Page 17 of Secrets and Ruin

“Yeah, I don’t feel any new werewolves in my territory,” I said, frowning at the sky. “We must have someone wandering around. This is the fourth time since the beginning of the year. A spy wouldn’t reveal themselves with a howl or anything, right?”

“There’s a chance they’re trying to keep us on edge. Or maybe it’s someone looking for me, a lone wolf looking to join the pack. It could just be lone wolves running by, announcing themselves as they pass since they know I’m in the region. If the pack caught a wolf who didn’t, it would be a fight. I’ll call Shamus and ask if he and Kody can run the edge of your territory—”

“No….” Shaking my head, I knew what I wanted to do. If I couldn’t get my moment of peace standing in my yard, I could do what any other smart werecat would.

I haven’t gone on a solo run in a long time.

“Go inside and read your book,” I said, beginning to strip off my clothes. “I’m going for a run of my border.”

“You’ll be careful, right? It’s probably nothing, but….” His concern was reasonable. Baiting a werecat to the edge of their territory was a smart way for werewolves to create ambushes.

With a nod, I finished getting undressed and began to Change, letting it roll through me. A quick but painful thirty seconds as my body transitioned between forms until I was the five-hundred-pound cat I had become nearly fifteen years ago.

Heath stayed on the porch as I ran into the trees. Sniffing, I caught the patrol path the pack would take when they decided to do night watches, but there was no one out tonight. I could feel them all, knowing they were all at home. If any of them had howled, they would have sounded closer, but I always first asked Heath if they were one of the pack because assumptions could kill.

Running for the edge, I kept alert as I reached the edge of my border but didn’t cross it. Without stopping, I turned and began to run at full speed, catching thousands of scents along the way. None of them were werewolves I didn’t recognize, though, and there was no second howl.

I would have been bothered with Dirk having just left, but this wasn’t the first time another supernatural came close to the territory, and nothing happened. It probably wouldn’t be the last. I had rogue werecats coming close, though none had tested my border in some time. I or one of my werewolves would catch their scents near the border, but none ever tried to take my territory. The howl tonight could have been as simple as what Heath said. When werewolves passed through claimed territory, they would try to speak to someone from the pack to keep there from being any trouble if they didn’t want it.

I moved fast, not because I wanted to go home quickly, but to stretch my legs and exhaust myself so I couldn’t think anymore. Maybe with that, I could get to sleep just a bit faster once I got home. By the time I got back, my legs were tired. Heath had taken my clothes inside and left a robe on the patio. Changing back into my human form, I wrapped it around myself and went inside.

He was already in the bedroom, in bed with that book that was quickly put down as I walked in.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah, I don’t think the werewolf came within a hundred feet of the territory,” I said, dropping the robe and crawling into bed.

Heath’s wolfish smile told me if I wanted, I could get even more exhausted before closing my eyes.

I took him up on his offer.

8

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Jacky!”

I blinked several times, trying to wake myself up. I looked down, trying to remember what I had been doing.

Oh, accounting… no wonder I fell asleep at my desk.

With a yawn, I got up to find out why Carey was calling my name. It wasn’t urgent. I knew what that sounded like. I found her in the kitchen and wondered why it looked like someone had dumped flour on her head. A small smile began to form as I saw the mess. It looked like a bakery had exploded in my kitchen.

“Carey…” I reached out and ran a finger over one of my counters. With a small lick, I tasted sugar, flour, and I was certain there was some cocoa in it as well. “What happened?”

“I’ve been trying to make something, and I’m following the recipe, but it’s not… working.” She huffed and ran her hand through her hair just like her father did.

Except when he did it, he wasn’t standing in the middle of a baking crime against humanity.

“Let me see it,” I said, chuckling. “Explain the problem while I read.”

She started telling me how the mixture wasn’t turning out the way the recipe said. I wasn’t one to bake from scratch, but I could get by if I followed clear instructions from a good recipe. I had cheats, like cookies from a cake mix.

As she told me about it, I read through what she was trying to do. It was a devil’s food cake, a classic chocolate, but it was a recipe credited to the 1800s and had icing I had never heard of. I pulled out my phone to figure out what boiled icing was, only to discover it was normally called Italian meringue.

“Who are you making this for?” I asked, chuckling. “It has you making Italian meringue for the icing. I’ve never done that before.”

“It’s Landon’s favorite cake. I know he’s down since Dirk left and I wanted to do something nice for him.” Carey groaned. “But it’s a disaster. He’ll be over for dinner tonight, and it’s just… It’s not going to be ready if I don’t figure it out now! I was hoping to surprise him by bringing it out for dessert!”

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