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Not only did she need to distract herself from thinking about Rowan, but the sooner she cracked the case, the sooner she could leave Moonwood behind. While she had spoken meanly to Rowan, she had meant what she said about leaving the town behind.
She had grown tired of loving a town which had shown that it had no desire or interest in loving her back. She had picked up the fact that the people were saying she had made everything up, from the young wolf’s testimony.
Thinking about it filled her with bile and bitter anger. All she had done so far, she had done for them. She had left her safe haven and moved back to Moonwood, breaking her promise to herself. She had saved someone’s life. She had savedalltheir lives with her wards.
And yet, all she got back was whispered obscenities that the cowards couldn’t even be brave enough to say to her face. These were the people Rowan wanted her to stay with?
What happened when she had her child, and that child was exposed to the scorn and pointed hatred of the same people who should have protected and accepted him?
Another disturbing reality was that there was no way to be certain that Rowan would not just deny her again. She couldn’t trust him to do the right thing, and she had no desire to be embarrassed and stood up again.
She knew the truth that Rowan had decided to ignore. She couldn’t understand why he chose to ignore something that was a glaring truth to anyone who cared to observe. The Moonwood pack would never accept her as one of them. They had made that fact abundantly clear.
Leaving was going to hurt her, she knew. It had hurt her furiously the first time and she had wished then that things were different. She knew better now, and as painful as leaving was going to be, she was certain staying would be much worse.
Juniper bit her lower lip thoughtfully as she got dressed. She shook her head in frustration. She had caught herself thinking only about Rowan again. She got dressed quickly, and stepped into her tennis shoes before rushing downstairs.
She met Rowan coming up the main steps just as she stepped out of the house, and considered turning back inside immediately. Not only was she going to look petty and foolish, she had also been frozen to the spot, and she hoped that he wouldn’t notice how frayed along the edges she had become.
They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, the silence hanging between them like stale air. She tried to tear her face away from Rowan, but she had a better chance surviving a fall off a terribly high cliff.
He maintained his rough beauty, which when mixed with his mysterious aura gave him an outlook of the desirable. And she desired him every single time, much to her despair.
“Where are you going?” he asked lightly, as if he was afraid of upsetting her.
“Headed into the woods. I’d like to pick up the investigation from where we left off. Why?”
“Well, I was actually on my way to get you. I’ve been thinking. The little boy you saved said that he was out with his dog, but we didn’t see any sign of it the last time. I was thinking we could go together and see if we could find any remains of the dog.”
Juniper considered it for a moment. She certainly didn’t want to be spending any extra time with Rowan, which was why she had been avoiding him in the first place. However, she needed his help if she was to ever figure out exactly what was going on.
“Sure,” she replied with a shrug. She thought she saw Rowan heave a sigh of relief as she walked past him toward the passenger’s seat of his truck. She could feel his eyes lingering on her as she walked, but she didn’t know whether to be upset by it or elated.
They spent the entire drive in silence, with Juniper’s head facing out the window. She looked at the old log buildings and the shop fronts as they headed toward the border and felt a sad tug in her heart.
She considered how much she was going to miss the gentle beauty of the town when she left. There was a natural beauty to nature that big cities had never really found a way to duplicate.
Deep down, she hoped for something that would change her mind, but she felt an overwhelming sadness because she couldn’t think of one thing that could make her stay.
Rowan veered off the road and parked the car on the side of the road, a few yards from the entrance into the woods. Juniper got out and stretched a little bit, getting blood flowing into her legs and arms.
She was happy to be out in the woods again. She could understand why the other wolves were pushing back on giving up access to them. She imagined that they probably loved the woods several times more than she did. Unfortunately, going into the woods alone also meant likely death as things were.
“Hey,” Rowan said, holding her hand as she headed toward the forest. “Are you good? How are you feeling?”
Juniper felt a rush of electricity from Rowan’s touch and immediately tried to conceal it. She looked away and wiggled her hand out of his. “I’m fine. I will be fine.” She couldn’t bear to look at him, and she walked away quickly into the thick, lush forest.
She heard Rowan fall in behind her quietly and ignored how her heart beat furiously for him.Damn him, she swore in her mind.Damn him to hell.
Rowan walked ahead of her. He was a better tracker than she was and he took the lead. She recognized the spot where the young wolf had been attacked when Rowan stopped there.
He pulled something out of his coat pocket and held it to his face, sniffing with his eyes closed. Juniper watched him quietly, not wanting to distract him.
“What’s that?” she asked when he opened his eyes.
“Dog bone. I went to see the kid and he showed me his dog’s kennel. Its scent was heaviest on the bone. Come on, I can still pick out its scent, although it’s quite faint.”
He looked around the trees slowly. His face was filled with concern. “We’ll have to head deeper into the forest though. Stay close to me, please.”
