† Sage †

The rustic cabin was quiet.

Too quiet.

It was starting to make me anxious.

If I was still in Ethica, I’d be clocking out after the lunch rush and racing home to make sure Coral had studied before the tournament started. This was the last month of her senior year. There were college prep tests she was supposed to be working on since she’d completed her adult physical.

Meg would have been texting me plans for the event she wanted catered next weekend now that we’d made amends. If Jeremy wasn’t a cheating bastard, we’d probably have dinner plans for our Saturday night.

All the noise of my life was normal. It was a steady rhythm I’d built to stop myself from thinking too much and helped me fit into society’s standards.

Okay. It was a numb existence.

But what else was I supposed to do?

I walked around Maddock’s bedroom and eyed his massive bed. The handstitched quilt and pillows of feathers still smelled like his manly aftershave. He’d built everything in this cabin out of wood. The man was good with his hands.

I wonder what else his hands can do.

We definitely weren’t going down that route. I’d only been single for a month and wasn’t planning on jumping into anyone’s bed soon.

Except Maddock’s… Without him in it of course.

He probably wasn’t interested in me like that anyway. Like Kera said, shifters were flirty. I’d have to meet more of them to know if Maddock was sexier than average.

He’d been so sweet by letting us stay here.

And a little overprotective.

Then again, he was the enforcer or whatever for the pack. It made

sense that he’d feel a responsibility to keep a woman and her teenage sister

who might be turning into a wolf safe until they adjusted. It’s what I would have done in his position.

But we seriously can’t impose on him like this.

I left my bags unpacked at the foot of Maddock’s bed. They were only in here because of Kera and Coral’s insistence. I wished he would

come back so I could speak with him again about this.

Or speak with him about anything. It was really quiet.

I’d need to make some friends soon, because this irrational desire to see a strange man was seriously not healthy. But we were in his house and in a weird situation so maybe it was perfectly rational to want to see him again.

all this.

Yep. Let’s go with that.

I was going to give myself a migraine if I didn’t stop thinking about

In Ethica, if I wanted to enjoy peace of mind, I’d have driven to the

park and gone for a walk in the gardens. At least now I didn’t have to worry about traffic.

*

With one last glance across the field to confirm my sister was still human acting like a dog, I headed into the thicket of forest that came straight out of a fairy tale. The air was wet and thick of earth. Breathing it in filled my body with a light sensation as if I would float away at any minute.

My fingers brushed against the rough bark of a tree I had no name for.

It wasn’t like the cultivated fruit trees that grew in the gardens. This tree was massive with sharp pungent green needles hanging overhead.

Touching it made warmth blossom against my palm, but it wasn’t the familiar kind that I felt when I was overwhelmed. It was like the tree was sending a message back to me and saying hello.

Frowning, I pulled my hand away. That was a weird thing to think. The air was really getting to me.

It took a minute to get used to walking on the uneven terrain with

roots and rocks and moss-covered logs laying wherever they fell. Despite

rolling my ankle a few times, I was starting to like the challenge.

My breath came a little faster as I increased my pace, turning north to head up the incline of a hill. There was so much space out here. I could see the valley below where a wolf was playing with my still human sister, but I’d been walking for at least twenty minutes and hadn’t seen another person or building.

It was mind blowing.

The architecture of Ethica rivaled images of other cities that I’d seen, but all that grandeur was packed with a million people. There wasn’t room to breathe. This was what the world should have looked like. Honestly, I wasn’t even mad about being lied to all this time.

It didn’t matter whether the government truly believed this was all

toxic wasteland or if it was some kind of ploy to keep citizens safe and pure behind the city walls. I was fine with the lie because it kept them from touching a world like this.

They could keep their regulations and rules far away from here.

Higher on the ridge where I could still see Coral bouncing around like a miniature doll, I got a clear view of the town we’d spent the night in.

It wasn’t much by anyone’s standards.

The single road we’d entered on was the only one in or out of town.

Less than a mile long stretch made up what I’d call the business district. The inn was at the north end and the open-air market was set up a little to the east.

Beyond the town was a clearing of land with more structures, but these were lived in. Tendrils of smoke curled from chimneys and a few

people milled about in the yards. To the right of that, a mile or so back, was a huge property with a larger house surrounded by the trees.

I scanned the valley over again and, unless there were more houses that I couldn’t see, it seemed like the bulk of the community lived together.

I crossed my arms over my chest as I turned back to Maddock’s cabin and the field beside it.

Why does he live so far away from everyone else?

He’d assured me we were safe, so I didn’t understand why he was keeping us separate when the people here clearly preferred to be close.

I couldn’t let Coral be an outcast if this was where we were meant to live. Lennox was the only one we’d met so far besides Maddock and Kera,

but I refused to judge an entire population based on him.

I needed to meet more people–shifters–whatever they liked to be called so that Coral had a community in this town.

The market seemed to be in full swing. That would be a good place to start. Plus, I’d be able to ask around and see who owned the boarded-up

businesses on the main street. I was betting one of them would have a kitchen.

Fueled by a new purpose, I marched back down the hill. My steps

were more confident as I navigated the terrain and my body was humming with possibility.

For the first time in my life, I let myself feel every emotion, knowing I didn’t have to hide. Normally, I’d acknowledge the thought and then work to tamper it down before it took control.

But this time I felt hope because I was allowed to have hope. I felt

absolute joy in being able to experience such natural beauty that didn’t exist in the world I’d grown up in. When fear snaked its way in, I put my hand over my chest and promised myself I’d be…

A snap of a branch had my head whipping to the side and my heart leaping into my throat.

Fumbling backwards, my shoe hit an exposed root and I tripped. I caught myself before falling to the dirt on my ass and landed in a low crouch.

A wolf came into the clearing in front of me.

Time slowed as drops of blood hit the earth one by one from a mangled mess of fur in the wolf’s massive jaws. A rabbit carcass dangled back and forth like a pendulum.

My stomach churned at the sight of it and I held in a strangled cry. I glanced at the wolf’s brown face and steel blue eyes focused on me as my heart drummed in my ears.

“Maddock?” I whispered, not sure if it was really him at all. I’d only seen his wolf for a brief moment yesterday before I’d closed the door.

Those eyes looked familiar, but Kera had them too.

How do you tell wolves apart?

The wolf took a step forward and foreign emotions pummeled against me. A primal fear made my heart race. My vision tunneled.

I can’t do this again.

Raising my chin, I looked him straight in the eyes. Which was a really bad freaking idea.

All at once, I felt everything.

Predatory hunger. Dark desire. Urgent need.

The wolf gave a soft growl and dropped the dead rabbit, taking a step toward me as a possessive anger flashed in his eyes.

“Stay back.” I grabbed a stone from the ground and felt its weight in my hand.

My gaze drifted to the dead rabbit briefly before meeting his eyes again. I crouched low, moving closer to the tree line so that the field with my sister and her new friend were behind me.

Something primal and instinctive told me not to run. The wolf was a predator. I wouldn’t engage in a chase, but he wanted the challenge.

Blood coated the fur on his jaw as he bared his teeth.

I raised the rock in my fist as a warning. “I’m telling you to stay

back.”

He ignored me as he took another step forward. The intensity of his

eyes burned brighter. The wolf wanted me to listen.

The sun glistened off his sharp fangs.

Screw this!

I threw the rock as hard as I could at his head. The wolf yelped and jumped backwards.

I took off running like an idiot.

“Coral, get inside!” I screamed as I went flying down the hill. My feet barely touched the ground and I didn’t bother to turn around to see if the beast was following.

My only focus was on the cabin which Kera and Coral were racing towards. I had to get them inside. My lungs burned and my heart was pounding against my chest, but I wasn’t stopping until we were all safely behind a locked door.

“What’s wrong?” Coral grabbed my arm as I shoved her into the

cabin.

“Do I need to hurt someone?” Kera asked, staring at the forest. She

was my problem too now so I pulled her inside.

I slammed the door, panting as I pressed my back against it, and slid down to my butt so my head was resting on my knees.

“Is she going to do the thing again?” Kera’s whisper was way too loud to be a whisper.

“Leave her alone,” Coral chided. Her voice was distant and under

water.

I squeezed my eyes shut and inhaled deeply. Focus on the cold.

Drawing on that inner strength, I opened my eyes again. “There was a wolf and it was angry.”

How did I know that? How could I feel an animal’s emotions as if they were my own?

“You’re going to have to be more specific.” Kera eyed me like I might explode. “There are a lot of wolves around this area and most of them are dicks.”

“This one was…” I exhaled slowly as I finally caught my breath and tried to make sense of what just happened. “It had desires. Strange needs. It wanted me to…I don’t know. Submit?”

Coral and Kera turned pale at the same time. Both girls avoided my

gaze.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I jumped to my feet and glared at

Coral. I was used to her keeping secrets, but whatever this was seemed really big.

“Um.” She rubbed her hands together as she looked to Kera for

help.

But the wolf-girl had gone stock-still while staring at the door. Then she blinked. “Uncle Maddock wants to know if you prefer

quail instead of rabbit.”

“What?” I spun to face her. “Is that him out there? Are you talking to him now?”

Kera nodded as a sheepish smile crept onto her face. “He’s fighting with his wolf at the moment. I guess the wolf was a little upset that you

were in the woods alone where a predator could hurt you. And if you don’t like quail, he’s going to hunt down a deer.”

My stomach churned with unease that had nothing to do with the meal options.

What was it about the wolf that made me react like that twice now?

Kera’s wolf didn’t bother me at all. Even with her giant size and strength, she was beginning to seem more like a house pet than some kind

of beast.

Maddock’s wolf was powerful and dangerous. I got the feeling he could destroy me and that was terrifying.

But it felt rude to point out that Maddock’s wolf was the only predator I’d come across in the forest and there were already enough awkward situations since we’d arrived. I needed to get us out of here, but do it in a way that didn’t offend anyone.

“Tell him that rabbit is fine as long as he’s joining us for dinner tonight. And Kera,” I paused on my way to the kitchen, catching her before she checked out again, “can you please tell him to wear pants?”