Page 31 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
“I’ll help ye carry it out.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I can do it myself, you don’t … okay, thank you.”
He’d already scooped up the accessories into his arms and come around the counter. Apparently, it wasn’t an option. I hurried to open the trunk, thanking him again.
“Nonsense. Jus’ me job. If there’s anything else I kin do, jus say.”
I nodded and watched him go. Then an idea came to me.
“Excuse me,” I said, hurrying after him.
He paused.
“Do you know anything about local legends? About the forest. Have you ever heard the words heart or darkness used to talk about it?” I swallowed my embarrassment and continued. “Or maybe … a guardian?”
It felt incredibly stupid to throw that last one out there, but I had to know. Had to see ifanyoneknew what it might mean.
The shopkeeper looked up, as if considering. Then his eyes narrowed. I turned, following his gaze, just in time to see a huge eagle or falcon soar overhead. Right behind it was another bird of prey. And another, all different. A flock of birds raced by over them.
All flying in the same direction.
Somethingcloppednearby, and a deer came scampering down Main Street, appearing from behind the next buildingover. A rabbit paced it with two more coming hurriedly after them.
“Well,” the shopkeeper said dryly, “that’s not something you see every—”
Screams erupted from farther up the street, accompanied by a dull rumble that quickly escalated into a roar.
“What the hell?” I took two steps away from the shopfront to see better.
At the same time, all hell broke loose.
Animals came pouring down the main strip. Normal-sized wolves and raccoons raced past slower porcupines and squirrels. Foxes ran in tandem ahead of a bear. Deer wereeverywhere.
Then the moose appeared, their giant forms towering over the rest of the wildlife. Smaller animals, rodents, were perched on the backs or clinging for dear life to the sides of anything they could.
“Inside!” the shopkeeper bellowed in a loud, commanding voice. “Move it, move it, move it!”
“Yep, good idea!” I cried as we raced inside before the wave of animals washed over the cars in the parking lot.
Overhead, the sky abruptly darkened behind black, impenetrable clouds that hadn’t been there before, boiling up swiftly out of nowhere and casting a shadow over the entire town.
“What the hell is going on?” I hissed, the door rattling as the stampede went on by. “Is it normal for the animals to run a 5K down Main Street?”
“Nope. I never seen sumthin’ like this. Darndest thing.” He shook his head. “Curse of the woods, it is, I tell ye.”
Curse of the woods?
The shopkeeper stood, and the clouds parted, the sun beaming down again as the last of the wildlife scampered on past, leaving nothing but confusion in their wake as they headed for the forest on the other side of town from which they came.
We exited the store, as everyone else was doing from other stores nearby.
“That was weird,” I said, shaking my head.
Behind me, the door of the shopclickedwith a very distinctive locking sound. I spun, fearing I was being shut out, that perhaps it wasn’t over, but I needn’t have feared. The owner was on the outside too.
“Enough for today?” I said, the joke as feeble as it sounded.
“No. Not that. Time to head to town hall.”
