Hunger of the Wolf (2 page)

“W
hat do you
do?”
She was only trying to be friendly but s
he noticed his discomfort
immediately
. “I’m sorry
,
I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, not at all. I’m a writer.”

“That’s
great. I’m a writer too. Of
self-help books
,
”
she added.
She waited, expecting him to
tell her what genre he wrote in, but he was si
lent, forcing he
r to ask the obvious question.
He
hesitated before answering.

“Oh, a bit o
f this and that,” he sai
d
, l
ooking away from her and stuffing
his hands into his pockets.
“Just some short stories and articles
for
online
magazines. Nothing exciting
.”
Amber studied him
closely and decided he was
either
hiding something or ashamed of his work. He probab
ly writes porn, she thought
and tried not to smile
at the idea
.
It was always the ones you least expected.

“I’m glad to hear the peace and quiet works wonders because I need all the help I can get. I have a deadline to meet
,
and I’ve already had one extension. M
y editor will kill me if I miss
it
again
. You probably won’t see much of me
,
but feel free to use the jetty whenever you like.”

“Thanks.”
Amb
er expected him to
say goodbye and
walk away. Instead he just stood there
staring at her
,
and t
he silence became uncomfortable
.

“I’d better get back to my unpacki
ng now,” she said, trying not to be
too blunt.

“Would you like
a hand with anything?”

“No, I think I’ve got it.
Thanks for introducing yourself
,
though
. It’s nice to know there’s another human being
out there amongst all those trees
. Not that we’ll see mu
ch of each other
with me being
so
busy
and all
. Good luck with the writing.”

“Thanks.
Same to you.” This t
ime he gave her an awkward smile
and then turned back down the path
leading into the woods
. J
ust as Amber was bending down
to pick up the bag at her feet
, he turned around
again.
“
I’ve got to say
,
I’m
a bit
surprised to see you out here by yourself
.”

“Why is that?”
s
he said, straightening up
and putting her hands on her hips.

“Not many women would be g
ame to come out here
on their own.
You
don’t know what
might be lurking
in the darkness
.
”

She laughed, assuming he was making a joke.
“I wasn’t
concerned
till you mentio
ned it,
but
I’m a big girl, i
t takes a lot to scare me. I’ll be just fine on my own.”

“So your husband isn’t joining you then?”

“I’m not married
anymore
.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she
mentally kicked herself for
shari
ng
personal information with a total
stranger.
As
a child she had
constantly
been
scolded for being
too open and
trusting
and she still struggled with these traits
.
Her marital status
was none of his business
,
and
he was way
too nosy for her liking
. 

He glanced at the wedding ring on her finger and
then turned back down the path
without saying another word
. In profile
his features were
much
sharp
er, and f
or one crazy moment
Amber was reminded of the carving
of the wolf
on the way to the cabin
.
She shook her head to clear the
image
from her mind.

“Enjoy the peace and quie
t,
”
he
called behind him
,
a
nd alth
ough she could not be certain,
Amber thought she heard him
chuckle
softly to
himself. He definitely seemed a little odd
,
and
she
felt glad
that
she had made it clear she was not up for socializing
.
She had no idea if he
had Kat and
Chris
’s permission to fish from the jetty
,
and she hoped he would take the hint and stay away
while she was here
.
His comment about things
lurking in the darkness
was
creepy
,
but
it
was probably just his twisted idea of a joke. W
ith
a shrug she dismissed
him from her mind and turned
her attention back to unloading the car.

No one had been at the c
abin for a while
,
and it was
dark and
musty
inside
. The first thing Amber
did was throw open all the windows and let fresh air flood the rooms. After unpacking and making up the bed
in the upstairs room
,
s
he fixed herself a late lunch
and sat on the porch to take
in the magnificent view
s
stretching
before her.
She was so fortunate to have a place like this to run away to w
hen life became too much
,
and she
was thankful
Kat was
ge
nerous enough to let her stay here as long as she need
ed to.

S
he
and Chris
had
cancelled a
holiday rental
for her sake
,
but Kat
had refused to take any money
from her
.
She was
so unlike Dominic wh
o never di
d a good turn for anyone unless it
was of some benefit to him
.
T
hought
s
of her soon to be ex-husband
were enough to destroy her
serenity
,
and Amber
stood up abruptly
,
carrying her dishes inside
. She wondered how much longer
he would be there
,
loitering
at t
he edge of every thought
.

She
set her lapto
p up in front of the
living room window
overlooking the lake
,
and
as she settled into her work
,
the next few hours
flew
by. Something
finally
broke her concentration
, and w
hen she looked up
she was surprised to see it
was dark
outside
.
For a split second she was overcome with the sen
sation that someone
was watching her.
C
louds had drifted over in the late afternoon
,
and there
were no
stars
visible
in the darkness
.
She had forgotten just how pitch black
it got out
here
without the
glow from the city lights
to illuminate
the sky
.

Her strange neighbour
’s question
came back to her and set her nerves slightly on edge. The truth was she had not really stopped to think about what it would be
like to be in the middle of the wilder
ness on her own. S
he’
d been so intent
on getting away
from her life
that the thought had
never crossed her mind. Now
that
she was here with
the
night closing in around her
,
Amber realized she may not have
thought things through very well. There was no phone in the cabin and her cell phone only had intermittent reception. Kat had warned her about this
before she came
, but at the time she had thought it was a go
od excuse not to talk to anyone
for a while
.

She picked up
her phone and
saw that it had no bars
at all
,
and
she
quickly moved to shut
the blinds. A
s she was pulling the drawstring she noticed a
sudden
movement in the garden near the tool shed.
It gave her a start but Amber
reassured herself
it was
just a raco
on or fox
snooping around
. The woods were full of wild creatures
,
and if she was going to share their home she would have to get used to them.

Later as she lay in bed listening to the trees scraping against the window
s
and watching the shadows flickering on the wall
,
she remembered
all the stories she had been told as a child about the dangers of venturing into the w
oods alone. She also recalled
the horror movies that began in an isolated location
with a psyc
hotic killer or monster
on the loose.
Many of those st
ories
involved a
woman who had put herself in a perilous situation
.
 
She’d never had any
sympathy for those women before
,
but now she was developing a whole new perspective
. S
he vowed she would
never again mock them and
shout at the television that they
deserved everything they got
.
As s
he strained to listen
for any suspicious noises she
wondered
again
if she had made a big mistake comi
ng here al
on
e. Almost forty minutes
passed
before
she finally managed to
fall
asleep.

H
er dreams
that night
were far from
res
tful
,
and she awoke
in the early hours of the morning
. It was
Dominic
who
appeared before he
r in the darkness
, looking just as he had on
the
day she had come home
early to find him in bed with one of her closest friends.
His
face
had been as
white as a ghost as he pulled on his clothes and followed her downstairs, trying to explain the unexpl
ainable, but it was her friend’s
expression that
had
really
chilled her to the
bone.
Tiffany
had seen her as soon as she entered the room
,
and
she had smiled over Dominic’
s shoulder and
then closed her eyes and moaned in ecstasy
.
Unable to utter a sound,
Amber had been forced to walk
right over to the bed before Dominic
noticed her standing there.
Looking back she realized this had been what
Tiffany
wanted all along.