Rebecca made a show of looking at the photo. After glancing over her shoulder, she took another look before shaking her head. "Can't say I do."
"You've never seen him in here?"
"No, sorry."
"His name is Kevin Wyatt."
"Like I said, I don't recall ever seeing him. What can I get you?" she asked, purposefully turning from Gage to me. Conversation ended.
"Nothing for me."
"If you change your mind, just call. I'll bring your dessert." She darted away before Gage could ask her another question, leaving him to raise his eyebrows at me.
Dessert arrived quickly, Rebecca sliding the plates over before hurrying away. As I watched Gage eat, I began wishing I'd ordered something, although really, I thought our time at the Number One Diner was up. The waitress didn't even stop to collect our plates when she smacked the bill on the table as she walked past, heading off to clear the table the teen crowd left. Gage took a last swig of his coffee, picked up the bill and counted out a few dollars. He palmed the receipt as he stood, pulling on his jacket. I took his lead, grabbing mine and following him out. We walked a block down the street, past his truck, peeking in store windows, and generally acting like we were in no hurry before Gage passed me a small piece of paper.
"What's this? Oh, the bill. How much do I...?"
"Turn it over," said Gage, staring straight ahead.
I turned it over. An address was printed on the back in blue ink. "What's this?"
"Either Rebecca wants me to ravage her later, or she just dropped us a clue."
"Which would you prefer?" I blurted out before I had a chance to censor my words.
Gage looked down at me, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Stella Mayweather, did you just have a jealous moment?"
"No! Hell, no. No. Me? No." Inside my chest, my heart thumped.
Whatever Gage thought to that, he didn't say, so we carried on walking for a bit; first another block, then we took a left, then a right, then another right. We returned to the street we first exited. Next, we crossed the road, waiting for the lights before walking into a couple of stores, browsing through books, and entering a gift store. "What are we doing?" I asked Gage as he stopped to pick up a newspaper.
"Hanging out," he said. "Getting the feel of Rockford."
"You think someone's following us," I said, careful not to turn around as I voiced the feeling that was niggling me on our last turn, a turn that seemed one too many.
Gage shook out the newspaper. "I don't just think it, I know it. Check out the reflection in the wing mirror of that car. See the guy in jeans and a black sweater?"
I glanced into the mirror, seeing the small reflection of a broad man with hair shaved close to his head. "I see him."
"He came in the diner with the party after us."
"I remember. What's he doing following us?"
"Now that is a very interesting question. C'mon. I think we should head back to the motel."
"Shouldn't we go to that address?"
"Let's go when we don't have company." Gage tucked the newspaper under his arm, slung his free arm around my shoulders, leaving me no option, but to hug him around the waist as we walked back to his truck. The man following us appeared to be looking in a store as we drove past, and no one seemed to pick up his cold lead and follow us. Gage took a few wrong turns, just to be certain, and when he was sure no one followed, we headed back to the motel.
"I'd like to know why Rebecca didn't want to say she knew him," I said as we let ourselves into the room.
"Me too, but I guess it had something to do with that group. She got jumpy when they arrived."
"Do you think she tipped them off about us? That would make sense why one of them followed us."
"Without a doubt."
"Then she probably told them my name."
"Probably," agreed Gage, which wasn't reassuring.
"I really thought this would be easier." I took off my jacket and draped it over the desk chair. I propped my boots beside the chair and tried not to think about what to do next. Should I throw off my clothes? Or run into the bathroom with my PJs and be prim? Did it really matter now Gage had seen me naked? More to the point, did I want to see Gage naked again? While I thought about it, I pretended to study the note. When I looked up, Gage was shucking his shirt, leaving his chest bare. I gulped. Then he walked past me, and a moment later, the shower switched on. The door swung almost shut and I heard the sound of jeans hitting the floor, followed by a couple of other items. I closed my eyes and sighed. It would have been pretty easy to rip my own clothes off, and join him under the water, but I didn't want to surprise him. I didn't want to be politely asked to leave either.
So I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances. I grabbed the TV remote, flipped it on and surfed the channels until I found something semi-bearable to watch, before leaning my back on the bed atop a mound of pillows. I kept my eyes fixed on the screen when the water turned off, and was really intently watching it when Gage wandered out with just a thin, white towel wrapped around his waist. "Hope you brought towels," he mentioned. "These fail on the fluffy side. As well as the size scale."
"Yup," I mumbled, but it might have come out as more of a gurgling sound. I glanced at him while his back was turned, noting the extra definition in his muscles when he leaned over and grabbed items from his bag. A few drops of water fell from his hair and trickled down his back. For a long moment, I considered licking it... but what if it tasted of shampoo?
"You okay there? You want the shower?" Gage asked, his back still toward me.
"I think I'll take mine in the morning?" I said. "I'm tired."
"Yeah, all that sleeping today will do that to a person. Hey, is that the new movie with... oh, what's his name? The action guy?"
I glanced at the screen. The credits were rolling while I'd been distracted. "I guess. Do you want to watch it?"
"Sure. Give me a sec to dress."
I did and Gage returned to the bathroom, reappearing in a t-shirt and shorts. He grabbed a couple of pillows from the second bed and dropped them next to my headboard, joining me. "Make anything of that note?" he asked.
"Hmmm?"
"You were studying it pretty intently back there? I thought maybe you thought of something?"
"Just that we could look it up on your smartphone," I said, quickly jumping on an idea as it popped into my head. "We could see if there is a hybrid map? The one with photos of the area?"
Gage smiled. "Good thinking, Stell."
"Then maybe we could check up on the waitress?"
"I thought we agreed there was nothing different... nothing supernatural about her."
"Yeah, we did, but I don't get it. She still knows something. I'd like to know what. And those guys? The ones who followed us? I didn't catch anything supe about them either as they walked past us, but they made her jumpy. I'd like to know who they are."
"Sounds like you planned a busy day for us tomorrow."
I made a murmur of agreement, while looking at his long leg stretched out next to my jeaned one. His was thickly muscled, and his calves were twice the size of mine. "When did you get so muscular?" I asked.
"It's a genetic thing," he said, like it wasn't too significant. "Have you noticed when male wolves get to a certain age, they start getting bigger?"
"Not really. You all look big to me."
"I think it originated as a dominance thing. Look at Annalise; she hasn't changed much. The men get far bigger than the women, and I've ascended the ranks, so I guess that kicked in as well as the aging. Plus, I've been training regularly in addition to the extra gain," he added with a note of pride.
"I don't see much aging." I glanced up at him, feeling shy all of a sudden. Here we were, sitting on the bed together, friendly, comfortable, but there was that extra frisson that I couldn't quite place. That tickle of chemistry, which always existed between us, seemed magnified. Was he preparing to make a move? Was I? Was something holding us
both back? Or had we experienced enough of each other? Somehow, I thought not, but I was too confused to voice any of my thoughts.
"We age as slowly as your kind." Gage stifled a yawn. "Another thing we have in common. Hey, this is the good bit. That car chase! Oh, man!"
Gage was asleep before the end of the movie. I tried not to notice him sliding further down the bed, but now, as the credits rolled, he was flat out and breathing softly. Under my blanket, I was warm and cosy. One glance at the untouched, cold, empty bed on the other side of Gage was enough to ensure I didn't want to move. So, shifting as little as I could, to avoid disturbing him, I shucked my jeans and sweater and burrowed under the covers, almost tying myself in knots to remove my bra while keeping my t-shirt on. Using the remote, I switched off the TV set, leaving the room in darkness.
Lying awake, staring at the beads of light on the ceiling as they peeked through the curtains, I thought about Gage some more, realising that he had been on my mind all day. I was also becoming acutely aware that he lay inches away. When I couldn't confuse myself anymore, and decided I didn't want Gage to get cold during the night, I tucked my blanket over him too and turned away, yawning.
Sometime in the night, Gage's arms went around me; and instead of lying awake while worrying about the choices I was making, I slept a deep, contented sleep.
Chapter Eleven
"It doesn't look the secret lair of a crime overlord." We were watching the address the waitress slipped to us for more than an hour; but so far, nothing had happened. The house looked innocuous enough. A single storey with a plain lawn and driveway at the front. There was an empty carport on the side closest to us. A chain-link fence separated it on both sides from the neighbouring houses. Most of the neighbours had departed for work — or so I guessed — before we arrived, but there was no visible movement from the house we observed. We hadn't even seen a single shadow cross a window. My guess was that it was empty.
"Maybe it’s the portal to another dimension," said Gage. He had his arms crossed over his checked shirt and was sitting straight in the seat. For a moment, I wondered if such a thing were possible. After all, once you've seen more witches, werewolves, demons, and vampires than you could possibly count, living in another dimension didn't exactly seem too far out.
"Could that..." I started to ask, but he swatted me with his magazine.
"Just playing with you. There's no such thing as another dimension. We're all stuck in this one."
"Oh."
"We can sit here and watch all day; or do you want to go check this place out?"
"Can't we do it from here? I can send my magic out to scan the area if I know what I'm looking for?"
"People, I guess. Can you see if the house is empty? Maybe detect a signature from any supes?"
I nodded and set about focusing my energy toward the house. I sent my magic out like a creeping vine, whooshing and swirling around the house. Though my magic was invisible to everyone, I could feel it as clearly as the cloth of my jacket. I sent it around the house first, confirming there were no wards in place, and when I was sure there weren't, I sent it inside. I couldn't get a picture of the house in my mind, but my magic looped and swirled its way through, eventually withdrawing when I confirmed the house was empty. "There's no one there," I told Gage, and he nodded thoughtfully. "Nothing supernatural either."
"Let's go look. Do you want to wait here?"
I thought about the man who followed us the day before. We hadn't seen him since, but there was no telling when someone else would show up. "Nope," I decided, thinking of the safety in numbers. "I'm coming with you."
We strolled from the car to the house, as though we were supposed to be there. Instead of knocking at the front door, we bypassed it, heading around the house and through the carport, peeking in all the windows as we passed. At the back of the carport was a low gate, which we passed through, entering the rear garden. It was a little larger than the front lawn, and had a circular, paved terrace set out with a small table and chairs and a big barbecue grill. The garden was bordered on all sides by a low fence and appeared to back onto a wooded area.
"This is nice," remarked Gage, looking over to the woods. "Just the type of place a werewolf would choose. Plenty of open spaces and easy access to them." He turned away to peer through the door that led into an open living area. It was neutrally decorated, though calling it “decorated” was probably stretching it. There was a single couch, a cheap-looking coffee table, and a widescreen TV. A games console sat on the floor with a stack of game boxes. Off to the left was a small kitchen, divided from the rest of the room by a breakfast bar. Twin stools were positioned on the living space side. I didn't see any plates or mugs on the countertops; and it didn't look very used at all.
"Let's go ask the neighbour with the car parked out front and find out if this is Kevin Wyatt's place."
"It looks like a single guy's house," I agreed, taking a last glance inside before we turned away.
"That widescreen TV and nothing else is a dead giveaway. We might be on the right track. Follow my lead with the neighbour, okay?"
"Okay."
The neighbouring house was the identical twin of our mystery address, except the atmosphere was a whole lot different. It seemed like they both preferred the opposite ends of living. Where this one was sterile and empty, the neighbour’s house was full and loud. I could hear the sound of a baby crying as we approached the front door and Gage knocked.
The door was answered by a woman in her thirties. She wore an apron over her jeans and t-shirt, and a red-faced baby sat on her hip. A toddler, his little legs and arms wrapped around her calf, appeared to be riding her foot.
"Hi," she said, looking up at Gage, then down at me. "I don't buy at the door."
"We're not selling anything. I was just looking for Kevin and noticed his house seems empty and his car's gone. Did he go somewhere?"
The woman ducked her head out the door and looked next door. "Is that his name?"
"Yeah. About six foot, thickly set, with hair down to about here." I tapped my shoulder, indicating the length I thought his hair fell to. "Kind of unkempt," I added as Gage produced the photo he showed the waitress earlier.
"Yeah, that's him." She nodded, moving the baby to her other hip. "I haven't seen him in a few days, but now I think about it, I don't recall seeing his car in a little while."
"We must have missed him," said Gage, nudging me. I sighed and gave the woman a smile, attempting not to look as awkward as I felt while Gage spun his little lie. "He didn't say where he was going?"
"No, sorry. I don't know him except to wave to. Sorry, I can't be more help." She stepped back, lugging the toddler with her as she held the door.
"No problem. Sorry to have bothered you."
The woman nodded, already distracted by the baby grabbing at her collar as the door banged shut. I started towards the path we entered by, but Gage caught my arm. In a low voice, he said, "Someone just parked up at that house. Take a look over my shoulder and tell me who you see."
"I can't see over your shoulder!" I leaned just far enough that I could see around Gage and took in the rusty pickup that had drawn up to the house. "Two white guys. I think one of them was at the diner yesterday," I told him. "Not the guy who followed us. Though... maybe. I don't know."
"Okay. Either they just happened by or someone noticed us snooping."
"They got here quickly if it was to check up on us."
"Maybe they were on standby as soon as we arrived. What are they doing now?"
"One just unlocked the door to the house and now they're going in."
"That's our cue to get out of here." Gage caught me by the elbow and propelled me towards the family's driveway. Once we exited the property, we jogged across the road and climbed into Gage's car.
"You know, I didn't get the impression of anything werewolf about Kevin Wyatt's home," I said, "and I tried."
"Can you tell if a supernatural lives somewhere?"
"What about at my house?"
I thought about it. Had I ever picked up on anything about his residence? I didn't recall and I said so. "When I'm with you, I know what you are, but your house doesn't retain any kind of marker," I explained.
"You couldn't sense anything ‘other’ about the group in the diner yesterday, or the waitress," Gage mused and I nodded. "Did you know Kevin Wyatt was a werewolf as soon as you found him?"
"No, not right away." I frowned. That was odd. Even in death, there was usually a strong sense of what supernatural breed the person was. "It didn't hit me straightaway like usual. Maybe it was the shock or because he was already dead."
"Maybe." Gage switched the engine on and was silent as we passed by the recently arrived car, continuing along the road. As he took the next right, he said, "Could anyone disguise what they are?"
"Sure, but I know how to see through a disguise."
"Do you think someone could fool you?"
"I think so, if they were smart. It's happened before," I recalled, remembering the time a shapeshifter took on a friend's form. "It takes a powerful spell to hide the true nature and it's easy to slip."
"I'm thinking of something on a grander scale."
"What kind of scale?"
"I've scented everywhere we've been and I haven't yet caught a whiff of werewolf anywhere."
"Maybe there aren't any? Maybe only Kevin Wyatt lived here and his pack is elsewhere? Maybe he didn't have a pack?"
"That's a lot of 'maybes,' plus, Sheriff Johansson seemed sure there was a pack here."
"You think they're making sure they can't be recognised?" I enquired, Gage's line of questioning making sense. "You think they’re covering up their true natures, but why?"
Arcane Magic (Stella Mayweather Series) Page 12