Rrpprprprprp.Blort!
“No! Ohhh.” I wince as the wettest sound and foulest smell attack my senses. “Ari,no...”
She sighs and keeps drinking.
“You’re going to have to take a break, Tiny Toxic Terror. I think you just killed your bunny suit.”
“UM. CAN I TAKE THATto the trash for you?”
Jasper Wainwright, immaculate in a crisp black suit and perfect white shirt, holds out his big, manly hand to take my daughter’s explosively gross diaper.
“You don’t have to. But thank you.” I don’t know where a trash can is, I don’t want to walk the dark streets of a strange town alone, holding my baby in one arm and a wad of wipes and disaster in the other, and I don’t want to leave it in the car—not when I might be living in there for a few days. My eyes well up with tears, and I give him the small biodegradable bag with the mess in it.
He nods gravely, as if I just handed him some award, not a poopy diaper. “There’s a trash can at the entrance to the NightMarket. There are a couple of vendors still open—fudge and popcorn, but they’re closing soon, if you need a snack.”
“I think I’m okay,” I say, staying near my car like it’s my only friend, my only place of refuge.
“You... You have a little spot on you, Miss Riding Hood.”
I gasp and look down. “Oh, no.”
“If you need a place to change, I think the Jade Forest is still open for another half hour. We like to close things early and get home on Halloween.” Mr. Wainwright looks around when he speaks. “There’s a big party up at White Pines, and there are probably some festivities in the campus dorms, but we’re homebodies tonight. Most of us.”
I nod, but his words don’t really register. I realize I have nothing else to wear. All my clothes. My shoes. My jewelry. It’s back at home.
I’m not technically homeless. Icango back. I can tell Matt it’s not working out. I can ask for a divorce.
But my insides shrivel. I picture his anger at the news, and I genuinely fear for my safety. If he punched me, I’d probably be okay. If he punched me while I was holding Arianna, and I dropped her...
With a sudden hiccup, a sob bursts out of me. I clutch Arianna, and then to my shock, I’m surrounded by thick arms, by shoulders that instantly pillow my head.
“Miss Hood—”
“Mrs. Loretta Lane. I need a phone. Can I use your phone?”
He hands it to me without a second thought.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TOdo. I threw out the trash and got a bottle of hand sanitizer and one of the shirts from my gym bag in my car. If she can’t get the stain out of the costume, she couldwear my shirt. Honestly, it would be a mini-dress on her, but that’s no different from the costume she’s in.
I stay nearby, naturally. I mean, a stranger has my phone, so it’s a given. But I also have to stay near her because my wolf is wide awake and pacing inside, saying that those two are my pack. That I’m a lone wolf who finally found what I need, a mate and pup, and that they need me, too.
“Mom. Dad. I— No! No, did you tell him where I... No, thank God, you don’t know. I’m in a little town not too far from Binghamton. Please, please,pleasedon’t tell him. I’m not joking. No, this isn’t some Halloween prank! Mom, his temper has gotten really bad. He started drinking more. Daddy... I’m afraid he’ll hurt Ari and me.”
Loretta is whispering tearfully, but I can hear every syllable, and my wolf is clawing inside, as alert as if the full moon were rising. He whimpers inside to get out, and my senses sharpen.
This sweet girl and her child are someone’s prey.
And I suddenly want to rip out his throat, an urge I’ve never, ever experienced. Pine Ridge isn’t the place for wolves who can’t control their bloodlust, for those who could hurt innocents.
But he put the pup at risk, my wolf snarls inside. There is no innocence left once you hurt your mate, your sacred love, the little life you promise to protect once you bring it into this world...
I shake myself out of it when Loretta’s strained voice pierces my thoughts.
“No, I can’t come there. I mean, I will, of course, but not yet. Because he knows I’ll go to you! And if I go to you, he’ll be waiting. I... It hasn’t been all bad. Some of it was good. So good, at first, when we were happy, and I’m afraid I’ll go back. I’ve been putting up with so much, too tired to change things. Not even realizing Ineededto change things. Yes, I know you were only over last month. Mom? Remember when you asked ifI was anemic because I had bruises on one arm? Matt told you I just bruise easily. Blamed it on me being sleep-deprived and bumping into things? He was the one bumping into me, with his hands, grabbing me and shaking me whenever he wanted to shout in my face, or shoving me away from him. He never hit my face. He still hurt me.” Her voice is so small and bereft.
The sound of broken trust, shattered dreams, and love that didn’t fade or die of natural causes, it was poisoned by violence.
There’s a long silence. No one is speaking, no one on either end of the call.
