by Lisa Emme
When we hit city limits, Nash turned towards the Bonham district, an upper-middle-class suburb that had a large werewolf population. I didn’t know where Nash was taking me but for once I figured I would just keep my mouth shut and cooperate. Besides, I was beginning to think he had forgotten I was even there and if I drew attention to myself he might remember and make me go home. Christina was my friend and I wanted to help out. I didn’t want him to go all ‘this is werewolf business’ on me and shut me out.
We pulled up to a large ranch style bungalow. There were characteristics of the Craftsman style here as well, so I figured it must run in the family and we were at Eleanor’s or one of Nash’s sisters’ homes. Nash turned off the engine and then just sat staring at the steering wheel. He ran a hand through his already well-tousled hair. He looked so worried, I couldn’t help myself, I reached out and put my hand on his, giving it a squeeze.
“It’s going to be all right,” I said, putting every ounce of confidence I had into my words. “We’re going to find her.”
Nash turned and gave me a worried smile. “Harry, I…about last night…” He paused, letting out a deep breath.
“Look, it’s okay. We don’t need to talk about it right now. We need to concentrate on finding Christina.”
Nash squeezed my hand and nodded. He turned and climbed out of the truck. I did the same, following him up the sidewalk to the front door. It wasn’t until we were standing on the porch that I remembered what I was wearing. Great, just great. Talk about a walk of shame. I don’t know which would have been worse – if I was still wearing the same dress as the night before or wearing clothes that obviously belonged to Nash - might as well be wearing a big sign around my neck that said ‘we had sex’.
Nash noticed my discomfort and chuckled. I scowled at him and he leaned over and whispered in my ear. “It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing. We’re about to walk into a room full of werewolves and no matter how much peach body wash you used, which smells delicious by the way, you still have my scent all over you.” The smile he gave me was rather smug. I must have been standing there with my mouth open because he chucked me under the chin, giving me a cheeky wink. I snapped my mouth shut and glared at him. He laughed again and then opened the door and walked in, leaving me to follow.
Werewolves are generally touchy-feeling people, at least amongst themselves. It must be the whole pack animal thing. I hung back in the entryway while everyone hugged Nash, greeting him solemnly as he entered the big open-concept living space. There were a few werewolves I didn’t recognize, but most of them I knew or could guess who they were. I did recognize Nash’s mom, Eleanor, who was seated at the kitchen table and his youngest sister, Eileen, who threw herself into Nash’s arms. Another woman bore such a striking resemblance to Eleanor, I assumed she must be Evaine, Nash’s oldest sister. She was holding a squirming toddler on her hip. Nash’s sisters crowded around him, their worry for Christina etched on their faces. Several men hovered nearby. From the look of concern directed at Evaine, I figured one must be her mate, Kevin. The other man looked visibly upset and I wondered who he was until I remembered that one of Christina’s friends was also missing.
I had just begun to feel uncomfortable and out of place when Eileen spotted me.
“Harry!” She turned and gave Nash a swat. “Don’t leave poor Harry standing there feeling awkward.” She hurried over to me, grabbing my hands and pulling me further into the room. “Come in, Harry.”
“Hi Eileen,” I said lamely. “I’m sorry to hear about Christina. I’ll do anything I can to help find her.”
Eileen hugged me tightly. “Thanks Harry.” She took a deep breath then pulled back, a look of surprise on her face. I felt my cheeks flame red. She raised an eyebrow, giving me a mischievous grin.
“Tell me what happened,” Nash’s voice provided a welcome distraction. Eileen let go of me and then stepped towards Nash. I took a step further into the room, nodding at Eleanor who looked at me critically. I blushed again, crossing my arms self-consciously.
“Christina and Diane went out for a run last night. They just wanted to blow off some steam,” Eileen said. Werewolves don’t jog like norms. When they said they were going for a run, that usually meant they were going wolf. “They went together, like you told us - to go out only in pairs or more.” She wrapped her arms around herself. She looked over at the man I suspected to be the missing werewolf Diane’s boyfriend. “I didn’t know she was even missing until Dean called me.”
Dean stepped up to tell his part of the story. “I worked a late shift last night. Diane told me her plans and she expected to be home by the time I got off work. We were going to catch an early breakfast together.” He clenched his fists at his sides in frustration. “When she didn’t show up at home, I tried calling her. When I couldn’t get a hold of her or Christina, I drove out to where she said they were headed. Her car’s there, but there’s no sign of either of them.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I…I wanted to go look, but…”
“It’s okay, Dean. We’ve sent out a search party now,” Eleanor said as she looked at him in sympathy. Dean wasn’t pinging very high on my handy-dandy power meter which meant he was probably not a powerful enough werewolf to make the switch back and forth easily. If he had turned wolf and gone looking for the missing women, he would probably have been stuck in wolf form for the rest of the day unable to talk to anyone.
“You did the right thing calling us first,” Nash said. He reached out and gave Dean’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. He turned to Eleanor. “Have you heard anything from the search party?” Eleanor shook her head. “Is there any place else either of them might have gone?” He looked back and forth between Eileen and Dean.
“Well, I guess Christina could be with her new guy, but I don’t think Diane would be there,” Eileen said with a shrug.
“What new guy?” Nash demanded.
“I don’t know. She’s been very secretive the last couple of days,” Eileen replied.
“How do you know there’s a new guy? Have you seen him?”
Crap on toast. Nash was in full cop mode. I was going to have to rat Isaac and Christina out. “It’s not him,” I said reluctantly. “Christina’s new guy couldn’t have anything to do with her disappearance.” All eyes turned to face me. I took a deep breath.
“Harry,” Nash started to say.
“She’s been seeing Isaac, okay?” I said quickly. “They’ve been getting together at our house and, well,” I said with a shrug, “cooking and baking.” Eileen started laughing while Nash rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. I bit my lower lip, uncomfortable with the attention.
The toddler in Evaine’s arms started to fuss again, thankfully diverting attention from me. Evaine paced the room, bouncing the squirming child on her hip. Finally, she set the little girl down on the floor. She was a cute little thing with bright blue eyes and a mass of blonde curls. She stood bow-legged for a moment, wobbling on her feet then started to trundle across the room. Right towards me! Gah!
The curly-haired imp toddled across the floor, her little arms held up in the air for balance. She continued to make a beeline right to me. I quickly checked behind me in case there was someone else that she was actually heading for, but no such luck. It was me. When she reached me, she stopped, wobbling on her chubby little legs, and threw her hands at me, grabbing a handful of sweatpants.
“Hey there,” I said looking down into her baby blues.
“Uh, uh!” she replied, throwing her hands up in the air. “Uhhhhh!”
“I…” I looked over at her mother.
Evaine shrugged and said, “She wants up. I guess she wants you to hold her.”
“Me? But I…”
“Uh, uh!”
“Okay, okay,” I said, reaching down to pick the little girl up. She giggled and clapped her hands. “Hi. I’m Harry,”
I said to her.
Evaine walked over and gave her daughter’s back a little pat. “This is Michelle and I’m Evaine.” She pointed to her husband on the other side of the room. “And that’s Kevin, my mate.” Kevin nodded a greeting. “Nice to meet you Harry,” Evaine added. She patted my shoulder. Michelle continued to coo and stuffed a sticky hand in my hair. “Oh, sorry about that.” Evaine pulled out a tissue and wiped the little girl’s face. “Come back to Momma now Michelle.” She held her hands out to the little girl.
“Noooooooo!” Michelle howled.
“It’s okay,” I said, bouncing her on my hip. “I don’t mind.” Evaine gave me one of those ‘hey, if you think you can deal with it, I’ll take any break I can get’ faces that parents make when offered a moment to themselves away from their kids and went to sit down beside Kevin.
Michelle clapped her little hands and then buried her face against my neck. She threw her head back and shouted “Kee!” gleefully before burying her face in my neck again. Great, even the toddler knew I had just had sex with her uncle. Awesome. I didn’t think my cheeks could get any redder, but I’m sure they did.
I looked over at Nash who had a strange look on his face. He shook it off and then threw me a cheeky grin. I scowled at him and turned away to pace the room, chatting with Michelle as she pointed things out to me and explained her toddler vocabulary. Basically it seemed to consist of the first letter or sound of any object - ‘buh’ for bird, but it could also be for book, depending on the context. I bounced her a couple laps around the room while Nash filled the group in on what we had learned last night.
I was on my third lap when Michelle pointed her chubby little finger behind me and said “Paw paw”. I turned and looked to where she was pointing and froze. Standing in entrance to the room was a large, tawny coloured wolf. It had hints of grey around its face and neck, but its body was a light, golden brown. I looked back at Michelle who smiled and grabbed my face turning it back towards the wolf. “Paw paw,” she said again.
I looked over across the room. Both Evaine and Kevin were still sitting on the sofa together, listening to the conversation. I looked over at Nash hoping to get his attention. Everyone else seemed to be oblivious to the big wolf entering the room. My eyes welled with tears. It had to be a ghost. Kids often have the gift to see spirits when they are very young, that could explain why Michelle was seeing it. But why was it here? The implications had me swallowing back a sob.
Nash looked over as if sensing my distress. He said something to the group then walked over smiling at Michelle. “Hey there little punk, how’s my girl?” He held his arms out to Michelle.
“Kee!” she shouted gleefully, throwing herself towards him.
I handed the happy, little girl over to her uncle, forcing a smile on my face. Nash looked at me, his eyebrows raised in question, but I shook my head with a small frown.
“Come on now little punk, let’s find you a cookie. Uncle Cian is hungry.” He made a ‘nom-nom’ sound pretending to gobble up the little girl’s tummy.
Michelle broke out into a loud belly laugh. “Agaaaa, agaaa!” she demanded.
Nash obliged, nom-nomming her tummy all the way into the kitchen. I found a chair by the window and sat down. I watched the ghost wolf pad across the room. It went first to Eileen, then to Evaine, finally stopping to sit beside Eleanor. My eyes welled up again, the tears threatening to spill over.
Nash came back into the room carrying Michelle who was energetically gumming up a cookie. “Cooookiee,” she squealed, holding it out to show her mother. Nash lowered her into Evaine’s waiting arms then strode across the room to me. He reached out his hand and I took it automatically, letting him pull me to my feet. He looked down, studying my face, and then growled quietly. Without a word, he turned and looked around the room, still grasping my hand. There was nothing to see though, because the ghost wolf had already disappeared. He looked back at me, his eyes full with the question he wanted to ask, but instead he strode towards the hallway, tugging me along after him.
He pulled me into the first room he came to, coming to a stop just inside the door, his hands grasping my shoulders as he looked down at my face, his eyes capturing mine. “Tell me what you saw,” he said quietly, placing a finger under my chin to tip my face up to look at his.
I swallowed, the tears threatening to spill over. “I…tell me what Christina’s wolf looks like,” I finally whispered, looking away unable to bear the pain in his eyes.
Nash let out a deep breath as if I had confirmed what he had been thinking. He took a step away from me, running a hand through his hair. “She’s…did you…?” He struggled with the words.
I stepped towards him, putting a hand on his arm in comfort. “Just tell me what her wolf looks like,” I said.
“She’s light grey, almost white.” His voice wavered.
The breath I had been holding rushed out in a huge sigh of relief. “It wasn’t her. It’s not her,” I replied, wiping at the tear running down my cheek.
Nash grabbed me and pulled me close. Without heels, I was short enough that I tucked right in under his chin. He rested it on my head, his arms wrapped around me. “Oh thank god,” he sighed with relief. Just then my stomach growled loudly. I was starving but hadn’t wanted to say anything. Nash laughed, grabbing my hand. “Come on, I’ll get you a cookie too,” he said, leading me back out towards the kitchen.
“I’d rather have a sandwich.”
***
I got the sandwich and a cookie.
While Nash and I were gone, someone had laid out lunch – buns, deli meats, pickles, salad. Nash led me to a chair at the kitchen table and growled a ‘wait there’ at me. He came back a few minutes later with a plate loaded with sandwiches and set it down in front of me.
“Eat,” he said, which set Eileen off to snickering behind her hand.
I rolled my eyes at her, grabbing Nash’s arm as he passed. “Only if you sit down and eat too. You’re not going to be any good to anyone if you pass out.”
“That plate is for you,” Nash started to protest just as Eleanor came into the room with another plateful. She set it down on the table beside mine and looked at Nash.
“Eat,” she said, her eyebrows raised, daring Nash to defy her. Seeing as how she was his mom and his alpha, it was highly unlikely he would, but I guess some parent-child relationships never change, no matter how old you get.
“So Harry,” Eileen began, waving a potato chip at me, “are you okay? You seemed a little upset a few minutes ago.”
‘I’m fine,” I replied, looking at Nash. He nodded and so I continued. “I saw a ghost, a wolf.”
“Here?” Eileen looked shocked. “It’s not…”
“No! It’s not Christina. It was light brown, or maybe more of a kind of a reddy-gold, I guess.” I shrugged not really sure what else to say. Evaine came over, Michelle on her hip. “Actually,” I continued, “Michelle saw the ghost first.”
“She did?” Evaine exclaimed a look of shock on her face.
“It’s pretty normal for very young kids to see spirits. It doesn’t mean she’ll end up like me,” I added quickly. “She called the ghost ‘Paw-paw’, in case that means anything.”
The room went absolutely silent as everyone turned to stare at me. I probably had that ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look, I was so shocked by everyone’s response. I turned to look at Nash who had stopped with his sandwich halfway to his mouth.
Eleanor walked across the room to a bookshelf and picked up a picture frame. She carried it over to the table, almost cradling it. “Is this the wolf you saw? The gold one?” She showed me the picture. It was of two large wolves. They looked like night and day. One was a deep charcoal black, similar to Nash’s wolf. The other, the larger one, was a tawny gold, just like the wolf I had seen.
I nodded my head slowly. “Yes, that could be it
.”
Michelle had no doubts however. She reached for the picture shouting, “Paw paw!” She waved her chubby little arms at Eleanor. “Mee maw! Paw paw!”
Eleanor smiled at the little girl. “Yes, that’s right my precious. Mee-maw and Paw-paw.” She touched the gold wolf in the picture lovingly. Evaine stepped closer to Eleanor, wrapping her arm around her shoulders.
“But why would Daddy still be here?” Eileen asked, looking at me. I couldn’t quite remember, but I thought Tess had told me that Nash’s dad had died more than a decade ago.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “It looked like he was just watching over you.”
“Crazy old wolf,” Eleanor grumbled. “Stubborn as a goat, my Daniel.” She smiled, sadly setting the picture back on the shelf. “Well, it certainly explains the child’s odd behaviour at times,” she said, walking over to give Michelle’s curls a pat.
“Mee maw!” Michelle cooed throwing her arms out to Eleanor.
“Do you think he could talk to you? Or to Michelle?” Eileen looked excited at the thought.
“I don’t know. I’ve only ever seen him in wolf form.”
After that, the conversation wound down. Everyone finished their meal and Nash gave me an awkward goodbye before leaving with Dean to go join the search for any clues of Christina’s and Diane’s disappearance. It was unlikely they would find anything, but this was the first time they knew exactly where a werewolf was when it disappeared, or at least they knew the general vicinity. Maybe they would get lucky and pick up a scent or track or something.
I had noticed that Nash never mentioned the name of the mystery man, Elian Navarre, when he was telling Eleanor what we had learned about the fight club. With everything that had happened last night, I hadn’t even had a chance to ask about it, but I didn’t think bringing the name up now would be a good idea. Not with how Isaac and Tomas had reacted to the name. If vampires were freaked out, he had to be bad news.
