Thirty Nights with the Alpha King

Chapter 5: Skinwalkers

When my grandmother enters the kitchen to begin preparing breakfast, I’m already waiting for her at the kitchen table.

“Addy! You startled me!” she exclaims, her hand instinctively flying up to clutch her heart. “What are you doing up so early?”

“Grandma, did you see those lights last night?”

“What lights?”

“There were these glowing lights that illuminated the top of the ridge,” I explain quickly. “It happened really early this morning.”

“Sounds like the northern lights,” I hear my grandfather say behind me. I turn to watch him walk into the kitchen and take a seat beside me at the table.

“We’re in Utah,” I protest. “We can’t see the northern lights from here.”

“It’s not completely unheard of,” he shrugs.

“But highly unlikely,” I respond. “Besides, the lights weren’t in the sky, they were coming from somewhere on the mesa, and one was shooting up like a searchlight.”

“Ah, yes,” my grandmother nods. “Sometimes we see that happen around the full moon. It’s probably just a lunar event of some kind.”

“A lunar event?” I repeat incredulously. “That can’t be, Grandma. Again, it was coming from the earth, not the sky. And besides, I heard a wolf howling in the distance.”

“Addy, those are just coyotes,” my grandfather laughs. My grandmother comes over to give us both a cup of hot coffee before turning back to the stove.

“It sounded like a really big coyote, then,” I reply skeptically. “Grandma, you mentioned skinwalkers the other day. I tried looking them up on my phone this morning and read that they’re witches that can turn into wolves or something—”

“Again, Addy, that’s just an old Ute superstition,” my grandfather interrupts, shaking his head in amusement. “Do you really believe in shapeshifters? It’s nonsense.”

“Grandpa, how can you live here for so long, seeing all this crazy, unexplainable stuff happen on the ranch, and not believe that it’s something that we might not understand?” I insist, looking at him desperately. “Cattle mutilations, strange lights coming from the ground, wolf howls that sound otherworldly—”

“Addy, it’s simple,” he says. “There’s a rival rancher, Avery, that’s out to compete for my business, and he’s just trying to scare us off. Don’t let him get to you, okay? Winona, I’m gonna go have a talk with him; I won’t let him scare my granddaughter like this!”

“But Grandpa, how can they drain cattle of their blood like you saw the other day?” I say, growing increasingly frustrated. “And the ‘coyotes’ won’t come eat the carcass? It all seems really weird to me!”

“Lots of people ‘round these parts think it’s aliens,” my grandfather chuckles. “Maybe that’s the cause of all this spooky stuff.”

I give him an exasperated look. He’s obviously humoring me, and I’m actually starting to feel a little stupid the more I insist on a supernatural line of logic.

Aliens and shapeshifting wolf/witch hybrids? Listen to yourself, Addy; you sound like a crazy person.

“I don’t know, Bob…” my grandmother says hesitantly, turning to face us from the counter. “Remember that strange wolf we saw last year?”

“What wolf?!” I interject suddenly.

“Winona…”

“No, Bob, listen. We saw that wolf that appeared to be the size of a large cow leaving the cattle enclosure last autumn. It got up on its hind legs and walked off, just like a person! And when we followed its footprints, the trail just disappeared. It frightened me, Bob; it still does. And the only place I’ve heard of such a thing is the Ute legend of the skinwalkers.”

“Grandma, what exactly does the legend say about these skinwalkers?” I ask. I feel completely shaken by her story. I’ve never heard of wolves the size of cattle before, and to think that they can walk like people…the image in my mind is terrifying.

“In old Ute and Navajo folklore, there are creatures called skinwalkers,” she begins with a deep breath. “You won’t hear the elders speak much of them to people outside the tribe, so I doubt you will find too much information on them online. But essentially, skinwalkers are witches with evil intentions, and they can turn into or disguise themselves as animals. These witches aren’t healers, but rather they are seen as the opposite. They are very dangerous beings.”

“So, they could disguise themselves as giant wolves?” I ask.

“Yes, they would probably prefer a ferocious type of animal that would cause fear and do harm onto others,” she agrees with a nod.

“Come on, Winona, stop scaring her,” my grandfather interjects, rolling his eyes. “I’ll go up to Avery’s ranch today to talk to him in person and get this all sorted out. It’s gone too far.”

My grandmother and I exchange a skeptical look, but we decide to let the conversation end there and eat our breakfast. The rest of the morning passes by quietly after my grandfather heads out, and my grandmother works around the house doing her daily chores. I decide to spend the morning out on the porch, scrolling through my phone as I research everything from cattle mutilations, skinwalkers, UFOs, and everything in between. By the time lunch rolls around, my head is spinning with all sorts of information, and I have no idea what to believe anymore.

When I see the plume of dust in the distance, I realize that it’s Nick driving toward the farmhouse in his pickup truck. I can’t help but smile.

As he pulls up and jumps out of the driver’s seat, I can’t help but admire the way his muscles tug tightly at his white t-shirt. He’s ruggedly handsome, and I find myself struggling to suppress a few cowboy fantasies as he takes off his hat to approach me.

“Hey, Addy, how are you feeling today?”

“I’m actually having a pretty good day,” I reply honestly. “Head’s feeling a bit clearer and my energy levels are up.”

“In that case, I have an extra sandwich,” he says, running his fingers through his thick, dark hair. “Do you want to take a drive around the ranch with me?”

“I’d love to!” I exclaim, scrambling to my feet.

God, Addy, don’t sound too eager. Play it cool.

But as soon as he grins widely, I feel my heart melting in my chest. When did he become so attractive?

“I’ll just let my grandma know real quick,” I say, and I rush into the kitchen. When I don’t see her, I scribble a quick note on the pad of paper beside the phone, and then check myself in the mirror one last time.

My eyes look sunken in with dark circles underneath them. I’m wearing leggings and Nike running shoes, along with an oversized sweatshirt. My hair looks dull pulled up into a messy bun, which I didn’t even brush today. I hurriedly take out my scrunchie and run my fingers through it.

I guess that’s a slight improvement?

I scurry back onto the porch where Nick is waiting patiently for me. As soon as he sees me, he perks up and leads me over to the passenger side door of this truck. Like a true gentleman, he opens the door for me as I climb inside.

As much as I miss Los Angeles, I can’t help but compare Nick’s chivalry and manners to the guys I used to date back home. Nick makes them look like complete douchebags.

“Turkey or ham?” he asks, turning to face me from the driver’s seat.

“Turkey, please,” I say, reaching out to take the proffered sandwich.

He turns the keys in the ignition, bringing the truck roaring to life before speeding away across the ranch.

“Nick, I have a question for you,” I say suddenly. He glances at me curiously before turning his eyes back on the road ahead of us.

“Do you believe in aliens?”

“What?” he asks, trying to stifle a chuckle. “Aliens? Like from outer space?”

“Yeah, do you think they exist?”

“I mean, it’s hard to believe that we’re alone in this entire universe,” he says slowly. “But I’m not sure if I believe that little green men come to visit us regularly in silver spaceships.”

“Okay, that’s fair,” I nod. “What about skinwalkers?”

I can see him visibly bristle at the mention of skinwalkers.

“You’re Ute, right?” I continue. “Have you heard of them?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of them,” Nick says, his voice growing darker.

A few moments of silence pass, but he doesn’t elaborate.

“Do you believe in them?” I prod further.

“I’ll say that I believe that there are things in this world that can’t be explained,” he replies. “Fair enough?”

“That’s fair,” I concede. “Now that that’s out of the way, I need to tell you what I saw last night.”

I launch into everything that happened after he left dinner last night, including the howl of the wolf, the lights on the ridge, and even the conversation I had with my grandparents that morning. Nick allows me to speak without interruption, simply nodding in understanding every so often.

“Do you think that we can drive up there?” I ask excitedly. “So we can look for clues?”

Nick sighs, but he nods reluctantly in agreement.

“Oh, thank you, Nick, you’re the best!” I say, purposefully layering the sweetness extra-thick in my tone. When he smiles, I feel my heart melt all over again.

“I’ll take you up there, but on one condition,” he says, suddenly serious. “You have to promise me that you won’t go up there by yourself, especially at night. It’s very dark and treacherous up there; you could slip and fall in the dark.”

“Got it, only go up there during the day.”

“And only if you’re with me or your grandpa,” he clarifies. “There’s lots of wild animals up there that make it dangerous, even during the day.”

“So, does that make you my personal bodyguard?” I tease him. I reach across the seat and ruffle his hair playfully.

“It would be my honor, Madame President,” he says in a low voice. His smile is infectious, and my heart patters at the memory of him calling me that as children. I used to insist that I was going to be the first female president of the United States, and he would pretend to be my Secret Service detail as we played in the fields of the ranch, shooting at imaginary bad guys as I ran wildly through the tall grass. He used to tackle me to the ground protectively out of the path of imaginary bullets.

I clench my thighs together at the idea of him on top of me now, pressed beneath his strong, muscular torso, between his legs…

“We’re here,” he says, interrupting my risqué thoughts abruptly.

He jumps out the driver side door, which gives me a moment to collect myself before he comes around to my side. As the door opens, he offers me his hand as I slide out onto my feet. I relish the contact, and I feel dejected letting his hand go.

“See anything unusual?” I ask him, quickly changing the subject to the task at hand.

“No, nothing out of the ordinary,” he replies, glancing at our surroundings.

I take a couple of steps forward, taking in the view from up high. It’s much more forested up here on the mesa, which looks out onto the ranch from high above. It’s a breathtaking view, and even though I can see the farmhouse from here, it looks so tiny in the middle of the vast landscape below.

“I can’t believe I’ve never been up here,” I breathe out. “It’s beautiful.”

When Nick doesn’t respond, I look over at him questioningly. However, when I find him staring at me with a soft gaze, I feel as though I could melt right on the spot into the earth.

I decide to take my shot. Guys are so predictable, and they all want the same thing. I want him, and it’s clear he wants me too.

I take a few slow steps toward him, locking my gaze onto his instinctively. His eyes seem to grow wider as I get closer, until I’m nearly pressed against his broad chest. I hold his gaze for a few moments longer, batting my eyelashes up at him.

This is it. I feel like our lives, intertwined so inextricably together throughout the years, have led up to this moment. For the first time, we are going to finally kiss. I don’t know what will happen after that, but all I know is that I want to kiss him so desperately. And by the way he’s looking at me, I’m almost certain he feels the same way.