Page 5 of Ensnared By the Stone Freak

“Is that a piece of double-worsted pinstriped wool?” Cammy asked as she gave my boar a wide berth to get to the table. She was peering at the scrap with a smile pullingather pretty pink lips, and I paused, mid-reach forthe apples,to stare, enchanted by the sight. “This is a piece of Thorne’s suit,” she saidinwonder. Then she caught meby surprise—most normies thought boars were scary. Dropping to her knees, she threw her arms around Hogzy’s neck, her fingers expertly digging into the scruff behind his tufted ears to give him the kind of scratches he loved. “Good boy! Did you take a nice big bite out of him? Give him a proper mud bath, did you?”

Hogzy seemed to forget all about his coveted apples,and with shameless moaning and snorts,received all the adoration Cammy was willing to bestow on him. With a thud that rattled the rafters, he threw himself onto his side and exposed his round belly. Cammy did not even seem to mind the spray of mud that had dried in his coarse fur as she did exactly what he wanted. “How on earth did you end up with a pet pig, Halvard?” she asked.

That made Hogzy snort indignantly,and I laughed. “He’s not a pig but a boar.A wild boar,technically. I found him when he was a baby, and we’ve been pals ever since. Right,Hogzy?” My buddy seemed to remember his apples now and took his chance, rising with more agility than you’dexpect a big beast like him to have. He yanked the basket straight out of my hands and,with a gleeful snort,scooted beneath the table, rattling it roughly because he didn’t quite fit. Then he threw himself onto his sleeping pad and happily began munching.

When Cammy rose from her crouch, I knew exactly what she was about to say, and I didn’t want her to end this. “Will I see you again?” Iasked before she could speak. I moved around the table quickly,though I tried not to rush and make her feel threatened. Slipping my glasses from my face simply because I could, I tucked them into my pocket and reached out to cup her face. She let me kiss her, her pulse pounding in her throat, her breathing filled with little shudders and moans.

“Yes… Halvard… I want to.” Her eyes flicked from my face to the bed withitstangled sheets, wherewe’d spentseveral very pleasurable moments. We had not finished what we’d started, but I was much moreapredator than she knew.I could be patient. I knew she was thinking about what we’d done—what we’dshared—when we’d barely said a word to each other. My brain whirred as it filled with ideas, with all the things I wanted to do to her.

I settledonthe one thing I knew would make her feel safe—somethingthat would feel familiar to a woman like her. I couldn’t throw her in the deep end injustone night;I had to make this easy for her. Learning that my ability to turn people to stone was real—that was enough. “How about a date? Dinner at a restaurant. Tomorrow is my day off;I could pick you up…” I trailed off, my mind floundering as I tried to remember what a normal date was supposed to look like.

Cammy saved me by smiling—a warm, wondrous kind of smile—her eyes filled with discovery. “Yes, I’d like that very much.”And then she pulled an honest-to-God business card from her coat pocket. Flipping it over, she wrote her personal number on the back.“Text me the details, yes? Tomorrow, seven?”

The business card was printed on thick, luxurious paper and gold-embossed with her name:Camryn Mayfield,Attorney atLaw. Ah,fuck, she was a lawyer. She was so educated and fancy. How could the two of us possibly make this work? We were from completely opposite worlds. Tucking the business card with her number into my jacket pocket, right over my heart,I was determined to try. Sally the Seer had made a prediction about tonight:a gaze was all it took. I hoped she was right.

“Let me escort you to your car, darling,” I offered, suddenly feeling like I was part ofherworld. I felt important, fancy, as she slid her arm through mine and let me glide her from the Airstream. Too bad I was taking her to her car instead of on the tour I had envisioned. I didn’t want her to go—I wanted tonight to last forever. When we left the campgrounds and entered the still-crowded carnival grounds, I didn’t forget the fear my mate had felt here—the fear of the male whom Hogzy and my Carnival brothers had taken care of for me. If they’d done their jobs right, they would have driven him away. But I wasn’t taking any chances.

“I called my friend Lis;she’s meeting me at the car,” Cammy said, leaning in close to speak next to myear to be heard. Music was blaring—slow and out of tune—from the merry-go-round, but the eerie sound only made the crowd more rambunctious. There was ahint of fear, of unease, a thrill of adventure they could not resist. I searched around us for any sign of the man Hogzy had taken a bite out of, but did not see him.

“Why was he after you, Cammy? Are you going to be in danger when you leave?” If the answer was yes, I knew I wouldn’t let her go—not without me to accompany her. I was braced for a fight, but she shook her headfirmly, her jaw set at a stubborn angle.

“No, I’ll be fine. Thorne only cares about what I do in public. He’s…”She sighed,and when she looked at me, I knew she was struggling to say what she was thinking. It was shame that held her tongue, so I waited—no urging, no prodding. “He’s my ex, and it ended badly. At least, it ended for me, but he still seems to think he has a claim. He makes trouble for me as soon as I so much as go on a date or show up at an event.” She held her tongue after that, but I heard what she wasn’t saying. Going on a date with her tomorrow could spell trouble. It could mean this Thorne would show up again to start something. Excitement thrummed through me at the thought. He’d be in for a surprise if he tried anything with me.

“Bring it,” I said with a smirk. The words had only just left my mouth when we reached the edge of the carnival grounds. Here, a big,empty field had been convertedinto a parking lot. Testament to thecarnival’s twisted popularity, it was still very full, despite being almost midnight. Listening to Cammy’s softly murmured instructions, I guided her between the rows of cars, my eyes searching for any sign of danger. There was a prickling at the back of my neck that warned me of danger, and I was not an idiot—I trusted my instincts.

Cammy was not leaving my sight.

Chapter 6??

Camryn

When I showed up on Halvard’s arm, I knew Lis was going to squeal with happiness—I could feel it coming. I thought that would make me nervous, but instead, I felt a warm, glowing ball of happiness in my belly. It felt good.The more I thought about it—and I was thinking about it a lot—I realized it was because I was finally telling Thorne to fuck off. Screw him. Halvard was a strong, mysterious enigma, but he made me feel safe. For once, I was not scared of what would happen to my date; rather, I had a feeling Thorne was finally coming up against a wall he wouldn’t be able to knock over. His bully tactics weren’t going to work on a man like my leather-wearing Stone Freak.

I had no right to feel possessive of Halvard. We hadn’t gone on that date yet, though what we’d shared had been far more intimate than anything I had experienced with my nasty ex. Pushing thoughts of the future away, I tried to focus on the here and now: the cold that made my breath fog in the air, the way my arm waswarmlytangled with his, and the subtle musk of his scent in my nose. I could hear laughter behind me coming from thecarnival and the squelching, plodding steps of Halvard’s pet boar,Hogzy,as hetrudged through the field behind us.

When Lis’s sporty car came into sight, I saw that my friend was draped acrossthe hood, huddled deeply in her thick fur coat. She had to be freezing in her spiky heels and slinky dress,but she was all warm, beaming smiles as she saw us. “Ah, lovebirds! I’m so happy to see you guys. Too bad you missed Thorne’s dramatic exit! It was beautiful!” she saidina happy waterfall of words.

Halvard’s head dipped to mine, and even with his tinted glasses on his handsome face, I could sense the amusement. I rolled a shoulder, smiled back at him, andknewwe understood each other. We were both amused and endeared by Lis’s loyal words and happy laughter. It was impossible not to like my friend, but there was no reason to envy her for it.

“Hi,” I said, reluctant to part ways with the object of my newfound passion. He was warm and safe, steady as a rock as he stood at my side and shielded me from the worst of the cold autumn breeze. “Thank you for distracting him!” I told her. She’d gone above and beyond. Halvard withdrew his arm slowly, but his hand lingered on my hip for a second. Then he boldly cupped my chin, tilted my head,and kissed me right there in front of my friend.

I was tingling all over—cold forgotten, blood on fire. My breathing came in a soft, surprised gasp ashe swept his tongue into my mouth and laid claim. “Goodbye, darling Cammy. I’ll pick you up tomorrow for our date.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then stepped back, leaving me a gooey, melted puddle at his feet. “Good night, friend of Cammy’s,” he said politely,thoughhis voice was rougher than it shouldhave been. He dipped into a bow for Lis, then for me, all showy showmanship.

“Bye, Halvard the Stone Freak! Thank you for seducing my friend!” Lis jauntily waved at him as she spoke. While I was still a blushing fool, she grinned,and Halvard smirked. He began to walk away, his boar ducking out from between two cars and following him. A chill skated up my spine, dispelling the lovely warmth Halvard’s kiss had left behind. My chin went up, my eyes searching the darkened field, but I could not see what was wrong.

I turned to Lis, certain she was going to smile and laugh before diving headfirst into an interrogation of what I’d been up to. But my friend was no longer slouching against the hood of her car; her eyes were sharp as she searched the darkness. I wasn’t imagining things. Something was out there. I spun toward my handsome, mysterious stranger, fully intending to warn him. About what, I had no idea. All I knew was that something was stalking us. Something evil.

The shadow that suddenly rose from behind the next car was exactly what I expected—yet nothing like it at all. My mind couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The shadowy shape was too tall, too big to be a man, but itwasman-shaped. Despite its lumbering size, it made no noise as it stepped over the car and loomed directly over me. I dimly heard Lis screech, but the pounding of my heart drowned out everything else.

Halvard was between me and the ogre-sized shadow so quickly that I had not seen him move. I just knew that he was suddenly there, shielding me from the massive,shadowed paw coming down toward me. He caught that hand with his upraised forearm, the blow reverberating through his chest. It provedthatit was real—not just some weird trick of the light and shadows.

From behind Halvard’s wide, leather-clad shoulder, I saw just enough to make my stomach turn. That shadow had glowing coals for eyes—an ogre oragiant made of darkness. “Leave her alone!” my protector roared in the face of those writhing shadows.Then he lifted his hand to his glasses and yanked them from his face. The red gaze in that shadowed face collided with the Stone Freak’s,and that was it.The shadow turned to stone, black as obsidianandshiny like glass.

With a roar, Halvard pulled back his fist and punched the newly formed statue right in the face. It exploded into a million fragments—obsidian glass that flew in every direction with a clatter—thudding into cars, raining down onto the muddy grass, and tinkling against my skin and hair. One little chip nicked me right beneath my eye, but the sting of pain was nothing compared to the fear that roiled through my mind. What had just happened? Whatwasthat thing? And why was it after me?

“Are you hurt? Did the shadow golem touch you?” Halvard spun around and caught me by the shoulders, his dark, unshielded gaze frantic as he searched my body. His hands were warm and firm against my cold skin, heating me even through my coat. Then,he lifted one hand to slide his thumb over the cut beneath my eye, raising the pad between us, glistening with blood. “Damn it, I am going to kill that bastard!”

“Who?” I said through numb lips, my gaze clinging to Halvard’s jet-black eyes. There was safety in those orbs—I couldn’t explain it, not when he turned out to be speaking the truth about everything. He really did turn people to stone with that gaze—people and shadow golems,apparently. I would have thrown myself into my protector’s arms, but I forced myself to stand back and watch. My world had just gotten rocked—no pun intended.I needed to figure out what I thought of all that before I made any hasty choices. Not that I even once considered backing out of my date tomorrow night. Even if I needed some distance now, I knew I had to see him again.

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