Perth’s smile is beaming when he looks over his shoulder at me. “It’s actually up for vote at the next town council meeting.”
“Wait. You vote on the names as a town?” I ask, laughing as I jog to catch up with him.
“Sure do.”
“So, what are the options?”
Perth looks off in thought. “I think the front-runners are Sweat Shop, Waist Management, Unawarewolf, and Cullen Killers—the vampire clans seem to really be into the last one.”
I lose it. Laughing so hard my ribs hurt, I have to stop and bend over so I can breathe.
“Unawarewolf?” I wheeze, cracking up even harder.
Perth chuckles as he watches me lose it, his amber eyes bright and happy. “Guess we know which one is getting your vote,” he goads, and I nod, wiping my face free from laugh-tears.
We start running again, my mind whirling with the new facets of my reality. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this eerie business for days. But I’ve been so absorbed in the shock and strangeness of it all that I haven’t once thought about the normal aspects of it. Like the fact that they have jobs, responsibilities, civic pride. It makes it all feel less mind-melting, less out of this world, and more familiar.
I follow Perth to the edge of town, and I start to get tired. He ends up a few steps ahead of me, and he turns around to check on where I am. He hasn’t even broken a sweat.
When I’ve caught his eye, I wave a hand across my neck to signal I’m done, dead, kaput—he comes back to my side and jogs in place.
“Come on, Noah. You can do it. A little further. Let your wolf stretch.”
“She’s stretched.”
“Nah, she’s just getting started.” With a sparkle in his eyes, Perth leans closer to me and whispers, “I challenge you. Race me.”
He darts away as a flurry of eagerness erupts somewhere deep inside of me, and the exhaustion I just felt vanishes. Poof. My feet hit the pavement and I’m running after him with a giddy feeling in my stomach. It’s not long before I catch up and he glances down at me, pride shining on his face.
“That’s my girl.”
We veer off onto a dirt path that winds through the trees. The sun’s slow climb is starting to warm up the day, and I look forward to the shade of the trees and maybe picking up our pace and really pushing ourselves more when we’re not at risk of bowling over an unsuspecting pedestrian.
“Hey, how about a race—” My question is cut off when I feel a strange prickle on the back of my neck. I ignore it for a beat until the sensation starts to crawl down my back. I stop mid-stride and spin on instinct, fully expecting someone to be right behind me.
No one’s there.
An ominous shiver rolls down my spine, and I scan our surroundings, looking for the source of my strange feeling. Farther down the sidewalk, a couple walk side by side, the father pushing a stroller. A group of speed walkers are moving in the opposite direction of me and Perth, and a few cars drive slowly down a cross street. Everything looks perfectly normal, and yet I can’t shake the feeling that something is off.
Just then, I notice a man in a baseball cap that’s pulled low over his face. He’s up the street, standing between two buildings. He’s not moving like any of the other people on the street. Not going about his daily business. He’s standing stock-still and staring straight at me.
“What’s up?” Perth asks, and I jump when he’s suddenly right next to me.
“That man,” I whisper, even though the man’s too far away to hear me. “See him?” I take a split second to glance over at Perth as I point the stranger out. But when I look back at the space between the two buildings up the street, the man is gone.
“I heard you saw someone following you.” Ellery doesn’t even greet me when I open the door to my hotel room. He just steps forward with concern shining in his eyes.
His hand automatically comes out and I let him run his palm from my shoulder down to my elbow, knowing that he can’t help himself, knowing he needs that physical reassurance that everything is okay…because I need it too.
He holds my elbow gently, his fingers warming me through the long-sleeved shirt I’m wearing as I try to force a half-hearted grin onto my face.
“Yeah. But I could have made a mistake—”
He shakes his head, cutting me off with a firm, “No. Trust your instincts. Your shifter senses are expanding as the block fades. They’ll be heightened. If you think you saw something, you did.”
An ice cube glides down my spine, and I fight to stave off a shiver.
Fuck.
Why was I hoping he’d tell me this was all in my head?
I’m tempted to step into Ellery and let him fold me into his body, but I don’t give into that impulse. Gannon’s accusatory words slam into me, and I don’t want to make Ellery feel like I’m leading him on or using him.
But his hand squeezes my elbow, and he tugs me closer, pulling me into a hug anyway. The second his arms are wrapped around me, a soft warmth fills me, and my defenses falter. All the hesitation I’ve been battling seems to collapse like a house of cards. I hug the sheriff back and let myself soak in the comfort he’s offering.
When I pull away, he clears his throat and gets right to business. “Anything distinct about him that stood out?”
“Other than it felt like he was watching me, no. He had a dark blue ball cap on his head. I think he has dark hair, but it’s hard to say for sure because he was standing in the shadow of two buildings. He had light jeans and a gray windbreaker that was zipped all the way up.”
“Okay, I’ll get people on it,” Ellery assures me with a firm nod. “For now, I’d like to bring a deputy in to help keep an eye on things,” he tells me, and I sigh. “I know our den is already looking out for you, but I think another pair of eyes would be good.”
Our den. Like I’m a part of it. A shiver of surprise that’s laced with elation comes over me as I realize I like the natural way he said it. How it didn’t take him any effort at all. I’m not sure I’ve ever had that before.
But I’m getting sidetracked. He’s talking to deputies when I’m caught up in semantics.
“You really think it’s necessary?” It’s a stupid question. I know I can’t be naive about this, but I hate that I’m not done looking over my shoulder.
As a woman, I know that threats lurk around all corners. It’s a fact of life. But being cautious of a potential threat versus staring down active, in-your-face danger is a different level of fight-or-flight.
Ellery gathers both my hands into his, and I can feel the tempest of his emotions brewing, swirling through the air around us.
“What happened to you isn’t over. Whoever attacked you is still out there, and either they didn’t get what they wanted the first time or there’s more to all of this than we know, because they’re still watching you.”
His blunt words feel like pecking crows, swooping through my insides and cawing a sinister alarm. My ears pound with the imaginary thump of footsteps following me. My heart booms faster and faster as menacing shadows crowd my periphery.
I’ve felt too safe holed up in my room, knowing Ellery, Ruger, Perth, and—fuck it—even Gannon were watching. Their presence chased the shadows away and helped me find my feet in this strange new world.