Page 6 of Runaway Wolf
When the haunting howl sounded again, she scrambled up and raced into the house, grabbing her suitcase at the last minute and shoving inside, slamming the heavy wooden door behind her.
She threw the deadbolt in place and right then, on the other side of the door, she heard it again.
Oooowwwwooo!
It was on the porch—sniffing where she’d sat. Noah had been right. Wild animals. And one had wandered right up onto the porch.
Adrenaline made her heart pound. That had been close.
Chapter Two
SHE WAS UP AT the crack of dawn, showered and sitting in Penny’s robe. She’d been up all night with the damn howling wild wolf outside, pacing, pacing. Up and down. And now she was kicking herself.
Penny accused her of thinking like Mom and Dad, of aligning herself with their wild theories… and she never denied it.
Her sister had run once before. Caitlin watched her leave last night—like a dumbass—with the boyfriend, no, the fiancé, that she’d picked over their parents.
A shifter.
She had no idea where he lived. Would Penny even come back? Did she offer her this cabin to let her guard down while she ran again?
God, she was such a dumbass. She was about to smack her palm to her forehead when the front door swung open.
Now she just looked up at the person standing there—like the dumbass that she was. But the relief in her was so thick, she wondered if they could feel it.
“You look like shit.”
“Thanks.” She wouldn’t admit she was up all night with a freakin’ wolf pacing around outside. Scratching at the door. Howling like it was rabid and wanted a human snack.
When she’d peered through the living room curtain, she’d swear he looked right at her.
Right at her. He knew she was there, he knew she was peeking through the sheers.
“Morning.” Noah greeted her from behind Penny, his hand on the small of her waist as he made his way around her. She didn’t miss the way his hand slid down to caress her sister’s butt. He carried a paper bag of groceries to the kitchen.
She got the feeling he was going to make himself scarce.
Her feelings were confirmed when Penny grabbed a cup of coffee and brought it over to the sofa to sit with her.
“I’m sorry about yesterday.”
Caitlin sighed. “No, I am. I… I didn’t know you were dating a shifter.” Her eyes darted to Noah, but he was busy in the kitchen. “Not until you told me. And last night I called Dad to ask him how long he’d known.” She let her words drop there because it was still too horrifying to say.
Penny peered over the top of her coffee cup, her eyes tired and sad, looking older than her years.
“He’d known you were dating Noah—”
“—since we met. When I left town,” Penny finished. “I never kept it from them.”
“He still signed Turn Limitations into law.” Caitlin’s voice broke on a whisper.
Penny nodded. “He told me Noah was only with me to try to get me to work Dad into going against it. And he would sign it anyway, just to prove to me that Noah was using me. It made no sense because the bill didn’t exist when I met Noah… and then I realized either it did exist and Dad knew it was coming or he was part of creating it behind the scenes.”
That was the conclusion she had come to. “I thought you were on a break up with Cory.”
“Cory Pyre? God, no. I went out with him once and he started talking about how I’d make the perfect politician’s wife since I was already trained. Trained! Like a flying monkey.”
Caitlin snorted. She couldn’t help it, she’d been up for too long last night with that damn psycho wolf pacing the perimeter of the cabin and now she felt loopy.
