“I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?”
“Nope.” I tried to sound cheerful. “Nothing at all.” But my body thrummed with the energy of the dawn and the desire to run my fingers down Gabriel’s soft chest hair, to feel the hard muscle underneath, and to show him exactly what I wanted him to do with his impressive equipment below.
Iain, ever the practical one, observed, “There seems to be a shortage of clothing here.”
“No shit.” I hoped he didn’t see me sneak glances at Gabriel, who stood as though greeting the dawn naked was the most natural thing for him.
“Perhaps we should fetch their clothes from the apartment so they can dress?” Iain suggested. “I doubt it would go over well with motorists for them to stroll along the side of the road in their birthday suits.”
“You have a good point,” I said and stood. “Why don’t you go, and I’ll stay here to make sure Lonna is okay?”
“I would prefer not to go alone, particularly after yesterday. If something untoward happens to me, I want a witness.”
A pang of guilt stung me, and I didn’t blame him for being uneasy. After all, if I’d been almost blown up, I’d not want to go walking around alone, either. Actually, I had almost been blown up, and I could definitely see where he was coming from.
“We’ll be back in a few minutes,” I said.
Gabriel’s smile was wry and regretful, but he sat down to wait.
“Is there something going on between the two of you?” asked Iain as we made our way back along the road.
“Nope, just a lot of gloriously unrequited sexual tension.”
“Really? I would never have guessed.”
“Ha ha.”
“This is incredible, really. I don’t think I believed you until I witnessed what I just did.”
“How much did you see? The transformation is their most vulnerable time, so they may not be happy that you watched.”
“I saw enough.” He arched an eyebrow at me. “And that is all I’m saying. I’m still processing this.”
“I know it’s a lot.” Something nagged at the back of my brain, but I ignored it, the desire for denial stronger than the idea’s will to push through. My left wrist throbbed—I hadn’t put on the brace before coming out—and it appeared more swollen than my right one. I’d have to put ice on it before driving home.
The idea came through. Leo, just post-transformation, the look on his face as his territorial feelings about Wolfsbane Manor and its grounds overcame his better judgment as a doctor and caused him to hurt me. Ron’s story about the professor’s daughter and how it had cost him his fellowship popped into my head right behind it. My interlude with Gabriel the morning after Louise died and how we had almost made love right there on the island, the desire so thick I could taste it. Passion, lust and greed: the animal part of the brain on overdrive. And I had just left Gabriel alone and naked in a clearing with my best friend, whose state of mind was as yet unknown, but who had been known to dally with the occasional unsuitable male, even to hunt him.
“Oh God.”
“What?”
“We need to go back.” I turned around and was surprised to feel Iain’s iron grip on my right wrist.
“It’s probably already too late.”
I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. “But it would ruin everything.” The image of the wolf from Cabal’s letterhead came back to me— “Unfair, unfair,” indeed. I knew it would sound silly to him, how she’d always been taller, prettier and more confident than me, but we were still best friends in spite of it. She’d had her pick of boys in college, and I would never date them after her because if I did, I’d wonder if I fell short—literally and figuratively. That I’d kissed Gabriel first wouldn’t matter. I couldn’t compete with the passion of the perfect woman or the new werewolf.
“If you’re going to live with them, you need to be able to accept the limitations of the disorder. You need to realize that they can’t be held completely accountable for their actions.”
I knew he was right, but I didn’t have to like it.
“It’s already too late,” he said again and gently tugged me after him up the hill, past the barbecue pit, and around the lake. We gathered their clothing and trudged back, only to find the clearing empty, the only sign of what had happened a flattened area in the pine straw on the ground and traces of the dead rabbit.
“Where are they?” I asked. Then I saw it. The black wolf. It snarled, and Iain and I took the hint and ran the other way. We made it to the road just as the clearing exploded and knocked us to the ground. The earth rocked, and black smoke poured over us.
“Are you okay?”
I opened my eyes and found Leo’s dark brown ones looking at me with concern. “You were out for about five minutes.”
“Iain?”
“I’m all right.” His voice sounded shaky, but at least he was alive.
“Can you move everything?” Leo asked.
I tested my fingers and toes. Everything worked fine. “Can I sit up?”
“We need to wait for the paramedics. I saw the whole thing. You got thrown back a few feet. I don’t know if there’s any spinal damage.”
“You’re the orthopedic doctor.”
“It’s hard to tell by just touching sometimes.”
That reminded me. “Are you okay?”
“I was still in wolf form. If I’d transformed…” He gestured to himself. He was naked and vulnerable. His wolf-hide had probably saved him.
“The black wolf. I saw it.”
“It warned you. I would have, but it dashed out there first and snarled at you. I couldn’t follow—I had to make sure you were okay.”
“Thank you.”
He raised his head as the sound of sirens floated through the broken trees. “I’ll be close by, but I don’t want to be seen.”
“I don’t blame you. Go find some clothes.” I gestured to the ones we’d brought, which wouldn’t have fit him even if they had been wearable.
He melted into the shadows.
The paramedics arrived with the police, checked us out, and declared us to be generally unharmed, just shaken and bruised. We declined to go to the hospital for X-rays and other diagnostic tests. Then we had to deal with the police again.
“I don’t know what you’ve done, but someone wants you to stop doing it. Badly,” the detective said to us as we sat in his office. Again, we were bruised and dirty, and I still clutched the tattered remains of the clothing.
It was a rehash of the day before, this time sleep deprived, exhausted, and with something to hide. I couldn’t deny that the black wolf had warned us, and my head spun as the implications sunk in. It had warned me the day before, although I hadn’t realized it, but enough of the warning had sunk in to make me pull Iain back in the nick of time. Then there was the night Louise had died. Had it brought her to Wolfsbane Manor to give me the message, “The black wolf knows”? And had it set my car alarm off and broken my focus so I could escape that night from the fire in the lab? What if the black wolf wasn’t my enemy, but rather some sort of twisted guardian angel?
What if the black wolf wasn’t a wolf, as I suspected? Leo and Ron said they’d tracked a strange werewolf back to the Manor. Leo hadn’t said anything that morning, but it’s not like we’d had a lot of time to chat.
“We have to go,” I said and stood. “You can contact me at Wolfsbane Manor in Crystal Pines if you have any more questions.”
“Now, Doctor Fisher, we haven’t finished talking yet.” The detective motioned for me to sit down. His drawl as well as his condescending tone reminded me of Bud Knowles, and something inside me snapped.
“Are we under arrest, Detective?”
“No, but—”
“But it’s ten o’clock, and I’ve been up since three without any coffee or breakfast, and don’t you even try to tell me that the swill and donuts you have in the break room will do. My blood sugar is dropping, and unless you’d like to give me a
n escort to UAMS when I crash out, I suggest you let me leave, get something to eat, and then get back to my estate. My solicitor, Mr. Galbraith, will know how to get in touch with me. Frankly, I’m tired, injured and ready to go home.”
The detective’s mouth worked, and he struggled to say something. I ignored him, and with a sharp incline of my head, told Iain it was time to go. Again, his lips twitched as though he was trying not to smile, but he followed me out without a word.
17
I’m seeing a side of you I had no idea existed,” Iain told me as we rode in a taxi back to Lonna’s apartment.
“What can I say? Death threats and kidnappings tend to bring out the best in me.”
The police had beaten us back to Lonna’s apartment. They didn’t indicate that they’d heard we walked out on the detective. Two members of the bomb squad checked the apartment, then my car, and declared them to be clear.
“Doctor Fisher, Doctor McPherson.” The voice was Galbraith’s. He slammed the door of his antique black sedan and hurried up the stairs in front of the apartment. “The police just contacted me and told me what happened.”
“We’re getting out of here, Galbraith,” I said. “Someone’s after us.”
“It appears so. I wanted to tell you I did find those papers of your grandfather’s we discussed. In all the excitement yesterday, I forgot.” He handed me a manila folder. “And I wanted to make sure you are, indeed, unhurt.”
“Generally, yes,” Iain put in. “Doctor Fisher has hurt her wrist yet again.”
“Have you had it attended to?”
“There’s a good orthopedist in Crystal Pines. I’ll talk to him about it.”
“I would recommend you stay here until you know you’re safe.”
“I appreciate your concern,” I told him, “but I think that will happen at about the half of never.”
“Then Godspeed on your journey. Do you know what route you’ll take?”
“Not yet. It depends on construction.”
“Please give me a call when you arrive.”
Galbraith followed the bomb squad and patrol car out of the apartment complex. His car reinforced my initial impression of him as the creepy undertaker in some old B-movie.
“Was that a little much?” I asked. I looked over the grounds of the apartment complex for a large black wolf to appear. Where was Leo?
“I believe so. He seemed very concerned.”
“A little too concerned. Or am I being paranoid?”
Iain put his hands on my upper arms and squeezed gently. “After surviving two explosions in two days? I would say you haven’t been paranoid enough.”
“You’re probably right. We still have to find Lonna and Gabriel.”
“So why are we going back to Crystal Pines? Shouldn’t we revisit the scene of the crime? Look for evidence? See if they were, indeed, kidnapped?”
“Nope.” I hoped that my impression had been correct and that the clearing had been empty before the explosion. “It’s all been obliterated. And we’re not going back to Crystal Pines.”
“I see.” That’s what I liked about Iain—he understood that sometimes good research needs tangents. “Where are we going, then?”
“I’m paranoid, remember? I won’t tell you until we get there. But first we have to wait for Leo.”
“I always told that cad Robert that you would be the better boss.”
We walked inside and straightened up the mess the bomb squad had left. If—no, I chided myself, when—Lonna came back, I didn’t want her to find the place trashed.
Iain yawned. “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since getting here. Would you mind if I take a nap while we wait for Leo to reappear?”
“That’s fine.”
Iain went to rest. I sat on Lonna’s couch and flipped through a magazine, but I didn’t really see what was in it. Leo stumbled into the apartment a few minutes later. He wore his clothes from the day before.
“Forget something?” he asked.
His clothes. From the alley. I put my palm to my forehead. “Whoops, I forgot to get those. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, good thing I hid them pretty well. Otherwise, my wallet may not have still been in my pocket. I was able to use what little cash I had for a cab. So what’s the plan now?” Although he hadn’t had any more sleep than Iain, he looked as alert and ready for action as he had the day before. His rumpled appearance with his wild hair and a day’s growth of beard reminded me of when I first saw him blasting out of Galbraith’s office like a dark energy fireball. I blushed when I remembered his kisses. He was dark and dangerous, and all I wanted to do was jump him, wrap my legs around his waist, and run my fingers through his hair while showing him I could be just as good a kisser as he was.
“You have an interesting expression on your face, Doctor,” he said.
The heat in my cheeks intensified. “I’m not at liberty to say why, Doctor. That’s classified information.”
For a moment, I imagined what the two of us must look like standing there in Lonna’s living room: him rumpled and wild—yes, that word kept coming to mind—and me looking disheveled and forlorn.
He took my hand, examining my injured wrist again. “This doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would after all that,” he said. When I looked at him, I saw he moved his gaze from my wrist up my arm to my shoulder and my torn shirt, where the edge of my bra peeked out, up my chest to my neck and finally my lips, and I trembled as though he had actually touched me.
I could barely speak between the heartbeat that seemed simultaneously lodged in my throat and between my legs. “It’s feeling pretty good right now.”
He pulled me against him, and I leaned into his strength and steadiness. “Someone tried to blow you up,” he said.
“Twice.” A hysterical giggle escaped.
“Most women, most people, would be crying puddles on the floor.”
At his words, a tear escaped from each eye, but I refused to let him see me cry again. “I’m not most people.”
“No,” he said and tilted my face up with his index finger. “You’re stronger than anyone gives you credit for.”
His echoing Lonna’s words on the first day of this horrible adventure made the lump in my throat grow to a burning coal, but still I struggled to keep the tears in check. His lips on mine, soft and questioning, brought me back to the present, and I opened to him. I felt the hardening in his pants between us, and my pelvis seemed to press into it on its own. He groaned and tightened his fingers in my hair and on my butt, trapping me to him.
He’s just been off the hunt, the rational, scientific part of me said. He could be dangerous. Remember your wrist.
Shut up, I told it. I’m not threatening him.
But again, he pulled away and walked across the room.
“Okay, now I feel like melting into an emotional puddle on the floor,” I said, crossing my arms so I wouldn’t shiver with the sudden absence of his warmth. “What the hell was that? Why won’t you finish what you start?”
“It’s my brain,” he said with a heavy sigh. He sat on the recliner and put his head in his hands. “I don’t know if wanting you is me or if it’s the wolf instinct trying to protect you and claim you.”
The image of him dragging me off somewhere and... Not now, brain! “Why do you need to claim me? It’s not like there’s a bunch of suitors vying for my hand.”
He shook his head. “Do you remember where I was all night until the explosion in the clearing?”
“Tracking the black wolf.”
“And do you know where I tracked him?”
“No. How could I possibly know that?”
“Joanie,” he said, his tone serious. “The black wolf followed every one of your moves from the police station to the Italian restaurant to your chase after Lonna.”
“Wait a second. If you knew we were following Lonna, why didn’t you help?”
“Because I felt the black wolf was a threat, and...” He sighed again.
“My brain wouldn’t let me leave it until it warned you away from the explosion at sunrise.”
This time I couldn’t suppress the shiver, and I sat on the sofa. It warned me twice, but what does it want?
Iain walked into the room and stretched. “There, now, much better. Oh, good, you’re back.” He stopped and looked at us more closely. “Did I interrupt something?”
“No.” I stood and looked out the window to the east. “We don’t have time to be fooling around, anyway.”
“Right,” Leo said, but I thought I heard a trace of regret in his tone. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on my part. “So what’s the plan now?”
“She’s not saying.” Iain’s lips twitched, and I could tell he was amused. “But I have a suspicion.”
“We’re not going back to Crystal Pines?” Leo asked.
I turned and gave him what I hoped was a wicked grin. “Nope.”
We piled in the car, Iain in the passenger side and Leo in the back. When I turned on I-40 toward Memphis, Iain smiled. That was the other thing I liked about Iain: his mind worked very similarly to mine. He held up his cell phone in a query.
“Go for it.”
I didn’t read the text he sent, but I knew that it said something to the effect of, Doctor Robert Cannon, be prepared for visitors. Tell us where to meet you.
Iain and Leo snored in harmony by the time we crossed the river into downtown Memphis. Not that I blamed them. It was a long, flat, boring road, and none of us had slept much. Adrenaline—and the breakfast burritos we’d stopped off for—kept me going.
I rehearsed what I would say to Robert in my head. Now that I knew he’d only fired me because he’d been forced to, it gave me hope that we may be able to get something back. I was surprised that my thoughts turned to the research partnership rather than the romantic one, but it seemed indecent to remember the episodes on the office sofa with one of my colleagues in the car. Or with being in such close proximity to the man I couldn’t resist.
Before I could follow that train of thought, a semi passed us, its horn blaring, and the noise startled the guys awake.
Lycanthropy Files Box Set: Books 1-3 Plus Novella Page 21
