by Chase Connor
“They?” Lucas asked, stepping up to stand by my side, his fingers still laced through mine. “Who’s they?”
“The Council,” I answered at the same time Jason did, which made him smile evilly at me.
“They’ll have my ass and then come for yours.” Jason shrugged. “Because I’m not going to lie for you. Not if this is how you want things to play out, anyway.”
Lucas’ fingers tightened, squeezing my hand.
“Why are you here?” I asked again.
The grin that flowered on Jason’s face begged to be slapped right off of it. With a two-by-four.
“Problems follow you wherever you go, Jacob Michaels.” He said.
“Rob. Wagner.” I spoke through clenched teeth.
“Rob. Jacob. Tits McGuinness—whatever you want to call yourself.” He snorted. “Everywhere you go, trouble follows. It was here when you were in high school…and now it’s back. I have no fucking idea what is going on, but I know something is wrong. And it has something to do with you.”
“You couldn’t have said something when I was at your house the other night?” I spat.
“You were at his house?” Lucas peeped.
“I hadn’t quite put two-and-two together then.” Jason glanced at Lucas; then his eyes were back on me. “But it finally dawned on me. You were trouble before. Every time I ran into you, it was a fucking shitshow. Then you disappeared suddenly and things…things changed…now they’re changing back. I want to know what the fuck is going on, Rob Wagner, and what it means for my fucking pack. Are my guys in danger?”
“If they keep fucking with me, yeah.” I sneered.
Jason started to step forward, so I raised my hand. He stopped moving but didn’t look happy about it. Lucas’ fingers clenched my other hand as Jason and I glowered at each other, both of us ready to tear the other limb from limb. So…Jason didn’t have all of his memories, but he was, surprisingly, smart enough to take notice of things changing around him. Apparently, magic could mask problems but not completely solve them. Not when you had a werewolf with more curiosity than brains.
“What have you been up to, Rob?” Jason demanded, ignoring my threat. “I thought maybe you just came to my house the other night—”
“Why were you at his house?” Lucas asked again.
I held a finger up to him, pleading with my boyfriend with my eyes.
“—because maybe…well, whatever.” Jason looked away for a second, conveying everything he was thinking without saying another word. “But then it came to me. You know—when you made my sink explode? Jacob Michaels is trouble.”
“For the last time,” I growled. “My name is Rob Wagner.”
“A rose by any other name.” Jason spat back.
Lucas was tugging at my arm. I turned to look at him, all pale and troubled, his fingers clenching at mine.
“What?” I asked as gently as possible.
“Why were you at his house?”
Jason snorted derisively, which made me shoot him a glare.
“To give him money for Katie’s funeral.” I turned back to Lucas quickly. “You know, that woman who wandered up in the yard naked and burned up? Then he tried to put the moves on me, and I made his sink explode.”
It took Lucas a second, but a grin slowly bloomed on his face.
Oh, yeah.
My boyfriend knows things.
Probably, like, if someone is lying.
And he knew I wasn’t.
“Whatever.” Jason snarled. “You’re a fucking disaster zone. And there’s two bodies right here that prove it.”
Lucas and I smiled at each other a moment longer, and then I turned back to Jason, my glower in full force.
“What do you suggest, doggy?” I waggled my head at him, refusing to let go of Lucas’ hand. “I have bigger problems than two dead bodies. Lucas got bit, and that means—”
“I know what the fuck it means.” Jason interrupted angrily. “I think out of the three people standing here, I have the best understanding of what being bit means, asshole. But he’s not going to turn at the next full moon, so why don’t you stop shitting in your shoes and focus on the real problem. Dead. Bodies. Two of ‘em.”
“I thought the problem was that I’m trouble?”
“That’ll be the next issue we’ll address.” He glared at me. “Trust me.”
My body jerked towards Jason automatically out of anger, but Lucas pulled me back.
“What do you mean?” Lucas asked quickly. “Why won’t I turn at the full moon?”
“It takes a couple of lunar cycles to kick in,” Jason answered Lucas, though his eyes stayed on me. “Making magic is hard work, isn’t it?”
I just glowered back.
“How many?” Lucas asked quickly.
Jason stared at me a moment longer, then rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Lucas.
“Two or three.” He sighed. “Three is the most I’ve ever seen.”
“Well, what determines how long it will—”
“Ladies!” Jason boomed. “This isn’t a coffee klatch. I’m not here to answer your stupid ass questions about your bite. It ain’t from one of mine, so I really don’t give a shit if you turn or not.”
“What does that mean?” I brought Jason’s attention back to me.
“Your boyfriend there turns?” Jason grinned evilly and jabbed a finger at Lucas. “His pack is going to come looking for him. And I have no idea what pack these guys belong to—so…good luck with that.”
“Fuck.” I stomped my foot.
Lucas stammered. “How will they know? I mean, those guys are dead now. Rob killed them. So, who is going to tell them?”
My eyed twitched at Lucas’ proclamation once more. Again, he had laid sole blame for what had happened on me. How he would hold up in a court of law if someone did find out about the two dead bodies ran through my mind. Was my boyfriend the “plea deal” type or the “ride-or-die-bitch” type?
What all didn’t I know about Lucas?
“He’d make a horrible pack member,” I added. “He’s a vegetarian.”
Jason grinned.
“I don’t think that matters right now, Rob.” Lucas snapped, though he couldn’t put any anger behind it.
“Yeah,” Jason smirked. “We’ll see when the cravings come.”
Lucas made a retching noise. By the time I had turned to him, he was doubled over in the opposite direction, the contents of his stomach spilling out onto the inky ground below. I kept my eyes on Jason, but slowly rubbed Lucas’ back as he vomited what looked like a week’s worth of meals onto the shore of the Maumee. Jason rolled his eyes at us, then turned his back and crouched down next to one of the bodies beside his feet. Since he wasn’t watching us, I felt better taking my eyes off of him.
Rubbing on Lucas’ back as he puked made my stomach turn, especially when the smell wafted up to my nostrils, but I steeled myself and played the stoic boyfriend who was immune to being grossed out. It seemed to go on forever, but finally, Lucas’ stomach stopped expelling its contents, and he slowly straightened up. He practically fell into me, his arms wrapped around my middle as I held him against me. Whether I liked it about myself or not, I was embarrassed that Jason saw my boyfriend being scared. I didn’t want him to think that Lucas was weak. Also, I couldn’t help but think about how I wished Lucas had rinsed his mouth first.
“Fuck, Rob.” Lucas whimpered into my ear.
“It’ll be okay, babe.” I rubbed his back gently as he held me. “It’ll be okay. We’ll talk to Oma. We’ll figure something out. Maybe there’s—”
“Well,” Jason interrupted again, “you guys lucked out. There’s not a single thing in either of these guys’ pockets. Unless their wallets fell out while they were still in the water, I guess. But the odds of that happening to both of them would be pretty low, so I’m guessing they don’t have I.D. with them.”
“Could you give us a second?” I barked.
“Sure.” Jason stoo
d and gave an exaggerated smile and nod of his head. “Let’s take our time dealing with the evidence of your crime here.”
“Rob was defending us.” Lucas managed to mumble loudly into my neck.
God, I hoped his mouth wasn’t covered in puke.
“It was self-defense.” I clarified.
“If they’d been shot, sure.” Jason shrugged, bending down again to one of the bodies. “These guys look like they’ve been tortured. Unless you want to show the cops your little laser hands there, give ‘em a display, I don’t think they’re going to believe this was self-defense, Rob.”
Whether I liked it or not, Jason was right. The scene did not scream “self-defense,” and there was no way that the police would believe in magic. Or that the bite on Lucas was from a werewolf—if it was still there when we talked to them. Also, if I started shooting fire out of my hands, the cops would probably just shoot me and ask questions later.
“Fine.” I relented. “Now what?”
Jason was yanking something out of one of the bodies’ hands.
“Well,” Jason sighed, “this is part of your boyfriend’s shirt.”
He held a scrap of cloth towards us. Lucas pulled away from my neck and let go of me slowly. We both just stared at the scrap of fabric in Jason’s hand; both of us aware that it was indeed part of Lucas’ shirt.
“I’m betting there’s other forensic evidence here,” Jason added, then smiled. “I sound like I should be on one of those procedural cop shows or something, huh?”
“Why are you here, Jason?” I demanded.
“Right now, I’m helping you decide how to cover up murder.” Jason spat. “At least, that’s the way the cops will see it. After that, we can get back to our little talk about what the fuck is going on with you and the bullshit that hovers over you like a nuclear cloud.”
Swallowing hard, I refused to respond.
“So,” Jason tossed the cloth, which Lucas caught, examined for a moment, then shoved into his pocket, “I’m going to take your two friends here and dump them. The pack lands are full of wooded areas. These guys don’t have I.D.; I don’t know who they are, no one but us three knows what happened here—I don’t think anyone is going to find out about this anytime soon. In fact, no one may ever come looking for these guys. They don’t exactly look like they were the deacons of their churches, so maybe no one will even miss them.”
“How kind.” I frowned.
“Kinder than what you did.” Jason retorted. “Why don’t you take your boyfriend home and kiss his boo-boos for him? We’ll talk later.”
“Listen here, you piece of—” Jason smiled wickedly as I started to move towards him again.
“Rob.” Lucas jerked at my hand firmly. “Let’s just go. Please. You guys can fight later.”
Turning to Lucas, I saw the desperation in his eyes, his desire to get off of the peninsula and into the car in front of the heater to warm up, and forget about our night. At least, the best he could after having been bitten by a werewolf. I wanted to tell Lucas that Jason would probably just screw us over if we left him with the dead bodies, but then I remembered that Lucas knew things. If he felt safe leaving Jason and the bodies alone, he must have known how things would turn out. The fact that it didn’t worry him made me feel less nervous about leaving.
“Fine.” I replied gently to Lucas, then over my shoulder: “We’ll fight later.”
“Bet your ass.” Jason snickered.
My hand was raised in a one-finger salute over my shoulder as I let Lucas lead me away from the shore of the Maumee. Jason’s flashlight beam bobbled in the distance as Lucas and I walked away quickly, putting distance between us and the biggest clusterfuck imaginable. Getting Lucas into the car and turning on the heat for him was all I cared about at that moment. That, and getting back home so we could get clean and put on dry clothes.
Chapter 2
Lucas had his hand on top of mine as it laid on his chest and the hot water cascaded over us. Steam filled the shower and was spilling over the top of the shower wall into the bathroom. Green, gilded-jade eyes were locked on mine as the flesh of my palm stayed against the raw bite wounds on his chest. Already, I could tell that they were healing. The puncture wounds from each individual tooth were not as deep as they had been. They weren’t as red and angry looking as when we had first entered Lucas’ house. Lucas didn’t seem to notice nearly as much as I did, but I was also concerned that he might be in shock from everything that had happened throughout our evening.
The attack had come so suddenly, out of nowhere, he hadn’t even had the chance to process the sudden return of his memories. A werewolf was chomping down on his shoulder before he could even think about what all of those memories meant. Before he could even mentally sort through all of the events of his past that had been stripped from his consciousness. Then he was watching two guys get burnt to a crisp. Then he was bleeding and freezing and bathed in a flashlight beam. Everything had gone to shit, and there was no way that my boyfriend had been able to take it all in without going a little cuckoo in the process.
Right?
“Rob.” Lucas leaned forward to lay his forehead against mine. “Thank you for saving me.”
“Did I?” I asked, chewing at my lip.
Lucas looked up at me, his eyes boring into mine for a moment, then he gently kissed me on the lips.
“You stopped him before he could do worse.” He sighed against my mouth.
“I didn’t save you, Lucas.” I shook my head jerkily. “All he wanted to do was bite you. He did that.”
“He might have—”
“If he had wanted to kill you, he would have.” I stopped him. “He was looking to turn you. I didn’t save you.”
Lucas stared at me as he kept my hand held against his chest and water poured over us, creating sheets of liquid warmth over our bodies. Against my desires, I was aroused, and I could feel that Lucas was feeling the same way. Standing there in the shower with my hand against his relatively fresh wound made me feel anything but aroused inside, though. Sex was the furthest thing from my mind. All I could think about was that wound that one day would mean so much more to both of us.
“I wasn’t fast enough.” My head was still shaking remorsefully. “You shouldn’t have been bitten.”
“Shhh.” Lucas pressed his lips against mine once more. “Rob. You can’t protect me from everything. And I can’t protect you from everything either.”
“Then what?” I asked after another gentle kiss. “This is my fault. If I had just left you alone…”
“Do you really wish you had left me alone?”
“No,” I said. “I just don’t want you hurt. And you’ve been hurt. I’m trouble, Lucas. Jason wasn’t wrong.”
“You must be upset if you’re agreeing with him.”
The attempt at humor was half-hearted at best.
“I remember everything, Rob.” Lucas’ forehead was against mine again. “You can’t convince me that everything is your fault anymore. If this had happened last night…maybe…but not now. And if you hadn’t given me back my memories, you would have lied to me.”
“I know, but—”
“You promised you’d come back.” Lucas gave me a sharp look. “And you brought my memories with you. You did exactly what you said you would do, babe. No more. No less. You did nothing wrong.”
“It feels like everything I do is wrong.” I sighed, the sound of the water nearly drowning out my words. “Coming back to Ohio was bad, Lucas. We both know it. If I had known when I got into my car to drive here what I know now, then…”
Lucas just stared into my eyes, his hand still over mine as it rested against his chest. I sighed and slumped forward, my forehead falling against his again as I considered what a mess I had made of everything over the last several weeks. Hell, the last decade. Everything that I had done in the last ten years was going to come back to bite everyone in the proverbial—and maybe literal—ass. All I had done was cause confusion
and chaos—delayed the inevitable. There was no way that I would be able to keep Lucas from getting hurt in the process. The bite on his chest was proof enough. I slid my hand out from under his and let it drop to my side.
“Why did you take me out into the Maumee to talk to me, Rob?” He asked softly, just audible above the water. “Was it to shield the magic?”
“Sh,” I stated quickly, though it lacked energy. “Yes.”
“Does it have to be a natural body of water?” He asked.
Frowning to myself, I moved my head so that I could look my boyfriend in the eyes again. The corner of Lucas’ mouth was turned upward, and he glanced at the showerhead.
“I…I don’t know,” I said cautiously. “I didn’t even know that running water did that until…someone…told me.”
“But now I have my memories back,” Lucas said. “That’s all that matters.”
“I guess.” I shrugged, staring into those curious green eyes.
“Do you want me to show you something amazing?” Lucas grinned.
I wanted to frown—getting frisky seemed inappropriate, all things from our night considered—but a smile crept to my face instead. Anything amazing that Lucas wanted to show me, I wanted to see it. Of course, I had seen everything on Lucas—and it was all amazing—but he seemed to be implying that he had something amazing hidden away for a special occasion. What better time to pull a trick out of the bag than when I needed cheering up?
“What?” I asked, my voice huskier than usual. “What is it?”
“Give me your hand.”
My smile widened, and I lifted my hand once more. Lucas laid his palm against the back of my hand and pulled the palm of my hand against the bite wounds on his chest once more.
“Before they have time to heal,” Lucas said.
“Okay…”
“This might feel weird.” Lucas turned his eyes to mine.
“Huh?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course.” I frowned. “I trust you with everything I have, Lucas.”
A smile bloomed on his face a mere fraction of a second before it felt like someone was tugging my skin on my arm. Instinctively, I started to jerk back, but Lucas kept my hand held to his chest. My eyes grew wide as I stared into his. He wasn’t pulling at my hand or my arm, and nothing was trying to pull the skin off of me. Something was being sapped from me.