Gray fur, a flash of something white or maybe green glints weirdly in the light, and a blur—that’s all I see before I realize that the girl I’m hovering over isn’t safe anymore.
“Dammit, Lanie,” I grumble, scooting forward to follow where she duck-walks in a crouch across the ground. My knees protest at the copied movement, but when she attempts to slip between the trees off the open path, I shove all my prior reservations aside and grasp her arm in a tight grip. “You can’t go after that,” I say firmly, hauling her to her feet. “You have no idea what it is.”
I have no idea what that thing is, and I’ve lived here for nearly fifteen years.
Not that I pretend to know all the forest’s secrets, but I’ve camped up here in the open for plenty of nights and never seen anything like whatever this thing is. I’m not about to let Lanie wander into the tree line to satisfy her curiosity and disappear on me, Jenkins’s ghost tales be damned.
Her darting gaze never leaves the trees, sweeping the dark places between, seeking what I think I saw but my mind denies. Nothing moves in the shadows beyond. Could it be the dire wolf, or whatever Jenkins had made up? Neither of us will likely ever know, and I’m kinda good with keeping it that way for now.
Lanie spins on her heel to face me, red hair flying across her face in a mini tornado-like whirl. Blue fire blazes from her eyes, and it’s the sexiest thing I think I’ve everseen.
“It’s gone. Dammit, Cord. I wanted to see it with my own eyes.”
I want to cup her face and crush her mouth beneath mine, but something about the flame in her gaze tells me I’m as likely to earn a slap in the face as I am another mouthful of her quick sass for my efforts right now.
Instead, I stare over her head into the trees. “It’s gone,” I agree. “And if it was a feral dog or an oversized wolf, you have no idea if it’s aggressive or worse.”
Her soft lips, still swollen from our kisses earlier, twitch as she studies my face. Thankfully, she appears to take my concerns seriously, rather than assume I’m placating her. “Were you going to say rabid?”
I shrug and risk gliding an arm about her waist. Hell, I can’t stop touching her. “Maybe? Coulda been a bear.”
But it hadn’t been. The shape was all wrong.
Lanie shakes her head. “No.”
Looks like we’re on the same page.
I blow out a breath. “Anyway, I have a fear of the dark, so let’s get back, huh?” I jerk my head toward the road and take a step away from the trees, hoping she’ll fall in with me.
“You’re so full of shit,” Lanie mutters, catching up as I walk back toward the entrance of the path toward the road and civilization, leaving the mythical beast in the shadowy recesses where it belongs.
A small smile plays across my lips at Lanie’s sassy tongue. “Maybe, maybe not.”
Two steaming mugs of coffee sit between us. Spurs and Stirs Bean House is the only place in Valiant Peak I’d take anyone for coffee, especially a girl like Lanie, and it’s been an age—ha, coffee bean pun not withstanding—since I’ve been on a date.
Jenkins’s shitshow aside, Valiant Peak hosts a decent selection of history and artists, but the local fare often leaves an oddaftertaste that lingers well beyond its use-by date. Luckily, Coyote Falls has its very own chef, though Levi refuses to let anyone call him that.
A flyer for the Valiant Peak Invitational dangles on the wall beside Lanie. The papers are plastered all over the town, which was the marketing plan, but seeing my own shadow while I’m with her is…daunting. When I passed the file over for a newspaper release to West, he handed it on to his teenage nephew, who did a magnificent job of graphic design, showering the town—and several neighboring locales as well—with a massive campaign worthy of a commendation.
“Thank you.” Lanie sneaks a peek at me from where she twirls her mug between her palms. “Today has been…beyond my expectations.”
“Even though I didn’t let you hunt your dire wolf in person?” I tease.
The toe of her boot connects with my shin beneath the table. I gape as my eyes water.
“A truly terrible end to a great day.” Her hair flicks in the periphery of what’s left of my senses, followed by her tinkling laugh before she sobers. “Seriously, diving into the forest wouldn’t have been that smart. I still want to…” She glances past my picture out the window toward the treed area.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to offer to take her back out there and hunt the damn cryptid-whatever creature down. Hell, I’ve spent the better part of a day with this woman, and I already know I’ll do anything for her.
Before I can offer her anything stupid, Lanie turns her attention back to me, clutching her coffee one-handed. I rest my fingers over her finer ones, savoring the warmth of her. Her hand trembles finely at the contact, her bright blue gaze flying up to meet mine. My stomach clenches on her knee-jerk reaction at the contact, though thankfully she doesn’t pull away.
“Have I fulfilled my duties as tour guide already?” I inhale her sweet cinnamon scent, on the edge of begging for a second date.
“No way. Didn’t you say something about wolves and waterfalls?” Lanie’s eyes brighten.
Wish granted. “Why do I feel that if I don’t provide you with wolves, I’m going to see the side you showed Jenkins earlier?”
She looks down at her coffee, and the swirling resumes. “I’m sorry about that.” Her cheeks burn with a cute rosy stain. I want to kiss it away until she glows for a different reason.
