Page 74 of Broken-Hearted

But it isn’t the slightly overcast gray day with the sun disappearing into the distance that halts me.

It’s an unfamiliar scent on my left and the snarl of my wolf rumbling a warning that something is very, very wrong.

I turn away from the beaten path that will take me to the Blackshaw farmhouse and face a towering oak a few feet away.

Sure, I could rush back into my cabin, but I’d be the proverbial rat in a barrel if I did that.

Trapped and easy to catch.

“I know you’re there,” I call out, abandoning my half-finished braid.

Adrian steps free from the trees.

He’s still the same handsome blond man with green eyes in his late twenties that I remember from Minnesota.

Dressed in a black long sleeve tee, blue jeans, and hiking boots, he is not unattractive. But I want nothing to do with this man. I never have and I never will.

“Clara,” he says, smiling.

A part of me isn’t even surprised he found me. He tracked me to Dawley from Minnesota. Even tracked me to Rosenwood, that tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Of course he’d turn up here. About the only thing I have to be grateful for is that Nathan isn’t here to get himself killed trying to protect me.

“What do you want?” I ask, as if it isn’t obvious.

His smile widens. “You, of course. Always you Clara.”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me there’s an easy way or a hard way,” I say, trying to buy myself some thinking time.

Someone from the house might realize I’m in trouble and rescue me. Not exactly a strong possibility given they would have to pick up Adrian’s scent from the house or know he’s encroached on their land. Or I can save myself without getting any of the Blackshaws killed.

“There is the only way.”

“Which is?”

Can I make it to the house if I ran for it?

“You can come with me or my pack will wipe this one out of existence, starting with the one who thought he could put his hands on what’s mine.” When his nostrils flare, he must be picking up Nathan’s scent on me.

Yes, I showered, but I’ve been spending a lot of time with Nathan lately. There’s no way we don’t both smell like each other, even after a shower.

My blood turns cold and I abandon my decision to run for it. I bet that’s exactly what Adrian would want.

“The Blackshaws have nothing to do with this.”

“They’ve been keeping you from me. I will rip out their throats and set their land on fire for it.”

A touch extreme, maybe. But from the intensity of his stare and the tension around his mouth, he means it.

“But if I come with you?” I suggest.

He shrugs. “Then I might forget about them.”

Mightis not good enough for me.No onecan die because of me. Especially not the people who invited me into their lives and gave me a place that feels so much like home that I haven’t thought about leaving even once.

“You can’t hurt them.”

A snarl drips from his lips.

He stalks toward me and it takes everything not to run. The Blackshaws home is remote. If I ran, Adrian would eventually catch me. If I made it to the farmhouse, Adrian would get his pack and come back to set their home on fire, probably with us all inside. I’ve dragged Nathan into my mess already. The last thing I want is to drag Talis and her kids as well.

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