Sunset Glade Panthers: The Original Trilogy and Epilogue Page 7

  Wouldn’t that make a nice headline? Mentally Deranged Woman Dies in Playground Catastrophe.

  She laughed. Who was she kidding? No one would call her death a ‘catastrophe’.

  “You look like you could use a push,” a warm baritone startled her out of her musing.

  Hailey turned, eyes wide, her heart thundering from the sudden interruption to her personal reflection.

  “I’m sorry?”

  The man took another step forward, now closer than Hailey had ever been to a stranger.

  “On the swing?” he smirked. Something about the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled made Hailey want to smile too.

  His eyes seemed alight in the erratic amber glow of the street light. Hailey thought if she looked at them too much longer she would burn her eyes — like staring into the sun. Without a word, she nodded and turned to face forward, the stranger settling into position behind her.

  He gripped the chains on either side of her, invading her space with his earthy scent — fresh potting soil and a hint of pine. She held on fast as he pulled her backwards, the toes of her sneakers dragging in the dirt, reluctant to loose their hold on the ground.

  “It’s alright,” he said softly, his breath stirring the fine curls at her temple. The fluttering of a dozen butterflies flooded her chest. She lifted her feet, trusting his word, and he released her.

  She swung forward slowly, enjoying the gentle sway even as the equipment groaned uneasily.

  “This doesn’t feel safe,” she muttered just as his hands applied the gentlest pressure to her shoulders. It didn’t seem possible for such a brief touch to send so much warmth down her spine.

  “What’s going to happen? You’re three feet off the ground,” he said with an audible smile. She pictured his rugged square jaw spreading into a wide grin. As good as her imagination was, she didn’t want to turn to see him for fear of ruining the fantasy.

  This whole thing could collapse and gnarled steel could filet me like a fish.

  Though she could think of a dozen different answers for his question, she never got the opportunity to voice any of them.

  “Hailey! There you are!” the middle-aged asthmatic waitress — Shirlene — called from the sidewalk.

  “I… needed some air,” Hailey faltered, suddenly feeling like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

  “Well, come on,” Shirlene ushered her off of the swing, giving a contemptuous look at the strange man as she shooed Hailey back across the street.

  “I know you’re new ‘round here,” Shirlene continued slipping a motherly arm around Hailey’s shoulders, “so you don’t know no better,” the older woman’s voice dropped to a whisper.

  “He’s not the kind you want to hang around with. Silvanus and his thugs are nothing but trouble. Take it from this old lady: you don’t want to get mixed up with that lot.”

  Hailey chanced a last look over her shoulder, not sure what she expected to see. Between Shirlene’s hushed warning and the prickle of awareness that struck her the moment he’d shown up, it didn’t take much to convince Hailey. She was new in town and her grandfather’s diner was going to be her livelihood until she decided if she’d keep or sell the place. The last thing she wanted to do was make townsfolk — or worse, her employees — angry or uncomfortable.

  Silvanus — as Shirlene had called him — didn’t look dangerous from the last-minute look over her shoulder. He seemed… bewildered. Confused, maybe. But not dangerous.

  “Now, there are a few more people that want to talk to you before you call it a night. I’m sure you’re tuckered out from all the excitement,” Shirlene prattled on, her icy fingers keeping a firm grip on Hailey’s arm making escape possible. Not that she had anywhere to run.

  She nodded without a word, thinking it best to agree with whatever the waitress had to say.

  “If you get stuck with someone that wants to talk your ear off, you just holler, okay hun?” Shirlene patted her arm before guiding Hailey back into the diner full of mourners.

  Hailey nodded once more, only giving the now-empty playground the briefest wistful look before re-joining the somber occasion.

  Chapter Two

  Brock

  Brock watched the woman retreat, taking an extra moment to admire the subtle sway of her hips as she walked, shielded by the older woman.

  He frowned. Everything had been going just fine until the nattering waitress showed up.

  But what did he even mean by that? There was nothing going on and he’d lost nothing from the interruption. His reaction to the auburn-haired beauty surprised him. Something had come over him when he saw her sitting alone on the swingset. He was drawn to her. A wayward moth, enthralled by the beckoning glow of the flame.

  Brock didn’t generally interact with people around town unless he was intimidating them. He liked knowing that most feared him. That’s why it was so out of character for him to just approach some random woman on the playground.

  Hailey, the waitress had called her.

  He rolled the name over in his mind, liking the way it sounded. It didn’t take long for thoughts of her name to lead him back to thoughts of the woman herself. All curves, curls and wide-eyed innocence, Brock couldn’t explain the way he reacted to her. The way he’d had to restrain himself, barely touching her as he pushed her on the swing, when all he wanted to do was bury himself within her. The way everything else fell away and he focused on only her — he’d never even heard the waitress approaching. The way he could still smell wildflowers long after she’d left…

  Brock shook his head, clearing the unwanted thoughts as he did. Now wasn’t the time to get all worked up over a piece of ass.

  There hadn’t been another attack since the one that killed the diner’s owner. The culprit still hadn’t been caught, but the lack of further activity set most people’s mind at ease.

  What most people didn’t know, was that Brock and other panther shifters had been keeping vigil over the swamplands, resolutely defending their land from the monsters within. The people of Sunset Glade may not know what they feared in the swamp, but Brock didn’t want to risk a panther getting caught in some trigger-happy hunter’s crosshairs.

  He left the abandoned playground — and thoughts of the woman he’d met there — behind, without any real purpose or destination in mind.

  There had been a time — only a few weeks ago, in fact — when Silvanus ruled over the tiny marshy town without ever having to make his presence known. He was able to sit at the Alpha’s seat in the clubhouse with countless lesser panthers to do his bidding.

  That all changed when crazy Dr. Fairway’s daughter came back. She’d turned out to be the mate of another panther and, ever since, Brock felt his grip on those around him slipping.

  For the second time in one day, Brock didn’t hear someone approach.

  “Your man didn’t show up for patrol again,” the other man’s menacing tone made Brock’s panther bristle, but he shoved down the primitive reaction, instead turning to face Tucker with a look of exasperated impatience.

  “What’s your point, Auric?” he drolled, trying to hide his unease.

  Before Tucker found his mate, the man never would have approached him with so much malice.

  “I can’t guarantee I can keep the hunters out of the swamp if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain,” Tucker grumbled, closing in on Brock’s personal space.

  The panther really didn’t like that.

  For a moment, Brock thought the cat might claw its way to the surface. Tucker must have seen it, too, because he took a step back, his eyes still ablaze.

  “If there’s another attack because your shithead lackey wants to get his dick wet, so help me…” Tucker threatened, his voice merely a venom-filled whisper.

  Brock narrowed his gaze at the other man, drawing himself up to his full six-foot five-inch height. He wouldn’t be cowed by a loner. Mate or no, Tucker needed to remember his place in the local hie
rarchy.

  “You’ll what?” he challenged, closing the space between them Tucker had just created.

  Tucker didn’t break eye contact.

  “You’d better hope you don’t find out,” he finally hissed.

  Brock stood his ground until Tucker continued past. Finally alone, he let loose a breath he didn’t know he held.

  Fucking Auric. The lone panther had always been his main competition for Alpha. Brock’s one saving grace was that Tucker wasn’t interested in being Alpha. Now with a mate that might change. If he realized how much stronger he was…

  Brock couldn’t think about that. Instead, he pulled his cell phone free from his pocket and took his aggression out on the touch screen as he navigated his contacts.

  A sleepy-sounding man answered.

  “Where the fuck are you?” Brock demanded, skipping normal chit chat and pleasantries. It was bad enough to have Auric undermining him, to have his own men ignoring direct orders did not bode well for the pack.

  The man on the other end fumbled through an answer that Brock dismissed immediately.

  “And where are you supposed to be?” he asked, his tone dripping with condescension.

  A mate could give him the strength to re-solidify his place in the pack. A mate could restore him to his rightful place at the top of the heap.

  The man said something else, but Brock didn’t give a shit about his whiny answers.

  “Get your ass up to patrol and don’t let me hear you didn’t show up again, understood?”

  After a confirmation, he hung up and slid into the cab of his truck.

  A mate seemed like the perfect solution, but there was only one problem: he’d already met his mate. Years ago.

  The memory was hazy in its age. Perhaps it had always been hazy.

  He’d been hardly more than a cub, back when his kind didn’t mix with humans — they still didn’t if they could avoid it. Times changed, territories shrank, but twenty years earlier, the offense of helping a human was a serious one.

  He remembered her shining, shimmering in crystal clear focus: his mate. Everything else faded into the background, even as he tried to recall the details of the attack. He’d jumped in front of her without thinking. He still bore the scars.

  Brock never thought that anyone else knew about that day. He’d never seen the girl again and he didn’t expect to.

  But someone did know about that day. Someone that could unravel the carefully-woven tapestry of his life: Gabi.

  How did she know about that day at Falcon’s Crest Lake? He’d only had eyes for his flame-haired mate, but had there been another girl there? His mind struggled to wrest new details from the decades-old memory.

  Even as the monster in his recall ripped into his flesh, all Brock could remember was his mate. Small, frightened and in danger.

  Gabi knew about that day. Did she know the girl? It was a long shot, he thought.

  One worth taking. He’d talk to Gabi, but he’d have to be careful. If Tucker thought for a moment that his mate was threatened, he could challenge for Alpha.

  No, he’d need to tread softly. This was about more than just finding a mate, he told himself. If Gabi exposed him as soft on humans, he risked losing even more of the tenuously-held respect.

  In the rearview mirror, he eyed the shiny white scar that stretched across his forehead, over his temple back behind his ear. He started the truck and let out a long exhale as the rumble of the engine vibrated through him.

  He needed to talk to Tucker’s mate. Needed to put that day behind him once and for all. He’d find another way to regain Alpha.

  Chapter Three

  Hailey

  Though she didn’t give much more thought to the strange man that night, there was no shortage of thoughts spared for him over the next few days.

  Everyone in Sunset Glade seemed to have their own cautionary tale about her playground pal. More than a couple of the business owners in town told her to expect him — he’d want ‘protection’ money.

  Hailey didn’t know what to think of that. Part of her knew she shouldn’t allow herself to be intimidated by the posturing of a wannabe thug. The other — more rational — part told her to keep her head down and stay out of trouble.

  Afterall, that’s what she’d always been told, wasn’t it? Don’t speak, don’t think. Her mind couldn’t be trusted. Her memories were inaccurate. It took a dozen years of therapy to finally get that through her thick skull. She couldn’t undo all of that hard work now.

  There was something else that bothered her about the accounts of Silvanus. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She knew she didn’t know him well enough to say so, but the stories of him didn’t sound right. The man who’d pushed her on the swing was gentle, soft — quick to smile — that wasn’t the man that was described to her.

  As if summoned to the diner by her thoughts, the bell over the door jingled merrily announcing Silvanus’ arrival.

  “I’ll be right with you,” she called towards the door, wiping down an empty booth. She looked around furtively for Shirlene, but didn’t find the older woman anywhere.

  By the time she’d managed to clean sticky marmalade from the table top, Hailey turned to see Silvanus pouring himself a mug of coffee.

  She thought of storming over to him, confronting him, maybe even kicking him out. But she didn’t want any trouble.

  New resident disappears after diner dispute, she thought before dismissing the idea. She tossed the wet rag into the mop bucket behind the counter and took a deep breath before plastering her sweetest smile on her face.

  “Welcome to Elle’s. If you need something, I can get it for you,” she said cheerfully before adding, “I’d rather you not help yourself,” with a wrinkle of her nose. She didn’t want any trouble, but she wasn’t going to let the town hoodlum push her around, either. No matter how sexy he looked.

  Had he been that attractive a few nights earlier? The dark playground and flickering light hadn’t given away much, but now Hailey found it difficult to pull her gaze away from him.

  His grip tightened on the coffee mug as he drained it of its contents. Hailey shifted uncomfortably as he looked at her. It wasn’t a look she was familiar with. His eyes warmed, grew hungrier — like it was Hailey herself on the specials board rather than a Reuben and Onion Soup.

  She felt her insides warm, but shoved those feelings aside.

  “Look,” she began, the squeak in her voice betraying the false bravado, “people have told me about you. Silvanus, is it?” Would he buy her nonchalant act? A nervous vibration hummed in her chest as she tried to gather her courage to continue.

  His thick brows raised, his attention never deviating from her. Is this how he intimidated people? With silence and burning looks? It was working…

  He nodded slowly, finally acknowledging her question.

  “Right,” she muttered. “This is my place now. However things were before is now how I plan to run things. You’re welcome here as long as you and your friends play by my rules.”

  She couldn’t believe she’d managed to get it all out without stuttering or stumbling. He stared at her for another long moment and Hailey wished that she was better at reading people. His expression didn’t give anything away.

  Without a word, Silvanus reached for the coffee pot and poured himself another mugful, his amber eyes never breaking from her own.

  Damn him, she cursed internally.

  Did he know how much it took for her to gather the gumption for that first speech?

  Maybe she should just sigh, walk away and concede.

  When it came to fight or flight, she always chose flight. But where had that ever gotten her?

  She didn’t think. For one glorious moment in her short sheltered life, Hailey just did. Before she knew what she was doing, she’d snatched his mug away from him, settled her hands on her hips and leveled him with the fiercest gaze she could muster.

  “I’m not afraid of you,
Silvanus.”

  He stood, dwarfing her. She hadn’t realized how tall he was. How broad his shoulders were. The way his large frame cast a shadow as he towered over her. Hailey resisted the urge to shrink back, to hide from him. He made her feel small, powerless and a little bit frightened. She hated him for it.

  “Well, that’s your third mistake,” he growled, his voice husky as he leaned over the breakfast counter to invade her personal space again.

  Her lips parted on a question, but the words never made it to her vocal chords.

  “Your first was coming here at all. The second,” his gaze burned straight to her soul, “was listening to what everyone else says.”

  For a moment that seemed to stretch for eons, their eyes locked, Silvanus refusing to back down and Hailey too frozen with shock to react.

  Finally, he broke the spell and left the diner without another word.

  Hailey let out a long shuddering breath, her heart hammering along with the rushing of her pulse. How was that the same guy that had pushed her on the swingset? He was brusque, rude and… for lack of a better word, he was an asshole. It would be too soon if she ever saw him again.

  An old man from the end of the counter held up his mug and Hailey hurried over to top him off.

  “You probably think you’re pretty brave for standing up to him. Let me tell you, you’re best not messing with him. He’s nothin’ but trouble.”

  Hailey smiled and thanked the customer for his unsolicited advice. The old man was probably right. She shouldn’t give any more thought to Silvanus. Or the way his gaze made her feel molten and restless. She should forget the spark of his touch and the way he made her so eager for… what?

  No, she certainly shouldn’t mess with Silvanus. But was it already too late?

  Chapter Four

  Brock

  Who did she think she was? Brock waited until he was safely in the cab of his truck before letting his anger finally surface.

  No one stood up to him like that. Especially not an outsider. Maybe she didn’t know what she was messing with, but he couldn’t take it lying down.