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“What’s going on?” He pointed to the blue light flickering above their heads. “It’s like the Northern Lights, right here in Raven’s Hollow.”
Fluffy, white clouds floated above them. Brooke’s mouth fell open when two shadowy figures dressed in nineteenth century clothing appeared. She recognized Melinda, and the stunning man beside her looked exactly like Nico. He had to be Lucas. They ran to each other and kissed, and then the clouds floated away, turning into two giant blue orbs.
“Holy shit! Did you see that?”
Brooke laughed and cried at the same time. “I’m free. The curse is broken.”
The rain stopped and the wind died down. They belonged together, and the stars agreed.
“I love you, Brooke, and I’ll never stop. I want to wake up next to you every day. What do you say, will you move in with me?”
“I say yes! I’m yours, Nico, yours forever.”
* * *
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And don’t miss more irom Shari Nichols coming soon!
Until then readEDGE OF THE WOODS, by City Owl Author, Jules Kelley. Turn the page for a sneak peek!
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SNEAK PEEK OF EDGE OF THE WOODS
BY JULES KELLEY
The sun crested the horizon, lighting the inside of the truck with an orange glow, and Leland stretched, trying to work eighteen hours of road stiffness out of his shoulders. In the distance, mountains rose above the scraggly pines like towering angels against the brightening sky, welcoming him to paradise instead of throwing him out. He spared one hand off the steering wheel to knuckle the dust and sleepless itch out of his eyes and wished for another cup of coffee.
Taking the job in Pine Grove had been a risk, but as far as he was concerned, it was already paying off. He’d washed off the last of the dust from the Arizona desert at a gas station somewhere north of Salt Lake City, and now, watching the foothills of western Montana fill his view, he barely remembered what Tucson looked like.
When he’d interviewed with the Upham County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Rylan had told him that Pine Grove was the basement office of deputy assignments.
“’Bout once a month, you’ll have to go out on the nature preserve to find some birdbrain out-of-towner who got lost on the full moon. The town trades on old folktales ’bout werewolves in the woods, and some people are dumb enough to go lookin’. Other than that, hope you like sittin’ around with your thumb up your ass waitin’ for somebody to lock themselves out of their house.”
That sounded just fine to Leland. Hell, he might even have time to go fishing every now and then. The fancy fly rod he’d bought himself a couple of years ago hadn’t been doing anything except collecting dust in his closet, and the Tucson PD staff therapist had brought it up in his final session.
“When’s the last time you took some time off to just enjoy a hobby?”
Well, no time like the present.
A flash of movement on the side of the road caught his attention—an animal stumbling up out of the ditch right in front of him—and he swore as he stomped on the brakes, pulling hard on the steering wheel. His heartbeat thudded in his ears as the vehicle skidded sideways, tires squawking as they jumped and bounced over the asphalt. The SUV finally came to a stop with one tire in the ditch, and he pried his shaking hands off the steering wheel to scrape them over his face.
He turned to look at the animal he’d almost hit and sucked in a sharp breath when he realized it wasn’t a bear or a deer, but a human, naked and filthy, hunched over as he lurched unsteadily across the pavement.
Leland was out of the driver’s seat in an instant, automatically reaching for his handset to radio Guerrera, and then swore when he remembered. He wasn’t in uniform. He wasn’t in Arizona. Guerrera was twelve hundred miles away. He wasn’t even a police officer anymore. He patted his pockets instead, looking for his phone and digging it out as he cautiously approached the man.
Boy, he corrected himself as he got closer. It was hard to tell what his face looked like under streaks of dirt—And is that dried blood?—but he was small, slender, his dark eyes large in his ashy brown face. Late teens, Leland guessed, forcing down the itch of memory at the back of his mind: another young face, another pair of haunted eyes. He didn’t have time for that right now.
“Hey,” Leland called, one hand out to him, moving slowly. “Are you all right, kid?”
The boy didn’t answer him, but he watched Leland warily. He drew in several quick breaths through his nose, and after a moment, Leland realized he was sniffing the air. His mannerisms were more animal than human, but his hair was shaved close on the sides, a stylish—and recent—haircut, and a diamond earring glinted from the dirt caking his right ear, so he hadn’t been out of civilization that long.
“It’s all right. I’m here to help you,” Leland tried again, keeping his voice calm and quiet. He thought of the legends of werewolves in Pine Grove that Rylan had told him about and just as quickly shook off the idea. The boy, naked and bloody, had clearly been throughsomething, but Leland knew intimately that run-of-the-mill humans were more than capable of incredible cruelty without any supernatural assistance.
“Can you tell me your name?” Leland said, trying to keep the boy’s attention as he inched back toward his SUV. Somewhere in the meager life’s belongings in the back seat of the vehicle were clothes that might fit the kid, at least enough to cover him up and keep him from freezing. The day was rapidly warming as the sun rose, but spring nights in Montana were still chilly, and he’d obviously been out for at least a few hours.
Leland checked his phone as he sifted through one of his duffel bags. One bar of signal. Maybe it would be enough to call somebody, see if he could get an ambulance on the way. He only had two local numbers—the Upham County sheriff’s office and the Pine Grove Wildlife Preserve. The sheriff’s office was in Red Horse River, another hour and a half up the road, and Rylanhadsaid that the preserve director would be his point of contact for problems with wayward tourists, lost hikers, and animal attacks.
