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I barked out a laugh until I saw he was serious. “No,” I replied with utter confidence.

“How do you know?”

I chewed and swallowed. “I just do.”

When Dante’s lips parted, I expected him to fight me more. I would’ve if I were in his position. Familiarity with people did not guarantee that they weren’t masquerading as humans. But I’d bet my left and right tit that Sharon was exactly who she presented herself to be. Strong, rich, fiercely protective, and loving. Ruthless when she needed to be. Kind when she didn’t. She was probably the only person in town I didn’t suspect.

“Are we on for tomorrow?” Dante picked up his spoon again, scooping out one last spoonful of his sludge.

I groaned. He’d texted me late last night with the proposal of going out to stay in the woods near where the werewolves had been targeting victims. There was no certainty we’d even lure one in, but the full moon was getting closer, and that meant the wolf was likely getting stronger. And hungrier.

“Yes, we’re on for tomorrow.” I watched him mimic Colton’s earlier behavior—rinsing out his bowl before placing it in the dishwasher.

I refused to believe it was because Dante had any kind of manners. More likely, it was because he was trying to look like a good guy. Why he was bothering was a total enigma.

“You’re bringing your own tent,” I informed him. “I’m not sharing an enclosed space with you.”

Dante’s eyes twinkled. “What’s wrong? You don’t trust yourself with me?”

“Yes, Dante, you’ve caught me.” I laid a hand on my chest, replying in a sugary-sweet voice as I approached him. In bare feet—sans my heeled shitkickers—I felt infinitely smaller and more delicate in front of him. I jutted my chin up with a glower to compensate. “I cannot control myself around you, because I’m just a feeble woman, ruled by my baser instincts.” I licked my lips. Then I grabbed his crotch in a crude gesture I didn’t entirely expect. Nor did he, by the expression on his face.

His package was large and rapidly hardening in my palm. I ignored this and squeezed a little harder.

Dante winced, but with a smile.

“No, wait. Ruled by baser instincts, feeble, possessive over things that aren’t theirs… That’s a man.” I again used a candy-coated tone, giving him one more squeeze before letting go.

I couldn’t deny that my own nether regions were buzzing with awareness of the undeniable electricity that existed between Dante and myself.

“Don’t forget that we’re only working together on a temporary basis, and I’m not a notch on your belt. Now get the fuck out of this house.”

Dante’s grin flattened. “I will never consider you a notch on my belt, Hadley. And there is nothing temporary about this.” He stared with an unnerving intensity for a beat longer before winking and sauntering out the door.

“Fuck,” I groaned up at the ceiling.

I had a sinking feeling I was not going to get out of this town unscathed. Actually, I’d be lucky if I got out of here alive.

And I was rarely lucky.

sixteen

I hitched the backpack onto my shoulder, grunting as I hiked farther into the woods. The full moon was still another week away, so I couldn’t be sure this would work. I didn’t want to have to go up against a werewolf on a full moon, but I would if I absolutely had to. It was the only night I was guaranteed a wolf would be in these woods. But they stretched on for hundreds of miles. If I did find him, it would be due more to sheer luck that I’d been in the right place, even with the map of his prior attacks giving me a loose hunting ground.

Given the way my cards had been falling since arriving in Dreadwood Falls, the only fruit this night would likely bear was an aching back and Lyme disease. But I had to do something.

Camping with Dante tomorrow night was a bad idea for many reasons. Most importantly, I did not want to share this kill with him. I did not want him to invade my privacy in that way. He’d already stomped his boots all over my hometown, met Colton, and uncovered the skeletons of my past life. He didn’t get to take this from me too, as much as he spouted on about doing it to protect me—especially because he spouted on about doing it to protect me.

The episode in the kitchen that morning with them both was the bottleneck. I was suffocated by all the emotions gurgling up my throat, demanding to be acknowledged, acted on. My libido was getting out of control, the need in the base of my spine ever-present, hungry for release. From Colton or Dante or both, I didn’t know. I couldn’t trust myself, especially my baser instincts.

My primal instincts, the ones I’d learned to rely on this past decade, were telling me time was running out. That something was coming. I could almost feel it in the air, a heavy kind of foreboding energy. I wasn’t stupid enough not to conclude all the supernatural encounters I’d had were somehow connected, but I couldn’t find a way to make them fit.

Yes, the witch was likely pulling strings, but how? Why? Most importantly, who? They’d have to be older, established in the community if they had worked all these years. Maybe in league with the wolf. Partners in their true forms … maybe in their human lives too. Maybe they were a married couple. Mother and child. But that theory was thin because witches only had daughters who were witches too. Wolves bred wolves. There was not, to my knowledge, a witch who was also a wolf.

Though there was a first for everything.

I toyed with this and many other theories during my hike. The brisk air, the crunch of leaves, the sun filtering through the trees, and the exertion of my muscles was calming. Almost meditative. As was the alone time.

I’d had more human interaction in Dreadwood Falls than I had in the entire past year. Not counting the interactions I was forced into as part of the job.