Page 23 of Midlife Animal Rescuer Wolf

“What was that?” Bryon wanted to know.

She cleared her throat. “Uh, nothing.”

He stared at her for the next few seconds, then shifted his gaze, staring at the ground. He pointed. “I think we’re very close to the foal, look.”

He pointed, and she let her gaze follow. “What exactly am I looking at?”

“Tracks, Miranda.” The sound of her name sent a flush of heat through her gut. He narrowed his eyes. “I think they’re the foal’s tracks.”

She could barely see what he was talking about, but she didn’t bother mentioning it. He was more of the animal expert here, anyway. “Which way do the tracks lead?”

He pointed leftward. “That way. Let’s go.”

With that, he turned and headed in that direction, his movements suddenly more animated despite his injury. Miranda did her best to keep up, staring at his broad back as they journeyed deeper into the woods.

For all she knew, this man could very well be getting her even more lost in these woods or taking them farther and farther away from freedom. Somehow, she trusted that he knew what he was doing. He was a competent man. And... well, he wasn’t bad company, after all.

The memory of her straddling him earlier crossed her mind then, and she bit her lower lip. After all she’d seen, after all he’d told her about himself, Miranda supposed she shouldn’t feel so attracted to this man. If anything, she should at least be a little repulsed, or even wary. But her attraction had done nothing but grow.

“Try to keep up, will you?” he called from a few feet ahead, supporting himself with tree trunks as he moved. “We don’t have all day.”

“Funny you should say that now,” she replied with a roll of her eyes. Still, it warmed her heart to see him so excited to rescue the foal. “You really do care more about animals than my kind. And you still haven’t told me why that is.”

At her words, he slowed in his tracks, but didn’t look back at her. “That’s because it’s not something I like to remember. You’re not the first human to see me shift.”

Chapter Nine

A Narrow Escape

Bryon’s first reaction was to back away from the door, his gaze flicking from Harold and the other townspeople to the rest of his surroundings. If he moved quickly enough, maybe he could make it out the back door or through one of the windows. But something told him the entire house must be surrounded by now. As far as he could tell, there wasn’t much of a chance of escape for him.

Harold meant business tonight.

“End of the road, Bryon,” Harold said. The man’s lip curled. “If that’s even your real name. At this point, who even knows what’s real and what’s a lie?”

Bryon glanced at the baseball bat in his hands, then back at the man. Harold’s gaze was murderous. There was no mistaking his intent tonight. Bryon’s insides clenched. He’d hoped it would be at least a little longer before the town turned against him. His world was coming apart at the seams, and there didn’t seem to be anything he could do but watch.

He swallowed. “Harold, you’ve known me for several years. You and I have been friends for the longest. How could you turn on me so suddenly?”

“Friends.” Harold snorted. The man stepped into the house, wielding the bat menacingly, and Bryon braced himself for a sudden attack. “If you ever truly were my friend, you wouldn’t have kept such a secret from me for so long. And you’d have spared me the indignity of even knowing you.”

He might as well have swung the bat. His words hit Bryon like heavy blows, each one heavier than the last.

“I never wanted you to find out,” Bryon admitted. “I did it to protect you from—”

“From a monster like you?” Harold spat.

Bryon’s jaw clenched. “From yourself. Look at what seeing me shift has done to you. You’ve gone mad, claiming I’m some sort of monster. There’s so much you don’t understand, Harold. That’s why I never told you what I was.”

“What’s there to understand? It’s like I said the other day: You’re an abomination, Bryon. You should not exist.”

“Yet here I am.” Bryon could feel his unease slowly giving way to anger. His fingers trembled at his sides. If he shifted, he could take down at least three of these humans before any of them managed to land a blow on him.

No, he chided himself. These people already thought he was a monster. Hurting any of them would only make matters worse for him. Besides, they didn’t know better. If anything, he should be focused on making an escape.

Harold drew even closer. “I can’t believe you thought you could make a run for it. You thought you’d skip town and find some new place to live, eh? You shouldn’t be allowed to live among people. You shouldn’t be allowed to live at all.”

His lower lip trembled, and for the first time, Bryon saw the pain in the man’s eyes. His heart nearly stopped beating for a second. It wasn’t just his world that was falling apart. Harold’s was, too. The man was still struggling to process what he’d seen the other night, not to mention he was undoubtedly questioning his own judgment in light of their friendship. Harold was far from stable.