Nicole shouldn’t be doing this, but she had to know.
She squinted at the map Hardware Jack had drawn up for her and cursed his name for the billionth time. He’d labeled every damned tree with a nickname and hadn’t used any road names. She was pretty sure this was the turnoff, directly after her own, but somehow, it had taken her half an hour to decipher Hardware Jack’s encrypted map.
There was a set of fresh tire prints on the snowy road, and with a deep inhalation, she pushed on the gas and turned in past an old fence with a No Trespassing sign. The drive was long and winding, and towering pines lined it on both sides. It would’ve struck her as quite beautiful if she wasn’t so angry and scared.
Link’s cabin was small, but perfectly kept with a new roof that looked eerily similar to Buck’s, new cedar logs, a large picture window, and a sturdy looking shed that looked like a miniature of the cabin in the back. She pulled the massive truck around the circle drive to give herself an easy escape and cut the engine.
Link had apparently been expecting her because he sat on the porch stairs, impervious to the falling snow, bare of his sunglasses. He was looking down at the ground, hands clasped under his chin, elbows resting on his knees. This was the first time she’d seen him without a jacket. A maroon sweater clung tightly to his cut physique, and his wide shoulders strained against the thin material. His dark blue jeans fell over the work boots she’d found on her property. The ones he must’ve retrieved sometime last night while she was cowering inside, terrified he would come after her.
Nicole pulled the shotgun from the gun rack in the back window of the truck and slid out. She aimed at him and tried to steady her voice as she approached. It would do no good to look scared right now. She needed answers.
“I know what you are.”
When Link lifted his silver gaze to hers, she gasped and startled violently at the blazing color there. She’d only seen that shade on one other creature. She wasn’t crazy. He and the wolf were the same creature.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. I was trying to fix your generator. There is a storm coming, and I couldn’t stand the thought of you not having a backup energy source if you got snowed in.”
“You’re a man, and you’re a wolf, aren’t you?” she asked. “I’ve read loads of paranormal romance books, Link. I’m a reader! I thought you were a myth, or just something writers made up to battle vampires. But you’re not a myth. I thought I would come here and you would prove to me that I was just imagining things, but you have fucking wolf eyes! Tell me.”
“Tell you what?” Link asked softly. It wasn’t a denial.
“I want to hear what you are…from your mouth.” Damn, her voice shook so hard now. She inhaled deeply. “I want you to admit it!”
“I’m not allowed to tell people—”
“Link, tell me! Please. Be someone in my life who doesn’t lie. Be that. Right now. Tell me.”
The silence grew thick between them as he stared at her. At last, he dropped his gaze and nodded once. “I’m a werewolf. A shifter.”
And now she needed one more question answered. If she didn’t hear it from his lips, she would never be able to let this go. She would never gain closure. “Did you kill him?”
Link dropped his hands across his knees, then stood with a grace too lithe to be human. He approached slowly.
“Don’t you take another step, or I’ll shoot.”
“I can hear a lie.”
“Link, don’t!” She lowered the barrel toward his belly, but he didn’t stop.
Instead, he pulled the barrel to his forehead and whispered, “If you go after one of my kind, you aim here.” He lowered the barrel to his chest, right over his heart. “Or here. We can take a lot more damage than you’d guess. Do you understand?”
“Answer me,” she choked out as a tear betrayed her and slid down her cheek. “Did you kill Buck? Did you kill my dad?”
Link swallowed hard, but shook his head. “No.”
“Do you know who did?” Her voice came out nothing but a squeak. She’d thought she wanted answers but, suddenly, she was scared to find out the truth.
Link dipped his chin once. “The wolf who killed your father is dead.”
“Who was he?”
“My oldest brother.”
The shotgun sagged in her arms. Her lungs weren’t working. It was as if the air was too cold and freezing her tissue until the organ was unusable. She grew light-headed and dizzy as she backed toward the truck.
Link made a single clicking sound behind his teeth and twitched his head as he took a step toward her. “Don’t run. Not until you hear me out.”
“You kissed me!”
“And I’d do it again.”
“You kissed me knowing your brother killed my dad, Link. Is that why you’ve been bringing me little dead bunnies? Fish? Is that why you fixed my generator and fixed the roof on Buck’s cabin?” She lifted her voice, steadily growing into her anger now. “Is it guilt that drew you to me?”