Page 10 of A Pack of Lies and a Big Bad Wolf

“Nahh.” I shrug. I watch as they head down the white gravel path, and my wolf paces anxiously inside me, because Olivia still doesn’t know she’s ours yet.

As they walk, Olivia pauses and pulls her phone from her bag. She answers the phone and I see her body language change completely. She walks away from Rose, pacing for a minute as she argues with whoever is on the phone, then hangs up.

Boyfriend?

Dead boyfriend, if so.

But I don’t think she has one. Somehow, I feel like I’d sense it.

Still, my wolf is snarling now, and I know I need to let it go on a run or risk spontaneously shifting and attacking everyone around me.

Chapter 5

Olivia

Bram keeps us out until the light goes orange over the ridge.

By the time I make it back up the gravel path, my arms won't stop shaking, and there's a bruise coming up on my hip.

Three hours of that, on a lunch of one grilled cheese sandwich and a side of fries.

I am hungry enough to eat the porch.

As I limp up the steps, I see a note taped to my door. DINNER. MY HOUSE. SEVEN.

“Please,” I mutter under my breath, as if he could hear me. “Civilized people say please.”

I check my phone. It's 6:52.

"No," I tell the note, and let myself in. “How about no, thank you, because polite people say please and thank you? How about that, fur-face? Jerk-hole? Sexy-butt? Handsome-faced – damn it! What the hell is wrong with me?”

Yes, if you consider his looks, Kieran may possibly be the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, but pretty is as pretty does, as my third-grade schoolteacher used to tell us.

And he’s rude, stuck-up, bossy, and has no consideration for anyone else’s feelings. Which makes him butt-ugly. So there.

The guest cabin is one big room with an electric stove and a bathroom with actual water pressure. My bedroom has a bed with a red-and-black-checked flannel blanket. There's a kitchenette along the back wall.

I open the refrigerator. A box of baking soda sits on a shelf, looking sad and lonely.

The cupboards have plates, mugs, and a glass jar of dried leaves with a Shadowpine label I can't read. The freezer has two ice trays. That's it.

Last night and this morning, I ate at the pack canteen, so I hadn’t realized quite how dire the food situation was here.

My stomach lets out a rumbling growl of protest. I lean against the wall and fold my arms across my chest, cursing the fates.

I have fourteen dollars in my wallet, a quarter tank of gas, and a loan shark named Gary who calls me every three days to remind me what compounding interest is. The pack canteen closed at six.

Finally I heave a sigh and accept the inevitable. I storm out of the cabin, slam the door behind me, and stomp across the lawn and up the gravel path that leads to his cabin.

He opens the door before I knock.

"You're late."

"I wasn't coming."

"And yet, here you are." Kieran grins fiercely and steps back to let me in. He's barefoot, wearing jeans and a t-shirt that reveals the swell of his biceps, with a dish towel slung over one shoulder.

The whole house smells of roasting beef and rosemary.