Free Hot Springs Werewolf Complete Series (BBW Werewolf Erotic Romance) by Emily Cantore Page A

later and handed me a yellow business envelope.
    "Open it in the truck dear." She nodded at me and then winked.
    "Um, okay. Thanks."
    I left the hall wondering who I could speak to in my family to find out more about the Finch family in Hot Springs. Dad had been a direct-line Finch but he'd been gone since I was sixteen. We'd never met his parents (as far as I knew they were deceased) and while I was aware Dad had a brother, I had no idea what his name was and had never met him either.
    I got into Boris and opened the envelope to find my giant grandma underwear inside, folded flat. I blushed with such intensity I swear the temperature in the cabin went up a few degrees. I started Boris, determined to get out of there before I self-combusted. As I pulled out, I looked back to see Eadie watching me from the door with a twinkle in her eye and a definite cheeky old lady smirk on her face. She waved at me and I managed a head-down-don't-look-I'm-so-embarrassed wave back.
    *
    T he Finch Mansion was on the far side of town, almost opposite to where I was living. The drive gave me time to cool down which was a good thing because I was all kinds of shades of red and pink.
    I knew I should be writing (it was the whole point of being here) but at the same time I knew if I didn't find out the Finch history in Hot Springs it would drive me mad. That wolf who'd turned into a girl had called me the new Finch. So did Freyr. And what was his deal anyway? The Guile family stole his land with the help of a Finch and he didn't want it to happen again? I had to talk to Red.
    Of course, I had bigger things to discuss with Red than family history. Like the matter of his wife. They must be separated or maybe she'd been away. There was definitely no feminine influence in Red's house.
    As soon as I thought that, I rolled my eyes at myself. Like what Harper? Flowers? Something girly? Dork.
    Soon I reached the edge of town and headed out a road that quickly downgraded to busted up rough dirt. It had been asphalt at some time in the distant past but clearly hadn't been maintained. I slowed Boris down and jolted along, feeling every bump in the road in my bones and hearing him squeak and creak.
    I saw the mansion long before I reached it. Or the peaked roof at least. There was a tall grove of trees standing between the city and the property. I reached the driveway and found that someone had laid down lumber at some point which had sunk down into the road, like it had once been liquid mud. I slowed Boris to a crawl and crept up the winding path which curved around to the left and then opened up to reveal a spectacular mansion of dark brick.
    Spectacular in the sense of multiple storeys up, gigantically big sideways and clearly run down and decrepit. I saw three stone gargoyles up at the top and the ruined nubs where others must have stood. Most of the windows on the bottom floor were boarded up with plywood. Up on the second storey some of the windows were intact but looked dirty. There were cracks all over the place and it looked like one good earthquake (or maybe even a good sneeze) would bring the whole thing tumbling down.
    I turned Boris off and sat there in the not-quite-silence. Birds were quietly chirping away, the wind was rustling the leaves and the sound of a thousand living things murmured softly to themselves. The mansion looked gothic and a little ominous but the shining sun took the edge off.
    I got out of Boris and walked to the front door, expecting it to be locked but it swung open when I turned the handle. Was there someone here?
    "Hello?"
    My voice echoed through the house, sounding like the start of every horror movie I'd ever seen. Hello? Is there anyone here? Oh, I'm just going to skinny dip in the lake where all those teenagers died on this very day ten years ago.
    I knocked on the solid ornate door and called out again but there was no response. The place was empty.
    I edged into the entrance hall and then told myself off. If I