AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Something moves up ahead in the darkness, and I skid to a stop, trying to determine what it is.
Silver flashes against the black backdrop of thick foliage.
Oh, God.
I’ve dreaded this moment for weeks, tried to prevent it from happening. Did what I could in offering warning after warning to stay away from her, but Callista put herself squarely in the path of perhaps the second-most dangerous beast on this mountain next to me.
“Callista…” Holding up a hand, I lock eyes with her where she stands several yards down the trail, blocked from advancing toward me or the protection of the house by the massive silver-gray wolf in front of her. “Don’t move. Do not run.”
He releases a low snarl, staring at her with his fangs exposed and dripping, ready to pounce and capture the prey he’s been stalking since the moment she arrived on this property and invaded his territory.
I move forward, inching toward him with my palm out. “You are not going to hurt her.”
Callista’s eyes widen. “What the hell is wrong with you? You can’t reason with a goddamn wolf.”
The panic in her voice slices at my heart, making that unfamiliar feeling rise in my own as I try to reassure her of something I’m not one hundred percent confident of myself. “I can with this one…”
Her brow furrows, but her eyes dart back to the threat. “What?”
I move closer to him with cautious steps, ensuring he can see I’m coming and isn’t spooked. He watches me out of the corner of his eye, his main focus still on his intended target.
The stranger.
The intruder.
The one who shouldn’t be here.
“Gray, stop!”
Her eyes dart to me for a second. “That thing has a name?”
I fight the desire to laugh at her incredulous tone because there’s absolutely nothing funny about the situation. Gray poses a tremendous risk to her—possessive and territorial, he will attack anything that oversteps. And it appears he believes Callista has.
“He does.”
Retreating a step, despite my order to her not to move, Callista watches him follow her in a slow advance. “Why?”
“Because I’ve raised him since he was a pup.”
Her mouth falls open. “You what?”
There would be a better time to have this conversation, but as long as I keep talking and retain the same tone in my voice, it seems Gray is choosing not to act. I’m buying time the only way I know how.
“He was abandoned. I found him near the lake in an empty den. The mother never returned. He would’ve died if I hadn’t taken him in. Now stop moving, Beauty.”
That seems like so long ago, looking at him now. How much he’s grown. Gone is the sweet, nippy, playful pup, replaced by a growling, sinister killer capable of ripping both of us apart if he wanted to.
Callista stills her retreat, glaring at me. “Well, I’m about to die if you don’t do something.”
She’s right, of course.
Gray is fixated on her. Even my relationship with him might not be enough to break him from it. But I won’t let her know that. I can’t let my fear permeate my voice. “He’s protective of me. That’s all.”
His lips pull back farther, and he releases a snarl in her direction.
She recoils, tears now shimmering in her eyes as her body trembles hard enough for me to see it across the distance separating us. “That’s all?”
“Trust me, Callista.”
