Page 109 of Big Bad Wolf

“Ruby…”

“Okay.” Ruby held up her hands in surrender even though Lena couldn’t see her. “I’m going. We can chat more about this … uh … later.” She hesitated a minute longer outside Lena’s door in case she changed her mind. At least she was safe for the moment, Ruby told herself as she backed away from Lena’s room. Safe and sound. And Ruby had unfinished business with Rafe.

Business she intended to finish very soon.

She hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen. Rafe was still out front with Theo. Ruby paced the small kitchen, her heart thundering in her chest. What the hell was he doing out there? Holding some kind of werewolf summit? Her foot knocked into the cat dish as she walked, and it rattled across the floor.

“Shoot,” she muttered. The dish was empty, so she pulled out the cat food and gave it a shake, expecting Lucy to come running, but the little demon was nowhere to be seen. She poured it and still no cat. That was odd. The glutton always came when he heard the kibble hit the dish.

“Lucifer? Where are you? Did you return to the depths of hell?” She made the universal cat kissy-face noise, but still no cat. Ruby blew out a long sigh and opened the back door. It wouldn’t be the first time he got out. Damn cat had a deep love for sparrows. Not to eat, just to stare at for hours on end. Sometimes he liked to get a closer look.

“Lucy? Lucy, where are you?”

How long had he been gone? she wondered as she stalked out into the yard. A small stab of guilt hit her at not realizing sooner he was missing. She was a horrible cat mom.

“Lucifer, come on home. Who wants belly scratches?” she cooed.

She walked to the edge of the yard where she’d let the grass grow far too tall.

“Is that you?” She peered into the darkness between the trees, and a set of golden eyes peered back. “Holy shit,” she whispered.

“Looking for me, sweetheart?” Wyatt’s eyes flashed and his mouth tipped into a wolfy grin. Ruby’s skin crawled at the endearment. It held none of the teasing familiarity it did when Sal used it.

“What are you doing here?”

Wyatt leaned against the nearest tree, his posture deceptively relaxed, like the edge of the woods was a perfectly reasonable place to chat.

“You’re a hard woman to get a hold of. I wasn’t expecting you’d hire a bodyguard.”

“He’s not a bodyguard.”

Wyatt smirked. “Call him whatever you like, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me that.” She tried backing away. She needed to get closer to the house, out of the shadows. Could anyone see her back here?

But Wyatt grabbed her by the arm. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, even as his fingers clamped down on her bicep.

“Then what the hell do you want?”

“We want your help.”

“For what?” If she kept him talking long enough Rafe would come looking for her. Wouldn’t he?

Wyatt tugged her arm, pulling her further into the darkness.

“Our Alpha thinks your little talent could be very handy for our pack.”

“I don’t have any talents.” She still didn’t know if he thought she was Lena or if he even knew they were twins. Or if he thought they were both seers and he’d take either one. But what she said was true. She didn’t have any talents that could help this wolf or his Alpha or anyone. One lousy dream over a decade ago didn’t make her omniscient. This guy was sorely misinformed.

“We’ve heard stories that suggest otherwise.”

“You can’t believe everything you hear. Especially around here.”

He’d been tugging her slowly into the woods. The hulking shapes of two giant wolves hovered in the shadows.

Fuck.

Where the hell was Rafe?