Chapter 18
MOLLY
Grandad’s old wood fence was simple but iconic to me. It didn’t serve much of a purpose other than to deter people from bringing their off-road vehicles onto our property.
Now it lies in several shards on the grass where last night’s trespasser smashed into it before tearing away.
“Any thoughts on who might’ve wanted to do this?” Sheriff Bruchard asks as he and Wolf wander back up to the porch.
I have two steaming mugs of coffee waiting for them on the step next to me while I cradle my own close to my chest and look out at the pale blue light of dawn.
“I’d wonder if it was my dipshit son and his friends, but they’ve gone back to school,” he offers with an eyeroll as he reaches for a mug.
Wolf reaches for his own as he looks down at me then stops, his brow pulled into a light furrow.
Unzipping his hoodie, he shrugs out of it before reaching over to swing it around my shoulders.
The warmth I’m now shrouded in is dense, immediately sinking into my skin and I can’t help but close my eyes in comfort.
Nothing like what occurred last night has ever happened here before.
And I’m glad I wasn’t alone. Pulling the material of the hoodie to my nose, I draw in a whiff of Wolf’s scent as my mind wanders to a different scenario.
What would I have done had I been here on my own?
Obviously, I would’ve called the sheriff and grabbed my gun, but what would the moments I spent waiting have looked like?
When Wolf tore off outside, my first instinct was to be terrified for him, momentarily forgetting his career in law enforcement.
But a semblance of relief quickly followed.
I was able to take a breath and speak clearly to dispatch on the phone.
And then I felt safe and protected in a different way from when I was a child and had my grandparents watching over me.
There was an amorous quality to it this time, a strong one that mingled with fondness and yearning.
And I’d be lying my ass off if I said it didn’t also turn me on.
Wolf takes the other cup and shakes his head as he leans against the support beam next to me. “I’ve got my eye out for the assholes who’ve been setting out those heinous fur traps.” He takes a sip of his coffee before glancing at me.
I hold his gaze, and we seem to have a brief, telepathic conversation that quickly leads to mutual agreement.
He draws in a breath and says to the sheriff, “Plus there’s some land developer that’s been snooping around for weeks now, trying to bully Molly into selling the property.”
The sheriff’s head tilts in Wolf’s direction. “Do you mean that Damen Riley fella?”
A small shot of adrenaline shoots up my spine at the realization someone else knows who he is.
“What do you know about him?” Wolf tips his head.
“Just that he’s been trying to buy up land around here. Not surprised he came after this property. Tribal police caught a couple of his associates trying to test soil on their land.”
“I heard that too,” Wolf adds.
My head snaps his way. He hadn’t told me that.
After going through a few more motions and exchanging information, Sheriff hops in his cruiser and heads to the station, intent on opening an investigation.
As we walk back into the house, all I can seem to focus on is Wolf’s hand on my back. It’s a subtle touch I should barely feel, but I feel it with every molecule in my body. The comfort, the protection. A glow starts from the middle of my back where he’s touching and spreads outward.
“Why don’t you go back to bed, try to get some sleep?” he suggests as we stop at the bottom of the stairs.
“Okay, but what about you?” I ask, before I can stop myself or control the vulnerability in my voice. After everything that’s happened in the last couple of hours, the idea of going back to bed to decompress sounds wonderful, but a newfound yearning inside me wants him to be there too.
“I was going to go back outside and look around some more,” he says. “See if I can turn up anything new.”
I nod in understanding, but I’d really feel better if he could come to bed with me. I’d feel better with him close, I realize all of a sudden. “Well, I think?—”
The digital chirp of my phone on the counter cuts me off.
It’s so early and on a Saturday and I frown as I swipe up and take a look at the screen.
“It’s from Dr. Voss,” I report in a mumble as I open the text and relay it out loud.
“One of the horses at the farm is giving birth, but the foal is breech, and he needs me to help.”
Wolf’s eyebrows rise as I walk around him to go upstairs. “Sounds interesting.”
I stop a couple steps up and turn. “Do you want to come?”
“Which farm?”
“The McClendon farm, off Skyview.”
He’s silent a moment, looking down at the first step before back up at me again. “No, I’m pretty anxious to find something around the yard.”
I feel my shoulders fall, just a fraction. “Okay,” I say hesitantly and head up the stairs, quickly expelling my disappointment on an exhale.