Maizie shook her head. “Like I said, until I see Gray, until I talk to him…I don’t know anything.”
It was full dark by the time Maizie got to the cottage. There was a limo parked out front, empty. Gray. Who else? He’d likely ordered the car be left for a comfortable ride back home. The lights were off in the cottage, the door dead-bolted from the inside. She hadn’t used that lock in years. Wasn’t even sure she still had the key.
The hairs at the nape of her neck bristled, invisible fingers thrummed down her spine. Maizie ignored the sensation, her mind racing with what she’d say when she saw him. After trying two wrong keys she found the right one and opened the door.
“Hello?” Her muscles coiled, she peered into the pitch-black living room, ready for anything. She could hardly breathe.
But she could see. Being a werewolf had perks. Maizie forced herself to relax, trust her body. Her night vision was incredible once she chose to believe it. And what she could hear and smell filled in where her vision left holes. Her heightened awareness was still too new though, constantly feeding her information. Everyone who’d been in the house the last few months left scents behind. She struggled to sort through smells and sounds, tell old from new, familiar from foreign.
The downstairs was lifeless, filled with deep shadows and the yawning silence of night. She closed the door behind her, a soft click when the latch snapped into place. The floorboards above creaked, made her shift her gaze upward.
Gray would likely want to stay in Granny’s good graces just in case seducing Maizie didn’t work out the way he planned. And what better way to charm Granny then to offer up another old trinket she’d forgotten about.
Maizie could feel in her bones he was near. He was probably up there sifting through Granny’s boxed-up belongings looking for more memories to ply her with. At least this one wouldn’t be taken from a death scene.
Moment by moment Maizie worked to harden her heart, prepare for the painful truth. What excuse could he have for that letter? Her chest pinched. Anxiety tightened the muscles across her shoulders. What would it mean for her now that she was a werewolf? Would she have to stay with Gray and the pack regardless? Would she have to leave? Neither option offered her comfort.
She took the steps, rounding the first landing as the swooshing sound of leather shoes scraping over a hardwood floor reached her ears. Leather fringed the scent of sweet male cologne, mixing to create a fragrance that was expressly masculine, unmistakably extravagant.
Maizie wasn’t purposely quiet, but the slightest breath seemed to echo like a gale wind in the silence. She reached the top of the landing on the balls of her feet, sidestepping the old floorboards she knew would squeak.
She glanced to the right at the dark wood door of Granny’s room, then to the left at the matching door of her own room. The bathroom door was directly in front of her and not even a sliver of light showed underneath. Why hadn’t Gray turned on any lights?
A small gasp and the tiny click of a door being closed made her look toward Granny’s room. He’d been watching her. The tension knot across her shoulders tightened, anger boiling away caution and reason.
Maizie cleared the distance to the door in three quick strides, turning the knob so hard and fast the cheap lock broke with a little snap. A split second passed for Maizie to consider why the door had been locked to begin with. She threw open the door.
Light from the tall dusk-to-dawn lamp out front streamed through the side window, creating contours of light and darkness across the wood floor. The room was empty expect for the bed and several boxes stacked in the far corner. The closet doors were gone. The space had once been so full with Granny’s things, doors had just gotten in the way. Now the closet stood empty and dark.
Maizie stepped into the room, her senses flaring, her gaze searching for Gray. Someone’s panicked breaths filled the dark silence, fear sweetened the air. It wasn’t Gray.
No sooner had the thought formed in her mind than a hand latched around her upper arm and the door swung shut behind her. A hard yank stumbled her backward into Anthony Cadwick’s big chest.
“Where is it?”
She gasped. Cool steel pressed against her neck, the sharp point of his knife pricking her skin. She hissed against the pain. Her heart stuttered. “No. Don’t. Please.”
He kept his mouth close to her ear, his voice a low grumble. His breath warmed the side of her face, moist and rank with fear. “How’d you get in without it tearing your throat out?”
Maizie worked fast to get her surprise behind her, to slow the gallop of her heart. She tried to think, to understand what was happening. “What are you doing here? This is private-”
“This dump’s mine now, so shut up about the trespassing shit. Who cares? I gotta get out of here, and if you made it in, that means I can make it out.” Anthony pushed her forward, his fingers digging into her arm, leading her to the window.
“What do you mean you own this place? Granny-” She stumbled, but Anthony kept pushing her forward. Before she could finish her sentence, they reached the window.
He leaned their shoulders against the frame, their bodies angled to face the door across the room, her body in front of his like a shield. His gaze darted over the front yard, the driveway and into the darkness of the forest. His rapid-fire pulse hummed through his chest into her back. He was desperate, near crazed with fear.
“What’s going on, Anthony?”
His grip tightened around her arm. “Did you see it?”
“See what?”
“The wolf. A big silver son of a bitch.”
Relief washed over Maizie like a warm blanket. Gray was here. How had she missed him? She must’ve slipped inside before he’d gotten a chance to stop her. But where was he now? What had he done to cause a man like Cadwick to behave like a frightened rabbit? “I didn’t see anything. What happened?”
“It chased me, that’s what happened. The fucker tried to kill me. Barely made it inside. Can’t say as much for Frank.”
“Frank?”
“My driver. The thing chased him off into the woods. God knows what happened to him.” Anthony’s whole body shuddered against hers. “I think I heard him scream. Shit, this is bad.”
Maizie remembered the deadbolt on the front door. Frank didn’t make it inside because Anthony hadn’t let him in. Of all the things Gray might be, he wasn’t a killer, but Anthony didn’t know that. In his mind, he’d sacrificed another human being to save himself. And he was good with it.
Her stomach roiled at the thought. She squirmed, but Cadwick pressed the knife, drawing a warm trickle of blood. She winced, the tiny stream raced down her neck, hot against her skin. “He won’t hurt you, Anthony. Just let me go.”
“Right. You didn’t see the size of its teeth.”
The better to eat your selfish heart out with, you bastard. Maizie had had enough. She grabbed his wrist, pulled his knife-wielding hand from her neck and stepped out of his hold. He didn’t seem to notice. She wasn’t sure if he’d let her go or if she was just that much stronger than him now.
“You’re being ridiculous. Letting your imagination get the best of you.” She went to the door and flicked the light switch. “Pull yourself together and tell me why you think you own my grandmother’s property.”
The room flooded with light. Anthony squinted, though the enormous black pupils in his eyes showed his panic. He raced past her to the light switch, slammed into the wall and clawed at it until the room went dark again.
“No lights, no lights. It’ll come back.” He was panting, leaning his side and face against the wall. “Those eyes. God damn, I’ll never forget those big pale eyes.”