Page 45 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

Sean stretched and stood up. “I think that I’m exhausted. I don’t think I recuperated from shoveling people out. Then, there were all the chores to do around here.”

“Not to mention staying up all night when you rescued Edward. As your official doctor, I prescribe you a week in bed, sleeping.”

“I don’t see that happening. But you know, this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. What the hell happened to that?”

“Well, you know, I didn’t want it to be boring for you. Come on, let’s get some food and then you can go to bed.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

During dinner, Marcie suggested they have a rematch with Sawyer and Ellie, but Sean shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t keep my eyes open. Maybe another time.”

As soon as he finished eating, Sean went straight to his cot and was instantly asleep. He didn’t wake up until the bright sun’s rays danced in his face the next morning.

Sawyer grinned when Sean stumbled into the dining room. “Franny saved you a plate. She knew that you were exhausted.”

“I can’t remember the last time I slept this late.”

“You obviously needed it. Hurry up and finish your breakfast. I feel the need for a walk.”

Sean ate and carried his plate into the kitchen. He kissed Franny on the cheek and said, “Thank you.”

She grinned and swatted at him with her towel. “You’re welcome. Get out of here.”

“Let’s go north this time. We can shift in the cabin instead of in the woods,” Sawyer suggested. “It’s been a while since we’ve gone in that direction.”

“Correction. It’s been a while sinceyou’vegone in that direction. I was just there.”

They hadn’t gone too far when they saw bear tracks. When they followed the tracks, they discovered that the bears had circled the entire resort. Sean and Sawyer followed the tracks into the woods. The tracks stopped at a hunter’s shack.

“Interesting,” Sawyer said. “They have to be shifters. No wild bears would be out in this. They’re all hibernating.”

“I wouldn’t be so worried about it, but they are circling the resort. That makes me very uneasy.”

“I agree.”

“We need to warn the folks at the resort to be careful. I don’t think we should tell them we saw bear tracks – just animal tracks.” Sean groaned. “That’s all we need is to fend off a bear shifter attack.”

“They’ll see our wolf tracks and will know that we know.”

“What do we know?” Sean asked.

“I don’t know.”

Everyone was gathered in the parlor when they got back, watching a movie. When it ended, Sawyer stood up.

“Can I have your attention for a minute, please?” He waited for everyone to quiet down and look at him. “Sean and I were scouting around today. We saw some animal tracks circling theresort. Please be vigilant when you go outside and don’t go out alone. Wild animals can get desperate in situations like these and might just see you as a food source.”

Everyone nodded and started talking again. Ginny came in and announced lunch.

Edward tapped on Sean’s shoulder just as he finished the last bit of soup.

“Hey, Edward. How are you feeling?”

“Bored. What are you doing this afternoon? Can we hang out?”

“Sure. I think you, Sawyer, and I can go outside and build a snow fort. What do you think?”

Edward’s eyes lit up. “That would be awesome.”

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