Page 11 of Rocky Top

Here we go.

The world had cracked open.

And nothin’ was ever gonna be the same again.

Chapter 2

Birdie

I may not look like the camping type, but after all the shit with Eliza’s ex, Mark, mainly my best friend being pissed at me for not telling her about what a piece of shit her ex-husband was, as if she didn’t already know, I craved solitude. With all that mess cleared up, namely my ex, Brent, Mark’s associate, who’d been threatening me, hightailing it out of Knoxville, pitching a tent in the Tennessee mountains seemed like the perfect escape. The cool night, crickets chirping, and campfire were meant to offer some peace.

Supposed to.

Instead, I found myself on the ground, heart racing, staring into the darkness where moments before, a massive wolf had stood. Not just any wolf. A beast, larger than life, with glowing eyes that seemed to pierce through me. And yet, it had saved me from... something. The details were hazy as fear clouded my memory.

I needed answers. That’s why I went with Rocky. I’d never ridden on a motorcycle before, not in a way that involved leaning into a man built like him. But I wrapped my arms around his waist and plastered myself to his back like my life depended on it.

And for a minute, maybe it had.

The Wild Dog was all smoke, leather, and secrets.

Not exactly the kind of place a girl like me was supposed to feel comfortable, but here I was, fresh off a full-blown panic attack and still wearing dirt-stained leggings and a ripped hoodie, practically vibrating with nerves.

This place? It was chaos on a stick. Laughter, swearing, beer bottles clinking, some Lynyrd Skynyrd blasting from a jukebox in the corner. Big, bearded bikers loitered near the pool tables and the bar, the whole place hazy with smoke and testosterone. But I didn’t care about any of that. Not tonight.

Because I’d seen a monster.

Or maybe my guardian angel.

Whatever it was, it was big, it was furry, and it had saved me from something in the woods that sure as hell hadn’t been a deer.

“Eliza!” I spotted her at the bar, leaning over and talking to Knox like she owned the damn place. Which, judging by the way Knox looked at her, maybe she did.

She spun when she heard my voice. “Oh my God, Birdie.”

I must’ve looked like a damn sight. Her face dropped and she rushed to meet me. “What happened?” she asked, gripping my arms and tugging me out of the walkway. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I was camping,” I stammered. “Just one night, you know? Thought I’d clear my head. But there was something out there. Something huge. I got attacked.”

“Attacked?” Eliza’s brows shot up. “By what?”

Ishook my head. “I don’t know. I didn’t see it clearly. It moved so fast. But then this wolf came out of nowhere. Big. Like... not normal big. It saved me. I swear, Eliza, it saved me.”

A pause. Eliza’s gaze flicked over my shoulder. “A wolf?”

“That’s what I said.”

She exchanged a look with Knox, who’d risen from his barstool, beer in hand, expression stormy. “You sure it was a wolf?” he asked, his voice deep and low like rolling thunder.

I blinked at him as Eliza pulled me into a hug. “I mean, I don’t know. What else could it have been?”

“Eliza,” Knox said, already turning. “Get her cleaned up. I need a word with Rocky.”

And just like that, he was gone.

Rocky.

The man who barely spoke two words to me most days but somehow still managed to make my stomach flip with a single look. He was all hard edges, tight shirts over tighter muscles, with that haunted look in his eyes that said he’d seen things, done things, and wasn’t proud of all of them. He was also sexy as sin and just as dangerous.

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