by Amber Lynn
I didn’t think it made a bit of difference where the information came from. If he couldn’t articulate exactly what he thought I was, that was one thing, but knowing and not telling didn’t seem like the best way to start the relationship he believed we were in.
“If your sister hadn’t pushed you to meet with me, would you have ever done anything more than watch from afar? You are aware that’s all sorts of creepy, right?”
“I was still waiting for you to sense me and do something about my attention, but since you didn’t, I would’ve eventually tried for a chance encounter. Nikki made that a little easier on me, and managed to feed her own curiosity.”
“Did she come up with the test to see if I was legit?”
Since I didn’t do readings for a living, I didn’t often have to prove myself. The few times I had, people always wanted me to tell them their favorite color, which of course is the stupidest test there is to prove you have mental capabilities. Anyone can guess a color and probably twenty percent of the time they’d be right.
Jack’s test had required more oomph than I usually doled out on a Thursday, but I felt it was important that I proved myself at the time. I’d already known he was a werewolf, and a part of me wanted to prove that I could fulfill whatever task he put out there.
Coming up with an answer for how many children he’d have during his lifetime was something that I thought was a joke, but he had a very definite answer in his mind. When I told him zero, after getting a good feel for his general aura, he seemed happy by the response. A reaction that had surprised me.
Most people want to hear they’re going to at least procreate to establish a legacy. If I thought I could find a man who wouldn’t eventually get scared of what I could do, I’d love to have a few kids. Knowing that wasn’t a possibility, I’d given up on the idea of having children.
“She actually told me to ask a different question. Either way, we didn’t need you to prove what you could do. Even when you’re trying to keep things bottled up inside, I can still feel what’s underneath the surface. You could rule the world if you really wanted to.”
It was funny that he said that, since I remembered a time when Abbie had said pretty much the same thing.
“Thank god I don’t want to.”
The thought of me in charge of anything was enough to cause a shiver to run down my back. There were days I didn’t think I took good care of myself, let alone the whole world.
“Maybe that’s what I find most intriguing about you. You could do pretty much anything you felt like and you try so hard to fit in and keep that part of you a secret. There are so many levels of strength that you showcase every day.”
“Nikki started going into my life story a little back at the restaurant. How much of that do you actually know?”
Since I knew nothing about him, and yet sat there talking like I was actually considering there may at least be some kind of friendship between us, I wanted to know where we stood on getting to know each other.
“She knows a lot more than I do. I purposefully asked not to know anything that wasn’t relevant to my health. I know what you are and what you’ve done to men in the past that you’ve felt deserved to be punished.”
“And that didn’t scare you away?”
“Nah, I always figured when the right woman came along, she’d need to be able to put me in my place. I can be a pigheaded jerk sometimes.”
“Let’s go inside, so I can try to make sense of everything that’s happened today. You don’t think the house will be leveled if I let you in, do you?”
I couldn’t deny the incubus seemed to get extremely irritated when Jack had zoomed in for a kiss, and the weather phenomenon of the morning appeared to align with our meeting. The walls hadn’t creaked at the restaurant, so I assumed the man found something better to do with his time.
“I could take that a couple different ways, but I’m guessing you’re speaking of the incubus. He’s an unknown in how this evening will go, so I can’t promise anything.”
“If you can’t tell me more about me, can you explain him?”
“If you promise not to catch me on fire after you read me.”
Jack got out, but I didn’t move. I was undecided, but I didn’t think it was because of my company. I was more scared of myself.
Jack opened my door and I looked at him, his eyes were pretty much level with mine.
“So you heard about the time I got a little upset about a guy staring at another woman’s rear as she walked by us having breakfast.”
“I hear it was only minor burns. I’m sure if you really got angry, I’d heal pretty quickly. It takes a lot to actually kill me.”
I supposed he would know exactly what it took after killing his father. He reached out his hand to me, causing me to look at it skeptically. The last time we’d touched skin-on-skin a tingle I could still faintly feel took over my body.
My curiosity got the better of me, and I reached out to accept his offer. Before contact took place, I could feel sparks between out fingertips. It caused me more hesitation.
“It won’t hurt either of us, and if you ask me, it’s kind of cool.”
“I think I’ve already established you’re weird. Do you sizzle when you touch other people?”
I didn’t come in contact with a lot of people, but I knew I’d never felt actual sparks with anyone else.
“Since it’s you doing the sparking, that would be a negative. I think of it as you warning me to keep in line, or pieces of my body will find their way up into my stomach. Since I’m very fond of where my anatomy currently sits, I’m on my best behavior.”
I studied his eyes, looking for any hint that he was lying, or pulling my chain. The outer edges of his eyes squinted together as the smile already on his face grew.
“Why do I feel comfortable with you? I’m even leery around Abbie sometimes, but with you, I don’t feel a need to put my wall up.”
When the man showed up in the library, a ten-foot wall had appeared. I did my best to act natural, but new people scared me. Jack was different in some way, whether I really wanted to admit that or not.
“I think you just convinced yourself you should do the reading tonight. I think that’s the only way you’re going to understand why you want to cuddle with a beast like me.”
I finally allowed my hand to settle into his, working to control the tingles. It was difficult, but I could keep them under control.
Jack’s bottom lip protruded out a little, making him look a bit ridiculous. He didn’t play the role of baby well.
“Do you have to take them all away? I kind of like them.”
I shook my head and slid down, allowing him to catch me. He pulled me forward and slammed the truck door behind me.
“You really do have problems if you like the feeling of spiders crawling around on you. Let’s get inside before someone sees you. My neighbors will think I hired a gigolo or something since they’ve never seen me bring a guy home.”
“Please tell me you’re joking about the gigolo part. Haven’t they met you before?”
He asked the question, but didn’t hesitate to lead the way to the house. He didn’t run, probably because he had to watch where he was going because of my lawn decorations. Mowing wasn’t my thing, so I planted flowers and herbs throughout the yard and got rid of the grass.
With the new foliage, I made a somewhat difficult to maneuver path that was lined with stone knick-knacks I’d picked up over the years. Jack allowed me to walk on the easy to travel path, while he worked his way through the minefield.
“You’ve been following me around, haven’t you? Do you see me inviting them over for barbecues?”
“I don’t follow you all the time. I do have to work; Harry can only cover for me an hour or two a day.”
I opened the door and looked around the living area of the house to see if there was anything I needed to immediately hide. I tried to keep things tidy since I never knew when Abbie would show up, and
there were things I didn’t want her seeing.
“And somehow I haven’t broken even a pinkie bone. Exactly how long have you been following me?”
I lifted my messenger bag over my head and put it down on a wooden coffee table in front of my couch. When you didn’t have to worry about a large group of people showing up at your house, it was okay to just have a single couch and a recliner. Welcoming Jack’s family to my home was more than likely going to cause some issues.
Jack shut the door and scanned the room. I followed his eyes and tried to guess what he thought about each item he saw. The exercise didn’t take long, because other than a few items on the mantle over the fireplace in the wall to the right of the door, I kept things sparse.
The room didn’t even have a television.
“Let’s just say I wanted to find out exactly what you were before I made any moves.”
I sat down on the couch and waited for him to explain his statement. He was good at saying things that required further explanations.
“I only recently figured out exactly why I found you so interesting. Before that, I just followed along to see if you’d give any clues.”
“Aren’t you afraid all the mystery will be gone after I read you? Chances are good that I’ll figure out what you’re hiding.”
“I thought we were talking about just pulling out some cards and outlining a bit of a future.”
“Abbie is the one who plays with cards. If you really want to see mine, I can get them, but what I’m planning to do with you is a little more intimate.”
“Ms. Hesitant is ready to roll out the big guns? I must have done a better job than I thought of weaving intrigue into my words.”
I rolled my eyes and patted the couch cushion next to me. We could continue with him ten feet away, but closer usually worked best.
He didn’t say anything else as he made his way over. I could sense a little reluctance, the first I felt from him in the handful of hours I’d known him.
“Worried I’ll see something I won’t like?”
He put his hand on the couch to test firmness before he sat. It wasn’t the most comfortable couch, but I didn’t buy it for its comfort. I liked the fact that it was purple. There weren’t a lot of options in town when you were looking for that color, so I took what I could find.
“Just thinking about what you said about finding out stuff I wasn’t ready for you to know.” Jack sat down before he continued, leaving about five inches of space between our knees. “Nikki really wanted you to have an open mind before you met the rest of the family tomorrow.”
“You don’t think her revealing that she’s some kind of wolf queen gets in the way of that? If I really wanted to, I could find out exactly what you’ve been hiding without even telling you I did. I try my best not to use that magic, though.”
“Okay, I’m not against you reading me however you want to try. I’m not afraid of the magic within you. I’d like the opportunity to tell you more about me before you see if firsthand, if that works for you.”
“I think you should be afraid of my magic, especially since I use it against your gender more than any other one.”
To challenge me, Jack leaned his head closer to me. Usually when a guy got ballsy and made a move like that, they found they’d rather be anywhere other than next to me. My instincts didn’t kick in, and Jack’s lips touched my cheek.
A part of me was a little sad they didn’t line up an inch to the right. I wanted to know whether what I felt in the deli was just a fluke.
“I think I’m safe,” Jack said as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “With your past, did you ever think you’d find a guy you couldn’t repel?”
“I’m sure I could figure out something, and eventually you’ll do something stupid that will make me put the walls up.”
“And I’ll do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen. Since you didn’t enjoy dinner, is there something here we could whip up for dessert before I get into my tale?”
I pondered the offer for only a second. I was breaking so many of my rules by letting him in my house and offering to read him.
“As weird as this is going to sound, I don’t eat sweets.”
“I don’t tend to either, so it’s not all that weird. Nikki’s raising her kids to eat a normal diet, but we were raised on mostly protein, and it’s been hard for me to let that go.”
“I decided sweets didn’t help with my control, so I gave them up. There’s been quite a few things over the years that I’ve decided didn’t help keep me calm.”
I expected him to look at me like I was crazy. Normal people gave up sugar because they wanted to lose weight or it caused health issues. I gave it up to make sure I didn’t turn into a shrew.
Jack showed only signs of understanding in his eyes. I didn’t know if that made him crazy, or just a compassionate person.
“I’ve always had a horrible temper, and dealing with people every day doesn’t make it easy to keep it under control. When I get mad, my eyes turn gold. I’ve had to explain away that change more times than I want to count.”
“Has anyone ever accused you of being a werewolf?”
Changing eyes weren’t probably a good enough indicator that he had the ability to turn furry, but most people would think it odd. When I went crazy and started hurting people, there wasn’t really a warning, nor did the people know what hit them.
“No, humans are too stupid to jump to that conclusion with just the color change. I probably shouldn’t say that, but it’s hard to let things go. I’d like to start my story a little different than just telling you about me. Do you mind if I go back a little further and tell you about werewolves in general. I think it’s important you know my origin.”
“It’s your story to tell, you can tell it however works best for you. Let me get us some water before you get started. I sense you’re going to be awhile, and even if you’re a magical being, you’ll need some water.”
Before he could answer, I was up and in the kitchen filling up a couple glasses. A second later, I was back in the living room next to him, handing over a glass, while I put mine down on the coffee table.
“You are a woman of many mysteries.”
I couldn’t deny that, so I sat back and waited to hear what he had to say.
Chapter Nine
“Up until my sister turned crazy, we didn’t really know how werewolves came to be. We always assumed we’d evolved from humans into the next apex predator at the top of the food chain. I think deep down every species desires to be at the top, so it was natural for us to think we were it.”
Jack didn’t snuggle in next to me, nor did he look at me as he started his story. I already knew things were eventually going to turn dark, he’d previously told me he killed his father, so the distance he immediately put between us was understandable.
Darkness was something I was comfortable with, so he didn’t need to separate himself as much as he had. If things proceeded the way he thought they would, eventually I’d have to tell my own dark stories. He’d heard some tales from a third-party, but I doubted they knew all the really good details, and there was no way they knew what was going on in my mind during my troubled years.
“Nikki will have to explain the things she learns to you, but one of the things that was shared early on was that being a werewolf did start as a curse. Nikki has always felt that way, so I’ve been stuck hearing ‘I told you so’ for a while now.”
“Is it okay to interrupt if I have questions, or would you rather say what you want to say and let me ask questions at the end?”
It was easy to see there were going to be times that I wanted him to go into more detail, and saving them all for the end meant I might forget something. My memory was great, but I didn’t know how long things would take.
“As long as you understand that I may not be able to answer your questions. When it comes to what other people have told me, I don’t always have the full story. As far as the curse
that initially led to werewolves being possible, it happened back in the days of Greek gods.”
“So the tale of a man being cursed for sacrificing a child is true?”
I wasn’t surprised the curse went back thousands of years. I worked in a library and had enough time on my hands that I’d read most of the books. There was a story about Zeus turning a man into a wolf.
“No, that was a single instance of a man being punished; werewolves existed before that. I imagine that jealousy was the root cause won’t surprise you. It combined with anger tends to be where these things start.
“I don’t know how much information you really want, but essentially Leto, who you may know as Artemis’ and Apollo’s mother, fell in love with a man who was already married. Having read everything I can about the woman, I’m surprised she’d put herself in that situation.”
He stopped to take a quick sip of water, and I tried to process what he was hinting, that Leto cursed someone to become a werewolf. There was talk about her having something to do with wolves, but she’d had to deal with Hera, and going after a married man seemed ridiculous.
“Your face looks cute all scrunched up like that.” Jack quickly took me out of my thoughts. “I can see you feel the same way I do about the whole thing. Essentially the guy wouldn’t leave his wife and she cursed him, hoping that would scare the wife away. Like most people, she didn’t understand how strong love could be, and the couple remained together.”
“I’ve never really understood why people want something they can’t have. I assume the husband and wife had little werewolf babies and the rest is history?”
“Basically. Leto continued to try to cause them grief, but love persevered and I sit here today because of it.”
“And where does what your sister is come into play, or is that something I have to wait to have answered?”
Jack settled back on the couch. Once he’d finally looked over at me, he hadn’t stopped. I wasn’t sure if I liked the scrutiny.
“I’m hoping that’s a rhetorical question. Anyway, I was pretty sure you hadn’t heard that specific story, so I wanted you to know it. I also wanted you to know that no matter how bad things got for werewolves over the years, we did originally start because of a stable relationship.”