Devils Roses 04 - Witch

looked concerned, “I just knew you were here. I had a bad feeling, like I needed to get here right away.”
    He climbed onto the couch and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed and held it up to his ear.
    “Dad there's a huge wolf outside of Ophelia’s house. Ophelia. You know Dr. Peters. Ophelia Peters. Yeah.”
    He rubbed his forehead, never taking his eyes from the front door, “It was the size of a horse dad. It was huge. It jumped at us and tried to get us.”
    They both watched the door.
    “No we’re safe at Ophelia’s but you need to call the police and the forest rangers.”
    He pulled the phone away, “I’m staying here with you okay.” He whispered.
    She nodded, she didn’t know if that made her feel better but it didn’t feel worse.
    “I’m staying at her house. Yup.” He hung up the phone and started to fiddle with it.
    “I’m going to text everyone at the party and let them know. They should go home, this is nuts.”
    She watched his hands fly across the surface of his iPhone. She couldn’t help but notice how graceful they were for such large hands.
    He looked at her again, “You okay?”
    She shook her head again. Her words didn’t make it out of her throat.
    “That was bizarre. Why couldn’t it get in the house?”
    “I don’t know. It was in the alley, behind Lawts Hardware. It attacked me then but then, uhm, well- I got away.” She didn’t want to tell him about the six ghosts that had looked exactly like her. She didn’t know what to say about any of it.
    Jake put his hands on her bare arms. His touch made electricity run up and down her arms. She remembered his lips pressing against hers. His tongue was roaming her mouth. She blinked trying to focus on him and let go of the daydream that seemed to be taking over her mind.
    He frowned, making his dark blue eyes almost black, “You okay?”
    Her head shook back and forth, before she could even register what he’d asked.
    He pulled her in to his chest. He kissed the top of her head, “Me either.”
    She hadn’t imagined he could be weak or tender. She definitely never saw him as vulnerable. She also never imagined a massive wolf would be chasing her around town or that her house would magically keep it out. She didn’t even want to think about the ghosts in the alley or the fact Jake had been frozen in the car. The broken windows at school suddenly felt a lot less serious.
    “I am sorry for kissing you when you were saying no. It was like I couldn’t stop.”
    She closed her eyes, “It’s okay. This has been a weird night.”
    The front door opened suddenly making them both jump. Abbey raised an eyebrow at her, “You didn’t even make it there huh? Did you even leave the yard or just wait for mom and dad to leave?”
    Jake shouted, “CLOSE THE DOOR ABBEY!”
    She frowned, "Don’t yell at me in my house Jake. You two are wankers. I can't believe you never came."
    “We did but a huge wolf chased me, and Jake had, like, a seizure. Close the door.”
    Abbey looked back poking her head out of the door, “I don’t see anything. Maybe it was a love wolf.” She snickered.
    "CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR!"
    She slammed the door with a red face, “Asshole. You don’t have to shout.” She turned and stormed out of the room and up the stairs.
    Jake sighed and tried to call to her, “Abbey I-I-I’m sorry. It was there. I didn’t want it to get you.”
    Her angry footsteps on the stairs drowned out his voice. He looked at Ophelia and shrugged, “Sorry.”
    “No. She never saw it. Better she's pissed at us than eaten by that friggen thing.”
    She climbed off the couch and took his hand. Her body felt alive, like energy flowed between their grip and sparks flew from where their hands met. She pulled his massive body from the couch and dragged him from the front room. She walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

Chapter Eight
    Sam

    The elder's meeting was boring. He couldn’t even pretend to care about the numbers of deer and bears in the woods. He wanted to get to the point. He felt his leg starting to twitch.
    He looked at Luke, who gave him a subtle headshake. Sam sighed and pulled his phone out. His heart sank when he saw no new texts or missed calls. Hanna was going to be the death of him. He was glad the scouting trip to Alaska was over but he was terrified of her being in Greece without him, and without an explanation. They would pollute her. He felt a slight ache in his chest, imagining her pulling