She kept scrolling. Then, in a 1976 issue of Eyes on Etna, she found an article that slowed the turn of her wrist. Esteemed Hunter Robin Hoyte Cleans Up Bear Problem, the headline read. Beside the article was a black-and-white image of a hunter standing next to a bear carcass, grinning at his prize kill. The sight chilled Holly’s bones, but she forced herself to keep looking. The man looked like a regular hunter, a woodsman complete with the round face and a curly beard that framed his chin. But there was something about him…Holly zoomed in. Around Robin Hoyte’s neck hung a six-pointed star. There was something in it too…it was hard to make out in the pixelated image. A gem? It was an odd talisman for a burly hunter to be wearing, no doubt. Holly sat back, examining the image, and then took a screenshot and printed it out.
Chapter 32
The fluorescent lights buzzed above as Holly bounced around the From Heart to Home store.
“You get three things,” Jacob said as he pushed the shopping cart beside her.
“Only three?” Holly drew her prettiest smile.
He snorted a laugh. Amused, at least. “Three that I get no veto on. We can negotiate the rest.”
In effort to make his house more their house, Jacob had taken Holly to a home goods store so she could pick out a few of her own decorations to add that woman’s touch. And three things that Jacob had no say in? This could get interesting fast.
Holly lifted up a fuzzy pink throw pillow. “What do you think?” she said, totally straight-faced.
Jacob’s expression fell. But, to his credit, he bit his tongue. “Looks…furry,” he forced out, even though she could tell he was already regretting his decision.
Holly couldn’t help it; she laughed. “Relax. I’m not that mean.” She dropped the pillow and began pacing down the aisle. Her eyes landed on an item that she thought was a good blend of the both of them—a small embroidered Winnie the Pooh pillow. Literature and bear all in one happy pillow. She lifted the pillow to her chest and tapped it. “What about this one?”
If anything, Jacob’s expression dropped more than it had with the pink pillow. However, he saved it with a poker face and said, “Sure.”
What was that? It hit her then. Maybe he didn’t want any more bears in the house. After all, his own was literally haunting him, making him jolt awake in the middle of the night with fever-sweats.
Holly was good at reading people—and thank God for that. It was like prying teeth to get anything out of Jacob. She toyed with the fray at the edges of the pillow and then said, “You know, I heard you wake up again last night.” Her eyes met his. “Do you want to talk about it?”
His gaze sharpened. “I’m fine.”
No, you’re not. Holly pressed her lips together and then added, “Do you know Robin Hoyte?”
“Who?”
“Robin Hoyte. I was doing some research and his name came up—”
The cart came to a sudden stop. “What do you mean, research?”
Holly blinked. What part of that was vague? “I mean…I went to the school library and looked into the local archives. I thought there might be something to explain your…” What did he call it? “Moon sickness.”
Jacob’s playful warmth had completely frozen over. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
Was he kidding? This was starting to sound like a bad Nancy Drew novel. “What…is there something you don’t want me to find?”
“No…no,” he said empathically, and then caught himself. “Listen, princess…I just don’t want you getting your hands dirty with this. It’s not your problem.”
Not my problem? My husband wakes up with night terrors. That’s my problem. Instead of giving Jacob a well-earned lecture, she just said, pleadingly, “Jacob…”
“Don’t go looking into this. I can solve it. On my own.”
“But—”
“That’s an order.”
She set her jaw. He’d pulled the Alpha card. He was in a state now and she knew arguing with him was only going to inflame the matter. “Yes,” she said as she dropped the Winnie the Pooh pillow in the cart. “Of course.”
Chapter 33
“Yes, of course,” my ass. Holly went back to the library the very next day, digging through the archives once more. She found a couple more sidebar articles about the bear problem and Robin Hoyte and snapped screenshots before hitting the print button.
Holly got up and her heels sank soundlessly into the soft carpet as she made her way over to the printer. Her thoughts were interrupted by a girl’s soft giggles drifting out of one of the aisles. Holly thought nothing of it until the giggles were silenced and turned into quiet gasps and moans.