Page 32 of Wolf's Mark

CHAPTER 10

Sedona

Life was unsettling. I’d experienced that tenfold over the last few years. While I was happy with the life I’d chosen, there were constant reminders of the past.

Maybe everyone was supposed to remember so as not to repeat the same mistakes.

At least I’d left my old life and the man who’d tried to drag me down for new adventures.

But there were headaches.

I continued seeing the wolf card and sighed. I knew it had been a bad idea to walk into that shop.

Lucia’s reaction continued to weigh heavily on my mind. The entire situation was surreal to say the least.

Here I was a scientist and I had no decent explanation.

Answers weren’t going to be found on a Sunday night.

I knocked on the turquoise door of the quaint Cape Cod hesitantly and waited. There was never any indication of how my almost sister-in-law’s mood would be. Emily Abbott was, from what I could tell, a decent person. She was a true aunt with all the trimmings to my daughter. She was also family.

But she was close to the man I’d left behind in Virginia, a part of her loathing me even to this day.

Maybe I’d made a bad choice in choosing to move here, but I wanted Britney to have family around her. Plus, Cartersville was safe and the school system considered one of the best in the country.

Safe except for the night before. I couldn’t get the incident out of my mind.

Or the handsome man.

I bit my lower lip and fanned my face. He was Mr. McHottie all the way.

Get a grip, girl.

Emily opened the door, taking a deep breath as she usually did when she was forced to deal with me. “I thought you weren’t coming. I was just getting ready to call you.”

“I had a break-in at the office today. The police were called. A report given. Just another day.” I’d decided to contact the police for a bogus report, which part of me felt bad about. However, I would never be able to explain to the staff why the location had been torn apart if I hadn’t. People talked in this town and with the FBI involved, I couldn’t risk bizarre and very unwanted stories being told.

At least her expression softened. “I’m sorry to hear that. I did go ahead and give Britney dinner.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate you doing that.” She let me in, although she backed away as if I was toxic.

“She’s coloring right now. Do you… want anything to drink?”

“No, I’m fine. As you might imagine, it’s been a long day.” And it had been. My mind still couldn’t process all the events. For now, I had to push everything out of my mind.

Britney always knew when something was wrong. She was a mini-me, taking after her mother in every aspect. Including pushing questions until she received the answers she wanted.

“Of course.”

Emily and I stood face to face, two decent individuals. Sadly, it always felt like our meetings were confrontations. This evening was no exception.

“I heard about the restraining order,” she finally said. Her anger was just below the surface. We couldn’t carry on a decent conversation without comments about her brother. They weren’t that close. Another reason I’d elected to move here.

“I felt it was necessary.”

“Because he wants to see his daughter?”

“Because he continuously called at all hours of the night. He refused to take no for an answer and was determined to take his daughter far away. His words. Not mine. What was I supposed to do?”

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