Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
“Well, I’m having a beer. Ilsa, Ruby?”
“Maybe some tea,” Ilsa says, talking more to Ruby than to Liam.
She clings to her daughter’s arms, reeking with fear. It emanates from her. It spikes when she glances at me and quickly looks back to her daughter. Her scent is perhaps one-fifth as powerful as her daughter’s, but her fear is so strong.
“Some tea,” Ruby says, speaking for her mother.
I look between them, aching for a way to make this better, whatever’s happening here. Clearly, Ilsa has been through a lot. Ruby shouldn’t have to be the only one helping her. She needs room, space, and an older man to help guide her through the world.
With a perfect curvy body, ready to swell with my seed.
And then, when our kids are young, Ruby and I will be in bed one day and...
No, no, no.
I won’t think about what the other wolf did.
Except I have to.
I have to make sure I don’t do the same.
“Sure,” Liam says. “Come on.”
Turning to Ruby, I try to smile. She’s looking at me with her head tilted, almost like she’s trying to scent me. To sense me.
Then it hits.
She knows.
She’s guessed that I’m the wolf.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ruby
We sit around the kitchen table, the lamplight making the oak surfaces glow orange. Outside, a light wind makes the tree branches stir against the window.
The cabin is sort of hidden, down a bumpy track you wouldn’t spot unless you were looking for it. Through close thick trees, over rocky ground, and sitting right in the middle of a big group of trees.
Mom looks sharply at the window, her teeth juddering.
I notice Ramsey looking at her again. It’s like there’s pity in his eyes, as though he wants to somehow make Mom’s life better.
Our lives.
I push the idea away, my body getting hot as I stare across the table at him. He’s wearing a thick sports jacket, zipped right to his neck, the same silver shade as his hair. His muscles ripple from beneath it.
He looks at me. It’s there again, the fire in his eyes.
A flicker, then he looks away.
I remember you, I think about saying.
Liam takes a long sip of his beer, then places it down, sighing. “Okay, so let’s just tell them.”
Ramsey sighs, nodding at me. “I think somebody already knows. Ruby, I’m right, aren’t I?”
They both turn to me. Ramsey’s got a slight smirk on his lips as though he’s proud of me for working it out.
“You’re the wolf who saved me. And you were at our apartment one night before we met. I saw you. And your eyes changed color as well. Before and now, tonight, I mean.”
My words collapse together as I hear how crazy they sound. Mom’s staring at me, but I’m looking at the table, down at my hands. I only know she’s staring at me because I can feel it.
“It’s true,” Ramsey says, making my chest deflate, air rushing out.
I’m not crazy. Evil forces didn’t target me.
I push away those horrible teachings.
“I don’t understand,” Mom mutters.
I turn to her, wishing I could lie. But this has come too far now. And I don’t want to lie to her.
“Mom, I’m sorry, but when I was attacked. It was a...a giant wolf, he saved me. He wasn’t like a regular wolf. He was like…a werewolf, but not like the movies. Not crazy or anything. Smart.”
Ramsey chuckles lightly. “Thanks, Ruby.”
Our eyes meet, and we share a smile. I clutch onto the moment like it’s a life raft.
“You’re wrong,” Mom says, shaking her head. “This is...is it him? Pete?”
“No, Mom. No. This isn’t anything to do with that. That was all fake. That was all so he had an excuse to treat us like trash. This just...happened. I mean, I saw it. With my own eyes.”
“Ruby?”
I reach across the table, clutching her hands as the wind makes its noise outside. “That’s what you said to me, remember? Mom, do you remember?”
She’s getting that glassy-eyed look like she’s about to zone out. It’s a look I know well, how she’ll distance herself from what’s going on, choose to retreat inward instead of facing the situation.
And how can I blame her?
“You told me we must trust our eyes now, our ears, what was in front of us. You said we had to live in the real world. You remember saying that, don’t you?”
A hint of the old Mom comes through, the toughness which would sometimes appear before the pills, and the sadness took hold. “Of course I do. But I haven’t seen it, have I? I’m sorry, Ruby, but what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. I won’t...no, and I’m sorry everybody, I am, but I won’t believe this. He tried to make me believe and....”
She shudders, and I stand, a reflex, walk around the table and lean down to hug her.