Enter the Shadows (1st Edition) [SAMPLE]

Choices Are - 3 | iii

At dawn, Penny snuck out of the house. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew she needed to go. Her night with Lochlan had only proven that she needed to put space between them. She needed to keep him safe. Not just from the werewolves who hunted her, but from himself. He loved her. Would sacrifice his life for her, and she loved him too much to ask that of him. Finally, she knew how he felt, and instead of bringing them together it only proved that it was better if they were apart.

Marx was right, she was a liability. With what Lochlan had done, no werewolf could change her, that would buy her some time at least. Now only the vampires could get at her. She would have to go underground. Only leave her safe house when she had to. Everything could be ordered online now. From groceries to clothes, anything she needed. She would be fine. Hidden away from anyone who could see, and recognize what she was. She had enough money from her inheritance to get her new life underground started, and she could easily work from home. Penny thought she had the workings of a good plan.

She took a deep breath as she put more, and more distance between her and Lochlan. Each step heavy, each step hesitant, forcing her to question her decision. She was so close to having what she wanted, and she was walking away without so much as a goodbye. Not even a note to explain herself. She couldn't. She just needed to make a clean break and get as far away as she could before he realized she was gone.

He'll be safe now, she told herself. Her future was unclear, but she took comfort in that one thing.

So lost in her thought, she was that she did not see the man. Standing, half hidden behind the broad, solid trunk of an oak tree he watched her approach. Marx stepped on a branch, and the snap sounded like a gunshot in the vast silence of the woods. Startled, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Out for a morning stroll," he said casually, stepping out to stand in full view.

Even with the sunlight streaming down on the man it couldn't touch the shadows in his eyes. It couldn't make him any less intimidating, or frightening. His hair was sleeked back, his lips in a stern line, as his dark gaze held her in her place.

"I—" Her mouth moved but she couldn't get anything else out.

Marx looked around them. Dew still clung to the leaves of the trees, on the low shrubs around them. It was a rainy spring in the Mountains. Wildflowers in bloom were scattered about. The place was beautiful this time of the year. And quiet. At least, it was quiet. Marx turned to look at her again. Until...

"You wouldn't be trying to run away would you?"

"Ah—we—well." Again her words would not come out. Stupid girl.

"Wolf got your tongue?"

His smile had her swallowing the lump that had been slowly forming in her throat, quickening her breathing, and blocking out all coherent thought. He took measured steps towards her. Marx didn't very much like the trouble she was causing, and he was none too shy to say so.

"I... I was just—"

He stopped, brow raised. "That fool marked you."

At the insult to Lochlan her back went straight, for a second she forgot she was supposed to be afraid of this man. "He is not a fool. He did it to protect me."

"Yet here you are."

Penny could hear what he didn't say — running away. How grateful of you. She tried to shake off her guilt. Her chest was getting tighter the further away she got. "You said it yourself. I am a liability. I'm nothing but trouble. Lochlan tried to get me to see reason, he warned me, and I didn't listen. Now people are dead and I - I have to live with that. I have to try and find a way to live with that." Her voice cracked. "But what I would never be able to find a way to live with is getting him killed. They won't stop. They'll keep coming for me."