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Oh, if only he knew.
“Shifters are meant to be around other shifters,” he continued. “It’s the nature of the beast, if you’ll forgive the pun.”
I hadn’t been afraid of being alone. In fact, I’d enjoyed the solitude. What I had been afraid of was what I was and what it meant for others. Clawson didn’t know my story, and I wasn’t obliged to enlighten him now—or ever. It was my business and mine alone. I’d never planned to share my history with anyone.
Someday, I would tell Ridge. He was the only one I’d ever trust enough to tell it to, and I felt I owed him the full truth after I’d led the hunters into his town. If he didn’t want me after that, my heart would be shattered, but Ridge deserved the truth.
It didn’t stop me from rolling my eyes, though. Being snarky was ingrained in my DNA.
“You sound like Ridge.”And not in a good way, I wanted to add.
Before I could say anything more, a stabbing ache in my heart stopped me. We’d been apart for mere hours, but Ridge’s absence consumed me, a loss I was made acutely aware of due to the constant stinging pain. The ache was damaging, and I couldn’t put it into words, but it was very real. I craved his smile, his kisses, his warm embrace. All I wanted was for him to return to his hometown safe and whole.
Guilt’s chokehold on my heart tightened. I should’ve kept moving, shouldn’t have settled in Blackwood for the short time I did.
Kyle’s face also kept popping into my mind. It was like seeing him again had lifted the lid off the box I’d locked away when it became clear my family wanted me dead. And now, no amount of hot glue or sealing compounds would ever close it again.
I hated everything about this situation. Kyle didn’t see me as his sister anymore, which hurt, but I didn’t know how I could ever treat him like an enemy. But if I had no other option, I’d fight my brother to the death to get Ridge back.Ridge had protected me when I was a stranger, a hitchhiker who rolled into town and was then suspected of murdering one of the town’s deputies. He could’ve turned his back on me, and there had been no need for him to protect me until the truth had come out. It felt like every part of me had to honor his loyalty, no matter who I went up against.
“Umph.” I suddenly went flying forward, but the seatbelt and Clawson’s beefy arm restrained me as he hit the brakes. The tires squealed as we came to a stop in front of the sign that said: “Thank You for Visiting Blackwood Creek. Please Come Again.”
“What the hell, Clawson?”
He didn’t reply. He was staring out the windshield, and if he clenched his jaw any tighter, I feared it would shatter. I wondered what had caused him to stop so suddenly. Had he decided not to take me? Did he think I was too much of a liability?
Before I asked, I followed his gaze out the windshield. A wolf, a shifter, sat in the middle of the highway, patiently staring the sheriff down and unwilling to budge.
Clawson started cursing as he slammed the gearshift into park and shoved his door open. He slid out of the vehicle, the door banging shut behind him. I watched the wolf and Clawson as they stomped over to meet each other.
My curiosity had me focusing on the wolf. Who was it?
Clawson wanted to know, too. He was standing with one hand on his hip, one on his pistol. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You could’ve gotten run over and killed. What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You want to act like a dumb mutt, someone will run you the fuck over. What if I hadn’t seen you? Huh? Answer me, dammit!”
The sheriff’s tirade seemed a bit over the top, but when I looked at his face more closely, I saw fear in his eyes. I glanced back at the wolf, and its defiant expression was one I’d seen before.
I shook my head. Clawson’s reaction wasn’t so disproportionate, after all. The wolf standing toe-to-claw with the sheriff was my new friend, Margo Bogford.
She was magnificent. I’d never seen her in wolf form before, and the sight of her made me regret my beliefs about shifters—the ones from before, anyway—and made me question myself again.How could I have ever thought someone so kind, generous, and amazing was a monster? Margo and her mother Diana were anything but the nightmares hunters were taught to believe shifters were.
This situation was begging to be defused, so I undid the seatbelt and got out of the car.If she was guarding the only road out of town, she must have discovered that the hunters had taken her mom. Why else would she have been sitting in the middle of the street?
Another spear of guilt hit me right in the heart. I made a silent vow to bring Diana back; I cared deeply for the woman. She’d offered the maternal touch I’d been missing desperately and had never shied away from giving me affection. Until I’d met her, I hadn’t realized I’d been missing that.
In a fast second, Margo shifted. She showed no shame in her nakedness as she stood in the middle of the road, the sun barely cracking through the horizon.
“I don’t care what you have to say, Birch. I’m going with you.” Her voice cracked. “I’ve got to go with you to find my mother.”
“Like hell you are.” Clawson cursed some more as he took off his jacket and wrapped it around Margo. “You’re staying here. It’s absolutely not happening. It’s not safe out there.”
The sheriff’s overprotectiveness toward Margo was hard to miss. He was heated and angry, yes, but he was treating her with care.
Margo, however, seemed insulted. If looks could kill, Clawson would be dead twice over at the daggers she was glaring his way.
“You’re taking my friend with you, and she’s injured and needs to rest,” Margo said. “She’s the last person who should be going, so why can’t I come along to help? Or do you think I’m some weakling bimbo who can’t protect her own mother?” Her voice rose an octave as she yelled at Clawson.
Figuring this had gone far enough, I stepped forward and tried to interject, but they ignored me.
“Are you out of your fucking mind, Margo?” Clawson shouted back. “You can’t think that’s a good idea. I’d never think of you as weak—never—but you can’t come. I’m bringing your mother back while you stay safe here in Blackwood Creek. I won’t hear another word about it.” He held up both hands to stop her from speaking.
