Wolf’s Bane

ASKING PERMISSION

“Hello, mom! It’s Emily…”

At that point, Jack could hear various muffled but delighted female squeals and male yells in the background of his new fiancé’s phone call’s other line, which was obviously on speaker mode. He could easily tell that Em’s family was truly rejoicing over her return to Mendez.

After a few moments of awkwardly answering her parent’s and siblings’ questions about her sudden disappearance from their village, the young light-haired lumberyard owner cleared his throat to make the female abductee aware of his presence along with his willingness to rescue her from telling more about her past traumatic experiences to her very curious family members.

“Oh, by the way, I’d like to introduce a longtime friend to everyone there. Everybody, this is Jack. Remember the guy who gifted me the so-called alabaster box as you all called it years before? He would like to talk to you, Dad, if it’s OK?”

“Yes, I do remember him, daughter. Put him on the line, please…”

At her male paren