“I don’t know. It’s just a rumor, hon. There may be nothing to it at all.” My father responds.
“But Trey told us. He said he’s working on it.”
“That’s not really what he said. He was just trying to calm you down.”
“Well, I’m choosing to believe those rumors.”
My mother turns away in a huff, stubborn as always, and my father kisses her on the cheek on his way past her to open the front door. They haven’t changed a bit.
I crouch down, hoping they don’t look over here or catch my scent. I’ve abandoned my whole plan to confront them today. I can’t shake up their lives like that. Not now.
I pull myself out of the bushes after they’re inside, and I feel him before I turn around. Trey. No, Trey’s wolf. Fuck. I turn and see him, a huge brown and shaggy wolf, there on the sidewalk.
I notice that it’s gotten dark in the time I’ve been hiding in those bushes. No one else is around. If he mauls me right here and hauls off the pieces, no one will know.
But he doesn’t do that. He goes into those bushes I’d just been hiding in and transforms right there. I can feel the power radiating off of him.
Most wolves can’t do that, not that quickly or seamlessly. He must have been waiting for me to come out and stashed his clothes because he emerged from the greenery, pulling a shirt over his torso.
I catch a glimpse of his abs as he walks over to me, pulling the shirt down, and feel a sharp tingle run down my body. What the fuck was that?
Before I have a chance to ponder it, he grabs my arm and pulls me toward the street. I see a car there with tinted windows, and my fear spikes. Will I make it out of this car?
At this point, I’m moving on autopilot. Some part of me still hopes we’ll get back to the bridal shop without the occurrence ofmy death, and I hold onto that part with everything I have. Trey lets go of my arm once he puts me in the back of the car.
“Go,” he tells the driver.
“You got her before anyone saw her?”
Holy shit, Violet is the driver!
“Yeah, we’re good. They didn’t notice she was there.”
“Good.” She stretches her neck around to look at me. “Do you realize how incredibly lucky you are, Heather?”
“Violet, watch the road!”
She faces forward again, and no one says another word the entire way back to the shop. When we get there, Violet pulls the car around to the back of the building, and Trey gets out. He comes around to my side, opens the door, and takes my arm.
“Stay here,” he says to Violet.
“You’re not gonna—?” She makes a motion with a finger across her throat.
“No. Just stay in the car.”
“Fine.”
She takes her phone out of her purse on the passenger seat and Trey leads me inside. When we get to the break room, aka my living quarters, he throws me down, and my ass hits the thin carpet, taking me by surprise yet again.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” He roars.
And I meanroars. Like a wolf roar, if that’s a thing. I scoot back until I hit the wall, trying to put as much distance between us as possible. I don’t dare try to run. I know that would make things horribly worse.
“Well?” He demands, his voice back to normal.
“I don’t know,” I whimper. “I thought I could just see them, and no one would notice.”
“You’re joking, right?”