by Ann Vremont
They waited in silence while the waitress served their food and then Tamsyn pointed at the screen. "So what did this Bad Moon Rising guy tell you about me?"
"Here." Cruz reached across to call up the chat log. He started to run a finger down the text but she brushed his hand impatiently away.
"Dude’s a perv, why’s he want to know if we, uh…" She shifted in her seat and shoved a fry in her mouth, a blush heating her cheeks. She kept reading, leaving the question unfinished. "Or if I’d ever been pregnant?"
She pointed at the 3:50 am post by Bad Moon. "And here. He took five minutes before responding and didn’t really answer your question."
Dom looked at Cruz. "Lag?"
Cruz shook his head, pointing to the quick intervals between the other messages. "Not likely."
Tamsyn popped another fry into her mouth, chewing while she thought it through. "Only lag is this dude trying to come up with a lie."
She scrolled back and forth through the messages -- the exchange of questions, the answers and half-answers. "So he’s saying some women never change? They just keep passing the gene down the line. But he can’t even answer why or what brings it on?"
"He said the real research has only been going on for about a decade, that the technology hasn’t been available and everyone’s too scattered to get a real sample."
She stopped the cursor at the end of the chat log, highlighting the last thing Bad Moon had typed.
Get her to Sanctuary!
"Is that some kind of place?" she asked.
Dom shrugged while Cruz answered, "No place I’ve ever heard of."
Cruz closed the laptop up, shoved it back into the bag. His gaze wandered while they hurriedly finished their meal. He spotted and traced a bundle of wires that ran from behind the cashier’s carrel off to the nearest booth before disappearing into a black box attached to the wall.
"We need some food and water to take up with us." Dom looked at the bill. "Couple days' worth to be on the safe side."
Before they got up from the table, Cruz leaned in to whisper to Tamsyn and Dominic. "Dom, go slow paying the bill. Tamsyn, you think you can block me from the cashier's view?"
"With this body," Tamsyn snorted and gestured at her hips. "No problem."
With Dominic paying the bill, Cruz slipped into the booth next to the register. He had his chin planted in one palm, the perfect picture of boredom while his free hand popped the covering off the restaurant’s Wi-Fi hub. He risked a quick glance at the small plastic box, then coughed once to hide the sound of him sliding the secondary card from the hub and popping the cover back on.
Done.
The three of them casually made their way back to the Ranchero. Inside the cab, Cruz showed them what he’d taken.
"Won’t they know?" Tamsyn asked.
"Not until they fill up with people actually using the Wi-Fi and it tries to route some of the traffic to the second card. Even then, they’ll probably have to call a tech out. Which they won’t do until it fails at least a second time. Probably days before they realize it."
"But why?" This from Dom, who could take the shell of someone’s old Cougar and bring it back to rumbling, purring life, but couldn’t change the ink cartridge in his office printer.
Cruz laughed and tucked his stolen treasure into a plastic sleeve until he could hook it to the laptop. "Bro, out here, they’re essentially using pumped up air cards for the Wi-Fi. How else are we going to find out what -- and where -- Sanctuary is?"
*****
They stopped at a Wal-Mart superstore on their way out of Ajax. Cruz kept watch on Tamsyn, staying close enough to guard her but far enough away that she could shop without embarrassment for any of the things Dom hadn’t given her time to pack. When she was done, they met Dom at one of the self-check-out lanes. Dom had gone heavy on the water and protein and picked up two five gallon gas containers and a car battery.
Tamsyn watched them while they packed everything into the back of the Ranchero. "Feels like we're shopping for the apocalypse."
"Let’s hope not." Dominic held a spray can in his hand and motioned Cruz to come over to him. "Don’t worry, Manito. It’s not bear spray."
Cruz scowled. "I don’t need bug spray either."
"Better cover your face."
"You’re kidding, right?"
Tamsyn leaned closer to Dominic and read the can he held. "Citronella?"
"Look, little brother, it’s this or five gallons of perfume."
Tamsyn turned to Cruz and took a deep breath. "I can’t smell what you’re talking about, Dominic."
"That’s because you’ve got ovaries...or because you haven’t changed yet. I don't know which it is, but he’s spiked five or six times between the restaurant and Wallie World. You so much as flip your hair or sigh and he spikes."
Cruz cleared his throat, his cheeks coloring as they both looked at him. "I’m standing right here, you know."
"Yes, you are." Dominic smiled, moving in with the can raised, his finger poised on the spray tip while Tamsyn took a few quick steps back from the danger zone.
Cruz groaned as Dominic started spraying. "This is so fucking humiliating."
"You might want to dry a few seconds." Can empty, Dominic tossed the keys to Cruz and climbed into the passenger side of the Ranchero.
Tamsyn went around to the driver’s side and took the middle spot on the bench seat. When Cruz finally slid into the cab, she pressed gently against him while she planted a kiss on his cheek.
"It’s not that bad." She put her hand on Cruz’s knee, only to have Dominic reach across and put it back in her lap.
"Yeah, but it’s not so good that it will hold up to you kissing and patting him."
She flicked a look at Dominic, her nose crinkling. "Kind of weird question, but if this is all because I’m ‘regressive’ or whatever, why don’t you get all smelly around me, Dom?"
Dominic laughed. "I don’t love you, Tam -- not like that."
Tamsyn’s gaze flicked to Cruz, her cheeks flushing the same shade as his. And then she looked back to Dominic, frowning. "But you were in love once. Is it possible that she--"
"No."
There was a sharp edge to Dominic’s response but she pressed on. "You wouldn’t have known -- you said Cruz can’t smell the change in his own scent. You wouldn’t have been able to, either. And Cruz hadn’t changed yet, so he couldn’t smell it on you."
Dominic turned away from her, his gaze steady on the passing Ponderosa. "It doesn’t matter what she was. She’s dead."
Tamsyn stayed quiet the rest of the drive. They continued through the mountains until about an hour before twilight. First on black top, then on dirt roads and finally on the non-public, single-lane service roads the park rangers used. The service road they were on skirted a lake and they stopped at the far side of the water near a small pier and boat launch.
Getting out of the Ranchero, Dom slid the laptop case across to Cruz. "You think that air card thing really will work out here?"
Cruz looked at the surrounding mountains and the faint outline of communication towers. He nodded.
"Then Tam and I will get the tent set up while you do your thing."
Cruz climbed up on the Ranchero’s hood, sitting there while he popped the laptop’s case. Growling, he slid back off and opened the Ranchero’s door. He rolled onto the floorboard, his pocket knife out as he got up under the dash and stripped a few wires from the radio.
Dominic popped his head through the open door. "You sure about this?"
"You won’t be able to Mambo while you’re using it, but as long as you keep it still, the card will do its job."
"Just let him be." Tam called Dom back to where she was working, her voice soft and earnest.
Cruz still couldn’t believe she wasn’t freaking out about any of this. Of course, not freaking out wasn’t the same as passionately falling into his arms knowing what he was, letting him kiss and touch--
"Computer, Manito." Dominic tu
rned and steered Tamsyn back towards the tent she’d been setting up. "Finish this."
She blew an annoyed puff of air in Dominic’s face but then knelt dutifully and started pushing the slim rods through the tent’s nylon edges. Taking the stripped wires back to the laptop, Cruz stopped to watch Tamsyn lean forward and grab another rod. The edges of the nylon weren’t cooperating, slipping out of her hands when she tried to thread the next rod. Sucking her bottom lip into her mouth, she glared at the opening to the rod’s sleeve.
Dominic stepped into Cruz’s line of sight and stood there, hands on his hips, until Cruz went back to connecting the card to the laptop.
"Does everything have to be open like that?"
"It won’t kill it." Cruz answered and picked the laptop, its case and the air card up. He carried them to the back of the Ranchero and crawled inside where everything could be placed perfectly flat.
The Ranchero had been fitted with a sliding glass rear window and he tapped on it to get Dominic’s attention. Opening the window, he passed the cord to the laptop’s power adaptor through to Dominic, who plugged it into the lighter and started the engine.
A few minutes later, Cruz had the laptop running and the internet open on a secure channel. He stepped out, gave Dom a little bow and gestured in at the computer.
"All yours, bro. Dude’s even left you a new message."
"Just don’t bump anything, right?" Dom asked as he started toward the back of the vehicle. When Cruz didn’t answer, Dominic looked at him, saw the direction of his brother’s gaze and growled. "Follow me."
Looking guilty as all hell, Cruz slinked after him. "Can’t help it, Dom."
"Someone’s going to get killed if you don’t stop thinking with your dick, Manito."
"Not my dick, my heart." Cruz glanced back at the camp site, saw Tamsyn watching them, her brow pinched in what looked like worry. He could feel his chest swell as the need to go back and smooth the worried pinch away with a kiss or a caress almost overtook him.
"Whatever." Dom had led him out onto the pier. "Give me your wallet."
Still staring at Tam, Cruz reached into his back pocket, pulled out his billfold and stopped just short of handing it to Dominic. "Why do you--"
Dom snatched the wallet and pocketed it. "Cell phone still in the bag?"
"You know it is -- you took both our phones and stripped the batteries out."
"Just double checking you didn’t pocket it while you were working on the computer." Dom was wearing the same grin he had back in the Wal-Mart parking lot and Cruz twisted, trying to see if his big brother was hiding another can of bug spray.
"No spray, little brother." Dominic took a step closer, rested his hands on Cruz’s shoulders. "From what I can tell all these many, many months of smelling you, water helps almost as much -- at least while you’re in it."
Cruz’s gaze widened and he grabbed for Dominic’s arms a second too late to avoid the hard push that sent him flailing backwards. He twisted his body in time to keep from falling into the water flat on his back. Tucking his arms against his stomach, he covered his face with his hands and managed a quick intake of air before he plunged beneath the surface.
When he resurfaced, he was standing in about five feet of water, soaking wet from head to toe. He looked down the length of the short pier to find Tamsyn poking Dominic in the chest. Cruz tilted his head, knocked the water from his ear in time to hear Tamsyn telling Dominic he was a jack ass.
"Look, he can come out," Dom said, turning back toward the camp site, "when he figures out how to start thinking with his head only."
Dominic attempted to wave Tamsyn back to the Ranchero but she lifted her chin into the air and marched down the pier. Kicking her shoes off, she rolled the bottom of her jeans up and dipped her toes into the lake.
She offered Cruz a sympathetic smile. "Pretty cold, huh?"
Twilight was settling over their side of the lake, turning the air purple-gold. The last of the sunlight glinted off her hair. He didn’t need Dom to tell him he was spiking. He could feel it all over his body -- the tingling of skin, the gut clench.
"Not cold enough," he answered.
Hearing Dominic’s footsteps on the pier, Tamsyn looked over her shoulder. "This is a private discussion."
Dominic ignored her and kept walking until she crossed her arms over her stomach and lifted the hem of her shirt.
Dominic froze in his tracks. "Can’t just one of you exercise a little fucking sense?"
Tamsyn winked at Cruz and then lifted her shirt up and over her head. She folded the shirt and placed it on the pier, weighing it down with her shoes. Reaching behind her to undo her bra, she looked back at Dominic and frowned. "Still here? Don’t you have a message from Beemer waiting for you?"
"Beemer?"
"Yeah, BMR -- Bad Moon Rising."
He knocked her attempted redirect aside with a wave of his hand. "The two of you are going to--"
"The water working, Dom? That is why you pushed him in, right?"
Dominic folded his arms across his chest and glared at his shoes. "Yeah, it seems to be working."
"So why are you still cock blocking your brother?"
Dominic’s gaze jerked up, his mouth falling open. He stood like that, five seconds, maybe ten, and then Tamsyn released the first hook on her bra. His jaw snapped shut and he spun on his heels.
Turning back to watch Cruz, Tamsyn finished unhooking her bra. She brought the straps down off her shoulders, one arm across her breasts to hold the fabric in place. Cruz inched forward and captured one of her feet.
"I appreciate the show of solidarity, Tam..." His words trailed off as she pulled the bra away and placed it with her shirt and shoes.
"The show of what?" she asked innocently, her fingers trailing down her stomach to work the first button on her jeans.
Cruz shook his head, his tongue too thick to answer.
He’d seen her naked before, through her window, last night when he had undressed her himself. The sight still stunned him, more so with the way both shadow and light kissed her skin right now and the fact that this time she knew he was watching her, her shoulders lifting with a new confidence as he devoured every inch of exposed flesh.
She made quick work of the remaining buttons and then raised her hips. Off came the jeans. Still wearing her panties, she glanced back over her shoulder. "Looks like big brother is playing with the computer at last."
Tamsyn lifted her hips again. The panties disappeared into the pile of clothes. Her body arched gracefully in the fading light as she slid off the pier. Cruz caught her as she entered the water, his hands landing on her thighs, gliding up her hips and around her waist. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, her fingers twining in his hair as her lips sought and found his.
They explored the edges of one another’s mouth, tongues stopping to lick and tease before their lips parted simultaneously. She tongued the top inside of his lip, her body surging hard against his as he moaned into her mouth. She tilted her head, releasing control over to him as he squeezed her tighter, slid his tongue deeper and pressed his lips harder against hers. They hadn’t kissed like this, not last night, not since prom.
He would devour her. He would kiss and lick and suck until there was nothing left.
Cruz broke the kiss. "Tamsyn, we can’t..." His whole body tried to veto his brain and mouth. "I mean, this isn’t..."
She kissed him again, tongue snaking into his mouth as she squeezed him tighter with her arms and thighs. "I thought you wanted me?"
Burying his face in the warm curve of her neck, he squeezed her in return. "What if it causes you to..."
"Turn?" She finished. He nodded and she asked, "You think that would be bad?"
"Don’t you?" He waited, holding his breath, for her to answer.
Still wrapped around him, Tamsyn leaned back far enough she could look into his eyes. "This morning, Dominic had slashes across his throat. They looked a couple days healed but I know he didn’t h
ave those last night. And now? The skin is trying to grow over the stitches. I’d rather fight and heal as a shifter than die as a human." She stroked his face, her expression almost mournful. "But more than that, I want to be with you. Every time, but this first time most of all."
She peered into the shadows at the dirt service road they’d driven in on. "If what Dominic says is true, about the others--"
Tensing, Cruz cinched her tightly to him. He cradled her head with the back of his hand and pressed his cheek against hers. "I won’t let anyone touch you."
"I know." She tried to soothe Cruz but felt none of the tension leave his body. "Just think about what I’m saying. We both want this, need it..."
She stopped to kiss him and they both got lost in the press of lips, the small nips and licks until he stopped and shook his head. Unwrapping her legs from Cruz, Tamsyn stood in front of him in the water. She reached for his belt, undid it even though he tried to stop her hands.
"Need it," she continued. "And maybe, once we’ve started to satisfy that need, your scent will fade and we won't be so vulnerable."
She had his belt and button undone. Down went the zipper and then she was reaching past the band of his underwear to grip his cock. She closed her eyes, gave a little squeeze until Cruz answered with a helpless groan. She let go of him, leaned back and relaxed until she was floating next to him.
Already rising, the moon warred across the sky with the sinking sun for dominance. The battle reflected off the water and Tamsyn’s exposed skin. Cruz reached out and drew her near.
"You’re taking this whole situation remarkably well. Why?"
"Two reasons." She looked up, seeing beyond what she was looking at. "First, everyone believes in metamorphosis -- even the ones who can't spell it. This whole freaking country runs on it. Lottery tickets, Botox, YouTube fame, internet billionaires and kindle millionaires."
Shaking her head, she laughed. "You think I’m immune from such nonsense? And how many people actually get to have the feeling they are different validated?"
Her gaze refocused, captured his. "But the bigger reason is I’ve always known we were meant to be together, even when you didn’t. If this is what you are, then it's what I want to be, too."
