Page 56 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part One

She rolled her eyes. “That wouldn’t have worked anyway.”

“I was totally kidding. Thanks very much, Esme. I’ll be able to go back to sleep now.”And I sincerely hoped I wasn’t lying about that.

“Take some of this for your walk home,” Lochlan said.

Esme took the flowers he extended and smiled. “It’s nice to have a supply close by.”

“Ivy is especially good at wildcrafting.”

Esme nodded. “Thank her for me.”

We stood on the porch and watched Esme walk up the lane toward the village until she disappeared. That moment was paired with sounds of panting. Angus and Aisling trotted up to the porch and flopped down, tongues hanging out as they panted fast. They changed back to border collie guise perceiving the danger had passed.

“Oh, what a relief,” I said. “They’re not hurt.”

“Hurt?” Lochlan sounded mystified. “Oh, my dear. They’re not many creatures that are a match for fraighounds. They can be fearsome beasts, you know.”

I looked down at the border collies at my feet. “I don’t ever think about that.” Angus’s tail thumped against the wood floor.

It did give me a warm feeling of securing, knowing my puppies were hard to kill.

“Lochlan, my little loves are going to outlive me.”

“Yes.”

“By a lot.”

“Yes.”

“What will happen to them?”

“They’ll be very sad, of course, but they’ll get the best of care.

“You’ll take them?”

“Ivy and I would be honored, but I don’t think the enforcer would give them up. I imagine he would see them as keeping part of you with him.”

When I felt myself tearing up, I said. “Okay. Enough about that.”

In the wee hours, when peace had been restored, I was once again in a familiar bed that felt unfamiliar without Keir. I’d stacked various pillows hoping to create a backrest in bed. The book was interesting enough. My body was just more interested in sleep.

When I woke, I opened the bedroom shades. As a reminder of events of the day before, I saw several clusters of purple wolfsbane.

After my walk with Lochlan, I handed the dogs off to Olivia and strolled on into Hallow Hill. My day went from divinely pleasant to off-the-charts irritating.

I spied Cole hanging out at the green on a bench near The Hallows. On the one side, Vuk leaned lazily against a wall near Esme’s. Regardless, how could I choose which was worse?

I made my stride purposeful but not panicked. It was my town, and I was in charge. As soon as Cole spotted me, he began trotting in my direction. From the other side, the much faster werewolf charged forward like he had his own agenda and reached me first.

Looking past Vuk, I said, “Cole. Go home!”

“Right she is, bugger. Go home,” said Vuk with an unmistakable authority.

Not knowing the challenger was werewolf, or for that matter that there was such a thing outside comics and Hollywood, Cole was not nearly as cautious as he should’ve been. “What business is this of yours?” he demanded.

Vuk growled softly and bared his teeth, which caused Cole to reflexively take a step back. Apparently his sense of self-preservation was working better than his common sense. “Did he just…?”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “He just threatened you and he’s more than capable of following through. Let me suggest,strongly, that you…”

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