by Michelle Fox
Leo stood up. "I’ll go wrap the hunter in a tarp and clean up, so at least that will be done."
"Thanks, brother." Tao held his hand up and Leo clasped it in his.
"No problem."
Charlotte turned to Kane."What are we going to do about your parents?"
"I sent Danielle to take their statements, so we'll control the paperwork from beginning to end. We’ll keep what really happened quiet," Kane said.
"And that’s it," she said, blinking. "It’s over."
"Yes. It’s over. We’re safe now. You protected all of us." Tao confirmed, laying a hand on her shoulder and giving it a light squeeze. To Kane he said, "You did good. Thanks for all your help."
"Well, it was either help or let this guy kill people," Kane said. "There wasn't much choice in the end. Like you said, it was self-defense."
"Maybe so, but you’ve got a head for leadership. Who knows, you might even lead this pack someday." Tao stood, extending his hand and Kane followed suit.
"I don’t know if I’d make a good leader or not, but thanks for the compliment." The two men shook hands.
"Now, take your girl home," Tao said, flashing a smile at Charlotte.
His girl. The words sang through Kane. If only she were his. His wolf twitched under his skin, hungry for her scent. He looked down at her and wondered what it would be like to call those luscious curves his own.
***
Kane was staring at her. Suddenly, she remembered her tiny spandex dress, which covered almost nothing. Heat flushed her cheeks. Oh jeez. Talk about making an impression. And she’d been…doing whatever she did in the garage, all while dressed like a hooker high on bad taste. Great.
"I’m not his girl," she finally said, stammering.
Tao raised his eyebrows, pinning her with his gaze. "No?"
She shook her head, and beside her, Kane fidgeted as if uncomfortable.
Kai appeared in the arched entrance to the dining room. "You smell like you belong together." He lurched toward them, where he grabbed each of their hands. "I’m not really up for this, but it needs to be said," he said.
"What are—" Charlotte started, but Kai cut her off.
"Shh," he said, his expression stern. "I need to concentrate."
So they waited in silence while Kai did whatever it was he did. Charlotte worried her bottom lip, wondering what he would learn. Did Kai’s magical powers extend to mindreading? Would he see right into her head? Eep. That was not a pleasant thought.
After what seemed like forever, but was probably just a minute or two, Kai opened his eyes and glanced at Kane. "You know, don’t you?"
Know what? Charlotte wondered as she watched Kane’s mouth drop open and then snap shut as he nodded, acknowledging Kai’s words.
Turning to Charlotte, Kai said, "You’re still fighting with your old boyfriend. Kane is not him. Move on." With that, he dropped both their hands like they were on fire and then stumbled back to the living room.
"Wh-what was that about?" Charlotte said, rubbing her hand, which tingled like she’d been given a mild electric shock.
"I think we need to talk," Kane said.
"Yes, that sounds like a good idea," Tao said, adding his support.
"Okay," Charlotte said, crossing her arms. "So talk."
Kane shook his head. "Not here. Not now."
"Then when?"
"I’ll swing by your place tomorrow morning. Tonight, I’m afraid I have to clean up the human side of this mess." He looked to Tao. "Do you mind taking her home so I can get a jump on all the paperwork I have to do at the station? I want to be there and make sure no one escalates this whole thing into an investigation everyone is watching, you know?"
Tao nodded. "Glad to." Then he slipped back into the kitchen under the guise of cleaning up the mess from their meal, but Charlotte got the impression the alpha was giving them some privacy to talk.
"So is it okay if I stop by tomorrow?" Kane asked.
Charlotte shrugged, undecided as to how she felt. She liked having Kane around, but that didn’t mean she wanted a mate just then. "I want to go back to school," she said. "Finish my degree. Have a career." Have a normal life.
"There’s no reason not to go back."
She arched an eyebrow. "Oh?"
He arched an eyebrow right back. "What? Did you think I was going to make you stay in Glen Vine?"
Charlotte crossed her arms. "I have plans, Kane. Things I want to do. I might be single, but I’m not exactly available."
Kane smiled and leaned down until their noses almost touched. "I’m in no hurry, Char. I can wait until I’m a thing you want to do. But here’s the thing, you can tell yourself you aren’t interested all you want, but your body says otherwise. I can taste it on your lips. You might find I’m a big part of your plans." Straightening up, he said, "I’ll see you later, okay? I’ll bring Java Jump."
Speechless, Charlotte let him go. She wished she had something witty to shoot back at Kane, but the truth of his words rang through her, rattling her bones and making her heart beat triple time. What if he was right?
Chapter Twenty-One
Tao's gaze pressed on Charlotte as he turned his head to look out the rear window. Putting his big pick-up in reverse and backing out of the driveway, he said, "You know, the way Audrey and I met was kind of crazy, too."
"Yeah, I know," she said, hoping her lack of in-depth response would cause him to drop the topic. She was all mixed up inside and didn't need a lecture.
But Tao persisted. "Kane’s a good guy."
"Uh-huh." She narrowed her eyes at the big man.
Holding up one hand in surrender, he said, "Okay. Sorry. Just trying to be helpful. Sometimes our wolves know what we need better than we do. Don’t ignore that instinct. It’s an important one."
"How do you know it’s the right instinct?" she asked. Is that what had happened to her in the garage? Had instinct just taken over and caused her to kill someone? She swallowed, nauseated by the whole idea.
"I just do."
"I haven’t been a wolf long enough to trust it, and I don’t know if I want to stay here, Tao." She leaned her head against her window and stared outside.
"Where would you go?"
"I don’t know. Lots of places. I want to go to Europe. Maybe get a job in a big city like New York, but now I’m stuck in Glen Vine, turning furry with you guys." She waved a hand. "Kane is a distraction I didn’t ask for or want."
"And yet you two have been inseparable the last few days. What’s that about?" Tao asked, his voice deep with challenge.
She shrugged. "It’s a coincidence. That’s all." Yeah, Kane smelled nice and saved her all the time and was a super hot hunk of man candy, but she'd felt that way about Colton, too, and that hadn't ended well. Kai could hold her hand and wave his mojo at her all he wanted, but she wasn't going to fall for it. Not on his say so. What did he know about relationships anyway? The guy made out with wind, not women.
Tao turned onto the route that would take them to her house. "Well, you’re not trapped here."
She huffed in exasperation. "Yes I am. I can’t even keep myself from shifting without help. How am I going to go off on my own? I mean, forget Europe, how do I even finish school?"
He sighed. "Come on, Char. This is a temporary phase. It will pass, and you’ll be able to go back to school and travel if you want."
"And stumble into hunters or whatever else is out there that doesn’t like what I am? Is the world even safe for me?" She crossed her arms and looked at him with wide eyes.
His gaze met hers and, uncomfortable with its weight, she turned away. Tao sighed. "Look, I know things have been…intense the last few days, but it’s not the norm. Everything is going to be fine. Just give it some time. This is a big change."
"You really think I’ll be able to go back to school?" She thought of her classmates in high school. Most had opted out of college and stuck close to home. On the reunion website, she saw the birth announcements of seco
nd kids. They had families, and she couldn’t even get to class. Damn werewolves to hell and back.
He nodded. "Yes, I do. We’ll need you to go back, anyway."
"Why?" She tried to figure out what her college degree could do for him and came up blank.
He flashed his brights as they neared a sharp curve. There were no streetlights this far out in the boonies of Michigan, just darkness full of deer. Smart drivers tried not to surprise them. "Because what betters you, strengthens the pack."
"I’m a library science major," she said, her voice dry. "You plan on having a pack library?"
"No, but education is never wasted, and who knows? With everything that has happened, maybe you’ll decide to change majors."
"To what? Fantasy? Magic?" She frowned. Was there a spell out there that could reverse Nick's bite? She made a mental note to check.
Tao shrugged. "How about law, or medicine, or finance?"
She grimaced. "How about, no way, not happening, and bad at math?"
He just smiled. "Never say never."
Charlotte shook her head. "I’m not living my life for you or anyone else."
"That’s easy to say, harder to do. The truth is, we all need each other to survive now. If we didn’t work together, that hunter would’ve picked us off one-by-one and, instead of college, you’d be headed for a grave." He gave her a pointed look. "The way to what you want is through your pack. Kai calls it the moon's law. What strengthens one, strengthens all. What weakens one, weakens all. We are bound together by the moon and I'm afraid her rule over us is absolute. You’ll need our support, Charlotte, and we’ll need yours."
Charlotte worried her bottom lip and nodded. She didn’t like it, but he was right. She could try to lie to herself, but then she would shift and the truth would be right there in her face, full of fangs and fur. She couldn't do it alone, not if she wanted any control over what form her body took.
"So don’t be so quick to shut Kane out. Maybe he’ll be the best thing that ever happened to you."
Now she was the one shooting pointed looks. "Yeah, okay. Sure, Alpha." She had to work to keep from snarling his title at him like an insult. Is nothing going to go right for me?
He pulled into the gravel drive that led to her house. "Just keep an open mind."
She hopped out of the truck. "Thanks for the ride."
"No problem." Tao waited until she got the front door open before backing his truck out to the road. With a quick honk, he revved his truck’s engine and zoomed off.
Charlotte greeted Midas and let him out to relieve himself. Then, she ditched the minidress in favor of an oversized t-shirt and her slippers. Curling up on the family room couch with Midas at her feet, she put on a home remodeling show and zoned out, too tired to worry or wonder about anything. Before she knew it, she was half sleeping, her eyes closed but her ears following the long narrative about installing bathroom tile. The noise drowned out the memory of being grabbed in the dark by the hunter and the fight in the garage. It also helped her to not think about Kane. Soon, she didn’t hear anything as she succumbed to the fatigue of the day.
Being the werewolf girlfriend from hell hadn’t been as simple as she’d expected it to be.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kane said his goodnights to the third-shift patrol, his shoulders aching with tension. He'd lied and then lied some more. Fudged paperwork. Conspired with Danielle to cover up what had happened at his parents' house until, officially, it was a hunter with a malfunctioning rifle, too much alcohol, and a bad temper. They'd put in the report that he'd run off without being identified. Of course his parents would know that wasn't what happened, which meant he would have to lie to change the story with them.
He hated every second of the deceptions forced on him. Danielle didn't seem to be a fan either, her mouth pinching tighter and tighter with every detail they changed or made up.
The phrase 'necessary evil' came to mind. His whole life, he'd lived on the right side of the law and hadn't been one to ever believe that the ends justified the means. Becoming a werewolf had changed all that. Good was bad, bad was good. These days, his moral compass spun fast enough to take flight.
Kane didn't regret the latest round of lies, though, no matter how much they made his gut ache. He would do anything to protect Charlotte. She'd saved his life. And Tao was right, they couldn't risk anyone else deciding to come poke around Glen Vine to see if they could find any shifters to kill. Secrecy was paramount. Whatever it took, they had to stay off the radar.
Leaving the station with one last wave to the clerk at the front desk, he headed for the parking lot. Sinking into the driver's seat of his Charger, he just stared up at the night sky for a second. The moon glowed silver above him and he felt its light stir his wolf. He understood, for the first time, that he was connected to the world in a whole new way. The moon pulled on him and formed his fate. There was no use fighting it. He was a werewolf, and pack had to protect pack. This was what it took to survive.
His phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. He fumbled to pull it out of his pocket, frowning when he saw his mom's number flash across the screen. With a sigh, he answered. "Hey, Mom."
"Hey. I hope I'm not calling too late. It's just I didn't hear from you after you left and I got worried. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. The guy got away though, and I've been at the station doing paperwork." He decided to get it over with, and give her the new story now as opposed to later.
"He got away?" Fear laced her voice.
"Don't worry. He won't come back."
"How do you know?"
Kane snorted. "Because he was a drunk, angry fool. I don't think he even knew where he was."
"But you said he was after Charlotte." Now she sounded confused.
"He was an old boyfriend of hers." Kane started his car and pulled out of the station's parking lot. He could tell this conversation was going to take a while, and he might as well multi-task. "He's been bothering her for a while, but I think we scared the stalking out of him tonight."
"Oh. I see." She hesitated for a second, and Kane could tell she was about to change the subject to one he probably wouldn't like. "About Charlotte..."
"What about her?" He couldn't keep himself from growling at the judgment in his mother's voice.
"She seemed...nice."
"She is." He turned into the gas station and hopped out of the Charger to pump some gas.
"It's just...well, is there a reason why she was dressed like a hooker on steroids? And being so rude? I mean, I've known her and her family for years, Kane. She's never been like that before."
"I thought she looked great," Kane said, tapping his foot as he watched the gas meter.
"You would," his mother sniffed. "Call me old-fashioned, but the Charlotte I saw tonight is not the kind of woman I hoped you would marry."
"We're not getting married," Kane said after a moment's deliberation.
There was stunned silence on the other end of the phone followed by, "What do you mean you're not getting married? I thought—"
"You thought Mrs. Harris knew what she was talking about," he said, cutting her off. "Well, she doesn't. She's the biggest gossip in Glen Vine, and as far as I'm concerned, I don't believe a word she says. She could read from the Bible, and I still wouldn't believe her. She has a way of twisting things until they make trouble. Charlotte and I are friends. That's it. So don't get your hopes too high, Mom."
"Oh." His mother's voice was soft. "Why did you bring her home then and parade her around like she was your girlfriend?"
"Because you started texting me about meeting her and Charlotte thought it was a good idea." The meter stopped and he returned the nozzle to its hook.
"I see, so you lied to me." His mother's voice became clipped and her hurt feelings throbbed in Kane's ear.
"I told you the truth first, Mom, but you didn't want to hear it." His heart clenched in his chest. He hated hurting his mom, but he also had to get through to
her or else there would be nothing real about their relationship.
"All right." She went quiet for a long moment and then sighed. "Okay. I hear you now, loud and clear, but why did you bring her home, Kane? You say it was because I wanted it and Charlotte wanted it, but why did you do it?"
"Because..." He trailed off.
"Kane," his mother said, her tone chiding. "No lies this time."
"Because I like her. I kind of like her a whole lot." He slapped a palm to his forehead. Oh crap. Why had he said that? Flustered, he said, "I gotta go. Talk to you later. 'Kay. Bye." He disconnected the call and shoved his phone into his back pocket. Well, hell. He'd just told his mom he liked a girl. She would be insufferable now. Especially once Charlotte stopped with the girlfriend-from-Hell shtick. Damn.
"You okay, man?" The gas station attendant leaned out the glass door, his expression curious.
"Yeah. I'm good," Kane said with a start, realizing he'd been standing in the middle of the gas station long after he was done pumping gas. He looked past the attendant, his gaze falling on the freezer section, which was well stocked with ice cream. Taking it as a sign, he went inside. Maybe the night could still have a sweet ending.
***
A little later, Kane knocked at the front door of Charlotte’s house. It was past midnight, and he knew she was probably asleep, knew he would drag her from bed, but he couldn’t wait for breakfast. For one, he’d had too much coffee at the station and the caffeine hadn't worn off yet.
Two, he didn't want to be alone and three, he had about ten pounds of ice cream that needed eating. His mind was a mixed up jumble of Charlotte, the hunter, and his mom. He wouldn’t be able to sleep until he sorted it out. Besides, he wanted to check on Charlotte and make sure she was okay after everything that had happened in Tao's garage.
He knocked again. "Charlotte? It’s me, Kane."
A dog barked, and Midas' face appeared in the narrow window that flanked the front door.
"Hey, Midas," Kane said in his friendliest voice.
That earned him a growl and a howling bark.
"Well, excuse me." Kane growled back, and the dog froze for a second, his eyebrows high and ears perked. Midas woofed again, sounding a bit uncertain this time.