Into Their Woods (The Eerie, #1)(75)

I laugh at that thought, not sure why I find it so funny. I was attacked here. If there was a big bad wolf, I’ve met it. I just wish I knew who it was. Then again, how big and bad can someone be when they attack you from behind? So maybe I’ve only met the Cowardly Wolf.

Studying my reflection, I look for subtle changes. Do I look stronger? More eerie? I survey my eyes for the same wolfish glint I saw in Ellery’s car, but all I see is the uninteresting color they’ve always been.

I guess I’ve always unknowingly had a wolf staring back at me in my reflection. Maybe that’s why everything outside still looks the same while my insides seem to be fully renovated.

Movement in the glass suddenly catches my attention, and my gaze snaps to the reflection of the trees. I whirl around, heart thumping violently as I search for the source.

Frantically, I scan the spot where I swear, seconds ago, one black shadow dislodged from another.

Nothing happens.

Nothing moves, and yet I feel like I’m being watched. The hair on the back of my neck rises as my sense of fear returns and grows stronger, gripping the sides of my throat, making it hard to breathe. The wide expanse of sky overhead seems to condense into a wall of darkness closing in around me.

“Noah.”

A deep voice whispers my name inside my skull.

Goose bumps cover me from head to toe, and my exhale is a puff of mist, as if the night has suddenly cooled and instantaneously extracted all the heat from my body. I zero in on a spot that looks exactly like every other—black, shrouded, impenetrable—but there’s something about it. Something there.

“Come here, sweetheart.”

The three words are a whispered invitation in my head, and I reel back, completely rattled. Alarmed, I retreat from the railing. I’m a breath away from hurtling into the house and bolting upstairs to wake up Perth, Ellery, and Ruger when movement off to the side has me freezing. A huge black wolf emerges from the woods.

A familiar onyx-furred figure.

Gannon.

I gasp, heart hammering in my chest, and his head snaps in my direction as he pauses mid-step.

“Was that you?” I demand, stepping back to the railing as he stands there watching me. I know he’s got a problem with me, but would he fuck with me like that?

He trots forward and I feel a small rush of relief at his presence. It pricks the bubble of fear around me, and I inhale deeply, desperate for his scent to calm me.

Well, that’s fucking new…and weird.

Or is it?

I suddenly recall the way I gulped down both Ellery’s and Perth’s scents when I was with them, and how it almost seemed to anchor me. I didn’t realize I was doing that until now.

Gannon’s ears perk up, alert, as he lopes closer.

“Was that you in my head?” I question again, and he leaps up the handful of steps onto the deck.

His head tilts and his ears flicker as though he doesn’t understand what I’m saying, and then, in a flurry of pops and audible tears, the dark wolf disappears and Gannon rises to his feet, completely and gloriously naked.

Well…shit.

Immediately, I look away, despite the howling demand inside of me to take in every magnificent inch of him—and damn, there are a lot of inches.

“What?” he asks, his voice deep and growly like it’s still on the cusp between man and beast.

My mind stalls as my gaze settles on his naked reflection in the wall of glass next to us, only to flit away quickly in search of somewhere safe to look.

“Uh,” I mumble like an idiot. “Were you just in my head with the whole come here crap? Were you out there?” I stammer, gesturing to the dark line of trees around us. My eyes snap to him greedily as he looks from me to the dark towering pines I’m pointing at.

Eyes on his face, Noah. Eyes on his face!

But I’ve already committed the angular lines of his torso to memory, the sharp cut of his deltoids against the bulge of his biceps, the very defined pecs.

“Yeah, I was just doing a perimeter check,” he confirms, and I blow out a relieved breath.

I open my mouth to snap at him about fucking with my head, but I get distracted by his body.

How do his muscles have muscles? Crap, Noah. Don’t look!

In the two seconds it takes for me to get a hold of myself again, his chiseled chest and the dark line of hair leading from his belly button down will now be stamped in my mind forever. I’ve never seen brickwork abs before. Looks like I can cross that off my fuck it—I mean—bucket list.

“What are you doing out here?” he asks me, his eyes raking over me as he brushes his fingers through his hair, pushing the dark locks back from his face.

The obvious annoyance in his tone makes it easier for me to shake free from my addled state and focus.

“Waiting for you, obviously,” I answer, refusing to miss an opportunity to goad him.

I mean, if he’s going to dislike me, it might as well be for good reason.

He watches me warily and then takes the bait perfectly. “Why?” he questions with a glower.

“I figured it was time we fuck it out.”

Gannon chokes on air. His eyes widen as he coughs and hits a fist to his chest before his scowl is firmly back in place. “What are you talking about?”

“Fuck it out,” I repeat innocently. “You know, get whatever this is out of your system,” I continue, casually waving a hand in his direction and then adopting a mocking, over-the-top grumpy look on my face. “Now that we’re roomies, I figured this was the best way to help you get over your shit.”