She pushed the cart with the fencing and wire out the doors, breathing in the fresh air. The stink of Jack and his anger finally leaving her senses. “What a douchebag,” she muttered as she rolled the cart to the back of her truck. After checking that nobody was around, she hefted the bundle of heavy fencing into the back, making a show of it being hard while inwardly she was doing a big ole eyeroll.
By the time she was climbing into the driver’s seat, she could see Jack at the counter. Luckily for her, Howard was keeping him inside by being his normal chatty self, she was sure. Goodness, she was going to need to send him some salsa from Ridge’s tomatoes or something equally nice along with the cream. In her mind, she ran through the cabinet of goods she’d canned last year, thinking of what a human male like Howard would enjoy other than salsa. The sound of a Harley caught her attention like they always did. The loud pipes made sure you could hear the rider long before you saw them. A safety mechanism if you would.
Torrance wasn’t sure what made her panther leap forward, but the huge beast on the bike flew past where she sat, going way too fast for her to make out much of him other than he had to be at least as big as Ridge, if not bigger. Black hair flew behind him in a long cascade that would definitely rival her own. Yet he didn’t slow or even stop. There was no sign or indication that he was anything but a rider driving through. She let out a gulp of air when she began to see stars. “Shit, breathe.” When she realized she’d been sitting in the parking lot too long and that Jack might take that as a sign, she shifted the truck into gear, pointing it toward the opposite direction of the rider. Why she’d had such a visceral reaction to an unknown rider, she had no clue. Maybe she needed to get laid. “Duh, that’s what getting rid of your V-card means.” Her panther purred, damn hussy.
Looking in her rearview, she spotted Jackhole Jack walking out of the hardware store. His eyes seemed to stare directly toward her truck like he was tracking her. Nope, she didn’t need to get laid that bad.
Her truck rumbled back up to her and Ridge’s home, easily taking the private drive without a problem. She kept looking behind her, making sure she hadn’t picked up a tail. The thought had her snorting. “Gah, I need to get out more.”
She maneuvered the vehicle around the side of the A-frame log home so that the ass end was close to the little enclosure she’d made for Mr. Bixley. A sweet little bleating greeted her when she shut off the engine. “Hello, Mr. Bixley. Did you miss me?” she asked, walking around the truck to get what she needed. He stuck his little head out of the fencing, demanding attention.
It took her a little over twenty minutes to protect what was left of the tomatoes to her satisfaction. While the sun was still high, she plunged her hand into the earth, sighing at the soothing energy that flowed into her while she chanted the words she pictured in her head. “In the plants does magic live. With sun and Earth this mystic gives. Vitality and strength to grow. It is done I will it so.” She repeated the words two more times.
The mangled plants perked up; little green balls grew, getting bigger. If she kept her hand in the dirt much longer, they’d turn red and be ready for picking. Of course, Ridge would be suspicious. As it was, she hoped he’d been too tired and preoccupied with whatever had kept him out late this morning, followed by the phone call that had taken him from breakfast, to notice there wasn’t any new growth.
“That’ll do it. Now you leave these maters alone, Mister.” She dusted her hands, watching the soil sink into her skin, giving her a gold shimmer. Hmm, something to think about later. Turning to Mr. Bixley, she shook a finger at her baby goat.
He bleated at her as if he was sad, she’d gotten onto him. “I’ll give you a nice treat this evening if you behave yourself. Or, you could you know, talk to me like a familiar should.” She rubbed between his eyes, giving him some love. “You’re such a good boy.” She kissed the little white star shaped area before turning toward the back of the house, coming to a hard stop when she felt the fine hairs on her arms standing up. A sense of wrongness filling her all the way to her core that made her think of evil.
She looked around the woods and toward the water, inhaling deeply, unable to scent anything out of the ordinary. The hairs on her arms were standing up. She’d learned to trust her instincts, and right then, they were screaming at her. Not taking her eyes away from her surroundings, she walked backward toward the house. Ridge was inside. Safety was inside. The last made her stop. She was a predator. Whatever was stalking her couldn’t be any bigger or badder than she was. Well, unless they were a shifter like her. “Fuck,” she muttered.
She walked up the steps to the back patio, moving her eyes back and forth, scanning for movement. She didn’t care that her truck was sitting next to the house instead of putting it away in the garage like normal. Whatever was out there was tracking her, and it
