Chapter 8

“Where the hell are they?”

Riley looked out the kitchen window again, but there was no sign of the Lightfoot brothers. The weather wasn’t improving, and she feared that something had happened to them. She’d called Calvin’s cellphone, but it had gone straight to voicemail.

Pouring more coffee, Riley decided to call Calvin’s office phone. Scratching sounds on the kitchen door followed by frantic barking startled Riley. “What the hell?” She didn’t have a dog, but maybe it belonged to a neighbor and had come to introduce itself to her.

The barking and scratching continued. Riley opened the door and shrank back at the sight of the huge animal that she knew was no dog. She moved to slam the door, but the wolf growled and jumped across the threshold. Riley scrambled away from the door, putting daylight between them.

The wolf lunged at her and Riley gasped, backpedaling until her rear end hit the table.

“I didn’t know that there were wolves around here,” she whispered. “But you’re a handsome fella, aren’t you? Nice wolf. Good wolf.”

To her surprise, the wolf’s tongue lolled out as though laughing at her. Snow and wind followed the big canine inside and Riley’s teeth started to chatter with cold and fright. She had to get the beast out of her house, but how? What did it want? Was it hungry? Maybe she could distract it with food and trap it inside while she ran outside and called Animal Control. Did they have Animal Control here?

Slowly, she reached out and picked up her cellphone from the table. A scream ripped from her throat when the wolf snarled and leapt at her. She dropped the phone and scrambled away, running behind the counter.

Snatching a knife from the butcher’s block, she brandished it at the wolf. Again, it panted at her and she swore she saw mirth in its vivid blue eyes.

“Wolves don’t have blue eyes.” Maybe it was a half-breed. She didn’t have time to ponder it further because the wolf grabbed her cellphone and trotted out the kitchen door. “Hey! Come back with that!”

Still wielding the knife, Riley took after the wolf, but it paid her no heed. She pulled up short when she saw a horse standing nearby. “You.”

The stallion hadn’t been a figment of her imagination after all. She’d asked a few people that day about a horse matching the description as the one she’d encountered the night before, but no one had any idea where it might’ve come from. As the stallion moved toward her, the wolf was forgotten.

“What are you doing here?”

It was even more beautiful in the daylight. No, make that magnificent. It whickered and stretched its muzzle toward her. Riley lightly touched its velvet-soft nose and ran her fingers over its face. She smiled when it nuzzled her neck.

“Where did you come from? Did you follow me home last night?” Riley shook her head. “That’s impossible.”

The horse lowered its head and pushed her back toward the house. Then its head snapped up, the large, intelligent eyes searching their surroundings, ears pricked forward. Its delicate nostrils flared as it scented the wind.

“What is it? Oh! The wolf! Did it chase you here?” Riley asked. “Why am I talking to a horse?”

The stallion turned to her and laid its ears back in an annoyed gesture. Had it understood her? It started for her, and Riley hurried back to the house, the stallion right behind her. She entered the kitchen and tried to close the door. The stallion bullied its way into the room, clopped its way across the kitchen floor, and kicked the door shut with a resounding slam.

“I don’t know what the hell’s going on around here, but I’m tired of having animals in my house that don’t belong in it. First a wolf and now a horse,” Riley said. “You need to leave.” She pointed at the door. “I doubt you’re housebroken.”

The stallion whickered and its lips twitched.

Riley became afraid. There was now no doubt in her mind that both the wolf and horse understood what she was saying. “Stop laughing at me.”

The stallion shook its head and then its whole body as though trying to rid its coat of excess water. Riley’s heart beat harder when the horse appeared to shimmer and started imploding upon itself. No, that wasn’t exactly right.

Its head shortened and turned brown. In fact, the horse shrank all over. The legs became stubby, the tail disappeared into the rump, and its back started changing shape. As she watched in horror, the rest of the horse’s coat faded from black to brown, then to tan. The texture of the creature’s hide changed from glossy hair to leathery skin.

She couldn’t fathom what was happening. It reared up on its hind legs and toes sprouted from the big, compact hooves. Like some kind of life-sized Claymation creature, the horse rapidly morphed into the man she’d come to know as...

“Calvin?”

He stood completely naked in her kitchen. The only sign of the horse that had been there only moments before were the slushy hoofprints melting on the linoleum floor.

Calvin had trouble meeting her eyes. “Yeah, it’s me.”

Riley swallowed hard. Her mind spun like a hamster’s wheel, trying to make sense of what she’d just witnessed.

Even though it was a little late for modesty, Calvin grabbed a towel hanging on the oven door beside him and held it in front of his hips. “It’s okay, Riley. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Cold dread filled her when he stepped toward her. “D-d-don’t.”

Calvin halted. “Riley, I can explain, just not now. There are bad people coming.”

Riley tried to take a breath, but it was hard. Her brain demanded answers despite her fear. “S-so, it was you last night? Y-you’re the...?”

“Horse,” Calvin supplied helpfully.

“Of course,” Riley whispered. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fainted.

Calvin managed to catch Riley without mishap before she hit the floor and scooped her up. “Damn it. I need you to wake up, Riley.” He shook her a little before walking out of the kitchen and into a living room, where he laid her on the couch. “C’mon, Riley. Wake up.”

He patted her face and shook her shoulder, but she didn’t rouse. Most people didn’t keep smelling salts around and he didn’t have time to search. Running back out to the kitchen, Calvin found a glass and filled it with water from the tap. Rushing into the living room, he sat the glass on the coffee table and snagged an afghan from a recliner. He wrapped it around his waist and poured the water over Riley’s face.

She sputtered into consciousness and stared wide-eyed at Calvin. Her breathing came in gasps and her pulse raced. Except for one of her afghans, he was naked; she hadn’t dreamt his horrible transformation.

Riley wanted to scream and flee the house, but she knew that Calvin could easily catch her. “What are you? What do you want from me?”

The sadness in Calvin’s eyes touched her heart even though she didn’t want it to. “We’re called shifters and I don’t want anything from you except to keep you safe. Which is why you have to come with me and Adam.”

“Shifters? Like the kind in books and on TV?” Riley asked.

Calvin smiled slightly. “Yeah. Sort of like that. We have to go. They’ll be here soon, and I won’t leave you behind.”

Riley wiped at her wet face with her sweater sleeve. “Who will be here soon? And I didn’t see Adam anywhere.”

“The guys who tried to run us off the road are coming after us. They want to kill us,” Calvin replied. “And Adam is the wolf.”

Riley fought off a wave of dizziness. “Adam is the wolf? Did I hit my head? Tell me that I’m dreaming.”

“I can’t do that.” Calvin’s expression grew grim. “I know this is a lot to take in and I promise I’ll explain, but not right now. We have to go to the barn.”