CHAPTER 10 #4
“Because I’m not them. You know? The people who just chase their dreams. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
Jonathan’s voice was calm. “I’ll let you in on a little secret: No one knows what they’re doing in this life.
If they’ve convinced you otherwise, they’re lying or naive.
Everything’s just a hunch. You bank that you’re right about yourself, and you have the courage to take a step forward. That’s all you need to do.”
I turned that over in my mind before nodding. “You make it sound simple.”
“Sometimes it is just that simple,” he replied.
I couldn’t help but think it was sad we’d never met before. All these years…it seemed strange our lives had never crossed.
Then, almost without thinking, I said, “You know…when we were kids, there were all these stories. Rumors. About the families that lived in Juniper woods.”
Jonathan let out a low chuckle. “Yeah, I’m aware of them.”
I hesitated. “You know how kids are. If someone lived past the first row of pines, they were automatically a ghost or a witch or a wolf.”
“Yep,” he said. “Everwick always had its nose up in the air when it came to us. We were always the wild folk in the trees. Less…civilized. Grew up with it. I was called everything short of a forest dragon.” He gave a dry smile. “One of the many reasons I wanted out.”
I nudged him gently. “So…any truth to it?”
He looked at me, amused. “I don’t know. What do you believe? Are you afraid of forest sprites, bigfoot…the big bad wolf?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Maybe. Should I be?”
He leaned in slightly. “I don’t know. I mean, what do you feel? Do you feel afraid?”
I shook my head. “No. Actually, I don’t feel afraid at all.”
“Well, there you go.”
A breath passed between us. His eyes were pinned on mine, and my heart was fluttering in response.
“Stop staring,” I said, half laugh, half deflection.
“I’m not staring,” he replied calmly. “I’m looking. There’s a difference.” He widened his eyes dramatically, bugging them out. “That would be staring.”
I burst out laughing. Jonathan Wolfe was a bit of a goof, I was discovering. So different from the man I’d first met.
His gaze wasn’t sharp or invasive. Just…warm and steady, settling over me like a blanket. And somewhere, deep in my chest, something forgotten awakened.
Like a velastra vine, coiling to life at the scent of rain and blooming open for the first time in years.
Then—
He turned.
Fast.
A split second before I heard the sound. Leaves rustled. A low snap of twigs.
I tensed. “What is it?”
From the brush just behind us, two wolves stepped into view—gray, lean, and impossibly silent.
My hand found Jonathan’s arm on instinct. He didn’t move. Didn’t even flinch. He was eerily relaxed.
“They won’t hurt us,” he said softly. “Not unless we give them reason.”
But I couldn’t stop staring. There was something uncanny about the stillness. The way they held us in their gaze…the way they lingered.
Jonathan had known they were there before he’d heard them…as if he’d sensed them coming.
One of the wolves twitched its ears, then backed away. The other followed, vanishing silently into the trees.
I exhaled in relief, but I was still on edge, wondering what else was lying in wait in the darkness.
Jonathan turned back to me, and for a heartbeat, I saw something impossible.
His eyes.
They glowed. Just a tiny flicker…electric, otherworldly but noticeable.
And then it was gone, the color dimming.
“We should head back,” he finally said. “You ready?”
Later that night, back in my cabin, I lay in bed, staring at the dark ceiling while replaying the evening’s events. The hike. The cliff. The stars and view. The way Jonathan had moved—quick, precise, as if guided by an inhuman instinct. The wolves. The way they’d watched us, then just disappeared.
And him.
His hand around my arm, saving me from that fall. His strength. The way he’d lifted me across that crevice like I weighed nothing at all.
I turned over, restless, pulling the blanket tight around my body.
It had been the most unpredictable and exhilarating night I’d had in years. It didn’t feel real. Like a dream. And yet the strangest part was…it felt right.
Still, my thoughts twisted.
I’d spent enough time around Erik and the others to know there was something off about some males. Males who moved too quietly. Watched too closely. Spoke like they were half hiding teeth, as well as other secrets, behind their words.
Jonathan wasn’t Erik. Not by a mile. But there were moments, tiny ones, that set off familiar warning bells in me. Warning bells I preferred to ignore.
Was I reading into it too much? I did that. The result of too many long nights, too many corporate secrets and office politics…too much time at Skoll Corp.
I didn’t know.
Eventually, my eyes began to drift shut.
In the strange place between reality and dreams, I heard it.
Scratch.
A sound at the door. Faint.
Just like the first night, I thought.
I didn’t move. I just lay there, breath shallow, listening.
Wondering if I was still alone and afraid of what might be scratching at my door in the darkness.