Wolf love, p.73
Wolf Love, page 73
“Dylan. Now.” Brandy’s stern tone was enough to propel the boy into action. He followed Brandy who gave them all a glare before she left. “Take it outside, fellas. I don’t want this living room torn apart.”
Kole gave her a low growl and Reardon rocketed off the couch. He grabbed Kole by his leather jacket and dragged him to the front door of the cabin. Tossing him down the steps so Kole landed in the dirt on his ass, Reardon flashed his own canines.
“You don’t get aggressive in my home, mutt. Ever,” Reardon said around a low growl of his own.
The sanctuary wolves came out of wherever they’d been napping in the woods and circled around Kole. He was reminded of when he’d been dropped in Alaska and the pack had surrounded him, their teeth bared, saliva dripping. Brandy’s wolves didn’t seem aggressive at the moment, but clearly the wolves’ allegiance was to Reardon. They were his pack first and they’d defend him.
“It won’t be necessary for them to defend me though, will it?” Reardon stood over Kole, looking every inch the leader he’d been. “I apologized for what I did to you and your brother, Kole. You and I have moved forward to better places. Let’s not rehash the past.”
Jaemus came over and reached his hand down to Kole. “C’mon, cousin. We’ll get more done together than separate.”
Kole stared at a spot somewhere between Reardon’s hulking body and Jaemus’s outstretched hand. He counted to thirty. He took a deep breath.
Shit, his head hurt.
Finally, he took Jaemus’s hand and allowed his cousin to pull him to his feet. Dusting off his ass and jacket, he retracted his fangs and the claws that had dug into the dirt when he’d fallen.
“I’m... I’m sorry, Reardon.” What had he been thinking? That he’d fight Reardon and win? A made werewolf against a natural werewolf was probably a stupid idea. Though Kole, Reardon, and Jaemus were about the same size, there was no mistaking Reardon had a little something... more. It had made him such a successful commander of his army. Men didn’t question Reardon McAlator.
“I want to deck him sometimes too,” Jaemus said. “I remember something from before I was a werewolf and I get... perturbed that I’m no longer a normal human.” He smiled. “Then I remember everything that’s happened to get me to my soul mate, to Nika, and suddenly I don’t care about anything from my past anymore.” He put his arm around Kole’s shoulders and gave him a slight shake. “So when you get the urge to rip my brother’s head off, think about Emma. You wouldn’t have found her without Reardon.”
Just hearing Emma’s name put Kole at ease. Twisted as it sounded, Jaemus was right. Every event before coming to Vermont had led to meeting Emma. Meeting her. Loving her. Wanting to spend the rest of his life with her. His entire existence now meant something because of Emma.
Shawn needed such a purpose as well.
“How do we find this Jessica Fairheart?” he asked.
“Dylan already did.” Brandy jogged out to them, holding the boy’s tablet. At Reardon’s raised brow, she shrugged. “Hey, the kid is curious. Like me. I had to give him something to do besides pressing his face against the glass in the front window to watch a couple of werewolves fight.”
“We didn’t fight,” Kole said.
“No, but my husband did throw you down to the ground like an uncivilized host.” She gave Reardon a sideways glare and Reardon looked away.
Kole liked how Brandy could reduce his former leader to a penitent man, wanting his wife’s approval.
Never underestimate the power of a female, Kole, Brandy thought.
He didn’t. He knew lasses were forces beyond his power. One thought of Emma and he’d do positively anything she asked of him.
“So this Jessica Fairheart lives in Maine. She must have just boarded the train before it hit Shawn. She’s an artist.” Brandy tapped the tablet then turned it toward Kole. “She sells her stuff online.”
Kole took the tablet and viewed a vast selection of pottery. Many of the pieces were useful wares such as bowls, vases, and pitchers, but others were more whimsical sculptures that one would buy to display as conversation pieces. The work was impressive and when Kole tapped on the “About Jessica” section of the website, Jessica’s equally impressive picture came up.
“Don’t see many like that in Ireland,” Jaemus said over Kole’s shoulder.
With her long, thick black hair, tan skin, and dark brown eyes, Jessica Fairheart certainly wasn’t an Irish lass. She was breathtaking though, and Kole could see how his brother had fallen for her. Assuming he had.
“It would explain his foul mood,” Reardon said. “Being away from one’s soul mate has negative effects.”
“Do you think she feels the same negative effects?” Kole asked.
“Only one way to find out.” Jaemus took the tablet and tapped the screen. “She’s got a physical store as well as this online stuff. The phone number is right here.”
“Send that to my phone, will you? I’ll call her later today.” Maybe there was a reason he shouldn’t contact this woman. Maybe whatever had been between her and Shawn hadn’t ended well. Maybe she didn’t feel the same about Shawn as Shawn felt about her. Maybe Kole would be bringing more hurt—or more anger—to his brother.
Too many maybes. He needed to see Emma before he made any decisions.
“Thanks for your help today. I’m sorry about my temper before.” Kole held out his hand to Reardon.
His cousin instantly shook it. “No worries. I understand. There will always be some anger toward me. I deserve it, but we have to focus on the good in our lives and there is much good.”
Five minutes later after listening to a voicemail saying he was officially hired to work at the construction site with Reardon and Jaemus, Kole was on his bike, heading back to the inn to see Emma. How had her meeting gone? Was the DJ going to play Hendrake on the radio? Would his Emma become famous?
As he traveled down the twisting roads, he wondered how Emma being famous would work. Musicians toured. He could make a home in Vermont with Emma, but she’d be away from it sometimes, traveling the country, maybe even the world. How would that factor in with caring for Kylie? And was his new job at the construction site going to lead to something more permanent? Right now they were looking for more help. He needed something that would stick. How could he make himself indispensable?
Why was today so full of questions that Kole’s head felt as if someone were banging around inside it with a hammer?
A hammer. He’d be using one at the construction job. He hoped he used it well and that someone noticed.
****
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Emma marched out of Rosie’s Diner with Torrin right on her heels, her heart racing as she slipped into full-blown panic mode.
How does Torrin know about Kole?
The two of them hadn’t spent that much time in each other’s company. It wasn’t as if you could look at a werewolf and know. She hadn’t known anyway. Not when she’d first met Kole in Deer Creek Inn’s dining room. Now that she was a wolf, however, her sense of smell allowed her to sort people into werewolf and not-werewolf categories. Most people fell in the not-werewolf category save for Kole, Reardon, Jaemus, and Brandy.
But now Torrin knows?
She didn’t have a clue about what she was supposed to do here. She knew this werewolf thing was supposed to remain a secret, but what happened when a human found out and wasn’t someone’s soul mate? Brandy and Nika had discovered what Reardon and Jaemus were, but the soul mate bond made that okay. What about Dylan and Meredith? Were they permitted to know because they were family? What were the rules?
Torrin was not Emma’s soul mate. Of that she was quite sure and he didn’t appear to know that she was a werewolf. He’d only mentioned Kole.
She reached her car, but Torrin grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. “Emma, I know what I saw.”
“Saw?” She wished she could block out what Torrin was about to say. If he said it out loud, she’d have to do something about it.
Torrin scrunched his face up as if he were in pain then, seeming to realize he had a tight grip on her, he let her go and stepped between her and her car. Glancing in either direction down the sidewalk, he whispered, “I saw him go from a man to... an animal.”
“Animal?”
“He changed, Emma. I was still on the porch after the rest of you had called it a night. I was too excited about the radio opportunity. I couldn’t sleep so I sat on the swing in the dark.” He leaned against the car door and Emma had no hope of escaping.
“I heard something in the woods. Something big. As I watched the trees, a huge brown wolf came out. It was massive.” Torrin’s eyes grew wide and he covered his mouth, shaking his head, as if reliving the moment in his head disturbed him. “I was ready to bolt inside, but then the wolf shimmered and suddenly Kole was standing there instead.”
He looked as if he were about to vomit all over the sidewalk, and Emma felt terrible. She probably would have reacted in much the same way if she’d discovered what Kole was without being a werewolf herself. The story was easy to believe and accept when you’d turned into a wolf yourself.
“He’s a werewolf, Emma. They’re real.” He rummaged around in the bag slung across his chest and produced an ancient-looking book. “I found this in the library.”
Emma took the book, not sure what else to do. So far, she hadn’t said anything to confirm or deny his suspicions. She had to remain neutral. Appear normal. Fix this. Somehow.
The book was bound in navy-blue leather, fancy swirls etched into the borders of the covers and the side binding. The Way of the Wolf was scrawled in elegant script across the front cover. Slowly, Emma opened the book and carefully—as the pages were thin and frail—she flipped through the first chapter where words like lupine, canis, metamorphosis, and irreversible jumped out at her.
Schooling her expression, she snapped the book closed and pushed it back at Torrin though a part of her wanted to take it back to her room and comb through the pages. It’d be nice to know more than what Reardon had explained to her.
“This is just a book, Torrin. Total fiction.” She tried to move around him to get in her car, but he wouldn’t budge.
“Not fiction, Emma, dammit. They file it in the reference section. I asked about that and the librarian got real sketchy about the why of it, as if she were hiding something.” He jammed the book into his bag and clamped his hands on her biceps. “Listen to me. Kole is dangerous. You need to get away from him. We can pack up the van and be out of here today.”
“No, we can’t.” Emma thrust her hand back toward the diner. “We need to stay in Vermont while we’re getting air time here. We have to make the most of our chance. It’s better to stay local. Besides, we have more songs to write and all those business card leads to look into. We’ve only been here a few days. We said we would stay a few weeks.”
Although, if she had her way, she’d be making Vermont her permanent residence.
“You’re not hearing me.” He shook her. “The man is a monster, Emma. You can’t be with him. He’ll hurt you. He could... oh, God, he could turn you.”
Emma let out a gasp and Torrin’s gaze snapped up to hers. She tried to squirm out of his grip, but his hold was iron tight.
Narrowing his eyes, Torrin stared at her. “He already has, hasn’t he? You’re one of them.” He released her and started backpedaling away from her. “Now it makes sense why you’re so taken with him and so quickly. He turned you.”
“Torrin.” She took a step toward him. “You’re being ridiculous.”
His arms whipped up, his hands out flat to her. “No, no. Stay back. You’re not going to bite me.”
A few passersby on the sidewalk around them slowed their walking to look at them. Emma gave them smiles and what she hoped was a reassuring look.
“He’s practicing for a play. Good, isn’t he?”
Some nodded and continued on their way while others gave Torrin a look as if he might be crazy. Fortunately, they too kept walking.
“Torrin, get over here.” She stopped progressing toward him because every step she took forward, he took back. “Let’s get in the car and go somewhere to talk about this nonsense.”
Torrin shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Emma, but I will find a way to make you better. He won’t get away with what’s he done to you. I’ll make him pay.”
Make him pay? Jesus. She had to stop him before he did something stupid or dangerous or stupidly dangerous.
As she was about to plead with him once again to get in the car, the familiar rumble of a motorcycle made her look to the street. Kole gave her a wave and pulled his bike into the parking space beside her car. He yanked off his helmet and under any other circumstances she would have enjoyed the smile he sent her way, the heat in his eyes when he looked at her, the muscles showcased beneath his jeans as he swung his leg over his bike and approached her.
When he got closer, he paused and she knew he was reading her thoughts.
Torrin knows. He knows what we are.
Kole’s crystal blue eyes shot to Torrin. How?
He saw you change last night at the inn.
Gods be damned. I thought I heard something on the porch.
What do we do?
“You get away from her!” Torrin yelled, earning the attention of everyone on the street now. “Don’t you touch her!”
We have to contain him, Kole said.
How? Emma was out of options and now the crowd was getting larger. Some people had their phones out too.
Follow my lead. Kole grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the car. “I’m not getting away from her, Torrin. She’s mine. She doesn’t love you. She loves me.”
Torrin shook his head and took a few steps toward them as Kole opened the car door and nudged Emma inside. “You’re controlling her somehow. Emma’s not herself.”
Kole let out a laugh that made him sound maniacal. “Emma is absolutely who she was meant to be, and you have two choices, Torrin. One, you can keep walking down that street and be out of her life forever or two, you can get in this car and we’ll work out something that’s good for everyone. What’s it going to be?”
The crowd around them shifted their attention to Torrin, eager for his response. Emma feared that several of them had gotten this entire display on video or had called the police. She and Kole had to get Torrin off the street right now.
She started the car and rolled down her window. “Come on, Torrin. You’re my best friend. Get in the car and we’ll sort this out.”
When he didn’t move right away, Kole said, “Suit yourself, lad.” He got into the driver’s seat, closed the door, and clenched his hands on the wheel. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“What if he doesn’t come with us? We can’t force him with all these witnesses.”
“I don’t have another plan, Beauty. This is it.”
That didn’t make her feel any better.
Through the windshield, she watched as Torrin battled with himself. She felt awful for putting him through this. He wasn’t supposed to ever find out. Why hadn’t Kole been more careful when shifting?
“How was I supposed to know he’d be on that porch at that hour of the night?”
She touched Kole’s arm. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. My mind’s all over the place right now.” So all over the place that she hadn’t noticed Torrin approaching the car, people in the crowd warning him back or cheering him on.
When the back passenger door opened and he slid into the seat, she turned to him. “Give us the chance to talk, okay?”
Torrin nodded and looked at Kole. “Don’t hurt Emma. Or me.”
“I would never.”
Kole jerked Emma’s car out of the parking spot and sped down the street away from Rosie’s Diner and the audience they’d collected. He looked at Torrin in the rearview mirror. “Thank you for coming with us.”
“What choice did I have?”
A loud click sounded. As Emma turned to look back at Torrin, he raised a gun to Kole’s neck.
“Torrin!”
“Be quiet, Emma. I can fix all of this.” He poked the nose of the gun into Kole’s flesh. “You keep driving. Get us out of this town.”
Emma wanted to ask where Torrin had gotten the gun, but she was afraid violating his be quiet edict might get Kole killed. Werewolves couldn’t heal bullet wounds to the head.
If he died, she’d die right alongside him.
They rode on, Kole’s mind screaming inside hers. I love Emma. I love Emma. I love Emma.
I love you too.
Still, the sentence kept replaying. Over and over again.
Emma committed Kole’s profile to memory as Torrin held the gun firmly, his finger poised over the trigger. She could hardly breathe. She concentrated on the set of Kole’s jaw, the muscles clenched there, the determination in his blue eyes, and realized he was blocking her out of his mind with the I love Emma line.
What are you planning, Kole? Suddenly her wolf prowled around close to the surface and she feared the adrenaline pumping through her would force a shift she couldn’t afford right now. She hadn’t spent that much time in wolf form, but one shift and she could overpower Torrin, assuming he didn’t squeeze off a shot first.
Don’t, Emma. Kole glanced at her without moving his head. Trust me.
As the streets of Canville faded behind them, she hoped trusting Kole was the right thing to do.
Chapter Eighteen
A million what-ifs ran through Kole’s mind as that gun pressed against the back of his neck. What if he’d been more careful about shifting last night? What if Torrin hadn’t been on that porch? What if Vermont had never been a stop on Kole’s cross-country tour? What if he’d never met Emma?
What if something happened to Emma?
No. I won’t let that happen.
“Where did you get that gun, Torrin?” Emma’s voice was gentle, but Kole could smell her anxiety.
“This is Vermont, Emma. Even Gran probably has a gun back at the inn,” Torrin said.
