That’s how I’d ended up taming Bunnicula, who Lori named after our favorite hand-me-down book at the time.
“You’ll never get rid of Cord now.” Another staticky burst of laughter. “You’ll tame him right proper.”
“Tame I can work with,” I assured her. “Tame means I can swat his nose with a rolled-up newspaper if he tries to eat me again.”
“If he was going to kill you, he would have by now.” She sounded confident. “Crazed as he was, I thought for sure…but here you are. He must truly love you.”
The word—the weight—of love made my skin simultaneously crawl and tingle. “Or he remembered that he’d stashed bacon in my fridge and needed me alive if he ever wanted it back.” If she knew him at all, then she understood how seriously he took his breakfast meats.
“You’ve both made your choices,” she chided. “There’s no use in playing coy with me.”
“Coy is one thing I’m not.” I glanced at the wolf and found his head cocked in a way that made me question how good warg hearing was exactly. “It’s just that he was much less furry when I decided to fight for him.”
Even now the thought of losing him, through his wolf or the selection, squeezed my heart until it ached.
“The wolf is part of him,” she said kindly. “The man will return. He must for them to remain in harmony. Loving you… It’s a good thing. It will help him find his way back.” Hostile murmurs erupted in the background, and she raised her voice. “So you’re rescinding your order for your family to stay here tonight? Do you think that’s wise?”
“It wasn’t an order.” I flushed. “It was a favor I didn’t have time to ask.”
Meemaw seemed tickled to be holding my feet to the flame. “As you say.” A contented sigh. “I’ll send them on then.”
“Is it safe for them to travel alone?”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate. “You made it safe for them.”
“Okay.” I rubbed my forehead. “I appreciate this.”
“Go eat, rest.” A rustling noise came on the line. “I’ll send Dell to you tomorrow if not the next day.”
“I’d like that.” Heat stung my nape. “I didn’t think to ask—is she doing better?”
“Yes. She’s a stout one.” Meemaw’s voice hummed with pride. “Here’s your cousin.”
A cold edge seeped into his tone. “We’re on our way.”
“Stay away from my house,” I warned him. “Go home and lock up. Graeson seems settled, but I’m not willing to bet your life on it.”
“I’ll keep my phone on me.” A pause. “If he sniffs you the wrong way and I’m there to see it, I’ll put him down.”
“That won’t be necessary.” I hoped. “Good night, Isaac.”
The call ended, and as though it had encased me in a bubble, once it burst, the scents of burning food rushed to me.
“Oh crap.” I popped open the microwave. The bacon was burnt down the middle. I checked the frying pan. The eggs were a harder scramble than I’d ever made, but they weren’t black, so I plated them. “Sorry about this, big guy. I’m usually not this scatterbrained.”
But usually I hadn’t been chased through the woods by a warg out for blood either.
I set his plate on the floor, and he inhaled his portion. I carried mine to the table and shoveled food in with one hand. The other crinkled the plastic bag Mai had stolen while searching for clues.
Clothes. Belt. The hard ridge in the bottom corner told me her badge was in the mix too. Socks. A bag or purse. Papers. All that was missing were her shoes, assuming she had been wearing any.
My fork scraped the dish. Empty. A quick check showed me the wolf had cleaned his plate too. His forlorn stare at its pitiful state almost made me laugh. I cleared the spot in front of me and ripped the tab to open the mailer. The smell hit me first, and I gagged on my meal.
Escaping the booth, I retrieved a pair of latex cleaning gloves from under the cabinet and snapped them on before bringing the bag to the sink. I dumped the contents in the dry basin and recognition clicked. This outfit matched the one Ayer had worn in the surveillance video. No wonder they reeked. She hadn’t changed clothes between the time the footage was recorded and when she showed up at Edelweiss two weeks later.
I patted down the grimy pants, liberating a handful of receipts from gas stations and fast food joints from the pockets. Those I put in a pile on the counter. Armpit stains and a few crusted drops of brownish-red fluid were all the shirt had to offer. The light jacket held more receipts, some cash and a brochure for a new indoor shooting range. I set those aside too. The belt surrendered no clues, and the socks had holes in them.
Before I got ahead of myself, I retrieved my phone and began snapping pictures. All this evidence had to be returned to Mai, and I wanted reference material before that happened. I spread the clothes out on the floor, shooing the wolf away before he contaminated the evidence, but he was not to be shooed.
The threatening vibrations rising up his throat gave me pause. Maybe letting him supervise wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had. He pressed his nose hard against the shirt and blasted an exhale through his nose. He stared up at me, eyes dark with a message I was unable to decipher. Before I could stop him, he hiked his leg and hosed the garment.
Satisfied with his work, he plopped back down on the floor, belly on the laminate, head resting on his paws.
“What—?” I gaped at him. “Why—?”
The only piece of clothing not soaked in urine was a single sock.
“You are a bad, bad wolf,” I scolded him.
Nose wrinkling at the smell, I cataloged each item front and back. I even turned the socks inside out and searched for clues in the nap. All that got re-bagged and sealed up to help the stench dissipate.
Mai was not going to thank me for this.
The receipts were thankfully higher than his leg height. At this point my calf hurt too much to keep standing, so I scooped them off the counter and deposited them on the table. Those proved much more interesting. I grabbed my laptop and started mapping them by date and location. The path led straight from Wink, Texas to Butler, Tennessee and back.
Butler. That sounded familiar. I made a note then carried on documenting the crinkled slips of paper through photos and an expense list I broke into columns by fuel, food or other.
Finished with that task, I stuffed them back into the damp pants and sealed the bag for good. Isaac could do the honors and drop it off at the post office for me tomorrow.
My gloves came off with a snap of latex, and I tossed those in the trash. Old habits die hard, so I uploaded the pictures to my laptop then emailed a copy of them to myself at a generic address and then forwarded a set to Thierry. I wanted backups in case the evidence—or Ayer—went missing a second time.
With that done, I sat at the table and tapped my pencil while debating sleeping arrangements. The door to my bedroom was shut, but I had no doubt where the wolf intended to bed down for the night. The thing was, with Graeson mentally MIA, I wasn’t sure how much I trusted the wolf beside me.
Swallowing a yawn, I pushed to my feet and headed for the bedroom. As expected, the wolf shot past me and leapt for the middle of the bed. I stood there, considering folding out the kitchenette booths into their twin-bed configuration. My calf twinged at the thought, but I grabbed a pillow and comforter then returned to the kitchen.
Ears perked, Graeson barked.
“Forget it.” I grimaced. “You’re not the boss of me.”
He bounced on the mattress and barked again.
“No.”
Bark. Bark. Bark.
“Bad wolf.”
Paws hit the floor with a powerful thump that shook the trailer, and claws skittered. He bumped into the bend of my knee, and I landed half on top of him. He took my pillow between his teeth and yanked it from under my butt. Once he deposited it near the foot of the bed, he came back for the comforter.
“Graeson,” I groaned. “Stop that. I’m not pl
aying tug-of-war with you.”
Except I was. He threw all his strength into pulling it out from under me, but my weight was enough to keep it pinned. He growled playfully and tossed his head, tail wagging.
“You’re warped.”
He didn’t disagree.
Shifting to the left, I slid far enough over that he could free his prize. Mouth full of fabric, he jumped on the bed, spat out the comforter and nested in it while shooting me a look that said clearly, “What are you still doing down there? See how comfy this nice bed is? There’s plenty of room for both of us.”
Aware I was taking orders from a lanky dog with big teeth, I crawled into bed and let him curl around me. All that fur soon made me sticky with sweat, but Graeson wouldn’t budge. Once he started snoring, I caved to temptation and began stroking his velvety-soft inner ears.
“I know you’re in there,” I said, thinking of the man hiding deep beneath the wolf’s skin. “You can’t hide forever. You won’t heal until you come out and face this.” I shut my eyes. “I can’t do this without you.”
The wolf smacked his lips, and warm drool permeated my shirt.
“Good talk,” I murmured, eyes closing. “I’m glad we had this conversation.
Chapter 14
The next morning Dell arrived on my doorstep bearing gifts. Meemaw must have been up at the crack of dawn to have baked three types of muffins then packed them on a tray with homemade jam and fresh local honey.
The rich scents perked my stomach and wiped the siren song of returning to my comfy bed from mind. “How are you feeling?”
“Better.” The way she said it made me think better was relative. “Meemaw was smothering me. I had to get out of there. She allowed me to walk this far, but I can only stay for an hour before she sends the cavalry.”
The muscle in my calf still pulled, but I could tell without checking it was mostly healed. “I’d invite you in but...”
“It’s fine. He’s got what he wants. He’s not going to hurt me.” Her confidence made me nervous. “Here. Can you take this?”
“Sure.” I accepted the tray, the better to smell all the homemade deliciousness, and couldn’t help but wish Graeson was here, on two legs, to enjoy the meal with us. This was so much better than the burnt offerings I’d scraped together for dinner.
The wolf sat in the kitchen, ears perked, eavesdropping. Well, maybe not eavesdropping exactly. “How much of what he hears does he understand?”
“It depends.” She busied herself with a packet of butcher’s paper resting on the corner of the tray. “It’s an individual thing for us all, and in his current condition I couldn’t say for sure.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Knowing how Dell always had his back, I figured it was more likely she didn’t want to rat him out.
Happy to avoid my gaze, Dell balled up the paper and stacked four meaty discs in her palm. Confident in their bond as always, she stuck her head through the door and whistled.
Graeson’s ears perked, and he trotted over to investigate, leaning his weight against my leg until I was knocked against the doorframe.
“Lookie what I’ve got.” Dell wiggled one thick slice. “Mmm. Slabs of country ham fresh from the smoker with your name written all over them.” She twisted and hurled it Frisbee-style into the yard. “Fetch, boy.”
The wolf pranced in place, toenails clicking.
“Oh no.” Dell peeled off a second piece and hurled it in a different direction. “All that poor, delicious meat. So alone and uneaten. If only there was a hungry wolf nearby.”
Whining as he peered up at me, Graeson all but begged me to go with him.
“You’re a grown wolf,” I told him. “You can go get your own ham.”
The third piece flew, and he restrained himself with a whimper. The fourth slice, though, proved to be too much of a temptation. He was airborne in a blink, sailing over the steps in a single leap, snapping his jaws closed on the ham before it hit the ground.
While he walked the yard collecting his treats and then watering the grass, I ushered Dell inside. I settled her at the table then grabbed glasses and milk from the fridge. We ate in companionable silence, breakfast a quiet race to eat all I wanted before she devoured the rest.
“So, let’s talk about Edelweiss.” Plate cleaned, Dell leaned back. “The last thing I remember is pacing the road after you left. Did you see Ayer? Did she give you anything good?”
“Honestly?” I recalled her catatonic state. “I’m not sure.”
I woke my laptop, which had made the trip into the kitchen with me first thing so I could check for email from Thierry—none yet—and showed her the pictures I’d taken.
“What’s with that weird yellow staining?” She squinted. “It looks like when a guy tries to write his name in urine in the snow.” Her eyes flicked over to me. “What? Guys out here are the reason people need warnings like don’t eat the yellow snow.” She dipped her finger in a small pot of raspberry preserves and licked her finger. “I hope she wasn’t wearing that shirt when it happened.”
“Um, no.” My cheeks heated. “That would be my assistant’s fault.”
“Cord did that?” Her mouth fell open. “Eww.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Eyeballing the squishy package, I couldn’t wait to get it out of my house. “I’m glad someone else gets to explain that to Ayer when she checks out and they reissue her belongings.”
Her head cocked to one side, Dell waited for me to explain what I meant, and I did. I filled in all the blanks from the time I left her on the roadside with Thierry until when Isaac, Aunt Dot and I delivered her to Meemaw. I glossed over the confrontation in the woods with Imogen, or tried to, but Dell coaxed each tidbit out of me in excruciating detail.
“Wow. You actually did it.” She eyed me with newfound respect. “I heard you wiped the forest with Imogen, but it seemed so insane. A rabid wolf is chasing you, and you stop for a challenge? Really? Who does that?”
A tingle of apprehension coasted down my spine. “Who did you hear it from?”
She snorted. “Everyone.”
“I didn’t think anyone else saw.” I had been willing to bet we were alone but for the wolf at the time. “They saw it all and didn’t think to help?”
“No one can interfere with a challenge.” Dell swirled the contents of her glass. “And no one in their right mind would step in front of a crazed wolf hunting for his mate. That’s just asking to be murdered.”
“What about Bessemer?” Imogen had sounded so sure he would help if we waited long enough.
“He made the rules.” She shook her head. “He won’t break them.”
Eight words that validated my decision to walk home or die trying.
The telltale click-clack of claws announced Graeson’s return. He took one look at us seated at the table and jumped onto the bench beside me, where he began sniffing our leftovers. Satisfied there were no ham discs hiding under the tray despite the scent from the crinkled butcher’s paper, he gave a short bark at Dell.
The sound wasn’t aggressive, exactly, but seemed to say no ham, no Cam.
“I think that’s my cue.” Her forehead creased, and she rubbed the space between her eyes. “I should be getting home.”
I shoved the wolf out of the booth and walked Dell to the door. The nest from yesterday sat forgotten where I had left it, though Aunt Dot had cleaned up the rest of the yard. Half of a gray rock that had been split down its middle rested among the eggs.
Before I flipped it over with my toe, I knew what I would find. A geode. Its interior sparkled with purple crystals that reminded me of long, hot days with my family in the mountains. To this day I wasn’t sure if they were only tourist bait or harvested locally. What did it matter? The two were indelibly linked in my mind, making this a fourth strike against whoever was leaving me these tokens.
“I’m going to smash it with a hammer.” Lori eyed the egg-sized rock in her palm. “I saw it on TV once.”
Cradling mine to my ches
t, I dared her with a scowl that would have sent Isaac and Theo running. “You’re not smashing mine.”
She bolted for the toolbox Dad kept in a low cabinet in our parents’ bedroom.
Forbidden toolbox.
Forbidden room.
Her infractions piled higher and higher.
I had a bad feeling about this.
“I don’t need your stupid rock.” She stuck out her tongue. “Mine’s bigger anyway.”
Was it? I compared the two, and my heart sank. It was. Lori always got the best, the biggest, the shiniest. It wasn’t fair. I hated being second best. We were sisters. She ought to share. She ought to be nice to me. But she was as mean to me as Theo was to Isaac.
Sometimes he and I wished we weren’t Gemini, that we didn’t have twins.
Ping. Ping. Ping.
Lori’s rock split down the middle, and I gasped. Inside the rough and ugly stone was a treasure, a real live treasure. Purple crystals filled the inside and sparkled like a thousand whispered secrets.
She’d done it again. Lori broke the rules. Lori went where she shouldn’t, did what she oughtn’t, and still got rewarded. Instead of one rock she now had two, and both halves glittered with gems that a princess might wear on her fingers or her gown.
Envy burned cold in my heart. One day I would be the risk taker, and Lori would be the one left behind.
“—doing here?”
I blinked up at Dell, aware a question had been asked but unsure what it had been. “What?”
She frowned at the nest and the rock. “What’s the deal with those?”
“I’m not sure.” I scooped up the fistful of grass and its contents. “But I’m going to find out.” A chill dappled my skin. “I wasn’t sure the first time—the rabbit, remember? Then the scrunchie.” Which I had tossed in an empty plastic shoebox and left on the kitchen table. “I found the nest last night and the geode this morning. This isn’t random. Someone is leaving them here.”
“Do these mean anything to you?” She touched the geode’s gleaming interior.
Dog Eat Dog World: Limited Edition Bundle (Black Dog) Page 120