Wolf at the Door by C. A. Hall

Author:C. A. Hall [Hall, C. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-08T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

That night, I didn’t sleep. Riley could’ve given me a glass of warm milk, tranquilizers, or hit me on top of the head with a frying pan, but none of it would’ve helped. My mind was too crowded, my thoughts were too loud. And whenever someone shuffled out of their room, I rushed over to my door just to make sure it was locked.

Needless to say, when Riley came to wake me the next morning, I was anxious to get out.

“Someone’s in a hurry,” Riley said as I strode out of my room.

“I can’t stay in there. I need another room.” Preferably one that wasn’t so close to the stairs. “Don’t your wolves have any manners? I could hear them running in and out all night.”

“Wolves change shifts in the middle of the night,” she said once we reached the foyer. “They also walk the halls to make sure everyone is accounted for.”

“But no one opened my door.” My mother used to check on me all the time when I was little, and she always opened the door.

“They don’t have to,” Riley said, oblivious to my thoughts. “Your scent’s more than enough.”

“My scent?”

“You might not be able to tell one wolf’s scent from another just yet, but you will. Think of it as retraining your sense of smell. You didn’t always know what an orange smelled like, right?”

“I guess so?” I honestly couldn’t think back that far.

“Exactly,” Riley said as she walked me from the foyer, through the common room, and down a long hall to a kitchen at the back of the house. “So, just as you had to learn the difference between a lemon and an orange, you’ll learn to distinguish between our wolves as well.” She stopped me before I could grab one of the rolls sitting out on the kitchen table. “Not yet. There’s something I want you to do.”

“I don’t have to go on a hunt, do I?”

Riley’s eyes sparkled underneath the overhead lights. “Not yet, no,” she said while holding my gaze. “Now, close your eyes.”

“Riley.”

“Just do it, okay?”

I groaned, closed my eyes, then crossed my arms in front of my chest.

“Relax.” Riley waited until my arms dropped to my sides, then continued. “Breathe in. “What do you smell? Don’t tell me what you saw on the table. Tell me what you smell.”

Clearing my mind, I concentrated on the area around me and did my best to identify as many scents as I could. The smell of freshly made bread reached me first, soon followed by three overly ripe bananas, thick cream, and a pack of bacon someone had left out on the counter.

“Bread.” My mouth watered as I imagined biting into the thick crust. “Bananas. Three of them over by the windowsill.”

Riley shifted her weight, then made a sound of approval. “What else?”

“Thick cream, and a pack of bacon someone left out.” Without thinking, I opened my eyes, then averted my gaze before I screwed up whatever game Riley was trying to play.

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