Page 5 of A Wolf’s Wound

Ryder

I stare at Hannah’s closed apartment door, wanting so badly to be back inside. I even raise my hand to knock but then remember the firm look on Hannah’s face and think better of it.

Still, I can’t leave yet. And not just because I’d give anything for another glimpse of Hannah tonight, despite not knowing a damn thing about her.

I heard more men just before April showed up, nearly turning into a massive wolf to attack whoever was with the councilmen.

But it seems they were spooked by her, and I have no doubt they are lingering nearby.

I won’t let them near Hannah. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but there’s just something about her that I can’t shake.

I think about her body against mine for those too-brief seconds when she let me hold her. The proud tilt of her chin, the fire in her eyes.

“Hannah,” I murmur, wanting to hear her name again.

I don’t think she’s out of danger. I don’t know if the councilman will return, if he’ll be bringing friends with him. Without knowing why he was in her apartment in the first place, what could have led him to attack her, I can’t in good conscience simply leave.

I flash back to the councilman on top of her. To how good it felt to grab him and hurt him. It shouldn’t have felt this good. I know that. Yet, it did. I can’t ever escape that truth about myself. Now his unconscious body is gone, probably collected by his accomplices.

Danger and violence… I wonder if that’s all that Hannah sees in me.

By protecting her, did I push her away? I lean against the wall and close my eyes.

I want her to know me. I want to show her something other than the feral shifter that just blasted into her apartment.

But how can I do that when she won’t even talk to me?

I open my eyes and shake my head. Enough of this wallowing. I’m a Stone, a wolf. I don’t sit around and pity myself. And no one—especially not some girl, even if it is a girl like Hannah—will change that.

But I can’t make myself leave this building.

The chance that I could see Hannah again is too tantalizing to turn my back on.

Maybe if I wait until April falls asleep, Hannah would be willing to come outside and talk.

Then I could explain everything, maybe get her to see things from my perspective and explain myself a little bit.

“No fucking way,” I mutter to myself. “She already thinks you’re crazy.” I clench my fists in frustration, feeling a deep despair well out from my core. All I want is to have her warm body against me again. To inhale her scent, be enveloped by her essence.

Maybe I am going crazy because I’ve never felt so helpless before, so struck over a woman. I’ve never been incapable of action, unable to make a decision.

I take a deep breath, and as I inhale, the skin on the back of my neck prickles, and I know I’m right that Hannah is still in danger. The councilman—why would he want to hurt her? I need to find out.

I start by combing every inch of Hannah’s building.

But the walkways are quiet, the stairways are empty, and all of the doors are closed.

I sense the lives of those in other apartments, and nothing feels amiss.

Her building is full of people, unremarkable and unexceptional.

The only person in this entire place who makes me feel anything unusual is Hannah.

Convinced that she’s safe inside, I move to the outside of her building. It’s late, almost midnight. The sky is velvet-black above my head and studded with stars. The air is quiet but heavy. I sense the threat like an impending storm.

The air smells rank and rotten. I sniff once and then twice, trying to read the signs in the scent. Something’s terribly wrong out here.

“Think, Ryder,” I tell myself. “Why would the councilman want to attack Hannah?” I can’t imagine her being mixed up in some political scandal.

Not to mention that if she was, I would have known.

The councilman is one of Gavin’s wolves, after all.

And Gavin would have told me if his wolf had gotten mixed up with a woman and caused problems.

Wouldn’t he? I know my brother chooses not to show me parts of his life, but this would be a pretty big one to keep hidden, especially from me. I’m the beta; it’s my job to protect the alpha.

Gavin has always told me about threats in the past. He’s always let me do my job. If Hannah was somehow mixed up in a plot against the councilman or, worse, against my brother, I would have known.

I can’t think of any reason Gavin wouldn’t have told me if the councilman was in trouble.

But I also can’t imagine Hannah trying to take down my brother or the Stone pack.

She seems too gentle and forthright for that.

As if she exists on a higher plane, above politics and all its messy dynamics and allegiances.

No, my sense is that the councilman came here on his own. Was he just driven to search out a woman, any woman, and Hannah was the first one he found? Or did he have some connection to her?

I growl in frustration, tired of coming up with all of these questions and no answers. I think about going to Gavin’s home and asking him what’s going on. But I can’t leave Hannah now. Not when it’s so blindingly clear to me that something’s not right. Not when she could still be in danger.

I pace around the building, looking at the walls and windows in search of evidence of the councilman.

I peer in the shadows that the streetlights don’t reach, but I don’t find anything strange, certainly no sign of life.

Still, the odor doesn’t abate. The councilman is still out here.

Beaten and battered by me but not giving up, apparently.

“Hello!” I yell into the night. “Where are you? Come out!” My voice echoes down the empty street. I hear rats skittering across the concrete, but no one responds. As my words fade, I begin to feel foolish.

What am I doing? Who have I become? I’m chasing shadows and yelling at figments of my imagination.

I don’t feel like I can trust my instincts anymore.

In the past hour I’ve gone from being bored senseless on a date with April to finding Hannah and then from beating up a wolf I thought was a friend to mooning around in the dark like a lovestruck teenager.

This isn’t me. None of this is me. It’s time to go home, past time honestly, but I can’t make myself leave yet. Not all of my impulses tonight have been the correct ones. I know that, but I can’t shake this feeling, deep in the core of myself, that something isn’t right.

“One more sweep,” I mutter. “Then I’m gone for good. This is crazy.”

I retrace my steps back to the front of the building. The smell is the strongest here. And then I see a dark puddle underneath a dense bush.

When I kneel down, the odor is so strong that I gag. I part the leafy, tightly packed branches. And there, crumpled on the ground, is the councilman.

Just his body. His spirit has departed. All that’s left is this ripped-up, eviscerated body. Half of his face has been clawed off, and blood is covering the other half, but I still recognize him.

I take in the damage. Whoever attacked the councilman was enraged. Limbs are missing and entrails are mixed in the dirt and leaves. It’s impossible not to feel pity for him, being killed in such a painful and brutal way.

I look around, suddenly aware that the killer or killers could still be lurking nearby. But I don’t see anyone.

I turn back to the torn body, unsure what to do next. All I can think is, What could the councilman have possibly done to inspire such rage?

Who would have done this? Why?