Wolf Creek Alpha (Texas Pack 1) (7 page)

“
Yea
h
, that woul
d be great!  You know I lo
ve how distinctive
homemade quilts
are
.  What about the girls?
  Should we get them from Colin’s parents?” asked Lisa.

Stephanie laughed, “Oh
,
God no!  Knowing us, we’ll spend
an
hour looking before we buy our first item.  There’s just so much to choose from.  My girls don
’
t have that much patience yet.  Trust
me;
they’ll be much happier at their grandparent
’
s
house
.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” Lisa said.  “We’ll have to plan something that they like to do
while I’m here
.”

Arriving back at the house, Lisa got ready for
bed,
while
still
thinking about Rafe. 
However, once
her head hit the pillow, she was out. 

The next morning, Stephanie asked
Colin
if he wanted to join them. 
Knowing Lisa would be safe with Stephanie,
Colin was adamant
in his refusal. 
He figured he could get some outside work done around the house with everyone gone.

Before leaving
, Lisa searched the house for her kitten.
  She found her curled up on her bed sleeping.
  She did not want another repeat of last night.
  She put everything the kitten would need in her room and closed the door firmly.

It was only about a thirty
-
minute drive to the craft fair.  Lisa saw they had tents set up in rows so that you could stroll up and down the aisles.  There were so many handcrafted items to look at.  From jewelry to furniture, they had a little bit of everything.

Stephanie bought some silver earrings from a young woman who had some unique pieces.
They were drop earrings with a turquoise stone hanging at the bottom.   

“I love these!”
she exclaimed.

“They
’
re beautiful.  Come on, I see a quilt I like over there.” 

Lisa found her favorite quilt pattern
, the well-
known double
wedding ring.  They had
others,
but this one was perfect.
  It had a white background with the rings done in paste
ls.  She loved it!  Even knowing she
might
be out of a job soon, she couldn’t resist.  The price was reasonable considering it was handmade.  They continued looking at several more booths, admiring the artist work.  It was getting pretty warm when they decided it was time for lunch.

“There’s a good Mom and Pop place over on Main Street.  Normally, Colin and I would eat their chicken fried
steak,
but I think today, I’ll just have a salad.”

“Me too.  It’s just too hot to eat anything that heavy,” Lisa laughed. 

They walked over to Mai
n Street, enjoying the small town ambiance.  The restaurant wa
sn’t
far,
but they were miserably
hot by the time they got there. 
By noon, the
temperat
ure
was hovering around ninety-nine degrees.

Casually,
Lisa looked at her surroundings as she walked.  Strange, she almost felt
as if
someone was watching her
, but when she looked around, she
didn’t notice anyone in particular looking at her.  Must be the heat, she thought. 
 

Entering the restaurant, they found a table by the windows.  T
hey both ordered sweet tea as soon as they sat dow
n.  It was nice to be in an air-
conditioned building after the heat outside.

“I’m going to the restroom,” Stephanie said. “Would you tell the waitress I’d like a Caesar salad when she comes back?”

Lisa ordered a garden salad for herself.  No need to look at the menu
; it
was too hot for a cooked meal. 

Gazing
out the window, she saw a man staring at her from across the street.  She glanced
around,
thinking maybe he was looking at someone else.  Peeking out again, she could see that he was still looking at her. 

The guy was tall
and
not easy to overlook
.
He had his
long, black hair
pulled back in a ponytail
and he
was
very handsome
with his dark brooding looks. 
Looking puzzled, he
seemed to be
studying her.  I would remember him
,
if
I had
met him before, she thought. 
Maybe,
he thinks I’m someone else.

She loo
ked towards the restroom, trying
to see
if
Steph
anie
was
coming out.  As she looked back across the street, he was gone.
She leaned towards the window so she could get a better view of the stree
t
, but he
was nowhere to be seen. 
She thought maybe he went
into
o
ne of the stores, but
if he did,
he really had
to be moving
fast.

Returning with their drinks and then taking their lunch order, the
waitress distracted h
er
. 

Stephanie returned
to the table, sat
down
and gulped her tea. 

“Lord, I
’
m so thirsty.  You’d think
that since we have been
living here all our lives
that
we’d adjust.”

“Nope, nobody can adjust to summers being over a hundred degrees daily,” said Lisa.

She
debated on whether to
tell
Stephanie about
the
guy
across the
street,
but then again, it was probably nothing
.
Nevertheless, he
had seemed a little strange
though,
so she wanted
Steph
to know about him, just in case.

“Here you go. 
Just give
me
a sec and I’ll refill your tea,
”
the waitress said when she returned. 

“Stephanie, while you were in the restroom,
there was this tall guy across the street staring at me.  Ok
ay
, that didn’t come out right.  Makes me sound conceited.”

Laughing,
Stephanie said, “
Well you are pretty cute.  H
e was
probably trying to get his nerve
up to come talk to you.”

“No, that’s not it.  I don’t know how to explain it exactly.  It
was like he knew me,
you know?  He was just kind of all
nonplussed
.” 

Lisa felt silly now.  It was nothing and she was making a big deal out of it. 

“Forget I said
anything.  I’m
probably
just imagining things
.”

“No, tell me about him.  I can tell he really bothered you.”

Lisa tried to explain what it was about the man
. 

“I don’t know.  I felt like he needed me for something.  Never mind, that’s just dumb.  He probably thought I was someone else.”

 
“
Okay
, when we’re done eating, we’ll go straight to the car.  You just watch for him and tell me if you see him.  Also,
tell me
if you get a feeling like he’s
somewhere watching us.  I’m a big believer in trusting your gut.”

Leaving the diner, they looked around for the strange
r.
As far as they could tell, he
wasn’t anywhere around. 

Arriving at Stephanie’s car, they quickly scrambled in and locked the doors
, and then
they looked at one another and burst out laughing.

“Nothing like a good scare to get your adrenalin going, is there?”
grinned
Stephanie.

Stephanie
didn’t want to upset
Lisa,
but she
was concerned
.  She decided she would tell Colin about
the man Lisa had seen
, because she
firmly believed in women’s intuition.

Turning the air-conditioner on high, they pulled out and headed for the highway.

Dunstan
w
atched as the women drove off.  He couldn’t believe what he had found.
  The
female
wolf shifter was interesting, but the unclaimed match of another was perfect
.
  There was
also
some kind of magic around her.  He just didn’t know what
kind
it was.
 
No matter, he’d find out
later.
Why hadn’t they finished th
e bonding?
He felt drawn to her.   
He decided that she
must be the one to
help him.

Being able to move faster than the human eye could see, he’d simply backed into a storefront doorway when the redheaded woman had looked away.

Steph
e
n came down the sidewalk searching for Dunstan
.  Where was that freaking fair
y?
I summoned him to do my bidding
, he thought
; not
t
o wander off on his own.  He found
him standing in a doorway. 

“Dunstan, where
have you been?  You know I
need
ed
your services.  Why the hell do you
think I summoned you?
” he demanded.
 

Dunstan decide
d
it was time to inform Steph
e
n that he
was
his servant
.
The moron thought he had control over him. 

The man
had a dirk that had once belo
nged to him.  By not learning
more, he
thought having that item and knowing his
name to summon him was enough.  The idiot did not know th
at he had to have his full name and that was a closely guarded secret.

Dunstan grabbed Steph
e
n by the throat.  He cast a shimmer to cover them so the people on the street did not see them.  If anyone came close, they would
simply
feel a compulsion to step around them. 

“Shut up
.  You will now do as I say.  Summoning me without understanding my power was
your first mistake.  Now we will go
to your car.
I
have someone I want you to follow
.”

Stephen followed him silently.  He felt like he had no control over his body.  He tried to fight internally against the pressure.
  He was not totally powerless.  His psychic ability had led him to the dirk, and also the
fae’s
name.  He couldn’t understand why the man wasn’t under his control. 

The papers he’d bought at the auction had told him how to summon.  Most people’s conclusion was that they
were just a bunch of folk tales
, but he
knew better.  As soon as he’d seen them, he knew. 

As they sped down the highway, Dunstan wanted to know how he’d known to summon
him and wher
e he had gotten his knowledge.
It was
ironic that by summoning him,
Stephen was actually his rescuer
.  He’d never thought a human would release him from his prison. 

Stephen could not stop himself from answering.  He told him how he was a researcher from a small college in Louisiana
and
a student of Celtic history.  Whenever he heard of an auction with items supposedly from Ireland or Scotland, he alway
s went to see what they had.

He tried to resist telling him
that
he was psychic
,
but the compulsion was too strong.  Stephen explained
how,
when he saw the dirk, he could feel something strange about it.  When he won the bid and was able to hold it, he concentrated on it and the name Dunstan came to him.
  He’d been amazed the dirk was up for auction and couldn’t believe his luck in finding it.  Stephen
had already won the bid on the papers.  It was about a year ago when he’d started doing his research.