Chapter 7: Outside

Ivy

Wolf’s Cove didn’t seem real.

It was beautiful, more beautiful than I could have ever imagined a small town looking. Leaves littered the street in bursts of reds, oranges, and browns, pumpkins, and decorative squash sat outside of businesses, along with decorative corn stalks and sunflowers.

The town was broken into four small quarters; the service area, (this was closest to our home), the neighborhoods where clusters of homes sat, the town square where most of the businesses were, and the marketplace, where the grocery store, farm and fish market were.

Starlight Bakery was in the heart of Town Square, and with its lilac colored building and neon star in the window, it stood out against everything else in the town. My phone screamed to life, the rock song ringtone that I’d chosen for Sara specifically filling my car.

Oh no..I’d forgotten to call her. I was going to have to grovel for sure. I hit the Bluetooth button on my steering wheel to answer the call. “Sara? I’m so sorry that I didn’t call you-yesterday was kind of a whirlwind.”

I waited for the outrage, for her to yell at me or just say something. Instead, she took a deep breath and exhaled an exhausted sigh. “It’s okay. I’m just glad that you’re alright. I was worried.”

Guilt bit into me. This was worse. I wished she would have shouted at me instead.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be better about calling you from here on out.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”

An awkward and foreign silence slides over us and it rips into me. Hearing her voice again only reminded me of how much I had left behind, of how comfortable my old life had been. “I met my mate,” I blurted, desperate to end the silence.

This seems to melt whatever was frozen between us and I can practically see her curling onto the chair in her room, knees tucked into her chest as she says: “Are you serious? Already? What does he look like? Is he hot? Where’s he from?”

“He-well-there's actually three of them. Alphas, I mean.”

“Uhm-run that by me one more time?”

“There’s three wolves here that are competing to be my mate. They’re from the Hemlock Pack. They’re triplets,” I explained. “Liam, Garrett, and Damien are their names.”

“The Andersons?” Sara blanched.

“Yeah. You know them?” I asked, surprised.

“Not personally, but I’ve heard of them. Mostly about Liam,” she said. “Stella? She’s friends with a lot of girls that live near Hemlock territory, and she’s heard a lot of stories. She said that he doesn’t keep a girlfriend for longer than a week and that he slept with half the city.”

I nearly crashed my car. I knew that I didn’t know these wolves very well and that they were still strangers to me, but I couldn’t imagine Liam doing that. Everything about him seemed too polished, too pristine to engage in such behavior.

But his brothers? I don’t know.

“Are you sure she said all that about Liam?” I ventured. “I mean, I know that I don’t know him really well but he just doesn’t seem like that type of guy-”

“Oh, I’m sure. But, tell me about him!” she exclaimed. “Tell me about all of them!”

And I did. I told her everything, down to my catching Damien as he came out of the shower.

“Woah. I have to admit I’m kind of jealous that you get to live in a house with these hotties and spend all day looking at them.” She laughed.

I giggled. “It’s definitely not a punishment,” I admitted. “They are all really attractive-”

“It’s like one of those naughty books we used to read when we were teenagers, remember?” I blushed at her words, not wanting to relive how embarrassed I’d been reading those books.

Not because I was uncomfortable with what was written, but because I had desperately wanted that sort of passion for myself. “Don’t be gross,” I said. “Listen, I just got into town. I have to go. But I’ll text you, okay?”

“Okay. Don’t forget! Love you!”

“Love you too!”

After parking my car and getting out, I took a moment to notice everything else that sat near the bakery - there was a small park to the left of it with a gazebo and playground.

“Good morning,” said an older man with graying red hair, holding the door for me as I headed up the stairs to the bakery. “You must be new in town.”

“Am I that obvious?” I asked

“Well, we all kind of know each other here, so a new face tends to stand out pretty quickly,” he continued. “Welcome to town. I’m Thom. I own the vet clinic a little down the way.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Ivy Lynnd. I just moved in down Indigo Lane.”

Thom’s brows raised. “Indigo Lane, you said?”

“Mhm. Me and my three..roommates,” I said.

“Well-no one has lived there in quite some time. It will be…nice to see some life back on that side of the island. Have a good morning, Ivy,” Thom said over his shoulder as I slipped past him into the bakery.

The interior of the bakery was dark, the walls painted black with small, circular light fixtures hung from the ceiling, mimicking the night sky. The scent of fresh lemon and butter filled the air.

“Welcome to Starlight!” An older woman emerged from a swinging door behind the counter of the bakery. She was small, maybe five feet tall, with pearly white hair cropped in a pixie cut.

She could barely see over the counter. Her button nose was pierced with a purple nose stud and a velvet choker with a crescent moon was wrapped around her neck. I’d never seen an older woman that looked so..modern?

Her outfit of black jeans, a simple black tee, and boots looked fresh out of a magazine. Our eyes locked, and she squealed in absolute delight and raced from behind the counter to pull me into a hug. She smelled of lavender and sugar. “You’re the new girl!”

I liked her immediately. “Yeah, I am. Is the owner here? I got all of the doughnuts and cakes and I wanted to thank them personally.”

“You’re looking at her, sweetheart! I’m Shirley Dawn, nice to meet you!” She beamed up at me. “What’s your name? I bet it's something pretty.”

“Oh, my name is Ivy,” I said, blushing a little bit. “Thank you so much for the sweets, my roommates and I made pretty quick work of it.”

Shirley raised a brow, giving me the same look that Thom had only a few minutes before. “Roommates? I wasn’t expecting that. Well, the more the merrier, I suppose,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Shirley moved back behind the counter. “So, what can I get for you?”

“Well, I really just came by to say hi. Uh-I guess I could go for a latte?”

“Sure. What kind?”

“Uhm. Surprise me.” Shirley grinned at this, and rushed to the espresso maker excitedly. I definitely liked Shirley.

“Your bakery really is beautiful. You own this all by yourself?” I asked, looking around at the empty tables littered with fresh, white roses. It truly smelled like heaven here and looked like it too.

I could just imagine it filled with families and people huddled over books and laptops.

“No, my husband and I own it together. He handles all the finances and I handle everything else,” she said, grinding up espresso beans.

“Aww! That’s so sweet. How long have you two been married?” I asked.

“Thirty-three years this Tuesday,”

“Wow! Congratulations!”

“Thank you, it’s definitely been a journey. How about you, Miss Ivy? Anyone special caught your eye?” she asked with a wink.

“No, not yet.” I laughed, trying to cover up the anxiety that this topic brought up for me.

“Well, don’t worry. The right one will come along when you’re least expecting it.”

Speaking with Shirley reminded me of the relationship that I wish I’d had with my mother. She was sweet, funny, and seemed interested in what I had to say.

Of course it could have just been because I was the new girl in town, and full of fresh things to bring to the table, but something about Shirley just seemed genuine. When my latte was finally done, Shirley leaned over the counter to offer it to me.

“Here you go, on the house.”

“What? No. You already gave me so much without me paying-” I began reaching into my jacket’s pocket for my wallet.

“Don’t worry about it. Really. Ivy?”

“Yes?”

Shirley beckoned me closer, her expression suddenly serious, her smile gone. I moved closer. “You’re a nice...girl so I have to tell you this….Don’t go come to the town at night.”

I blinked. “What? Why not?”

“It’s not safe, especially not for you.”

“For me? What are you talking about?”

Shirley opened her mouth to speak, but the sudden swinging of the door stopped her. A man stood there, and he looked as though he was about my age, maybe a little older. He had shaggy, brown hair, and stood only a little bit taller than me.

He wore heavy work boots, dark brown work pants, and a red, long-sleeved hoodie. From his clothes, it looked as though he did some kind of hard labor.

“Hey, Shirls,” he said, sauntering into the bakery, hands shoved into his pockets. His tone was friendly enough, but something about it didn’t feel right. Shirley backed away from the counter and flashed him a smile, and I couldn’t help but notice how her energy seemed to shift.

“Morning, Aidan. Have you met Ivy?”

“No, I haven’t. Hey there, Ivy. You must be the new girl that moved in on Indigo Lane. I’m Aidan Byrne.”

As Aidan moved closer to me, the scent of something followed him. I had never smelled such a stink before, it was so strong that it brought tears to my eyes and burned my nose.

It was like bleach, overwhelming and all-consuming, but there was something rotten and spoiled beneath it. My stomach rolled, and bile burned at my throat.

I tried not to react, and I hoped to the Moon and all her power that my face was not giving away the horrible stench that was nearly knocking me to my feet. I tried to smile at him.

“Hi,” I managed, leaning onto the counter for support.

His dark eyes went to my hand, clinging to the counter like a lifeline before they met mine. “...Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I said before my vision went black and the world slipped away from me.

***

“What did you do to her?” I heard someone - Shirley, whisper harshly.

“Nothing, Shirls. Go back inside,” said a male voice. Aidan.

“You’d better not-”

“Shirls. Get back inside. She’s waking up.”

I blinked awake and was greeted by the sun in my eyes. I was laying on my back, in the gazebo in the park apparently. How had I gotten over here?

“Ivy?” Aidan came into view and for the first time, I was able to get a good look at his face. His face was soft, not at all the hard lines of Liam, Garrett, and Damien, and there was a long, thin scar from the base of his temple to the right corner of his lip.

“How are you feeling?”

The remnants of the scalding scent from earlier were still in the air, but outside, with the breeze moving through it, I could breathe. I sat up, groaning a little at the accompanying pain in my head.

“Ow. What happened?”

“You passed out. Sorry about dragging you out here, but I was worried I was going to have to call the ambulance or something for you.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. I just- I don’t know.”

“Maybe it’s the elevation? Change in air quality can be a little overwhelming if you’re not used to it,” Aidan offered.

The sound of a car speeding down the road cut him off, as a familiar gray pickup slammed into one of the parking spots in front of Starlight Bakery. Garrett emerged looking nothing short of pissed.