"Verra well." Ian shook hands with Howard and inclined his head to Elsa. "If I might say so, lass, ye've found an excellent man here with Howard."
"Thank you." She couldn't believe she was talking to a vampire. In a kilt.
"Good evening." He vanished.
"Wow." Elsa sat down at the table.
Howard brought the pastry box over. "There's a note on top from Shanna. It says Best Wishes."
Elsa nodded. They would need that, for tomorrow they would be returning to the real world. "Who is Mr. West?"
"Harry's boss at the paper where he worked, Northern Lights Sound Bites. He's helping me wage war on the bastard who killed Harry."
"You know who killed him?"
Howard nodded. "A nasty werewolf named Rhett Bleddyn. He's hated me for years."
Her skin chilled. "Why?"
Howard shrugged and removed a donut from the box. "It's a long story. Harry believed Rhett's father killed our fathers. He was gathering information when Rhett killed him." He bit into the donut. "But we'll avenge Harry. I'm going to destroy Rhett."
She swallowed hard. This new world of vampires and shifters was a bit violent. She shook herself. The real world was violent, too.
"You want a donut?" Howard pushed the box toward her. "They're fresh."
She gazed at the note from Shanna. Best wishes. With a sinking feeling, she suspected none of her wishes could come true.
She wished her aunts didn't want to kill Howard. She wished the nasty werewolf didn't hate Howard. She wished he wouldn't wage war with the werewolf. There had already been too many casualties - the fathers and Harry.
Who would be next?
Chapter Twenty-six
"Do you want me to come in and talk to your aunts?" Howard asked.
"Oh gosh, no." Elsa covered her mouth as she yawned. She was too tired to start her morning with a shootout in the motel parking lot. "Just drop me off."
"I could stop by the gatehouse this afternoon," he offered.
"I don't think I'll go to work today." She gave him a wry smile. "I didn't sleep much the last two nights."
"I know. You're insatiable."
"Me?" She swatted his shoulder.
He grinned. "I'll see you soon." He leaned over to kiss her.
"Bye." She climbed out of his SUV and hurried across the motel parking lot. Aunt Greta's car was parked nearby, so hopefully her aunts were in their room. She didn't have her key, since she'd left her handbag in the gatehouse two days ago.
She knocked on her aunts' door. "Aunt Greta! Ula!"
The door swung open.
"Oh my God! You're still alive!" Greta pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Thank God!" Ula exclaimed in Swedish and hugged her, too.
"I'm fine," Elsa assured them.
Tears streamed down Greta's face. "I thought I'd never see you again. I thought I'd failed you."
"No, no." Elsa forgot all the anger she'd harbored over her aunt's vicious bird attack. Obviously, Greta had thought she was fighting for Elsa's life. "I was perfectly safe. Howard's a wonderful man."
Ula shook her head, tears glimmering in her eyes. "When Greta told me you'd run off with the berserker, I thought we had lost you."
"Howard would never harm me."
Greta wiped her face. "I went to the police, but they said there was nothing they could do because you went willingly with him."
Ula hugged her again. "My poor child. I was so afraid for you."
Elsa patted her on the back. "Everything's fine."
"He didn't hurt you?" Greta looked her over.
"Of course not. He loves me."
Ula frowned. "The berserker who killed the first guardian loved her, too. Then he betrayed her."
Elsa winced. So the ill-fated lovers appeared in her aunts' version, too.
"He's luring you in," Greta told her. "Making you believe in him before he betrays you."
"Howard's not like that."
Greta gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid he is. While you were gone, we met a reporter from Alaska who's staying here in town. He showed us . . . well, I'll let you see it for yourself."
Greta grabbed the key to Elsa's room off the dresser. "This way." She headed next door and unlocked Elsa's room.
Elsa was relieved to see her handbag on the bed. "You brought my purse back from the gatehouse. Thank you."
Ula perched on the second bed while Greta sat at the desk and booted up Elsa's laptop.
Elsa flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. It was a good thing she'd run off with Howard. Her aunts would see that he could be trusted, since she'd returned unharmed.
"Here it is," Greta said. "The newspaper article the reporter told us about. It's the Port Mishenka Post."
Port Mishenka? Wasn't that where Howard had gone to school? Elsa yawned. "What does it say?"
"It's a report on a girl who was murdered twenty years ago," Greta said as she vacated the desk chair. "You should read it."
With a moan, Elsa moved into the chair. A young high school girl, Carly Evans, had been discovered at the base of a mountain cliff overlooking the town of Port Mishenka. The last person to see her alive was her boyfriend, Howard Barr.
Elsa's breath caught. Howard had lost his high school girlfriend? She read more, her skin chilling with goose bumps. Howard had been arrested for suspicion of murder.
The next two paragraphs contained quotes from Carly's parents. They both believed Howard had killed their daughter. "You've seen how violent he is on the football field," Mr. Evans declared. "He's a dangerous psychopath. He went crazy and murdered our daughter!"
Elsa sat back, her heart racing. This couldn't be true. The parents were just desperate for someone to blame. She finished the article. Howard had been released for lack of evidence, but the people of Port Mishenka were convinced of his guilt.
"He's a berserker," Greta said, shaking her head. "It's like a sickness. He'll seem okay, but then he'll go berserk."
"You must never see him again," Ula said.
Elsa exited the newspaper article. "There has to be a mistake."
"I know it's hard to believe." Greta regarded her sadly. "I bookmarked the report if you need to look at it again."
Elsa shook her head. "I don't want to see it." She collapsed on the bed and covered her face. I don't want to think about it.
"You're tired." Greta pulled the curtains shut. "Get some rest. Ula will watch over you."
"Ja." Ula turned off all the lights. "You'll feel better after some sleep."
Elsa slipped under the bedspread. She wouldn't believe it. There had to be an explanation. Howard would never harm a woman. He would never betray her. He loved her. And she had so many sweet memories of him making love to her.
A beautiful man came to her in the night. Large and powerful, he covered her body with his. His big hands roamed over her skin, setting her on fire. She wanted him. She cried out for him. She burned for him.
His hands were magic. Skimming the length of her legs. Fondling her br**sts. Stroking her neck. Tightening their grip.
Choking her.
She thrashed against him, but he was too strong. Too powerful.
His face, half hidden in shadow, twisted in rage. Transformed. He roared like an animal.
She gazed up at him in horror. In the flicker of firelight, she caught a glimpse of his head.
A bear.
She slapped at him. Clawed at his face. No, not her lover!
Words slipped from her mouth, then echoed in her mind.
"I curse you and your kind for all time!"
Elsa sat up with a gasp.
"Are you all right?" Ula opened the curtains to let in the afternoon light. "Did you have the bad dream again?"
Elsa whispered the words that were repeating in her head. She didn't know the language, but somehow she knew what it meant. I curse you and your kind for all time!
"What?" Ula stepped closer. "What did you say?"
She repeated the line. "I said it in my dream."
"Oh my." Ula perched on the second bed. "That is an ancient Norse language."
Elsa leaned back against the headboard. "How do I know ancient Norse?"
Ula's eyes narrowed. "It must be an ancient dream. A memory passed down through the generations."
Elsa gasped. All this time, she'd assumed the dream was a warning predicting her future. But it was the opposite. A warning from her past. She was remembering the murder of her ancestor, the first Guardian of the Forest.