With a quick glance she noticed that Titan was no longer in bed with her. She sighed. For some reason that fact made her sadness deepen. Don’t get attached, girlie. She spent some much needed time in the bathroom. After a shower she felt calmer and more like herself than she’d felt in days. Her muscles were sore, but amazingly nothing hurt too badly. A few ibuprofen would help her get through the day. The only pains that stood out from any of the others were her eye, which looked like a perfect makeup artist’s rendition of a black eye, and a pain at the junction of her neck and shoulder.
In the mirror it looked like she hit something semi-circular hard enough to bruise. Perhaps Ron had hit her there with something last night and she just didn’t remember. With a shrug she headed out of her room. Nothing she could do about it now. All she could do was take painkillers and attempt to stay away from the asshole. She’d heal. She always had in the past, and these were nothing new.
Stumbling down the stairs reminded her that she really needed to take a couple pain pills and perhaps stretch her sore legs. The bruise from the night before was in ugly shades of blue and green, spanning most of her upper thigh. The muscles were tender to the touch as well, and had seized up during her nap. She stopped at the bottom of the steps and took a deep breath.
The memory of the fight, the rush to the kitchen, the battle for a weapon all came rushing at her. She could feel her adrenaline pumping into her blood stream again. She knew that there was a mess to clean up, knew that there were broken things littering the floor and that blood had splashed on the floor in the kitchen from all three of them. Just walk in there. You can do it. She took the step into her dining room and froze in the doorway.
The room was still in shambles. Tears threatened to flow again and she forced them back. Ron was not going to make her cry any more. She’d deal with the mess after she got back from town. There wasn’t anything that needed to be picked up that instance, and she just didn’t have the gumption to do it right then. Close your eyes and walk through the room, don’t look. With a sigh she took her own advice and didn’t look at the broken plate or the dried food that she stepped over. Titan sat watching her from the doorway into the laundry room. He tilted his head and waited silently for her. Something about the tilt of his head reminded her of something but she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Want to go to town with me? I’ll buy you a burger at the diner.” She laughed at the note of begging in her voice. She reached down and ruffled Titan’s fur. She loved the sound of his sigh and how he leaned against her leg. It just felt right that he should enjoy her touch so much. She peeked out the small window on the door before opening it.
A rush of relief flooded her body. She didn’t even realize she’d been so tense, but she was very glad that Ron wasn’t sitting in her driveway. No matter how tough she talked before, there was little chance she’d actually shoot someone. Even Ron. Unless he was attacking her, then she’d have the guts to fire at his sorry ass. If he’d been out there she didn’t know what she would’ve done. A shiver of fear shot down her spine. What was she going to do when she found Titan’s owner?
The car looked fine. She took a walk all the way around it in case the asshole had done something to it. She unlocked the door and pulled it open. The smell of dried blood and mud nearly made her pass out as it was carried on the heated waves of air billowing from the car. Gagging, she turned from the vehicle. She backed away and tried sucking air in through her lips. She’d completely forgotten about the mess in the back seat. The sun had done its work, heating the interior, and turning a mess into something utterly disgusting.
“Wow. That is really raunchy. Guess we’ll be driving with the windows down. Let’s just hope it airs out enough to get in there.” She walked around the car, opening all the doors and rolling down the windows. After the initial outpouring, the smell faded quickly. “Guess I’ll be getting Zeke to detail the car, too, while he’s working on the dent, huh? Come on, let’s get this over.”
She snickered when Titan whimpered and then sneezed when he climbed into the back of her car. For such a large animal he gracefully avoided the mess, stepping gingerly on the seat and settled with his nose out the passenger side window.
“I bet it smells far worse to you, huh, sweetie? Well, we’ll get going and I’m sure Zeke can get all this nastiness out of my carpet.” She climbed in, holding her breath while she got the car started. As quickly as she could manage they were on the road, barreling along with the wind whipping in their hair.
* * * * *
Ian couldn’t help the anger mounting in his chest. Not only did he owe this human female for saving him and taking care of him during this time, but now he owed her monetarily for having to clean his blood out of her car. If he could shift later he would seek out the Alpha and secure protection for her, and then he needed to start repaying her. If nothing else he needed to make sure that Ron was taken care of and wouldn’t be back to bother her. He also wanted to ensure that the idiots who had chased him weren’t looking for him. He didn’t trust that they’d leave her alone if they stumbled across his scent. Only after his debt was paid would he be able to approach her as a man and see if he could woo her.
His emotions were still chaffed from the dream they’d shared. She wouldn’t believe that he was real, but what did he really expect? I want her to feel our connection as much as I do. He snorted at his own thoughts. She was human, a female still healing from the injuries from her boyfriend. Why would she want to get involved with him? She’d never want him around again when she learned that he’d slept with her, shared her dreams, and was a voyeur to her weakest moments in the last two days.
The smell kept him from lying down on the back seat, so instead he turned and rested his head against the driver’s seat, peeking around Cammie’s shoulder and sucking in gulps of fresh air as it rushed through the window. A whiff of something he’d never expected to smell had him burying his nose in the crook of her neck. She giggled and swatted at him, but it didn’t deter his investigation.
The smell was definitely thicker along that skin. He’d marked her. Her skin carried his marking scent and it pulled at his beast. When the hell had he marked her? His wolf seemed just as concerned. He hadn’t been in human form since the accident, and his wolf would remember the taste of her blood if they’d bitten her while in his animal form. The only time he remembered tasting her skin was in the dream they’d just shared. He’d bitten her—
The realization was like a punch to his gut. His dream bite had manifested itself to real life. She carried his scent and he would bet money that she had a mark on her shoulder. What the hell had he done?
Chapter Thirteen
“Zeke? You in there?” Cammie stood outside the open bay door, peering into the dark recesses of the auto shop. She’d learned the first time she’d visited Pete’s Auto Shop and Gas that people just weren’t allowed to wander into the garage. They had to be granted admission by one of the brothers who worked there, or they’d be read the riot act. So, like a good customer, she stood on the outside of the thick white line painted on the cracked pavement and waited in the baking sun.
“Yeah, I’m in the back. Come on in.” Zeke’s voice echoed from the interior.
“Come on, Titan, we can walk around through the shop, that way you don’t get oil on your paws.” She led them through the convenience portion of the shop, bypassing the newspaper stand and squeaking past the display of road maps. The door to the shop had a large “Employees Only” sign on it, held to the wood by layer upon layer of blackened duct tape. She pulled the door open and grimaced at the smell of gasoline and rusting metal. Peeking around, she waited until her eyes adjust before moving all the way through into the storage room. She held the door open so Titan could wander through after her. With a quick glance she noticed that he was nosing around but seemed content. She swept her hair in front of her face enough to partially cover her black eye and cheek. She spied Zeke half buried in a cabinet with just
his overall-covered ass hanging out in the room. She giggled and then laughed louder when he bumped his head and started cussing after the thump. “Hey, Zeke. Got a headache?”
“Smart ass. Hang on a sec.” He finished doing whatever it was inside the cabinet before scooting out. When he turned to stand Cammie felt a jolt of panic. He was so damn big. She seemed to forget that between visits with him. The mechanic was well over six feet tall and was built like a pro wrestler. His shoulders barely cleared the doorframe. Muscular arms stretched his T-shirt to the breaking point. She backed up a step instinctively and then chided herself when a flash of hurt crossed his face. Zeke might be built like a bouncer, but he was a gentle soul and helped her on numerous occasions.
“Hey.” She smiled, hoping that would fix the scowl slowly forming on her friend’s face. “Um, it seems that I was hit by an animal last night driving home, so I have a dent. Do you think you could take a look?”
“Sure. Let’s go take a gander.” Blue eyes clouded with confusion and anger when he finally saw Titan. The wolf had been hanging back, almost hiding behind her legs, leaning against her with steadily increasing pressure. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“He’s the animal that hit my car. I brought him home with me last night and he’s sort of become my bud.” She looked between the two males, one four-legged and one two-legged, both sporting the same lip-curling snarl. “Why, do you know his owner? I really should start looking around for who he belongs to.”
“Shit, Cam, no one would want to own him. He’s a fucking wolf.”
“Hey, but he had a bandana on. Someone must own him, or at least take care of him. Right?” Her confusion must have started to come through in her words because Zeke finally pulled his gaze from the wolf, wiped the blatant disgust from his face and looked at her.
“You really don’t know do you? Amazing. Well, I don’t know his owner, but I’m sure someone will come around soon that claims him.” She watched with fascination as he sucked in a long, drawn-out inhale through his nose, nostrils flaring, lungs pushing his chest to a monstrous size. His eyes whipped between her and Titan a few times before he shook his head. “Oh, Cam. I don’t think you’ll be able to get rid of him too easily now. You might have just found yourself a scruffy-ass mutt to keep.”
Titan drowned out whatever she would have said with a deep growl. His teeth were bared and he was slowly inching between her and Zeke. She loved that he was so protective, but someone was going to want him put down if he didn’t stop growling at everyone. She bent down on one knee and slid her fingers into his coat.
“Stop. You don’t need to protect me from Zeke.” Looking up found her staring into furious eyes. What the hell was wrong with Zeke? She didn’t think he was an animal hater, but his behavior was irritating at best. “And you, Zekeil Brian, you will tell me what I don’t know. It seems you know something about this animal that I don’t and I don’t appreciate you being cryptic or withholding information.”
“Ah, Cam, you pulled out the middle name? Come on.” He grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He still watched Titan with anger. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Let’s go take a look at your car.”
Without another word he turned and she watched him hightail it out of the garage, blatantly ignoring her glare. Something was going on, and she really felt like she should get it. She was a smart woman, usually one of those who understood subtle things in books and movies, but she was feeling like a dunce, complete with corner-facing stool and fucking cone hat. Everyone’s behavior is so bizarre lately.
By the time she made it to her car Zeke was squatting in front of the back door, whistling under his breath. “Wow. He really took you on at a flat out run, didn’t he? I would never have guessed a dog could make a dent this big and survive.”
“Do you think you can fix it?” She did a quick tabulation of the money she had in her account, and if the repair was going to cost more than a hundred bucks she’d have to live with the dent. “Oh, and I need the back carpet detailed. Hold your breath before you open the car door.”
“Huh, that’s what I smell, then. I thought you ran something over on the way in.” He peeked into the back seat and shook his head. “Damn, girl, you don’t do anything half-assed do you?”
“Nope. I make a full ass of myself.” She giggled and swatted Zeke on the shoulder. “Can you fix it?”
“Sure, it shouldn’t take me too long. The blood in the backseat is going to take some special enzymes, but I should be able to clean it out.” He turned around gasped before he caught her hand in his. His eyes widened and he winced while staring at her cheek. “Hon, what happened to your face? I thought it looked bruised but I was hoping the light was playing shadows across your face. Does it hurt? Do you want some ice? Was it Ron? Do you want me to kill him for you?”
* * * * *
Ian couldn’t decide if he wanted to kill Zeke or hug the bastard when he finally made it back to his human skin. Not once had the male smelled like lust, only anger at seeing Ian and concern for Cammie. The guy was a good friend to her, not taking a dime for the repairs and cleaning, and making her promise to call him in the morning to make sure Ron didn’t show up overnight. He was just another person in a growing line that needed to be thanked.
Ian had trailed behind her through town, growling at males that looked at her and tried to keep his vocalizations below normal human hearing range. He’d seen enough fear in her eyes to last a lifetime, and he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t put that look there again. The population of shifters made that promise hard to keep, though. The looks of other men openly staring and drooling over his female was enough to make his hackles rise.
All in all, the town treated her well. When they’d finally made it to the diner he’d been starving and he’d listened to her belly grumbling for hours. Mama Hannah, the owner and cook, welcomed Cammie by name and with a hug. Mama H, or Granny to some, spent some time fussing over and coddling Cam before placing her in a booth away from the door so people couldn’t stare at her. Mama H even cooed over him, and made a steak dinner that was to die for.
She’d served him on a real plate and had cut the entire meal up into bite size chunks. For a human she was quite well informed about the inhabitants of the town. After their lunch Cammie had wandered into the small store in town, leaving him to sit outside like a common mutt. While she shopped he’d kept an eye on the surrounding area, protecting best as he could from the sidewalk. By the time she’d finally come out of the store he was ready to storm through the glass door. His imagination had been working overtime. He’d been sure something horrible had happened to her. Rage had built so quickly inside his mind that he’d almost triggered his shift back to human.
The tingling that signaled the change coursed through his limbs before he recognized what was happening. His elation over feeling that tingle, and knowing he could take his human skin again helped him bring his anger under control. He’d barely swallowed the snarl that bubbled up in his chest when she’d walked through the door, but he was thankful he had. The smell of heaven preceded her, wrapping his nose in delicious meaty goodness. In her hand she carried the most fabulous buffalo jerky ever created on God’s green earth. The store owner was famous throughout the shifter community for the tasty treat. She’d knelt in front of him and soothed him with coos while she unwrapped the present she’d bought.
If he’d been in human form he was sure he would’ve cried. No one had been so nice to him in ages. He’d spent so long running from others, or fighting to keep his place in life, that to have one small human woman offer him soothing words and a gift was too much. Shaking himself from the memories of their afternoon proved difficult. His wolf wanted to dwell on the feel of her hands in his fur, the smell of her as she walked in front of him through town. The animal was relieved that she’d shown no other male her affection, and he had even accepted Zeke as a friend.
That attitude surprised Ian immensely. He’d never known his
animal to accept any other male as a friend or otherwise, especially not a coyote. Cammie’s house came into view all too quickly. He still hadn’t come up with a plan on how to shift, make it home to make a few calls, and make it back to her place before nightfall. Perhaps one more night in wolf form wouldn’t hurt. He could watch over her and leave in the morning to contact the Alpha. He fully understood that without the Alpha’s help he wouldn’t be able to protect her against Ron forever. He just hated asking for help, especially from someone who could make his life a living hell.
When Ian moved into town he hadn’t reached out to the coyote in charge of the area. He’d licked his emotional wounds and tried to stay out of the way of any other shifter on the mountain. Now that he needed to approach the man he’d ignored for months he feared that his decision might come back and bite him. Disrespecting the Alpha of a large shifter community was never a good idea. Doing that to a man who was an animal that historically despised wolves was like poking a sleeping bear.
Ian would make it right, no matter what it took. He owed Cammie protection and needed to get himself back into a pack, even if it was with scavengers.
Chapter Fourteen
“You eat so daintily for something so big.” Cammie couldn’t help but laugh at the wolf, who at the moment was licking his plate clean. He’d eaten everything she’d given him but hadn’t made a single mess. Just another thing to add to the pile of ‘what the hell’. She spent the ride home going over the weird and bizarre things that had happened since Titan showed up. She felt foolish thinking that he was anything other than a wolf, but some of the things people had said while they were in town, coupled with the crazy way he understood her, led her down a few paths she wasn’t quite ready to mentally deal with.
Accidentally Yours (Coyote Bluff Series Book 1) Page 10