Page 56 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

“No guarantees,” Sean said.

“None whatsoever,” Sawyer added.

“Fine. Bullies.” The laughter in her voice and smile told Sean that she enjoyed the playful banter.

The four of them spent the next several hours outside. Xyla fell down and both Sawyer and Sean laughed at her. Xyla looked at her brother and nodded. Xyla rushed Sean and Edward rushed Sawyer, knocking them down in the snow.

“Hah. Take that,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.

Edward and Xyla quickly got the hang of walking with the large, leaf-shaped woven mats on their feet. Although none of them really wanted to go back inside, they were cold and the sun was going down. None of them wanted Edward getting too chilled.

Elliot came out of his room long enough to grab a plate of food and take it back into his room. He brought it back out half an hour later without saying a word to anyone. Xyla tensed but didn’t say anything.

Even though Sean knew that Xyla had stood up for herself, she also hated that her father was so upset. The man’s hate didn’t just affect him, it also affected his children. Sean wished that someone could knock some sense into him.

When the dishes were cleared away, Marcie stood up and grinned. “I think we should sit around the fire and tell ghost stories if we have one.

“That’s a great idea,” William said. “Sara, Ginny, and Franny have had some experiences on the mountain that will likely scare your socks off.”

Franny made some popcorn and everyone grabbed a drink of water, soda, or tea, and gathered in the living room.

Sara breathed in deeply and started the story. “You guys might have seen the cabin at the far end of the U-shaped cabin layout. It says staff only.”

Everyone nodded.

“One summer evening, Franny, Ginny, and I were sitting on the front porch, shelling peas. We heard an eerie sound like someone was humming.” Sara’s voice was low. “None of us was humming. There were no televisions or radios on.”

Franny took up the story. “We looked at each other and figured out that the humming wasn’t coming from the house. It was coming from one of the cabins, and we knew exactly which one. We didn’t want to check out the cabin, but we had to in case someone was in there who shouldn’t be.”

Ginny said, “We couldn’t ask Howard or William to look because they had gone on a supply run to town. Sara grabbed her shotgun and I fetched my rifle, and we walked to the cabin. Franny unlocked it, but there was no one in the cabin.”

Franny shivered. “The humming only got louder. It was a very sad song. We stepped inside and all of us felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and dread. There was a piece of paper on the desk that said, ‘Evelyn is here. Never leave. Never leave.’”

Sara pushed her hair out of her face. “We heard the sounds of a piano playing. The door slammed shut and we couldn’t get out. We heard maniacal laughter, like that of a crazy person.”

Franny raised her hand. “I’ll admit that I screamed. I was pretty certain that I was about to have a heart attack. Luckily,the men had just gotten back and heard me. They rushed to the cabin to let us out.”

“Who’s Evelyn?” Marcie asked.

“She was a guest who stayed here when the previous owners had the place. William and I have only owned this place for the last thirty years. Anyway, there was an avalanche then, too. They didn’t have the crew we did, and it took a couple of days to get her out. By that time, she had lost her mind and refused to leave the cabin,” Sara reported. “When the owners went to check on her and take her food, she was laying on the bed, dead.”

“Every so often, you can hear her humming. She had a radio with a CD with piano music on, which you can hear, too.” Franny wrung her hands. “I guess she’s lonely because if you go in there, she won’t let you out.”

Suddenly, a humming sound filled the room and everyone looked around wide-eyed. A door slammed and Ellie squealed. Then, William, Howard, Franny, Ginny, and Sara burst out laughing.

Howard shook his head. “The cabin is off limits because it needs a lot of work done to it. I keep a few supplies in there. There’s no Evelyn.”

Grinning, William said, “That story gets people every time.”

Everyone laughed good-naturedly at the joke played on them. They all hung out for a few hours, telling ghost stories or other types of stories if they had one.

Xyla sat next to Sean, holding his hand the entire time.

This is the way it should be. This feels right.

He caught her scent and it flooded every cell in his body and something settled in his soul.

She is my fated mate. Now I just have to figure out how to convince her of that.

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