Page 12 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part Two

CHAPTER SIX Vuk

“I will do it regardless of consequence,” Jeff said. “But if there’s a way to see this through and keep my identity untouched, that would be a strong preference.”

“The people who’d know are Keir, Lochlan, Evie, Ivy…”

“And you.”

“And me.” Esme sank down in the big corner chair. “If we pledge to keep it secret, we will.”

“I can count on that?” Jeff asked, eyes squinted with suspicion.

“You can. What would you need to feel secure?”

“Blood oath.” Esme’s eyebrows went up. “Just kidding. The only one that gives me pause is Ivy. She’s flighty.”

“Funny.”

“Wasn’t meant to be. And you do know what I meant. She wouldn’t mean to let it slip.”

“Well, on second thought, she knows about Rita, but she doesn’t know about your involvement. Yet. It’s easy enough to ask Lochlan to keep her out of it.”

“I can live with that.”

“Done. We’ll be the fellowship of Jeff.”

“Seems I’ve become a social climber.”

Esme shook her head. “We’re the beggars pinning our hopes on you.”

While Jeff spent time alone with Rita and Esme, Evie stepped out onto the porch where Lochland and Keir sat in big white Adirondack chairs.

“I’m off to ask my mother-in-law about the door chime.”

“Good,” said Keir with the economy of words he used with most people who weren’t Rita.

“Esme said she saw that werewolf in town,” Evie added before she left.

Keir’s irises took on a goldish color while his upper lip pulled back. It could’ve been the beginning of a snarl. Definitely not his best look.

“When?” he said in a voice overladen with a soft, but lethal-sounding, growl.

“Today,” she said looking at her nails.

“Where?” he said in a voice overladen with a slightly louder, lethal-sounding, growl.

“Don’t kill the werewolf, Keir,” Evie said.

He looked at Rita’s still-as-death form. “I can’t do anything about the state my wife is in, but I can make sure that walking mange never speaks her name again.”

Evie’s nod seemed out of place with the somber expression on her face. “Hear this warning, Keir. I may be younger than you, but I know my mother and you should consider this a crucible of marriage counseling. She won’t thank you for it. She doesn’t especially like him, but she has a protective instinct toward the whole last-of-his-kind thing. I was there when she met him.”

Keir’s head jerked toward Evie. “What?”

“Yeah.” Evie nodded. “Sherwood Forest.”

Keir lowered his chin and gave Evie a look of intensity that no one else would dare turn on the Irish queen. “I want to hear this,” he said in his normal tone sans growl.

She inhaled deeply with relief, perceiving that she’d caught his interest, and noticed the signs of shifting to his alter-form were reversing.

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