Lost (Shifter Island Book 1) by Carol Davis Page A

seen the animal down below—but she didn’t seem truly afraid, at least not as much as humans normally were. Maybe her distance from the wolf allowed her to view it somewhat dispassionately, as she would an animal at a zoo, or if she were looking at it on a television.
    Then the wolf disappeared, swallowed up by the trees and underbrush. For a couple of minutes there was no sign of movement in that area. Then Jeremiah reappeared a short distance away from where he had vanished, this time in human form and accompanied by two other men: Caleb and Mason, two-thirds of the circle of elders, the ones who made every important decision for the pack, the ones who would ultimately decide whether Abby could stay or go.
    Their being with Jeremiah now didn’t seem at all like a good sign.
    “Is that the Welcome Wagon?” Abby asked nervously.
    “My father,” Aaron said. “The gray-haired one is my father. The other two are elders.”
    She took her hand back and, for a moment, used both arms to hug herself. She looked from Aaron down at the three men, then back at him again.
    “It’ll be all right,” Aaron told her. “They just… want to talk.”
    She didn’t answer.
    Damn , Aaron thought. There was no doubt in his mind now that his father and the others had expected him, that they were down there to intercept him before he could reach the settlement. He’d have to explain himself to them before he could speak to anyone else, before he could begin to win some sympathy for himself and Abby.
    But were they willing to listen?
    “They’re not exactly rolling out the red carpet, are they?” Abby asked softly.
    “No,” he admitted.
    The way she was breathing told him how nervous she was, now that they were so close to the settlement—something that would likely get worse when she was face to face with his packmates. Except for the children, they were all taller, bigger, stronger than she was, and that wouldn’t help her wavering confidence.
    Be strong , Abby, he thought. Stand strong.
    Before he could speak again, she grasped his hand tightly and pulled it close to her side. As she did, he found something new in her eyes.
    “When I moved away from my family,” she said quietly, “it was like this. I didn’t know anyone in the city. I didn’t have a job set up ahead of time, or a place to live. I just got in my car and went. I had to do things one at a time. And, sure, I was scared. I’d never done anything like that before. But I got it done. I found an apartment, and a job—without any help from my family, or anyone else. And here, I figure I’ve got an advantage.”
    That seemed unlikely. “What’s that?” he asked.
    “I’ve got you on my side.”
    She grinned in a way that was a little awkward and frozen, and her breathing was still anything but steady.
    “Right?” she asked him.
    “Yes,” he said. “I am very much on your side.”
    Swiftly, with a deep, wobbling breath, she squared her shoulders, picked up her bag, and nodded in the direction of his father and the elders. “Then let’s go arbitrate this,” she said firmly. “Time’s a-wastin’.”

Ten
     
    You’re not wanted here.
    The three men looked like the embodiment of every cliché Abby had ever heard about small towns and outsiders. They might as well have been standing underneath an enormous neon sign that spelled out their lack of willingness to hear whatever she and Aaron had to say.
    No, setting up a new life for herself after she’d left her father’s home hadn’t been easy, not a bit of it, but this…
    Her mind was reeling as she and Aaron made their way down the hill. She clutched her travel bag with one hand and Aaron’s hand with the other, wishing she could take larger, more determined steps but afraid she’d trip over something, fall head-over-backside down the hill and land in front of those three humorless-looking men with her skirt rucked up around her waist. Or she might knock herself out completely. That was