Dark Forest (Secret Blood, Book 1) (2 page)

Grams did an innocent one-shoulder shrug. “Our town owes Aiden more than they know, and they repay him by shunning him. The old biddies at my bridge club are already whispering about how Aiden probably kidnapped that poor woman and killed her boyfriend.”

“Grams,” Rose started, but Grams would hear none of it.

She brushed her arm out as if sweeping away any argument. “Nonsense. Rose, you have been unhappy ever since you came back from school. Aiden is harmless.” Grams pressed her lips together. “Well, for the mostly honest, decent folk of this town. Take my advice about him. Don’t let small minds ruin the good thing we have.”

“Oh?”

“Never you mind.” Grams shoved her toward the door. “I’ll just wait right here. Though I’m sure Aiden wouldn’t mind carrying your bags down for you.”

“How do you know he’s safe?”

Grams smiled. “A grandmother knows these things. Aiden is the best possible match for you.”

“Oh hey, Rose,” Julian called as he jogged across the street.

Rose let out a slow breath. She pulled the automatic-locking door shut. This had been her home for too long to drop safety habits. She learned in New York not to allow a man she didn’t know into her building, even if she didn’t technically live here anymore. “Grams, stay here.” She met Julian on the parking pad. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”

He winked. “Good thing I’m not a boy.”

“Look, you’re with that logging company that’s only going to be in town for a few weeks, right?” She folded her arms across her chest. “I am sure you give the women in the towns you visit a real good time, but I like having the option of making a relationship permanent if things progress that far.”

Julian cocked his head. His mouth curved up in a sexy half grin. “I can respect that. I’ve been thinking about quitting. You know, start a business of my own somewhere. Dark Forest might be the place to do it.”

She laughed without meaning to. People didn’t settle down in Dark Forest to start a business. You were either born here, or forced to move here the way Aiden and his brother had been because their only surviving adult relative lived here. No one knew for sure what happened to their parents, but speculation had run rampant after his brother’s death. “You’re sweet. But I don’t think you should change your life for a girl when it’s not likely to work out.”

“Why are you playing so hard to get, honey?” His voice dropped as he reached out to touch her hair.

Julian jerked backward, and was shoved to the edge of the street.

“I think,” Aiden said with a snarl, “the lady doesn’t want you touching her.”

“Aiden!” Rose couldn’t be more shocked to see him. “I thought you had to do something.”

“It can wait.” He moved his body to shield Rose and took a step toward Julian. “You need to get back to work.”

The other man laughed. “Careful, wolf-boy. You don’t want to prove those rumors about you true.” He winked at Rose. “He doesn’t get you just because he saw you first.” He tipped his head, and then sauntered across the street.

“What in hell was that all about?” Rose demanded.

Aiden took two deep breaths before he turned. “Stay away from him.”

She got that, but…Rose took a moment to compose herself. “Fine. I don’t know what kind of male bullshit was going on, but I don’t have time to deal with it. I need to get settled at Grams’, and then I…”
Damn it!
She had nothing planned.

“Where are your bags?”

“Third floor apartment,” she snapped. “What did he mean you don’t get me?” She’d decided to steadfastly ignore the “wolf-boy” comment. It wasn’t something she wanted to discuss in the middle of the street anyway.

“Don’t worry about it.” Aiden walked around her, heading for the door. “I’ll get your bags.”

“Wait.” Rose scrambled to keep up with his long gait. “I can’t just let it go. It’s not a normal thing for a person to say.”

Aiden acknowledged Grams by Rose’s car, but ignored Rose until he got to the door. “Damn it. I need your keys.”

“Talk to me,” she said as she fished her keys out of her pocket.

He stepped to the side to let her open the door. “Guys like him are dangerous. He’ll say whatever he needs to in order to get what he wants.”

She opened the door. “I am not clueless.”

He followed her down the short hallway, and then up the stairs. “I didn’t think you were.”

Rose looked over her shoulder at him before she shook her head and focused on getting to the top of the third floor walkup. The wooden beams in the basement were crumbling, but she’d loved the horribleness of this place. It was too hot in the summer, and too cold in the winter, and the doors never closed right, but it had been the only place available when she’d gotten home from college. She opened the door, and walked into the apartment, empty except for the last two suitcases sitting by the door. “That’s it.”

“You know Grams set us up for me to help you,” Aiden said as he easily hefted both bags.

Rose gave a soft laugh. “Probably, but it would be more difficult if you weren’t always lurking in the shadows.”

“I don’t…” He stopped and made that suspicious growling sound. “It’s a small town. People are falling all over each other.”

“So you’re…” She decided not to ask. “Let’s just get the bags in the car.”

“Great idea,” Aiden said gruffly.

Rose headed down first to open the door for him. She put the key to the apartment into her mailbox for Old Man Riters to pick up and walked to her car where Grams waited. “I guess that’s it,” she said to Grams. “It will probably be another ten years before there’s another place to rent in this town.”

Grams patted her shoulder. “It’s all right. You’ll always have a room with me.”

“Thank you, Grams.” She took a step toward the trunk. “Aiden, if you could just put the bags in the trunk, it would be great.”

Aiden loaded her bags into the trunk. Their bodies brushed when he straightened. The air sparked between them. Aiden stepped back. Rose turned her head. “Okay. Grams. Get in.” She made the small chirping, nervous noise she often made when Aiden was too close, and then ushered Grams to the passenger side of the car. After making sure she was buckled in, she nearly ran into Aiden on her return trip to the other side of the car. She stared at her feet. “Thank you for your help. See you around.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Aiden said. “Grams has a backed-up sink.”

Rose muttered a curse under her breath. She left him to walk to where he’d parked his truck while she approached the driver’s door. She liked Aiden. He was this quiet, overly sweet man whose face always softened when he looked at her. The one problem with it was the description could make him the perfect boyfriend or a classic serial killer. She got into the car, put the key into the ignition, and…nothing. She tried turning it over again, but nothing happened. The engine didn’t even crank. She white-knuckled the steering wheel as she reined in her temper. After two deep breaths, she looked at Grams. “It won’t start.”

“Obvious, dear.” The old woman stretched up and turned in her seat. “Aiden hasn’t pulled out yet. Maybe he can look at it.”

Rose scowled at her. If Grams knew anything about cars, Rose would bet money the old woman disabled it as part of the nefarious plot to get her and Aiden to hook up. “I’ll be right back.”

She got out of the car and popped the hood. Her stomach clenched. “Aiden! Aiden!”

He was standing next to her in a heartbeat. “What’s going…oh, hell.” He leaned down to inspect the battery cables.

They’d been cut. Rose pulled her red hoodie tighter around her as if it could protect her from whoever cut the cables. “Call Sheriff Jones?”

“Yes.” He did growl. There was no mistaking the sound. “Get Grams out of the car. I’ll move my truck.”

Rose stared at him. How had he heard her in the truck, which was stopped in the middle of traffic, and how in hell was he making that sound? Suddenly the accusation of werewolf didn’t seem so ludicrous.

She got Grams out of the car and walked her back to the diner. Aiden pulled his truck into the parking lot. Rose had Patty, the waitress, call the sheriff.

“Who would do such a thing?” Grams was fierce in her demand.

There were only three suspects Rose could come up with. Grams, but she couldn’t see the old woman doing something so malicious, even for possible love. She’d have done something simple, like mess with a sparkplug. The other was Aiden, and last was Julian.

Aiden had never once acted as anything but the protector, but Julian was an unknown. Why had he hung around in the parking lot while she finished her milkshake? It was suspicious, but there was no proof he’d done anything, and she had no idea when he’d have done it. Her car had been fine this morning when she went to make sure her stuff was properly put into the storage unit by the movers. She picked up Grams, and then they headed to the diner for a sugar fix.

“I don’t know,” she said to Grams. “It makes no sense.”

“Other than you and Kiera both have blonde hair, and green eyes,” Patty said as she put a cup of coffee down next to Rose. “The two of you are about the same height, too.”

And they both had approximately the same build, Rose added to herself.
Shit!
She had the same description as the missing woman. And someone had tried to disable her car. If they hadn’t discovered termites in her apartment, if she hadn’t picked up Grams this morning, might she have been stranded, dependent on someone, maybe someone like Julian, to come to her rescue?

“Aiden!” Grams jumped up from her chair when he walked in. “Rose looks like Kiera!”

Aiden’s brow furrowed as he cocked his head, and then his eyes widened. “It’s going to be okay.” He put his hand on Grams’ shoulder. “Nothing is going to happen to Rose. I promise.”

Rose jerked her head around. Her mouth opened, then closed. She took a step closer to him. Maybe she was insane, but she believed him. Whatever Aiden was, she refused to believe he was the one trying to frighten her.

He was always there when the world became a little scarier than it should be, and he’d never once hurt her. Not even when she’d gone on several dates with Darren Trip, the mayor’s son. She forced herself to meet his gaze. “You can’t make that kind of promise.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “You’re going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She searched his face. She took another step toward him. Curling up in his arms seemed like the best idea in the world to help quiet the fear rolling in her belly. She took another step toward Aiden when Sheriff Jones entered the building. Her body shuddered at the loss of promised comfort before she turned to deal with making a report.

“But, Grams,” Rose said, her voice strained. They stood on the front porch of Edith Merrin’s tiny cottage. “What about you?”

Edith let out a long, beleaguered sigh. “I am no longer young, and whoever tampered with your car might mean business. You are staying with Aiden. It’s safer for everyone. Tell her she is staying with you.”

Aiden cocked his head as he assessed Edith. The woman knew more than was good for her, but luckily she knew how to be discreet. While he agreed the safest place for Rose was his house, having her under his roof would be a torture he’d done nothing to deserve. Her tight, athletic body was a temptation he wasn’t sure he’d be able to resist. Her green eyes were always warm when she looked at him, almost welcoming. The honey gold of her long hair made his fingers itch to touch. It didn’t stop the fact someone had gone out of their way to inconvenience her. To frighten her. Maybe even put her in danger.

“It’s her choice,” he said after a moment, he’d be watching her wherever she stayed. And now he knew exactly who to watch for. Julian Hathaway. Since he hadn’t scented Kiera’s abductor, he had no way of knowing if the other wolf was responsible for the current chaos, but he was definitely a threat, and a threat Aiden intended to take seriously.

Edith scowled at him. “Fine. Rose, you can’t stay here. I don’t want you hogging up my space.”

Rose opened her pretty mouth before snapping it closed and gritting her teeth. “Old woman, if you do not stop this nonsense, I—”

“Exactly what are you going to do, little girl?” Edith planted her hands on robust hips.

“I am not—”

“You are being a pain in the ass,” Edith shot back before Rose could finish. “I already survived my son’s death, and I won’t survive the death of his daughter! Stay with Aiden.”

Rose looked to him for help.

He sighed. “Grams is right. My place is the safest you’re going to get in this town.”

Rose walked off the porch, muttering to herself.

Aiden growled at Edith and then took off after Rose. She didn’t understand. He didn’t want her to suffer the same fate Travis and Bridget had. The people he cared about kept dying around him. He was as much of a danger to her as she was in without him, no matter what he’d just said a moment ago. But he couldn’t take the chance she might be harmed, no matter his misgivings or horrible track record. “Rose, wait!”

She turned to glare at him. “There’s a killer and kidnapper on the loose, one who seems to like girls who look like me, and the best thing you and Grams can come up with is for me to stay with you!”

He went perfectly still. It was the first time he had a real confirmation she didn’t trust him. “Rose, I—” But he didn’t know what to say. His heart constricted in his chest. Of course she couldn’t trust him. There were too many unanswered questions about how he had survived the wolf attack five years ago, and his family hadn’t. “I’ll talk to Grams.”

“No! Wait!” Rose stared at him like a deer in headlights. “Are you…” She closed her eyes and muttered to herself. When her beautiful green eyes opened, there was worry in them. “Are you a werewolf?”

The question wasn’t what he expected. He could easily deny being a murderer, but a werewolf? He schooled his expression to be as blank as possible. “If I am?”

Surprising him, she stepped closer. “Travis and Bridget were killed by a wolf.”

“I’m not sure you’re ready for this conversation.” His body went on high alert. Everything about him was calm, but readied for flight, because he was not going to fight Rose.