The Keeping (40 page)

“Um...thanks?” She
examined the clothing. It looked vaguely familiar.

Josh nodded and
cleared his throat. “I recognize the shirt; it’s Ryne’s.
Apparently, you two must have been...well...you know, and he forgot
to collect his stuff afterwards.” He rubbed his neck and looked
everywhere, but at Mel. “I didn’t think it was warm enough outside
yet for that sort of thing, but you young folks are made of sterner
stuff, I guess.” He shuffled his feet and coughed again. “Anyway,
I’ll let you give those back to him. I’ll just...um...go finish up
around the other cabins” With that, he headed on his way, leaving
Mel staring at the clothes she was holding.

She scrunched up
her face, trying to figure out how Ryne’s clothes ended up under
the bushes. Last time she’d seen that shirt on him, he’d been...
Mel paused and felt her jaw drop. He’d been wearing it on Tuesday
when the whole ‘wolf by the river’ fiasco had happened! Ryne had
stormed out of the cabin buck naked carrying his clothes and
claiming he’d get dressed outside, but...apparently he hadn’t.

Surely, Ryne
hadn’t walked home in the middle of the night without any clothes
on! Even up in northern Canada, there must be rules about that kind
of thing. And how had he got home anyways? It was miles to his
house, but there hadn’t been a vehicle parked any place that she
could see, nor had she heard the sound of an engine. So he must
have walked home, but...naked? There couldn’t be any other
explanation. He’d left with those clothes in his arms and she
couldn’t imagine that he would’ve just happened to have a spare set
waiting for him at the edge of the woods.

She gave her head
a shake. Ryne had mentioned that he liked to run through the woods,
but doing so naked at night when the temperature was near
freezing... Well, that was just too weird and emphasized why she
needed to get away from Stump River. Ryne wasn’t only a bastard; he
was some kind of perverted nudist-flasher type as well.

Walking up to the
cabin, she set the clothes on the floor by the door, not quite sure
what to do with them. After the way he’d treated her, there was no
way she was going to do him any favours and go out of her way to
return them. Maybe she should just throw them in the garbage. It
was what he deserved. Deciding to think about it, she went to the
bedroom to start packing.

It didn’t take
long to gather her things from the bathroom and closet. In no time
at all, the room was stripped of her presence. Taking a last look
around, she zipped up the suitcase and set it by the door before
taking the sheets off the bed. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t have
time to wash the bedding Beth had left her, but she didn’t think
the other woman would mind.

When she lifted
the pillows to remove the cases, she spied the T-shirt she slept in
folded underneath. Oops! Almost forgot that, she muttered to
herself. As she picked it up, she recalled the erotic dream she’d
had on her first night in the cabin. It had been extremely
satisfying, but unfortunately, one of a kind. Closing her eyes, she
pressed the shirt to her chest and allowed herself to relive the
memory. Mmm... Her imagination had certainly out done itself when
concocting that man. Everything had been so realistic...

Suddenly, a
horrible thought entered her mind and she snapped her eyes open. Oh
no! Surely not! But... A feeling of dread swept over her as a
theory developed in her mind. Could it have really happened? She
hurried into the main room and stared at the pile of Ryne’s
clothes. If the man was willing to run home naked in the middle of
the night, would he also be the type to creep into a bedroom?

Her skin crawled
at the idea that Ryne—still a stranger at that point—had touched
her so intimately. As she contemplated the possibility, her
breathing accelerated and panic tightened in her chest. Calm down,
calm down, she told herself. It might not be true. Forcing herself
to breath slowly, she tried to figure out how Ryne could have
entered her room. There’d been only one set of footprints and all
those wolf prints... Of course Josh said they were old prints and
it had something to do with the frozen ground being farther from
the cabin... But the weather forecast had said it was above
freezing... Mel ran an agitated hand through her hair. None of it
made sense. Why would Ryne...? And how...? A shudder swept over her
as mental images formed of the man looming over her as she
slept.

She made herself
push the thoughts from her mind. The hows and whys didn’t matter;
what was important was the fact that she was lucky enough to be
getting away from Ryne sooner rather than later. After all, if she
stayed around, who knew what weird, abnormal thing he might have
done next? The very idea spurred her to action. As fast as
possible, she finished tidying the cabin and packing her car, now
more anxious than ever to leave Stump River—and Ryne Taylor—far
behind.

*****

Ryne was thankful
that there was a rush on tires that week. It kept him busy all day
and gave him a chance to work out his anger without damaging anyone
or anything. His encounter with Melody had left him in turmoil as
his head argued with his wolf over what had occurred. Hours of
lifting tires and struggling with rusted bolts and nuts had taken
the edge off his mood so he was able to present a relatively calm
face to the world.

As he put away his
tools and began to wash up, Ben wandered in with Harley at his
heels. The dog immediately went over to Ryne and wagged his tail,
fawning around his legs. Ryne scratched his ears and gave a low
rumble of approval that had Harley sighing happily. The beast
licked his hand before flopping down on the ground, obviously
feeling that all was right in his world now that he had the Alpha’s
approval.

“See you got a lot
of work done today.” Ben had a stack of completed work orders in
his hand. “I’d have thought that fighting over that girl last
night, would have left you all tired out, but if anything you’ve
worked faster than ever.”

Biting back a
sigh, Ryne explained the situation yet again while inwardly
grumbling; didn’t these people have anything better to do with
their time than gossip about what he did? “I wasn’t fighting over
her. I was just trying to talk to her, and Watson took exception to
the fact. He swung at me first.”

“Uh huh.” Ben
nodded, but Ryne could tell he didn’t believe the story. “Well,
whatever. Thing is, she seems to be a nice girl and you could do
worse. She likes Harley, after all.”

Harley lifted his
head and thumped his tail at the sound of his name.

“Funny thing
though,” Ben continued with a puzzled frown on his face. “When I
was talking to her yesterday afternoon she told me this story about
seeing Harley out in the woods and thinking he was a wolf. I guess,
she’s never seen a real wolf before, because Harley doesn’t look
much like one, if you ask me. Anyway, I told her it couldn’t have
been him, since I took him to the vet clinic on Tuesday for his
rabies vaccine and then kept him inside for the rest of the
day.”

Ryne froze, his
mind racing and connecting the dots even as Ben kept on
speaking.

“She had a funny
look on her face then. I guess she realized she must have really
seen a wolf. You know, you could use that to your advantage, boy.
Tell her that there are wolves around, but you’ll protect her.” Ben
chuckled. “Not that you need help with women. Anyway, I just came
back here to tell you to take tomorrow off. You got us caught up on
all the pending jobs. I figure with that big house you’re fixing
up, you can always use some extra time to work on it.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.
Thanks, Ben.” Distractedly, he took his leave of the older man and
loped out to his truck.

He drove home,
functioning on autopilot, too busy thinking about what he’d just
discovered. Melody had mentioned something about him not even being
honest about a dog. At the time, the comment hadn’t made sense to
him, but now it did. She knew it wasn’t Harley she’d seen by the
river and she knew he’d lied, but had she made the ultimate
connection? Given how she’d been acting this morning, he thought
not, but it still made him feel on edge. Hopefully, he’d offended
her sufficiently that she’d be only too happy to forget everything
about her experiences in Stump River. There was a sinking feeling
in his stomach but he did his best to ignore it.

If things went
according to his plan, Melody would be gone by tomorrow night at
the latest. With her out the picture, he’d be able to focus on what
was really important; his new pack members. He’d have to inform
Bryan and Daniel about their arrival, look for suitable lodgings
for the family, and find Marco a job... Ryne forced a smile to form
even as his fingers clenched around the steering wheel. This should
be a joyous time, yet he was filled with a sense of foreboding.

Realizing that he
was now in front of his house, he shut off the engine and went
inside. The television was blaring as per usual, making it easy for
him to locate his pack mates. Stalking down the hallway, he stood
in the doorway to the entertainment room and took in the sight
before him. Daniel was sitting in the corner, his head bobbing in
time to whatever song he was listening to on his mp3 player while
typing away on the computer. Bryan was lazing back on the sofa, his
feet on the coffee table while he idly flicked from station to
station. Yep, some werewolf pack they made; he definitely needed to
give them more work to do.

Ryne walked up to
Bryan and kicked his feet off the table, grabbed the remote and
turned off the TV.

“Hey! I was
watching that!” Bryan stood up, his expression indignant and
attempted to snatch the remote back.

“Pack meeting.”
Ryne spoke tersely and nudged Daniel. The boy looked up and
immediately unplugged from his music.

“What’s up, Ryne?”
Daniel looked at him curiously. They seldom had ‘pack meetings’
since it was just the three of them.

Ryne leaned
against the fireplace and surveyed his friends. “You know how I was
away yesterday? I was meeting a family—the Loberos—and...” He
paused for effect. “They’re going to join our pack.”

It took a moment
for the news to set in, then Bryan and Daniel gave out whoops,
leapt up and high-fived each other.

“Hey, that’s
great! It’s been too quiet around here.” Bryan was grinning from
ear to ear.

Daniel smiled, his
response slightly calmer, but still showing his pleasure. “Yeah,
it’ll be nice to have more members. I miss being part of a big
group.”

Ryne’s mood
momentarily lifted as he watched the happiness of the other two.
Wolves were pack animals and it had been a strain on everyone being
such a small group. Thankfully, the townsfolk had unknowingly
helped fill the emptiness, but it still wasn’t quite the same as
being around their own kind. He gave them a few minutes to enjoy
the news all the while knowing he’d have to put a damper on
things.

“So, how many are
coming?” Daniel sat back down but kept his eyes fixed on his Alpha,
obviously eager for more information.

“Four in total.
Marco, his mate Olivia, and their son, Angelo, as well as Marco’s
sister, Tessa.”

“Ages? Jobs?”
Bryan actually looked the part of a Beta at that moment, already
trying to figure out how the new members would be assimilated into
the pack.

Ryne was pleased
to see a serious side in Bryan. When he’d taken the young man on as
his Beta, it had been a question of necessity rather than a belief
in Bryan’s innate abilities, but he was showing signs of growing
into the role. Just look at how he’d handled the little incident at
the bar, smoothing things over so no one was any the wiser.

Realizing that he
hadn’t yet answered Bryan’s question, Ryne shared what he knew and
ended with a half mocking warning. “And Bryan? Give Tessa a break.
She’s had a hard time and doesn’t need you sniffing around her the
minute she arrives.”

Bryan actually
looked offended. “Hey, I wouldn’t do that to a pack member. She’s
family now.”

Nodding, Ryne
pushed away from the wall and began to pace the length of the room.
“There’s something else I have to tell you. It’s about Melody—Ms.
Greene.” He shoved his hands in his back pockets and lifted his
chin. “I’ve severed ties with her.”

“What? You’re
kidding? After last night?” Neither Bryan nor Daniel looked like
they could quite believe what they’d just heard.

“Yeah, especially
after last night.” Ryne rubbed his neck and sighed. “Uh...thanks
for helping out last night. You both did good...real good. But it
just re-emphasized to me that my wolf is getting too attached to
her and it’s too dangerous to have her around. She’s here to ask
questions about me and I can’t take the chance that some day she
might fit the pieces together.”

“The Keeping?”
There was no smile on Bryan’s face as he uttered the words.

“Yeah. We have new
pack members joining us and I have a responsibility to them.”

“Mel seems
harmless enough,” Daniel added quietly.

“That she does.”
Ryne stared out the window, a vision of Melody’s big brown eyes and
soft golden hair forming before him. He turned away from it and
tightened his jaw. “But looks can be deceiving. A while back, I was
talking to Kane and he said a reporter had been looking for me in
Smythston, specifically mentioning the wolf photo. It was Mel.”

The other two
looked solemn, knowing the story behind the picture.

Bryan spoke first.
“Why didn’t you say something when she first came? All you said was
to stay away. We figured it was just a territorial jealousy thing
your wolf had going.”

Ryne felt a bit
sheepish. “In part it was, but mostly it was caution. I wasn’t sure
if she knew anything about Lycans or if she was just a reporter
with a bee in her bonnet about me. Either way, I decided to wait
and watch for a bit, to see what she did and then make my
decision.” He shrugged and tried to hide the regret he was feeling.
“I’m pretty sure she has no suspicions, but, as I said before, I’m
done taking chances. This morning I sent her packing.”