by Karen Lynch
“Emma and I didn’t get to know each other until recently.”
“What’s her story?” I asked.
“I can’t really go into it. All I can say is she’s been through a lot, and the last few months have been really hard on her. She needed a quiet place to live, so I invited her to stay at the apartment.”
“Why didn’t you tell us she was coming?” Pete asked. “I think we scared the hell out of her Friday night.”
Sara sighed. “That was probably a mistake, but Emma asked me not to tell anyone. She’s a little nervous around people. If you knew what she’d been through… Well anyway, I thought she’d like New Hastings. I hope you all can be friends when she settles in there.”
Her explanation only made me more curious about Emma. Why was she so secretive? What gave a person nightmares that made them scream out in terror?
“So, you fluent in Russian yet?” Pete asked Sara.
She laughed. “Most everyone at Miroslav speaks English, thank God.”
A door opened in the background, and I heard Nikolas say something. I was about to call out a hello when Sara huffed softly.
“It was an accident, Nikolas. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
His deep laugh filled the phone, and I wished I could hear what he was saying.
“No one told me that area was off-limits,” she said. “There should be signs. And all I did was pet them. How was I supposed to know?”
“Uh-oh,” I said. “What did you do?”
Sara came back on the phone. “It’s nothing. Well, maybe not.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I took a walk earlier, and I saw a pen with some strange creatures I’d never seen before. The gate must have been unlocked because they got out and surrounded me. Someone started yelling and the weerlaks got freaked out. I was only trying to calm them down.”
Pete and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Weerlaks looked like honey badgers with really big fangs and a temper to match. They were always born four to a litter, and they stayed together, communicating telepathically. They were deadly creatures. I’d rather face a pack of crocotta.
I found my voice. “You used your faerie magic on a pack of weerlaks?”
“Yes,” Nikolas called from the background, telling me Sara had put us on speaker. Nikolas sounded amused and a little aggravated at the same time.
“I didn’t mean to,” Sara said defensively. “They looked upset. How was I to know you’re not allowed to touch them?”
I grinned at Pete. “So, Nikolas, how’s it feel to be home?”
“Not as quiet as I remember,” he answered dryly.
Sara muttered something, and Nikolas spoke in a soothing voice. “My mother is not angry with you. She’s just glad they didn’t hurt you.”
And that was our cue to go.
“We’re heading out to lunch. We’ll talk to you guys in a few days,” I said.
“Bye,” Sara and Nikolas said together.
I hung up, and Pete and I laughed again as we got into the Mustang.
“Poor Nikolas,” Pete said.
I snorted. “Poor Russia, you mean. Nikolas knew what he was getting into.”
“Man, it’s quiet here without her.” Pete buckled his seat belt. “Gino’s?”
I started the car. “We had that yesterday. Let’s go to Gail’s. They have the chicken pot pie special on Thursdays.”
“Sound’s good.”
Emma
“Here you go. A BLT and a Caesar salad.” I laid the plates in front of the two customers at the table and straightened. “Can I get you anything else?”
“We’re good, thanks,” said the middle-aged woman.
I smiled and returned to the counter where Brenda gave me a thumbs-up. “You’re a pro,” she whispered.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. It was my second day at the diner, and Gail had given me two tables in the back to start me out. If I couldn’t keep up with two tables, I’d fire myself.
The door opened behind me, and Brenda smiled. “And here are your next customers.”
I turned as she walked out from behind the counter to greet the guests. My stomach dropped at the sight of Roland and Peter standing by the hostess stand. They smiled at Brenda, and she led them to my open table.
I passed Brenda on my way to their table. She winked and whispered, “You’ll like these two, especially Roland. He’s a charmer, that one.”
Peter was facing me and his eyes widened when he saw me approach them. “Emma? I didn’t know you were working here.”
Roland’s head whipped around, looking even more surprised than his friend. “Hey. Didn’t expect to see you here.”
I summoned a smile. “I started yesterday.”
“Nice,” Peter said. “The food here is great and it’s not too far from the waterfront.”
“Especially if you enjoy walking,” Roland added with an expression I couldn’t decipher. “Did you get caught in that rain last night?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t too bad,” I lied. “Can I get you something to drink while you look at the menu?”
“Coke and the chicken pot pie,” Roland said.
Peter handed me their menus. “Same for me.”
“Great. That’ll be out in a few minutes.” I went to put in the orders and pour their drinks. When I carried the glasses of Coke back to the table, Roland spoke before I could walk away.
“So, how are things at the apartment? You getting settled in okay?”
“It’s great, thanks.” I relaxed a little. This was the closest I’d gotten to the werewolves, and so far, they didn’t seem to be smelling anything off of me.
Steve called their order, and I went to get it. Peter dug in as soon as I set his plate in front of him.
“Have you seen much of town yet?” Roland asked.
My smile was real this time. “No, but I love what I’ve seen so far. Now I know why Sara talks about this place so much.”
He smiled back. “Yeah, it’s a great place. If you want, we’ll give you the grand tour, show you all the best spots.”
I felt a moment of panic. “Thanks, but a friend has offered to show me around.”
“Oh.” His smile faltered. “You made a friend already? That’s great.”
“Yes. His name is Scott, and he works here.”
Roland’s eyes darkened a shade. “Scott Foley?”
Peter coughed on a mouthful of food.
“You know him?” I wasn’t sure what to make of their reactions. Did they not like Scott? He was so friendly.
“Yeah. We all go way back,” Roland said evenly.
I realized I was spending too much time talking to them when I should have been watching my other table. “Excuse me. I need to get back to work. Enjoy your lunch.”
Brenda nudged me with her hip when I went back behind the counter. “Looks like Roland’s not the only charmer in the room.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you might have made a conquest already.”
A conquest? “No, you misunderstand. Roland and Peter are my cousin’s friends. They were being nice. That’s all.”
“If you say so,” she murmured.
Two tables cleared at the same time in her section, and she went to clean them. “Can you give me a hand?” she asked me.
“Sure.”
I went to the closest table and stacked the plates. As I was picking up the glasses, a man bumped into me on his way out. A glass slipped through my fingers and shattered on the tile floor.
“Oh, shoot.” I grabbed the stack of unused napkins on the table to blot the spilled soda before it went everywhere.
Brenda came over with a broom and dustpan. “Careful. Don’t cut yourself.”
No sooner had the warning left her mouth when I felt a sharp pain in my thumb. I jerked my hand back with a small cry.
Brenda crouched beside me. “Let me see.”
She bent over my hand, and I felt her pluck out the shard of glass. “
You’ll live,” she announced. “Let’s go bandage this. I’ll get Scott to clean up the glass.”
We stood, and I looked down at the large red drop welling from the pad of my thumb. The coppery smell of blood hit me, and my stomach lurched. A second later, dizziness slammed into me, and I swayed on my feet.
A pair of hands grabbed my arms gently from behind, holding me against a hard body. “Steady there,” Roland said in a low voice.
My body stiffened. I tried to pull away, and my legs almost gave out.
“Easy,” Roland murmured.
“Maybe she needs some air,” Brenda suggested.
In the next instant, I was swept up into Roland’s arms and carried outside. It was a cool day, and the fresh air felt good against my skin. He set me down on a bench and sat on his haunches in front of me. A hand cupped my chin and tilted my face up to his. I sucked in a breath at the worried blue eyes inches from mine, and my stomach did a weird little flip.
“You okay?”
For a moment, I forgot to answer. “Y-yes.”
Brenda sat beside me on the bench. “Are you alright?”
Embarrassment pushed aside my anxiety. What must they think of me, nearly fainting because of a tiny cut on my finger?
I nodded mutely, angry at my weakness. The irony of an ex-vampire who gets sick at the sight of blood was not lost on me. Ever since I’d been healed, I couldn’t stomach the smell or sight of it. If there was a God, he had a messed-up sense of humor.
“Let me see,” Gail said, and Roland stood to let her in.
Having all these people fuss over me only intensified my discomfort, but I sat quietly and let her look at my finger. She cleaned the blood off with a damp cloth and applied a bandage.
“It’ll be okay in a day or two,” she said. “But you should go home for the rest of the day.”
“I don’t need to go home,” I protested, sounding weak even to my own ears.
“You’re white as a sheet, honey,” she said kindly. “We can manage here without you for the rest of the day.”
Scott handed me my bag. “Here, Emma. I’ll give you a lift home.”
“I’ll take her.” Roland reached down to help me to my feet. “No need for both of you to leave work.”
Gail nodded. “Thank you, Roland.”
There was nothing for me to do but let him lead me to his car in the small parking lot. He opened the passenger door for me, and I got in. Then he went around to the driver’s side.
“What about your lunch?” I asked him as he pulled out onto the street.
He kept his eyes on the road. “It’ll wait.”
An awkward silence filled the car. I didn’t know what to say, and he was oddly quiet. I was glad I lived close by and the ride took only a few minutes.
He parked in front of the apartment steps, and I was out of the car before he could come around to open my door. He stood on the other side of the car, looking a little bewildered. I didn’t blame him because my behavior probably seemed strange.
I twisted the strap of my bag. “Thanks for bringing me home.”
“No problem. You feeling better?”
“Yes. I feel silly getting sick over a little blood. And for taking you from your lunch.”
He tapped the roof of the car. “Don’t worry about that.”
The longer we stood there, the more I felt the weight of his stare. I swallowed. “Anyway, Peter’s waiting for you. You should probably go.”
“Yeah.” He opened his door. “I’ll see you around.”
He got into the car and backed out. I waited for him to leave before I went up the stairs and entered the apartment. I tossed my bag on the kitchen table with a loud groan.
“Way to go, girl. Next time, faint and the humiliation will be complete.”
I sighed and went to change my clothes. At least I no longer had to worry about the werewolves somehow sensing what I used to be when they got close enough to smell me. And I’d managed not to panic about being held by one of them. Granted, I’d been occupied by other things, but it was definitely a big step for me.
I had to admit Roland had surprised me. When I thought of werewolves, gentle wasn’t a word that came to mind, but he’d handled me with so much tenderness and concern. Maybe I wasn’t being fair to him because of my fear of werewolves in general. As long as he didn’t discover my horrible secret, I should be safe around him.
Not that I was going to spend that much time with him. I’d left Westhorne because I wanted a normal life among other humans, and there was definitely nothing normal about Roland Greene.
Roland
“You going to eat that?”
Pete’s voice jerked me from my thoughts, and I looked down at the half-eaten chicken pot pie in front of me. He and I were never ones to waste good food, so I slid it across the table to him. “Go ahead.”
“You’re quiet,” he observed as he dug into the pie.
I thought about how tense Emma had been on the drive to her place and the way she’d practically jumped from the car when we got there. “Is it just me, or does she seem uncomfortable with us?”
“Emma?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “Yes, but remember that Sara said Emma’s nervous around new people.”
“She seemed fine with the people here,” I pointed out.
“Maybe it’s just guys.”
“Can’t be. She said she and Scott were friends.”
“Must be you then,” he said with a grin.
I clenched my jaw. Of all the people Emma could have made friends with, it had to be Scott Foley. He’d been a total jerk and a bully in high school, but he changed after Sara disappeared last fall. Since then, he was like a different person. But it was hard for me to forget the way he’d treated Sara all those years.
I wondered if Scott knew Emma was Sara’s cousin. The idea of him around Emma didn’t sit well with me, but it wasn’t like I could tell him to stay away from her. Emma worked in his family’s restaurant, so they’d see each other all the time. And it was her choice who she wanted to be friends with.
Sara said Emma had been through a lot. Remembering how weak she’d been earlier, I wondered if maybe she’d recently recovered from an illness. She’d been light as a feather when I picked her up, although her body hadn’t felt too thin or frail.
Pete pushed away the empty plate and leaned back in his chair with a contented sigh. “What time are you heading over to Brendan’s tonight?”
“Mom told me to be there by six.”
It was tradition to have a cookout at Brendan’s farm to welcome the first wolves arriving for the pack gathering. The official gathering didn’t start until next week, but some people liked to come ahead of time and make sure they had their choice of housing. Unfortunately, some also came early to check out potential mates. It was easy to spot those wolves – both male and female – because of the hungry look in their eyes. They were the females I wanted to stay as far away from as possible.
I’d given up on trying to find a way out of attending the party. Now I was thinking of how early I could duck out of there without pissing off Maxwell or my mother.
Pete smiled as if he’d read my mind. “Might as well suck it up. No getting out of it.”
“I know.” I stood and threw cash on the table to cover my lunch. “But I have to say it’s days like this I wish I’d stayed in California.”
* * *
I looked around Brendan’s backyard that was quickly filling up with people. The smell of cooking meat made my mouth water because I’d only eaten half my lunch at the diner and I’d missed dinner to come here. But I would have gladly traded Brendan’s barbecued ribs for a plain ham sandwich if it meant I didn’t have to be here tonight.
“How long do I have to stay here?” I asked my mother, who was arranging bowls of potato salad on a picnic table.
She laughed. “You just got here.”
“Yeah, and I’m ready to leave.”
Straighteni
ng, she gave me a knowing look. She took my arm and led me away from the crowd. “Meeting unmated females doesn’t mean you’ll have to mate one of them. And very few wolves imprint immediately.”
“Dad knew as soon as he met you.” My father died in a trucking accident when I was four, but I still remembered his stories about how he and Mom met.
“Yes, but that doesn’t happen often,” she said with a faraway look in her eyes. Some wolves mate for life and never take another if their mate dies. When I was a kid, I’d wished she and Nate would fall in love and get married so he and Sara could live with us out here in the Knolls. But my mother never wanted another mate after my dad.
“But it can happen.”
“Your wolf won’t imprint when you’re in human form, you know that. Your father and I met in wolf form. And even then, it took three days for him to imprint.” She smiled in remembrance. “He always did like to take his time with things.”
Pete split from the crowd and walked over to us. “Hiding?”
“Just trying to talk some sense into my son,” my mother said. “Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
“Not a chance,” I muttered as she walked back to the picnic table.
“Come on, man. It’s not that bad,” Pete said. “You don’t have to hook up with anyone, and some of the girls here are pretty cool.”
“Says the guy who wouldn’t mind being mated,” I grumbled.
He shrugged. “I didn’t say I wanted to be mated yet. I’m just not against it like you are. If it happens, it happens.”
I watched the people milling about, talking and laughing, a lot of them catching up with friends and family they hadn’t seen in a while. Paul was there, engaged in conversation with two blonde girls I knew from Bangor. I saw them whenever I went to visit my grandmother. Allison was my age, and her cousin Patty was two years older. They were nice girls, but they were also unmated.
Paul looked in our direction. I shook my head at him, but he’d already started toward us with Allison and Patty in tow. I swore softly, earning a chuckle from Pete.
Allison giggled. “So this is where the hot single guys are hanging out.”
Patty was less obvious than her cousin. “Haven’t seen you two since Thanksgiving. You didn’t stay in Bangor long.”