Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
“But—” Sky swallowed the rest of his argument at a glare from Nolan and smiled at him. “Got it. Red and Mr. Pig will stay in the car until we know what’s going on.”
“Got it!” Red agreed.
They climbed out of the small car at the same time and cut between the parked cars to stride through Moon’s front lawn. The thin lamplight outlined flower beds and young flowers that had poked through with the start of spring. At the edge of the light, wooden boxes marked where Moon likely had some other beds, possibly for vegetables or herbs. Or even spell ingredients, for all he knew.
As they stepped on the grass, a tall, broad-shouldered figure strode toward them. Nolan blinked a couple of times to find the man was shirtless and barefoot. Was he…was he really only wearing a pair of jeans? The weather was nice, but a chill had crept into the air with the setting sun and Nolan could feel the bite of cold through both his shirt and sweater.
“Hey, friend!” the stranger called out. “This is private property. You can’t be here.”
“Yeah, I know it’s private property!” Sky shouted back. “This is my friend Moon Mullins’s place. Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“Oh, shit. Sky?” Just as the stranger said the witch’s name, he stepped into the light and Nolan frowned. Why did he look familiar? He couldn’t place where he’d met the man, but he’d definitely seen his face before.
“Yeah…wait…you’re one of the Variks, aren’t you?” Sky inquired, his voice growing more confident with each word.
The man chuckled and waved a hand at them. “Wyatt Varik. I’m one of Bel Varik’s mates.”
One of? How many mates did this guy have?
But that helped place him a little. He must have seen Wyatt at the Varik manor when they were trying to free him from Christoph. That hadn’t been a good night for him, and there had been a lot of people in the room. He hadn’t caught any names besides Marcus and Aiden, and he barely remembered their faces.
A Varik was a good thing, right? They were helpful and friendly.
Wyatt turned his attention to Nolan and his smile softened. “It’s good to see you away from the Sandor clan. How have you been?”
Nolan’s face burned a bit and he shoved a hand through his hair. “I’m good. Been good. Getting adjusted to…knowing about all this…” he finished awkwardly.
Wyatt laughed warmly and nodded. “I get it. Even when you’re raised in the middle of all of it, this can be a bit much at times.”
“No offense, Wyatt,” Sky interjected. “But who are all these people? Why are you here? I got a text from my friend this morning. He’s in Boston right now. Does he know you’re here?”
“None taken. This is my pack.” He jerked his thumb to the people Nolan could see milling about in the dancing light. It was hard not to stare, but it looked as if the fire was casting across more bare skin than clothing. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him. “Moon has done some jobs for us in the past. It’s how we know each other. He asked if our pack would be willing to help cull some of the deer from his woods. The population has gotten too high recently. We’ll be here for each full moon for the next two or three months.”
Sky smacked his forehead and moaned. “Full moon. That would explain the insanity tonight. I can’t believe we didn’t notice it was a full moon.”
Full moon.
And Wyatt wasn’t a vampire but a shifter.
Which meant hunting deer was probably done in their wolf form.
Whoa. That he wanted to see!
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask if they could stay for a little while just so he could see some of the shifters in their wolf form, but the words never left his mouth.
Sky’s wide eyes snapped to him. “Fuck! We need to get out of here!”
Nolan frowned. Were they really in danger? Wyatt seemed friendly enough. They were also acquainted with the Variks. Wouldn’t he at least warn them if the shifters were a threat to them during the full moon?
Even as these questions were forming in his head, Red opened the door of the car and partially stepped out to shout at them.
“Hey, Sky! What’s going on? Damon is freaking out, an—”
A high-pitched pig squeal erupted from the back of the car, Red disappeared as if he were knocked over, and the pig streaked into the woods, screaming as if all the hounds of hell were on his little piggy hooves.
Or rather, he was being chased by wolves.
Fuck.
That was why Sky had said they needed to leave.
Damon must have smelled the predators and freaked out.
Now a pork dinner was running wildly through the woods, and the wolves were about to give chase.