by Heather Karn
Chapter 4
Though he was eager to help, he wasn’t overly eager which would have come off creepy. Instead, his smile and eyes both showed genuine sincerity in wanting to help me. Maybe I was crazy for going along with it, and maybe I was blaming it on my head when the truth was that his sweet, intoxicating scent was to blame.
“You can take me to the road at the end of the trail. It wouldn’t be a good idea for you to take me all the way home. If someone saw you the whole town would freak out and start hunting you.”
“Are you implying that you’re worried about me?”
“No, but if you’re caught in the open and I’m with you then there’s going to be a lot of questions, and I’ve already got enough attention as is. Can we get going now?” Without intending to, my voice had begun to sound like a whiny child. I hated whining, and the fact that I was doing it was aggravating.
With a nod, he backed a few paces from me, and I stared wide eyed as his body contorted, condensed and enlarged to form a giant tiger. It had taken mere seconds for him to shift, and it had been strange to watch. Nothing in nature should be able to do what his body did. It looked painful, but he gave no signs that it hurt. In fact, as he walked toward me he wore a smug, feline smile.
His coloring matched a normal tiger’s orange coat and black stripes with white mixed in around his face and belly. Black eyes ruined the innocent appearance he had going on. He stood watching me, his long tail twitching side to side as his large paws patted the ground.
I’d thought he was big when he’d jumped from the trees, but close up he was even bigger than I could’ve imagined. He was tall enough he could look me square in the eyes. As he stood beside me, staring expectantly over his shoulder, I debated how I was going to get on him since his back and shoulders were chest height on me.
“Umm, I may need a ladder to get on you.”
Kev, the tiger, rumbled in his chest and lay on the ground. Great, he was laughing at me even in tiger form. Now that he was on the ground, it was manageable for me to swing a leg over his back and position myself before he stood. A leather harness wrapped over his front shoulders and back with two small loops near the top of his shoulders for me to hold onto. As he stood, I gripped the loops tight in my hands and clamped my knees against his sides. If that was uncomfortable, he didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he looked back to me and nodded.
“I’m ready,” I told him with a shaky voice. I’d never ridden a horse in my life or anything that big, but I doubted that this would be anywhere near comparable to that.
He began with a slow, loping walk. Though he carried my weight, Kev managed the hills without showing strain of any kind. In fact, as we reached a flat section of the trail, I was pretty sure that his lope turned into some sort of prancing, though he kept me from bobbing too much. Maybe it was his distracting scent blowing in my face or the image in my head of what we must look like with him prancing down the trail, but I was caught off guard by a case of giggles.
My fit of laughter drew his attention to me. Looking over his shoulder, he nodded his head and directed his black eyes toward the harness I held. I’d loosened my grip as he’d walked down the trail, but now the message was clear: hold tight.
My gulp had to be audible, but I did as he directed while a slow, sly smile crossed his feline face. At least I was sure it was sly because mischief played in his eyes and my gut was telling me to start praying.
Muscles tensed below me, but instead of bolting forward like I thought he’d do, he hopped forward and began his loping walk once more. Maybe I’d read him wrong?
With a few long strides, I came to know I’d read him perfectly. Little by little, each step brought him closer to a jog until he was galloping down the trail. My white knuckled grip on the leather straps cramped my hand muscles in no time, but the exhilaration of flying down the trail kept the pain at bay, and as the new sensations and movements became more familiar, my muscles relaxed.
All too soon it was over. The road lay a few hundred feet away around a tight curve. It would hide us from view while I told Kev goodbye and regained my footing. Sometime during the ride my headache had begun to fade so walking home now wouldn’t be a problem.
Under me, I could feel Kev’s shift to lie down, but before he could, I swung my leg over him, barely missing his head with my foot, and slid to the ground. It wasn’t my most graceful landing, but he didn’t comment after shifting back to his human self. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to seeing someone’s body parts move around like that. Then there was the hair growth and retraction. I barely contained a shudder.
After he’d finished his change, Kev placed a warm hand on my shoulder. He could’ve leaned his elbow on my shoulder, and I would’ve been the perfect height. “I hope I didn’t scare you too much. You looked like you were having fun.”
“I did, surprisingly. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I hope this means that you aren’t afraid of me anymore?”
Though this should have been a statement, the inflection in his uncertain voice made it a question, as did the frown on his face. My stomach twisted. For some crazy reason, I didn’t like to see him with his lips turned down like that. And I didn’t even know him. I could only blame it on the fact that he was extremely good looking, he smelled amazing, and I had an endorphin high from my run.
Giving my head a mental shake for my craziness, I answered Kev. “I guess not. At least I’m not afraid. Wary maybe, but not scared. I’m sure if you’d wanted to kill me you’d have done it already instead of bringing me almost home first.”
He dug the toe of his boot into the dirt of the path, rubbing the loose grains into little piles. “I hope this means that when we see each other again, we could talk. I’d like to learn more about humans. Not to eat them, but because they’re interesting, and you know so much about them.”
“Yeah, maybe.” The likelihood I’d ever see him again was slim to none, though, so I hoped he wouldn’t get his hopes up. “Well, I’d better be going.”
He looked down at me with a smile that curled my toes yet again and set my insides on fire. “It was nice to meet you, Joey. I hope to see you again soon.”
I didn’t want to shoot him down openly, so being the nice person that I was, I nodded, letting him create his own idea of what it meant. That would be best. A nod wasn’t a commitment, and it wasn’t a denial.
My feet had carried me a few steps away when a thought twisted my gut. Turning around, I met his dark eyes. They hadn’t left me.
“If any human around here sees you, they’ll form a mob to hunt you down. Unless you have a death wish, I wouldn’t show yourself to anyone else. I’ll keep my mouth shut too.”
“Thank you.”
This time, when I turned around, I kept walking, although it took all my willpower not to look back and see if he was staring. I knew he was since I could feel his eyes on my back.
Though my headache had eased while we’d made our way down the trail, the rest of my body still ached, and I knew I looked like some forest creature. Dirt stuck to my sweaty skin, and no amount of wiping my legs and arms could get them clean. If anything, it made the damage worse. Then there were the twigs and leaves that had tangled themselves in my hair.
The thoughts running through my head weren’t focused on my appearance, though. They were thinking about a certain mint scented werecat. Fate had crossed our paths days after I’d learned of their existence, which was better than not knowing about weregals until I’d seen him change. I shuddered thinking how I would’ve reacted if I’d seen a tiger change into a man. Gram and Aunt Gwen would’ve had to take me to a shrink after all. It was hard enough wrapping my head around what had happened moments ago knowing the creatures existed.
Replaying my time with Kev over again in my head, I noticed Gram’s car was still gone as I walked up the driveway, absently pulling debris from my hair. That was good because if Gram saw me like this, it wouldn’t be pretty. I’d probably get a lectur
e about what happens when you skip church.
Walking into the house, I froze mid-step.
“What the heck happened to you?” Aunt Gwen screeched as she stared at me over her crocheting. She sat relaxed in her recliner and no longer wore her Sunday dress.
“I fell down a hill,” I answered, closing the door behind me.
“I’ll say you did.”
“Where’s Gram?”
“She went to church. We talked and decided one of us should stay home with you. We figured there’d be less talk if I stayed and she went.”
“You’re right about that.”
“I usually am. Now you go take a shower and then how about we make some chocolate chip cookies while Gram is away and can’t stop us?”
I grinned back at her. “And eat half the batch before she gets home?”
“Only if you hurry or we won’t have time.”
I didn’t need any more motivation than that.
Cleaning up was harder than I thought it would be. My legs were as wobbly as Jell-O and all the bumps and bruises made cleaning my dirty skin painful. I couldn’t complain though since the shower eased my tired muscles, but I almost fell trying to step out of the tub.
Changing into lounger sweatpants and a hoodie, my thoughts wandered to what Kev was doing here and what he was doing at that exact moment. Then I mentally kicked myself. I’d had the perfect opportunity to ask so many questions, and I’d blown it. If Chrissa knew what I’d done, she’d have slapped me silly. She wasn’t going to know, though, since I’d told Kev I wouldn’t tell anyone about him.
“Are you ready?” Aunt Gwen asked when I stepped into the kitchen, feeling much cleaner than when I’d gotten home.
“Yes, let’s do this.”
She had the ingredients laid out on the counter for us to begin and the oven preheating. My mouth watered as the scents of sugar, vanilla and chocolate filled my nose while I measured out ingredients. I had to cringe at the flour. It wasn’t my favorite smell. After meeting Kev and smelling his scent, even the chocolate lacked any real enticement.
We had the last pan in the oven when Gram pulled her old car into the driveway. I handed Aunt Gwen another cookie as she winked at me, then excused myself to go lay down until lunch was ready. Gram was going to scold us for “ruining our lunch” and I wasn’t in the mood for another unofficial lecture today, so hiding in my room and catching a few Z’s sounded like a great plan to me.
As I lay in bed, my brain yet again played through my conversation with Kev. There were two things that stood out to me. One was that he wanted to see me again, to talk. Though I’d been against it at the time, maybe it would be a good idea. I could ask him all the questions that I should have asked, but first I’d need to make a mental list of them. Asking questions certainly wasn’t a bad idea. It wasn’t like we were going to become best friends or anything.
The second thing that stood out was his scent. Even lying in bed I could remember it with perfect clarity as if he stood in the room with me, and it made my head buzz. No smell had ever affected me like this. It drew me in, and when I was upset, it calmed me. It certainly wasn’t the mischievous smile he flashed at me that had my heart calming. If anything, his physical attributes had my heart pumping embarrassingly fast.
A niggling thought longed to smell the minty scent again, for real, not only in my head.
Mine.
The covers flew off of me as I scrambled out of bed, heart racing and skin sweating. The word had come out of nowhere. My brain had thought it, but it hadn’t been a conscious thought. It popped into my thoughts and was gone just as fast.
Shaking from the adrenaline rush, I sat down on my bed to calm myself. There was no use getting back in bed. I’d never sleep even if I wanted to. I needed a distraction.
Laughter in the kitchen preceded a low knock on my door. It had to be lunchtime. That would have to be my perfect distraction.
I was setting the table for dinner when a knock sounded at the door. Aunt Gwen and I exchanged wary glances in the kitchen as Gram went to answer it. She hadn’t mentioned company for dinner, but it wouldn’t have been the first time someone showed up without either of us knowing it.
“Hello there, Tom,” Gram greeted our guest.
“Here she goes again,” Aunt Gwen muttered and grabbed what was needed for another place setting. I kept my laugh quiet, so she wouldn’t hear me.
Aunt Gwen had never married, and for the last few years, Gram had intermittently been trying to set her up on dates with single men. If that was Tom Hildebrant at the door, which I was almost positive it was, his wife had died just over a year ago. Gram was playing matchmaker again.
“Hey there, Tom. Nice of you to come over,” Aunt Gwen told the tall, burly man in a plaid shirt and jeans who followed Gram into the kitchen.
“It’s nice to be invited, and as always, it’s a pleasure to spend time with you and your mother.”
He took her hand, and with a slight bow, brought it up to his mouth and planted a kiss on the back of it. My eyebrows rose as I turned to Gram. She smiled back at me and winked. Of course, she was happy about this. Aunt Gwen wasn’t though. Her cheeks were bright red and her eyes wide.
“Tom, you silly man, let’s eat supper before it gets cold. And cut it out. You’re making my niece uncomfortable.”
“Oh, yes,” he said, eyeing me across the kitchen, “Your niece lives with you. Hello, young lady. I’m Tom.”
“Joey.”
He closed the space between us with a few steps, extending his hand to me. As he grew closer, I forced myself not to scrunch up my nose in disgust. His smell was like that of Milly’s; only his was bitter with a flare of sour to it. Was there something in the water that made people smell bad? And why didn’t anyone else smell it? Even regular people should have been able to smell something so raunchy.
I took his hand and gave it a firm shake. Once he released it, I evacuated to the far corner of the kitchen to grab the fried chicken from where it sat on the counter. The hair on my neck stood on end as Tom, who’d followed me, leaned over my head to smell the cooked bird. Not only was he physically in my bubble, but his smell was too, and even the smell of the chicken couldn’t compare with his overpowering stench.
“Mmm, that smells wonderful.”
“Aunt Gwen made it.”
“Gwen, as always you have outdone yourself.”
He took a slight step back as I turned to take the plate to the table, but before I could move to either side of him, he took it from me and placed it on the table himself. Though he was no longer standing next to me, his stench remained.
Aunt Gwen thanked him as we all took our seats. Gram sat at the head, like usual, with me and Aunt Gwen on either side. Tom took the other end of the table, across from Gram. That put him way too close to me for his smell, and as I stared at the meal, I wondered if I’d have to force it down. While we dished the food, the three adults began discussing local gossip. My plan was to stay under the radar by being silent. Gram had other ideas.
“So, Tom, Beverly Huckabee has Joey doing an essay on weregals in her English class. She doesn’t know much about them. Is there anything you know that could help her? I know she’s been trying to find more information.”
He swallowed and looked right at me. “What I can say about them is this: they’re liars, murderers and cons. They talk about peace while continuing to kill. The world’s a better place now that they’re gone.”
“Do you know where they went?” I asked without thinking, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut.
“Nope, and I don’t care to know. Wherever they went, they can stay there and cause havoc.”
I buttered a roll as I thought about this. “When I asked Gram what she’d do if they came back she said she’d move us all to Australia. What would you do?”
“I’d stay here and kill every last one of them creatures.” Hatred laced his words, and as he spoke, a cold chill crossed my skin, raising goose bumps along my arms.
“It would be open season on weregals. I’d have every man in these parts helping me hunt them things down. We’d hunt them till they were extinct.”
“Oh.” While he’d spoken, my active imagination played through what would happen if Tom found out about Kev. My gut firmed with resolve. No matter what happened, I wouldn’t let Tom hurt him. Or worse.
“That’s enough, Tom. There’s the truth, and then there’s overkill.”
I wasn’t about to call Gram out on the pun.
“Can you tell me anything about them? I haven’t been able to find much.”
“What would you like to know?” Tom dished himself more corn as I started my questions.
“Anything really. I know they’re big, have black eyes and their clothes change with them. That’s about it. Do you know how this all started?”
“Hmm, let’s see. I believe it was that they slaughtered a family that lived over in the next hollow. That was about seventy-five years ago. My mother told me about it. And yes, they are big. They also have a long lifespan. I’m not sure exactly how long they live, but Derek, the one we worked a temporary treaty with, was over one hundred and fifty years old.”
I thought back to the picture of him in the newspaper. That man was over one hundred and fifty? He’d looked maybe to be in his thirties. “I saw a picture of him from a newspaper. He didn’t look that old.”
“They don’t. I don’t know details, but they look younger, much younger, than what they are.”
“Are they afraid of anything?”
Tom placed an elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand as he thought. “I’m not sure as a whole they fear much. One thing that terrifies them is losing their mate. They only ever have one, so they keep their mate close and watch their back.” He paused. “Does this help?”
“It’s more than what I had. Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
As the adults went back to discussing other town happenings, I was lost in thought. If what Tom said was true there was no telling how old Kev was. He looked to be in his early to mid-twenties, so did that make him close to one hundred? That was almost unbelievable. No one should look that good at his age.
My next thought stirred emotions in me that I wasn’t ready for. Did he have a mate? I hadn’t seen one, but maybe she was hiding. Anger rose in me, tightening my chest as I fought to keep a straight face. It wasn’t just anger, but jealousy too. That alone was terrifying because there was no reason for me to be jealous. He was a weregal, and I was a human. I didn’t even like him like that. Yes, he was nice to look at, and he’d been kind, but that was as far as it went.
Pushing my thoughts from Kev and the weird feelings that he and his scent invoked, I tried to enjoy the rest of my meal. Or as much of it as possible with Tom sitting so close. I was more than thankful when we finished, and Aunt Gwen escorted him to the door while Gram and I began clearing the table and washing dishes.
“Well, what do you think of him?”
“He gives me the creeps, Gram.”
“How so?”
“He smells weird.”
Gram and Aunt Gwen both knew about my superhuman ability to smell, but we rarely talked about it. Nothing ever seemed to warrant it necessary. So now when I brought it up, Gram was taken off guard, giving me a sidelong glance as she rinsed the plate she’d been washing.
“Weird?”
“What’s weird?” Aunt Gwen asked, coming back into the room as Gram asked the question.
“Apparently Tom’s smell. Joey was just about to tell me about it.”
Instead of facing them as I dried the dishes, I stared at the glass in my hand. People always got creeped out when I talked about my ability to smell, which was why as a little kid I’d stopped talking about it. The only person who’d seemed okay with it had been Mom.
“His smell was bitter and sour. It’s not like regular people’s smells. They smell like what they’ve eaten, or perfume or body odor. Not sour. How does someone even smell bitter? I can’t describe it beyond that.”
“It concerns you?” Gram asked when I stopped talking.
“It creeps me out, remember? I’ve smelled that on one other person since I got here, and that’s Milly, the librarian. Before moving here, I was around thousands of people and never smelled anything close to that. I don’t understand this smell, and I don’t like it.” The shudder I had been suppressing all evening let loose, and I shivered.
“I’ll keep that in mind when we go on our date,” Aunt Gwen told me as she came over to the sink to grab the dish rag.
“Your what?” Gram gasped as my aunt washed the table.
“Tom asked me on a date, and I said yes. I don’t know when it is. He said he had to check his schedule, and he’d let me know, but he wanted to ask me before someone else beat him to it.”
Gram leaned against the counter and folded her arms. “Well, it’s about time that big oaf did something right.”
“Thanks, Ma,” Aunt Gwen retorted, rolling her eyes at me. “I don’t mind being single, and someone has to keep you two out of trouble.”
While they continued to banter, I walked over to the kitchen window, wishing I could again tell Kev to keep a low profile. I wasn’t sure why I cared so much. He’d scared me to death, but then again he hadn’t hurt me and had been kind. They all couldn’t be killers.
The need for him to be safe clawed at my insides. Something told me I wouldn’t find peace of mind until I reiterated to him over and over the need to be careful and stay out of sight. Though I didn’t know how long he’d be in the area, his safety and invisibility were at the top of my list of things to go over the next time I saw him.
Life had just gotten a bit more complicated.