Heart's Price (MxM)

Chapter 36

It's cold outside, and dark, with only stars and the glow of the nearby town lighting the sky.

I shiver and cross my arms over my chest, already regretting not having put on a sweater before coming downstairs. Dressed only in a tank top and light cotton pants, the chill quickly sinks past my skin.

"Ambrose?" I whisper.

No one answers.

I hardly know what he'd be doing lurking out here in the middle of the night, anyway, but figured it was worth a shot.

Maybe he'd been called away to the animal hospital for an unscheduled shift and hadn't wanted to bother me to let me know. I make a mental note to check the garage for his car as soon as I finish checking for intruders in the yard.

With my eyes and ears still Shifted, I pad forward on bare feet along the worn brick path, keeping to the deep shadows close to the side of the house. My wolf's eyes can see by night almost as well as my human eyes can see by day, but as I round the corner and scan the stretch of lawn and the border of slender trees that line the yard, I curse myself for leaving my glasses upstairs.

Like my human sight, my wolf-vision is a bit myopic.

The farther away something is, the less detail I can pick out, and while the ground at my feet is clear enough, anything farther than a stone's throw away is just a blurry shape.

I pause, scanning for signs of movement, but everything seems still.

In fact, the whole night seems still. There's barely a breath of air to stir the dry autumn leaves, and except for the distant noise of a few cars passing through town, little disturbs the silence.

As I approach the spot where Dane and I had found the broken window, though, my ears detect a very faint sound—a quiet, intermittent hiss, which after a moment I recognize as someone whispering.

I freeze, going motionless except for my ears, which I swivel and flick back and forth as I try to pinpoint the source of the sound. It seems quite close, and yet the path in front of me is empty and the expanse of dry lawn is clearly deserted. It could be coming from the border of trees, the sound bouncing off the house and making it seem closer than it is, but something tells me this isn't the case.

Creeping forward, I approach the broken window and lower myself to my hands and knees, leaning down for a closer look. The window is only about twenty centimeters high and about twice as wide—barely big enough for a small adult to squeeze through. I could probably do it, but it would be a tight fit.

The interior is too dark for even my wolf's eyes to see, but the whispering is definitely coming from within. I can't make out any words, but it sounds like someone speaking quick and urgent under their breath, as though trying to cajole or persuade.

I lower myself a bit more as I strain to pick out something I can understand, but as I shift my weight on my hands a bit of gravel crunches beneath my palm. In the stillness, it might as well be a gunshot.

Instantly, the whispers cease.

Biting back a curse, I shrink away from the opening and press myself against the wall, heart hammering and eyes fixed on the black rectangular opening.

Nothing moves, and the silence pressing on my ears is so complete it almost hurts. I wait, counting my heartbeats as the seconds tick by, caught in the grip of a strange and unfamiliar fear. I feel almost certain that something is watching me, creeping nearer and nearer, ready to reach out from the dark window and pull me in, but also terrified that if I move it will come after and chase me.