Her Perilous Wolf by Julie Steimle (free e books to read .txt) 📖

overheard her talking to someone else on the phone, and she said she could not find me.”

Vincent continued to shake his head. This was nuts.

“Point of fact two—” Audry nodded. “Silvia set up the spell to protect me from predators. And, if you can recall, Hogan could never find my apartment.”

“Now wait a minute—”

“And you know what I found out about him.”

“But he’s been to your place,” Vincent said.

“Never the second one,” she argued. With a nod, she repeated, “Hogan was never able to find it. And when you came in, you just fell asleep.”

Vincent rolled his eyes. “So what?”

Meeting his gaze, “Silvia told me that if a predator did get in, or someone with predatory behavior, he would be knocked out… unconscious.”

He laughed. “I… me? I wasn’t—”

She shook her head, recalling it. “You were acting that way towards Hogan. And when you fell asleep, Silvia said she might have to tweak the spell as she had made it too broad.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” Vincent shook his head, looking to the cabin again.

Audry folded her arms. “I also was able to go around unseen from the other witch at the university. She never saw me if I did not want her to see me.”

“Ok, ok…” Vincent thought fast, knowing logic would kill this stupid superstitious argument. “If that is the case, if magic is real and Rick Deacon is a werewolf, then he never would have been able to go to your apartment either. And he was there when I was there packing up your things. What about that, huh?”

She shrugged. “That was when I was already in Africa and the spell was broken. Besides, he owned the place. He set me up there.”

Vincent paled, something shuddering through him. “And he’d never come before?”

“No.” She shook her head. And another instance came to her. “And… remember when I told you about spying on him when he met up with his ex in an alley?”

Vincent nodded darkly. He remembered that. It was the straw that had broken her camel’s back that made Audry flee New York City to go to Africa—in many ways, more than the revelation of what a scumbag Hogan Orwell truly was.

“Neither she nor he could see me,” she said. “And Silvia claimed it was because his ex, Daisy, was a stalker and a threat to me. But… if he were a werewolf, he’s a predator also. And for a second, I thought he could sense me—but he did not actually see me.”

Vincent closed his eyes. “Audry…”

“I know,” she said. “I’m freaking out too. I wish I were wrong.”

“You are wrong,” he said. “You are just tripping right now. Too much sun.”

She shook her head. “I hope you are right. I want to be wrong.”

Taking her by the shoulders, Vincent said, “What can I do to get you out of this funk? How can I help you clear your head and come back to sanity?”

Audry frowned. “I don’t know. I think I’ve already fallen down the rabbit hole.”

He wrapped his arms around his cousin, hugging her tight. “Audry. Please. Let’s just go back to the cabin. I’ll get you some water. I’ll get you a fan, a cold rag and you’ll cool off. And when you’re feeling better then we can talk. Ok?”

She nodded.

The black cat ran down the beach sand not far away, scrambling back toward its home.

Questions and Truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

Vicky wanted to go to the party, and she did not want to go alone. But when she heard from Vincent that Audry was not feeling well, and he also had no desire to go to that beach house for the party, Vicky nearly fell apart.

“No! You both have to come with me! You know them, Audry!”

Audry exchanged a look with Vincent, her hands shaking again. They had been finishing dinner, which was unfortunately too scant of vegetables for Audry’s tastes, leaving her hungry still. Most of the family was sitting around the large screen TV which would soon show the sports event Doug, his father and his uncle were planning to watch. Skyler and Maris had negotiated for an iPad to watch a different movie upstairs. The married ladies had planned to occupy a room for their serious talk about Vivian’s upcoming birth.

“Why not go?” Doug piped up. “Audry, they were your friends once, weren’t they?”

“Not all of them,” Audry murmured, glancing at his plate full of shish kebab skewers. They had departed from vegetarianism that spring and she was still suffering from disappointment.

Doug and Vicky both gave her a wan look. Vicky was already prepared to go. Her makeup was perfect, her wavy blonde hair brushed and styled, her summer dress flirty. She was even prepared for night swimming, if it came to that.

“He is going to be there,” Vincent finally said, rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

Half of them knew whom he was talking about. The other half wondered, curiosity piqued.

“Better reason to go,” Doug said, grinning at his sister. “You can thank him.”

“For what?” Audry demanded.

Vincent was immediately confused, as were Vicky and the other Williamses.

“For paying for Maris’s hospital bill,” Doug reminded her.

Audry colored, looking away. “It was his father who paid for that.”

Yet Vincent tugged on her arm and whispered, “Hey. How about we just show up, give him a nod, exchanged niceties, pretend to dance a bit, then go. Vicky can make a friend and—”

“What if it is just them?” Audry turned around and asked. “You know, graduates from Gulinger Private Academy and only that.”

He stared. “That’s what they are?”

“Yeah,” Audry gave him an exasperated look. “All of them. Selena, Mathew, Tom, Randon, Rick—and that Chinese guy probably was too.”

“So?” He was confused.

“So? Silvia wasn’t there. Randon’s wife?” Audry exclaimed. “Unless she and Randon got divorced in the last three months, which I doubt, it was a Gulinger reunion. It was the same group of people I saw at the ski lodge the first time I took the bullet out of the wolf’s leg—including that guy who was sitting on the porch. I remember him now. I think his name was Troy.”

Vincent went pale.

Doug looked impressed, overhearing. “Troy Meecham? He’s here? Ooh. I’ve only communicated with him via Art Condie, but I’d like to—”

“No,” said Jean who was gathering her things to go with her cousin-in-laws to a back room. “You promised Dad a sports night.”

Doug frowned, settling back in his seat again.

“I also didn’t see any of Rick’s friends from Massachusetts,” Audry added, glad Jean had interfered. “If it was some open party for all of his friends, Andrew would have been there with Jessica and Ivy.”

“You would go if Andrew were there, though, right?” Doug continued to interject in their conversation, remembering Andrew from the hospital also.

Audry sighed and nodded. “Yeah. He’s…” She took in a breath. She was about to say he was ‘light’. She was never afraid when he was around. His very presence gave her a sense of peace and safety. And for that matter, so did Jessica. It was one of the reasons she liked her so much. It was also one of the reasons she had stayed with Silvia for so long. Silvia’s pyromaniac brother, Daniel, despite his quirks, was also a being who personified light. She always felt that if she were truly in trouble, they would be there to help her in an instant. They were like angels on earth.

 Audry huffed. “Fine. We go. But if there is not a crowd of people at the cabin when we get there, we come immediately back.”

“Yay!” Vicky clapped her hands then grabbed Audry to ‘freshen her up’ so they could go as quickly as possible to the party.

Vincent sat next to her and said while his sister attacked Audry’s bushy brown locks, “What changed your mind so suddenly?”

She nodded to herself and said, “It’s about time I found out the truth. Besides, Rick’s best friend is a good man. And, I have a feeling they won’t hurt me.”

That did not instill confidence in Vincent, though. Since his talk with Audry on the beach, he had a serious feeling of foreboding.

First off, he wanted to know how that Tom Brown had snuck up on them so well. Same with that man Randon. He had heard neither of them approach, and he had been on his guard.

Secondly, there was something about that group of people which had turned his cousin’s honest and rational head, and he wanted to find out what it was.

And third, though he had been angry with Rick Deacon the last time he had spoken with him, the man puzzled him immensely. Vincent believed that he was usually a good judge of character. Admittedly it had failed him with Hogan, but considering what a shyster/charmer Hogan truly was, that was not him at his best. And up until the moment when Audry had told him about Rick getting back with his slutty ex from the south (Daisy), he had thought Rick was an upstanding guy. But the whole werewolf thing was pure nonsense.

Vicky led the way. Vincent walked a little slower with Audry as the sun was setting, and he had to redirect his sister toward the correct cabin. But when they found it, indeed, there was a party going on. Twinkle lights were hung up along with a string of electric Chinese lanterns. There was music, and she could see there was a bonfire at the beach, drinks, and even food.

Vicky cheered, leading the way faster. But she pulled Audry along, since she was the one who knew the people throwing the party the most.

When the three of them came up the walk, Tom Brown spotted Audry, and lifted up his hands in a cheer. “She came!”

A few heads turned to look to see who came and why Tom, the dude with sunglasses on at night, was so overjoyed.

Tom hopped over, practically floating on air, and grabbed Audry by the wrists. “Glad you are here! You must come this way! People are asking about you.”

“People who?” Audry lagged, peeking back at Vincent for help. But then she saw Bobo—the tall black New Orleans guy whom she met a summer ago with Rick at an NYU green club cleanup.

Bobo waved, then strolled over. “Hello Audry. Long time.”

She smiled, nodding back to him. “Yeah… I guess I has been.

 He smiled wider then looked to her cousins who gazed back at him, amazed. “Are these your friends?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Audry looked back to them, urging both forward. “Uh, Bobo, this is my cousin Vincent and my cousin Vicky. Vincent and Vicky, this is Robert Lafon—best known as Bobo.”

Vincent grinned, sticking out a hand. “Put ‘er there.”

Robert looked at Vincent’s hand and carefully wrapped his fingers around Vincent’s hand. They shook.

“Firm grip,” Vincent said, grinning. “I like a guy who has a good handshake.”

And yet in Audry’s head, she remembered what Bobo once said about a condition he had. So when Vincent swung out next for a macho shoulder punch, Audry caught her cousin’s wrist before he could make contact. “We don’t do that to Bobo.”

Vincent stared at her, confused, as this was what he did with all guys.

But Bobo nodded to her and said, “I think… you are ready to talk to him now.”

Audry immediately knew which