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“So what?” Colton shook his head. “You think you don’t owe me anything, no explanation as to why you left? Where you’ve been? Why you’re back?”

My previously softening exterior became barbed and impenetrable once more. “I do not owe you a damn thing, Colton.”

“You’re angry at me?” His eyes widened, taking a small step back. Thank fuck. He’d been much too close to have this conversation.

“I’m angry.” I sipped my coffee. “But no, not at you. Well, a little at you,” I amended. “Because of what you think I owe you.”

Colton’s brow flattened in that way it did when he was determined. Like when he was denied captain of the football team because his coach had a grudge against him.

“You think that leaving in the middle of the night, from my bed, and being gone for over a decade doesn’t entitle me to anything?” His words were heavy with resentment, male rage that even the good ones didn’t seem immune to.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose before I stared at him coldly. “No, Colton. I know I don’t owe you anything. And any explanation I give you would leave you with nothing more than questions.” I looked from the house to him. “This isn’t a homecoming. Whatever you or your father would like to feel. That…” I jabbed my finger at the Victorian. “Is not my home. It stopped being my home the moment it was decorated with my parents’ entrails.”

Colton flinched. Actually flinched at my words. As if they hurt him. I knew a small-town cop didn’t see much action, but with what I suspected was a supernatural entity tearing apart its citizens, he would’ve seen enough to be tougher than that.

“Haddie,” he murmured softly. Impossibly softly, the tone sneaking past my defenses, touching somewhere inside me that was crying out for comfort.

That was crying out to be saved by Colton.

I held my breath when he stepped forward again.

Then a gentle hum froze him in his tracks and tugged me out of whatever haze I’d been lulled into.

His lips curled into a frown as he snatched the phone from the holder on his belt.

“Yeah,” he snapped.

Though I should’ve used the moment to make my escape, I found myself glued to the spot, watching Colton. The grown version, standing in front of me. Us drinking coffee together in front of my childhood home, bickering. An acid trip wouldn’t have taken me there.

“How many? And DOA?” Colton set his coffee on the roof of the car.

My hackles rose.

“And they were out on Everwood Trail?” he continued, turning to look over the hood of his car.

I inched forward—maybe some good could come of having a complicated past with a small town cop after all.

But unfortunately, he did not reveal any more details, just sighed heavily. “I’ll be there in twenty.”

When he hung up, I took pains to step back so I wouldn’t look like I was eavesdropping. And I didn’t want to get close enough to smell his pleasant scent.

“I’ve got to go.” He looked annoyed. And tired. It was only then that I explored the contours of his face, spotting the dark circles under his eyes. Which were bloodshot. He was an attractive guy, so I didn’t notice it immediately, but he looked a little ragged.

I hoped that he wasn’t losing sleep over me.

Narcissistic, to be sure. There were plenty of reasons for a small-town cop to lose sleep. Traffic violations. Neighborly feuds. And a werewolf killing people under his nose for years.

“What happened?” I tried not to sound too eager.

He visibly hesitated, gazing from me to the house. “An animal attack on Everwood Trail.” When he looked back to me, he seemed cautious. Like I might fall apart in his arms. Like he might want me to.

Colton was chomping at the bit to be the hero.

He was in for a rude awakening when he realized I wasn’t a fucking helpless female.

“And people died?” I probed. It was totally sad that people died; I genuinely didn’t love more victims piling up, but it meant I could get information. Leads. One step closer to the werewolf, one step further from this shit-show.

Colton’s chin dipped in confirmation. “A couple. Young.” His voice was tight, jaw hard. I could feel it, the blame he was putting on himself. The ready-made hero who thought that he had to save everyone. Not my job to save him from himself. The world would eventually show him that he couldn’t save everyone.