A Wolf Affair (Book One a Wolf Affair Trilogy) のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

Silent tears of rage, disappointment, and frustration flowed freely as I slipped through the patio door into the kitchen.   I was half way up the stairs when I met Josh coming down for a middle of the night snack. As I quickly wiped away the tears, I realized that Kenton was right.  Had we stayed as we were much longer, we would have been caught.  Even so, that still didn’t excuse him for the callous and abrupt way he left me standing on the patio.My brother pressed his body against the wall to make room for me to pass.  As I did, he sniffed the air while rubbing his eye with his fist and said, “You smell funny.”“Nice,” I grumbled as I hurried past him. “Real nice.”“I’m serious. What did you eat? Whatever it was, stay away from it.  You stink like… I don’t know… a dirty animal.”I could feel the stickiness of my virgin blood as it

I was exhausted from a full day, which was good because I had no intention of sitting outside that night.  I was so hurt by - and angry with - Kenton Walters that if I ever saw him again it would be too soon.At one point, I could sense that he was standing outside, looking and waiting for me.  I was tempted to go to the window to confirm that feeling, but I didn’t.  I forced myself to stay in bed just in case I was right.  The last thing I wanted was for him to see me searching the night for him.  How pathetic would that be?I was unable to sleep as I tossed and turned while I fought the urge to go outside and look for Kenton.  By the time morning came, I’d made up my mind to take the chief of police up on his offer to let me stay in the trailer.  Perhaps after a week or two there, I would have broken my habit of sitting on the patio, as well as gotten over Kenton.I found my mother in the kitchen making pancakes.

My trembling hands gripped the steering wheel as I pulled out of our driveway and headed toward Hap’s trailer.  I sincerely wished that Cindy hadn’t verbalized Ethan’s attraction to me.  I was having a difficult enough time dealing with the way my body was responding to him without the knowledge that he liked me adding fuel to the fire. Back in Chicago, if someone as handsome as Ethan spared a second to give me a smile, I would have walked on clouds for a month.   I’d spent enough time around him to understand that his arrogance was a shield that he placed around himself to hide his insecurities.I pulled up to the trailer and sat in the car while I watched his van stop behind me. When he turned off his lights and got out, I did the same.“Do you have the keys to the front door?” he asked in a brisk manner while holding his hand out, expectantly.I fumbled for the right key and handed it to him

It was late morning when I awoke to the heavy knocking on the door. I called for Kenton with a raspy voice, but he didn’t reply so I dragged myself out of bed to answer it.  When I stood up, I could feel the blood gushing down my legs. “Missy? Missy, it’s Cindy.  Are you in there?  I went to check on the horses.  Have you tended to them yet?”I leaned against the wall while I tried to make the world stop spinning.  “I’m sick, Cindy. Try the door to see if it’s locked.”A loud gasp told me that the door wasn’t locked and my friend was inside. “That’s way too much blood to be your monthly.  What’s going on?” My voice trembled with fear and weakness.  “Can you help me?”“What do you want me to do?  Do you want to go to the hospital?”I looked down at the pool of dark blood on the floor and nod

I literally camped out at the hospital for a few days while I waited to see whether or not my mother was going to be okay.  When Hap told me that she’d been mauled, he either failed to tell me the extend of her injuries or I failed to comprehend them.  When I finally got to see them, I almost fainted. Not only had one side of her face been ripped up to the point she looked like Mrs. Frankenstein, the left side of her torso had so many stitches, it reminded me of a patchwork handbag that I once owned.  Even though she was beautiful, I’d never known my mother to be shallow about her looks, but this would be the test of things.  Her looks were destroyed. Even if the scars did fade - like the hospital staff kept assuring me they would – the meat of her flesh had been damaged.  She’d never look the same again. It was her third day in the hospital when she finally woke up and spoke to me.  Hap happened to have stopped in to check on her and wa