Home > Haven (Relentless #5)(16)

Haven (Relentless #5)(16)
Author: Karen Lynch

My eyes shot open to see the huge body sink down to the grass a few feet away. His head lowered to rest on his paws, and his amber eyes fixed on me.

I stared at him for a long moment before it hit me he was not going to attack. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was guarding me. But then, maybe he was. Sara said the local pack was safe, and werewolves were known to protect humans, not kill them. That didn’t explain why the first two had been so aggressive, but as long as they were gone, I wasn’t going to question it.

The fact that he’d sniffed me and hadn’t gotten aggressive filled me with enormous relief. It meant there really was no trace of the vampire left in me. Deep inside, I’d feared it was still a part of me, but now I knew I was truly free of the demon. If it wasn’t for the werewolf lying five feet away, I would have laughed or cried, or both.

We stayed like that for the next twenty minutes. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave, and I was afraid to move and test out my theory that he was only watching over me. His size and the way the other wolves had submitted to him made me think he must be someone with authority in the pack. Not the Alpha or the smaller wolves would not have challenged him in the first place, but definitely someone dominant.

“Emma.”

Scott called to me from the direction of the lighthouse. He must be wondering where I’d gotten to. He hadn’t reached the cove yet, and he was in for a hell of a shock when he did.

He called my name again, a little closer this time.

The wolf growled, and I turned back to him, my heart pounding. But he was looking down the beach and not at me. I didn’t know if he was being protective of me or aggressive at the sound of Scott’s voice, and I didn’t want to find out.

I stood slowly, keeping my eyes on him. He lifted his head, and his gaze shifted to me.

“Um, that’s my friend. He’s looking for me.” I picked up my bag and hooked the strap over my shoulder. “You should go before he gets here.”

For a long moment, he stared at me without moving. Then he stood on four legs, and I swallowed when I saw his eyes were level with mine. Power seemed to emanate from him, and I couldn’t help but see the wild beauty in his fierce features.

He blinked and made a chuffing sound, almost like he was trying to tell me something. Turning away from me, he walked into the woods. His steps were so quiet I wouldn’t have known he was there if I wasn’t looking at him. How could such an enormous creature walk with that kind of stealth?

He stopped walking once he reached the cover of the trees. His black fur blended into the shadows, but his eyes glowed in the darkness. I should have felt afraid knowing a werewolf was watching me from the trees, but he hadn’t given me any reason to fear him.

Scott shouted my name again, and I called back to let him know where I was. A minute later, he appeared around the bend in the shore that marked the end of the cove.

“Emma, thank God. I didn’t know what to think when I couldn’t find you.”

“I’m so sorry. I wanted to explore, and I lost track of time. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” He smiled when he reached me. “So you found Wolf Cove? What do you think of it?”

“Wolf Cove?” The name startled me after what I’d encountered.

He laughed. “Don’t worry; we have no wolves here. When my dad was a kid, someone claimed they saw a wolf, and it’s been called Wolf Cove ever since.”

We started walking back to the lighthouse. I stumbled on a rock, and Scott grabbed my arm to steady me. Something that sounded like a growl came from the woods, but I ignored it and kept walking. If Scott heard anything, he didn’t mention it.

I felt the wolf’s eyes on me as we made our way along the beach. When we reached the end of the cove, I looked back at the spot where he’d been. I could no longer see him, but I could almost feel his presence there. A small shiver went through me, and I turned to follow Scott out of the cove.

Roland

I watched Emma and Scott until they disappeared around the bend in the shore, and then I set off after the two wolves who had frightened her. It wasn’t difficult to follow their trail and to know exactly where they were headed. My longer stride covered the ground fast, and within ten minutes, I caught up to them at the edge of the woods behind Brendan’s farm.

I shifted immediately, not wanting to stay in wolf form with these two any longer than necessary. I would have stayed away from them altogether, but I couldn’t let them think what they’d done at the cove was acceptable.

Striding over to one of the run boxes, I grabbed the clothes I’d left there when I went out on patrol. I noticed the two wolves staring at me as I unrolled my jeans, and I presented them with my back. I’d never been shy of my nudity, but the gleam in their eyes made me feel like a steak about to be devoured.

I stiffened when a hand stroked my bare back, and I looked over my shoulder at Lex, who smiled suggestively at me.

“Your wolf is magnificent,” she almost purred. “I bet he’d like to come back out and play.”

I stepped away from her and pulled my T-shirt over my head. “Not today.”

She pouted and put her hands on her hips, drawing my eyes downward. Man, the girl had a killer body, and she knew how to flaunt it.

“Like what you see?” she asked boldly.

The last thing I wanted was to encourage her. She was gorgeous, but I didn’t really like her that much. And there was the matter of her breaking a pack law that had to be dealt with.

“Get dressed, Lex. You too, Julie,” I said to the other girl. “Then you’re going to tell me what the hell you were thinking back there.”

Julie scurried to pull on a sundress. Lex rolled her eyes before she sauntered over to don shorts and a tank top.

I waited until they were fully clothed to speak again.

“Either of you want to tell me whose idea it was to frighten that girl?” I asked harshly, remembering the terror on Emma’s face and the scent of it on her skin.

Lex scoffed. “She was trespassing on pack land.”

“This whole town is in pack territory, and it’s our job to protect the people who live here,” I barked at her. “You two exposed our kind to a human. That’s against pack law.”

Julie gasped. “But at home –”

“I don’t know how you do things up north, but I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to terrorize humans. Maxwell wouldn’t stand for it.” I crossed my arms. “What if she tells someone about you?”

Lex waved a hand dismissively. “Who would believe her?”

Her lack of concern heightened my anger. “How do you know no one would believe her? How do you know word won’t travel and werewolf hunters won’t come sniffing around? Or one of those crazy paranormal investigators?”

Julie paled and Lex looked guilty. It wasn’t enough. I didn’t want to think about what might have happened if I hadn’t been out by the lighthouse on patrol.

“What are you going to do?” Julie asked shakily.

“You two are very lucky because I know that girl, and I’m going to make sure she doesn’t tell anyone about this.”

Lex’s eyebrow shot up.

I shook my head. “I don’t know if she knows what we are, but her cousin’s one of my best friends. Sara knows all about us.”

“You’re lecturing us about exposing ourselves to humans, but you have human friends who know about us?” Lex asked angrily.

“Sara’s not human. She’s Mohiri,” I said, and their expressions told me they’d heard about her. “But her cousin Emma is human and under my protection.”

I didn’t know where that last part had come from, but as soon as I said it, I meant it. Emma was Sara’s cousin, and I’d protect her just as I would Sara. I was going to have to call Sara and tell her what happened. I didn’t know if she’d told Emma about us, but there was no way Emma could have mistaken us for normal wolves. The way she’d spoken to me was not the way one would talk to an animal.

“You’re not going to tell Maxwell what we did?” Julie asked in a hopeful voice.

   
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