“Let me study the wolf,” Cheryl said in her best confident and assertive tone.
“That’s a death wish,” Nico said.
“It doesn’t have to be.” Chaz paced in front of the coffee table. “We just need to know a few more things before we get too close.”
“It’s a crazy idea,” Nico said.
“The crazy part is I don’t want you to tell anyone that I’m studying the wolf. No one. Not a single soul. Especially not Aron,” Cheryl said. Aron had gone through most of his childhood homeless. Her father had found him scrounging on the farm, so he gave the young man a job. When Nico went off to train to be an officer with Twilight Crossing, her father pulled a few strings to help Aron get in. Since then, he’d been loyal to the family, but he wasn’t the best officer the Twilight Crossing Council had ever seen. He wasn’t lazy so much as he didn’t have any drive or determination.
Except for when it came to Cheryl.
“Aron has a crush on you,” Chaz said. “He’d do anything to get your attention. And he’d be a good person to put on your charge because of that.”
She let out a long breath. “No. He’d be distracted, and I’d be annoyed.”
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” Nico said.
“Cheryl has a point. We don’t know what the wolf wants, but so far, he’s done nothing. So, if we let you do this, he can’t get on the farm, but we could lure him closer and watch him safely from our property,” Chaz said.
She swallowed her deception. She’d already lured the beast, and she would do it again. “Not we. Just me,” Cheryl said. “You three would be a show of force.” She held up her hand, forcing her brothers to keep their mouths closed. “Coral has had enough visions of me and this wolf along with seeing me inside the painting.”
“We don’t know it’s this wolf,” Nico argued.
He had a point.
She had a retort.
“We don’t know it’s not. Besides, I don’t have children, or babies on the way. I’m the best person to sit on the edge of the property and bring this creature closer.”
“You can’t do this alone,” Nico declared.
“I can, and I will,” she said. “We all have our roles, and as historian, it’s my role to find out how this wolf with no human form fits into the world where Wolfairies exist.”
The front door burst open, and Aron crashed through.
“What’s wrong?” Nico asked.
“It’s the wolf.” He puffed out a few gulps of air as he bent over with his hands on his knees. “He killed Ralph.”
“What?” Cheryl bolted upright. “How?”
“Are we sure a wolf killed him?” Coral asked with wide eyes.
“Aron, tell me what you know,” Chaz demanded.
“I found his body at the very north end of the property.”
“Inside the protective wrap?” Nico asked.
Aron nodded. “It looked like he might have crawled back inside after being attacked. He had bite marks that are too big to be anything else.”
Green and red fairy dust zoomed out of Isadore’s stomach like a freight train and wrapped itself around Norse.
Drew raised his arms, collecting the particles between his hands before shooting them back at Isadore. “Why am I the only one that can do that?”
“Actually, your mother has been able to with Finn and Ivy,” Isadore said. “But as far as these two go, they tell me that they like it when you cover them back up with the dust.”
“So, what you’re saying is I should stop?” Drew asked.
“God, no. It keeps them from kicking the hell out of my insides.” Isadore took a seat next to Coral who had gone all white eyes as she searched for a vision. Just weird.
“I say it’s time we put that wolf down.” As leader of the pack and a Twilight Crossing Officer, Chaz had the authority to make that call. Cheryl should agree with him, but she didn’t. Something about that soulless wolf was important to making sure the Wolfairies and all the Royals could use their powers outside of the farm, so they could protect themselves.
Coral groaned, slumping over.
“Shit, what’s wrong with her?” Nico said.
“Nothing,” Coral said softly. “Searching for specific visions exhausts me, but I keep seeing the wolf and Cheryl walking on the farm together. We can’t destroy it. Not until we know more about him.” Coral rested her head on Drew’s shoulder.
“We can’t let him roam free, either,” Chaz said.
Every time Cheryl walked the perimeter, she saw the wolf. He kept his distance, but he also kept his eyes on her, walking in whatever direction she went. She’d gone out three days in a row just to see if he’d show up.
And every time he did.
“I’ll tranquilize him, and we can cage him,” Cheryl said.
“I don’t want that thing on the farm.” Chaz folded his arms. “It’s too dangerous, and I won’t take my children off the farm. That would be worse.”
Cheryl once again had to agree with her brother, but they needed to act. Waiting around for something bad to happen wasn’t an option. Besides, it would get her out of her own head where she felt useless. “What if we used the cabin on the northwest part of the property? We can have Coral put that protective shit around me and the wolf.”
“That doesn’t last too long,” Nico said gruffly.
“True. But if we can’t get what we need from the wolf, we tranquilize him again and put him back in the woods.” She swallowed. “Or put him down.”
“All right. But I’ll be the one inside with the wolf,” Chaz said with an arched brow.
“No.
