Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 196

Carter

The Appalachian mountain road had become perilous. The wipers beat steadily against the rain as Briar stared out the passenger window. She hadn’t grown up far from here, and I knew that bothered her to an extent. Misty had tracked down her grandmother on her mother’s side. She lived deep in the Appalachian mountains, the closest town we had driven through a half an hour ago was a barely functioning skeleton of an old mining town. We were going off a marked old map and google images to get us to the right spot. She wanted to know the cloth she was cut from. After everything she had been through and what she had discovered about the Aunt that raised her as her daughter assuming her mother’s name and the wolf she was bestowed upon shifting, she wanted as many answers as she could find out about who she was. Her entire life everyone had kept so many secrets from her, she deserved this. I just hoped she got the answers she wanted.

The SUV lurched over the rough terrain of the winding trail leading up to the house. There were no electrical poles here or modern conveniences, no cell service. She explained that her aunt and her had lived a humble life in the mountains but she knew that there were people out there that still lived like this, off the land, secluded and seemingly poor. However, she said this kind of life was rich in other ways. 

“We are almost there,” I let her know. She looked out the windshield through the soft pelting rain as a dim light came into view. I pulled up in front of the small rustic cabin and reached into the back seat to grab a hoodie to at least ward off some of the rain, when it suddenly stopped. She cocked her head watching out the window and I followed her eyes locked on the figure of an old woman.  Her head tilted in a similar manner as she stared back. A large raven beat its wings on her shoulder. The sun came through the clouds and I muttered to myself, because go figure it stopped the moment we got here.

Briar was stuck in that stare with the woman, down the bond her pit of anxiety and shifted to curiosity. I stepped out of the car, Briar doing the same. I scowled because I liked to open her doors. I stepped beside her and as we approached the foot of the porch stairs I realized by the milky cloud cast over the woman’s eyes that she was blind. Briar and I shared a look and she went to speak but the old woman beat her.

“Well, this is unexpected but I couldn’t be more happy to greet you granddaughter. I knew someone was coming when I dropped the silverware this morning, but I never expected it would be you,” she said and the Raven cawed and flapped his wings on her shoulder.

“Colten!” she hollered, “Get your ass out here and presentable, our grand baby is here. She went to stand and the Raven cawed before fluttering into the open window of the small house. 

The old woman stood, reaching easily for the walking stick leaned up against the wall beside her.

“Come child we have so much to speak of, your graddaddy will be out in a moment.

“How did you know who I was?” Briar asked.

“I know a lot of things, I’d know you just as I’d know any kin to me,” she said brushing off Briar’s question , only creating more. Just then the front door opened. A tall older man stepped out his face old but young at the same time to the point it wracked my brain. His dark hair hung to his shoulders, the white streak mimicking  the black one in the older woman before us. His ears were ever so slightly pointed. I realized this woman too seemed both young yet old at the same time. Her milky eyes making her seem older. If she was Briar’s grandmother she had to at least be in her sixties. I gripped Briar’s hand as his ice blue eyes ran over us. He leaned down and whispered something not even my wolf ears could make out into her ear. She laughed and made her way down the steps seemingly unbothered by her sightless eyes.

“Come grandaughter, walk with me,” she urged, passing us. Briar looked from me to the man standing on the porch. I looked up at him as he looked down on me and a chill ran through me. My wolf’s instincts screamed danger but Briar’s hopeful look was my undoing and I nodded to her to go with her grandmother. When she pulled away from me I looked up at him, his icy eyes on mine. The old woman wasn’t a threat but this man. He reeked of dangerous possibilities. I held his gaze as Briar caught up with her grandmother who was heading for a thicket of trees.

“She will be fine, wolf,” the old man said, settling down into the rocking chair the old woman had inhabited moments ago and motioned for me to take the other nearby. My instincts screamed at me but I climbed the steps and sat in it. The old man chuckled.

“I see my granddaughter has chosen the correct mate,” he said, without explanation as I watched the two women disappear into the trees.