Tess nearly snorted while Ruth merely shot Jackie a mutinous glare. Then she turned her attention to Tess. “Go on and help Dolen, dear. The silly man is probably frantic and since he has no hair left on his head, he might just start yanking out the ones on his chest.”
Brows arching high, Tess gaped at her mom. “How do you know he has hair on his chest?” she squawked. Then she thrust out her hands in a defensive gesture, twisted her head away and squeezed her eyes shut against the imagine now implanted in her mind. “Never mind! I do not want to know.”
Her mom sent her a satisfied smirk. Tess gulped and glanced over at Jackie who, for the moment at least, seemed a safer and saner bet. “Thanks. I should be back in two or three hours.”
Jackie nodded, her wild hair bouncing around her gently lined face. “I'll keep our invalid chained up.”
Lips curling into a smile at her mom's outraged glare, Tess once again skated across the smooth floor, barely avoiding a hallway collision by wrapping her hand on her bedroom door jamb. Still smiling, she shook her head at her own antics, very aware that since she'd been home her sophisticated composure had slowly melted away, until here she was, sliding down the hallway in her socks and grinning like a loon.
“Oh!” She dropped to the edge of the bed in wonder. There was nothing wrong with her. What she felt was different, strange, yet achingly familiar. She was happy. Odd, considering the events of the last couple of weeks, but there it was.
Instead of looking at the glass as half-empty, Tess could understand that she was on the cusp of a new beginning. She could start a new career. Do something she'd always wanted. Granted, she might not know exactly what that was, but at least she had the opportunity to figure it out, and that was far more than most people ever had. Her mom was recovering quite nicely from her surgery and subsequent stroke which was a blessing. Then there was her unbelievably hot involvement with a smart, sexy and gorgeous man who wanted to claim her for his own.
The grandfather clock in the living room struck the hour and Tess started as the gongs pulled her from her reverie. She chewed on her bottom lip as she changed and glanced at her reflection in the dresser mirror, taking in the sleek dark blonde hair, naturally streaked by shifter genetics, the smooth and clear complexion - also a gift from wolf DNA - and slightly tilted hazel eyes. Though she couldn't see her body under the jeans and lightweight sweater, she knew her arms were toned, her tummy flat, butt pert, and legs long and slim. With a critical appraisal, she realized she owed her previous seven-figure income to shifter genes, which put a new spin on re-thinking the inner package.
Millions have seen and paid for the wrapping, but no one really knew what dwelled deep in her soul, including herself, and the insight was way overdue. Though she'd already taken baby steps, most especially in regards to her feelings for Caleb, she was now ready to lengthen her stride.
With a determined nod and a mental pat on the back for encouragement, she hustled down the stairs, put on her coat and dashed out the front door.
Eight minutes later she backed her truck up to the rear entrance of Dolen's Café and, tucking her keys into her pocket, jogged inside.
“I'm here,” she called out as she entered and nearly tripped over the boxes stacked haphazardly by the kitchen door. She cast a glance over at Martin who was flipping hamburger patties on the grill. “Am I supposed to take these?”
Martin turned his head. “Yes,” he said his bright blue eyes vibrant against the dark bronze skin. Martin was the proud product of a Native American male and Irish female, and he was stunning. He was also the happiest man she'd ever encountered, smart, easy to talk with and the first to come to another's aid. He had a feline grace and stateliness about him that called to others. People loved him, despite the quick temper that blew up almost as soon as it came upon him. He always said it was better to let the poison out immediately then leave it to fester, and it certainly seemed to work for him. “I'd help you but I'm a little chained to the stove at the moment.”
Tess gave him a lopsided grin, watching as he deftly scooped out French fries, coleslaw and piled them next to hamburgers on three plates. Then she glanced at the order rack. The café was certainly busy for a Saturday afternoon. As if he read her mind, Martin added, “Large group of day trippers stopped by.”
Ah. Day trippers were those who made the trek to town to ski for the day, or half-day in most cases. They hit the slopes first thing in the morning, getting in as much skiing as they could before they headed wearily home. Most times, if they didn't eat at the small restaurant attached to the ski resort, they'd come to Woodcliff to chow down and wander through the gift shops.
“That's fine,” she said, picking up an opened box filled with smaller boxes of tea. “It'll just take me a few minutes to load.”
Martin snickered. “Yeah, if that,” he nodded to the boxes, “was all there was. Gina!” He bellowed loud enough that her ears rang.
“You don't…”
Gina slammed through the swinging door. “What's the matter with you? I was on my way back.”
Martin rolled his eyes. “I hit the damn call button two minutes ago. Table five's food is going to be cold by the time you get your ass moving.”
The waitress huffed, hand on her hips. “You did not. It's barely been lit thirty seconds. Besides, if I don't chat with the customers they don't leave good tips.” Tess knew the second Gina realized she and Martin weren't alone. “Oh.” She eyed the box in her arms. “Guess Dolen suckered you into helping?”
“Don't start, young lady. Get these plates out and then help Tess load.”
“Fine,” Gina grunted. “Like I have nothing else to do.”
Taken aback by the younger woman's attitude, Tess protested, “No, that's okay. I can handle it.”
Gina sighed. “No, I'm sorry. I'm just cranky today.” She transferred the plates to a tray. “Just give me a sec.”
When they were alone again, Martin shot Tess a worried look. “I don't know what's going on, but that girl has developed an attitude problem in the last few weeks and it's starting to piss me off.”
Tess tilted her head, glancing from the door to Martin. “Growing pains?”
Martin let out a bark of laughter. “I wish. Don't know if it's college related, work related, or male-related, but…”
Gina popped back in, effectively cutting Martin off. “There's more in the walk-in cooler. Just prop the door open and we'll get you loaded in no time.”
Tess and Martin sent each other similar arched brow expressions. With a crooked smile, Tess took out the first box.
With two, the truck was filled in no time with numerous boxes containing tea, raw carrots and potatoes, flour, sugar, blueberries, and vanilla ice cream. Luckily, those particular boxes, along with the other cold items, also held bags of ice so nothing would become overly warm on the half-hour drive. No wonder Dolen had been so upset about losing his own refrigerator truck. Adding ice packs to everything created twice the load.
“I don't know why you'd go there,” Gina said suddenly. “I wouldn't step foot in that place.”
Tess reached up and shut the hatch door. “Why would you say that?”
When the other woman didn't answer right away, Tess turned around and caught Gina standing by the open passenger side door. “Most everyone knows Caleb wants to claim you for his mate and it's obvious you haven't agreed.” The last was said with a pointed stare at her neck.
Pursing her lips, Tess considered Gina's ridiculous statement. Because, really, when - no, if, definitely if - Tess accepted Caleb's claim and he marked her, it wouldn't be noticeable like a hickey. Well, maybe at first, but with a shifter's healing abilities, Tess wouldn't sport a bruise for more than a few hours so Gina eyeballing her throat didn't make sense. Then again, most non-shifters based their shifter beliefs on supposition rather than fact. At one time humans didn't even know of shifter existence. And now, maybe too many did.
Tess knew the bite was actually more of a scent marker to
warn other shifters away. The visual symbol would disappear quickly but the olfactory sign would last until her dying day, or Caleb's as the pheromone released by the marker was actually sustained by the male shifter's touch. Or something to that affect. She really should talk with her sister more about this mating thing.
Gina's eyes narrowed, assessing her quietly. “Have you?”
Not that it was any of her business, but if Tess wanted information about Dave and Matt, she should probably reciprocate. “I haven't agreed to anything.”
The waitress’ face cleared immediately and she nodded knowingly. “Figured you were probably slumming for a bit. .”
Slumming? With Caleb? Gina seriously needed to get her head on straight. “Hmmm,” Tess murmured, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. “I meant, why would you not step foot in the Haven? Is it dirty or smelly or something?”
Gina shot her a quizzical look as she loaded in the last box of napkins. “It's full of wolves,” she hissed, glancing from left to right to make sure she wasn't being overhead. “You know how dangerous and unpredictable they are. Just look at what happened to poor Dave.” Her lips firmed into an angry line. “I told him not to go work at the lumber yard. If he had to go work for a wolf, Frank Kolter should have been the last on the list. He's an arrogant, conceited, loathsome speck of dog shit and a worthless father. He and his shifter sons think humans are their play toys and I'm sick of it.” She reached out and slammed the truck door with enough force that Tess winced, sending a silent apology to her new baby.
Pulling the not-quite-familiar-any-more mask of serenity over her face, Tess leaned a hip against the rear fender, and watched in silence as various emotions crossed Gina's face. Recalling what happened the other day in the café between Kyle and Gina, Tess could easily understand and most definitely agree with a dislike of one particular wolf, but lumping all shifters into the same category was completely unfair. The degree of hatred shooting from Gina's light brown eyes did make Tess wonder if something specific caused the biased feeling. If she'd warned Dave not to take a job at the lumber yard years ago when he first started, then Gina's attitude wasn't a result of her time with Matt. But maybe being with Matt only exacerbated it. Hmmm.
“Gina,” she started only to be stopped by the other woman's hand waving her off.
“Just…forget I said anything. I'm just restless and well,” she laid her hand over her tummy, “crampy. You know how it is.”
Aided by a sudden and stiff breeze, Tess subtly drew in a deep breath, and knew Gina was lying. There was no hint of pending menstruation, but there was a whole lot of musk and the scent of Matt West. Knowing that the other woman had left Matt's bed before coming to work was way more information then Tess ever wanted to know. How did the wolves handle knowing these things all the time? Ugh!
She grimaced. “Yeah, I know how it is.”
The relief in Gina's face was clear. “Well, you'd better get going.”
Tess dug out her keys, looked down at them and contemplated. “Gina, if you need someone to talk to….”
“Thanks, but I'm good. Like I said, just that time of the month.”
“Okay then. Thanks for your help.”
“Anytime,” Gina responded with a cheerful and completely fake smile. “Drive safe,” she added as she walked back inside.
Closing her truck door, Tess stared in the rearview mirror, angled to picture the door Gina had entered. “Cramps my ass. What's really going on, Gina?”
Well, she thought, I have a good thirty minutes to ponder that.
Then she shifted into gear and took off for the Moon Haven.
Chapter Seventeen
“We may have a problem.” Dean said abruptly.
“Of course we do. It's the full moon. We always have problems.” Caleb growled into his cell phone. He in fact was returning from a problem featuring a half-dozen drunken tourists and a brawl at the Alehouse, and it wasn't even ten yet.
With Phil on the roster to run and hunt with the cubs tonight, Derek Givins barricaded at the Moon, Jason Rusing handling an injury involved fender bender in town that was blocking traffic, and one of his human deputies calling in sick with the flu, Caleb and Brandon were running themselves ragged. Though the full moon normally brought out the odd in humans and fur in shifters, tonight seemed especially chaotic.
Neither he nor Brandon had made any headway in the Collins case and he missed Tess. And that was the crux of everything. Tess was in heat, it was the full moon and Caleb wanted his mate in the most primal manner. Unable to be with her, and knowing his mark was absent on her delectable body, only increased his unease.
He felt his fangs start to push through his burning gums. With a muttered oath, he shoved all thoughts of his mate aside and focused on Dean. “What's going on?”
“We're missing six shifters.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that six of the two hundred plus wolves that normally stay at Moon Haven have yet to arrive.”
Caleb pondered this a few moments. “Maybe they changed their minds or are running late.”
“Plausible of course, except that about an hour ago I had to intervene in an escape attempt by a dozen young shifters, already in wolf form. Everyone knows the rule on the full moon. Once you're in, you don't leave until morning.”
Frowning, Caleb maneuvered his truck onto the highway from the bar. “That's rare.”
“Very. The thing is, when I forced Tim Bronson back to his human form and demanded an explanation, he seemed…confused. Said he caught a scent too irresistible to ignore. Without the fur, he's still a little twitchy, but he's controllable.”
Caleb glanced in his rearview mirror as headlights flashed briefly before turning in the opposite direction. “Want me to head your way?”
“Where are you?” When Caleb told him he'd just left the Alehouse, Dean said, “Might as well. Maybe you can sniff something out. I can't smell a damn thing with all this wet fur.”
“Wet fur?”
Dean chuckled. “One of my deterrents, or did you forget about the extensive sprinkler system I had installed?”
Caleb ran his tongue over his teeth. “No comment.”
“In spite of the stench, that's the most fun I've had in a long time.”
Which only meant his alpha needed a life, and a wife. “I'll be there in twenty.” He hung up the phone and, with one hand on the steering wheel, he turned the Silverado into a careful u-turn. When his phone rang again, he didn't bother to check the readout. “Bennett.”
“Hi, Caleb. It's Tess.” Despite the instant pleasure at hearing her voice, the wariness in it caused him concern. “What's wrong, m'lupa?”
She hesitated. “I'm sorry to bother you…”
“You are never a bother,” he rushed to say, feeling like a damn teenager with his first crush.
“Remember how you said I might have some visitors of the furry persuasion the night of the full moon?”
His smile dropped in wattage. “Got a wolf or two howling out the window?”
“More like twenty.”
“What!?” Caleb roared. “Are you sure?”
“Definitely. It's weird. There are about a dozen young ones sitting and staring at the house just inside the clearing. Four adults are circling them, yapping every few minutes. Then there are a separate bunch of adults that look to be play-fighting and every now and then, one of those will run around the house. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't know if it meant something?” She posed the last as a question.
This time his u-turn consisted of burning rubber and squealing tires. “Did you go out today? Anywhere? Walk around the block, go to the grocery store?”
“Actually, yes.” Tess told him about the situation with the refrigerator truck and how Dolen asked her to help fix dinner at the Moon Haven.
When she finished Caleb let out a string of harsh and inventive curses. He knew about the incident of course, but he never imagined Tess would somehow get involved. Hel
l, an unmated female in heat, and with the full moon, would catch the attention of every free shifter within a twenty mile radius, and she'd been at the compound for hours. No wonder there was an escape attempt. The irresistible scent was Tess.
Caleb clenched his jaw so hard he cracked a tooth. “Don't go outside, lock the doors and for God's sake, get away from the windows.”
Silence met his statement for a moment. “Do not tell me they are capable of jumping through a closed window. They're triple-paned for God's sake!”
“To get to you, yes.”
“What?”
“Damn it, woman, you're an unmated female in heat. The bloody wolves would claw through a solid steel door to get to you.”
She gasped. “And then what? Try to do me? In wolf form? That's disgusting!”
He closed his eyes briefly. “Right now most of them are more wolf than man. They're not thinking like a human. They are working on instinct rather than logic. Do you understand what I'm saying?”
She made a disgruntled sound deep in her throat. “Yes. The wolves would do a knothole if it smelled like me right now.”
Amazingly, Caleb felt a chuckle rumble in his chest. “That about sums it up.”
She sighed, the breathy whisper teasing his senses, and his cock. “Do you think, if it's not too much trouble, you or one of your deputies could make a trip out here?”
With his foot to the floor, Caleb answered. “I'm already on my way.”
“Oh. Oh, good.” There was a pause, then, “One wolf just came up onto the front porch.”
“Didn't I tell you to get away from the window?” Frustration ate at him like acid. Why wouldn't the woman listen?
“He's not doing anything, except. Oh my God. It's my father!”
What? “What?”
“Caleb, my dad's out there!”
Suddenly a howling came over the line followed by multiple answers that made his hackles rise. “What's going on?”
“I thought you wanted me away from the window?”
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