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Panicking, I yelled at Margo that I had to go, and I ran as hard and as fast as I could to the Range Rover and pleaded with the wolf to stay contained. It was too public to shift and unsafe to shift while driving.
Pain battered my skull as I pleaded with the wolf to remain in control. My eyelids were squinting as I winced against the penetrating light.
“Don’t shift. Please don’t shift.”
Booking it down the street outside of the store and then hauling ass down the manor’s driveway, I stopped the car in the middle of the driveway in front of the place, ran upstairs to my room, and locked myself in.
Pacing the room, I stroked my hand aggressively through my hair, pulling it to reduce the pain with added pain. I did everything I could to ease it all. The questions wouldn’t stop. How did he know? When did he meet my dad? Why hadn’t he said anything before? Was he going to? I couldn’t understand how he knew my father.
“Grrrr.” The wolf became more lively beneath the surface of my skin.
“No. You can’t come out. Not right now. Tonight. You can come out tonight,” I pleaded with her.
She slowly retreated. Growling at me again, she paced and kept diligent but stopped fighting me so hard. She was still ready to launch and take over, but being in Ridge’s home, enveloped by his scent and safely locked inside my room, seemed to settle her.
“What am I going to do? That crazy man might know I was raised by a hunter. Trained to be a hunter.” I slammed my palm against my head. “That was before I shifted for the first time.” I sat against my bed on the floor and wrapped myself into a ball. “What am I going to do?”
Tears streaked down my face as every horrible scenario battered my brain. “Elliot Elkins isn’t a shifter, but his son is. That means in order to protect his son, he’ll tell someone who I am, or he’s going to accuse me of leading the hunters here.”
Reasoning aloud made it so I didn’t believe myself to be as crazy, to talk some sense into myself, hopefully.
Who was I kidding? It was true—I was crazy. I had to be. To start thinking I could make a life here, that I could have friends, that I could have a committed relationship.
I was fucking nuts to believe any of it.
There was no way to hide it. I would eventually lead the hunters here, because no matter how I looked at it, they would never stop trying to find me. I was an abomination, and I knew too much.
Tears kept streaming out of me, and I rocked myself to try to self-soothe—something I’d done as a child that had resurfaced when my mother died.
Ridge had helped me with the shifting, and it wasn’t as horrible as I had imagined it to be. I needed more practice. The wolf nodded in agreement. I’d be able to run again.
“Grrrrr.”
“What would you have us do? We need to protect this town. We need to protect Ridge.”
The wolf eased up at that. I had to think. I needed to get my stuff together and then…
But I couldn’t leave without seeing Ridge. My wolf chuffed her agreement. We would see him one last time. I’d tell him what I suspected about Clawson, head to the diner to collect the earnings still due to me, and I would do what I did best: run.
Bile rose up my throat, and my heart slammed against my ribcage when I thought about leaving Ridge. Last night, I was content, at peace, falling asleep in his arms, and now I had to run from him to protect him.
“Why the hell did you have to get so attached to him? I know better than that. Relationships are not for the likes of me.” I smacked my head and wept into my knees.
The wolf pushed up against my chest, and my heart cracked. I didn’t think I could stay away if he were close to me. It might be too late for my heart. It wouldn’t be possible for me to hold off. None of that would stop me, though. I had to go. To protect him and Blackwood Creek, I had to go.
For once, my wolf and I were on the same wavelength.
Protect Ridge.
But first, I needed some information.
Chapter26
Ridge
Tired and wanting everything to be over with, I headed over to the town hall to speak with Clawson. I wondered who he thought was the leading suspect. The faster we resolved this, the faster things could return to normal.
“How’s your aunt?” Clawson asked as I entered his office. The nursing home must have contacted him when she escaped and again when I returned her.
