hand trembled as she pressed it against her lips. “Oh, no. Oh, Eli.”
He sighed, gave her shoulder a squeeze, and then pulled a cellphone from his pocket.
“Who are you calling?” she asked, unable to take her horrified gaze off the dead girl.
“The sheriff.” And he stepped away to make his phone call.
Abby fell to her knees and draped her arms around Sadie’s neck. “You okay, sweetheart?”
Sadie gave a low chuff and sniffed Abby’s thick hair.
Finally, Abby stood and walked to the tree. She stared silently at the pitiful girl, the girl someone had killed and then abandoned in the silent, lonely woods.
She hadn’t been the one to end Brooke’s life, but she’d had a hand in it. If she hadn’t given Brooke the fade spell, a spell she generally wouldn’t have even thought of sharing, the wolf might still be alive.
Eli stood beside her. His tread had been so silent she wasn’t aware he was there until he spoke. “Are you all right, Abby?”
“Can we cover her?” She leaned over to smooth Brooke’s hair out of her face, but the alpha pulled her back.
“We can’t touch her or move her. This is a crime scene.”
She nodded. “What happened to her? Can you tell?”
He stared down at her and she could see the hesitancy in his eyes.
“Tell me, Eli. I’m not a child.”
He blew out a hard breath. “Her neck was snapped.”
She shivered. “Who would have killed her?”
Even though she hadn’t expected an answer, he answered anyway. “The ones who used her to get the talisman.”
“Maybe because she’d changed her mind,” Abby looked up at him, hopeful. It was bad enough the girl was dead. But to forever be branded a traitor...how horrible that would be for those who’d loved her. “Maybe she was bringing the talisman back.”
His stare, full of rage and darkness, softened as he looked at her. “Perhaps.”
She didn’t want to cry in front of him, but sadness and pity overwhelmed her.
And guilt.
“Abby?” he asked.
She swallowed, then put her fingers to her lips when a sob escaped.
Sadie pressed against her legs, whining, and Abby automatically rested her hand on the dog’s warm, comforting head.
“She’s just…so pitiful.” Her voice was thick with tears. “If I hadn’t given her the spell, she wouldn’t be dead right now.” She wasn’t looking for him to take the blame from her shoulders, and she wasn’t looking for sympathy. She needed to give voice to the wretchedness and let the fates know she was taking part of the responsibility for someone’s senseless murder.
His arm was heavy when he slipped it around her shoulders. “You’re nothing like I’d imagined you, witch.”
His voice was gentle. Gentle and reluctant.
She said nothing.
“Look, Abby. They would have killed her anyway. She was already in too deep by the time she visited you.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Blame yourself for giving her the spell. Don’t blame yourself for her death.”
She surprised herself—and likely him, as well—by reaching up to cover his hand with her own. “Thank you, Eli. I should never have given her that spell. I was reckless. I’ll never give another person such a powerful spell. It won’t happen again. Not for any reason.”
Yes, she was trying to convince herself.
They waited quietly until the sheriff, along with a couple of his deputies, arrived on the scene.
The sheriff nodded at Abby. “Abby. ME is on her way,” he told Eli.
He was a tall, taciturn man who rarely smiled but was often, Abby knew, quite funny.
She gave him a crisp nod back. “Do you have any questions for me, Wade? If not, I’d like to take Sadie and return home.”
She and Wade had known each other all their lives, true enough, but they’d never been friends, exactly. Still, there was a closeness between them—a closeness built from the darkness of unspeakable secrets.
He’d helped her once, and his continued, unspoken protection was something neither of them mentioned, but both of them understood.
The sheriff shook his head. “The woods are dangerous right now. You can’t be traipsing them alone.”
“I won’t be alone. I have Sadie.”
Eli frowned. “You have no way home. You’re not walking all the way
back and Sadie’s too skinny to carry you.”
He was right. “I’m going to have to work on a collapsible broomstick,” she muttered.
“Stay put a little while longer,” he told her. “I’ll take you home as soon as I’m done here.”
She nodded and went to sit on a log a few yards away, with Sadie at her feet. “You did good, Sadie,” she told the dog.
She watched the alpha as he and the sheriff talked.
“You’re nothing like I’d imagined you, witch.”
“Ditto, wolf,” she whispered.
And finally, Eli came to take her home.
“What’s next?” she asked him, as they drove up One Hex Hollow. “We found Brooke, but the talisman is still out there somewhere.”
“I shouldn’t have asked you and Sadie to help track Brooke,” he told her. “It’s dangerous, and if something happened to you…” He paused, frowning.
“What?” she asked.
But he tightened his lips and refused to answer.
“Come inside,” she offered, when they arrived at her house. “I’ll make you some dinner. It’s late, and I know wolves like to eat a lot.”
He got out of the car, let Sadie out, then opened Abby’s door. “How would you know what wolves like, little recluse?”
She took the hand he offered and climbed out of the car. “It’s called reading, alpha.”
He stretched, drawing her gaze to the thin strip of tanned flesh between the bottom of his shirt and the waistband of his jeans.
They rode low on his hips, and she didn’t need to try to imagine what lay beneath the fabric. She’d seen it.
Heat climbed her throat and settled in her cheeks, and she had to resist the strong urge to fan her face.
“Abby?”
“Yes?”
“I said I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee, if you have any.”
She hurried toward the house, her face flaming. “Of course I have coffee. I’m not a savage.” She smiled all the way to the house.
At the porch, she stopped to give Elmer a hug. She felt as though a hundred years had gone by since she’d seen Sadie’s mate. “I told you I’d bring her back to you, Elm.”
Elmer wasn’t quite ready to forgive her. He gave a long, agonized howl, then turned and bolted away, Sadie at his side.
She laughed, cheered by the poor dog. Elmer was such a drama queen. His long, thin limbs flailed every which way as he ran, his big ears flopping, his skinny rear listing to the side.
