by Sammie Joyce
“This is bullshit,” she snapped. “If you’re not going to talk to me then let’s pack it up and go home. I’m not spending another day like this.”
Shamefully, the idea filled me with happiness and I found myself nodding before I could stop myself. I didn’t miss the look of hurt that had crossed over her face.
“The storm’s letting up,” I offered begrudgingly. I reminded myself that this was for the best, that we shouldn’t have been together in the first place.
“Fine.”
Her tone was so hard that it chilled me but I couldn’t let myself falter. I needed to get back to the pack, to the Protectors and tell them what I’d learned. I might not be able to go after Charlie Hunt myself but they could do it for me. I idly considered calling Inigo or Dalton but the probability of being overheard by Vivian was too great. I would need to deal with it when I was back home.
Vivian pushed her way past me and headed upstairs to pack while I scrounged around for whatever we’d left on the main floor. The wind had died down and the fire was smoldering, leaving an almost eerie quiet in the cabin.
On a whim, I opened the door and looked outside.
A good two feet of snow had fallen throughout the day but I was sure that Vivian’s car would make it back down the mountain. The trees would have made good protection from the snow. It would likely take us two hours but we’d get there.
While Vivian pattered around inside, I went to dig out the car and just being outside had a calming effect on me.
In the distance, I heard the melancholic howl of a pack calling to another to inform them that the storm had passed.
A feeling of peace fell over me and I inhaled, collecting myself. The combination of cabin fever and the bombshell I’d learned had proven almost too much but soon, I’d be safe.
And Vivian will be safe too.
I paused for a moment as another thought occurred to me.
What would her violent brother do if he learned that his sister was fraternizing with a shifter?
The notion sent spirals of worry through me. From what I’d gleaned, Charlie wasn’t all that stable to begin with. Would he harm his sister for such an infraction, even if she’d been unaware?
“You really can’t wait to get out of here, can you?” Vivian muttered, appearing on the porch. I stuck the shovel in the snow and turned to look at her, wiping sweat off my brow.
“Do you have everything?” I asked, ignoring her question.
“Everything of mine,” she retorted, shuffling down the freshly shoveled steps. “You can get your own stuff.”
I didn’t comment at the childishness of her admission. I knew she was hurt but I was hurting too. And we would both be hurting if Charlie Hunt found us.
This is for the best. Let her be angry. It’s better that way.
I moved back into the cottage and collected what was mine, haphazardly dropping it into my duffle bag. I paused when I saw another bottle of wine inside, my heart twinging slightly. So much had changed in twenty-four hours, it felt like an eternity had passed.
“Are we going or not?” Vivian yelled from outside and I zipped up my bag, ensuring that the fire was out before closing the door behind me. I thought about asking her if she wanted to lock up but I changed my mind. The less words we spoke, the better it would be for me. I didn’t trust myself not to shift on a whim now and aggravating the situation wasn’t a good idea.
I slid into the passenger side and watched as Vivian grimly backed up, her eyes glued on the rear-view. I exhaled with relief as the tires drove easily over the snow. Apparently, she had good winter tires.
Silently, Vivian began to descend the mountain, the anger in her face almost palpable. One day, after Charlie and Anticlaw was dealt with, she and I would have an adult conversation—or at least that was what I told myself to keep my sanity in place.
What I wanted to do was have her pull over so I could kiss her and tell her how sorry I was that we couldn’t be together.
Of course I didn’t.
I turned my head to stare out at the coniferous trees but as I did, the car lurched forward and I almost hit my head off the dashboard.
“What the hell?” I growled, whipping my head around to see why she’d slammed on the brakes so suddenly. Instantly, I saw the fallen pine in the roadway and I groaned aloud.
“Dammit!” Vivian cursed. Without another word, she backed up and did a three-point turn, heading back up the mountain.
“Wait! Where are you going?” I demanded. She scoffed at me.
“I’m not driving a Humvee. I can’t go over it,” she snapped.
“Is there another way down the mountain?” I asked hopefully and she snorted.
“That’s where I’m going, Marcel.” The impatience in her voice was like little knives but I knew I couldn’t let her get to me. For almost twenty minutes, the car slipped and slid back up the mountain until it started to descend again but as we moved, the car slid dangerously.
“SHIT!” Vivian howled, again slamming on the brakes. For a second time, my head almost met the console.
“What now?” I was losing my patience too as I scowled at her.
“Can’t you tell? This road is pure black ice. I can’t go this way. We’ll end up in a tree.”
“You want me to drive?” I asked and she glowered.
“It’s not about who’s driving, Marcel. It’s the fact that going downhill on black ice is a death trap.”
I gritted my teeth, knowing there was only one way down the mountain before the roads were clear. We’d have to go on foot.
“Are you out of your mind?” she demanded when I suggested it. “It’ll take hours and neither of us have the gear for a trek like that. No, we have to go back to the cabin and wait it out. I’ll send a message out to my brother to come get us.”
I choked and gasped, thinking she was joking but the look on her face told me that she was dead serious.
“Are you out of your mind?” I hissed as she again backed up the car and headed back in the direction of the cabin. She shot me a sidelong look.
“He’s the only one who knows how to get up here. The minute the roads are clear, he’ll come for us.”
“If the roads are clear then we can get down ourselves,” I shot back, shaking my head. There was no way I was sitting in a car with Charlie Hunt, whether he knew I was shifter or not. I couldn’t be trusted in his presence. I knew that.
“Why are you being so stubborn?” she demanded, shaking her head. “You don’t even know my brother and you’re determined to hate him!”
The cottage came into view and suddenly I was finding it hard to breathe again. I needed to get out of the car.
“Your brother is a killer,” I snarled. “He attacks innocent beings for no other reason than he’s sadistic. Excuse me if I prefer not to hang out with him.”
Vivian stopped the vehicle and I reached for the door handle, falling out in a wheeze of breath. Instantly, she was out of the car too.
“Innocent beings?” she echoed with a short laugh. “You clearly have no idea what those animals can do to a person!”
Doubled over, I felt the telltale prickle on my spine and I squeezed my eyes shut.
No, don’t! I begged myself. Don’t do it!
“It’s easy for you to judge when you’ve never had to sew up gaping flesh wounds or close your eyes and see someone bleeding to death before you. You don’t know what the hell you’re fighting against, Marcel. My brother may not be perfect but at least he’s standing up against those beasts. If he doesn’t do it, who will, huh?”
“Stop!” I rasped but my voice had already faded away, lost in the snarl emanating from my snout.
It was too late.
She’s said too much.
She’d gone too far.
If she had images of humans being attacked, I had ones of my own, my pack members gored and broken for generations at the hands of ignorant humans.
My blazing blue eyes shot upward as I fell
onto all fours, the black of my fur a stunning contrast to the white of the snow around us.
I could feel Vivian’s terror well before I read it in her face and a fusion of overwhelming emotions threatened to overtake me in that moment.
Shame, anger, fear—they all fought for first place but in the end, it was disappointment that won as I read the trauma on Vivian’s beautiful face.
“M-marcel!” she choked, falling backward over her own feet. “No!”
I lowered my snout and closed my eyes, willing my body to shift back but the damage was already done.
There was no hiding the truth now.
Vivian had finally seen the real me.
13
Vivian
I was there but not there, floating above myself as fear shot me into fight or flight mode. Adrenaline pumped through my body and my feet continued to back away from the terrifying black wolf before me.
He’s a wolf! How did I not see that?
A flood of warning signs hit me then, ones that I had purposely cast aside, my love goggles clouding my vision to see only what I’d wanted to see in Marcel.
You can’t love him. He’s not who he said he was.
The animal before me made no move to spring forward but I anticipated his move as if he already had.
My body made contact with the metal shovel that Marcel had used to clear the snow and I instinctively grabbed for it, swinging it outward. Still, he hadn’t moved.
His head remained down and from where I stood, I couldn’t even make out the surreal glimmer of his icy eyes. I was simultaneously transfixed and horrified.
Had I known about shifters? Yes. Had I ever encountered one? Hell no. In my wildest dreams, I never expected that I ever would come face to face with one, let alone bring one into my bed.
I froze in place, waiting for Marcel—whatever he was—to make his move to finish me off. Is that why he had pursued me? To kill me?
Even in my state of panic, I knew that was ridiculous. The shifters didn’t play a long con to hurt us. They didn’t waste their time wooing unsuspecting nurses to lure them to their deaths. They were impulsive, primal and animalistic.
All the things that Marcel isn’t.
I was having a difficult time reconciling how the man I’d fallen in love with could be this massive animal breathing heavily before me.
Time stood still, not even an owl hooting in the dark to remind me that we were in a live moment. I willed something to happen, anything, to make me remember that I was still alive too.
Slowly, the wolf began to morph again and my heart leapt into my throat. A small whimper escaped me before I could stop it but when the animal disappeared, Marcel remained in its place.
For a long moment, neither one of us spoke. A thousand things popped into my mind but finding the words to say was another matter entirely.
“You don’t need to be afraid,” Marcel finally muttered, lowering his head. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You stay the hell back!” I howled, fear suddenly perpetuating my movements. I again swung the shovel but he made not indication that he was coming at me. “I have a gun in the cottage.”
A half-smirk formed on his lips.
“Unless it’s got silver bullets, I’m not that concerned,” he said dryly. His nonchalant tone infuriated me.
“It’s Charlie’s gun!” I barked back. “It just might.”
He balked at my response, his complexion waning slightly.
“I think we should go inside and talk about this,” he sighed. I gaped at him, watching as he raised his hands as if to show his placidness. I wasn’t buying into any of it.
“You really are crazy!” I declared. “You think I’m going anywhere with you?”
Marcel stifled a sigh.
“We’re kind of stuck together, aren’t we?” he replied lightly. I scoffed but faltered. He was right. There was no way to get off the mountain that wouldn’t kill us.
Send him away. He can fend for himself! A little voice inside me screamed. He lied to you. He’s a beast. He kills people like you!
But staring at him, I couldn’t envision Marcel hurting anyone, let alone me. I thought about our therapy session and how he’d reinstated me without batting an eye. I could see him clearly on our first date, dancing with me to my favorite song in Kelly’s.
Confusion and consternation threatened to overwhelm me and a sob escaped my lips.
“It’s freezing out here, Viv,” he said placatingly. “Let’s just—”
“No!”
A steel rod fused down my spine and I raised the shovel again.
“No way are we going inside. I don’t know what your intentions are but if you want me, you’re going to have to come and get me.”
I spun to ran but before I could take two steps, he called out to me.
“Don’t be crazy!” he snapped, anger filling his voice. The tone made me stop dead. I didn’t want to weigh out the risks of being chased by a wolf. I had no delusions about who would win that race.
“Vivian, just go inside. As soon as the roads clear, we’ll head home. It doesn’t need to be like this.”
I whirled back around, my eyes narrowing but I was quivering from head to toe.
“You can’t come inside with me,” I said coldly. “I’m calling my brother.”
Hurt and fury crossed over Marcel’s face and I instantly felt shame at the threat. I had no doubt what Charlie would do when he learned about Marcel.
But Marcel knows about Charlie now too. Won’t he do the same thing to my brother?
“You would turn me loose on your brother?” Marcel growled.
“If you don’t get out of here, I will,” I promised, even though I wasn’t sure I would. All I knew as gospel in that moment was that I needed to get away from Marcel and if threats were going to make that happen, I would take them.
“Viv—”
“You don’t get to call me Viv!” I yelled, tears clogging my eyes. “You don’t get to call me anything at all! Just get the hell out of here.”
His face flashed but whatever he saw in mine seemed to convince him that I was serious.
“Fine,” he growled, turning away. “Be unreasonable.”
If the situation had been any different, I might have laughed at his dismissal but the fact that he had downplayed the severity of what was happening only incensed me more.
He paused at the end of the driveway to cast me one last look as if he expected me to change my mind but instead of meeting his gaze, I sprinted back toward the cabin, locking the door behind me as I did.
I ran to the window and peered out into the night but Marcel had already disappeared into the darkness, leaving me alone with a racing pulse and bile rocking my gut.
My hands were shaking badly and I realized I was still holding onto the shovel. I dropped it and rushed to find the shotgun I knew was in the cupboard. When I pulled it out, I saw that there were normal bullets inside but the feel of the weapon in my hands gave me some semblance of peace, at least momentarily.
But what if he comes back? You heard what he said. Only silver bullets will keep him at bay.
I thought about the cut on his hand and how it had healed so quickly.
The signs were there. You chose to ignore them.
I inhaled and counted to ten, just as Marcel had taught me. Anxiety and panic were threatening to overwhelm me for the first time since I’d met him. How could a man have given me so much and yet taken so much away from me at the same time?
The paradox was breaking my heart and I sniffled, my eyes trained at the ceiling as I waited for a moment of clarity.
After what felt like hours and countless breathing exercises, I finally felt myself beginning to calm.
I realized that Marcel wasn’t coming back and the thought filled me with a combination of relief and despair. I had sent him away and now he was gone for good.
But that’s a good thing, I insisted.
Picking myself off the flo
or, I retreated to the front door and peered out into the still night. I looked around for signs of those glowing blue eyes but I saw nothing to indicate that Marcel was in the vicinity, waiting for me.
Swallowing, I rushed out toward the car and grabbed my purse from the front seat before dashing back inside and again locking the door behind me.
He’s not out there. He’s not coming back.
I pulled my cell out of my purse and exhaled when I saw I still had service.
Is it snowing in Bend? I asked, hoping my text sounded light.
For a long moment, there was no response and I had almost given up hope of getting one when my phone chimed back.
Where are you?
At the cottage, I replied before adding,
I’m snowed in up here.
In seconds, my brother messaged me back.
Mt. Bachelor???
Yes. Why?
We’re up here too.
My blood ran cold at the announcement and I jumped to my feet, my eyes trained on the window.
You’re at the cottage?
I sent the message but before Charlie could respond, I dialed out. He answered on the first ring.
“You’re coming to the cottage?” I demanded, my voice rising to a squeak.
“No,” Charlie murmured, his word barely audible. “We’re just on the mountain. We might stop by later though now that I know you’re there.”
I could barely hear him and I realized he was whispering. Uncertainty shot through me.
“W-why are you here? Who’s with you?” I mumbled. Charlie snorted.
“Who do you think?” he shot back. “What do you want, Viv? This isn’t a good time.”
A wave of dread washed over me.
“What are you doing that makes it not a good time?” I insisted but even before he answered, I had a good idea I knew what it was.
“Hunting,” he snapped and I could hear the impatience in his voice.
“At this time of night? What are you hunting?”
There was a low grumble and I squeezed my eyes closed as if to block out what I knew was coming next, even though I’d brought the answer upon myself.
