Page 10 of Midlife Animal Rescuer Wolf

“So... this ex-boyfriend of yours...” Bryon said then, as though reading her mind. “Care to tell me why he’s after you?”

“Long story.”

“Seems like we’ve got plenty of time.”

Miranda glanced at him for a moment, biting her lip. Did she trust him enough to tell him that much? She’d met this man barely an hour ago.

Then again, how much worse could things possibly get for her? As it was, she was already in danger. She might as well tell him what he wanted to know.

“Jerry and I met at a party a little over a year ago,” she began.

His features contorted into a slight frown then, and she wondered whether something she said had bothered him. When he didn’t speak, she went on.

“He was pretty nice,” she said, stepping over a small cluster of roots. “I mean, nice enough, anyway.” And funny, too, if she recalled correctly. By the end of that night, she’d decided she liked Jerry. Barely a week later, they’d gone on their first date, and a month later, they’d made things official.

Looking back on it, maybe she shouldn’t have let things progress so quickly.

“But that was just a mask,” Bryon filled in for her. “It usually is.”

She nodded. “That mask disappeared after a couple of months. The nice man I’d met at the party suddenly turned into this unkind, hurtful asshole. He’d drink excessively, threw a fit whenever he saw me with another man, even if it was a coworker, and...” She trailed off, swallowing a lump of annoyance as memories rose from the depths of her mind. “I’m not even sure why I stayed. I should’ve left him the second he started behaving like such a jerk to me.

“Things got worse. I’ll spare you the details, but Jerry turned into an even bigger asshole over time. And then two months ago, I paid him a visit at his apartment. Guess who was having the time of his life in bed with another woman? Here’s a hint: His name rhymes with merry.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bryon shake his head. He wasn’t going to laugh at her, was he? She wasn’t sure why it mattered, but she’d rather he didn’t think her some kind of idiot.

They walked for a while in silence before Bryon asked, “You did leave him after you walked in on him, right?”

“Of course. That was the last straw.” She brushed aside a branch hanging in front of her face, rubbing her hand against her pajama bottoms to dislodge an insect that had latched onto her skin in the process. “I told him I was done with him. At first, he didn’t believe me. He said no one would believe me if I told them what happened. He said I’d come crawling back to him eventually.”

Bryon grunted. “Just hearing you talk about him makes me want to punch him in the face.”

“You and me both.” Miranda couldn’t resist a small smile. It faded quickly. “I thought it was all over then. Figured I’d gotten away for good. But, of course, I was wrong.”

It had started with a text from Jerry on a Sunday afternoon, begging her to forgive him and give their relationship another shot. Then three days later, he’d begun demanding she respond to him. Even now, she could still remember the texts he’d sent her, threatening all kinds of consequences if she didn’t answer his calls and try to fix things with him.

At that point, she should’ve involved the police. Then maybe she wouldn’t be in this mess.

“This morning, Jerry showed up at my house, yelling and threatening me.” She scoffed. “To be honest, I’m surprised at how fast I got out of bed and out of that house. He followed me around Everland until I decided it was pointless trying to escape from him with my car and ran into the woods, instead.”

Bryon’s eyebrows nearly shot up into his hair. Okay, so maybe he did think she was an idiot.

“Look,” she said, rushing to defend herself, “I was desperate. I didn’t know what else to do. Jerry is dangerous.”

And so is Bryon, she said to herself. He’s just as dangerous, if not more so.

Maybe she was attracted to dangerous men. It would explain why she’d stayed with Jerry after everything he did. It certainly would explain the urges still stirring inside her as they walked together. Except Bryon was different. Miranda couldn’t remember feeling this much desire for Jerry, or anyone else, for that matter.

“I’m sorry about your ex-boyfriend,” Bryon said after another moment of silence. “If he’s still in these woods, running into us would be a mistake.”

If he was trying to make her feel better, it wasn’t working. “Why, because you’re a werewolf?”

His expression hardened for the briefest of moments. “Because I’ll protect you. Like I’ve said enough times already, you’re safe with me.”

Did she feel better yet? Not quite. It wasn’t just the fact that he might be some kind of monster. The man was injured. What would happen if they ran into Jerry, and the only thing standing between her and her ex-boyfriend was some guy who was having trouble walking? Miranda didn’t exactly like those odds.

As if on cue, Jerry’s threat echoed in her mind: You’re not getting away from me.

The sun climbed higher in the sky as they moved through the woods, and every now and then, some creature scampered from behind a tree or peered curiously at them from a branch. Bryon moved slowly, looking mostly unfazed by their surroundings.