Light filled the room as she sat up in the large bed. She couldn’t remember much, like how she’d gotten here, but she had this weird feeling that she really was safe. That feeling was one she’d been in contact with less and less over the months. And feeling less safe was something she didn’t want to think about right now. She didn’t want to think about how she’d been constantly on the move, trying to stay out of sight and off the radar of Deidre and her posse of so-called witches that were more like extreme bitches in her estimation.
One little public humiliation and Deidre was all “Get the cunt and make her bleed!”
The shudder from that memory irrupted through her body was the not-so-gentle reminder that Celia didn’t have the luxury of lingering here too long. She had to get a move on. To stay anywhere for too long, meant they might find her again. She’d already had a recent near run-in with one of Deidre’s contacts and had to high-tail it out of the last place before landing here.
Blinking a few times to wash away the remnants of the haze of sleep, she allowed her mind to come back online to face the day. It took a moment for the memories of yesterday to float to the surface of her memory. She’d been trying to find a place to crash for the night, when that wolf-shifter had caught her trying to break into the back of a building.
Snatches of the rest of that incident floated in and out of focus. She’d been caught, had to climb down with him watching, unsuccessfully tried to ditch the wolf and then… nothing. Celia couldn’t remember the rest between her conversation with that guy and how she’d gotten here.
Still relaxed and ready to face whatever lie ahead, she swung legs out of the bed, only to realize she only wore a t-shirt—one that wasn’t hers. And, it only covered her to the top of her panties. Trying desperately to remember the last thing she did before going to sleep, she did a mental check to see if her body felt any differently.
After a quick check, paying special attention to her lady bits, she had the assurance she needed that all was as it had been—untouched.
Damn it.
Stumbling around the unfamiliar surroundings to find the bathroom, she noticed the familiar smells of the promise of a hearty breakfast. Proudly call her Pavlov’s dog, because her mouth watered on cue and her stomach growled in acknowledgment of the promise of a great breakfast.
“Someone is a great host or hostess,” she said more to herself than anything, when she saw the clear, strong handwriting of a note letting her know the toiletries underneath were there for her. Whoever this was, had the initial O. “O—I don’t know anyone with the first name of O.” She’d have to figure that one out before she emerged from the bedroom.
Celia did have good home training, no matter what her current situation might be. She washed up and found her clothes laundered and folded neatly by the claw foot tub she’d just showered in. Whoever her hosts were, were doing her right. This was so nice of them.
She dressed fast and looked around for any photos of her angel couple to help jog her memory. There were no picture frames or anything that suggested anyone lived here except for an extremely neat person. The idea of going through the chest of drawers or closet for clues was beyond tacky. So, she’d have to wing it.
Going back into the neat bathroom to check out her appearance and make herself as presentable as possible. The door to the little room swung closed enough for a flash of blue, hanging on the back of the door, to catch her attention out the corner of her eye. There was something familiar about that item. Where had she seen it before?
She turned to find a worn blue baseball cap hanging from the hook of the bathroom door. A flood of memories filled in gaps to her previous day. That cap. It had taunted and teased her. It had been the one thing she’d tried to focus on while she climbed down from that building. It was the wolf’s cap from yesterday!
Prickling heat of arousing confusion, embarrassment, anger and a whole lot of other jumbled up feelings pushed their way up to the forefront of her mind. They all fought for attention.
“Breathe, Celia. This doesn’t mean you’ve landed in the bed of the big sexy wolf. Can’t be. This is the home of someone else. Someone else who happens to own the same baseball cap. Yeah, that’s it.” She sucked in short breaths, attempting to remain calm. Now wasn’t the time to freak out. “Keep it together and figure out a way to climb out of the bathroom or bedroom window. Hell do something. You’ve got this.” She ran back into the bedroom, looking for a way to get out of the window without detection.
Chapter 4
“That should be all. Thanks again,” Owain said to the man helping him with his morning lumber supply order. He was in a great mood and had more pep in his step than usual. He’d enjoyed spending time with the spitfire, aka Celia last night. But, today was a new day and life still went on—even if all he wanted to do was spend time with her, back at his home. He also had a business to run.
A normal work day started very early and he hadn’t wanted to wake his overnight guest up this morning. He’d planned it all out. Owain had gotten up early than usual. Washed her clothes, ran errands to make sure she had toiletries for when she woke. Now, he was about to finish up the errands only he could do for the business. Then back to the house to spend time with her. By the looks of things, she’d had a hard time of it. Instead, he’d done what he could to make sure she was comfortable before going along with his morning duties.
Last night, after she’d collapsed and he was sure she’d only fainted, he took her back to his place. Remembering to remove any constricting clothes for her to sleep better, he’d undressed her and put her to bed. Her clothes needed a good washing and she was no better with all the grime from the building smeared all over her.
He marveled at how soundly she slept, even through his quick sponge bath of her face, arms, hands and feet. Since he was his mother’s son, he’d even made every effort to look away when he took off her bra and put her into one of his clean t-shirts to sleep in.
Even sleeping on his too short couch last night, wasn’t enough to dampen his good mood. He reveled in getting the chance to learn more about her and spend time together today. He wanted to know everything he could about this mysterious woman, who made both his wolf and him happy by her mere presence.
Owain caught himself smiling at the memory of how many cute sounds she made in her sleep. But, it was her little pitiful snores that tugged at his heart. Whatever her story, it appeared that she needed a good night’s sleep and a good meal. A quick check of his watch and he hoped he’d make it back in time to catch her waking. He’d left a big breakfast for her, warming in the stove, with a few notes to let her know he’d be back soon.
One thing he couldn’t shake was the unmistakable attraction he had for her. His wolf wanted her, and by the strength it took for him to keep his thoughts pure last night, he wanted her just as badly. Their close proximity in that alley, had only served to let him know that what he’d experienced during the Scenting Ceremony was indeed real. He wanted Celia not-going-to share-my-full-government-name, something bad.
Pulling his mind back to the present, he couldn’t pretend he didn’t see his aunt, Barbara Wolfe, miming for him to call her, as he drove past the stores on the busiest street of their little town. He had to laugh about it actually. Aunt Barbara was a firecracker and hell-bent on making sure everyone in her family was hitched. Hopefully she wasn’t trying to check in on him, to see if he’d been successful at the Scenting Ceremony. He’d told her he wasn’t going, but she always had a way of finding out everything.
Even if he was a declared lone wolf and distant cousin, the woman seemed to take him under her wings as one of her own. Thinking about her and her way of showing him love, made him drift back to thoughts of his own mother. It still hurt to think about her and what she’d say to how he’d turned out as an adult wolf. She’d always wanted him to have his own pack one day, but he was a little too much of his own wolf to want to be in a pack or deal with the politics of one. And, he didn’t want to ha
ve to fight other wolves who would surely try to challenge him. He was an alpha, perfectly fine going it alone.
That’s how it had always been. That is, until he’d finally come to Blue Creek. The Wolfe family was his kin, but they didn’t try to make him be a part of the pack. They left him alone, to do his thing. He was content building his home builder business and living alone, out by the edge of town. Except for the occasional bright idea of his aunt to try to fix him up with one of her daughter-in-law’s school teacher friends, he had no worries. Except for the crazy one. Hopefully she was gone though.
Funny thing was, he hadn’t even been interested in anyone, until he’d caught the scent of the beautiful woman, who was now at his home, in his bed, sleeping. It had been a total fluke. He was out for his evening run, trying to stay clear of the ceremony, when her scent seemed to have snared and hypnotized him. His wolf ruled that night, drawn to the dark beauty. Now he wanted her just as much.
He liked her cutting wit and how much of a fight she gave him. Owain had always loved a good hunt, and he could tell Celia wasn’t going to make it easy for him to catch her. Getting excited about something for the first time in years, Owain went back home to check on her, after dropping off his load at his current worksite. His foreman looked at him like he’d grown a few horns when he told him, he was taking the day off. He never took a day off, let alone leave oversight to anyone else. By the time he’d pulled up to his house, he caught himself whistling.
“Stop it. You don’t have her yet.” He warned himself, remembering this woman had proven to be a worthy opponent to his pursuit last night.
He hopped out of his work truck, with even more spring in his step than usual, and went inside. Ready to spend the day with her, he made it to the kitchen to find everything as he’d left it.
No matter, she’s probably still sleeping. She did have a rough night of it.
Glancing at the clock on the kitchen wall and wondering what was a proper time for him to check in on her and possibly wake her, he grabbed a cup of coffee from the cup coffee maker. He laughed thinking of the story that was behind the fancy appliance being in his home.
One of the wives of his crew had guilted him into getting it. She asked, in the most innocent way, if she could practice her sales pitch on him, since this was the first time she’d be selling anything. Not only was she a total ringer, but she’d gotten him to buy three of these darn things—one for his home, one for the office and one for his worksites. That woman was going to make a fortune selling those fancy individual cup coffee makers if she kept up with the doe eyes and slick sales pitch, she had going on. But he had to admit, the coffee was great—especially the strong brew he sipped now.
He was almost done with his coffee and not a peep from the other room. Owain didn’t want to be that guy—the impatient creep—but he did want to make sure she was okay. After another ten minutes of going to the door and listening, while working up the nerve to knock, he finally gave in and knocked.
No answer. Maybe she was in the bathroom and couldn’t hear him. He knocked a little harder. Again nothing, only dead silence. Fearing she might have a concussion or worse, he burst into the room.
The bed was neatly made. His t-shirt folded at the edge of the bed and… an open window next to it.
“Well, I’ll be damned. She climbed out the window and left, without a word. Hell, she could have at least eaten before she ran off.”
Owain flopped down on the bed, not sure what to make of her actions. Was it something he’d done to scare her off? He ran through everything he’d done the previous evening. Once he was sure he’d been the ultimate gentleman, anger began to set in.
“She’s an ingrate. That’s what she is. Here I am trying to help her and all she does is thumb my nose in it.”
He allowed himself to fume a little more before a plan began to take root. That was it. It was one thing to brush him off. It was another to chicken out and not face him. She’d have to tell him off to his face. She was rude!
Determination drove him hard. Owain didn’t quite understand why he even cared about having a faceoff with the woman. She’d rejected him. He should just let it be. But, he couldn’t. There was something unfinished between them and he knew it like he knew himself. He had to find her and get whatever this was settled.
Before he stormed out of the house to find her, he made sure to grab his favorite baseball cap from the bathroom.
“All right, do this and track her down.” He couldn’t explain it but knew there was more to her than met the eye. She was different. His wolf tried to leap to the surface that the thoughts of finding her. His wolf wanted her just as much as he did.
Mine.
Getting back into his work truck and giving it more gas than necessary to rev the engine, he looked at his reflection in the rear view mirror. As if giving a pep talk to his crew, he said to himself, “If she wants to leave, I won’t stop her. But, she’ll have to say it to my face and make a damn good argument for it. She’s mine!”
With that, he gunned it again and stormed out of his yard, on the hunt for Celia.
Chapter 5
“Yes, can you take me back into town—Blue Creek, that is? I don’t know how far out I am, but need to get back to my car there,” Celia asked the pretty young woman in the late model sedan.
It was a miracle the woman had come along so fast. She’d only been walking for a few minutes from the wolf-shifter’s home out here, when the woman had stopped to offer her a ride. Getting into the car and fastening her seat belt, Celia let out a breath of relief.
The young woman was very pretty and none ax murderer-looking—thank God. Celia couldn’t be sure, she looked like she might be Hispanic or of Mediterranean heritage. The woman took a quick moment to look over at Celia and extended the hand closest to her in a handshake of greeting, as she said, “Hi there. I’m Mandy Campos. And you are?”
Celia noticed the tattoo on her wrist. It was delicate, and one of those in loving memory ones with a semicolon made into a butterfly. The only difference was that it had bold lettering that said REMEMBER in all caps, above it. If she wasn’t trying to get back to her car so fast, she’d make mention of the artistry of it. Not knowing if it was for this woman or a loved one, she decided the mention of it would be off limits.
Mandy’s hopeful lift at the end of that introduction, illustrated her expectation that Celia offer up her full name too. What was it with everyone here, giving out so much unsolicited information and expecting the same from her?
Plastering on her best smile, Celia feigned shyness and said, “That’s a beautiful name. I’m Celia.” Hoping the compliment would keep the other woman busy processing it, she quickly followed up with, “So, are you from around here?” That should keep her talking. Celia would keep the conversation centered on the woman. It must be a small town thing, but these folks had no problem vomiting up all sorts of information.
Guess they’ve never been hacked or been an identity theft victim. That would get anyone with half a brain to shout the hell up about their personal details.
“Oh me? No, I just got here last year. I’m new to the area. Came here for a new teaching position at the middle school.”
Time to make chitchat and act as normal as possible.
“That’s wonderful. I think school teachers are unsung heroes. What grade do you teach?”
“I have seventh graders—you know—freshly minted teenagers. It’s funny how many are going through voice changes, first bouts of embarrassing acne and awkward growth spurts. It’s still hard being a thirteen year-old, no matter how hard you try to be cool about it.”
“Tell me about it. I think I’m still trying to get over some of my unfortunate memories and traumas from middle school.”
“Aren’t we all?” Mandy said, laughing.
It was something about the way she laughed that grated on Celia’s nerves, ever so slightly. But she wasn’t going to nitpick this kind lady’s laugh. She was nice and had given
her a ride back to town, after all.
They continued to make small talk all the way back. Celia was happy Mandy was content doing most of the talking about herself.
“Over here,” Celia said, directing Mandy to her beat up old car.
She’d left it in the parking lot of a grocery store, next to a copse of trees in the outer part of the lot. That way, the trees would offer shading and distraction from the fact that a car had been there overnight. The look of the car made it seem like it might have been abandoned or broken down, more than simply parked there. Celia was secretly happy it hadn’t been towed.
“Um, are you sure you’re going to be all right?” She could hear the hesitation in the other woman’s voice of leaving her here with what must look like a dilapidated trap. “You know; you never did say want you were doing out there on that back road all alone.”
Time to ditch this one.
This was a goody two shoes moment in the making. Celia could feel it. And just like that, Mandy said, “Look, I have a spare bedroom that I would be happy to let you stay in—you know—until you can get on your feet and figure out some things.”
“I’m fine.” Celia had to remember to not say the next part through clenched teeth. “I know my car doesn’t look that reliable, but she’s been good to me. I was just passing through, on my way to see relatives.”
“Oh yeah, where do they live? I hope it’s not too far from here.”
“No, not too far.”
“Are you sure I can’t at least give you a ride to your family? I can only imagine how much they must be worried sick about you being on the road all by yourself.”
Was she for real? Celia knew there had to be a limit to this woman’s capacity for hospitality. She wanted to reach it now.
“Yes, they know where I am. Talked with them this morning.” First that nosey wolf-shifter and now this chick—these folks were like fly paper. Once they stuck onto you, it was the devil getting free. “I promise, I’m good. Thanks again for giving me a lift back here. What do I owe you?”
Sassy Ever After: A Witchingly Sassy Seduction (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 3
