Page 17 of Hunted

Again, the thought of having our own property, further out of town, appeals to me. We’d have space to spread out and maybe even fence off our property to prevent any accidental sightings of wolves.

“It might just be a tourist or a hiker,” I say. “Probably just a coincidence, and my dad has made me paranoid.”

But my wolf is still antsy and alert, so he doesn’t think it’s paranoia. He’s acting like there’s more to this than just a lost tourist.

From the way Bennett is frowning as Colton stares down the road in the direction the tire marks lead, they’re not convinced this was just coincidence either.

I don’t recognize the scent as belonging to any local in town, at least not anyone I’ve ever come into contact with. And I’ve lived in Winter Lake for long enough to have run into most locals, if not all of them.

“I’m probably being paranoid,” I say. “But in case I’m not?—”

Bennett gets to his feet. “We could pay the hotel a visit tomorrow and see if there are new guests?”

“I can take Chris and Warren to check out the cabins to see if we pick up the same scent there,” Colton offers. “There’snowhere else an out-of-towner would stay unless they were here visiting family.”

I nod. “Okay. I’m sure it’s nothing, but I’d rather know once and for all that this was just a lost tourist than a sign of something else.”

“Let’s go back to the house. We’ll meet up with the others and do a few loops around the property, make sure no one is where they shouldn’t be,” Bennett suggests.

“Good idea.” I drop into a crouch so we can shift back to our wolf forms.

“Are you going to tell Aerin?” Colton asks.

Do I want to tell her about the scuff marks and someone briefly wandering onto our property?

“There’s nothing to tell,” I say. “At least, not yet.”

7

AERIN

“More popcorn?” Tina offers me the large bowl of buttered popcorn.

My stomach aches and I groan, rubbing it as I recline in the armchair in the den. “I don’t know how you can think I have any more room in my belly after the amount of orange chicken I just ate.”

“Candy?” Penny offers.

I eye the glass bowl and motion it over. “Maybe just a small handful.”

Penny dumps so much into my hand that it spills into my lap.

I raise my eyebrow. “You and me have a very different idea about what constitutes small.”

“What!” She widens her eyes. “As if you weren’t going to go back for seconds.”

She’s probably right about that. I shovel a handful of candies into my mouth and chew as I motion to the foot spa and the movie none of us are watching. “What was all this all about?”

“You need to unwind,” Tina says with her bare feet in the hot pink foot spa with massaging beads that she brought from home. “To be fair, we all do. A movie night with snacks and a foot massage is exactly what we all need.”

Itisa good idea. I’ve never had a girl’s night before, and after this, I wouldn’t mind having it again.

“And the reason we had to kick all the guys out?” Zoe asks from her armchair. She wasn’t interested in the foot spa. Tina gave her a manicure, and she’s waiting for her peach fingernail polish to dry with her hands flat on the sides of her chair.

Penny shrugs. “You can’t have guys around for girl’s night.”

“Ah.” I sweep my gaze around the room, taking in the foot spas, the candy, popcorn, sodas, the movie with the Hollywood hunk, and the nail polish I opted out of when Tina offered to do manicures.

The overhead lights are on a dimmer, and Tina is busy giving herself a manicure with bright blue fingernail polish as she sits on the floor. She seems as content and comfortable as the rest of us.

---