“Wow.” She turned back to the blanket. “Can we see that at the studio?”
He nodded. “Some days. They have a schedule posted online.”
Then he pulled off his shirt and jeans, making Amber suck in a breath. He was large, and muscled, and — oh, my. He glanced at her. “What?”
Then he pulled off his shirt and jeans, standing there in just his swim trunks, making Amber suck in a breath. He was large, and muscled, and — oh, my. He glanced at her. “What?”
“Oh,” she said, embarrassed, “I just thought I saw someone I knew. But I was mistaken.”
“Huh.” He waited for her to slip off her jeans and shirt.
Hesitantly, she did.
He grinned. “Race you to the water.”
Without waiting for the countdown, she took off. A moment later, he jogged easily beside her — backward.
“Show-off.”
He grinned — but lost it when she put out her foot and tripped him. He did a spectacular job of pinwheeling his arms before going down. “Hey!”
She laughed and took off for the water, almost making it to the shoreline before he grabbed her from behind and carried them both, laughing, into the water. It was cooler than it looked.
Giggling, she grabbed hold of his shoulders. “Put me down, you cheater.”
“Says the woman who started early and then deliberately tripped me.” He set her on her feet, up to her knees.
“Deliberately is such a controversial word, don’t you think?”
“What word would you use?”
“Accidentally describes my intentions much better.”
“Perhaps if your intentions had been different, that would be true.”
She splashed him and he retaliated. And then they were off, splashing and laughing, in and out of the water.
When she stopped swimming and began treading water to catch her breath, he put his arm about her waist and pulled her close to him.
She turned to face him, her feet not touching the bottom in this part of the lake.
He kissed her.
She kissed him back.
His arms tightened around her waist, making her feel safe and secure and … loved?
She clung to him until he pulled back. Breathing hard, she said, “Your mother would not approve of that kiss.”
“I’d rather not talk about my mother right now.”
She laughed shakily. “You got it.”
And she leaned back in and kissed him again. This kiss was slower, and warmth swirled through her. She loved being in Samuel’s arms. Too bad she couldn’t stay here.
How she wished she could, though.
Pulling away again, she slipped free. “Everyone is watching.”
He looked at the beach, and grinned. “You’re right. They are.”
She rolled her eyes and swam toward the beach. “C’mon. I’m getting hungry.”
Two children swam past, going further out than they should, and Samuel said, “Hey, would you two like to head back to shore? It’s deep out here and you’re pretty far out.”
The kids looked to be about eight and ten years old, and both turned to him. The oldest one said, “Yeah. Thanks. First, we’d like to touch the buoy if you’d swim with us for another minute.”
Samuel looked around for the finned float and spotted it about fifty more feet out. “Sure thing, boys. Amber, I’ll be right behind you.” He swam toward the boys, and she swam toward shore. As she emerged from the water, she saw people glancing her way. She hadn’t been in town long enough to know which were townsfolk and which were tourists — but many of them were flashing glances at her.
She smiled at everyone and walked to the blanket, her face warm with a blush.
The sound on the loudspeaker changed to the Beach Boys singing Sloop John B and, after a minute or two, people seemed to lose interest in her.
She sighed in relief — right before someone grabbed her and wrapped a hand over her mouth.
I Can’t Believe I Just Said That
AMBER DIDN’T MANAGE A SCREAM before her attacker dragged her up the beach. He held her in such a way that she couldn’t do any damage with her arms. She tried to kick back, and, while he grunted when she landed a random kick, he kept hold of her.
Where were all the watching eyes now? This guy was carrying her out, kicking but unfortunately not screaming, and no one even seemed to notice.
They were watching Samuel, apparently, because no one was coming to her aid. It didn’t help that the spot that she and Samuel had chosen was a bit out of the way, behind the other beach-goers.
A couple of minutes later, they reached the parking lot where a van waited.
A man who looked vaguely familiar climbed out of the van. He slid the side door open and snapped at the man dragging her to the van. “Quick. Put her in here before we get caught!”
She had to get away quickly. This wouldn’t end well if they managed to get her inside.
She bit the hand around her face, wondering why she hadn’t thought of it before. He swore, but held on. Okay, remember your karate training, she reminded herself — and kicked up behind her, landing a solid kick.
The man released her and she spun and punched him in the nose. She was pretty sure she’d broken it.
“Ow!” The man yelled and grabbed for his face, and Amber followed up with a solid kick to his groin. The man howled, fell back against another car, and slid down to the ground.
The other man made a grab for her, but she slipped past his arm.
He swore, glanced after his buddy, jumped back in the driver’s seat — and peeled out of the parking lot.
Amber tried to read the license number but it was conveniently covered with something that looked like mud. Speaking of deliberately done.
“Hey!” she heard Samuel yell out.
The man on the ground scrambled up, looked at her, then at Samuel, running wildly toward them with a pair of handcuffs.
Where on earth had he pulled those from? The picnic backpack? His swim trunks? Thin air?
The man turned to run but didn’t make it even a step before Samuel slammed into him.
He managed to slip the handcuffs onto the man’s wrist. Her would-be captor froze, just like the monster from the other night, and stopped fighting immediately.
Samuel slipped the other cuff on, then left the man lying on the ground. He rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms. She couldn’t stop trembling. He asked, “Are you okay? Because if he hurt you, I’m going to damage him.”
“I’m all right.” She clung to him, trembling.
He wrapped his arms around her. “Shhh. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
But she was shaking worse than ever. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she felt like she was going to fall apart as puzzle pieces clicked together in her head.
She’d just realized why the guy climbing out of the van looked familiar.
She’d seen him the one and only time she’d visited the institution where her stepfather was incarcerated.
Her stepfather had sent him for her.
He must have.
Samuel held Amber in his arms, pulling out his cell phone. When Vera Rose answered, he said, “White van heading into town from the lake, driven by a guy who tried to kidnap Amber. Get him. And send a containment unit to pick up the guy I cuffed.”
“Will do,” she said. “Supernatural?”
“Yes.” He didn’t want to say anything more because Amber would hear. “V.”
“Okay. Vampire.” Vera Rose sounded surprised. “Involved in a kidnapping? This is extremely unusual. All of it.”
“I know.”
Sticking the phone back in his pocket, he patted Amber’s back.
She was shaking and, if he wasn’t mistaken, crying. He couldn’t handle a woman crying. Especially not his woman.
His woman? Where had that come from? But he knew. His wolf had claimed her and was just waiting for him to do the same.
“Are
you hurt?” he asked, panic gripping him.
She shook her head. “No.”
Looking at her tear-stained face, his wolf raged. She was crying. In his mind, that meant the man had hurt her. “I’m going to hurt him!”
She pulled back and said, “I hurt him already.”
“You did?” That made him happier. “Did you kick him in the goods?”
“Right after I punched him in the nose.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, with pride.
She looked miserable.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
“Yeah.”
“But ...?”
“But I need to tell you something, and I don’t want to do it here.”
“Okay,” he said. “And I’m not going to leave you alone again. So ...” He looked around. A small crowd had gathered, and he asked a young guy, “That plaid blanket and backpack are ours. Would you mind getting it for us so I can stay with Amber?”
“Sure, dude.” And he took off.
The others asked if Amber was all right, and she nodded and reassured them. “I’m shaky, but he didn’t hurt me.”
Sam walked her to his truck, opened the door, and helped her inside. Her hands were still trembling, and he took them in his own. “We’re going to find out who those guys are.”
She nodded.
He kissed her forehead and shut the door.
The young man returned with his blanket and bag, and he thanked him as he tossed them in the bed of the truck.
As he drove home, his thoughts raced.
Did this mean that the troll who’d shot at them had been shooting at both of them? Was she a target? Or just a way to get to him?
He didn’t know, but he was beginning to suspect he wasn’t going to like the answer.
Samuel had been so gentle with her. He’d brought her into his house and wrapped her in a blanket on the couch, then brought her some food.
They’d eaten without speaking much.
When she’d finished eating — she was hungrier than she’d thought she’d be after having been attacked — he took her plate and carried everything to the kitchen, where she heard the sound of water running.
He came back in and sat on the couch beside her. “Okay. What is it you needed to tell me?” He sounded worried.
“I haven’t told anybody this,” she said. “Except for Adam. It’s all so creepy and embarrassing.”
He took her hand. “You can tell me.”
She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, then opened them again. “Okay. I don’t know the guy who grabbed me, but the other guy? The one who drove away?”
He nodded.
“I’ve seen him before. A year ago.”
“Do you know his name? That will make it easier to catch him.”
“No.” She shook her head. “But I saw him. It was when I went to visit my stepfather in this mental health criminal institution. The Fairfield Institute.”
“Why was he in there?”
“That’s the embarrassing part.” She laughed, but it came out wrong. “My stepfather, Keith Irwin, was always a little off, but after my mother died, he got really creepy.”
He stayed quiet, watching her intently, giving her a chance to say it.
“He started calling me Rebecca. That’s my mother’s name. When Adam came home, Keith wasn’t so bad, but when he re-enlisted, Keith started saying I was his wife. He went crazy. I moved out because I couldn’t stand to stay there, but he stalked me. Followed me to work. Tried to kiss me and even to kidnap me once before. That’s when he got put in the institution.”
Samuel’s eyes hardened, and she really wouldn’t want to be Keith when Samuel got ahold of him. “That’s why I don’t teach art in school, because I’ve been on the run. I was afraid he might use some of his contacts to get to me, and this proved it today. He has friends in some high places and in some low ones, too. I saw that man on my one and only visit to Keith.”
“How did that go?”
“The visit?” He nodded. How to tell him the most traumatic time of her life? “He was married to my mother for six years, and he’d been mostly good to me, so my feelings have been very conflicted. Not so much that I was willing to play house with him, though. I went because I was hoping that the institute had helped him.” She shook her head. “If anything, he was worse. He told me he was going to escape and get me because I was his wife. He called me Rebecca again. And he told me he had friends who’d help him.”
“And that’s why you started running,” Samuel stated.
“Yeah.” She sighed. “And now I have to start running again.”
“No, you don’t,” he insisted. “I’m going to keep you safe.”
“You can’t keep me safe every second.” She wished he could, but it wasn’t humanly possible.
“I have deputy friends who are going to help me. And family. I will keep you safe. Stay here with me and I promise you will be safe.”
She sighed. “I want to stay.”
“Let’s call the institution and you can hear for yourself that he’s still there. You can report that one of the former inmates attacked you.”
“All right.” She didn’t sound as confident as he did, but she didn’t want to start running again. She didn’t want to leave Samuel or Moonchuckle Bay.
He pulled out his phone and searched for the Fairfield Institute. “In Phoenix?”
“That’s the one.”
“Do you want to speak with them? Or would you rather I put it on speaker phone and let you listen in?”
“Listen in.”
He dialed the number and put the phone on speaker. They listened to the rings. One. Two. Three.
“Hello,” a perky woman’s voice sounded. “You’ve reached the Fairfield Institute, where we care about your loved one’s mental health. How may I assist you?”
Samuel answered, “This is Deputy Samuel Winston of the Moonchuckle Bay Sheriff’s Department in Utah. I need to get some information on one of your patients. Keith Irwin.”
“Please hold.”
They waited for nearly five minutes before a man came back on. “This is Dr. Lewis. You wanted information about Keith Irwin?”
“Yes.”
“Normally I would say you’d have to go through official channels, but in this case I’ll just tell you — he is no longer at this facility.”
“What?” Amber gasped. “Why not?”
The doctor said, “I am afraid he escaped three months ago. The police here are still attempting to locate him.”
Panic flooded Amber. Keith was on the loose? And he was after her.
The urge to run was overpowering.
Samuel frowned. “How did it happen?”
“We’re not sure. One day he was there and the next he wasn’t. We think he had an accomplice.”
Samuel was pretty sure Irwin had had two accomplices — the guy who’d driven off today and the vampire he’d handcuffed and arrested.
Amber stumbled and he grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him.
After ending the call, Samuel took hold of both of Amber’s arms. “It will be okay. I’ll protect you.”
“You can’t be there every single moment of every day, Samuel.” She sounded close to hysteria. “He won’t stop coming after me.”
He didn’t want to do this. He wasn’t supposed to. He could get into a lot of trouble with the pack. But he didn’t care. He wanted Amber to know that he could keep her safe — and his pack would help him.
He would find her stepfather and make sure he could never hurt her again — no matter what it took.
“I can keep you safe. I promise.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears. “I want to stay here, but I’m afraid.”
“Amber, I’m going to tell you something that you can’t share with anyone else.”
She looked at him with such trust in her eyes that it clenched at his heart. “Okay.”
“Promise me.”
She no
dded. “I promise.”
“The reason I can keep you safe is that I’m …” He paused. He’d never said these words to a human in his life. Not even Adam had known.
She stared into his eyes, waiting.
He lowered his voice. “I’m a werewolf.”
She blinked and sighed. “And I’m a mermaid.”
“No, seriously. I’m a werewolf. And my pack can keep you safe. Most of the deputies are werewolves — or some other kind of shifters. We can keep you safe from a human. I’ll take this before the pack council.”
She put her palm against his chest. “It’s been a long day. I’d like to go to bed now.”
“I’ll show you.”
He did the only thing he could think of. He shifted into a wolf right then and there — which meant he didn’t have any hands to catch her when she fainted.
Amber opened her eyes and immediately squinted against the light that was searing her eyes. Her whole head hurt.
She was on the floor. Why?
She sat up slowly — to see a wolf on the floor beside her.
She screamed and scrambled back, climbing onto the couch, as if that were safe. Which, of course, it wasn’t.
“Samuel!” she yelled — and then remembered.
Samuel had said he was a werewolf and had then turned into this wolf. And then she’d fainted. And apparently hit her head as she fell. Was she hallucinating?
“Samuel …?” she said softly. “Is that really you?”
The black wolf nodded its head and took a step closer.
“Stay back!” she said, putting up her hands. “I’m not ready yet.”
Samuel stopped and tipped his head curiously.
They sat like that for a long time.
Out in the backyard, Wolf howled in the kennel. She’d have to bring him in — when there wasn’t a wolf in the living room.
After a long time, she asked, “Can you change back?”
There was a flash of light and Samuel knelt on the floor, wearing what he’d worn before. Magic?
He stood and said, “So you believe I’m a werewolf?”
She nodded, her eyes wide. “I saw it with my own eyes, didn’t I?”
The Artist Cries Wolf Page 9
