‘Oh.’ My turn to frown. ‘Didn’t anyone tell you I made it to Aster and Callum’s cabin? Then decided to stay there for a few weeks because I missed my bestie?’
That was the official party line spread around the island. Aster claimed it was believable because who wouldn’t desperately miss basking in his magnificent presence and be unwilling to tear themselves away?
Bonnie told me, during a phone call when she’d impressed on me the importance of telling her all the interesting gossip I discovered because she was now my Alpha, that she had told everyone on the island about my impromptu bro-fest.
Everyone but Oscar, apparently.
‘Nope.’ He thumped the hammer into the top of the fence. ‘And you’ve officially become part of the gang, I see.’
I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut. During her phone call, Bonnie had told me the list of people I didn’t need to hide my newly wolfified status from. It wasn’t long. Oscar definitely wasn’t on it.
‘What do you mean?’ I asked in what I hoped was a wholly innocent manner. He couldn’t know about werewolves, had to be hinting at something else. Maybe the stink of goat had permeated my skin while I’d recovered in the mountains.
Oscar’s frown morphed into a glare. ‘Nothing. What would a simple farmer know about anything? And why would anyone think to tell me that some bloke I’d seen running off into the worst storm we’ve had here in years got through it without a scratch?’
‘Oscar?’ I waited until he looked at me, his arms crossed over his thick jumper. ‘I’m sorry no one told you I was okay.’
He huffed, but his eyebrows shifted upwards. ‘Did the storm catch you?’
I struggled to think of the details of my fake alibi. ‘I was almost at Callum and Aster’s when it hit. Just got a bit wet.’
Oscar might not be glaring or frowning anymore, but his stare was no less intense. ‘And you’ve been alright, since then?’
‘Oh, yeah.’ I nodded, as though being positive enough would make the mess of the past day not count. ‘All good and ready to return to work.’
‘Right.’ Oscar seemed to realise he had been barring entry to his farm while holding a slightly intimidating hammer. ‘Come on in, but be careful. The storm did a number on the gate. Since then, I’ve had to come down every day to check it so that none of those buggers get in.’
He glared over at the goats huddled in the distance. He was insistent that they were all on a mission to break into his farm, but I’d not seen any evidence yet.
‘Let me give you a hand.’
I stepped forward to help him haul the gate across the covered cattle grid, but jumped back when his dogs ran over and crashed into the patched slats. Their teeth were bared, their throats vibrating with deep snarls.
‘Woah, Jenny. Katie, get down.’ Oscar grabbed the dogs by their collars and hauled them away from the fence. Their growls subsided into whines as they panted at his sides. He held onto them for a moment, before letting go and looking at me. ‘Bloody hell. I thought you were the animal whisperer?’
Horror, much more visceral and consuming than when I’d woken in the storm and realised how badly injured I was, crashed through me.
An animal had never reacted to me with anything other than friendliness or casual indifference before.
I looked away from Oscar’s shocked face to the goats huddled in the distance. I took a step towards them. They skittered backwards.
Tiny Tim and Albert had tricked me. They were so used to being in the presence of a predator that they didn’t react to it anymore. Their violent nuzzling had fooled me into assuming nothing had changed other than all my obvious wolfy enhancements.
Kat had hissed at me. I’d assumed that was grouchiness at being woken from her beauty sleep. I had been too distracted by Kit to wonder why she would have stayed away after.
I’d lost one of the things I loved most about myself. Animals flocking to me had always brought me pure happiness, and that was gone.
‘I don’t know what’s happened.’ I turned back to Oscar and tried not to look at the dogs cowering at his sides, tried not to sound utterly devastated. ‘I guess I’ve lost my touch.’
‘Come here.’ Oscar encouraged me back towards the gate. ‘Get down on your knees and hold out your hands.’ He patted his dogs on the head once I complied, my fingers reaching through the slats of the fence. ‘This is Lucas the vet. You know him. He’s a good guy.’
One of the Labradors looked up at him with clear scepticism, but the other lowered her head and slowly crept towards my hand. She sniffed my fingertips.
The moment she realised who I was and put aside whatever instincts were barking at her to keep me away from her human was marked by her eyes transforming into wide saucers, followed by a whole lot of licking. The other dog realised she was missing out and bounded forwards, her wet nose cruising across my other palm and into the sleeve of my jumper.
The sadness drenching me eased a little. Animals didn’t totally hate me. They might have some initial reluctance to come near but once they did, all was as it should be.
‘You’ve not lost it.’ Oscar leant on the gate and gazed down at his dogs as they nuzzled wetly at my hands. ‘Just might have to work a bit harder at first. That’s all.’
