Page 30 of A Wolf in the Garden

“Becausethat’sthe smart thing to do.”

At my sarcastic tone she shoots me a hurt look, and my wolves growl with displeasure.Idiot. Don’t upset her.

“I’m sorry. I really dislike hearing that you’ve potentially been in danger for weeks and I haven’t known about it.”

“Maybe I’ve been in danger for months. Or years! That lady in the article went missing over a year ago. So she would be part-fae, too, right? Why would these fae want me?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t imagine it would be good. I’m hoping we can find out more information tomorrow.”

“But we’re safe here?”

“Yes.” It’s a damn good thing that I organised the ward on this place in my first week here, otherwise I don’t think my wolves would let me get a wink of sleep tonight, knowing the potential danger Ellie is in.

“I can’t stay here forever, though. I have to go home at some point.” She gasps. “The chickens! They need shutting away for the night!”

I rub my forehead — her birds arenotthe priority here — and she puts a hand on my shoulder. “I know that sounds stupid,” she explains, “but they’re my pets. I feel bad I completely forgot about them.”

“I’ll call Cameron and get him to shut your chickens away in their coop. He can pick up some clothing for you too, and bring it here. Do you still keep a spare key hidden outside like you used to up north?”

“Yep. I do. It’s under the pot of pink daisies on the left-hand-side of the house.”

“That’s… terrible, security-wise. But good in this situation. I’ll call Cam shortly.”And order her a lockbox for her house.

“He won’t be in danger?”

“I can’t see why. I don’t think they’d have any use for an orc.” She frowns at me, and I shrug, trying to appear more casual about this whole thing than I feel. I don’t want her to worry unnecessarily, but Iamworried. “If he doesn’t want to go to yours, I’ll get him to come here and stay with you while I go and get your clothes. I think the best option for us is to contact the local witch I used for the vineyard and seek guidance on what can be done to ensure your safety, but in order to do that, you’re going to need pants tomorrow.”

I’m rewarded with the tiniest of laughs, though I hear her heartbeat pick up again. “So, this witch, who is she? I didn’t even know there was one on the island.”

“She keeps to herself, for the most part. She’s an elf. She only moved here recently, from what she said. A couple of months or so.”

“And she can put awardaround my house?”

“She can definitely do that. I’m hoping she can take it a step further, and put one around you, specifically.”

She doesn’t look convinced, and I don’t blame her. “Here’s the thing, in this realm, up until the Unravelling, human science explained most phenomena, right? And that science is correct, too; I use it when I turn grapes into wine, because there’s an exact scientific process to getting viticulture right.Youapply science when you garden. But when we’re talking about people from the First Realm, you need to suspend your preconceived notions of what’s possible. I turn into a wolf, like that,” I snap my fingers. “If I want to shift, I think it, and I’m a horse-sized wolf in a second flat. Under the full moon, I’m different again, a huge beast. That’s magic working right there. This all exists outside of the completely logical science that makes sense inthisrealm — we non-humans exist outside of that.”

Ellie shakes her head with dismay. “There’s so little information out there, and I get why that may be, but it doesn’t make it easy for someone in my situation who is trying to figure stuff out.”

“I thought I heard that the government here was quite good in assisting those like you that had woken to…differencesin anatomy that they didn’t know about, or did I hear wrong?” I ask, hoping to shift the conversation slightly. I want to hear more about her.

“No, you’re right. There was a lot set up, at first, but I missed the boat with all of that. At the time I was too scared to admit it to anyone else other than my mum; it was easy enough to hide the ears behind my hair — this was right smack bang in the middle of me purchasing my land, by the way, including getting the bank involved for a mortgage, and at the time there was all of that talk worldwide about whether non-humans should have the same rights as humans, including rights to own properties in this realm. Remember?”

“How could I forget?” I say, a touch of bitterness in my voice. Those first few months post-Unravelling had been messier than predicted for those of us that choose to live among humans here in this realm, to say the least. Thankfully, enough non-humans already held positions of power pre-Unravelling — world leaders, billionaires in CEO positions, lobbyists with immense influence — so when the glamour fell away, there was just enough stability among the chaos.

Ellie rubs my arm in sympathy. “Sorry. Of course you would know.”

“It’s okay.” I try to think of a safe topic to discuss. She’s clearly exhausted, and I don’t want to cause her more stress. “So, do you know many people on the island?”

“Mainly people from the gardening club, and Cam. Other than that, just the regulars at the Saturday farmers’ market. That’s why…” she trails off, blushing.

“Why what?”

“Why it’s been so lovely, seeing you again. Actually having someone my own age to talk to.” Her laugh is self-deprecating, and a little sad.

“Because you can’t get that here?”

She shakes her head. “It was only a month after the Unravelling that I moved out here — like I said, I was in the middle of purchasing my land wheneverythinghappened — so the timing was pretty atrocious for me. I was scared to even leave my property, at first; there was some pretty threatening rhetoric online back then, and I dreaded every grocery shop or visit to the post office. All I could think about was running into someone thathatednon-humans and my ears being spotted.”

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