Page 23 of Big Bad Wolf

But his brothers weren’t here. None of his people were.

He would have to protect Ruby on his own.

Whether she wanted him to or not.

It had been a week since Rafe had nearly murdered a man on her behalf, and she hadn’t seen him since. She was currently pretending she didn’t care.

Ruby peered into the darkness between the trees. If she hadn’t lived here nearly her entire life she wouldn’t have even known there was a trail here. It didn’t have a Trailhead sign or a map or one of those little notebooks in which hikers recorded that they had been there. Those notebooks had always freaked Ruby out. She knew they were only used in the worst situations. When hikers hadn’t returned. She shivered at the thought.

How long would she have to be missing before anyone thought to look here?

This trail was known only to the locals. It wasn’t a hike. It was simply a walk home. It just happened to be through the trees instead of the streets.

And it had been another long night, and she was eager to get home.

The bar had been empty except for Sal and a few other regulars. The hours had dragged on, tedious and dull. Just putting one foot in front of the other now seemed to take an inhuman amount of energy. And focus to not crash into a tree. Her cell had died hours ago, depriving her of a flashlight.

She wondered what Rafe would have to say if he knew she was taking this shortcut again. She laughed to herself. At least she wasn’t talking to strange men. Here, she only had to worry about wild animals.

A stick cracked somewhere off the trail and Ruby’s heart lurched.

“Hello?”

The only answer was the hoot of an owl. What was she expecting? A squirrel to respond? She was obviously tired to the verge of delirium. Another point in favor of taking this route. The sooner she got home, the sooner she could be tucked into bed.

Unfortunately, the moon was covered by clouds and the darkness was thick around her. She could barely see a few steps in front of her face, but she slowly made her way down the trail.

A rustle in the leaves to her left and she swiveled just in time to see silver eyes flash in the dark.

What the hell⁠—

A breathy sound stopped her in her tracks. She could make out a shape in the shadows now, and it didn’t belong to a human. Her heart rammed against her rib cage, and some primitive part of her brain kicked into overdrive.

Danger.

Danger.

Run.

Run, Ruby, you are going to die!!

Nothing.

Her feet were glued to the spot. She was worse than a deer in headlights. She was a quivering rabbit in the sights of a predator.

“Holy shit,” she breathed. Less than a few feet away stood the biggest wolf she had ever seen in her life, not that she had seen many, thank God.

How do you survive a wolf attack? Her panicked brain scrambled for an answer. Play dead? Run? Try to look bigger than you are? Every whispered story told around town evaporated from her memory. Not a single survival tale remained.

Where the hell was the large man who so badly wanted to protect her when she really needed him?!

The wolf hadn’t moved since she’d spotted him. He just watched her with those silver eyes. Ruby put up both hands and backed away slowly.

“I’m just going to go now,” she whispered. “No need to eat me. I’m sure I taste terrible anyway.”

The wolf gave a low growl. Ruby took another step backward. Her heel snagged on a root and she tumbled, landing on her ass. She hit the ground hard, knocking whatever shaky breath she had from her lungs, pain shooting up her tailbone.

Everything stopped. Her heart, her breath, her swirling thoughts. She had been wrong that first night when she met Rafe. This, here, now, was how she died.