Oliver’s mind struggled with what information he should and shouldn’t divulge while his eyes were mesmerized by the gentle sway of Eliza’s shapely hips as she led the way up the trail.  He’d told her that he was searching for his brother, but he’d offered no reason as to why.  Interestingly, she hadn’t asked.At first, he thought that the reason why she didn’t ask was because she had no interest in him. After spending time with her and feeling the electricity between them, he knew that wasn’t true.  She was just one of those polite people who didn’t pry. If they found his brother near nightfall, it could prove dangerous for her.  It was only right to inform her of this fact.  The problem was that he had no idea how to tell this beautiful woman who had an immediate hold on him from the moment he set eyes on her that he couldn’t quite explain but knew he couldn’t give up that

A smile of satisfaction and relief spread over Eliza’s oval shaped face when she opened her almond shaped, rich chocolate eyes and realized that she was snuggled in her own bed and still wearing the pajamas she’d donned the night before. Pulling her hair from the bun that she’d fashioned for sleep, she grabbed a hairbrush and smoothed the tangles from her long, wavy dark brown locks before pulling it onto a ponytail and securing it with an elastic hair tie. After a quick visit to the bathroom for her morning preparations, she rushed back to her room and quickly dressed in clothes suitable for a day of mountainside hiking.The sound of her parents rousting themselves from slumber could be heard over her head as she popped a bagel in the toaster and grabbed a cup of freshly brewed coffee that had just finished dripping into the pot.  She heaved a sigh of gratitude for her parent’s consideration in setting the timer on the coffee maker so that she&rs

Eliza cautiously inched away from the two brothers, hoping while she did so that they’d stay consumed with each other and not notice when she ran like the wind to get away from them.  She was still confused by the topic of their conversation, but she clearly understood the words ‘killing people’ and ‘us or them’.  That was all she needed to hear for panic to flood her body and the need to flee as quickly as possible to become overwhelming.Because her thinking was clouded with emotions, she ran in the wrong direction.  Instead of heading back toward the trail, she rushed deeper into the wilds of the mountainside. The thick array of random foliage that grew between close growing trees made the going arduous, but the adrenaline in her veins helped her plough through with relative ease. So much so that she hardly noticed it.When she stopped to catch her breath, she could hear the faint, animated voices of Oli

One Month Later Oliver sat back in the driver’s seat of his pickup truck and cautiously sipped at the piping hot coffee he’d just gotten from a drive-thru a block away.  He’d tried calling Eliza on multiple occasions but it just kept going into voicemail.  He left a few messages but got no response.  Then, one day the number was no longer in service.He’d been devastated to discover that she’d run away after Richard showed up.  Although, he couldn’t blame her.  She had no idea that they were talking about werewolves.  From the tone of the conversation, she probably thought that his brother was a murderer.He emitted an ironic huff.  What did it matter?  One was as bad as the other, wasn’t it?  Telling her that his brother was a werewolf would make him sound crazy enough to frighten her off as would saying that Richard was a murderer. Running

Eliza didn’t need to open her eyes to know where she was.  She shivered from the cool pre-dawn dew that settled thick on her bare flesh as she slowly sat up.  Although not as horrendous as the month before, sledgehammers steadily banged against the interior of her skull as her surroundings slowly came into focus.  Her mouth was so parched that it felt like it was lined with sandpaper. She struggled to produce sufficient saliva to moisten it enough for her tongue to move freely.“Not again,” she moaned as she slowly got to her feet.There were bits of dried blood on her chest.  She could feel it on her neck as well.  She quickly inspected her body for injuries.  To her relief, she found none. The blood wasn’t hers. Or, was it? Remembering how well the Epsom salts bath had healed her the month before, she wondered if she showed no signs of hurt because she’d bathed in an Epsom salts bath just before going to bed