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Wolf Slayer

Page 8

by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom


  * * *

  Slender shafts of sunlight filtered through the cracks in the boards on the windows, sending dust motes dancing. Morning had arrived and Tess, still wide-eyed and awake, was thankful.

  She was also stiff and very tired.

  Daylight meant safety, at least from things that went bump in the night. Townspeople never came here, but if they did, they’d knock on a closed door. Her bed was calling to her now, instead of the damn Lycan. She didn’t have to cover her ears.

  The shower was hot and divine, and yet scrubbing her skin only lessened the wolf’s scent, instead of erasing it. Hair clean, dressed in fresh sleeping clothes, Tess brewed a cup of tea and sat on her bed. Attempts to think of things besides the wolf were useless. She was sure that if she didn’t clear her mind and get some sleep, she’d go mad.

  Sheets felt cool after the long night. The down comforter helped to keep seal in warmth as she finally laid her head on the pillow. Wondering if the wolf would return tonight in human form took up far too much time and energy, so she went over her weapons and clothing checklist several times before turning her thoughts to her deceased mother and dad.

  She liked to dream that her parents were alive and in the other room. That fantasy brought her warmth and a further easing of leftover tension. Tess didn’t remember closing her eyes.

  Waking to partial darkness was like a kick in the pants until she remembered the shutters and got up to check the time. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. She had slept for several hours and didn’t feel rested. Bedcovers were tangled and strewn as if she had spent most of those hours tossing and turning.

  Dressing for the day took time. Her plan to break more of her own rules meant that she was going into town in order to occupy herself with things that didn’t include knives and silver-tipped arrows. Today she needed normalcy.

  Her car was an old Jeep, a gift from her parents when she had turned sixteen. Homeschooling in her youth had assured her parents that her education would be flawless. Two years at a local college had been enough for Tess to see what the outside world was like and return home ready to take over her role as hunter in training.

  Her folks had left her enough money to be modestly comfortable in the cabin without an outside job, with no room for indulgence and extravagances. This run to town would be for food and supplies only. A question or two directed to the right person might cough up information about the wolf living next door. His name and where he had come from were information that Tess desperately wanted.

  The Jeep fired up easily without coaxing. Driving had always been a pleasure for her, so the long trip to town wasn’t a hardship. Hill City was a small place modeled after the towns of the old West. In the summer months, tourists came by in droves and shoot-outs were reenacted by local businessmen dressed as bandits. Since summer was still a couple months away, the place was relatively quiet and tourist free.

  Tess parked by the general store. After checking for foot traffic, she got out of the Jeep and headed toward the market.

  Glad there weren’t many people shopping for groceries that afternoon, she pushed back her hood. These employees knew her and were familiar with her scars. If anyone would know about the big Were, it would be an employee here. Everyone around these parts had a grocery account, which meant the compilation of significant written details.

  With a small cart of supplies, Tess went in search of the manager. Rounding a corner, she came up short with her nerves on edge. He was there somewhere. His scent was familiar.

  She found him in the middle of the far aisle. The Lycan was grocery shopping as if he had a right to act normal and be near normal people. As if he were one of them.

  Tess’s anger flared over this latest example of the guy invading her space. She held herself back from accusing the Were of following her. Hell, he was even more gorgeous in the daylight.

  Breathtakingly gorgeous.

  He wore faded jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt that was open one button too many at the neck. Today, he also wore black boots. His hair was shaggy and in need of a trim, and Tess hated to admit it looked good that way.

  The fragrance of soap and pine that surrounded him only partially masked his wolfishness. Possibly he had just come from a shower.

  Tess quickly erased that thought and the image it presented from her mind because he had also seen her. He walked toward her with a calm, casual gait and no hint of a smile on his brutally handsome face.

  They were going to meet in public, and even if she’d had a weapon handy, she couldn’t have used it here.

  Chapter 11

  “What are you doing here?” were the first words out of Tess’s mouth, and spoken breathlessly as Jonas approached her in a purposefully easy, well-gauged manner. He didn’t want to scare her. What he did want was quite different. The wolf inside him prodded the man on the surface to take her right there, on the floor if need be, reminding Jonas that he didn’t have to give a damn about their differences or the rest of the world. Of course, that kind of prodding was ridiculous. This was a public place, and according to Tess, they were enemies.

  He waved at the shelves. “This is a store.”

  She said testily, “You’re nowhere near the meat counter.”

  Jonas thought he detected a subtle rawness in her tone. “Maybe you can show me to it,” he suggested.

  “I think not. Are you alone? Didn’t you bring your pet with you?”

  Jonas lowered his voice. “I’d rather you didn’t speak of that here, if you don’t mind.”

  “I mind. So would everyone else if they knew.”

  “Then maybe we should take this conversation outside.”

  Tess glanced around to make sure they were alone before returning her attention to him. “We’re not having a conversation. There’s nothing further to be said.”

  “It might be a good idea if we went over a few things,” he countered.

  “The situation is strange enough already, don’t you think?”

  He nodded in agreement.

  “We can’t be friends, wolf. Acting like we are doesn’t help.”

  “That situation being your need to kill me?”

  After a beat, she said, “Yes.”

  “No matter what?”

  “Yes.”

  He shifted his weight slightly and watched her back up. “In that case,” Jonas said, “I find your hesitation in achieving that goal particularly interesting after last night.”

  Today, Tess wore the tight jeans he had dreamed about during his all-nighter at the window and a snug black hoodie. Hair the color of honey hung loose to drape over her shoulders, daring him to reach out for a touch. Resisting that urge took almost as much willpower as leaving her last night had.

  “I warned you not to assume I’m weak and that I don’t know what has to be done,” she said.

  Jonas nodded again. Speaking to that point would only irritate Tess more. On the outside, she appeared calm enough. But that wasn’t the case. Tess was ready to spin out if he lingered in her presence much longer.

  He had to go and hated the idea. The lack of color in Tess’s face told him she hadn’t quite caught up on necessary rest and that she might have anticipated a return visit from him in the night. Her skin seemed gray around the edges. There were dark circles under her eyes, possibly due to the connection they had formed. There was a chance she could have picked up on the way his thoughts ran when they weren’t openly communicating, knowing he had wanted that return visit.

  “We’re sharing thoughts,” he said.

  She shook her head to negate the idea.

  “There’s no reasoning to back up how hearing each other’s thoughts might have happened,” Jonas said. “Whatever is going on here is a mystery.”

  That mystery needed to be unraveled. He couldn’t see any way to do that if he didn’t continue to see
her.

  Tess was having none of this. Backing away farther, she asked, “How did it happen?”

  He didn’t pretend not to understand what she meant. Tess also wanted to know about the uniqueness of their bond.

  “I don’t know. That’s the truth,” Jonas replied. “It’s not right or usual. We both get that. I’m at a loss as to how to explain the connection that has snapped into place between us and don’t know anymore about it than you do. It’s dangerous, uncanny, unprecedented, and makes hiding things more difficult for both of us.”

  She didn’t speak again. Maybe she couldn’t. Jonas got that, too. After racking his brain for answers, he had run out of ways to explore the possibility that Tess Owens had to be more than she seemed in order for their thoughts to merge. That little tingle at the base of his neck meant something, surely?

  He had to find out what that nebulous something was that had tied them together from the start.

  Tess was looking at him strangely with her head tilted to one side. “You’re looking for what, wolf hunter?” he silently asked to prove his point about how strongly that connection worked.

  She blanched visibly. Tess had heard him, all right, and her lips parted for a protest she didn’t make.

  “I think it’s important for us to meet on a civil basis,” Jonas said. “If that’s around here, in public and in the daylight, I’ll roll with it.”

  Eyeing him intently after the shudder she tried to hide from him, Tess said, “Over my dead body,” and stormed out of the store.

  Jonas sighed as he watched her go. He had already confessed to himself his preference for feisty females, and this meeting with Tess provided no argument with that.

  It wasn’t that he tended to like what he couldn’t have. Women often found him viable as a possible mate and there were several potential connections for him in the packs around Miami. He was already under pressure to choose one of those females. But none of them had hit him as hard as Tess had, when she was the most unlikely prospect of all.

  My sudden interest in you is not a good thing, Tess, any way I look at it. If you want me to stay away, I will honor your wish and hope that you’ll honor my need for privacy as well. Will a truce be declared here?

  Saying those things to himself should have made him feel better, and didn’t. Being near Tess again, so soon, was a ball-buster.

  This would be better if you weren’t so stubborn or closed-minded, were his final silent thoughts on the matter before Jonas resumed his run for supplies, trying not to think too hard about the woman who had become like an itch he was desperate to scratch with his sharp, six-inch claws.

  * * *

  The damn wolf had succeeded in keeping her from getting what she needed at the store, and Tess was in no mood to go back and force the issue. Her senses went haywire when she was around this guy. He was just too beautiful and unique.

  “Looks aren’t everything, wolf,” Tess muttered as she drove back to the cabin. “Everyone says it’s what’s on the inside that counts, but if they took a look at what you have on the inside, they’d learn a thing or two about what a nice exterior might hide.”

  She was on her own here and confronted with a new lesson each time she and this wolf met. His behavior had been civilized in the store. She had to give him that. The Lycan was well-spoken for a being with animal blood in his veins. She was in need of something to boost her immunity against this guy and foster a new sense of distance. She needed help.

  Tess stepped on the gas, feeling less than up to par. Tremors were shaking her hands on the wheel. Her knuckles were white. She was at her best when hunting werewolves, and felt like she had just fallen on her face.

  It was time for a treatment. Past time. She dreaded the procedure that helped tie her to wolves and to her goal of getting rid of them. Still, maybe it would help her this time in dealing with the arrogant Were and whatever he would throw her way next.

  At the cabin, she took time to remove the shutters from the windows and carefully stored them in the shed. Then she went inside and straight to the weapons room where a locked cooling cabinet held the items she’d need for this treatment.

  Opening the cabinet, Tess reached for a vial of liquid and held it up to the light. The medicine in that vial shone like grated diamonds in the sunlight. Silver nitrate mixed with the right amount of silver proteinate and injected into a vein had almost magical healing properties. When applied to her skin, the concoction was a special kind of antiseptic.

  For werewolves, who were allergic to silver, sinking their teeth into her after an infusion of silver would cause a violent and instantaneous sickness.

  Tess’s focus moved from the vial to the hand holding it, noting another of this mixture’s side-effects. Over years of regular use, the silver she had injected had turned her skin a light blue color that was more easily seen in direct sunlight. No amount of sun exposure could remedy this effect, though most of the color had gathered in and around her scars.

  To most people, she’d look pale, and she had never given anyone the opportunity to find out the truth. Skin discoloration was a small price to pay for the benefits she got.

  Tess knew this mixture well, and how to use it. But it was ten times harder to give herself an injection like this than it had been for her mother to do the honors.

  The needle went into the vein on the inside of her left elbow with a sharp sting. Tess tried not to shut her eyes. When it was over, there would be part two of this treatment to face, and minutes counted.

  That Were would return. He wouldn’t give up his quest to tame her hunter instincts.

  She opened a box that had been nailed to the floor and removed a few cables. Electrical currents came next. What they did to her wasn’t pretty, but it was necessary for heating the silver once it was in her veins. She had managed this dual treatment each time a new werewolf had invaded the South Dakota territory she inhabited.

  None of those werewolves had come remotely close to possessing the muscle and power this new guy did. None of them had charm or a mesmerizing stare that made her insides quake. Everything in this room was going to be necessary for her next meeting with the wolf next door. She had doubled the usual dosage as a buffer. Otherwise...

  Tess Owens, wolf hunter, was going to be screwed.

  * * *

  Jonas pulled his truck in behind Tess’s Jeep and got out. The place looked deserted, but he knew better. Tess was here. He could sense her.

  Though he had attempted to put her out of his mind and get on with things, he hadn’t managed to stick to that plan. The dark circles beneath Tess’s eyes had bothered him, as had the extremes of her skin’s paleness. She didn’t have to like him coming here. He just had to make sure she was all right.

  Jonas walked the perimeter of the cabin, found a window and peered inside, hoping he wouldn’t scare the pants off Tess if she saw him there.

  What he saw sent his nerves into overdrive.

  The small room he was looking at had been outfitted like a hospital clinic. Doors to cabinets stood open, revealing bottles of what he could only assume were various medicines, as well as a whole host of other things.

  In the middle of all that, in the tiny space between the cabinets and the table, his deliciously beautiful wolf hunter lay curled up on the floor.

  Chapter 12

  The sound of broken glass made Tess open her eyes. She was lying on her side, curled up in a fetal position and wasn’t sure how she had ended up on the floor. She felt sick. Moving a finger was tough. Lifting her head would have been impossible for several more minutes.

  The rain of shattered glass was loud as it hit the furniture and the floor. The voice she heard was out of place in her home.

  “Tess?”

  “No,” she whispered. “Not you.”

  Her reaction to the Were was like another snap of electricity. He was kn
eeling beside her and she dared not look at him. His presence here had taken trespassing to a new level. The werewolf was invading her sacred space, a place no wolf had ever set foot near.

  The sacrilege of this horrifying moment stretched on and on. Tess couldn’t protect herself or the secrets this room held if he lingered. Right that minute, she was at her most vulnerable.

  “Tess?”

  His voice was like silk. Like velvet. If she closed her eyes, Tess thought, he might go away.

  She prayed he might disappear.

  “I’m going to help you up,” he said gently. “In order to do that, I’ll have to touch you. Are you okay with that?”

  “No.” The word wasn’t more than a whisper.

  “Sorry,” he said. “It’s the only way.”

  He slid both of his hands beneath her. The warmth in them was incredible, but her mind was making a comeback and quickly progressing toward normal. At the moment, there was nothing she could do and she needed his help. She’d have to get him out of this room before he took a good look around at a wolf hunter’s secret stash, though. The things that helped to protect people in her line of work.

  “What happened?” he asked, concerned.

  She didn’t ask him why he should be concerned for her when she had made her intentions about dealing with him clear.

  “Sick,” she replied.

  She was even sicker to have been put on the spot. The room already smelled like him. This guy seemed to fill any space he was around.

  “I can see that,” he said.

  His arms, corded with tension, helped her from a floor that sparkled with broken glass shards. As he helped Tess to her feet, another round of vertigo struck before she found herself balancing her weight against the Were’s hard body. Neither of them moved while she took a few deep breaths. The wolf didn’t seem to be breathing at all.

 

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