smiled down at him.
“Let’s take this outside. Can you hold the door open for me, Luke?” she asked brightly.
He hopped off the stool to comply.
Darcy carried the tray of sandwiches while Finn grabbed the orange juice and three glasses and they headed out to the deck.
The rich scent of moist soil and greenery filled Darcy with a sensation of rightness.
The simple wooden structure of the deck was overhung with a large trellis that dripped with climbing hydrangea. The picnic table in the center overlooked a fire pit and the abandoned grape arbor behind the cabin. Fat, juicy grapes pulled at the formerly cultivated vines.
They sat in silence, a hungry trio. Luke ate a sandwich and emptied his glass. He shook his head when Darcy offered him more.
She noticed he was looking intently at the arbor.
“Want to pick some grapes?” she asked him?
He turned back to her, his eyes dancing.
“Grab a mixing bowl from the kitchen to put them in, okay?” she wondered if he would willingly go back inside without her.
For a heart wrenching moment she watched him weigh his options.
Then he smiled and hopped up, heading into the kitchen.
Finn smiled at Darcy, his mouth too full to talk. He must have been thinking the same thing. She smiled back.
A moment later, Luke was back with a big metal mixing bowl. He waved and headed out into the arbor. Darcy heard the first grape hit the bowl with a satisfying plunk.
Finn was nearly finished with his second sandwich.
Which meant that he would soon start asking questions, and Darcy would have some explaining to do.
“Okay,” he said softly, leaning forward. “What the hell happened last night?”
There it was.
All kinds of lies flitted through Darcy’s head.
But Finn was in pretty deep. And he’d put himself on the line for them.
No lies. He deserved the truth.
Out in the arbor, the steady sound of grapes hitting the metal bowl sounded so homey.
“Can you keep a secret?” she asked.
“I’m a vault,” he answered.
She studied him. For once his hazel eyes weren’t dancing.
“It’s going to be hard to believe,” she began.
“Try me,” Finn said, leaning back.
“You’ve seen werewolves in movies and books. But what you don’t know is that shifters are real. What you saw last night, the animal that attacked Draven, it was a wolf but also a man - a friend of mine,” she blurted without stopping for breath. She waited for him to laugh.
He studied her solemnly.
“I’m a wolf too,” she ventured.
He nodded slowly.
“I know you don’t believe me. I would offer to shift, but I don’t want to scare Luke,” she said, trying to think of a way to show him.
“No, I believe you. My granda told me stories about real shifters, but I wasn’t so sure. After what I saw last night, I stand corrected.”
Interesting. Darcy made a mental note to find out more about Finn’s grandfather another time. Finn was taking it well, and she was on a roll. Might as well get it all out on the table.
“Most wolves come from families of wolves, and they don’t shift until puberty,” she continued. “My birth parents weren’t expecting me to be a wolf at all, so when I shifted into a wolf pup as a toddler they were terrified.
I was too little to remember, but they brought me to my mom, Kate. She runs a foster home, for kids who shift young. It’s on a farm near Tarker’s Hollow, where we went to the diner. There were a lot of us kids there, and still more are brought there every year or so, but we’re all very close. That’s my family.”
She studied him.
“And I would do anything for my family,” she added.
He nodded. She liked that he didn’t ask a lot of dumb questions or pretend to be sad about her birth parents.
“As you can imagine, little kids who shift into animals whenever they feel excited can be a problem. The secret would be out in no time if we shifted in front of anyone, and our kind would be in danger. Mom had to teach us to control our
“Let’s take this outside. Can you hold the door open for me, Luke?” she asked brightly.
He hopped off the stool to comply.
Darcy carried the tray of sandwiches while Finn grabbed the orange juice and three glasses and they headed out to the deck.
The rich scent of moist soil and greenery filled Darcy with a sensation of rightness.
The simple wooden structure of the deck was overhung with a large trellis that dripped with climbing hydrangea. The picnic table in the center overlooked a fire pit and the abandoned grape arbor behind the cabin. Fat, juicy grapes pulled at the formerly cultivated vines.
They sat in silence, a hungry trio. Luke ate a sandwich and emptied his glass. He shook his head when Darcy offered him more.
She noticed he was looking intently at the arbor.
“Want to pick some grapes?” she asked him?
He turned back to her, his eyes dancing.
“Grab a mixing bowl from the kitchen to put them in, okay?” she wondered if he would willingly go back inside without her.
For a heart wrenching moment she watched him weigh his options.
Then he smiled and hopped up, heading into the kitchen.
Finn smiled at Darcy, his mouth too full to talk. He must have been thinking the same thing. She smiled back.
A moment later, Luke was back with a big metal mixing bowl. He waved and headed out into the arbor. Darcy heard the first grape hit the bowl with a satisfying plunk.
Finn was nearly finished with his second sandwich.
Which meant that he would soon start asking questions, and Darcy would have some explaining to do.
“Okay,” he said softly, leaning forward. “What the hell happened last night?”
There it was.
All kinds of lies flitted through Darcy’s head.
But Finn was in pretty deep. And he’d put himself on the line for them.
No lies. He deserved the truth.
Out in the arbor, the steady sound of grapes hitting the metal bowl sounded so homey.
“Can you keep a secret?” she asked.
“I’m a vault,” he answered.
She studied him. For once his hazel eyes weren’t dancing.
“It’s going to be hard to believe,” she began.
“Try me,” Finn said, leaning back.
“You’ve seen werewolves in movies and books. But what you don’t know is that shifters are real. What you saw last night, the animal that attacked Draven, it was a wolf but also a man - a friend of mine,” she blurted without stopping for breath. She waited for him to laugh.
He studied her solemnly.
“I’m a wolf too,” she ventured.
He nodded slowly.
“I know you don’t believe me. I would offer to shift, but I don’t want to scare Luke,” she said, trying to think of a way to show him.
“No, I believe you. My granda told me stories about real shifters, but I wasn’t so sure. After what I saw last night, I stand corrected.”
Interesting. Darcy made a mental note to find out more about Finn’s grandfather another time. Finn was taking it well, and she was on a roll. Might as well get it all out on the table.
“Most wolves come from families of wolves, and they don’t shift until puberty,” she continued. “My birth parents weren’t expecting me to be a wolf at all, so when I shifted into a wolf pup as a toddler they were terrified.
I was too little to remember, but they brought me to my mom, Kate. She runs a foster home, for kids who shift young. It’s on a farm near Tarker’s Hollow, where we went to the diner. There were a lot of us kids there, and still more are brought there every year or so, but we’re all very close. That’s my family.”
She studied him.
“And I would do anything for my family,” she added.
He nodded. She liked that he didn’t ask a lot of dumb questions or pretend to be sad about her birth parents.
“As you can imagine, little kids who shift into animals whenever they feel excited can be a problem. The secret would be out in no time if we shifted in front of anyone, and our kind would be in danger. Mom had to teach us to control our
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