Boris made a shuffling sound as he surreptitiously inched his way to the half-eaten biscuit that Darren had dropped on the floor. The biscuit vanished under his bristles and Boris gave a loud, satisfied burp.
Yaya glowered at her broom and turned back to Scott. “I think I know what this creature is and how to stop it,” she said at last. “But I need a little help.”
“I'm in,” he said immediately. In fact, he was just about to suggest to Yaya that they team up to capture the monster. Yaya was old, but she was a powerful witch. Scott knew that his Alpha, Grayson, distrusted witches and would rather not have anything to do with them. No one really knew if the witches in Wolves Hollow stood on the side of good or evil. Scott suspected that the witches didn't know themselves. Their positions were fluid and they saw the world in terms of shades of gray, rather than in black and white. For the right price, their spells, potions and loyalties could be bought.
But he had fought the monster and knew that this wasn't an enemy he could take down on his own.
He didn't want to ask Grayson for any help or manpower. The Sentinels needed all hands on deck. He had just received a message from Grayson informing him that there had been a sneak attack on some of their members last night. A war was looming among the wolf packs and alliances were shifting. The Sentinels didn't know who their allies were anymore. The Sentinels had once been betrayed by a trusted ally, and they had paid a terrible price for their misjudgment and mistake.
Grayson had ended the message with the warning: Don't trust anyone.
Scott took his Alpha's warning to heart. He couldn't contact any of the other packs to help hunt this monster. Grayson had offered to send three lieutenants to Scott but Scott had refused any help. The pack couldn't afford to be scattered and weakened at this critical time.
He had tapped a firm message to Grayson:I will finish the mission, Alpha. Keep the pack close.
Scott glanced at Yaya. He didn't need to trust her. He just had to work with her to hunt the monster.
“So...” Yaya caught his eye and grinned. She leaned over the table and grabbed his collar to yank him forward.
With their noses touching, Yaya winked and whispered conspiratorially, “What's the plan, handsome?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Christine came out of the room and saw Scott sitting alone at the kitchen table. “Yaya and Boris had to rush off. Yaya said something about Boris's dental appointment,” Scott said, looking up. He shrugged and put up his hands. “Don't ask me.”
Christine pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. She wasn't even going to ask. There were too many things on her mind.
“Is Darren asleep?” Scott asked softly.
She nodded and gulped down her cold coffee. Looking out the window, she said, “Do you think...” She couldn't finish her sentence.
The monster might come back. In fact, she was sure it would come back. And this time, she and Darren might not be so lucky.
“I wanted to ask,” Scott began and straightened up smartly. “Do you have any available rooms left in this inn, Ma'am?” There was a playful gleam in his eye. “I need a room for the night.”
“Oh...” She couldn't help letting out a short laugh. All the rooms were empty and Scott knew it. He was just joking with her.
“I'll pay the deposit,” he said, whipping out his wallet.
Her eyes widened. “I thought you were joking.”
“Nope.” Scott pushed his credit card into her hand. “I really need a room,” he insisted. “I'm actually here on business for a few days.”
“What business?” She narrowed her eyes. “You're not a tourist. You live in Wolves Hollow, and...”
“I'm on a secret mission.”
“Hmmm.”
“I'd prefer a room with a view, please,” he went on pleasantly.
Christine took his card and went to the reception counter. She knew that he was doing this to help her. She could use the money, and having Scott around certainly made her feel a lot safer. And even though she would enjoy having him in her bed, Scott probably felt that one night of no-strings-attached fun was enough. He was a good man, and he didn't want to lead her on. They were both adults and they had enjoyed each other's bodies and company. But they would sleep in their own rooms from now on. And once he completed his oh-so-secret mission, he would leave.
She got his message loud and clear.
“Here,” she handed Scott his card and his room key. “Just go up the stairs. Your room is the first one on the right.”
“Thank you.” He leaned against the counter and said, “When Darren wakes up from his nap, shall we make a trip to the town center? I left my car a little distance from the inn. We'll drive into town and do some shopping.”
Christine considered his offer and nodded. She did need to get some groceries. “Okay. Thanks.”
Instead of going up to his room, Scott insisted on helping out with the chores even though she tried to push him away. He helped her with the dishes, the laundry, and even helped her feed and change Darren when he woke up.
Spending time with Scott, and doing ordinary, mundane chores together around the inn allowed Christine to take her mind temporarily off the danger surrounding her and her son. She felt a lot more relaxed as the hours passed.
Scott drove them to town for lunch and they spent the afternoon in town. It was a very fruitful shopping trip for all. They came back with bulging bags of groceries, some new clothes for Scott and a few boxes of toys for Darren.
After a simple dinner, they sat on the living room floor together, playing with Darren and his new toys.
Christine smiled wistfully at the sight of Scott and Darren playing with a train set. This was the life she had always dreamed of. Having dinner with her family every evening, and spending time with her husband and child. They looked so much like a family, she thought with a sharp pang in her heart.
Scott caught her staring at him. She saw the heat and desire in his eyes, but he turned away quickly and focused on Darren instead.
Christine swallowed and bit her lip. Scott desired her, but it was clear that he was determined to keep his distance.
Scott wasn't a player. He didn't want to lead her on and hurt her. He was doing the right thing, keeping his distance and letting her know that this attraction between them wasn't going to lead anywhere.
Scott was a decent, honorable man. He just wasn't hers.
“Why don't you get Darren to bed?” Scott said gently, breaking into her thoughts. The boy was yawning and rubbing his eyes. “I'll put away his toys. Then I think I'll head off to bed myself.”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Her voice might betray her emotions and she wasn't going to beg.
“Good night, Scott,” she managed, as Darren rested his sleepy head on her shoulder.
She heard him take a ragged breath. “Good night, Christine.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Scott slipped out of his room and walked quietly down the stairs. He passed Christine's bedroom and stopped. He stared at the door, thinking of the adorable little boy and his mother. Darren and Christine had etched themselves into his heart, and he couldn't imaging living without them. He wanted more than anything to be holding Christine in his arms, having her curves press against his, tasting her lips and drowning himself in her kisses and her lush, soft body.
But there was something that he needed to do.
He needed to find the monster. Yaya had suggested baiting and trapping the monster, but she hadn't come up with any concrete plan. She was enthusiastic, but she wasn't as invested and committed as him. Scott had to keep Darren and Christine safe, and as long as the monster was still around, they would be in danger.
Scott unlocked the front door and stepped out into the chilly night. He squinted at the moving shadows between the trees and sniffed the air. The monster wasn't near. He couldn't smell the monster's horrible, rotting stench but he detected another scent in the air.
Scott frowned. He
scented another wolf.
The wind changed direction and the scent vanished.
There were wild animals in the woods. Maybe a lone wolf was moving through the woods, hunting prey at night.
Scott blew out a breath and moved soundlessly towards the forest. He was hunting as well. But his prey was a monster, not some skittish small animal
He pushed deeper and deeper into the woods. The scent of the forest swirled around him, and he heard animals calling to one another. He was determined to hunt the monster down and destroy it himself. He wasn't going to just sit around and wait for the monster to show up. Yaya said she needed to prepare a special potion before they went after the monster. But by the time Yaya got her ducks in a row, the monster might have killed another human.
Grayson was right. Witches talked a lot and they could promise you the moon, but you were better off not relying on them.
Scott spun round when he heard a scream in the distance.
“Christine!”
Scott tore through the forest, cursing viciously at himself. Why had he left them alone?
As he neared the inn, he could smell the acrid scent of smoke and ashes. “No! Christine! Darren!” he shouted.
Even before he emerged from the woods, he could see the roaring fire and billowing smoke. There was the unmistakable smell of gasoline. The fire was no accident. Someone had doused the inn with gasoline and lighted The Happy Inn up like a torch.
Scott ran hard towards the blazing inn, yelling for Christine and Darren. He caught a movement at the periphery of his vision and turned. A man was running away from the scene. The man glanced over his shoulder, and Scott saw his face. “You! Stop!” Scott bellowed at him.
The man's eyes glowed as he shifted into a wolf and disappeared into the darkness. Scott didn't give chase. He had to get to Christine and Darren.
He heard Christine's screams and he heard Darren crying in fear. The entire inn was engulfed in flames, and the heat was intense but Scott didn't stop. He charged straight into the fire, roaring in anguish.
“Christine!”
He ran into her bedroom and saw that it was empty. Her scream came from upstairs. Scott pounded up the stairs and kicked down the burning door of his bedroom. Christine was huddled against the window with Darren. She had raced into his room to wake him and make sure he got out of the fire.
She had risked her life for him.
“Scott!” she choked.
Scott grabbed them and turned to the window. It was the only way out. He threw a chair at the window and smashed the glass. Flames licked at the corner of the window and Christine shrank back.
“We have to jump!” he yelled.
Hugging her baby to her, Christine gave a jerky nod and climbed out the window. Scott held her and the baby tightly and pushed off the ledge.
He twisted in midair so that he would cushion their fall. Tumbling to the ground, Scott rolled quickly and made sure Christine and Darren were all right.
They scrambled away from the fire, putting as much distance between themselves and the blaze.
There was an explosion and Scott threw himself over Christine and Darren to shield them. Christine looked back to see The Happy Inn being completely consumed by the raging fire.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Christine hugged her baby to her chest and watched her inn burn. Everything she owned was being reduced to ashes. “It's okay,” she whispered to Darren. “Everything is okay.”
She was lying. Everything was not okay. Their home, their future, all their belongings were gone. They were left with nothing. Nothing but the clothes on their backs...and each other.
They were alive. She had her family.
Christine hiccuped a sob and looked at Darren and Scott. Scott was a guest at her inn, but she thought of him as family. Her first thought when she discovered the fire was to save Darren and Scott.
She wanted all of them to get out safely. All three of them.
Wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand, Christine shook her head and whispered brokenly, “What am I going to do? The inn is gone, everything is gone. I don't have a home...”
“Yes you do,” Scott said, pulling her to him. “My home is your home.”
She swallowed a sob. She knew he was showing her kindness, opening up his home to her. She didn't want his pity, but she wouldn't reject his help either. She would not let her baby sleep in the open.
“How?” she murmured numbly. “How did the fire start? Was it an electrical short circuit? I just checked...”
“No,” Scott answered angrily. “This isn't an accident. Someone deliberately set fire to your inn.”
Christine gasped. “What! Why? Who would do such a thing? Why would anyone do that? I don't have any enemies...”
“But I do,” Scott said.
She stared at him, shaking her head slowly. “You...”
“I'm sorry, Christine.”
“You know who did this?” she said, her eyes flashing with rage.
Scott nodded. “I saw him running away from the fire. It was one of the wolves from the Duskfall pack. The Sentinels are in the middle of a war with the Duskfall wolves.”
Christine swayed on her feet and Scott held her arm to steady her but she shook his hand away.
“Who knows you're staying here?” she demanded, rubbing her temple.
“My Alpha, and a few lieutenants.”
“How did the Duskfall wolves find out your whereabouts?”
“Besides the Sentinels, the only other person who knows I'm at your inn is...”
Christine's eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. Scott scowled.
“Yaya,” they said together.
“No...” Christine whispered. “She seemed so nice...”
“Yaya saw me at The Happy Inn. She's the only one who knows I'm here.”
“But...” Christine couldn't believe that Yaya would do such a thing. She thought that Yaya was a harmless, eccentric witch with an equally eccentric broomstick. Darren had enjoyed playing with Boris, and she had even thought of inviting Yaya and Boris over for dinner.
There would be no dinner invitation now. Because...no inn. And because Yaya was a traitorous witch.
Christine released a shuddering, painful breath. She didn't know what to think.
“I am really sorry, Christine,” Scott said. “This wouldn't have happened if I wasn't staying in your inn.”
She sighed, stroking her baby's back. Darren had stopped crying and was sucking his thumb furiously.
“It's not your fault,” she managed.
“It is. You and Darren are my responsibility now.”
“Scott, you don't have to...”
But he wasn't listening to her. He had his phone pressed to his ear and there was a hard look in his eyes. He glanced at her and said through clenched teeth, “We were hoping to avoid a full-blown war. But the Duskfall wolves have signed their death warrant by targeting my family.”
Christine's eyes rounded at the word “family”. As she stared up at Scott, she realized that she was seeing another side of him. Scott had been gentle, caring and jovial around her and Darren. He had comforted them and cheered them up, and did small, thoughtful things for them. But he had also protected them. He had saved them from the monster, and he was now doing everything he could to provide for them and keep them safe.
He would kill for them.
Christine saw that beneath that cheerful, good-natured man was a fearsome, predatory wolf.
Christine shivered. She wasn't afraid of Scott, but she feared for him. She didn't want him to risk anything for her.
But she knew, without a doubt, that he was willing to sacrifice everything, including his life, for her and Darren.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Christine smiled at the women who were tripping over each other to coo at Darren. Darren clapped his hands and waved, giving them his most charming smile. The little guy certainly knew how to work a crowd and he was a hit with the ladies.
&
nbsp; Scott had taken her to the headquarters of the Sentinels. She'd thought that the headquarters of a ferocious wolf pack would be a forbidding, industrial-looking structure, probably with barbed wire running round the perimeter. She certainly never expected this neat little house to be the official headquarters of a large, powerful pack.
Hayley was sitting beside her on the couch. Hayley was the Alpha's mate, and this lovely little house belonged to her. “But I live with Grayson now. Our house is just next door,” Hayley told Christine. “So I got them to redesign my old house and convert it into the headquarters for the Sentinels. There's a games room, nursery, examining room for our medic, spare bedrooms...” Hayley stopped for breath and said earnestly, “I hope you and your baby will be comfortable here.”
Christine was surprised to learn that Hayley wasn't a wolf shifter. The woman was human, like her. “But I thought...”
“There are a few humans in our pack,” Hayley explained, smiling. “Some are mated to our pack members. Others are the human offspring of our pack members.” She shrugged. “From what I understand, the shifter gene sometimes skips a kid or two, or...it could skip an entire generation. We have a pair of twins, Kerry and Karen. Karen is a shifter, but Kerry is human like their father.” She gave Christine a bright smile. “Doesn't matter what they are. They're pack.”
The women crowding around Christine and Hayley were still gazing adoringly at Darren. They were all clearly smitten.
One of the women held out her hands eagerly and asked, “Can I hold him, please?”
Christine glanced at Darren, who was squirming and squealing, trying his best to launch himself into the young woman's arms.
“Sure,” Christine said, handing Darren over.
The young woman beamed and cradled Darren lovingly. “Aren't you the cutest thing? I think I'm in love! I'll teach you to say my name. It's Ari.”
Hayley laughed and told Christine, “Ari is Grayson's sister.”
“She's the Alpha's sister?”
Beta's Baby: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (Wolves Hollow Book 2) Page 5
