Greylock Manor: A Wolf Shifter Romance (Wolf Mountain Pack Book 1) Page 3

  “I do!” the man snapped back as he tucked the phone into his pocket. “Besides, what if we need to call for help or something? What then?”

  A short woman with flitting eyes lost some color in her cheeks. “You don’t think there’s any danger up here, do you?”

  “That’s hard to say,” Chris mused as he looked around. “It really depends on who-”

  “Or what,” I chimed in.

  He smiled and inclined his head toward me. “Or what brought us here.”

  Several women in the crowd let out a scream, and one of them pointed at the large flat stone. “Wolf!”

  5

  She was wrong. There wasn’t one wolf, but two. The pair of large wild dogs appeared above the rim of the stone slab, and their yellow eyes swept over us like a team of hungry athletes eying an all-you-can-eat buffet table. The larger of the two had a black coat, and the smaller one sported fine white fur.

  Chris pulled me behind him, so his body stood between me and the sharp-toothed danger. I peeked around him, and my jaw hit the ground as the wolves began to change. Their fur shrank away to reveal clothes, and their paws changed into hands and shoe-covered feet. They stood on their hind legs and their forms stretched upward into human torsos and heads. The shorter one changed into a woman with long white hair who sported a white turtleneck sweater and jeans. The other wolf was a man about a head taller than her with short black hair. He wore a polo shirt with jeans.

  The woman folded her arms over her chest and gave us a sly smile. “Not quite ‘wolf.’ More like ‘werewolf.’”

  The reveal drew a few gasps from the audience. Most of us just continued to gawk.

  Her male companion looked at her with his devilish smile. “I think the dog’s got their tongues. Maybe you should loosen them with an introduction.”

  She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Alright. I’m Bonnie and this” She gestured to the man, “is Duncan.”

  He crossed his arm over his chest and swept into a low bow. “A pleasure to meet all you who were appointed to come here!”

  I shook off my shock and furrowed my brow. “But why us? And why are we here?”

  He gave me a wink. “Because you’re just that beautiful.”

  Bonnie glared at him and gave him a sharp elbow in the ribs. He winced and sheepishly grinned at her as she stepped forward closer to the crowd. “You have been brought here to be selected to become a werewolf.”

  A murmur and another round of gasps rose up out of the crowd. I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Chris. His brow was furrowed. “What’s the catch?”

  Bonnie smiled. “The catch is that only one of you can be granted the privilege of becoming one of us.”

  “Do we want that?” I asked her.

  Duncan folded his arms over his puffed-out out chest. “There’s a lot of money involved in our pack, and then there’s old Mr. Greylock himself-oof!”

  Bonnie had given him another, harder jab in the ribs. “Shut up!” she hissed before she returned her attention to us. “None of you will be forced to become a werewolf, but like my ‘friend’ here was saying, if you join our pack, you’ll be well-provided for.”

  The snooty woman from earlier arched a well-defined eyebrow. “How well provided?”

  Bonnie looked her up and down and wrinkled her nose. “Well, enough to get a better wardrobe than that.” Laughter burst out of the crowd.

  The woman glared at our hostess. “I’ll have you know this cost a mint.”

  “You should ask the Girl Scouts for your money back,” Duncan quipped. He stepped to the side and avoided another blow from his companion.

  “Just one more time…” she warned him as she shook her fist at the other werewolf.

  “Is there cell phone reception?” the skinny lad spoke up.

  Bonnie glared at Duncan one last time before she looked to the participant. “All modern amenities can be found at Greylock Manor, provided you make it there.”

  My eyebrow rose just a little more. “Make it there?”

  Bonnie swept her eyes over the motley crew. “Your test is to travel across the valley to Greylock Manor on the other side.”

  “How far is that?” someone called out.

  “About five miles,” Duncan informed him. One of the huskier contestants groaned while an athletic woman beside her grinned.

  A sly smile curled onto Bonnie’s lips. “You all have the potential to reach the finish line. The test is to see if you have the fortitude to fulfill that potential. And don’t think that you can run from here to the finish line,” she warned us as she folded her arms over her chest. As she spoke her eyes scanned each of the members of the crowd, though she lingered on Chris a little longer than the rest. “There’s no straight path on this journey. Your brain muscles will be more useful than anything in your arms or legs, so don’t forget to use it.”

  One of the women raised their arms. Duncan tapped Bonnie on the shoulder and nodded at the woman. “Looks like you’ve got a question, teacher.”

  Bonnie cast him a look of death before she turned her attention to the participant. “What is it?”

  The woman lowered her arm and bit her lower lip. “What kind of dangers are we dealing with?”

  Bonnie smiled. “If I told you that then most of the challenge would be gone. You’re also timed. You must reach the manor by twilight, otherwise you forfeit your chance at joining our pack.”

  I frowned. “This whole ‘pack joining’ part is a little vague. What are the downsides of being a werewolf?”

  “There are the fleas,” Duncan spoke up. He held up one hand and blocked Bonnie’s blow by captured her fist aimed at his cheek. Some of the humor fell away as he looked at each of us. “But there are some drawbacks. We’re not the only pack, and we’re not too fond of each other. Sometimes fights happen, most of the time not. If anyone of you want to leave, you can do so now. Just come over to us and we’ll wipe your memory.”

  The fancy-dressed woman’s eyes bulged. “You’ll what?!”

  Bonnie wrenched her hand from his and frowned at the woman. “You think you’d be summoned here and could just walk out with all this information? We have to wipe your memory to protect ourselves. It’s only the memories since you came up the mountain-”

  “So don’t worry about forgetting how to drink liquids,” Duncan chimed in.

  Bonnie shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why did he make me bring you along…”

  He grinned at her. “Because he thought you might scare them away.”

  The guy with the cell phone backed away and shook his head. “I don’t think I like what I’m hearing.”

  Bonnie opened her eyes and beckoned to him. “Then come here. The rest of you should head out or none of you will have a hope of making-hey!”

  The fellow had spun around and darted for the trail at our backs. Duncan leapt off the rock and hit the ground twenty feet out and at a quick run. He caught up to the man and grabbed him by his backpack. The man let out a shriek and flailed in his captor’s hold.

  Duncan flicked his finger against the back of the man’s head and the fellow went limp. The werewolf turned around and grinned at the rest of us. “Looks like there’s only eleven of you now.”

  “I-I don’t think I like this,” a woman chimed in.

  “Nor do I,” added another man.

  Duncan shrugged. “Looks like there’s nine of you.”

  Another woman made a go at escaping with all her memories intact. Bonnie gave chase, and the hunt ended in as short a time as before.

  I jumped when someone grabbed my hand. It turned out to be Chris. He jerked his head toward the woods to the right of the rock platform. We hurried across the short distance and into the trees. I looked over my shoulder and watched the two werewolves round up the four unwilling participants. The other six stood by and watched, including the pompous woman.

  Chris slipped us behind the thick trunk of a large tree and turned so we faced each other. “Are you sure
about this?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You make it sound like I’ve made up my mind about going.”

  “Because I know you have, and I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and looked him up and down. “So, you’re staying.”

  He looked past me in the direction of the others. “Yeah.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Mind explaining why?”

  He returned his attention to me and smiled. “Can you explain why you’re staying?”

  I stared hard at him for a moment before I lifted my chin. “Not in a million years.”

  His smile stretched into a grin. “Then what do you say we do this together?”

  “They said only one of us can be a werewolf,” I reminded him.

  He took my hand and shrugged. “A minor detail. Besides, it’s the journey that’s important, not the destination, right?”

  I didn’t have time to delve into that philosophical discussion before he pulled me deeper into the woods in the direction Bonnie had indicated. We were off on an adventure. I just hoped it wouldn’t be our last.

  6

  “Uncle!”

  The shout came from me. Chris had led me on a steady jog through the woods for what felt like forever and my lungs burned like five-alarm chili. I stumbled against a tree, and he kindly released my hand so I could give the foliage a proper hugging.

  He looked around us and frowned. “You don’t happen to have a compass on you, do you?”

  I shook my head. “Sorry, left it at home along with my Girl Scout’s manual.”

  Chris grinned at me. “Pity. I don’t doubt that you’d look great in a short skirt.”

  I turned around and leaned my back against the tree so he could see my devilish smile. “Mr.. . .um-”

  “Dayton,” he reminded me as he held out his hand. “Christopher Dayton.”

  “Alexandra Shaw,” I quipped in good humor as we shook hands for our second introduction. I dropped my hand and looked around. “But jokes aside, I don’t really have anything for this survivalist trek we’ve voted ourselves into.”

  “But at least it was a unanimous vote,” he teased as he half-turned and squinted into the shadows. Though it was just past mid-day, the thick trees and heavy canopy cast an eerie nocturnal-like darkness over everything. “Do you get the feeling that-”

  “-we’re being watched?” I finished for him as I swept my eyes over the area. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

  He grasped my hand. “Let’s give whoever they are a quick show.”

  I let him pull me along, but I couldn’t keep up the same pace. “Do you think it’s those two werewolves? Bonnie and Clyde?”

  A barking laugh came from the woods. Literally, it was a dog bark that sounded like a laugh.

  Chris turned his head left to look into the woods and pursed his lips. “Does that answer your question?”

  I winced. “Yes, but I almost wish it hadn’t...”

  “We might be hoping to stick with the devil we know,” he pointed out.

  I arched an eyebrow. “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning we weren’t told what dangers were in here. It could be-”

  He came to a sudden stop, and I crashed into his side. I caught myself against him and glared up at him. “Would you stop doing… that.”

  My voice had trailed off because of the strange scene in front of us. A small shack stood in the middle of a clearing only slightly larger than the dwelling. The walls were built from weathered clapboards and the roof had so much moss it looked like a fuzzy mushroom. A stone chimney was attached to the left side, and a porch on the front finished off the defining features.

  An ancient old man sat in the rocker keeping time with a soundless tune as he moved back and forth.

  Chris leaned his head back and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Does this look suspiciously like a witch’s house to you?”

  “Yeah, but we’re missing one thing,” I mused as I nodded at the old man. “The witch.”

  The old man stopped his rocking and leaned forward. He gave us a toothy smile and beckoned to us. “Come on over, young ones. It isn’t often that I get to see new folks in these woods.”

  Chris and I looked at each other before I shrugged. “Ladies first?”

  He shook his head. “Not this time.”

  Chris led me the way down the narrow dirt path that stopped at the creaky wooden porch step. “You wouldn’t happen to be able to tell us how far we are from Greylock Manor, would you?”

  The old man looked like a bull pup as he furrowed his already wrinkled brow. He tapped his bottom lip with a wizened old hand. “I don’t know hereabouts how far it is. Why were you wanting to go to that old shack?”

  “We’re expected,” I piped up.

  He stroked his thin, wrinkled chin with his gnarled fingers and his eyes twinkled with mischief. “Are you now? Guests of the old man, eh?”

  Chris raised an eyebrow. “‘Old man?’”

  Our host slapped his knee and laughed. “They haven’t given you much to work with, have they? Bet they didn’t even warn you about this forest, eh?”

  I swept my eyes over the aforementioned trees. “What about it?”

  He grinned and showed off two fine rows of gingivitis. “Only that it’s one of the most enchanted in the whole world.”

  I stared at him a moment before I shrugged. “We’d doubt you, but we’ve been summoned here by a dream and just saw two wolves change into people, so we’ll roll with that.”

  “How is it enchanted?” Chris asked the old man.

  The old geezer tapped the side of his nose. “Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it? And where’s the fun in that?”

  A few mumbled words passed my lips. “Yeah, who wants to live forever…”

  The old man turned his sparkling eyes on me. “Those young folks who passed through here earlier seemed mighty eager to do just that.”

  Chris frowned. “Others? What others?”

  The old man wrinkled his crooked nose. “Those folks about your age. A little pushy, so I sent them on their way quick as I could. ‘Bout six of them, and not a single one of them asked me about my health.”

  I grinned. “I hope your health is well.”

  He stretched up a little and winced when a bone cracked. “Could be better, but at my age you gotta take what you can get.”

  Chris folded his arms and shook his head. “But that doesn’t make any sense. We were the first to head out, and we didn’t see anyone pass us.”

  Our host cackled. “I told you this forest was enchanted. Doesn’t put anybody on the same track. They got in after you and came to me first, and I sent them on ahead of you, but they might be behind you even now.”

  I blinked at him a moment before I shook off his words. “I was never very good at haiku…” A soft thumping noise came from inside his home. I tried to peek inside the shack, but the door was mostly shut and ragged curtains blocked the single window. “Do you live alone here?”

  He chuckled. “Nope. I got Sylvester with me.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Who’s Sylvester?”

  A soft meow answered me and a black cat with a white stomach slithered its way out of the ajar door. The feline slunk around the back of the old man’s chair before it leapt onto his lap. A loud rumble emanated from its throat as he stroked its back.

  I grinned. “That’s a perfect name for that cat.”

  The old man raised both his thin eyebrows, but his eyes continued to sparkle at me. “You think so?”

  “Yep, and to show I mean it-” I slid my backpack onto the ground and rummaged around until I found my plastic sandwich-shaped container. My baloney sandwich was a little shaken, but not stirred as I popped the lid and drew out the whole slice. I wiggled the meat so the cat could see it before I tossed the slice onto the porch.

  The cat leapt down and snatched the meat off the floor before it darted inside with its prize. I tossed my sandwich back in my
bag and hefted it over my shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind me feeding him.”

  The old man slapped the arm of his chair and let out a guffaw. “Mind? That’s the fastest I’ve seen him move in years!” He grabbed a knotty walking stick that leaned against the side of the cabin and eased himself onto his feet. “I like you two, so I’m gonna do you a favor and show you both ways out of here.”

  Chris raised an eyebrow. “Then you know the way to Greylock Manor?”

  The old man’s eyes twinkled as he shuffled across the deck and down the step. “I never said I didn’t.”

  He walked around the left side of the house near the chimney and used the bottom of his cane to point at two paths the house had hidden. “There’s the ways to the big shack. The right is the longer of the two, but it’s easy pickings if you don’t mind some hiking. That’s the way I gave to those other folks. Now the left one” He swung his cane in that direction, “that one there is shorter by half, but it might not be faster.”

  Chris studied our travel guide with curiosity. “Why not?”

  The old man shrugged. “Because you’ve got to go through all the mess this forest has to offer.” He looked at the two of us and grinned. “But you know what? I think you two have got it in you to make it.”

  I looked up at Chris. “Eeny-meeny or flip for it?”

  The old man lay both hands on the top of his cane and leaned against the stick as he studied us. “You two seem pretty set on sticking together.”

  I shrugged. “Why not?”

  There was something extra sharp in the way he looked at us. “Those other folks kind of gave me the impression they were doing a singles race.”

  “Well…” I mused as I smiled up at Chris. “I think we’ll need to stick together if we’re going to get through that shorter trail.”

  He grinned and nodded. “I think you’re right.”

  The old man chuckled. “Then off with you, and I expect to see you again. Can’t tease Sylvester with just one helping and leave me to deal with his pouting.”

  I set my hand atop his and pecked a kiss on his cheek. When I pulled away his face was aglow. “That’s my promise that I’ll be back.”