by Selena Scott
Jackson sighed, turning back to Seth. For a moment, Seth wondered if maybe Jackson was sick. Purple deepened under his eyes and his shoulders slumped in what was either exhaustion or defeat.
“Are you okay?” Seth asked, taking a step toward his brother. “You… don’t look so good.”
“I’m fine. Just a hard day at work today. Had to put down two dogs.”
Seth’s heart broke a little. He knew how hard his brother took that kind of thing, how connected he was to his animal patients, especially the canines.
“I’m sorry, dude.”
“That’s life,” Jackson shrugged, moving through the house and grabbing his car keys.
“Yeah, and sometimes life sucks.”
Jackson’s eyebrows rose as he nodded. “Let’s go eat pizza.”
***
As much as he’d cajoled Jackson into joining them, about an hour into arriving at Coretti’s, Seth was wishing he’d taken his brother up on the offer to just chill at his house. Coretti’s was loud, dark and seedy. The pizza was as good as the music was bad.
Seth sat in a booth in a back corner with Jackson across from him. The two of them smirked at Raphael having the time of his life on the dance floor, freaking some college girl and laughing at something that Sarah was shouting to him.
Seth’s eyes, for the millionth time that night, were drawn to Sarah. Her hair was loose and down her back, she wore black jeans and a black tank top and black high-top sneakers. Some bozo had his arm around her waist as he spun her across the dance floor.
She was a good dancer, Seth admitted grumpily to himself. And why wouldn’t she be? She was an incredible athlete, completely in tune with her body. It made sense.
He unpeeled his eyes from the dance floor and back to Jackson who was squinting at him. Jackson’s eyes bounced between the dance floor and Seth. Seth had the uncomfortable feeling that pieces were being put together.
“Oh, look,” Seth said, glancing up at the door and immensely grateful for the distraction. “The girls are here.”
“What girls?” Jackson asked, and then stiffened the second that Nat and Kaya appeared at their booth.
“Hi, boys!” Nat sparkled, grinning around at the group and waggling her fingers. “Anybody need beers? I’m buying!”
“I’ll take one,” Seth said, holding up his empty glass.
“Me, too,” Kaya said quietly. She wore her hair in a messy bun on top of her head and a sweatshirt and yoga pants, but she was still turning almost every male head in the establishment.
“Done-zo!” Nat said and bounded toward the bar with her endless source of energy. Kaya, who was normally quite at ease in her own skin, glanced between the table and her sister, as if she were undecided whether to stay or go.
“Take a load off,” Seth called to her, scooting down in the booth.
Kaya’s eyes shot to the empty seat beside Jackson and then landed on Seth, her expression melting into gratitude as she sat beside Seth.
They’d always been like water and oil, those two, but lately Seth was starting to really wonder about why they were like that. Was it just a clashing of personalities? Or was there something more?
As soon as Kaya sat next to Seth, he felt the appraisal of about ten different male eyes on him. Men sizing him up, wondering exactly what his relationship with Kaya was. When Seth glanced across the table, he was surprised to find Jackson giving him the exact same look. Half a second later, Jackson’s eyes landed on Kaya’s face and then they skittered off onto the dance floor.
“Are you even old enough to drink?” Jackson asked in a low voice. Seth hid his smirk. Because he was willing to bet big money that his brother knew exactly how old Kaya was. He bet it bothered the hell out of him, too.
Kaya stiffened. “I’m twenty-two.” She turned to Seth. “Who’s that woman Raphael is chatting up?”
Seth looked out at the floor. “I think her name is Rachel?”
“No, not the one he’s grinding his dick on, the one he’s talking to.”
Jackson, who’d been taking a swallow of water, regurgitated it. He swiped a hand over his beard and frowned at Kaya. Apparently, he’d been unprepared to hear her say the word ‘dick’.
“Oh,” Seth said. “That’s Sarah. My neighbor.”
Kaya’s cheeks flushed and she did an almighty double take. “Oh my God! She looks so different than she did on TV. I can’t believe she’s here!”
Seth agreed. Sarah did look different. On TV, dressed in her athletic gear, she looked focused and competent. On the dance floor, dressed in all black with that hair swinging every which way, she looked hot.
“I can introduce you if you want.”
“Who is she?” Jackson asked, leaning across the table.
Kaya leaned into Seth just a little bit, as if Jackson leaning toward her unsettled her and Jackson clocked the movement, his gaze clashing with Seth’s.
“Oh,” Kaya explained. “She’s an Olympian. And she just moved across the street from Seth.”
Seth let Kaya’s voice fade away as he watched Sarah on the dance floor, laughing with Raph and dancing with another man. The other dude was getting irritated with her lack of attention, but he also had his hands all over her midriff, so Seth figured the guy better take the W and be grateful for it.
There was something about Sarah’s appearance that drew Seth. She looked very different from all the other women on the dance floor. He knew that it was because of her athleticism. It was her toned arms and thick thighs. He knew there was a logical reason for it. But to him, there was also a magic to it. It was truly like she was a goddess and the rest of the women were mere mortals. He didn’t mean that in a hyperbolic way. To him, she really looked like a real-life rendering of Athena, goddess of war. All that honey hair down her back and a surety and confidence in every move she made.
“Nectar of the gods,” Nat said, shoving a beer under his nose and making him wonder if she’d somehow read his thoughts.
“Thanks.”
Nat handed Kaya her beer and then slid into the booth beside Jackson.
“Budge up,” she told him. “I can’t get more than one ass cheek on this bench seat unless you give me a little space.”
Jackson’s tense demeanor cracked just a little bit and he gave Nat some room. But she took that room right back when she slid into his side in a friendly, comfortable way. Jackson’s moodiness, his aloof manner, his occasional rudeness, none of it had ever been enough to scare off Nat. She treated him like a harmless older brother. A buddy she could always tease into a smile.
“So, any hot prospects, Sethy?” Nat asked, letting her head rest on Jackson’s shoulder for a moment.
“Taking a break from hot prospects,” he told her, taking a swig of beer and refusing to let his eyes wander back to the dance floor.
“Crash and burn with June?”
Seth shrugged. “Actually, June was cool.”
A sad look passed over Nat’s face. “Ah. Menstrual issues, then.”
Jackson and Seth couldn’t help but laugh. The way they did every single time Nat referred to their full moon issues as ‘menstrual issues’. Every time the full moon was on its way, Nat had herself a barrel of laughs with that-time-of-the-month jokes.
Still chuckling, Seth dragged a hand over the back of his neck. “You could say that. We’re not the easiest guys to live with, you know.”
The sisters exchanged some complicated eye contact that Seth couldn’t even begin to interpret.
But before anything else could be said, Raph and Sarah were back at the table, laughing and panting.
“Hey, girlies,” Raph said, planting a sloppy kiss on Kaya’s cheek and then jamming himself in beside Nat, squishing her between the brothers.
“Oh, gross, Raph. You’re so freaking sweaty.”
“Dance moves like the ones I got come at a price,” he told her somberly, picking up Nat’s beer glass and swallowing down a solid third of it in one gulp.
She flicked hi
s ear. “You better get my next round.”
“Don’t I always?” He grinned at her.
She pinned her lips up to one side. “Literally never. Not once. Ever. In the million years that we’ve known one another.”
“Seth, scoot down!” Kaya hissed in his ear in an uncharacteristically frantic tone of voice.
He looked over and realized that Sarah was lingering at the edge of the booth, wondering where she should sit, and Kaya had just turned into a ball of starstruck nerves.
Seth winced as Kaya’s elbow—apparently not as nervous as she was—became intimately acquainted with his ribs. Rubbing at the sore spot, he scooted down the bench.
“Everyone, this is Sarah Moyer, my new neighbor. Sarah, this is Natalie and Kaya Chalk and that’s my oldest brother, Jackson.”
“Hi, everyone.” Sarah gave the perfunctory wave around the group and dropped herself into the seat next to Kaya.
“I know who you are,” Kaya blurted, before she went bright red. “I mean… I mean to say that I’m a huge, huge fan.”
Sarah’s eyebrows went up but Seth could see the smile flirting behind her expression. “You must be a diehard fan if you’d still cop to it even after my showing at this past Olympics.”
It was the first time that Seth had heard her bring up her poor showing at the most recent summer Olympics. He’d never admit it out loud, but he’d spent some time googling her this week. And as much as he was inclined to bow down at her athletic feet, even he had to admit that she’d done really, really poorly at her sport. Her performance had been so bad that he’d actually understood why she’d been investigated for cheating. Cheating or some kind of undisclosed illness were the only two reasons he could come up with for why she’d have bombed so hard.
Kaya shook her head vehemently. “I admired the way you handled that. And I’ve followed your career for years, so I’ve seen you win a million different competitions. I just think you’re so badass.”
Kaya lifted her hands to her pink cheeks. “Oh my God,” she whispered to herself. “I am being such a dork right now.”
Finally, Sarah gave her a real smile, and a chuckle to go with it. “No, you’re not. Fact is, you’re flattering the hell out of me. Archery isn’t the most popular sport. Outside of specific competitions, I don’t interact with very many fans.”
“Have you done any shooting since you’ve been in Colorado?” Raphael asked, polishing off the rest of Nat’s beer and enduring one of the Chalk sister’s famous rib-poking elbows.
Sarah bit her bottom lip in what appeared to be a moment of nervousness that surprised Seth. He was used to seeing her confident.
“No,” she shook her head. “Honestly, I haven’t even unpacked my equipment yet.”
“You know,” Jackson said, finally pulling his eyes away from Kaya’s pink cheeks and joining the conversation. “I think there’s a range out by Eldorado Springs. It’s not that far.”
Sarah nodded, tracing something in the condensation of her beer glass. Then she turned and faced Kaya. “I’ll go if you go.”
“M-me?” Kaya sputtered. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’m not kidding. You wanna go with me?”
“I’m a complete amateur. I’ve never even held a bow before.”
“I’ll teach you.”
“Hey!” Seth squawked. “You turned me down two hours ago. Said I couldn’t afford your services.”
The table laughed as Sarah shrugged. “Girls get a discount. Boys already have too much of a leg up in the world of athletics.”
Seth bobbed his head from side to side, figuring he probably couldn’t argue with that logic. But just as he was about to open his mouth to say something back to her, the bozo she’d been dancing with popped up again, standing at the edge of their booth.
“Hey, Sarah. Wanna dance some more?” The guy held out a hand to Sarah, looking totally nervous that she was about to say no.
Say no, Seth chanted in his head. Kick his ass to the curb.
“Sure.” And then she was up, out of the booth and out on the dance floor, never looking back.
CHAPTER SIX
Three days later, Bauer dropped his half-eaten sandwich onto his plate and crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing Elizabeth.
“Not a fan of turkey?” she asked, though it was clear to her that that wasn’t the problem. The man obviously had something to say. Besides, he hadn’t complained about a single meal she’d prepared for him. Either the man wasn’t picky at all, or he’d been hungry enough in his life to know never to pass up a good meal, no matter how it tasted.
“Sandwich is fine,” he grunted. “Good.”
Those ice blue eyes of his bored into her in a way that she’d become familiar with, but she didn’t think she’d ever get used to. Bauer raised the hairs on her arms and she really couldn’t say if that was a good or bad thing.
It helped that he looked a bit less wild than he had a week ago. After she’d thrown him the towel and pointed him to the bathroom, he’d emerged a bit of a different man. Apparently, he’d found the shaving kit her sons had left in the cabinet because when he’d opened the door to the bathroom to head out to his place in the garage, he’d been clean shaven, little bits of toilet paper stuck to his chin. His silver hair had been shorn short as well. Not in any particular style, but short enough to keep it out of his eyes.
She hadn’t let his change in appearance soften her to him. Well, not much, at least. He still slept in the garage like a stray dog and her pellet gun was her constant companion. The other morning she’d picked up some bear spray in town as well. It sat comfortingly in the pocket of her trousers even as they ate their lunches.
“Then what’s the issue?” she asked dryly, her face neutral, even bored. She’d taken to hiding as much of her emotions from him as she could, considering he wasn’t someone she trusted as far as she could toss him up the mountain.
He eyed her for another long minute. “Why haven’t you kicked me out by now?”
Her eyebrows rose up. She chose not to answer.
“You don’t strike me as the kind of woman who goes back on your word, Elizabeth. And I clearly remember you telling me my lease was only good for few days. So why am I still here?”
He picked up his sandwich again, but instead of taking a bite out of it, he gestured with it.
“If you’re not sending me packing, it must be for some good reason.” He paused and took a bite, but he seemed to be having a grand old time figuring this out for himself, so she saw no reason to interrupt him.
He swallowed his bite. “Must be because you want something from me.”
Again, she kept her face neutral as she neither confirmed nor denied. Instead, she took a bite of her own sandwich, her eyes shooting him a dry, bland look.
He was right, as it was. She did want something from him. She wanted it desperately. But as of yet, she had no clue how to get it from him.
They slowly finished their food, eyeing one another. When Bauer was done, he drained his glass of lemonade and leaned back in his chair again. This was unusual. Typically, the second he was done eating, he was up, out of his chair and gone until the next meal. There was never a thank you or an offer to help with dishes.
Frankly, Elizabeth was grateful for that spot of rudeness from him. It kept her suspicious, reserved feelings for him firmly intact.
“Does this have to do with the other morning?” he eventually asked.
Elizabeth kept her face calm, but she couldn’t stop the rush of blood that hit her cheeks. It was ridiculous to be embarrassed about this. It wasn’t as if she’d walked in on the man naked or something. But part of her felt as if she had. As if she’d violated some natural order that she shouldn’t have.
Four mornings ago, around ten, Elizabeth had figured that Bauer had already disappeared for the day, as was his habit. She wouldn’t see him until he got hungry around one. She didn’t think twice about stepping into her garage to take her garbage out. But Bauer had not b
een gone. He’d been sleeping on his cot still. And he hadn’t been a man.
Nope. He’d been a coyote, sleeping in a knot, his snout snugly pressed under one paw.
Elizabeth had jumped a foot in the air and dropped the garbage. The coyote had lifted his head and stared at her with ice blue eyes. Leaving the dropped bag, Elizabeth simply turned on her heel and disappeared back into the house.
Her heart had raced a mile a minute, her mind spinning with the ramifications of what she’d just seen. And frankly, it hadn’t stopped spinning.
That was twice that Elizabeth had seen this man shift into his animal form on any old day. Without the full moon.
Was it voluntary? Could he control it? Was there some other natural rhythm that he was beholden to? She’d never, in all her years of shifter research, come across information implying that any shifter was made to shift on a different part of the moon cycle, but perhaps Bauer needed to shift during crescent moons?
She had a hundred questions and, as their answers had potentially serious consequences for the lives of her children, well, she needed information from him. She didn’t know how to ask him without showing her hand. She knew that the way she chose to try to get the information could have serious consequences for whether or not she actually got it.
The only thing she could think to do was to let him stay while she figured out a way to get him to tell her what she wanted to know. She figured she’d have to win his trust somehow. He didn’t exactly look like the kind of guy who’d spill his secrets over a bottle of wine and a pedicure.
Elizabeth didn’t answer his question, but apparently, she didn’t have to.
“You want something from me, I can’t give it to you unless you ask,” he told her.
She held his icy stare. “If I ask for it, then you’ll know what I want. And you’ll suddenly have a hell of a lot of leverage.”
He surprised the heck out of her by tipping his head back and chuckling. “You’re an interesting woman, Elizabeth.”
She frowned at the compliment.
