Free Isabel and the Wolf: (Part 4) by Ariana Hawkes Page A

her curtains was like an icepick in her brain. She kept the house as dark as possible, and only staggered out to get a glass of water from time to time.
    “How did you get here?” Isabel asked, opening her door to Kara early in the evening.
    “It was fine! I got chatting to a sweet old couple on the flight, and they were going to Las Cruces, and they dropped me off on the way!”
    “That’s so lucky!” Isabel said. “I was worried you’d have to take the Greyhound.”
    “Me too!” Kara rolled her eyes. “You sound really croaky.” She followed Isabel back to her bedroom and put her hand on her forehead. “You feel a little hot too.”
    “That’s because my brain’s been exploding all day!”
    “Migraines are the worst, huh?”
    “It’s actually only the third one I’ve ever had. And all three have been after some emotional drama.”
    “Oh yeah – I remember the one when you and Jason – ”
    “Exactly.” Kara was referring to the night when Isabel told her long-term boyfriend – surprising even herself – that she didn’t want to be with him anymore. Hours later, she’d been hit by a snow-blind headache so intense that she’d had to stay in bed for three days.
    “And the other one?”
    “When I had a miscarriage, without even knowing I was pregnant.”
    “Oh, sorry.” Kara rubbed her nose. “I guess discovering that a couple of men you’ve been intimate with are actually werewolves could be classed as an extreme emotional event.”
    “Yup.” Isabel turned her head with difficulty and looked at Kara. “Thank you so much for coming here so quickly. I feel like you’re the older sister I never had.”
    “Except better, because I didn’t ruin your childhood by dropping caterpillars into your ears and hiding fake poop in your bed!”
    “You used to do that to your brothers?”
    “Well, maybe.” Kara rested her hand lightly on the top of Isabel’s head. “But, seriously, how many breakups and heartaches have you nursed me through?
    “I guess there’s been a couple.”
    “Exactly.”
    “What am I going to do about living here, in Silver City?” Isabel asked, with a burst of anxiety.
    “Let’s discuss that when you’re feeling better, little one.”
    Kara ordered pizza and then she watched a movie while Isabel dozed, waking up to chat here and there. They both fell asleep on the bed, waking late the next day.
    Isabel’s headache hung around until the afternoon, but she and Kara used the quiet day to work out a plan. They would stay at Isabel’s place for a couple of weeks at least, to give her time to process her feelings, and, if she wanted to leave after that, they could move to Las Cruces until Kara had finished her excavation.
    “I think I want to go for a walk,” Isabel said, at around 4pm.
    “Out in nature, or in the town?”
    “In the town, I think.”
     
    They left Isabel’s car in the parking lot behind Buffalo Bar, and wandered down the main street. The sky was pale blue, almost white, as the sun slid down low, edging towards the distant hills.
    “Is it me, or has something changed here?” Kara said.
    “I was thinking the same thing, but I dismissed it as paranoia.”
    “I feel like people are looking at me funny.”
    “Me too.” As they slowed to look in a shop window, a woman stopped in front of them. She was wearing a shapeless brown dress, and her long gray hair was loosely tied. She had a pale face, with large hazel eyes, and she could have been anywhere from late twenties to mid-forties.
    “Where are you girls from?” she asked them. Isabel frowned at the sharpness in her tone.
    “I’m just down here for a couple of months,” Kara said immediately, in her typical friendly way.
    “Is that so?” the woman said. “And what brings you here?”
    “I’m an archaeologist. I’ll be working on some Aztec ruins, about an hour from here.” The woman nodded, satisfied.
    “And you, young lady?”
    “I’m an artist. I moved here a couple of months