My gaze followed a young couple as they made their way out of the clinic. I was touched by the protective way the young man had his arm around the woman's shoulder.

My cat stretched inside me as I thought of how Alex had watched over me yesterday. A small smile crossed my face. I had never had that much fun gardening before.

I glanced at my watch. He was probably at my house already, hard at work on the planter beds. He mentioned he'd be doing that today. My smile faded as I realized my volunteer shift at the low-income clinic was about over.

It was time for me to head into my paying job at the Women's Clinic. I didn't want to be late for my first midwife appointment of the afternoon.

I headed to the staff room and thought about the dinner last night. I might have gotten a little carried away. When he was about to leave, I'd pulled him down for a goodbye kiss. He kissed me back and I responded so strongly that my blood raced and my breath grew short.

The strength of my response shouldn't have startled me, but it had. And I hadn't wanted to stop—he had to be the one to pull away. I would've let it go much farther than a simple kiss.

I gave myself a mental shake. Those were not good thoughts to have about a man like Alex. I didn't have the time to indulge in any type of relationship right now. I had just gotten established as a midwife in Fayoak with my partners at the women's health practice. I spent most of my spare time volunteering at the low-income clinic.

And that didn't even take my sister and the old pack into consideration. With Edward somewhere on the loose, there was no telling what he might do. My stomach clenched. When I left my old pack, I had hoped I'd never see his hateful face again, that he'd stay far away.

It worried me that he hadn't been seen for a while. I didn't trust him. At all. A growl rumbled through my chest and I swallowed it down. I had patients to see this afternoon. I couldn't let my fears about Edward tear apart my focus. I was better than this. I had to pull it together. I took a deep breath and then another. My cat settled uneasily inside me.

I opened my locker in the break room and, out of habit, I checked my phone as I picked it up. I saw I had a missed call and voicemail. A smile curved my mouth again, my unease replaced with anticipation. I hit play and listened as Alex's voice rolled out.

A shiver ran up my spine. The man's voice should be registered as a weapon.

"Hey, Sophie, it's Alex. Give me a call when you get a chance."

I listened to the message again, despite it being such a short one. I told myself it was because I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything, but I knew that was a lie. I managed to resist the temptation to listen a third time. Besides, I was curious to find out why he called.

I dialed his cell. It rang several times before he suddenly picked up.

"Sophie, I didn't think I'd hear back from you so soon." The way he said my name sent shivers running through me, and I jerked the phone away from my ear. I hadn't expected that. Although, with the way he flirted and wielded his voice like a seductive weapon, I should have.

"You asked me to call you back," I replied. I kept my inflection light in an attempt to hide the way he made my body respond with only his voice.

"Oh, is that all I need to do? Ask nicely?" His tone dropped and it was as if he ran his fingers over me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was not going there. I repeated it to myself like a chant.

It had been too long since I'd had sex. That had to be it. I was starved for intimacy and he was a feast, complete with rich chocolate cake for dessert. There was no other reason for me to respond so strongly to him.

"Sophie, you there?" There was concern in his voice.

With my body somewhat under control, I opened my eyes and answered, "I'm here."

He chuckled, and relief flooded me as I realized he thought my silence was disapproval. He hadn't realized how much he affected me. It was critical he not figure that out.

"Okay, okay. I'll behave."

"I'll believe it when I see it," I replied dryly.

"You've got me. But how am I supposed to behave with you around?"

I tried to ignore the way the silk of his voice felt like it was brushing over my skin. There was no way for me to win this.

"Alex," I drew out his name in warning, "why did you call me?"

"Do you have plans tonight?"

I bit down on my lower lip, barely containing the soft sigh that wanted to escape. His voice was normally intoxicating, but this . . . I could hardly stay focused. I wanted to blame it on his fae abilities, but I knew that wasn't it. Somehow his voice was simply more concentrated over the phone.

"No plans," I murmured.

"Have you heard about the Moon Festival?"

"Moon Festival?" I racked my increasingly fuzzy brain and came up blank. Pictures of scantily clad people dancing around poles ran through my head. Surely he wasn't inviting me to that type of event?

But, Moon Festival . . . would that be a wolf thing? A bunch of shifters in wolf form howling at the moon?

If there was a wolf festival, why not have a cat festival, too? What would that be like? What types of activities would happen? Probably tree climbing competitions, rodent capture events, maybe a fast-paced game of hide and seek. My lips curved, that might be kind of fun.

"It's an annual thing," his voice interrupted my speculation, vibrating with excitement, "at the Japanese Garden in the Arboretum."

"It sounds—" I paused as I tried to order my thoughts and bring them back to the topic at hand. "Alex, I seriously have no idea what a Moon Festival is."

His laugh rolled over me. "You'll just have to see it."

"I don't know. Is this a witch thing?"

"Witch thing?"

"You know, Moon Festival."

He was silent. I wondered what was running through his mind.

"I never thought of it like that," he said slowly. "I could see how you might get that. But, no. It's actually called the Japanese Moon Festival. There'll be a traditional tea ceremony and everything . . ."

My mind drifted as his voice washed over me. Now that I knew my assumptions were way off base, I found my mind wandering back to the kiss last night. The way his arms held me so gently, as if he was afraid I might break. I couldn't believe how badly I wanted to relive that moment again and again. I wasn't myself. Not at all.

"So, can you meet me at seven?"

"I could make that work," I said still lost in the memory and the melody of his voice. I clenched my thighs together as an ache dared to flare to life. I wasn't sure what would happen to me if he kept talking.

"Great, I'll see you then."

I abruptly realized what I had agreed to. "Wait, Alex. Alex?"

I frowned as I pulled my phone back to look at it. He'd hung up. I hadn't intended to agree to go to the Moon Festival with him. I was about to hit redial when I noticed the time. I had to leave now if I wanted to grab lunch before my afternoon stint. Lorraine and Carolyn were great partners, and we all volunteered here at the clinic, but they wouldn't appreciate it if I missed my first appointment this afternoon.

I rushed to Two Steps and got my order to go. I had enough time to eat there but decided I would rather arrive at the office early. I stepped out the door and started the short walk back to the Women's Clinic.

A trio—two men and a woman— slowly walked down the street in front of me. The men were dressed in worn jeans and frayed plaid shirts, which was a little odd for Fayoak, even for tourists. The woman's long-sleeved gray shirt and khaki pants were quite the contrast, making the men look even more shabby.

"What did you do?" the woman asked sharply.

"We ain't done nothin', Nadine. Right, Emery?"

"Right, George. Wasn't us that done it."

"Did what? I know you did something, so spit it out."

"I don't know that we can talk about it. I'll tell you what, ain't much that gives me the willies, but that sure did."

"I don't get what's doin' it, George."

"Probably some crazy person. Can't think of what else would do it. Never seen no animal do that, that's for sure."

My eyebrows went up. They must be the idiots Meghan told me about. The rednecks accidentally shot her brother, Maddox, a few months ago. She'd said something about them serving out a community service sentence courtesy of Fayoak's finest.

I thought it was only the two men who were involved, but what did I know? Their conversation was so odd that it piqued my curiosity. I slowed my pace, making sure I stayed behind them.

"What are the two of you talking about?" Nadine let out a growl that could rival most cats in my pack, despite being human. "Just tell me already."

"Well, me and Emery, we was in the woods—" George started to explain.

"What were you doing in the woods? Are you trying to get yourselves arrested this time? Didn't you learn your lesson?" Nadine's voice snapped with anger.

"But we weren't hunting." George rushed his words together in his haste to explain himself. "We didn't have no guns or nothing."

"We just wanted to do some tracking," Emery said in a whiny tone. "There are so many big critters, you see. We didn't want to get rusty. But we know not to hunt 'round here. We learned."

"Right," George agreed. "People are funny about huntin' around here. You'd think they'd be worried with all the big critters, but they got those laws."

"But I don't get why somebody would go about and kill a bunch of tiny critters, just leave 'em dead like that."

"Yeah, and why tear off bits and pieces?" He shivered. "What about the ones that weren't dead? Some of 'em had broken bones so bad they couldn't move. Like somebody hurt them for the fun of it."

"That's what really gave me the creeps. The ones left dying that we had to take care of. What kind of monster does that?"

A cold chill ran up my spine. That sounded like the sick things Edward used to do for fun. I picked up my speed and reached out to touch Emery on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, where did you see this?" I asked.

He looked at me blankly. "What, ma'am?"

I glanced at George, and his expression was as confused as Emery's. If I didn't know better, I would think I hadn't heard them correctly. Nadine's face had paled and her lips tightened. I didn't have time to reassure them; I had to find out where these mutilations took place.

"The animals you were just talking about," I clarified.

The men exchanged a look and I could tell from Emery's expression that he planned to lie to me.

"Well, ma'am, animals are all over the place."

"There's a lot of forest around here," George added.

"And critters like the forest," Emery said with a nod.

My eyes narrowed. Did they think I was stupid? Before I could respond, Nadine spoke up, "George, Emery, hush." She met my gaze. "You have awful good hearing, ma'am, to listen in on our conversation."

"I do."

Her eyes narrowed with purpose. "You related to Maddox by any chance?"

I knew we didn't look anything alike, but she seemed a lot sharper than her brothers. There was something pointed in her voice that told me she knew the secrets of Fayoak. Or at least had her suspicions.

"You could say that," I replied vaguely.

Nadine studied me for a moment, slowly arching a brow. "This something you're looking to take care of?"

"Very much so."

"Tell her what she wants to know," Nadine ordered her brothers.

"Oh, well, ma'am, uh . . ." Emery's eyes grew wide, then he gave George and Nadine a helpless look.

George looked around furtively, then stepped closer to me and whispered, "We weren't supposed to be there, ma'am. We don't want to get in no trouble."

My brow furrowed. "You weren't supposed to be where?"

They exchanged another look and Emery said, "In the woods, ma'am."

"Don't be mad. We was just exploring."

"Tracking. Keeping our skills up. But we didn't plan to shoot nothing."

My eyes bounced back and forth between them as they spoke. For whatever reason, they were terrified that they'd gotten themselves into trouble. I need to get them back on track.

"Look, I just want to know where you saw the dead animals. The ones that looked like something tortured and killed them for sport."

"We ain't gonna get in trouble?"

"Just tell her where you saw them, Emery," Nadine said, her tone echoing the exasperation I felt.

"Off Old Aspen Way."

My heart sunk. That was close to the orchard. Not in the area I patrolled, but close enough. I'd have to go out there and scout around. If it wasn't Edward, someone was hurting animals and needed to be stopped.

Shifter business was for shifters to take care of. Although, I mused, it could be a coven. I'd heard dark witches do nasty things for some of their spells. If that was the case, I'd tell the sheriff and let him deal with it.

"You know where that is?" George asked when I didn't respond.

I forced a smile on my face. "Sorry. Yeah, I do. I'll go check it out later."

"We, uh . . ." Emery looked at the ground and scuffed the dirt with his foot.

"What did you do?" Nadine asked before I could. "I swear, you two are constantly getting yourselves into trouble."

"Well, we couldn't leave them like that," George whined, wringing his hands together.

"We sort-of took care of it all," Emery added.

"What do you mean?" I was so confused.

"Well," George said, "we weren't supposed to be there. We couldn't leave those poor critters in misery. They weren't gonna live, you see. Just die slowly, and in a lot of hurt."

"So, we took care of them. And then went back with a shovel and buried them 'cause we didn't want to get in no more trouble."

They looked so worried, like a pair of schoolboys who got caught trying to fix something and were afraid they'd get in trouble for it.

"Thank you. That was the decent thing to do. How long ago did you find them?"

"Yesterday."

"There hasn't been any rain. I'll be able to find it. Can you give me some markers to look for?"

My eyes grew wide as the men gave detailed markers, the type I used when navigating in the woods, but then I remembered they were hunters. They might come across as incompetent, but their details were very thorough. I'd be able to check it out tonight.

A phone alarm chimed, then Emery and George exchanged a look. "We're sorry, ma'am, but we gotta go or we'll be late."

"No problem," I said, forcing a smile. "Thank you for your help."

The three of them hurried away and I stood on the sidewalk, staring after them. My feet felt like lead.

What kind of monster does that? I knew that was a stupid question. I knew exactly what type of monster would torture and mutilate innocent animals. Edward.

I pulled out my phone and dialed my sister's number before I continued walking to the clinic.

"Speak, sister." Aly's cheerful voice came through after the second ring. I heard a lot of noise of people talking in the background.

"Hey, Aly, you have a minute?"

"Sophie, to what do I owe the pleasure of an early afternoon call? Evening interrogations not enough for you anymore?" She sounded like she was about to burst into laughter at any moment. Quite a difference from our talk yesterday. I wondered what had changed. I hated that I was about to ruin her good mood.

"Aly, I need to ask you a serious question."

"Oh, okay." Her voice immediately sobered. "Just a sec."

Her voice grew muffled, but I could still understand her as she told someone she'd be right back. A chorus of voices answered.

"Let me get someplace a little more private." I heard a door open and close. The background noise abruptly died. "What's up, Soph?"

"You said you hadn't seen Edward recently. Has he shown back up again?"

"Nope, he hasn't. But I was thinking about it, and I think you may have really pissed him off before you left, Soph."

"Why?" Chills ran up my spine. I knew why he might be angry at me, but what had she heard?

"I didn't think much about it until you said something, but before he left he'd been asking a lot about you. If I knew where you went, that kind of thing. And he had this angry look in his eyes."

"Aly," I asked urgently, "did you tell him where I went?"

"No," she said, outrage echoing through her voice. "I told you before I wouldn't do that. Especially since it took me months to get you to tell me where you'd gone."

I let out a harsh breath. I'd been so afraid someone would follow me after I left.

"You thought I was stupid for leaving. I was afraid you'd tell them if they asked."

"Give me a little credit, would you?"

"Sorry. You're right. And I did tell you, so calm down."

She laughed. "Yeah, like two weeks ago."

My stomach clenched. Had it only been two weeks since I told her I was in Fayoak? Edward disappeared about a week ago.

For the past several days I'd had that creepy feeling of being watched. Was it possible that Edward had found me?

"Aly, do you know where Edward went?"

"No, he has no reason to tell me. But . . ."

"But what, Aly? What do you remember?" I couldn't keep the urgency out of my voice.

"You know," she said, hesitant, "I remember after I hung up with you not too long ago . . . I turned around and he was standing there, right outside the house. He had this livid look on his face. I was super surprised to find him standing right outside, you know?"

"Did he say anything?" My hand clenched, nails digging into my palm.

"No, nothing unusual. Just that he was keeping an eye on me. You know, keeping me safe."

I felt like I was going to throw up. My sister innocently saw his words as kind, but I heard the implied threat. Edward didn't 'keep an eye' on someone for benevolent reasons. My heart raced. I had to figure out what I was going to do.

"Soph, you okay?" Aly's concerned voice sounded in my ear and I realized I hadn't said anything.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered automatically.

"Look, I gotta go to class. You need anything else?"

"No. Have fun in your class. Stay safe."

"You, too. Love you."

"Love you, too."

I hit end call and my hand dropped down to my side. A knot of dread had taken root in my stomach. Edward was here in Fayoak, I knew it. I took a deep breath, then another. My personal nightmare had come to visit.

The sound of a car horn from the street blared and snapped me back to myself. I had to get to the clinic, my patients needed me. As I started walking, I pulled up Alex's contact information on my phone.

I was about to hit dial but hesitated. What could he do? What good would it do to tell him a dangerous animal was roaming on the border of the orchard? He couldn't grow fangs and claws to defend himself.

I would have to go out hunting for Edward tonight. I had to make sure we were safe from that monster. It was all up to me.