Page 14 of Posing for the Artist Wolf

We stepped from the trees surrounding Briar House. Relief flooded through me at the sight of home and the idea of clean, warm clothes, but it quickly died as Kai cocked his head and narrowed his eyes.

I followed his line of sight and frowned. The front door stood slightly ajar, a thin ribbon of darkness visible in the gap.

Kai’s arm shot out, stopping me in my tracks. “Did you leave it like that?”

I wracked my brain, trying to remember. Everything before stepping into the blizzard felt like a lifetime ago. “I... I don’t know. Maybe?”

His eyes flashed green, and his nostrils flared as he scented the air. A low growl rumbled in his chest, setting my nerves on edge.

“Stay here,” he commanded, his voice rough with the hint of a snarl.

Part of me wanted to argue, to assert that this was my home, dammit. But the memory of a similar ajar door brought on a tightening throat at what lurked behind that sliver of darkness.

The seconds stretched into an eternity. My breath caught, imagination running through the threats muttered in my ears. Demands for cash. Greedy looks. Question after question.

Where is he?

A hand pawing at my body.

Where is the money?

Rotten stench on hot breath.

Where is he?

A shout shattered the silence. My body moved before my brain could catch up, and I sprinted toward the house. I burst through the door, following the sounds of a scuffle to the kitchen.

My jaw dropped as I skidded to a stop. Kai had a stranger pinned against the wall, his fist drawn back for another blow. A bruise was already blossoming on the man’s face and blood trickled from his split lip.

Kai turned his head, and my breath caught in my throat. His eyes were pure green, wild and furious. Dark fur dusted the back of his neck. His teeth were bared, sharp canines on full display. He looked half man, half beast—a terrifying, fascinating combination of both.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Kai snarled.

The stranger’s eyes were wide with fear, his hands raised in surrender. I opened my mouth, ready to... what? Scream? Try to pull Kai off the stranger?

“Stop! Don’t hurt my mate!”

We all turned toward the new voice. A very pregnant woman stood in the hallway, her face a mask of panic. Her clothes were rumpled and travel-worn, dark circles shadowing her eyes. Despite her obvious fatigue, there was a fierce determination in her gaze as she protectively cradled her swollen belly.

Kai’s fist lowered. His face settled back to fully human as recognition dawned. “Shauna?”

The tension in the room shifted, confusion replacing the immediate threat of violence. I felt like I was watching a play where I didn’t know my lines, lost in the subtext of unspoken history.

I didn’t like it.

Shauna flicked a look to me, then took a step closer to Kai. “We were looking for you. The door was cracked, so we waited, but...” She gestured vaguely at her stomach. “Nature calls. A lot. We just slipped in to use the bathroom.”

I blinked, trying to process this new information. “Wait, you know each other?”

Kai’s jaw clenched, a storm of emotions playing across his face. “You could say that.”

Shauna approached Kai cautiously, her eyes darting between him and the man he had pinned against the wall. With gentle but insistent hands, she drew Kai’s arms away from the stranger.

“Kai, please,” she said, her voice soft but urgent. “We need your help. We’ve got nowhere else to go. It’s home.”

The emphasis on ‘home’ carried a weight I didn’t understand, but its effect on Kai was immediate. His posture stiffened, then sagged, as if the word had simultaneously energized and drained him.

Kai’s eyes met mine, a silent apology in their depths. He glanced at Shauna and the strange man, then back to me.

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