by Calinda B
“Works for me,” he said, leaning to kiss her cheek.
He smelled like pine tar, fresh air, and hot man, like he’d been walking through the woods all day. She wanted to swoon, to melt into his arms, to kiss and nuzzle and roll with him on every surface of her house, but rules were rules and he didn’t follow them. The townspeople would kill her if she hooked up with Hung.
“Need anything? Oh. I’ve brought you both water. Hand one back for Chia, please.” Once Cecil had passed her a bottle of water, Hung gently shut her door, then strode around to the driver’s side.
“So,” Hung said, heading toward the one lane road to her home. “Which bad news do you want first?”
Chia winced. “The worst, I guess. Let’s get it over with.”
“I’m not sure if one is worse than another but, okay. Seems Red and Dick are responsible for casting some sort of spell, making it impossible for the shifters to shift back, once they’re turned into their animal selves.”
Chia’s stomach slid to the floor. “Are you kidding me?” Her muzzy, drug soaked brain tried its best to wrap her mind around this new development. Is that what the shamans were doing in the cave?
“Nope.” Hung studied her in the rearview mirror, no doubt wondering how much she knew. “Hence, I’m still in town, being hunted by every jackass in these parts. Your place, at least, is safe, hidden somehow. Thank fuck. Apparently there’s a reward for bringing me in.” He chuckled. “The bounty hunter has a bounty on his head. Go figure. Oh, and there’s some sort of ordinance in this town to prevent me from acting in self-defense.” His gaze grew hard in the reflective glass.
She blushed and turned away. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about making a few changes.”
“Do ya think?” His voice held justified sarcasm.
Chia wanted to yell, “I’m doing the best I can! So I overdid it a little,” but she kept her tongue.
Hung slowed the Jeep to ease through some potholes, glancing at Chia as he did so, concern once more evident in his eyes. “Did that hurt? Still okay?”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
“So, are you saying, if I turn into my husky self, I can’t turn back?” Cecil, who’d been quiet until now, sounded shocked.
“Afraid so, mutt. People are pretty freaked. It’s lucky I changed back before the spell took hold or I’d be stuck, too.”
“What have you been doing since I was gone?”
His eyes met hers in the rearview. “This and that. Scouting. In human form. Even if I can’t shift, I still have skills. Trap detection, however, isn’t one of them. I don’t want to find them with my legs while traversing the valley glacier. Or anywhere, to tell the truth. I’ve been pretty careful.”
Chia studied his eyes. “So, have you been…um…sleeping at…”
He let out a soft chuckle. “You want to know if I’ve been sleeping with the whores, right? At the arcane club? What if I have?”
Her gut twisted, held in a knot of jealousy. “I’d think nothing of it. I’d expect nothing less.” She turned to stare at the white landscape, kissed by a pale, end of winter sun.
“Because I’m such an asshole, right?” His face hardened. “Who only thinks of himself?”
“You said it, not me.” Her lips pressed tightly together. She turned to squint at him.
“I’ve been watching your house, woman. Sleeping in your barn. On a bed of hay where I found my pants. Thank you, by the way. For, at least not shredding them.” His eyes met hers with steely regard.
Her insides turned to slush. She didn’t know whether to hug him in gratitude or tell him he trespassed on her property.
Cecil let out a laugh. “You’ve been keeping some mighty fine secrets, lil’ Summer.”
Chia wanted to stuff a sock in his mouth. She glared at him to keep quiet.
Hung continued. “You have a dog pack hanging around. They’re doing a good job guarding the perimeter, but they’re no match for a gun.” He turned to look at Cecil. “I found a dead dog far out in the field. Killed by gunshot. A boxer. Friend of yours?”
“Damn it,” Cecil said. He shook his head. “He was a good friend. Steady on his feet. Real loyal.” He swiped his eyes and looked out the window.
“I figured. I did my best to bury him but the ground’s pretty solid.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I’ll pay my respects if you tell me where to go.”
Chia watched the exchange, stunned. Who are you, Hung Durand? I’ve never seen this side of you. Or, maybe, I never wanted to.
“What’s going on in that clever mind of yours?” Hung turned his attention back to her. “You’re surprised I show signs of caring? For your information, I haven’t been back to the club since you found me there. I’m waiting to see what your next move is.”
A strange, seductive warmth filled her chest and groin. “You’re waiting to see what my next move is?”
“Yes. You’re still in charge here, remember?”
Not knowing whether he spoke of her job as town manager, or something else far more deadly and intimate, she said, “Guess I’ll have to keep you posted.”
“I won’t wait forever.”
They drove the rest of the way in silence. When they rounded the bend toward her house, a pack of wolves stood by the side of the road, their golden eyes bright and focused. Spying the truck, they raced alongside, like common dogs.
“And the shifter wolves have arrived. They were preceded by foxes, coyotes, mountain goats, and if you can believe it, a hyena or two. Strange. As if you can do anything.”
She flicked her gaze at him, then, flicked it away.
“You know something, don’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“Probably the same thing I know.” When his head pivoted around briefly to look at her, she saw glimmers of the fluid turning rotation of an owl.
“You’re the snowy owl,” she accused.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, making the last turn toward her driveway.
“Then how do you know what I know?”
“Maybe I was up there stalking those bastards. I told you. I’ve got skills.”
Her attention came to an abrupt about face when she saw her house.
Ringed with all manner of warring animals, it looked like a poorly managed zoo or a wilderness gone wrong. The dog pack lunged at the wolves as they loped toward the house. The wolves went for the dog’s throats. The mountain goats retreated in a wave of white fur and curved horns, wary, ready to kick the shit out of any predator who approached. The hyena circled, watching, waiting for some species to die so he could feed.
Cecil immediately exited, trying to keep his boys safe from the wolves. “Someone’s got to do something,” he yelled, waving his arms wildly at the wolves.
The wolves crouched, backing up, snarling, baring their flesh tearing teeth.
All eyes turned to Chia, as Hung helped her from the vehicle. Growls, yips, bleats, and whimpers indicated their displeasure.
“Ms. Petit needs rest. She’s had quite an ordeal,” Hung said crisply, helping her from the vehicle. “She has two bullet holes in her back and a concussion. Let her through.”
The yips and whimpers ceased. Eyes and ears trained on Chia. One of the wolves rolled on her side and bared her belly in supplication.
She lifted her foot to scratch the wolf’s belly, clutching Hung to keep her balance.
Another wolf licked her hand. His golden eyes looked at her with clear regard.
Hung helped her up the front steps, nudging her in front of him. “This situation will be dealt with posthaste. But not by her. Cecil and I will devise a plan.”
“Hey!” Chia hissed in his ear. “I’m not incapacitated, you know.”
Hung gently guided her into the house. “You need rest, woman, and rest you’re going to get. Don’t even think of doing something foolish. Let me and the dog take care of things. You heal.” He looked around once he’d stepped inside the foyer. “Where’
s your bedroom?”
“Going to make a move?” she snapped.
He whirled to face her. “Goddamn it, Chia, no. I’m going to make sure you get comfortable and then I’m going to leave. Stop thinking me completely without feeling.”
“Stop thinking of me as frail and incompetent.”
“I never think of you that way.” The veins in his neck pounded and pulsed. “Why on God’s green earth would I continue to take jobs in Charming? Except for my previous job, and the one I’m neglecting, the jobs that slink through Charming rarely pay that well.”
She looked at him with soft, confused eyes. “I thought you came to challenge my rules, mess with the system and make me fail.”
“What, like I’m a practical joker? A teenage prankster? I think twenty nine is too old for that kind of behavior.” He scoffed, pushing his hand through his tangled locks. “I come here hoping to get a shot at seeing you.”
“Then why do you fall into bed with whores?” Her nerves felt like frayed wires, sparking in the atmosphere.
“Because you won’t give me the time of day and I have needs.”
“Well, I have needs, too, and all my goddamned needs make it hard for me to do my job. I’m constantly distracted by my desires.” Feeling shaky and weak, she leaned against the wall.
“It’s the not getting the needs met that’s a distraction. Trust me.” Hung grinned. “When I’m not getting any I turn into a real bastard.” He kept grinning at her.
Chia stared at his smiling face. When he smiled, her insides lit up.
“When you do let someone in, you’ll find you’re much more efficient at your job.”
“There’s no one around.” She started to throw her hands into the air, but caught herself before stimulating any pain. “My last lover left me because I had to deal with you.”
“No one around, huh?” Hung’s eyes grew dark. His smile vanished.
“That’s not what I meant. I’m…I mean…I need to get to bed. I can barely stand.”
“Then let’s get you to bed. To rest. Because lord knows that’s the only thing you’ll be doing in there.” He followed her down the hall, placing his hand at her elbow to steady her, marching stiffly at her side. He peeled back the covers, assisting her in getting into her high bed, plumping the pillows for her.
“Don’t look,” she said. “I need to remove my pants.”
Hung grinned. “I can help with that.”
“No thank you,” she said, wanting his hands all over her. “Turn around.”
He sighed, but complied.
She tugged her boots off, unzipped her pants and flung them on the floor. “Okay, you can look.” She quickly tugged the covers up to her chin.
He spun quickly, trying, no doubt, to catch a glimpse. “Damn, woman. You’re far too fast.”
She smiled.
“Need anything? Water? Food?”
She closed her eyes. “No, thanks. My cupboards are pretty bare. I think I need to take my meds now. Ask Cecil to get my bag from the Jeep.”
She heard his trudging steps head down the hall. Heard him open the front door and shout orders to Cecil. She started to drift off when footsteps sounded in her bedroom. “Leave them on the side stand,” she said, eyes still closed.
“Nope, I’m going to make sure they go down the hatch,” Cecil said. “What did you do to piss off Hung?”
“Everything,” she said, opening her eyes, seeing her good friend, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She took the pills and the water and washed them down her throat.
“You’re crazy, lil’ Summer. You’re one of the smartest women I know and you refuse to see what’s right in front of your face.”
“What’s that?” Her eyes darted to the window.
“Hung Durand is in love with you. Or wants to be.”
Chapter Sixteen
Left to herself, Chia dozed and roused, dosed and roused. Each time she became conscious, Cecil’s words hung in the room like a slow burning fuse, the blasted words waving in the air like a flag.
The sentiments seemed to accompany the ghosts around the room, as if they, too, were an apparition. Does he love me? A bounty hunter in love? The idea seemed preposterous. As to her feelings—hormonal raging more like it—for Hung Durand? She wasn’t inclined to give the topic another thought. Unwilling to deal with the situation in any shape or form, she closed her eyes and willed herself back to sleep.
When she awakened again, ready to stay awake for a while, darkness had fallen. She flicked on her side light, blinking, trying to orient herself to her surroundings. The ghosts whirled around her head, agitated, as if quarreling. She squinted at them, counting them like sheep. One, two, three, four, five, six…seven?
She blinked, furrowed her face and counted again. One, two, three, four, five, six…another blurry form swirled along behind them. It came in and out of focus, like it was trying to take shape, another newly hatched apparition in her world.
She recognized it instantly as the feelings Cecil had given name to…the ones she didn’t want to face. “Grrr. Another goddamned ghost. And I’ll call you, ‘he loves me, he loves me not,’” she said. “Although tossing around the L word might be a bit premature, I should think, unless you call it lust.”
She grimaced and rolled her eyes. “Dag nab it. What is it with me? I can’t make up my mind about something, I do something I feel ashamed about and wham! A baby energy blip is born.” If she could have, she’d have kicked something. In her condition, that seemed unwise. “Meanwhile, I create rules and ordinances and laws until the entire town can’t breathe. It’s like my practical self runs smoothly while my emotional self needs to learn how to tie its own shoelaces.”
She watched the ghosts for a few seconds, perplexed. They seemed to dislike the newcomer. They appeared as upset and angry as the shifters outside, circling it like a pack of wolves ready to attack. At intervals, glimmers of red and orange light burst from all but the hatchling. She wanted to protect the baby energy blip. It seemed like her most vulnerable ghost. “Stop it,” she called. “Stop it right now.” Of course, they didn’t listen.
Groaning, she gingerly sat up. Her shoulder ached with a throb only partially dulled by the pain meds. Her last dose had already disappeared from her system.
Knock, knock, knock. Delicate tapping came from the closed door. Hung? She straightened her attire, plumped the pillows and tried to put on a cheery face. It felt forced, however, like she had a coat hanger rammed in her mouth, so she let it fall, prepared to let him see her as is. “Come in.”
D’Raynged peeked his head around the door. “I brought your mail.” He waved a stack of envelopes. “I went to the post office today.”
“Put it on the dresser, please.”
“You don’t look so good.”
“Thanks, D.” She slumped into the pillows at the sight of her roommate and his snark.
“I’d have said you look like the dead but, then…well…I look fantastic and I’m the dead one.”
“Yeah, we neurotypicals might need to modify that statement. Come in, please.”
The vampire stepped in the room, placed the mail on the dresser, and leaned against it in casual indifference.
Chia knew better. “What can I do for you?”
He looked like a million bucks—flawless face, smooth skin, hair swept to the side. Ever the Southern gentleman, he always looked like a million bucks. “Nothing much. Except for the little problem with a growing menagerie we have outside, the world is great.”
Chia tensed, wondering where this was heading. “It’s a spell of some sort. Not being an expert in magic, I’m not sure what to do about it.”
“I see.” His lips snapped shut making his face look like an impassive piece in Madame Tussauds’s Wax Museum.
Dag nab it, he’s displeased again. Two words, loaded with meaning. He might has well have said, watch your back, watch your front, watch your step and watch where you go. A whole lot of watching. “I’m, uh�
��a little incapacitated, in case you hadn’t noticed. Not exactly peppy. It will get taken care of.”
“By the dog or the hunter?” A chilly smile crossed his face.
“Not sure,” she said, cautiously. “Which dog? We have a whole pack of them outside.”
“Your friend. The good natured male.”
“Yes, he might be coming up with a plan.”
“With the hunter, am I right? Sultana’s would-be killer?”
“Maybe.” She stretched out the word like taffy, cocking her head to study him.
“Ah. It’s in the maybe status. Shall I bring you anything? More cheese and crackers? I can see if anything’s left in your fridge.”
Her stomach rumbled in answer, while suspicion swirled in her mind. “Yes, please. I’d appreciate it.”
“Anything for you, pet.” The words emerged with crisp precision and icy calm.
Why, oh, why did I rent my basement to a vamp?
His eyes narrowed. “I pay rent on time, remember? More importantly, I actually pay. I don’t freeload. I clean up after myself, I never make a mess, I’m polite and courteous. And I like you.” He nodded curtly, like she should be used to the mind reading stuff.
She stretched her lips into a smile, not sure if his liking her was a good thing. And the whole town will be dead if Hung kills Sultana.
“I’m merely efficient,” he said, answering her unspoken statement again. “I do what I say. The only reason I’ve tolerated your male hanging around the place is, one, Sultana is still alive and, two, he’s watching out on your behalf. You’re my landlady so it behooves me to wait to act.”
“He’s not my male. But thank you.”
“Please, child,” he said with a swish of his hand. “He’s pissing around the perimeter of the yard along with the other dogs and wolves.”
Chia choked back a laugh.
“That’s a territorial gesture used by a mate or protector. And you’re welcome. My fangs, however, are getting a mite twitchy. Besides him, there are a host of delicious beverages to choose from outside.” He swished his elegant hand into the air.
Chia groaned. “D, please, let me have one day of rest. Don’t kill any of the shifters. Or feed from them. Or whatever you do. Don’t.”
