Read Online Protected (Book 1 in the Ariya Adams trilogy) by Anna Applegate - Free Book Online

I headed to the kitchen to wipe everything down. I told Caroline I was tired and was just going to hang out at the apartment. She smiled, nodded, and said to do whatever I needed. I was proud of her for not making some snide remark about me finally getting some.
    W hen we finished cleaning, I told the rest of the gang to go on without me. Given my condition earlier, no one seemed to push me to go out. They were soon off, and on their way, leaving James and me alone in the apartment.
    “So , what did you have in mind for tonight?” I asked.
    “ Would you like to take a walk?”
    “Sure. It’s always nice to get walks in before you have to be bundled up against the cold weather. We probably don’t have many more weeks left of it, even though we just got back.”
    Mineral Point was known for being one of the coldest cities in the US. Once it started getting cold, it was frigid, and walks weren’t as pleasant as in the fall when everything was still enjoyable and untouched by frost.
    He smiled. I grabbed a light jacket and we headed out the door. We walked around a bit , talking every once in awhile. He seemed strangely quiet as we made our way around the outskirts of town.
    We were at a break in conversation when I heard something. It was the same noise I’d had heard walking home the previous evening. It was out here again tonight. I froze. I hadn’t imagined it. It was the exact same sound as before. I knew it. It was a deep, low snarling sound. I noticed James had stopped, too. He looked back at me, and then towards the direction the sound came from.
    “ You heard that too, right?” I questioned.
    He nodded , but kept walking. He acted like it was no big deal, but seemed to have picked up his pace a little. I noticed he was heading back to my apartment.
    ”Did you want to just hang out back a t your apartment?” he asked me.
    From the direction he was headed , it seemed he’d made that decision already, but I played along.
    “Sure.” We got inside without saying another word. When he turned around , instead of looking nervous, he smiled and asked if I wanted anything to drink.
    What? I thought. “You don’t think it’s weird that we just heard an animal outside?”
    “Are t here not animals around here?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as he spoke.
    “No, not in town like that.”
    “Oh, well, I guess I haven’t been here long enough to know. I’m sure it was nothing. Even if there was something, it was probably in the woods. Most animals aren’t actually in town. Are you upset by it because of the scary movie?” I noticed by his expression that he was teasing me again.
    “No, not upset. I’m a tough girl , can’t you tell?” I made a muscle and he laughed. “But it is weird. I’ve been here three years and never heard anything like that. Now there is some crazed wolf hunting hikers. I saw something that looked just like it on my walk home last night, and the noise again tonight…” I trailed off thinking how strange it really was.
    “A wolf?” He looked at me, but not in a way that made me seem bizarre.
    “ Yeah, I thought it was after me last night.” I laughed, thinking how silly I must sound to this gorgeous man. “Caroline thought it was just my imagination that it was a wolf, and it was probably something else.” I paused.
    S hould I reveal the craziness of what had happened just before he found me last night? He was watching me intently and seemed to be listening to everything I was saying. Why not tell him?
    “There was this straggly- looking wolf on my way home last night that looked like it was going to rip my head off. I know it sounds weird, but something ran into him or hit him and he left me alone. I fell when something hit me too, which is why you found me on the ground.”
    James looked like he was processing what I was saying. That was better than bolting out the door because I sounded like a crazy person.
    “And you tol d Caroline about it?” he asked.
    “