Page 47 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

Xyla raised her eyebrows. “Color me impressed.”

She opened the door to the basement and flipped the switch, not sure if the light would come on. Xyla was pleasantly surprised when it did. However, the single bulb only dimly lit the basement.

“Great. I suddenly find myself in a horror movie,” she muttered as she surveyed that heavily shadowed room.

Xyla shivered as she walked down the basement steps, her breath misting in the chilly air. “I should have put on my coat.”

The light flickered, making the shadows seem like they moved across the room.

Her boots echoed off the concrete when she stepped off the bottom step. The cold air was damp and she wrinkled her nose at the faint musty smell.

“I watch too many so-called true paranormal shows.”

She walked toward the shelf and then heard the hissing noise. Looking down, she saw that there was standing water on the floor. Xyla walked toward the noise and saw what the problem was. Water was pouring out of a pipe.

“That’s not good.” She turned and ran up the stairs, literally running into Sean. “Sorry. Where’s Howard?”

“He’s outside trying to figure out what’s going on with the generator. Some issue with it is causing the flickering lights. What’s wrong?”

“One of the pipes burst in the basement and it’s flooding pretty fast.”

“I’ve ownedHowlers’long enough and dealt with enough plumbing issues, I can probably fix it. I know where Howard keeps his toolbox.”

She followed him back downstairs and showed him where the pipe was.

Sean knelt down and examined the pipe. “It must have burst about an hour ago. Good thing you came down here when you did.”

He opened the toolbox and rummaged through it. As expected, Howard had a miniature hardware store packed away inside.

“What can I do to help?”

He handed her a flashlight. “Keep it steady on the pipe.”

“Can you fix it?”

“This is an easy fix, at least until they can get a plumber out here. Howard probably had this problem before because he actually has some plumbing tape and sealant.”

Xyla watched as Sean applied the sealant and then wrapped the tape around it.

He pointed to a tool. “Hand me that wrench.”

She passed it to him, their hands briefly touching. Electricity flowed through her fingers at the touch.

Sean tightened the fittings on the pipe, making sure that it wasn’t going to explode anywhere else.

“It isn’t pretty, but it’ll do. I’ll let Howard know about it when he gets back in.”

He put everything back in the toolbox the way that he found them. Sean grinned at Xyla. “You don’t mess with a man’s toys without putting them back nicely.”

She grinned and grabbed the preserves off the shelf. Sean put the toolbox back in the closet while Xyla went into the kitchen.

“There’s a mess in the basement where a pipe burst. Sean fixed it, but we need to clean up the water.”

“The pipes are old in this place. Luckily, it happened in the basement. Ginny happens to have a floor squeegee and a mop. There is a drain in the center of the floor. They’re in the closet at the end of the hallway marked ‘staff only.’”

Xyla half expected to find the closet locked but the door opened easily. She grabbed the squeegee and mop. Sean was waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

They worked diligently to clean up the mess. Xyla was hyperaware of Sean’s presence and electricity snapped in the air around them. She had no idea what it was about him that made her feel this way.

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