The Wolf Who Played With Fire: New Adult Paranormal Romance (Cry Wolf) Read Free Page B

what she knew.
    However, she’d died far too soon. I had so little knowledge about the purpose of my powers and how to use them. Her death had been mysterious, but everyone explained it away as a freak accident.
    That’s when I’d met Jessa.
    Some friends of my grandmother had directed her into my path. If it weren’t for Jessa, I’d still be floundering like a fish out of water.
    Sitting behind the shop’s counter, it took all my strength to keep from laying my head against the display case’s cool glass. The delicious evening with Ethan had worn me out, and now pain radiated from my ankle. The jump had hurt far more than I’d realized.
    Besides, it wasn’t every day that I threw myself from the window of a second story building. By the time I got home, I’d had to clean my feet and go. After work, I would make the comfrey poultice for my ankle. I doubted it was broken, but I’d definitely strained it.
    However, I couldn’t believe Nolan had stomped in like that. He’d changed since the argument between him and Ethan on Christmas Day.
    I didn’t like seeing their friendship slowly deteriorate, especially when I was causing those problems. If our relationship cost Ethan and Nolan their friendship, then I didn’t think I could handle being with Ethan, even if I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything else.
    The book on werewolves I’d found in Jessa’s office sat on the counter near me. While I’d done some research, I wondered what I’d find if I did more digging. The wolves I’d met scared me. Knowing Ethan would become one of them made it that much worse. Should I learn the grim details of how he’d be, once the transformation to werewolf was complete?
    Reluctantly, I held my hand over the book, focusing my energy on it and willing the text to show me something happy. I flipped it open, letting the pages reveal what I was supposed to see. The page it landed on had no pictures, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The yellowing paper flipped of its own accord, revealing an illustration of a ‘wolfman’ biting into a small person, maybe a child.
    Violence , horror and torn to pieces were the first words that captured my attention. I ran a hand through my hair. No, I wouldn’t go by superstition as the basis of whether or not I should spend my life with Ethan.
    A cool draft blew through the shop. Shivering, I wished I hadn’t left my jacket in Jessa’s office.
    I shut the book again, then reopened it closer to the beginning, determined to read more about werewolves and conquer my fears. I’d learned my lesson, and I refused to backslide when I knew how much it had cost the ones I loved.
    The more I read, the more nausea plagued me. Maybe this explained why Jessa hadn’t told me much about werewolves. Geez... Sure, I’d believed her when she said she didn’t know if they actually existed, but she had the book in her office. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know anything at all.
    I shoved the old leather bound tome to my left. Now wasn’t the time to get this heavy and upset about what was happening in my life. If an actual customer walked in, I didn’t want to be surly and on the verge of tears.
    Happy thoughts. That’s what I needed. Memories of our nearly shared intimacy this morning drifted through my head. Ethan was the only one who truly accepted me for who I was. Everyone else in my life tried to change me or wanted something from me—even Jessa—although most of them had the best intentions. But being loved by Ethan was like the cure I’d been waiting for.
    Maybe if I straightened a few of the shelves, I wouldn’t be quite so emotional or exhausted. Then again, my foot still hurt, and I was under no illusions of my feelings changing course. I laid my head on the counter seconds before the bell that was connected to the door chimed.
    Darting upright, I pretended I hadn’t been about to take a nap. That was the last thing I needed, especially since quite a few of the customers knew