Her father took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He gazed back at her with frustration in his eyes. “Your empathy knows no bounds.”
“Somehow that doesn’t feel like a compliment,” she said and folded her arms.
“His leash just got a whole lot shorter,” Alaric grumbled and gave a warning look at his enforcer.
Emery nodded back, then cast an apologetic glance at Aerilyn.
“Have you called the matchmaker yet?” Alaric asked impatiently. “Your mother and I were just discussing how lonely you’ve seemed.”
She groaned and clenched her hands into fists. “Really? Because I haven’t been lonely at all. I’ve been so busy with work, I don’t have the time to sit on my couch stressing about the fact I don’t have a man to take care of me.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Alaric said in exasperation. “I know you don’t need a man to take care of you—you’re strong, like I raised you to be. We just don’t want you to have to go through life without someone by your side. I value your mother like no other—I couldn’t imagine walking into a home empty of her voice and laughter.”
The love her parents shared was clear to anyone who witnessed it. It was palpable. Aerilyn admired their relationship. It had built the foundation of her feelings toward commitment and was what she hoped to, one day, attain. She knew her father’s heart was in the right place, but she didn’t need him pressuring her into finding ‘the perfect shifter’ before the time was right. She needed some breathing room.
Just as she struggled to find the words to ease his mind and end the discussion, Emery spoke up and flashed her brilliant, red-lipped smile, “She’s got me. I’m no substitute for a man, but I know how to make her laugh.”
Aerilyn smiled at her friend, touched by the sentiment.
Alaric sighed and muttered, “That’s good to know, Emery.”
“Sure thing.” She put on an even brighter smile. “I’ve been trying to tell her she needs to go out and have a good time. The only male who’s been in her bed is Petey, and he doesn’t count. Sorry, little man.”
Emery reached under the table to pet the black Lab, who lifted an eyebrow and thumped his tail against the rug. Aerilyn shot a warning glare at her friend.
“Too much information, Emery.” Alaric rubbed his temple and turned to the stairwell that led down to the front door, mumbling, “Don’t get too close to Jax, Lyn. He isn’t to be trusted.”
Aerilyn avoided his comment and said, “Love you, Dad. See you soon.”
Just as he took a step down the stairs, he turned back and scratched his head. “You’re both coming to the Thanksgiving dinner at the lodge, right? Your mother wanted me to ask.”
“Of course.” Aerilyn tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Are you kidding? With the way this one cooks, I wouldn’t miss it,” Emery answered.
“Very good,” Alaric said and winked at Aerilyn. “Love you, Lyn.”
“Night, Dad.” Aerilyn waved as he descended the stairs.
The moment the sound of the front door opening and closing echoed through the house, Aerilyn spun to face her friend. “I cannot believe you. My dad doesn’t need the 4-1-1 on my sex life. He’s too involved in my personal life as it is.”
Emery squished up her face. “Sorry. I have no filter—you know this.”
“Doesn’t make it any more pleasant.” Aerilyn sighed. “Well, that sucked. I’m not even sure he’d believe it if we found the culprit behind the attacks, he’s so decided about Jax.”
Emery nodded in agreement. “I’m just glad I didn’t let it slip that you kissed Jax.”
A snort escaped Aerilyn’s lips. She saw her father’s headlights shine through her windows and slant along the walls. “That would have been bad.”
“What is it with him and your boyfriends?” Emery asked with a frown.
“He says he wants me to settle down with the right guy,” Aerilyn said. “But I’m not so sure he really exists. Dad’s chased off every guy who’s ever been attracted to me. It drives me crazy. It’s my life and my choice.”
Her friend raised her brows and looked at her like she was talking gibberish. “That’s totally the picture I get when I think about Alaric’s expectation. Exactly right. Maybe you should think about these ideas a little more before saying them out loud.”
Aerilyn grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and tossed it at Emery, laughing. “Says the woman with no filter!”
“Hey!” Emery dodged the projectile. She snickered and pointed her finger at Aerilyn. “I have a condition—foot-in-mouth disease. I expect better from you.”
Aerilyn caught her breath, went around her couch and plopped down on the cushions. “What am I going to do?”
Emery got up from her chair and joined her friend on the couch. “Those bite marks look an awful lot like feline fangs. Are you sure he isn’t lying to you?”
“It wasn’t him, I know it.” Aerilyn looked her in the eye.
“And you’re not just saying that because you like him?” A serious expression settled on Emery’s face.
Aerilyn took a moment to respond. “It’s true, I like him, but my instincts don’t lie. He had no reason to attack KT.”
Emery tilted her head to the side and said wistfully, “I like walking on the wild side—you could always take a page from my book and throw caution to the wind and make mad, passionate love to him.”
“If my dad suspected I was getting involved with Jax, that could ruin his chance at being proven innocent.” Aerilyn sighed and shook her head. “Plus, I haven’t heard from him at all.”
“After you rocked his world with a kiss and dropped the mic on his ass, I don’t know why.” Emery stared at the opposite wall and muttered, “He’s just a man. You’ve gotta help him out a little.”
“But he’s looking to run. It’s in his DNA, and I can see it in his eyes,” Aerilyn said.
She recalled their kiss. If it hadn’t been for that car door slamming shut, she didn’t know how far she might have allowed things to go. She could still feel his hand at the low of her back, burning through the fabric of her shirt.
Jax had made it clear he was eager to leave town, and Aerilyn wasn’t looking for a fling. She could sense turmoil within his gaze. Who knew what heartache lay in wait for the woman who threw caution to the wind and gave him her heart.
Emery retorted, matter-of-factly, “Then give him reason to stay.”
Aerilyn hadn’t finished teaching Jax all he needed to know yet, and her dad’s fuse was getting short. She would have to put aside her attraction for him and meet with him a few more times and hope some new evidence would come to light.
The next night as she sat in bed researching the Society’s database for women named Jenny or Jennifer, she found hundreds from the last two centuries in North America, but only six from Nebraska and the neighboring states. She printed out their pictures and picked up her phone to text Jax.
Friday night after work, my place?
Aerilyn turned on her bedroom television. It was done. The best way past this was through. If he lingered close again, she’d have to use some self-control. It would be foolish—no, stupid—of her to hook up with a guy who’d flat out told her he couldn’t wait to leave town. He was clearly a cougar at heart, living a solitary life, roaming free. Not to mention the amount of trouble it would land them both in if her father found out.
Her phone’s screen lit up and buzzed. She blinked at his message back to her. I’ll be over after a shower—6pm.
Aerilyn swallowed and set her phone on her side table. “Great,” she mumbled.
Petey lifted his head from the bed to look at her, thinking she’d spoken to him. She laughed. “Go to sleep, buddy. One of us should, and it might as well be you.”
The news anchor’s voice filled the room. “A hiker went missing in the Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forests yesterday. Ryan Parker is a twenty-six-year-old outdoor enthusiast. He was reported missing when he didn’t return home la
st night. His vehicle was found near a trailhead off interstate 70, west of Idaho Springs. Search teams scoured the trails today with dogs. They had to end their search at nightfall but plan on returning to their hunt tomorrow. Willing volunteers are asked to contact the Colorado Rocky Rescue Team.”
Aerilyn raised her remote and switched off the television, and her room went dark. She settled under the covers, and somehow between the sound of Petey’s snores and her thoughts replaying the feel of Jax’s lips on hers, she got some rest. Her alarm woke her for the last day of work that week, and she was off first thing before Emery was up.
When she entered the front office at school, a man’s voice filled the room. “I just want verification my son goes to school here, you dim-witted woman.”
Aerilyn paused and shared a wide-eyed look with another staff member. She hated seeing parents taking it too far.
Their secretary didn’t flinch. “And like I told you sir, your name isn’t listed as a guardian, so I cannot release any information to you about the minor.”
“I believe that tells me all I need to know,” the man retorted and stormed out of the office.
Aerilyn watched him walk away from the school from the windows, then checked her mailbox before going to class, thankful she hadn’t needed to alert the security guard. Her concerns were roused again when she saw Riley. His skin color hadn’t improved, and he only appeared sicker. He didn’t seem to be the sort to fall prey to drugs, but you never knew these days. She was beginning to wonder if it was time to step in and call his mother about it.
Riley was one of the last to leave at the end of his English period, so she took the opportunity to check in with him and called him over.
He slowed up, watching the other students exit the room and exhaled heavily, “Yeah?”
Aerilyn tilted her head to look at him. “I just wanted to see how things were going. You haven’t missed any other deadlines, but you’re not looking so good. Has your dad been dropping by in the evenings keeping you up?”
Riley pinched his brow and shook his head. “He hasn’t come by the house again, though I thought I saw him the other day down the street. I’m not sleeping well. Maybe it’s food allergies—my mom can’t eat dairy or she has to go to the hospital.”
“I don’t think that sort of thing just pops up out of nowhere. Have you gone to the doctor?” Aerilyn had little hope of pushing her nearly grown student into seeking medical attention. She wondered whether his mother had even noticed how ill he seemed.
He shook his head. “Mom doesn’t have insurance right now since she’s in between jobs.”
Oh, God. This was one of the worst parts of being a teacher, having to stand by and watch kids who needed help, or who had parents who were failing at their greatest responsibility—raising their offspring. She’d have to alert the school social worker.
She sighed and rubbed her temple. “You eating?”
He shrugged. “Not feeling all that appetized, but there’s food in the house if that’s what you’re asking.”
Aerilyn approached him. “Take care of yourself, would you? Please? Make sure you’re getting enough sleep.”
Riley yawned and put his hand to his mouth. “That’s not a problem.”
She patted his shoulder and gestured to the door. “Well, don’t let me keep you from your next class, but let me know if you need anything, okay? A sandwich, some Benadryl, whatever.”
The senior nodded and shuffled out of the room, leaving Aerilyn feeling frustrated. She wished she could do more to help him, like taking him to the doctor.
It was still weighing heavy on her mind when the school day ended and she left the teacher’s lot for home. She had to stop off at the grocery store to pick up food for dinner. Aerilyn might not have been a good cook, but there were a few basic staples she didn’t foul up too bad. One was spaghetti and the other, tacos. She’d already made pasta noodles that week, so tacos it was.
The meal Jax had prepared for her had been delicious. He seemed to have talent in the kitchen, but not Aerilyn, and she was okay with that.
When she got home, Petey was there to greet her at the top of the stairs. He wagged his tail and rushed to pick up his hedgehog toy.
“Hey, Petey!” she exclaimed as she walked past him to carry her groceries into the kitchen. “Emery, you home?”
A door opened down the hall, and her friend’s voice called out, “Just got out of the shower. You up for joining me at the lodge tonight? Deane was going to teach me some new restraint holds, and I think it’s game night or some crap like that. Real boring—sounds like something you’d enjoy.”
“Thanks,” Aerilyn said sarcastically. She gave a treat to Petey, who ran from the room with it in his mouth, and she started unloading food into the fridge and cabinets. “I was going to start knitting a scarf, make myself a microwave dinner and go to bed by eight.”
Although she was joking, it wasn’t far off from how she spent most nights.
Emery shuffled into the kitchen with a towel wrapped around her abdomen and her long brown hair dripping wet. “Oh my God, are you serious? Things are worse than I thought.”
Aerilyn put a package of ground beef into the fridge and turned around, scowling. “No, I’m not serious.”
“Good,” Emery said with apparent relief. She looked at the half-empty bags on the counter and asked, “Did you get any potato chips? I know they go straight to my thighs, but that’s to be said about the best things in life. Just need to find myself some thigh-men.”
“No, you don’t,” Aerilyn answered. “You need to settle for just one man.”
Emery frowned. “Blasphemy. I can’t settle for just one when there’s so many and I have so much time.”
Aerilyn shook her head and threw her friend a bag of chips.
A broad smile lit Emery’s face while she opened it and tossed a chip in her mouth. Crunching while she talked, she asked, “Seriously, what are you up to tonight?”
Although she knew the comments would start as soon as she told her friend, Aerilyn admitted, “Jax is coming over. I need to finish up teaching him about the Society and how things work. Shouldn’t take much longer.”
“That’s right.” Emery winked at her. “Chew him up and spit him out.”
Aerilyn took a deep breath and pretended Emery hadn’t said a word. She put the last things away and went to let Petey outside.
Emery muttered, “You’re such a good girl.”
“We are different from each other, that’s for sure.” Aerilyn stared out the sliding glass door, watching her dog sniff around the property. “But maybe that’s why we’re such good friends.”
“Love you like a sister,” Emery said with her mouth full. “Well, I’m going to get ready. Don’t do anything I would do.”
Her friend turned from the kitchen, still holding the bag of chips. Aerilyn muttered, “That’s always a good rule of thumb.”
Emery drove away at five o’clock, leaving Aerilyn to prepare for her guest. She got dinner started, put on some music, set aside the bios of the different possible matches for his mother and tidied up after her perpetually dirty roommate before there was a knock at the door.
Petey barked and looked at Aerilyn. She petted his head and assured him it was okay as she went downstairs to the front door. Outside stood Jax, wearing a clean pair of jeans and a leather jacket.
His blue eyes and five o’clock shadow made her knees weak, but she recovered quickly and turned around to lead him inside. She heard the door shut behind her as she said, “I had quite a week at school. Once they sense the holidays coming, it’s all over. How about you?”
His voice followed her upstairs. “A few restoration projects, but a lot of tire rotations with the weather coming. There’s always something to fill the time. One thing you can always bank on are cars breaking down and fender benders.”
Petey stood still, his gaze going between Aerilyn and Jax. His back legs scampered about in excitement, trying to contain his
curiosity about meeting someone new. She laughed and gave him permission. “Go ahead, buddy.”
The black Lab led with his nose to sniff Jax’s outstretched hand, then ran off to grab a toy and was back in a flash, dropping it at their feet. Petey barked and looked up at Jax, expectantly.
“Meet Petey,” Aerilyn said with a smile. “I hope you like dogs.”
Jax frowned at the animal. “He’s not one of your exes, is he?”
She snickered. “Definitely not.”
“Well then.” Jax leaned down and threw the toy down the hallway. “Nice to meet you, Petey.”
The Lab rushed after his toy, and Jax straightened to look around the beige living room. “Nice place. I mean, if you like having space to move around.”
Again, she laughed at his comment. “I like your place. It’s more unique than mine.”
“That’s easily changed.” He walked farther into the living room and paused at the front windows to stare out at the darkening skies. “You’ve got a better view than me.”
“I paid for it, too,” Aerilyn said over her shoulder as she entered the kitchen. “You want something to drink? I’m afraid I don’t have as many choices as you offered me. It’s water, beer or whatever Emery left in here. It’s bright red, and I can almost assure you it has sugar and alcohol in it.”
She stared at the pitcher of fire-engine-red liquid and heard his voice from behind. “Whatever you’re having, so long as it’s not the mystery drink.”
Aerilyn pulled two beers from the fridge and handed him one. He gestured to the granite counters and pine cupboards. “I like the kitchen. What’s it like having space to prepare food?”
She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”
He went to the stove to peek into the covered pot and frying pan. “I don’t know about that. Seems like you’re able to keep yourself from starving. The sign of a true adult.”
“Well, you’re about to eat one of the few meals I can keep from messing up.” She took out two plates from the cupboards. “Hope you’re hungry. I made enough to have leftovers for days.”
Half-Blood Descendant: A Paranormal Series (Half-Bloods Book 1) Page 10