“You. It should be you.” My voice cracked at the end. “If anything goes wrong, all I can do is run around like a chicken with my head cut off. That won’t help anyone.”
“All right.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “There’s a serum Enzo is going to need when he wakes, but it won’t take long to stir up a batch. It can wait.”
I crushed my eyes closed. “Do you need me to stay?”
“It would be more efficient.” The corners of his lips dipped. “I understand why you don’t want to be here. No one can ask more of you than you’ve already given.”
“Dell,” a soft voice called.
“Is there an echo in here?” I grumbled, staring at my hands. “Would you mind…?”
“Talking cures a lot of ails. Though I don’t know that I would trust everything he says right now. What I gave him is designed to keep a smile on his face. He ought to be feeling very relaxed right about now.” Abram patted my hands where they rested on the table. “Say the word, and you don’t have to step a foot inside this trailer again.”
The offer hung between us, a sweet temptation I ached to accept, but I couldn’t afford to be a coward. Once you started running, you never stopped. “I’ll handle things here.” I pushed to my feet. “You go work on that serum.”
“Are you sure?” He tried and failed to conceal his eagerness to be off to the next thing.
Abram had a great bedside manner, if you could anchor him to a bedside in the first place. eBay rated more of his attention lately than his patients. Maybe I ought to buckle down and get one of those smartphone things. I could pull up the auction website on that, right? Kind of like sticking a pacifier in his mouth.
“Yeah.” I trudged toward the bedroom. “Do me a favor and call Cam?”
I didn’t trust myself to talk to her just yet. Not when calling meant sitting in Isaac’s home, borrowing one of his phones and talking about him. But she had to be informed of Enzo’s condition as well as her cousin’s role in the witch’s recovery.
“Sure.” He tossed his crumpled paper towel in the trash. “I can do that.”
“Thanks.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder. “I better check on the patient.”
The front door opened and shut behind me, leaving me alone with the man who had broken my heart and the man who had offered me his to shatter.
Isaac was studying the ceiling when I reentered the bedroom. “Have you called Cam yet?”
“Abram is heading back to the office to work on a serum for Enzo. He’s going to make the call while he’s there.”
“She’s going to be pissed.” A slight grin ticked in his cheek. “I didn’t tell her I was coming.”
“Where are Dot and the Ellises?” I leaned my shoulder against the doorway. “It’s unusual for one of you to travel alone.”
“Colorado, Colorado,” he said, voice softening around the edges. “Purple mountains majesty.”
“How are you doing over there?” I watched as his eyelids fluttered. “You’re slurring your words and not making a whole lot of sense from here.”
“Witch is a vampire,” he said sagely. “Out of blood.”
“Isaac?” I stood upright. “Should I get Abram?”
“No.” He extended his free arm toward me. “Come ’ere.”
The words made my heart thump out one, painful thud. “Isaac…”
“Did you a favor.” He flexed his fingers. “You owe me.”
“You could have said no.” I refused to be guilt-tripped. “You didn’t have to help.”
“I did.” His arm wilted. “For you.”
“This is such a bad idea,” I murmured to myself, not that I ever listened.
The bedroom was so small, it was all mattress except for about six inches down three sides of the room. I scooted toward him, clasping his hand before it hit the bed. He linked our fingers while making a contented sound low in his chest. I attempted to untangle us, but his grip was as sticky as Velcro weed.
“Missed you,” he mumbled. “Phone calls.”
“Mmm-hmm.” I humored him. “Phone calls. Like the one Abram is making to Cam right now.”
“Not Cam.” His forehead puckered. “You. It was you.”
“Okay.” I rested my other hand on his shoulder. The urge to press him for an explanation tripped all kinds of warning bells. Whatever he said now would be one-part medicine and one-part truth. That left far too much gray area for me to believe a word he said. “It was me. Gotcha.”
After that, he settled and allowed sleep to claim him. I stood watch over them both, and even once Isaac’s fingers went limp, I kept holding them. I might never have another excuse, and my wolf— No, I wouldn’t blame her this time. I wanted to remember how the slide of his skin on mine felt before it all fell away again. For good this time.
Chapter 12
“Okay, Grub, let me have it.” I reached behind me, expecting the hammer to be slapped across my palm, and grabbed a handful of… “What the hell? If I wanted a handful of nuts, I would have opened a can of Planters.”
I whirled where I knelt, spinning aside to get a look up at the man who was most definitely not Grub and whose junk I had just fondled by accident.
“Morning, Sunshine.”
“Isaac.” I stood and set my shoulders back. “You shouldn’t be sneaking around a construction site without permission from the foreman.”
He ran a hand down one of the interior walls we’d just erected. “And who might that be?”
I anchored my hands on my hips. “Me.”
“You did all this?” He gave himself an unauthorized tour. “By yourself?”
“Most of it, yes.” I tugged off my gloves and yanked my hair back into a high ponytail. “Lately I’ve had a few of the Stoners helping out. Two guys are in training today, but Grub showed up this morning. Have you seen him?”
“I don’t know a Grub,” Isaac said helpfully.
“I’m here,” a booming voice called from across the yard. “I jogged down to the office and snagged us some coffee. I didn’t think you’d finish with your measurements so fast.”
I glowered at Grub, but not too hard, because he had coffee. “Next time, give me a heads-up, okay?”
“Sure thing.” His gaze cut to Isaac, and his nostrils flared. “Is this guy bothering you?”
Yes. “No.” Grub hadn’t been a Stoner long enough to meet the alphas. “This is Isaac Cahill. He’s one of Cam’s cousins.”
“Her favorite,” Isaac added with a touch of smugness.
“I’m Gabriel Smith.” With exquisite care, he passed me one of the steaming cups in his hands. “I didn’t mean any disrespect, man, but she’s the boss. Gotta keep the boss happy if I want to keep working.”
I didn’t bother correcting him. Goofiness aside, he was a damn good carpenter, and I wasn’t about to let him go for something as endearing as wanting to protect me from my ex…whatever Isaac was.
“I understand,” Isaac said, angling his chin toward me. “I had no idea this is what you did for a living.”
“Yes, well, we never were much for talking, were we?” I helped myself to the hammer and went back to what I had been doing when he showed up. “And if you say anything about me being a girl, so help me God, I will nail your toe to the subfloor.”
“You can be beautiful and talented.” Isaac’s words trailed me. “There’s no law that says you can’t be both.”
Flattery had worked the first time. I wasn’t dumb enough to fall for pretty words again. “Bring that tape measure over here, will you, Grub?”
Isaac got to it first and set it on my palm. “I want to talk, Dell.”
Grub proved himself an intelligent man by standing outside the blast radius.
“Can’t right now.” I knelt and sank in four nails to secure a new brace I had left wedged in place. “Come back after hours.”
Big black boots tromped into my field of vision. I really hated when guys stood over me while I worked.
Isaac pl
ucked at the string of a plumb bob hanging at my elbow. “Aren’t you going to ask me how I feel?”
“You’re alive. You’re walking around. You feel well enough to harass me. I’m going to guess you’re fine.” A thought occurred to me. “Have you seen Enzo? I checked on him around four this morning, but he was still unconscious.”
“The witch is fine,” he said in a clipped tone.
“Good.” I stood and retraced my footsteps, mentally checking off points on my to-do list. “That’s one phone call I never want to make. Miguel makes for a dangerous ally. I don’t want to try him on for size as an enemy.”
“He won’t move against Lorimar.” Isaac sounded confident. “They have the conclave’s blessing to be doing what they’re doing. His brother knew the risks. He did too. He made that trade willingly.”
That brought my head up. “How much do you know about their deal?”
“Enough.” Isaac grimaced. “Witches are…not the sort of people you want to get involved with if you have other alternatives.”
“We needed help, and he’s the help we got.” I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “He’s good at what he does, and he’s nice enough.”
“Nice has nothing to do with it.”
“Whatever.” I ducked under a support and put a framed wall between us. “All that matters to me is that he recovers and gets back to work.”
“That’s really all that matters to you?” His voice softened.
“I explained to Enzo that I’m not in the market for a boyfriend or a lover or even a regular coffee date.” Moving made it easier to keep talking. “I’ve been burned by romance one too many times. I’m over it.” A bitter laugh bubbled up from my chest. “That ought to help you sleep at night.”
“Dell…”
The sheer annoyance of being approached while at work had failed to connect several relevant dots for me. “How is it you’re in here, anyway?” I squeezed through another wall. “Aren’t you supposed to be stuck on the outside?”
“Enzo bled me this morning. It didn’t require any magic on his part,” he rushed to add before I got my back up over endangering the resident witch. “I can enter the wards now. Actually, I set up my house before I came to find you.”
“Great.” Would it have killed him to fake it for another twenty-four hours, until I got my head wrapped around his return? Or, you know, forever? “Glad you’re making yourself comfortable.”
“I’m guessing you don’t want to talk since you’re running away from me, but I really did come here on business.”
“Me? Running away?” I scoffed at his audacity. “What can I say? I learned from the best.”
“You didn’t get to search the O’Malley site after Enzo did his thing,” he called.
I pulled up short and cursed under my breath. “His thing was bleeding all over creation, so no. I plan on borrowing Nathalie’s car and driving into town this afternoon.”
“You don’t have to borrow Nathalie’s car or wait until this afternoon. In fact, you shouldn’t. Wait, I mean.” Keys jingled behind me. “There’s a storm front moving through. It’s estimated to arrive around five. If you want to scour the area for scents, you need to get there before the rain does.”
“It rained the day before yesterday.” That’s why I had rushed to search Panda. “I don’t think it much matters now.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He waited until I turned and faced him before clarifying. “Terrestrial glamour is tricky. It protects the area it conceals, sealing it in a vacuum. The strongest scents will have dissipated by now. The area was exposed to the elements overnight, so that can’t be helped.” He shook his key ring for emphasis. “But until the rain cancels out any remaining magic, the remnants are there just waiting on someone to identify them.”
“A vacuum, huh?” That sounded promising. “So you’re saying glamour can obscure scents?”
Yet another caution against trusting my nose. I wasn’t sure if I was happy or grumpy to hear I couldn’t believe one of my keenest attributes.
“Yes.” He considered his answer. “If the caster is skilled enough.”
The glimmer of a possibility there might be clues there itched under my skin. “Why don’t you let me borrow your keys?”
“I need to make a supply run.” His smile was all innocence. “I don’t want to be hauling groceries around in the rain.”
“Grub?” I untied my tool belt and hung it from a protruding nailhead. “Do me a favor and secure the site?” I pointed out the red metal toolboxes. “Put the boxes in the shed, please. The tarps are in there. There are enough to cover the area if you get creative. Can you handle it?”
He saluted me. “Yes, ma’am.”
Ignoring the roadblock that was Isaac, I crossed to Grub and patted his shoulder, giving his wolf reassuring contact and thanking him in a way his other half required. “You’re doing a great job out here. I really appreciate all the hours you’re putting in to help get this project finished.”
“I won’t lie. I’m hoping you’ll keep me around once we’re finished here.” The large man scuffed his boot on the plywood. “I’m here because it’s the right thing to do, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get bored out of my mind waiting around to see some action. I’d rather have work than not. Idle hands and all that.”
“Good to know.” I patted him again. “I’ll keep that in mind.” I girded my loins to tell him, “You do understand this won’t gain you preferential treatment? I have to ask. I need to make sure you don’t throw your back out trying to impress me then get pissed when an opportunity arises and your shoulder doesn’t get tapped.”
“I understand.” He placed his right hand over his heart in a pseudo pledge. “I swear not to get my tail in a knot no matter what happens.” He winced. “Well, unless you stop letting me come to work. Then I could get a might cranky.”
“Fair enough.” I grinned at him. “See you tomorrow.”
Having even one person to help share the burden I had been carrying was liberating. I could go places and do things and not hover over every single task in need of accomplishing each day. Huh. Maybe there was something to this delegating stuff after all.
“Are you coming or what?” I started walking, leaving Isaac to catch up to me. “I need to change my shirt before we leave unless you want sweat stains all over your truck.”
“It’s had worse.” He strode ahead of me, winding through the park without a misstep, making a beeline for my RV. An RV he should never have seen and had no idea where it was parked. “I’m picking up supplies to help me scrub blood out of the upholstery. What’s a little glisten compared to that?”
I almost laughed at the reference to Southern women don’t sweat, we glisten.
Glistening is a cute idea, but apparently Southern wargs are a whole ’nother story. I sweated plenty. How could I not out in the heat all day? In the heart of summer, I could wring moisture from my shirts. Or I could back in Georgia, anyway. I’d have to report back after surviving my first Tennessee heatstroke.
We took the most well-worn path in the park to where I lived, and it got me thinking it hadn’t been this flattened to start. No, the ghosts of vegetation past could blame me for this. All those paws and feet pounding a path to my door had resulted in a bare dirt trail leading right to my porch.
My homey pop-up with its perfectly proportioned deck—if I do say so myself—and lone lawn chair came into view about the same time as sunlight glinting off a gleaming silver object caused me to squint. I brought my hand up to shield my eye, and that’s when I saw it.
“No.” I dropped my arm before I swung it at him. “You are not going to be my next-door neighbor.” I flung out my arms. “There’s a whole park here. You didn’t have to hook up right next to me.”
“No,” he agreed, sounding reasonable, “but I didn’t want a long commute to work.”
“What the hell are you—?” I raked my hands through my hair, tugging on the roots. “Work?
What work?”
“Enzo mentioned his idea for an early-alert system while he was giving me the rundown on the wards.” Isaac shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “It’s a good idea, but I can tell you right now that he can’t create a system so nuanced as to tell you what’s coming and its point of entry without also being here or making regular trips to maintain it. It would require too much magic.”
“Okay, that’s disappointing,” I allowed, “but what does it have to do with you?”
“You’ve seen the inside of my trailer.” He managed to nix the innuendo from his statement. “You know what I can do, what my brother can do.”
The Cahill brothers were, to put it plainly, technophiles. New phones, new computers, new tablets, new anything with circuits and USB slots, and it was in their hot little hands on release day.
“You want to wire the area for surveillance?” I asked to make sure we were on the same page.
“I do.”
“You realize what a large area we’re talking about, right? None of it is wired for a project of this scope. It would take you weeks to run the wiring, mount the cameras and get a basic system in place.” I rubbed my forehead. “Then you’d have to work with Enzo to cast glamour or concealment charms over the cameras.”
“We’ll mount outdoor cameras with infrared LEDs to provide us with crisp night vision. We’ll run the feed into a control room, likely at the office, outfitted with flat-screen panels so that viewing the footage is simplified. We’ll also need—”
“Hold up.” I sliced my hand through the air. “Who is paying for all of this? I can tell you right now that less than half of the pack is employed, which means our tithes, if we had a system in place yet—and we don’t—are anemic.”
“Well…” A mischievous twist of his lips held me enthralled. “About that.”
I sucked in my breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
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