Page 50 of The Wolf Professor

“I need to know the truth of what happened to Eloise. And the wolf.”

“Ah, finally.” Her dad gave a rueful smile. “I promised your mom I wouldn’t bring the subject up, but that if you asked me, I’d be honest.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

He nodded, staring into his mug of tea. “Eloise was like a sunbeam as a kid, always laughing, singing, dancing.”

“Yes, she looks like that in the photos,” Charlie said. She’d only ever seen a few, but they all showed Eloise with a riot of dark curls, sparkling eyes, and the happiest smile.

“After our parents were killed in the tornado that hit the southern states and we moved to Tween, Eloise became really sad. It was like she’d lost her spirit. Your mom and I started to date soon after we arrived, and I was trying to establish my business here. It was a busy time, and sure, I was trying to look after Eloise, but being young, I probably didn’t help her as much as I should have, which weighs on me even now.” He huffed a big sigh. “Then one day, not long after she turned eighteen, Eloise disappeared. Everyone was out looking for her. We were frantic. I guess we all thought the worst, that maybe she’d harmed herself. I blamed myself for not taking more care of her, of course. But after three days, thankfully, she came home, covered in leaves and twigs. Her clothes were torn, her hair mussed up. Wouldn’t tell a soul where she’d been. She was totally exhausted. But smiling. And happier than I’d seen her since we’d moved to Tween.

“In the weeks that followed, she started to laugh again, and I’d hear her singing. She got back into her dancing, the way she used to. It was such a relief—we had the old Eloise back. She began making plans for her future, to travel the world as a dancer, which had always been her dream.

“I kept asking her what happened during those three days she went missing, but she’d just smile and stay silent. One day, I asked her again. I didn’t expect her to tell me, since she’d been so secretive. But amazingly, she did.”

Charlie leaned forward expectantly, her eyes wide. “Go on.”

“She said, ‘I took part in a Solstice Rut’.

“I remember scratching my head, asking her what a rut was. I had no idea, to be honest. Eloise explained that she’d spent three nights being chased through the woods by wolves. Hadwild abandoned sex with multiple wolves, which initially gave me quite a shock, to be honest. But she told me she’d signed up of her own volition, and that it had released all her psychic pain. She was ready to get on with her life.

“And then—” he huffed a sigh. “Stupid me, I went and told your mom.”

Charlie slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh no, Dad! Bad move.”

“Yeah, can you imagine the ruckus? Eloise packed her bags and left the very next day. Said she was totally stifled in a place like Tween. I felt so guilty for opening my big mouth. The next we heard, she’d taken a job onThe Beast of the Seascruise ship working as a cabaret dancer.

“Unfortunately, Eloise had told her best friend about the rut. The friend told her mom, and it got back to the Council of Towns. And you know how prejudiced against monsters they are, even more so then than they are now. Your mom was terrified she’d lose her job at the library, that I would be penalized as a newcomer to the town, and my business would get shut down. By then she was pregnant with you, and I was only just getting established with my carpentry. To save us, your mom made out that Eloise had been taken from her bed at night and ravaged against her will.” He sighed. “It was the wrong thing to do, and certainly didn’t help human/wolf relations, but at the time, your mom thought it was her only choice.”

Charlie sat silent, digesting all this.

Her dad gave her a whimsical smile. “I think your resemblance to Eloise freaks your mom out. You have the same wicked sense of fun, and you see life as one big adventure. Combine that with your mom’s brains and there’s no stopping you, Cupcake.”

“I think I would love Eloise,” Charlie said wistfully.

Her dad looked equally wistful. “And she’d love you. Maybe one day she’ll come back and visit us. Right now, I think Tween is the last place on earth she’d want to be. Way too restrictive for a gal like Eloise. But tell me, why now? Why this sudden interest in what happened to your aunt?”

“Oh, you know…” Charlie gave a little shrug. “I’ve always wondered, I guess.”

She sipped her tea, then glanced up at him.

Dad frowned. “Yes, but this seems different. It feels like your whole purpose in coming here was to ask me about Eloise.” With a sudden twinkle in his dark eyes, he added, “What are you not telling me, Charlie Jane Sullivan?”

Charlie huffed a sigh. She could hide things from Mom, but never Dad.

She put her mug down on the bench and, with a little smile tugging at her mouth, fessed up. “I’ve fallen in love with a wolf, Dad.”

CHAPTER 20

Max spent the next few days prowling around the big empty house, feeling grouchy and unsettled. He had so much to do, but his brain wouldn’t focus on any of it.

When Mrs. Bates came in to cook up meals to freeze for him, he hung around in the kitchen, chatting to her about inconsequential things, just for the company.

“Where’s your lovely assistant?” Mrs. Bates said, her bright brownie eyes curious as she threw chunks of meat into a pot.

“She’s taken a few days out, gone back to Tween to see her family.”

“Shame, she’s a ray of sunlight, that girl.”

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