Page 20 of Secrets at Dawn
“Then, I seriously need to hire someone. Someone who will show up because I have more than I can handle here.” Griffin thought about who he knew with the skill set to help.
“What do you know about Toby, Griffin?”
“He’s a friend of Riley’s. They met at the college.” Griffin shrugged. “He’s a wolf shifter and probably a warlock or witch. He's definitely got magic.”
“Did he show it to you?”
“I can sense it.” Griffin had said nothing to Toby about it, and Toby hadn’t brought it up. It hadn’t been important enough to talk about, but Toby, being both a wolf shifter and having magic, did set him apart. But only as much as it had set Marric apart, who was also a wolf with magic. And Riley had rare magic, which made him special, too. “He hasn’t mentioned it. I get the impression he wants to keep it a secret, even from me. I’m not sure why.”
“Probably for the same reason, Marric wanted to keep his abilities hidden. A lot of wolf shifters are prejudiced against those with magic.”
It couldn’t be that abnormal. Could it?
“It makes Toby special, and some people don’t like that. Magic makes wolf shifters stronger.” Dad met Griffin’s gaze. “Does Riley know?”
Griffin knew Dad was asking about his and Toby’s mating. “No. And I’d like to keep it that way. For now. I’m not sure if it’s going to work out between Toby and me. I’d rather not be the cause of Toby and Riley ending their friendship.”
“Why do you think it won’t work out?”
Griffin’s gut clenched at saying it out loud. Admitting it might send it into reality as though it were a spark come to life. He shrugged, trying not to make a big deal out of it even though the thought of it ending brought tears to his eyes. “I don’t know. He’s acting weird, avoiding me. Seems like something is up.”
Dad held the envelope up. “Something definitely is. And it involves you, too, now.”
Anything that involved Toby involved Griffin. It didn’t matter if Toby rejected him. They were mates. And Griffin would always protect Toby.
Chapter Ten
Toby wanted to cry. His hands shook even when he gripped the steering wheel. He hyper-focused on the road. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. It was a mild night. No weather to speak of to make the roads bad. He didn’t have to be so vigilant, but he was afraid he’d shake so badly he’d make the car veer off the road.
He’d exposed himself when he shouldn’t have, and now the dickwads knew about Griffin. It was all his fault. He knew they were following him. Stalking was the right term for it. They might have seen Griffin enter his apartment last night. Or leave in the early hours. They would put two and two together and realize that Griffin was important to him. It didn’t matter whether they thought their connection was romantic or just friendly. Toby’s presence in Griffin’s life was dangerous for him. Hell, he was dangerous to Riley, too.
Toby pulled up behind the sheriff’s vehicle and shut off the engine. He kept the doors locked and sat there for a full two minutes, watching everything around him, making sure he didn’t see anyone. It didn’t take long before he felt someone’seyes on him. His back itched with the need to run as far away as possible.
He gazed at the bakery. He saw Griffin and the sheriff looking out at him from the front windows.
The feeling he had didn’t come from them. It felt menacing, as though a pack of wolves were stalking him in the forest, blending into the underbrush.
And then he suddenly realized. That was exactly what it was. Maybe it wasn’t a pack. Just one wolf was enough of a threat.
He rolled down his window just a crack, ignoring the fear gathering in his chest. He sniffed the air flowing through the opening. It smelled of the mountains surrounding them. Pine and the decay of fallen leaves floated in the air. And so much magic swirling together, creating a woodsy, campfire scent. Toby contributed to the magical element. But underneath was the scent of wolves. The Fortune Falls pack. Their scent was baked into the fabric of the town. They were part of it all, welcome in their familiarity. Toby closed his eyes and tried to pinpoint the source of the foreignness. The scent held malice. It wasn’t as strong, smelling less of fallen leaves and pine and more of chemicals.
He let the scent coat the inside of his nostrils and slide down his throat. He wanted to experience it, memorize it so he’d know the threat when he scented it again. But more importantly, he wanted to pinpoint the source of the scent.
It floated to him in the crisp night air from up above.
Above.
Toby opened his eyes. The bakery was on Main Street, right in the thick of downtown with all the pretty storefronts and empty flower boxes. The buildings were three stories or fewer. They had flat roofs with drainage that went into alleyways, and then all that water and whatever else went into an underground system. He could smell the slight decay, natural with leaves anddirt getting blown around and then trapped during storms and bad weather. Mixed in was the scent of manmade drugs. It was to the left of foreign in a small mountain town like Fortune Falls. No one talked about it because it was seedy and was a signal for a damaged person. How did they help? Since they didn’t know, they ignored it, brushing it under the rug until it didn’t exist in their small town. It floated through the opening of his car window, which told him they, the drugged-out stalker, had been there a while.
It told him that Griffin had been in danger for at least several hours.
Toby was never aware of when his eyes shifted until he focused on how he saw the world. Most of the time, he knew it because his fangs also dropped.
The threat was obvious, as far as he was concerned. The dickwads went a step too far by stalking Griffin. Blackmail was one thing, but threatening his mate went beyond anything he could handle with his logical brain, so he let his wolf take over.
He sucked in a breath and stepped out of his car. He felt the growl vibrating in his throat. That was the only reason he knew he even did it. His hands were the first things to shift. They itched when the hairs grew on them. The tips of his fingers ached when his nails popped out. Then his whole body sprouted hair, and he shifted into his third form. His clothing stopped fitting properly, becoming tight and restrictive. His shirt tore at the seams. But Toby didn’t bother with his clothing, other than his shoes. His feet were too big for them in his third form, so he kicked them off.
He started to cross the street, but a black dome fell into place around him. For a second, he thought he was the one who had conjured it, but then he saw Griffin and the sheriff come out of the bakery.
