by Melissa Haag
I stared at the closed door for several minutes, too stunned by the bomb she’d just lobbed at me to react in any way. Ethan poked his head out the door, looked around, and stepped out fully dressed.
“I hope food’s been ordered. I’m starving,” he said, crossing the room. He shoved his dirty clothes in his bag. “And you can rub me in tonight.”
Shaking myself from my shock, I stood before Ethan could notice anything wrong.
“Sure.”
As we left the room to meet with the others, I refused to read into what Michelle had just said. It was information. That was it. Nothing more.
* * * *
The door to Charlene’s room opened before Ethan could even knock on it. Grey stepped aside to let us in. Everyone else was already there, and there wasn’t much room to move. Ethan and I stayed near the door and leaned against the wall.
I glanced around the room. When I saw Carlos, my stomach did a happy dance. Had it done that before? If it had, I’d never noticed it. Usually I was too focused on everyone else’s emotions and responses to pay much attention to my own. Why did Michelle have to go and point it out? Now, my reaction to Carlos was probably just like that time in elementary school. Someone had gotten lice and when the school nurse had shown up and explained why she needed to check our hair, I’d started scratching at my head like crazy.
A sudden wave of anger and frustration brought my focus back to the present situation, and I realized Ethan and I had arrived in the middle of a tense conversation.
“We need to decide,” Bethi said impatiently with a look at Winifred. “There are too many of them to keep running like this. We almost lost Gabby and Isabelle. The drive to find us is only going to increase as the end of the cycle approaches.”
Everyone else in the room seemed to be watching Winifred, who was giving Bethi a troubled look.
“The risks of trying to remain hidden are still better than if we expose our existence. Once we do that, we’ll have both the humans and the Urbat hunting for us,” Winifred said.
I glanced at Ethan while Bethi nodded. Was he as lost as I was?
“You’re right, we will,” Bethi said. “But that’s what will make it safer. The pressure won’t just be on us. It will be on them as well. Thanks to Gabby’s sonar, when we reveal ourselves, we can also reveal the Urbat and their location. They’ll have to scramble. During that chaos, we might just have a chance to find Olivia. With her, we can end this.”
The importance of what they were discussing hit me. They wanted to reveal themselves to the world.
“It could work,” Michelle said. “If we use Blake’s name.”
“What’s to stop him from revealing ours?” Winifred asked.
“Blake needs all six Judgements,” Bethi replied. “And he’ll know he won’t stand a chance at getting us back from humans if we are taken. He can’t risk revealing anything about us because of that.”
It surprised me that they were even considering revealing themselves. The panic it would cause...I shuddered. I didn’t want to be anywhere near that wreck when it went down.
“If we do this, we’ll need to go through a reputable source so it’s not brushed off as a hoax,” Michelle said. “A news station would be best. Preferably one with broad coverage.”
“I agree,” Bethi said. “We need to decide where and when, soon. We can’t just keep running around aimlessly. Gabby’s got to sleep sometime, and that’s all it’d take for them to get lucky again.”
“The where will help determine the when,” Michelle said.
“If we’re looking for broad news coverage,” Gabby said, speaking up for the first time, “New York would be the place to go. But, it puts us much closer to the danger because the Urbat are primarily in northern New York.”
“That’s actually perfect,” Bethi said. “Blake knows we need Olivia; I think once he sees we’re headed that way, he’ll call his troops back in. You know, fortify home base. He won’t expect us to stop at a news station.”
I liked how Bethi’s mind worked, but there were still some large holes in her logic.
“How are you going to get anyone to even listen to you, let alone put you on air?” I asked.
“Charlene will convince them,” Bethi said.
I glanced at Charlene. She looked uncomfortable, and I felt a wave of worry roll off her.
“Will you?” I asked her.
“I’m capable of manipulating wills. I’m not sure I should, though. Yet, I agree that Bethi’s plan has merit. It’s better than a life on the run.”
“Why aren’t you sure?” Winifred asked.
The worry grew stronger.
“Once we expose our existence, there’s no going back.”
I studied her for a moment longer. It wasn’t just worry but a hint of guilt. I spoke up.
“It’s not just the existence of the Urbat and werewolves we’re exposing. We’re risking exposing ourselves too, right?”
She held my gaze as a subtle thread of fear flavored her emotions. Then, she nodded. Something more was scaring her. What? Silence reigned for several minutes as the rest of the room thought over the situation.
Ethan shifted slightly beside me. He was probably bored. He had no real stake in this, and I just wanted to eat and then see if one of these guys would spar with me. Each second standing here meant that much longer I’d need to exercise.
“Seriously. If anyone has a better option, say it. Otherwise, we’re just postponing the inevitable,” Bethi said.
I applauded her impatience.
“You’re asking a lot of us,” Winifred said. “We need time to consider all the possibilities.”
“You’ve had over a week,” Bethi said, tossing her hands up in the air. Luke immediately reached for one of her runaway hands, and she calmed slightly.
Winifred looked at Grey, then Sam. Then, she sighed with a slight shake of her head.
“For better or worse, we agree with you. We can’t remain as we are.”
Thankfully, we were saved from more discussion by a knock on the door. Grey turned to answer it. A man with a cart waited outside and started passing in covered plates. Since I was third closest to the door, I had to pass twelve plates. Twelve delicious smelling platters warmed my palms. I wanted to raise the lid of each dish and lick whatever I found under it before passing it on, just because.
As soon as Ethan had his plate, he lifted the lid.
“Two burgers? Z, hit me. I’m in heaven.”
I had my own plate in my hand and lifted the lid. A single third pound patty rested between the two halves of the toasted bun. I glanced at everyone else’s plates. Michelle, Charlene, Bethi, and Gabby also only had one cheeseburger. I scowled at Ethan as I took a bite of my puny patty. Stacked with lettuce, tomato, fried onions, and two slices of cheddar, it made my mouth happy and lifted my mood a little. In all likelihood, I wouldn’t have finished a second burger. Ethan would probably be hard pressed to finish his. But I still would have liked to try.
Charlene turned on the TV. I appreciated the noise. It covered the sound of fifteen people chewing.
I watched TV with everyone else and gradually cleared my plate. Ethan drastically slowed down halfway through his second burger. I was half-tempted to steal it but knew what it would be like sparring on a packed stomach.
“Hey, Ethan,” Jim said. “If you’re not going to finish that, I will.” Jim had been checking out everyone else’s plates as soon as he finished his. Charlene shook her head but said nothing.
“All yours,” Ethan said, handing over the plate.
Everyone started passing their empty plates and lids back toward the door. Grey stacked them in the hall.
“If that’s all, I want to go check out the fitness room.” I stood, waiting for someone to object.
At Winifred’s nod, I left the room before everyone was done passing their plates.
Ethan left with me, as usual. Once the door closed behind us, I sighed in relief.
�
��Want company?”
“Nah. I’m going to run on the treadmill for a while.” Despite his amazing blocking, I needed some distance, even from him.
We walked back to our room. I changed into my three-quarter length exercise pants, then left him watching TV.
The fitness room was empty when I found it. I closed the door behind me, found the stereo, and turned on a local pop station. There was a certain smell to the exercise room—plastic, sweat, and metal—that relaxed me. I went to the treadmill and studied the panel. It had a bunch of preprogrammed options. I chose to control my own speed.
After ten minutes of warm up, I opened up to a run.
* * * *
When I opened the door to our room, I found Ethan passed out on the bed. The room was otherwise empty. I quietly shut the door behind me and grabbed my bag so I could go shower.
Ethan hadn’t moved by the time I reemerged. He lay on his back, one hand on his shirt over his stomach and the other almost behind his head. It was a familiar position.
Wisps of emotion drifted from him. Worry, mostly. After I set my bag on the floor, I eased myself onto the mattress beside him. I let myself take his worry until only happiness remained. He needed more of those kinds of dreams.
* * * *
“Z, they’re going to leave without us.”
Ethan’s voice penetrated my dreamless sleep.
“Good. Let ‘em.”
I rolled over, away from him. He swatted my butt, hard. My eyes popped open.
“They’re going to dinner. Still want them to leave without us? It’s an Italian place around the corner. All-you-can-eat pizza.”
That had me sitting up and rubbing a hand over my face. All-you-could-eat pizza sounded good. I was happy until I noticed we weren’t alone in the room. Carlos and Grey waited by the door. Grey had a hand on Carlos’ shoulder, and Carlos was completely focused on Ethan. My stomach flipped before I tore my gaze from Carlos. Nothing flavored the air but Ethan’s twisted humor and Grey’s concern.
What was up with Carlos? He acted so detached most of the time. Not when someone touched me, though. Then he went all weird. Michelle’s words came back to me, and I shook my head. Nope. That wasn’t it. It definitely wasn’t attraction. I didn’t do attraction.
“I’m up. Let me brush out my hair.” I hadn’t done anything to my hair before falling asleep.
They all waited as I yanked a brush through the tangles until it pulled through smoothly.
“Let’s go,” I said, tossing the brush back into my bag.
Carlos led the way. Ethan and I followed. Before we reached the lobby, Ethan reached over and took my hand in his.
“Thanks, by the way.”
I knew he meant the dreams and shrugged away the thanks then gave his hand a squeeze. His love poured out for a moment before he let me go.
The rest of the group waited in the lobby. As soon as we appeared, they started out the doors. The walk to the pizzeria was short, and the aroma inside the place made my mouth water. Several long buffet tables were set up with different pizzas, and another table had salad and bread sticks. The best part was that we were the only people there. Heaven.
One of the waitresses saw our large group and started pushing tables together. I ended up sandwiched between Carlos and Ethan. Once everyone ordered drinks, it was a mass exodus to the buffet. I stayed sitting, unwilling to let Ethan trample me on his way to his favorite food.
Carlos remained sitting, too.
“Good call,” I said. “We might want to wait a few minutes. They can clear out the old pizza, and we’ll get the fresh stuff.”
His eyes drifted to my lips as I spoke, and my pulse jumped. Heat flooded my cheeks, and I looked away. Darn Michelle and her little talk. She’d planted thoughts in my head, and now I was reacting to a stupid glance. Werewolf pull, my butt.
Unwilling to sit there uncomfortably for the next five minutes, I stood and went to the salad bar to reluctantly fill a plate. I had nothing against salad. I just liked pizza better. When I returned to the table, half the group was back with their own food.
I noticed Michelle and Charlene both had salads on their plates, too.
Conversation floated around me as I ate. Charlene’s words caught my attention.
“I raised you better,” she said to Jim. He had an obscene stack of pizza slices on his plate.
I turned to Carlos.
“Are they related?”
“Charlene and Thomas are Emmitt and Jim’s parents. Grey is Thomas’ brother,” he said.
As I studied the group, Ethan’s words rang in my head like a gong. Two men from the same family paired up with one of us. How weird was that? I glanced at Ethan. He either hadn’t heard or didn’t care. He continued to scoff his pizza with abandon.
Finished with half my salad, I set my plate to the side and went for pizza. I’d been right. They’d brought out fresh stuff. The gooey cheese gave me some trouble, but it was trouble I willingly dealt with.
Gabby wandered over to the salad bar. Her slow steps caught my eye, and l noticed her semi-vacant stare. She was checking her sonar again. No one ever asked her to do it; she just did it all the time. Her brow furrowed ever so slightly then cleared again, and I wondered what she saw. Since she continued to fix herself a salad, I figured it wasn’t too big of a deal.
Happy with the cheesy goodness that loaded my plate, I headed back to the table. When I sat down again, I picked up my fork and licked the salad dressing from it.
A storm of desire hit me so hard I dropped my fork. Metal clattered against china, and just that fast the desire disappeared. It didn’t fade; it vanished completely.
I looked up from my plate and found everyone watching me.
Where had that come from? I glanced at Clay. He didn’t look the least bit guilty, and I felt his curiosity when he found himself under scrutiny.
Beside me, Carlos slightly shifted in his chair.
“You okay, Z?” Ethan said softly.
“Yeah. Fine.”
I refused to look at Carlos. It couldn’t have been him. I picked up my fork and carved out a bite of my pizza as if nothing was wrong. But I had a feeling there was a lot wrong. And most of the wrongness sat to my left, quietly eating his food.
Gradually, everyone started to eat again and conversation resumed. I remained physically focused on my pizza while my thoughts drifted.
Why was Carlos so detached? It took Ethan years to hold back his emotions, and he only just recently discovered how to close himself off. However, even closing himself off didn’t completely save him from me when I pulled. Yet, when I’d pulled, Carlos hadn’t seemed affected at all. If things went south and this group turned on Ethan and me, Carlos’ ability to block me could very well screw any chance of escape.
Yet, with all the leaking emotions around me, I didn’t feel one bit of dishonesty or disloyalty. Instead, there was a ton of happiness and gratification. I lifted my eyes from my food and traced the source to Jim as he sat with another plate piled with pizza. A glance at the buffet table showed the decimated remains of three pizzas. Geez, had he been eating while putting more on his plate? He lifted a piece and consumed the triangle in four bites. The piece wasn’t small.
Jim caught me watching him, grinned, and lifted the next piece in a salute before eating that one, too.
“How long do you give the manager before he comes out and asks us to leave?” Ethan said, following my gaze.
“I think Jim intends to find out.”
Jim winked at me.
The rest of the men ate just as heartily but were more discreet about it. Since the women, except for Winifred, didn’t seem to have the same aggressive appetites, I guessed it was a werewolf thing. I went back to my pizza.
By the time I finished what I had on my plate, I was full of pizza and emotions. Though Jim broadcasted his satisfaction of his gluttony the loudest, Gabby’s emotions drew my attention. Something was bothering her, but never to the degree that she stopped
eating or spoke up about it.
A waiter came with the bill, even though the guys were still eating, and asked if we would care to order any dessert.
“Is it all-you-can-eat?” Jim asked.
Charlene shot him a warning look.
“No, sir,” the waiter answered.
Jim shook his head and went back to his pizza.
“I think we’ve eaten our fill,” Thomas said, as soon as the waiter walked away. However, I caught his gaze straying to the buffet table as he ate his last piece.
Emmitt went to pay, and the group began to stand. I felt a burst of amusement and looked up in time to see Emmitt swipe two slices of pizza on his way back past the buffet. He discreetly passed a slice to his brother, Jim, as we walked to the door. The amusement had come from Grey.
If I hadn’t felt so tight with overload, I would have been amused too.
* * * *
The first mile on the treadmill took the edge off; the fifth mile saw the immediate tension drained. I was used to running after eating. When I’d had a job, I had often gone to the gym over my lunch break, just to make it through the day. That midday relief hadn’t always been enough to keep me from wanting to punch someone in the face, though. But hopefully, this run would be enough to get me through the night.
I slowed the treadmill to a walk and reached for the towel I’d draped on the handle.
“Want to spar?”
Carlos’ voice made me yip and miss a step. I stumbled backward and shot off the end of the treadmill. Thick, bare arms wrapped around me, catching me before I hit the ground. A tingle of awareness zipped through me.
I quickly straightened away, and he let me go.
“Thanks, but I’m good for now,” I said as I hid my blushing face by wiping it with the towel. Other girls reacted to boys. I didn’t. What the heck was wrong with me?
“Z, you need twenty minutes. Running’s not enough.”
