The blond boy nodded his head in acknowledgement and grinned. “I’m her assistant.”
“And my bellboy,” she retorted with a splash of water.
Billy shook his head to wake himself from this strange dream. The one-bedroom home might not have been much to look at, but it was thoroughly his. The idea of people barging in and making themselves at home made him bristle with anger.
“This is my home. You don’t need to do that,” he said, taking a step toward the kitchen. He paused when the towel slipped an inch more and he needed two hands to keep it up.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind.” Stasia waved a hand over her shoulder, her eyes glued to the dishes. “As soon as I’m done, we can head to the barber.”
Billy’s face flushed and he sputtered out a few unintelligible words. “I can’t do that.”
“Well, not dressed like that, you can’t.” She gazed at him, her eyes raking over his naked chest and down to the white fluffy towel.
Suddenly aware of his delicate position, he grunted and marched toward his room to change. The sound of a young werewolf’s laughter followed him. Fully clothed and feeling much more confident, he headed back into the kitchen where Stasia was making good headway with his mountain of dishes.
“I’m not going to the barber,” he said through gritted teeth. “That wasn’t part of the bargain. Besides, that old man’s a hack. Wouldn’t surprise me if he cut off half my ear in the process.”
In Billy’s opinion, Bernie Little had been cutting hair for far too long. He was half-blind and shaky. Billy’s distrust of the man was partially to blame for his own shaggy look. The rest of it was simply laziness.
“I was thinking you’d say that.” Stasia turned to him, her eyes twinkling. “That’s why I bought a set of clippers at the Mart this morning. Maxim’s going to help. We can’t have you looking like a woolly mammoth for the cameras, can we?”
He stared at her for a long minute, emotions fighting for purchase inside his head. Same old Stasia. Her reckless joy and enthusiasm had been what had attracted him to her in the first place. Back when he didn’t know she was a princess and she’d kept the secret tightly locked away from even him.
They’d met down at the arcade between rounds of vintage pinball. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out that she was squatting in the old abandoned mansion down by Sweetwater Creek. Back then, he’d thought she was just another teenager. How was he to know that the very girl he’d fall for would turn out to be the next in line for the werewolf throne? If he’d known sooner, maybe things would’ve turned out differently and he wouldn’t have fallen so hard.
“Fine.” He shook his head in surrender. “Just get it over with. And watch the ears.”
Stasia whooped and threw her hands in the air, little water droplets flying everywhere. She turned off the water and went for the clippers sitting on the kitchen table.
“Uh, just one question.” Billy’s mouth twisted into a cynical frown. He eyed her as she fumbled with the bundle. “Have you actually ever cut anyone’s hair before?”
The ominous buzz of electric clippers filled the air and Stasia beamed at him. “Nope. Guess we’ll have to see how this goes.”
❖
Stasia stood back to admire her handiwork. The floor around them was littered with hair, but Billy now donned a short and clean hairstyle that fit him much better than his old unkempt look. With every swipe of the clippers, the young boy she remembered from their youth seemed to emerge. It was especially apparent when the beard disappeared.
“One last swipe and I think we’re good,” Stasia announced, moving closer to trim the remaining length along his jawline.
She ran her fingers down the stubble and held his chin in place. Billy closed his eyes and she thought she could feel him lean into her touch. As her heart began to pound loudly in her chest, she clicked on the buzzer to hide the noise.
She’d had a similar reaction to seeing him only an hour ago in nothing but a towel, water dripping over his muscular abdomen. The electrifying shock had forced her into action, reaching for the nearest activity to divert her attention and hide her reddening cheeks. The dishes still soaking in dirty dishwater were evidence of her near panic attack.
“There, all done.” She turned off the clippers and unwrapped the towel from around his neck. Holding a mirror in front of his face, she smiled and popped a hip. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“It feels...different.” Billy stared into the surface for a few seconds and then began to run a hand over the closely trimmed hair and beard.
If he’d been good looking before, it was nothing compared to now. Throw him in a suit and he could be on the next cover of the supernatural version of GQ. Stasia tore her gaze away and glanced at a snoozing Maxim on the sofa. So much for her assistant. He’d flipped the TV to a sports channel and promptly fallen asleep. Not even the clanging of a fire alarm would wake him now. When that boy fell asleep, he stayed asleep. She might as well get some more work done until he finished his nap.
“Since we’re waiting on sleeping beauty over there,” Stasia tilted her head at her snoring brother, “would you mind if we delve a bit into the interview portion?”
Displeasure rolled across Billy’s face, but he gave his consent with a curt nod of his head.
“Great. Why don’t you start by telling me why you went to Alaska?” Stasia yanked a spare chair from the dining table and sat across from him. Licking her lips, she pulled a small notebook and pencil out of her jeans’ back pocket. “I’d like to start from the beginning. Get my information straight.”
He glanced at her, dark emotions clouding his eyes. With the clearing of his throat, those emotions disappeared and he gazed down at her notebook with disinterest. “It was a deal my father had begun to set up in my early twenties. If you remember, he was the beta wolf of the Fang pack. Second man in charge and essential to their leadership. I was always set to take his place one day, but I guess he saw more potential in me.”
Stasia nibbled on the end of her pencil. “And this new pack didn’t have a leader?”
“Not anyone fit to be an alpha. The Sitka werewolf pack was flailing. They were an ancient pack with strong bloodlines running through their veins. They just needed direction. After my father died, I made it my mission to finish what he’d started. Preserve the Sitka pack.”
She nodded along and scribbled down some notes. Their viewers would love the idea of a handsome small-town hero, setting out to make a difference in the world. They’d lap it up.
“Did you like it out there? I’ve always heard that you can lose yourself in the Alaskan wild.”
The corners of his mouth curled up into a soft smile. “It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. My wolf could’ve spent all its time in the mountains, closed off from the rest of the world. We would’ve been happy. At least, that’s what I remember.”
She returned his smile. It was nice to see him open up. It was like the way they used to talk. No boundaries, no topic off limit. Maybe this interview process wouldn’t be so hard after all.
Looking down at her notes, she scratched the side of her cheek absentmindedly with the end of the pencil. “How long were you over there before the hunters attacked?”
The smile disappeared from Billy’s face. He worked his jaw, turning his head away. His hands clutched his knees so tight that his knuckles turned white. “Ninety-seven days and six hours. We’d just had our first initiation ceremony of a young man entering his eighteenth year. The bite had been successful and we all celebrated with a midnight sprint through the forest. We never imagined what horror lay in wait for us when we returned home...”
He stared at the floor, glassy-eyed and rigid. Without thinking, Stasia reached out to place her hand on his. He trembled beneath her touch. Running the pad of her thumb over his knuckles, she waited for him to come out of the thrall. They’d be working through a lot of old memories in the next couple days. It was best if he processed them slowly.
/>
Suddenly, his head snapped up and he snatched his hand away from hers. Blinking several times, he jumped to his feet and released a large breath of air.
“I need to get to work,” he said, glancing at the plastic clock on the wall. “My client wants his pickup back today. I’m already behind schedule. I don’t have time for this right now.”
Stasia looked up at him and fumbled with the notepad and pencil in her hands. “But if you could just answer a couple more questions...”
“Tomorrow.” He marched toward the front door and pointedly held it open for her.
Maxim began to stir on the couch. His blue eyes popped open and he stared around wildly. “I think I fell asleep. What’d I miss?”
“Nothing,” Billy said in a deadpan voice. “You and your sister were just leaving.”
“Oh, cool.” Maxim grinned and turned to look at her. “Just in time for the arcade to open. Good timing, sis.”
Stasia sighed and closed the notepad. That would have to be it for the day. Billy had closed tighter than a clam on a precious pearl. She’d have to work the story out of him, little by little. It didn’t bother her. She was a patient werewolf. It was her boss who wouldn’t be so understanding. Already, she expected three emails and a voicemail to be waiting for her once she got back to her motel room.
“Tomorrow,” she repeated to Billy as she passed him out the door.
He glanced at her, tight-lipped, and averted his eyes.
It was going to take every charm Stasia possessed to get Billy Finley to reveal his secrets. She only hoped it was enough.
Chapter Eight
Billy wiped his hands on a greasy rag and stood back from the Chevelle, admiration evident in his bright eyes. “What do you think? A work of art, isn’t she?”
Garret pressed his lips into a thin line and squinted at the car. He tilted his head to one side and then the other. “If you say so. Looks more like a heap headed for the junk pile, if you ask me.”
Billy pressed a hand to his heart and grunted, staggering in place. “Take it back, man. Take it back.”
“Alright, I take it back.” Garret raised his hands in surrender. His squinted once more at the car. “Do you think a car like this could get your sister to go out with me?”
“Man, I don’t want to have anything to do with that.”
He’d spent the entire day in the garage working on the classic. No interruptions, no nagging, no worries. A man’s paradise. As of yet, there was no sign of Stasia. Maybe, she’d just given up the whole project and gone back home.
A werewolf could dream.
Garret grinned and stretched his arms high above his head. “Are you coming to Bruce and Rita’s wild hare party tonight, or not? Last chance to join in on the fun.”
Billy shook his head. A wild hare party was just the kind of thing he usually tried to avoid. It was a customary celebration prior to a mating ceremony between two werewolves. An excuse to let loose and do irresponsible things. Most of the town would be there.
“I can think of a million better ways to spend my night,” he said, tossing the greasy rag aside. “Pigs will fly before you get me to join you.”
A black Lincoln pulled into the drive at that moment and he groaned. So much for Stasia abandoning the plan. She popped out of the passenger’s side, a smile stretching from ear to ear as she waved at them. Her short white skirt showed off her particularly shapely legs and Billy had a hard time tearing his eyes away.
“Ready to get started?” She approached them, an annoyingly cheerful skip in her walk. “I drafted up a whole new list of questions for today.”
Billy sucked in his cheeks and wracked his brain for a reason to get out of their impending torture session. Anything but that. Unfortunately, hours of inhaling engine grease fumes had left him feeling a little fuzzy. He reached for the first excuse he could find.
“Can’t right now. Garret and I were just leaving for a wild hare party.” He clamped down on his tongue, wincing at the words coming out of his mouth.
Garret’s mouth fell open. “But, you just said...”
“I was just saying that I can’t wait.” He stared pointedly at his friend. “And that I’ve been looking forward to this night all week. Wasn’t I?”
Garret stared at him, his mouth hanging open and confusion knitting his brow.
Stasia’s face fell and she fidgeted with her fingers. “Well, if you’re already booked...”
“All booked up.” He leaned his elbow on the hood of the car and flashed a toothy grin. “Solid.”
“In that case,” she looked up at him through her long dark eyelashes and shrugged innocently, “guess I’d better come along. No harm in having fun while getting the work done. That’s my motto. And besides, I’ve never experienced a wild hare party. The idea of them have always fascinated me.”
Billy had to grasp the car to keep himself from falling over. That wasn’t the plan.
“Am I allowed to crash the party?” Stasia turned to Garret. “Is that acceptable?”
He smiled big, the gap in his front teeth visible. “Definitely.”
“Is the princess sure she wants to mix with us common folk?” Billy asked, the corner of his mouth curling up into a cocky grin. Inside, his stomach churned. “I can guarantee that this won’t be anything like the fancy parties you’re so accustomed to back at the castle. In fact, it might even be a bit dangerous.”
She raised her chin and placed a hand on her hip. “This princess will do just fine, thank you very much.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, an unsaid challenge in their eyes. Billy’s lips twitched in an amused grin. As much as Stasia had tried when they were kids, she had never quite fit in with the rough and wild werewolves of Monstrana. It was time to remind her of that fact. If she wanted some fun, he was going to give it to her.
And chase that princess right back to the tower she came from.
❖
Billy hadn’t been kidding about rough and wild werewolves. Everywhere Stasia looked, it seemed that someone was either starting a fight, telling loud and crude jokes, or dancing crazily to a song blaring over car speakers. The wild hare party had been set deep in the woods near a deep and gaping quarry filled with dark, murky water.
Fully shifted werewolves prowled the edges of the clearing, their dark eyes reflecting the light of the campfire. The occasional eerie howl pierced the night. Altogether, it made for a rather ominous scene.
Stasia adored everything about it.
She hopped from one group of people to the next, gathering stories and meeting new people, all of whom seemed to take her over-eagerness in stride. It wasn’t until around midnight that she found Billy leaning against a tree all by himself, half hidden by the shadows. She had felt his eyes on her all night, watching and waiting.
“This is great,” she said, the headlights of a giant pickup reflecting off her teeth. “I can’t believe I was nervous about coming here.”
“Me, neither,” Billy grumbled, taking a sip of the can of pop in his hand.
She leaned on the tree next to him, grinning and biting her bottom lip. “Makes me think about that house party you took me to when we were seventeen. That was my first, you know?”
His eyebrows raised. “The one that Deputy Frank busted?”
“That’s the one.” She threw her head back and laughed. “I’ll never forget the way his stomach jiggled as he chased after us kids. Didn’t catch a single one. But he did manage to call all the parents the next day and get everyone in trouble. Weren’t you grounded for a week?”
“Maybe.” His lips twitched. “But it was totally worth it.”
“Definitely.”
She studied Billy’s face as the campfire flared and illuminated him fully. Nothing in the pleasant set of his mouth or the honest glint in his eyes would’ve told her that he was untrustworthy. In fact, the last few days had begun to wash away the old memories of betrayal.
For some strange reason, she long
ed to reach out and run her fingertips along the sharp angles of his face down to the corner of his mouth. To press her lips against his and feel his disapproval melt. She had the distinct feeling that he was feeling the same. Warmth spread in her stomach as he gazed down at her, desire burning in his eyes.
Nerves began to bounce around uncomfortably in her stomach. She yanked a notebook from the pocket of her sweater and held it in her shaky hands. “I guess we’d better get some work done...”
“Why’d you do it?” Billy closed the few inches left between them, until Stasia could practically feel the heat radiating off his body. “Why’d you let what we had die?”
She looked up into his feverish gaze and felt the blood rush to her cheeks. It was all she could do not to concentrate on his hard abdomen pressed up against hers. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“My letter.” Pain crossed his face. “I spilled my heart and you stomped on it. It didn’t have to be that way. We could’ve still remained friends.”
Her stomach roiled with anger and confusion. She splayed a hand on his chest and pushed him back a few inches. “Did you really think we could remain friends after what you did?”
He gritted his teeth and huffed. “And why not?”
She threw her hands up in defeat. There was no getting through to him. She’d come to Molodoy that summer to escape palace life. To clear her head and get a new perspective on life before her own biting ceremony. She’d taken every precaution to avoid her parents finding her. Using cloaking charms from a witch she’d befriended and relying on the small amount of cash she had in her pocket. Four weeks hadn’t been long enough. She wasn’t ready to go back.
But she’d made one giant mistake. On a hot summer afternoon, she’d confided in Billy. Spilled everything — about her royal birth, her problems, and even the reward her parents had put out to have her returned safely home.
They’d been the best of friends. Maybe, even something more. She never thought he would be the one to betray her for the reward money. But the next morning, half of the Monstrana palace guard had descended on the town, along with her parents. And when she’d confronted him about it, he hadn’t even tried to deny it. Of course they couldn’t go back to being friends.
Bite the Big Heartache: Werewolf Shifter Romance (A Monstrana Paranormal Romance Book 2) Page 5
