Chapter Twenty-Nine: Dangerous creatures in the woods


    Walking down the stone pathway that led to theke, my steps were quick and sure. Ididn’t need to look down at the stones. I had taken this walk more times than I couldcount. My steps were quiet, the rubber soles barely making a sound until I hit the crunchof the leaves that littered the ground.N?velDrama.Org content.


    I watched the person standing on the pathway that led onto our property. It was so closeto the woods that I worried that maybe they hade onto Scott’snd by mistake. Imean, it wasn’t easy to get here from the woods, but maybe this person had gottenturned around in the woods. It was easy to do and I had done it before.


    From the distance, I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, their body was slim andthey had bright copper colored hair that fell past their shoulders in soft looking wavesthat ruffled in the cold breeze.


    The closer that I got, I realized that it was a man. His hands tucked into the pockets ofhis trousers. A thermal shirt hugged his chest and shoulders, showing off a slim butmuscr torso. He wasn’t much taller than I was. His shoulders stiffened as the breezeruffled my hair and he turned away from the water to look at me.


    His face was delicate, there was no other way to put it. His cheeks were sunken in andhe looked hungry and I wondered how long he had been in the woods. Bright ambereyes moved over my face and his gaze flicked to my lips before moving back up to myeyes. He looked to be around my age but there was just something about him that Icouldn’t put my finger on. The way he looked at me was familiar and triggered rmbells in the back of my mind, like in some primal way I knew that I should be on highalert around him.


    It was a strange feeling because he didn’t look threatening and I didn’t feel like I was indanger.


    Yet, something in me was screaming in warning that I needed to get away from this verypretty guy. That was also a strange thing to think. Most men, I wouldn’t say, were pretty,but he was. I found myself taking a half step closer to him as I looked at his wavy hair.


    What would it feel like if I touched those strands?


    His eyes widened and he looked up at me, the color in his cheeks spreading. I realizedthat I had been caught staring at him. I looked away, turning towards theke so that Icould concentrate on something other than the man in front of me.


    What the fuck was wrong with me?


    I shouldn’t be thinking about how pretty this guy looked or how good his hair would feelbeneath my fingers. There were three men out there who had marked and imed me.


    Who had railed me until I couldn’t walk straight, yet as I nced over at this man. Iknew that it wouldn’t be like that with him.


    That he would let me take control with him, giving into my every desire to do things tohim that I knew that I shouldn’t want to do. Not when I had Jason, Ryan, and Travis.


    This must be my punishment for having a one night stand with three men.


    There was no way that I could want to be with this guy, yet I couldn’t help but look overat him again. My face burned and I turned away to look at theke once again as hecame closer.


    “Hello, I’m Gideon.” His voice was deep and had a strange, lilting quality to it. An entthat I couldn’t quite ce it wasn’t exactly southern but had to be close to it.


    “Hi, Gideon. I’m Tillie. Did you um, did you get lost?” I asked, worrying my lower lip ashe stopped beside me. I sped my hands together in front of me, worrying my pointerfinger over the smooth line of my thumbnail. Trying not to think about how close he wasstanding to me. How his very presence seemed to pull my attention away from thewater.


    “No, Tillie. I didn’t get lost.” He said.


    I could feel his eyes on me, so I chanced a look at him again. He had the strangestexpression on his face. It was like he knew me, yet I had no idea who he was. I took inhis clothing, they looked clean. His trousers were dark green but pressed and his bootswere well worn hiking boots. “If you’re not lost, then why are you here? I’m not trying tobe rude. I just, I don’t see many peopleing out here besides me and my family.”


    “I’m just studying thend and getting ready for the hunt.”


    “Well, you can’t hunt on thisnd,” I said, wrapping my arms around my body to try tofight off the chill. I didn’t know if it was the cold weather or from the anticipation that hiswords filled me with. My mates had talked about hunting me and that had filled me withthe same excitement that I was feeling right now, standing next to this stranger. “It’sprivate property.”


    “I know it is. I was just curious about you.” His teeth sank into his lower lip and helooked down at the ground.


    “Me? Why would you be curious about me?” I asked, watching the blush spread acrossthe tops of his hollowed cheeks. How was he all sharp angles like that? Did he starvehimself to look like that or did he just have an amazingly fast metabolism?


    “No reason. I just, heard you drive in yesterday-” He said, looking up at me. “And I justwanted to see what you looked like.”


    “Do you live close?” I asked, shivering as the air grew colder.


    “Yeah, not too far from here. You should go back inside. There are dangerous creaturesin the woods.” He said and my head shot up. I looked at him closer, did he know aboutshifters?


    Was that what was in the woods? It would be my luck that there were. Had I run fromthree shifters into another one?