Page 4 of A Wolf in the Garden

Van is a wolf. Van. Van is here. He is a wolf.

He. Is. A. Wolf.

I know the words mean something, but I can’t quite make sense of them right now.

“Evander!” Cam yells in his booming voice, making me jump. “Come meet Ellie!”

I see the moment Van lays eyes on me, the smile faltering on his face, though he recovers quickly. His long legs eat up the path as he strides towards us, looking like a goddamn movie star with his dark sunglasses and white teeth, and I still can’t believe what I’m actually seeing as I take in the sight of him. My heart races, breath caught in my throat.

Evander.

Built like a bodybuilder, the outline of his muscles are visible beneath his white t-shirt, and his designer jeans don’t hide the size of those muscular thighs. When he stops a few feet away, I have to tilt my head up to look up at his handsome face. He stands at least half a head taller than he used to, not nearly as tall as an orc, but far taller than most human men.Glamour must have been hiding his true size all that time.

His full lips, chiselled jaw and cleft chin are all so familiar despite the many years that have passed since I last laid eyes on him, though he’s lost the soft baby-skin look that his twenty-one year old self had. I can’t see his eyes behind his glasses, but the slightly strained smile he flashes me is enough to confirm what he is; no human has caninesthatsharp and long, and a shiver runs down my spine.Wolf. Predator.It’s an instinctual reaction, a recognition offear, made all the more confusing because my body remembers just who he once was to me; he’s so physically beautiful that arousal curls in my core, memories of straddling those hips once upon a time flashing through my mind.

I hate that I’m already reacting this way to him. I was never mad at him, at least not for long — how could I blame a man in the depths of grief, the same as I was? — but I was so deeply hurt when he left, especially by the way he and his family cut all contact, as if fifteen years of memories together meant nothing.

“Evander Livingston, meet Ellie Harding. This is her garden. She’s the designer I was saying you need to hire; there’s no one better out there than this lass. She —” Cam trails off, finally appearing to realise that there is something odd about Van and I, both of us wearing equally frozen expressions. “Is… is everything alright?”

I am speechless. Someone has cut the connection between my brain and my mouth and no sound will come out. All I can manage is a dazed shake of my head.

“Ellie?” Cam asks, concerned.

“Ellie and I know each other already,” Van says, and on hearing his deep, gravelly voice, just the same as it was nine years ago, I let out a shaky breath.

“Yeah,” I add, still in a stupor, my voice sounding small. “I’m sorry. I… I’m completely lost for words. When people said there was… I didn’t realise it wasyou.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” He pauses a beat and then adds, “It’s good to see you, Ellie.” This time he gives me a more genuine smile. “Are you… how are you? You look good. Really good.”

“I’m good,” I lie. Right now in this instant I’m an absolute mess. The wordsscreaming internallycome to mind.

“That’s great. This place is amazing.”

“Thank you.”

Is he as fucked up as I am by this? If he is, he’s a better actor than me. I can see Cam staring at us both in turn, though I can’t take my eyes off Van.

“Are you alright, lass?” Cam asks me softly. “I didnae know you knew him.”

“I’m fine.” I turn my wooden smile in his direction. He looks unconvinced. “You know what it’s like here, how they say there’s only two degrees of separation in New Zealand. Everyone is a friend of someone you know.”

Cam shrugs his hulking shoulders. “Aye, but —”

“Perhaps Ellie could show me around her garden?” Van interrupts. He pulls something from his pocket, tossing it to Cam.Keys.“Take the car if you need to leave earlier than me, Ellie and I have a bit of catching up to do. I can make my own way back.”

Hearing him use that slightly authoritative tone causes a visceral reaction in me; a confusing mix of longing and pain, thrown in with the ongoing shock thathe’s not even human. I’ve heard him talk like that a thousand times before, back in that old life we had together — bossing his younger siblings around, taking charge, making me feel safe. It’s bringing it all back, as if I was last standing in his parents’ mansion yesterday rather than nine years ago.

Cam seems to recognise that he’s being dismissed. “Well okay then. Are you sure you’re alright, lass? You seem a bit shell shocked.”

Shell shocked is an accurate description. I do my best to gather myself just enough to seem unaffected.Fake it ’til you make it.“It will be good to talk to Van. I heard you might need help redesigning the garden at Lost Moon?”

Van smiles softly. “Yes. That’s what you do now? Garden design?”

“Does she ever!” Cam cuts in. “You should see what she did to my own place.”

Van nods. I nod. Cam nods. We all stand there awkwardly in a very strange three-way impasse. The silence stretches on for far too long.

“Weeell, I’ll go and help the ladies pack up down by the gate,” Cam announces.

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