Page 37

Kiernan takes his tea and heads into the bakery, leaving me to work on the day’s offerings.

We’re busy all morning and I sell out of the muffins, both trays of shortbread and the cherry and almond scones I prepared. By three, Kiernan and I are both exhausted and there’s only a few croissants left.

“I’m calling it!” I announce, leaning heavily on the counter. “Go home, Kee. I’ll be over later for dinner.”

Kiernan wipes crumbs into his palm, then empties them into the sink. “You sure?”

“Completely. I’m going to decide on tomorrow’s specials and listen to that podcast you sent me.”

“Awesome.” Kiernan comes over and hugs me, ruffling my hair in that annoying way he does, and then heads out through the back.

I flip the sign on the door to closed, then pull out a piece of paper and my phone. I turn on the podcast, then open to a clean page, and write ‘this week’s specials’ in thick, bold pen. Feeling enthused by the welcome my cheesy herb muffins received, I’m planning out another two recipes when my attention gets caught by something the caller on the podcast is saying.

“-my first time scuba diving and that’s what I see. I couldn’t believe it. I tried to take a photo but my hands were shaking and by the time I got my girlfriend’s attention, it was gone. But I know what I saw. It was large, partly covered in fur, with a long tail and fins like a shark, only it had three. And its eyes. Mate, you should have seen them. They were hypnotic.” The caller goes on to say that no one else witnessed what he did that day off the coast of Ilfracombe in Devon. The podcast moves onto another caller, but my mind is still on the previous one. There’s no way. How could I dream of a creature that this man says he’s seen? A creature I know doesn’t exist? It’s a strange coincidence, is all. I shake my head, then switch off the podcast and focus on my recipes, pushing all thoughts of monsters out of my mind.

I’m finishing up writing out my plans for Friday – honey and lavender scones, spinach, bacon and cumin muffins and carrot and chilli cake – when there’s a knock on the glass front door. I drop my pen and look up, a smile tugging at my lips.

Standing, I cross the bakery and unlock the door. Sterling steps in and immediately pulls me to him, running his nose across my neck and breathing me in, like he so often does.

“Ready for a walk?”

EIGHTEEN

STERLING

The man who touched Caspian has to die. He hurt my human. Scared him. Went into his bakery, his safe space, and put his hands on him. Though that was days ago, the anger in me is as rich and potent as it had been that day.

I gave him a second chance. Let him walk out of the bakery with one clear instruction – leave Newbridge and don’t dare come back. And yet, here he is, cheeks red from booze, a crooked grin on his face as he walks out of the pub on the far end of the village.

After my walk with Caspian, I left him outside the post office so he could walk over to Kiernan’s for dinner and I headed to the woods in the next village over, to hunt. As much as Caspian’s scones are palatable, I can’t survive on carbs and sugar. Nor is his delicious scent, that intoxicating mix of fear and arousal, enough to sustain me.

With the taste of copper thick on my tongue and my stomach full, I was making my way back through Newbridge when I spotted the man leaving the old weathered building. Now, he’s walking down a narrow alleyway that I know leads to a quiet road with a layby where there’s enough space to park a few cars.

Shifting swiftly, I follow him, keeping to the shadows. My paws are light on the cobblestones, my eyes trained on him in the darkness. He smells like dirty skin and fried foods, and when I rake a nail down the wall, a long scratch filling the air, his scent sharpens with a hint of fear. It’s not sweet like Caspian’s, doesn’t make my mouth water or my cock stir. But it does make me smile. I want him afraid, after what he did to my human.

His boss, the property developer, the man I met sneaking around Caspian’s place, no longer appears to be in Newbridge. I’ve looked for him, hunted down his scent to the very edge of the nearest town, but it seems to have vanished. That should be reassuring, but suspicion sits heavy in my gut. I know he has some of that blue sand in the necklace he keeps around his neck, but I don’t know how he got it or why he keeps it. I’ve been down to the beach again, held the sand in my hand and had the same reaction, only this time it was stronger, like I was being pulled against my will. The sea lions reacted by barking and clambering around my legs, and I couldn’t help the shift that came over me, my beast pushing through without warning.

The bald man quickens his step, bumping into the wall at his side as he looks over his shoulder. He breathes a loud sigh of relief as he steps into the open, his car safely tucked on the other side of the road. The layby is surrounded by trees, and leads onto a large, unkempt field. The scent of the sea wafts up from where the field gives way to a steep drop to the water. When he reaches his car, he takes his key from his pocket, and that’s when I strike.

One clawed hand grips his hair and the other tightens around his throat. He tries to scream, but I squeeze, blocking his airways. His legs buckle, and I hold him up, dragging him into the field. Long grass tickles at my legs, the ground uneven beneath my paws as I traipse far enough away from the road that any passing cars won't spot us.

There’s cloud cover tonight, the threat of another storm brewing, but that works in my favour, keeping us hidden in pure darkness.

Letting go, I throw the man to the ground and he lands in a heap, but quickly pushes himself to his feet.

“What the fuck?” he mumbles, blinking up at me. He’ll only be able to see my eyes and my scales as they glow, but it’s enough to have him moving backwards. “Stay away.”

I step closer, a grin growing on my face, canines sharp against my tongue.

“What does your boss want with Caspian?” I ask.

Fear is ripe in the cool air as the man trembles, his hands clasped into fists at his sides.

“The…the land. He wants the boy’s land.”

“Why?” I growl.

He shakes his head.