Page 14 of Wolf It Down, Knot Me Up

“Lucy…” Grandma hesitates, and something in her voice tightens my stomach. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“The man you met at the bar… are you absolutely certain it was Roman?”

I frown, even if she can’t see me. “What do you mean? He introduced himself as Roman.”

Grandma goes quiet for a moment. “I just got off the phone with Roman, and he said he didn’t make it to the bar in time. By the time he arrived, you were already gone, so he rushed into the woods to look for you. He thought you’d started walking to the lodge alone.”

My fingers tighten around the phone. “No…” I whisper. “He knew your name. He had the red bandanna, exactly like you said. He told me he was supposed to take me to the lodge.”

“Oh, sweetheart…” Grandma sighs heavily. “I really don’t know, but I think it was someone else.”

Yesterday flashes through my mind in pieces while coldness sinks through me because who the hell was that man?

“Roman told me he finally found you and rushed to get you free from the stranger.”

“Oh, the guy with those eyes. That was the real Roman?”

“Yes, dear. He told me he saw someone trying to drag you deeper into the forest.” She pauses. “He said instinct took over. He didn’t stop to think and just went after him to protect you.”

“Oh… shit.” The words barely leave my mouth.

“But don’t worry about it for now,” Grandma says, her voice softening. “Just stay there at the lodge where you’re safe, okay? We have security cameras. I’ll make some calls and see if anyone knows who that man was or what he wanted with you.”

My mind refuses to slow down. Was he just some creep who’d overheard Eve’s conversation and realized he’d found an easy way to lure a woman into the woods?

“It sounded like he really knew you,” I say quietly.

Grandma exhales. “He must’ve known something about me, but this is a small town, love. Plenty of people know me. That doesn’t necessarily mean I know them.”

There’s a bustle on her end, and she exhales loudly. “Oh, here they come. They’re doing their tests again, love, so I have to go. Third round today. I’m going to start charging them.”

“Grandma. They only want to take care of you.”

“They want my blood. I’m very popular here.” But she’s laughing as she says it. “Enjoy the lodge, sweetheart, and please stay safe, but don’t worry. When I’m back home, we’ll work it out. Ethan and the three men promised to keep you safe. So, light the fires and keep warm. I love you.”

“Love you more. Bye.”

The phone goes dark on the bath tray, and I draw in a long, shaky breath before sliding beneath the water, letting the silence swallow me whole. I stay there until my lungs begin to ache, forcing me back to the surface.

I break through with a gasp and stare at the ceiling, my thoughts racing faster than I can make sense of them. What did that man want with me? The question keeps circling. Looking back now, he’d given me the creeps almost from the moment we’d met, but I had ignored the little voice telling me that something wasn’t right.

A shiver rolls through me despite the steaming bath as the truth finally settles. If Roman hadn’t found us when he did, what would have happened if the stranger had gotten really aggressive?

For all my frustration over being bitten by a complete stranger, I can’t ignore what really occurred. Roman hadn’t attacked me out of malice. The bite might have been accidental, but everything else he’d done had been to save me. And he took me to the hospital, which makes so much sense now.

I sink a little lower into the water and let out a slow breath. I still wasn’t thrilled about the bite, but one thing was becoming painfully clear… I owed Roman a lot more than a thank-you.

By the time I climb out, my fingers have gone full prune, and the window is one solid sheet of fog. I towel off in the lantern light, pad into the bedroom, and dig my red dress out of the backpack, the casual knee-length one with long sleeves, made from soft cotton, the dress equivalent of a good mood. Dress, sneakers, hair brushed back, and then the unglamorous part—sitting on the edge of the bed to change the bandage on my hand. The bite underneath is healing faster than anything I’ve ever done to myself, the punctures already closed over.

My stomach picks that peaceful moment to growl like a chainsaw. Time to head downstairs to see what I find in the kitchen. Grandma has turned it into less of a kitchen and more of a cathedral with a huge range oven.

The ceiling climbs into dark beams, and the whole far wall is glass, with the pines standing so close and so tall on the other side that cooking in here must feel like cooking in the middle of the forest. Stone walls the color of honey and ash. Two long islands topped in granite that ripples like river water, iron chandeliers hanging above them on chains, a range with eight burners, and a fireplace at the far end with a worn red runner leading toward it like the room has an aisle.

“Grandma,” I breathe, to nobody, “you have outdone yourself.”

There’s no sign of Ethan, so I glide through the kitchen. “Okay, gorgeous,” I say, rolling up my sleeves. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”