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He gave her a curt nod and walked outside. Unfortunately, summer humidity had thickened the night air as much as the tension had indoors. Dark, threatening clouds floated across the sky, bright from a near full moon.
Damn! Why did that time of the month seem to come around faster when he wasn’t looking forward to it?
“Hey, cuz, wait up.” Jaxen leisurely descended the porch steps.
Tristan leaned against the grill of his truck.
“Hard to believe you ended up in law enforcement. Why weren’t you one of the dozen sentinels who escorted me?” Jaxen spit on the ground. “Gavin’s going a bit over-the-top, don’t you think? A dozen, really?”
“Not my call. And I wasn’t involved in your escort because I’m not your keeper, Jax.”
“No, you’re not. You’re family.” Jaxen hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans, his shoulders loose and posture relaxed. “Are you okay with your dad’s decision?”
“It’s his business. He can do whatever he wants.” What irked Tristan was that his father hadn’t bothered to discuss his plans with him, who by blood rights was the heir.
“Not what I asked.” Jaxen shook his head, good-naturedly.
“Fine.” Tristan sighed. “If you’re serious about turning your life around, then I’ll be happy for you to take over my dad’s construction company when the time comes.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“But, toe a straight line or—”
“Or what?” An irritating grin spread across Jaxen’s mouth.
“I’ll make your time in Woelfesguarde seem like a picnic.”
Jaxen laughed, hard.
Tristan pushed away from the truck and stood tall. “I’m not that little kid who idolized you. I will put you down without a second thought if I think you’re going to hurt someone again.”
Jaxen sobered and fell silent.
Tristan opened the truck door and climbed inside.
“For fuck’s sake, Trist. We were kids.”
Tristan didn’t miss that Jaxen didn’t express regret over the incident.
“You getting me banished kinda makes us even. Don’t ya think?” Jaxen held the truck door so Tristan couldn’t shut it.
“Not by a fucking long shot.” Tristan yanked the door closed and rested his arm on the open window, keeping Jaxen in his line of vision. “For the record, you got yourself banished. I simply didn’t lie to give you an alibi.”
“Why don’t we forget all the stuff that happened when we were kids? I’m ready for a fresh start, how about you?” Jaxen extended his hand.
Tristan’s inner wolf prowled restlessly and his instinct warned against a truce until Jaxen proved himself.
“Come on, Tristan. Clean slate?”
“Time will tell.” He cranked the truck engine.
“Watch yourself out there.” Pregnant clouds drifted across the moon and a shadow darkened Jaxen’s face, twisting his features into a grotesque mask.
Unease coiled in the pit of Tristan’s stomach. “Always.”
Chapter 5 (#ud8cb8f82-79d7-5d54-ba84-94ab5f85257c)
Butterflies darted and fluttered in Nel’s stomach as if they were auditioning for a Cirque de Soleil performance. Starting tomorrow, she would be responsible for the success or failure of the Walker’s Run Resort’s new children’s activity program.
Although Penelope confidently managed her kindergarten classes, she never volunteered to take the lead in any of her school’s events. She made a great assistant, but being in charge was something she never had the confidence to attempt.
“It’s fabulous.” She gazed at the colorful paper-ring garland swooping from the ceiling and crisscrossing the room. “I couldn’t have hung it without your help. This old lady on a ladder is a Shakespearian tragedy no one wants written.”
“Nonsense.” Shane MacQuarrie stepped off the last rung and gave her a mischievous look. “You’re in your prime and quite the catch, milady.” He bowed low.
“Why, thank you, kind sir.” Laughing, Penelope curtsied.
No older than his early twenties, Shane was too young for her to have a romantic interest in him, but his easy manner and teasing banter had immediately put her at ease.
“Someone is in a really good mood today.” Cassie leaned against the doorway. “I haven’t actually seen you in a bad mood, but you seem more engaged.”
“The gunk from the city is sloughing off.” Penelope placed the extra construction paper on the supply shelf, returned the scissors to the plastic bin and secured the glue bottle in a drawer. “Or it could be the invigorating moonlit stroll I had Friday night.”
“How can a stroll be invigorating? A run, yeah. But a stroll?” Shane folded the ladder.
“Would you do me a favor?” Cassie looked at Shane. “The light in my office is out. I put in a call to maintenance, but they’re searching high and low for the ladder.”
“No problem.” He hoisted the missing ladder onto his shoulder.
“Thanks.” Smiling warmly, Cassie touched his arm. “The bulbs are on my desk.”
“Holler if you need me again.” He nodded toward Nel and left.
“Sweet kid.”
“You’re right, but Shane wouldn’t take that as a compliment.” Cassie glanced around the room. “Looks great in here. All set for tomorrow morning?”
“As ready as I can be.” Penelope gave one last look. “Thanks for providing the big round table. I think it will be more fun for the kids to sit in a circle and help each other rather than sitting alone at individual desks.”
“You’re going to be great at this.”
“I hope so.” After Penelope turned out the lights and locked up the room, she and Cassie walked down the spiral stairs to the main lobby. “Where’s Brenna?”
“Sundays are daddy days. She’s with her father, and her godfather and his two-month-old twins.”
“Sounds like a handful. Where’s the babies’ mother?”
“Oh, Grace is on her way here to meet me for lunch and an afternoon at the spa. Would you like to join us?”
“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
They stopped in the middle of the quiet lobby.
“If you were an intrusion, I wouldn’t invite you.” Cassie withdrew a cell phone from her purse. “Should I confirm three?”
“Yes, please.” Penelope’s fingertips and palms warmed and her nerves prickled nearly to the point of discomfort.
“Something wrong?”
“Um...” Penelope’s breathing hitched. She glanced in all directions, but when the lobby doors swung open, her gaze locked on the uniformed lawman coming inside. Tristan stopped suddenly and looked directly at Penelope. Some of the tension drained from his shoulders. A tired smile disrupted his firmly set mouth.
Was he glad to see her?
Every feminine cell in her body danced.
“Penelope?” Cassie tapped Nel’s arm. “Are you feeling okay?”
Okay didn’t begin to describe the feeling of standing on a cliff, toes gripping the edge a second before leaping, or the rush of wind stinging her skin during the free fall right before she opened her wings to fly.
Not that she’d ever experienced those things, but Penelope couldn’t think of any other way to describe how she felt in that moment.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’m good.”
Noticing Tristan, Cassie giggled.
“I’ve never met a man who could steal my breath with a simple look.” Men as gorgeous as Tristan never took notice of Nel. Their gazes simply swept right over her without a moment’s pause.
“He’s headed this way,” Cassie said.
“What?” Penelope’s heart kicked into high gear, beating fast and furious, and flooding her body with so much giddy adrenaline that she nearly swayed from a wave of light-headedness.
Breathe, just breathe.
Halfway across the lobby, Tristan stopped, slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. His smile turned downward as he held the device to his ear. While talking, he tipped his head back and ran his fingers through his hair.
Penelope figured the conversation was over when the hand holding the phone dropped to Tristan’s side. His gaze returned to her.
Maybe next time, sweet cheeks.
He nodded in her direction, took a few steps backward, then turned on his heel and headed toward the corridor to Gavin’s office.
“Did you hear that?”
Tristan had been too far away for Nel to actually hear anything he said, but his deep, Southern drawl hummed in her head.
“Hear what?” Cassie looked around.
“Someone called me sweet cheeks, just now.” And when she’d been frightened by the wolf in the woods.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear anything.”
Maybe the higher altitude and fresh mountain air had induced some sort of auditory hallucination.
More likely it was her hormones running amuck.
“Why is Tristan here? Is there a problem with one of the guests?”
“Everything is fine. He’s a member of the Walker’s Run Cooperative and helps manage the resort’s security as well as the wolf sanctuary.” Cassie pointed to a corner nook. “We can wait for Grace over there.”
“Does he patrol the area around the rental cabins?” Penelope sat in a cozy overstuffed chair next to Cassie.
“Sometimes. Why?”
“Friday night, I walked one of the trails from the cabin and thought I heard his voice.”
“He was on duty so it could’ve been him. What did he say?”
“Basically, he told me to sit up.”
“Sit up?” Cassie’s nose wrinkled and her brows drew together. “That’s weird. Were you lying down?”
“Hunkered down. I fell trying to get away from an animal making terrible noise in the woods. Scared the daylights out of me.”
“It was probably Cybil. The old sow sounds like an elephant stampede whenever she gets out of her pen. Her owner lives on the border of the wolf sanctuary. Usually the sentinels round her up before she makes it this far.”
“Sentinels?”
“The Co-op’s security team.”
“Ah.” Penelope picked at the drop of glue stuck to the front of her blouse. “Well, I didn’t see a pig, but I did encounter a huge wolf.”
Cassie’s friendly expression blanked. “Can you describe him?”
“His coat looked like burnished gold, but really was a mix of warm, rich colors.” Penelope’s voice rose with excitement. “And his ears were absolutely delightful, like chocolate brownies with the edges dusted in white sugar. He was the sweetest thing. Didn’t growl or bark at me, and he followed me back to the cabin to make sure I got in safe.”
“He did, did he?” One of Cassie’s red brows arched.
“He won’t get into trouble, will he?” If the poor thing was put in heavy chains, forced to wear a muzzle or locked in a cage, Penelope would be heartbroken.
“No.” A smile broke the serious mask that had formed over Cassie’s features. “Our wolves aren’t punished for being curious or for helping someone, but I’ll need to talk with Tristan about the incident.”
“Why?”
Cassie tucked an errant curl behind her ear. “From your description, the wolf you described matches Tristan’s wolf.”
“So, Tristan was nearby?”
“Oh, yeah.” Cassie’s curls bounced with her little head nod.
