The house was much,muchlarger than it had appeared from the coastline — almost as big as the Scottish kingdom castle. Another forbidden internet word poked into my mind.Is this what a mansion looks like in real life?I wondered.
Then, my stomach cramped with another thought. Or maybethis is the Irish Wolves' version of a castle?
Instead of knocking, I tried the door's handle to see if it was locked. Wolves never locked their doors. From what I understood, that was a human compulsion, most likely born out of a fear of not being able to either smell or easily out-muscle any threat that could come your way.
With a single push, the handle yielded, clicking the door openwith an ominous creak.Oh no!I recoiled and snatched my hand away like someone scalded.
Was this why none of the wolves had followed me into the ocean? Had I run straight to their kingdom's keep? What had that one wolf called it? Their secret castle?
I turned tail to run towards the road I could hear off in the distance.
"What in the…? You're drenched to the bone! Did you fall out of a boat or something?"
A giant male stood in the doorway. He looked to be in his early thirties. Maybe younger. It was hard to tell with the thick beard. He was covered in some man-made scent. A perfume, maybe? Like the kind Barbara, my patron forbidden technology and book saint,often wore. However, instead of flowers, his perfume put me in mind of burning wood and crushed pine needles.
Most of all, the man had kind eyes behind a set of metal-rimmed glasses —glassesthat wolves didn't ever have to wear, thanks to their perfect vision.
"Oh, thank goodness!" My shoulders caved, and my heart just about exploded with relief when I saw that the large guy who'd opened the door wasn't a wolf.
"Are you alright there, love?" The kind-eyed giant eyed me nervously, then called over his shoulder, "Keeann, be a good lad and bring some towels! We’ve got a woman at our door in need of help. I think she might have tumbled into the ocean.”
The "woman" let me know he most definitely wasn’t a wolf. Shifters never referred to themselves by human monikers. We didn't consider ourselves men or women, but males and females or wolves and she-wolves. Kind of like how I referred to myself as Black despite having a White mother.
“Here, here, come inside.” Despite my wet dress, he beckoned me into what turned out to be a toasty kitchen with what looked like a full tea service, complete with tiny sandwiches, cakes, and even a couple of glasses of bubbly champagne.
My stomach rumbled at the sight of the food.
"Sorry, don't stop there," the kind giant instructed. "I'll fetch you something after we get you situated. We've an armchair right next to a warm fire with your name on it. Come! Come!"
He opened a swinging door to reveal a high-ceilinged sitting room, large and cozy with, just as he promised, an armchair situated right nextto a roaring fire.
For some reason, my teeth started chattering at the sight of it. As if my body didn't remember it was encased in an icy, wet dress until it sighted something that was the opposite of that.
“You poor woman. Sit here.” He waved me toward a cushy armchair that carried the faint scent of a sheep shorn and hided centuries ago before accepting a stack of towels from someone outside of my periphery with a quick. "Obliged, Keeann. Maybe pour her a cup of tea from that pot I was brewing up when I heard her at the door? And you…”
The giant turned back to thrust the stack of towels at me. “Get these wrapped around you quick, won’t you? Your teeth are chattering like castanets.
I did as instructed but had to warn him. “L-lock the door! B-bad m-males are af-after me. T-took m-my fr-friends. M-must h-help th-th-them.”
“What’s she on about, then?”
A voice suddenly asked behind me. It was nowhere near as warm as the guy who'd welcomed me inside.
"Not sure," the large one I could see answered. "But I can tell she's distressed. So, don't start."
They didn't understand. I had to make them understand. I locked my teeth to stop them from chattering.
“There's a boat parked at the closest dock to this house. It has a bunch of females in it. We’re being…” I scraped my mind for the right internet word that would make humans take me seriously. “Trafficked! We’re beingtrafficked. You’ve got to call the authorities. You have to help us!”
Silence.
Then, the kind giant's face lit up, and footsteps sounded behind me. "Perfect, Keeann! Yes, a nice cuppa. That’s exactly what she needs."
He thrust a saucer with a delicate tea cup, a little sandwich, and a delicious-looking cakey biscuit into my face. “This tea'll warm you right up, won’t it?”
Both my human and my wolf heartily agreed, but I couldn't take his offering. "I'm not going to sit here sipping tea while nearly everyone I know is trapped on that boat outside! You've got to help me. You've got to helpus."
The giant's expression melted.
