Perfect Scents

by Heather Karn

  Chapter 14

  We’d reached the long driveway when Chrissa whipped by us, laying on her horn as she passed. The whole experience left Kev growling at her taillights as he tenderly rubbed his sensitive ears. With my eardrums throbbing from the blast, his had to feel like they were bleeding.

  “I’ll thank whoever created our kind that those machines don’t exist in Fairimorr. They’re annoying, obnoxious and deafening. I hope I never meet the human responsible for their existence.”

  He quit rubbing his ears when he caught me staring. With a sheepish smile directed toward the road, he shoved his hands in his pockets to keep them still. He could’ve kept rubbing them. I didn’t mind.

  “When she hugged me, did you growl at her?” Kev asked, breaking the silence that hung over us as a few other cars passed by. None of them honked, but they gave us plenty of space.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “But you did, didn’t you?”

  There were already too many lies floating around in my life for me to add another one to the list. The option I took was to plead the fifth and not say a word. It would incriminate me for sure, but I wouldn’t be lying since I wasn’t ready to admit to it.

  “I think we need to talk about it.”

  “Am I going to change into a tiger this very minute?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant.”

  “Then it can wait.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with growling, Joey. I only want to know why you did it.”

  “I don’t want to growl, and I don’t want to hiss. And, I’m not ready to talk about it. You’ll be the first person to know when I am.”

  “I wish you would trust me.”

  “I do, and it has nothing to do with trust. Kev, if I tell you out loud what’s going on inside my head, then I’m actually going to have to come to terms with the craziness my life has turned into. I’m not ready for that.”

  Kev kicked a loose piece of asphalt further into the driveway as he let out a long, loud huff of air. I was frustrating him, I knew it, but I couldn’t change it. The truth was exactly what I told him. If he thought he was my true soul mate, then he needed to be patient with me. Deep inside, the part of me that wanted him as my mate hoped he’d understand and give me time.

  “Joey, if you did it because you were upset about me hugging Chrissa, I’m sorry. I didn’t enjoy it any more than you did. The whole time I imagined she was you.”

  My feet stopped, shocked by his admission. “Why?”

  “Because you’re my mate, and I want to protect you, even from human men. She needed protecting from one as well, and although it isn’t my place to do that, she is your friend, and you appeared worried for her. But I wanted it to be you I was protecting.”

  Opening my mouth to respond, another thought came to mind. Though Angus had mentioned for me not to tell Kev about him, or anyone, I wanted to make sure Kev knew there was another sour smelling person around.

  “Speaking of protecting…I smelled a new sour scent this morning.”

  I’d expected Kev to start asking me questions, like when and where, but he didn’t. His body grew rigid. With his eyes closed, he took deep, deliberate, slow breaths. A slight tremor started in his hands and worked its way up his arms until his whole frame trembled.

  “Kev?”

  He didn’t respond, and the shaking grew worse. If he didn’t calm down, there was going to be a tiger standing in the middle of the driveway for all to see. Though my human side told me that flight was the answer to my fear, my animal side won out, and I took a hesitant step toward him. I wasn’t ignorant that what I was doing was dangerous, but instinct had taken over.

  “Kev, you can’t change on me, not yet and not here. I’m sorry I upset you.”

  Two more tentative steps later and I stood directly in front of him. My skin crawled from the tension rolling off his body. If the normal feeling of needing to change was that of an itch, this had to be closer to what it would feel like to be attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes inside a glass room with no way out. It would be torture, and that’s what it looked like as he bit down on his bottom lip.

  “Stay with me, Kev.”

  His nod was a small jerk of his head as I wrapped my arms around his tense sides and pressed myself against him in a tight hug. His body responded instantly, losing some of its rigidness, but he never moved, remaining a stiff statue in my arms. The longer we awkwardly stood there at the edge of the driveway with me stroking my hands along his back, the more he calmed.

  The scent of rust and oil alerted me to an oncoming car, and my arms tightened a fraction around Kev of their own will. His own hands rested on my hips as he moved for the first time.

  “Are you kids all right?” the car’s occupant asked as she pulled up beside us.

  To respond, I had to let Kev go, as unwilling as I was to do so. Forcing smiles, we turned to find Mrs. Huckabee, whose car could have been a twin to Gram’s old junker.

  “We’re fine. Thanks, though.”

  Nodding at me, she turned her hazel eyes to Kev. The expression of concern she wore transformed into slow appraisal as her eyes scanned his face and the hand that still rested on my hip. If anyone could figure out who and what Kev was, it would be Mrs. Huckabee. It was time to retreat.

  Taking Kev’s hand away from where it sat, and regretting it the whole time, I lightly swung my hip into his leg to get him to start moving along. The longer we stood here, the higher the chance was that she’d start screaming or squeal her tires to get away and find Clifton Jennings or someone else with a gun to kill Kev.

  Before I could bump Kev again, Mrs. Huckabee’s lilting laugh echoed from the car. “Don’t worry, dear, I won’t say a word. Your secret’s safe with me.” Without another word, her little gray car continued to chug down the driveway.

  “What secret?” Kev asked, falling into step beside me as I led the way after the car.

  “She knows what you are.”

  “How?”

  “She’s the one who assigned me to research weregals, and she knows about your, our, kind. One look at you, and she probably knew instantly.” I gave him a quick glance and a shiver traveled down my spine. “That and your blasted eyes are blacker than a moonless night. Crap.”

  Heat flooded my body as Kev wrapped his large hand around mine and brought it to his lips and placed a tender kiss on the back of it. “I am sorry for losing control like that. You’re very particular about my reactions and what I look like so I’ll do better to make sure I act human.”

  “I just don’t want anything to happen to you. If someone finds out there’s a weregal in town they’re going to go hunting, and when they find you, they’ll kill you.”

  He chuckled at my concern, not the least bit worried. That was just as well since I was worrying enough for both of us. My eyes narrowed at him as he placed another kiss comforting kiss against my hand, his lips caressing my skin in a way I was sure was meant to be romantic. It did its job as my anger seeped away. His overpowering scent was doing its job as well, hovering intoxicatingly in the air as usual.

  “They’ll have to find me first, little one. That will prove to be a challenge; I can assure you of that.”

  Taking my hand back, I fought not to lift it to my nose to smell his scent where his lips had touched my skin. I’d never had a boy pining after me before, and it was leaving my stomach all squirrely and squishy. My body and hormones weren’t listening to my brain as it told me to step away from the minty scented goodness to my left. It was hopeless.

  “Okay, now that I’m calm tell me about the sour smell.”

  Without waiting for a second episode of anger from Kev, I jumped into the explanation. While I spoke, I kept my eyes on him waiting for any sign of impending aggression. However, his face remained calm. His fisted hands were the only sign I could find that what I said was affected him at all. That, and the occasional flaring of his nostrils.

  “I haven’t smelled this partic
ular strain, yet, if that’s what you want to call it. Which means it’s a new person that I’ve yet to meet.”

  “Do you know where they were? Or was it an old scent?”

  Resisting the urge to head slap myself was difficult. Mentally kicking myself, I shook my head instead. Why hadn’t I even thought of that?

  “By old scent, you mean someone had been there earlier but wasn’t there then?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t know. I guess I forgot that I could do that. I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “For not knowing the answers.”

  Shaking his head at me, Kev placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. My breathing grew labored with his touch as I fought to stay focused on his words. It was harder than I thought.

  “You have nothing to be sorry for. They terrify you. I’ve seen it. You may not be able to answer me, but at least you didn’t go out looking for them.”

  “I didn’t smell you this morning.” It wasn’t meant to be accusing in any way, but from the way Kev dipped his head down and refused to look at me, it appeared I’d failed at that.

  “That would be because I wasn’t there this morning. I was doing something…personal.”

  “You were taking a bath, weren’t you?”

  My cheeks heated as I wondered what had given me the brazen courage or stupidity to ask him such a blatant and private question. He’d just admitted it was personal, and here I went jumping right in. Of all the times not to have a filter on my mouth it had to be now. I blamed his scent for my loose tongue, but there was no way in heaven or earth I was admitting that to him.

  “I’m sorry, Kev. I didn’t mean to blurt that out like that. It’s none of my business.”

  His chuckle at my heated cheeks had me turning away, mimicking his earlier reaction.

  There was no embarrassment in Kev’s voice when he responded to me, for which I was grateful since I was still humiliated by my outburst. “As a matter of fact, I was bathing. And let me guess, you can tell by the way I smell.”

  “You smell like the river.” It was the same as the night Gram and I had fought. It had taken me some time to figure out why his skin had smelled like the river we met at, and why his clothes had still smelled like the forest. Once I’d figured out how he’d been able to smell like that, I’d tried to keep my mind off of it. Yes, it was extremely personal, and I’d had to make myself focus on something other than what was hiding under Kev’s shirt.

  “I like the smell of the river.”

  “You don’t have rivers in Fairimorr?”

  “We do, but this river smells different.”

  I snorted at his comment, while he arched an eyebrow at me. He had no idea how gross that river was. Though I loved the sound and smell of it, there was nothing on earth that could get me to step foot in it.

  “Kev, it’s full of chemicals, I guarantee it.”

  “Be that as it may, I still like it. Now, let’s get back on topic. We now have another person who smells sour to you. And we’re on our way to the library where there’s another. From now on you’re not leaving your house without me. If you don’t see me before you leave for school, you wait until I show myself, understand?”

  Though it sounded a bit overprotective and unnecessary, I wasn’t going to argue with him. Gram, on the other hand, would have something to say about that. There was no way I wanted to be anywhere near her when Gram realized I had a pushy weregal tailing me everywhere.

  We fell into companionable silence as we made our way down the sidewalk, heading in the direction of the library. It was nice to be able to walk around instead of being chauffeured by Gram. However, the closer we got to the main strip of town, the more the air filled with undesirable odors and smells. I’d grown used to the smells since Gram, Aunt Gwen and I came into town to shop and occasionally eat at the small diner. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to heaven that we wouldn’t have to walk past there to get to the library. The restaurant’s garbage could smell just as bad as the trash in the school cafeteria, especially in the summer.

  “So I’ve been thinking about why your dad may not have come yet,” Kev stated, breaking into my thoughts.

  “You have a theory?”

  “I don’t know what a theory is, but I have an idea.”

  “Pretty much the same thing. What is it?”

  “It’s possible that he’s a member of Leon’s pack. If he is, my dad might not be letting him through the passage.”

  Kev waited expectantly for my reaction as he stared down at me. His grin said he thought this a brilliant idea, but my frown told him it wasn’t. Well, it could be, but he’d lost me the moment he’d began speaking.

  “I think you started in the middle of the explanation. Back it up.”

  “Back it up to where?”

  “Who’s Leon, and why wouldn’t your dad be letting my father through? How can he do that?”

  His brows furrowed as he recognized his mistake, and I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers along his brow and ease the tension that was building. I’d never been so touchy feely, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Kev would like it, though.

  “I see. Yeah, I guess I jumped ahead of myself. Leon and my father are two of the weregal pack leaders. Our two packs loathe each other.”

  “I didn’t think tigers lived in packs.”

  “You’re thinking of actual tigers. We aren’t tigers, Joey, we’re weregals. We don’t act like them, just as we don’t act completely human either. Who we are isn’t based on our human form and our animal form as separate entities. We are both at all times. In our animal form we still have our human mentality. In human form we still have our animal instinct and advanced senses. Weregals are both forms at once. Does this make sense?”

  “Sure, I think so. It’s hard to comprehend. So you live in packs like wolves and coyotes?”

  “Not exactly. We use human words for them, but they have slightly different meanings for us,” he paused to make sure I understood what he was saying before continuing.

  “Keep talking; I’m listening.”

  “Our packs are not just a group of us who live and travel together. They are based on the land. They would be more like your states and countries. Each pack has a border, and if you live within that border, then you are a member of that pack. Each pack has a leader. It’s usually the strongest male member of the pack. The next leader is generally one of the leader’s sons, or a son-in-law if he only has daughters.

  “So it’s a hierarchy?”

  His gorgeous blue eyes rolled at my question. This man was either a fast learner of human traits, or I rolled my eyes a lot more than I thought I did. It also didn’t help my resolve not to become his mate because that had been an extremely sexy look for him. That word hadn’t even been part my vocabulary until I’d met the tiger. Now it seemed that it was the only word I could think of to describe him properly, and it shouldn’t have been considering how I wanted to keep my distance.

  So why was I avoiding having feelings for him? I was obviously attracted to him as a man, and his tiger form wasn’t too shabby either. His scent was amazing. When he starred in my dreams, the memory of his scent always lingered afterward, leaving me craving the real thing.

  But, I couldn’t face his rejection of me when he found a more mature, older, and certainly more attractive human or weregal. He was gorgeous, both inside and out, so there was no way he wouldn’t be attracted to other women. He’d said he wasn’t, but I didn’t see how that was possible. There was no way that someone like him would only have the mate instinct toward me. I wasn’t anything special. Unlike him, I was not sexy in any way.

  It took me a moment to realize that my thoughts had taken me from the present, and Kev was responding to my question.

  “I’ll say yes, even though I have absolutely no idea what a hierarchy is.”

  He ignored me as I shook my head and laughed at him, and continued his explanation. />
  “Anyway, back when the passage was discovered, Devrion was the pack leader of that area. He had a small pack and wasn’t a strong leader, so he let anyone cross his land to reach the passage. About ten years ago his son became the pack leader and knew he couldn’t hold the land, so he merged his pack with my father’s pack.

  “My dad is more selective of who goes through the passage. He doesn’t want it to be like last time when anyone was allowed through. There is no pack or pack leader here, so weregals are free to do what they wish without repercussion from their leader. Leon, my father, and some of the other pack leaders tried to negotiate with the humans, but as you know, that failed. While our people are mostly peaceful, there are a few who cause trouble.

  “The leaders went back to Fairimorr to discuss setting up a pack here with a strong leader, but while they were gone the passage collapsed. They had brought most of their people back with them so that they could assist in choosing a leader, or volunteer themselves. That’s why many left their human mates here. They were supposed to come back.”

  “So my dad was probably one of those that left to help set up a pack here?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “And your dad controls who goes through, so if he doesn’t like my dad, then he may not let him through at all.”

  “Again that’s possible.”

  “So I might need to go to Fairimorr to find out for sure.”

  Though it was meant to be a rhetorical statement to myself, it took Kev by surprise, causing him to pause mid-stride and grab my arm to stop me. When I turned to him, his mouth hung open as he wore a dumbfounded expression. A small glimmer of hope swirled in his deep blue eyes.

  “Do you want to come to Fairimorr?”

  “Not really. I’m not sure I’m ready to go there yet, and what if he’s dead?”

  “Joey, I think you should come to Fairimorr. It would help you learn more about your people.”

  “I might when I’m ready. At least let me finish my Senior year. I want to spend more time with my family.”

  “I wouldn’t make you stay. It would be a short trip.”

  “Couldn’t you ask your dad to let my father through if someone found him?”

  “Not exactly. He’s the pack leader. He does what he feels is best for us.”

  “You can’t even ask?”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Then what’s it like?”

  Kev ignored my question as he turned away, walking down the sidewalk toward our destination. I followed a half a step behind, an irritated storm in the wake of his silence. There were a few pet peeves I had that truly bothered me, and one of those was being given the silent treatment. Well, I was going to end this one.

  “Kev, why can’t you ask your dad to let mine through?”

  He responded with a grunt before taking my hand in his and responded. As he spoke, his words were clipped and his voice deeper.

  “You’re going to ask until I tell you, aren’t you?”

  “I was thinking about it.”

  “Can we discuss it later?”

  “What’s wrong with now?”

  “I’m not ready. We’ll talk about it when we talk about you growling at Chrissa.”

  He had me there. Silly tiger had found an opening and went for it. That pulled me out of my irritated funk. So did his hand squeezing mine and the smile he showered down on me.

  “Okay, then can you tell me why Leon and your father hate each other?”

  “It’s not that they hate each other personally. Our packs hate each other. Would you like to hear a story of our history?”

  “It’s not a happy story is it?”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Well, let’s hear it.”

  Kev’s warm smile at my acceptance to hear our history warmed my insides and curled my toes. “One of the first pack leaders was Agga. Through time his territory has been split into three packs by his descendants because they weren’t strong enough to hold a large pack. During Agga’s time, our race was fewer in number so the territories could be large.

  “Agga and his mate, Yin, had six cubs, five males and a female. When they were young, she took them to a stream to play. While they were there, a son of Lek, another pack leader, and a small group of males met them. They surrounded Yin and her cubs and began to nip at the little ones.

  “Yin defended her cubs as she called for help from her pack, but no one responded to her call. Agga was too far away to help, and the males’ attacks grew worse. In the end, Yin and her female cub didn’t survive, but they left the males alive.

  “When Agga found them, he hunted down the young males and killed them all. Agga’s cubs grew with memories of the battle, and they saw their father grow colder each day from the loss of his mate. His oldest son vowed to seek revenge for him.

  “Lek and his mate were devastated by what their cub had done, but that meant little to Agga’s son. He entered Lek’s territory and killed his lead female. When Agga learned what his son had done, he was as devastated as Lek had been.

  “Instead of killing his son for what he had done, Agga banished him and those that helped him. Lek was furious that Agga had banished his son instead of killing him as Agga had done to those who killed Yin. A war broke out between the two packs. Many died.

  “Most of those who died were females and cubs. Both packs’ populations diminished until they saw a need to end the wars or end our kind’s existence. The first pack council was created to end the war and create a treaty. The treaty states that any weregal to cross into the other’s territory without permission is at the mercy of the pack leader whose territory he enters.

  “Since then our packs have lived with this truce. There have been skirmishes, but nothing like the bloody battles in the beginning. The truce has held for many generations now, with my father being a direct descendant of Agga.”

  “That’s an awful story.”

  “It’s our history.”

  I still hadn’t come to grips with the fact that I would live hundreds of years. If I didn’t think about it in the context of myself, it didn’t seem so weird for weregals to live that long. I could handle that. The thought of losing my mate young and living the rest of my long life alone turned my stomach. I’d already lost my immediate family, and I wasn’t even eighteen. That hardened my resolve. I would not put myself in that position. Ever.

  “I wish they would stop. We gain nothing by fighting each other, especially for something that none of us was involved in. There are far more important concerns and problems to fix.” Kev’s voice carried an angry undertone that sent a small shiver through me. “Now where is this library?”

  “Across the street.”

  “Oh.”

  Though we’d planned to come so that Kev could get an up close and personal sniff of Milly, I hoped she wouldn’t be working. Just the thought of smelling her disgusting odor made me want to throw up in my mouth, and we’d yet to cross the street. Looking up at Kev, I found him watching me. I smiled back at him, praying it would be reassuring, but since his eyes only narrowed, I doubted I’d reached my goal.

  “You ready to do this?” I asked him.

  “I’m ready. You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “Liar.”

  I swatted at his arm which he easily avoided with his catlike reflexes, even though he was still in human form. He was right, but there was a difference between knowing something and hearing it out loud.

  After checking the street for oncoming cars, we crossed to the library. As we stepped inside, Kev hesitated in the doorway behind me. His wide eyes scanned the room stocked with books, and his jaw fell slack. It hit me then that I’d never actually told him what a library was. If he’d never held a book before and had been in such awe of one, I should have warned him so he’d know to expect a whole lot more. Then again, seeing his childlike reaction to the room was worth the surprise.

  “There are so many books! Have you read them all
?” He turned to face me, his eager eyes full of light and excitement that was almost tangible. Joyful waves of energy almost flowed from him, electrifying the air between us, causing my skin to tingle.

  When I snorted and shook my head, his smile fell a little. “No, Kev, I haven’t read nearly this many books. I’m sure I’ve read a few of them in my life, but I haven’t read even half of the amount of books in here. There are so many books on Earth that I doubt there’s any way for a person to read even half of them in a lifetime.”

  Well, a human lifetime anyway. Maybe it would be possible for a weregal to read more.

  “Back here,” I told him, leading the way into the warm room, dodging bookshelves to go to the desk Chrissa and I had shared on Saturday. We made slow progress as Kev moved at a snail's pace, looking each bookshelf up and down as we passed by. It didn’t bother me though since he was so enthralled by the new experience.

  He’d yet to touch any of the books, but I’d watched him reach his hand up to the bindings of several before pulling his fingers back before they could brush along the spine. It was cute, yet painful to watch as an expression of longing played across his face. That made up my mind. One day soon I’d have to take him to a bookstore so he could pick out his own book and I’d teach him how to read it.

  As I set up my laptop, I wondered where Milly was. She hadn’t been at the circulation desk, and I hadn’t seen nor heard her since we entered the building. I didn’t doubt she was here somewhere since her scent still lingered in the room. Inhaling a deep breath, I let my nose tell me what my eyes and ears were missing.

  I found her the moment I concentrated on her undiluted scent. She was a few dozen feet from us, standing still in a little room off the main library that was a children’s fun area. I’d spotted it the first time here when I’d been looking for a quiet desk. Either she didn’t know we were here, or she was hiding from us. Not knowing exactly what she was didn’t help me understand what she was doing.

  Knowing she was Angus’s mom didn’t make me feel any better either. That and she had told him about me. Why had she done that? And why had Angus come to the church and only introduced himself and warn me not to tell anyone about him?

  The laptop completed its start up as Kev brought a chair over to sit beside me at the desk. As he sat, he let a long finger tap my nose, bringing my attention to him. He tapped the tip of my nose a few more times, and I nodded, knowing he was asking if I could smell her. Pointing at him, he shook his head, but pointed to an ear. So, he could hear her, but not smell her. Lucky him. Nausea was a weak word for what I felt inside my stomach at the odor filling the room.

  With the laptop running and ready to go, I logged onto the internet, pulled up the library’s website and found the database for weregals. Kev’s eyes never left the screen as I navigated through the web pages.

  “What does all of that say?”

  His mouth was so close to my ear that his breath brushed against it sending shivers shooting through my body. I’d tried to suppress them, but it had been impossible with him sitting so close. The heat from his body was putting me at ease since Milly’s odor had me tense. His minty scent was close around us, and it left my heart giddy as Kev’s chuckles brought me back to his question, and my involuntary reaction to him.

  “It’s telling me what I need to know to find the information I need.”

  He nodded as I continued to scroll through the newspaper articles.

  The original plan was to come to the library so Kev could meet Milly. After thinking about what we had to do while we were there, I’d decided to show Kev the photo of the man and tiger Chrissa and I had found. I wasn’t sure if he would, but I hoped that Kev would know who the man was.

  Kev stiffened beside me and placed a hand on my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze that would have tickled had his fingers pressed any harder. Instead, it was a reassuring touch. I didn’t need to ask what he was trying to tell me. Milly’s scent had already carried to me, letting me know she was on the move as she left the room and made her way toward us.

  “Hello there, Joey, do you need anything?” Her voice came from behind us as we stared at the computer, acting like we hadn’t noticed her presence.

  Turning in my seat to face Milly was more difficult than I expected with Kev sitting practically on top of me. In the end, I settled for twisting at the waist and looking over my shoulder. She smiled warmly down at me as Kev turned to face her. His eyes were still a striking human blue. With a slight nod of her head, she acknowledged him and turned back to me.

  “No, it’s okay. I’m looking up weregal stuff like before. I brought along a little company again. He’s supposed to keep me awake and focused.”

  Her eyes drifted down to his hand still on my thigh. A frown tugged at the edges of her mouth, and I couldn’t help but think of Angus and if she was disapproving of Kev’s touch because of him. That was stupid, so I shoved the thought away.

  “I see. Well if there’s anything that you need, come find me. I’ll be at my desk.”

  “Thanks.”

  She nodded to us and left without looking back, for which I was grateful. My attention didn’t leave her until I could smell her back at the front of the room. Though my hearing wasn’t nearly as good as what Kev’s was, even I could tell that she moved quieter than any human should be able to. That thought made me shudder in a less pleasant way than I had earlier.

  “Let’s get this done so we can leave,” I whispered and found my way to the newspaper article with the picture of the weregal in human form.

  After scrolling down the page, I reached the picture and clicked on it to blow it up. As the page loaded and the fuzziness faded into a clear photo, Kev leaned forward, his eyes about ready to pop from his head. He didn’t blink as he studied it for several minutes.

  Finally, he spoke, and his voice held as much awe as what he reserved for books. “This is real? This really happened?”

  “Yes. It’s a picture. It’s a real life event captured on film and then put on paper. At least that’s the easiest way I can explain it.”

  He nodded, but still didn’t look away.

  “Who is that Kev?”

  “My parents. That’s my dad.” He pointed to the man, and then to the tiger beside him. “And that’s my mom.”

  “Do you know any of the other tigers?” There were a few in the background I hadn’t paid much attention to the first time around. It was a long shot, but worth asking.

  He pointed to one of three standing off to the side. “That’s Leon. I’ve only met him once, but I’d never forget what he looks like. I don’t know the two with him.”

  “So that’s Leon,” I said, leaning up next to Kev to get a closer view of the other pack leader. “How many packs are there?”

  “Eight, but Leon and my dad have the largest packs. They’re far more dominant than the others so they can afford to have more land. What else is here?”

  I took him article by article and told him what they were about. We skipped some that I remembered didn’t have anything to do with weregals but were in the collection because they were mentioned. When that was done, I moved on to missing people.

  “I haven’t seen any of this yet, so it may take a bit longer.”

  I clicked on the first name listed. It was a young African-American man named Henry Watson. The picture loaded as I read off his information.

  He’d just finished his last year of medical school and was on break before beginning his residency when he vanished one night on his way home from a friend’s party. There was no note left explaining his disappearance. He hadn’t been spotted with weregals so everyone assumed foul play, but nothing ever happened with the case because there was no evidence to go from.

  When the picture finally showed clear instead of pixilated, I stared at the man’s face. His skin was dark, as were his eyes and hair. His eyes were kind and warm, and his mouth was made for smiling. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw his face smiling back at me.r />
  “That’s Doc,” Kev breathed beside me. “He and his mate were in my father’s pack. They moved to the Hall a few years ago so that Doc could help treat anyone and not just those in our pack.”

  Kev caught me staring at him, and a grin crossed his face. Like me, he was beginning to tell when I didn’t understand what he was saying.

  “The Hall is a gathering place for everyone. It is the location of the first pack council. No pack has territory over it. We all have different residences there, and we are all welcome. It’s the one place where Leon’s pack and mine can coexist without problems. The pack leaders meet there yearly to settle any disputes and to discuss how our kind is progressing. I’ve been there once, but I’d like to see it again. It’s beautiful, just like you.” His smile warmed as his hand came up to brush his fingertips against my cheek. I closed my eyes to enjoy the tingling of his fingers grazing over my skin, and the minty freshness that came with it.

  He’s mine.

  I gasped as my eyes popped open and I pushed away from his touch. The thought came out of nowhere and was gone just as fast that it left me stunned and confused. What was causing me to react to him like this?

  Kev averted his eyes while his hand fell to his lap, completely dejected by my reaction. “I’m sorry, Joey. I let my guard down again.”

  “No, no Kev it wasn’t you. I just…it’s me. I think there’s something wrong with me. Can we leave now or do you want to keep looking at people?”

  “I’m done. We can always come back at another time if you’d like.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. I think I’m upset by you-know-what.” I nodded in the direction Milly had disappeared.

  He stood without question to take his chair back where he’d gotten it as I shut the computer down. Once it was off, I packed it into my backpack, but before I could swing it on my back, Kev grabbed it and slung it over one of his shoulders. He and his triumphant grin followed me as I led the way to the exit.

  “Did you find what you needed?” Milly asked as we stepped through the rows of bookshelves, all of which Kev was ignoring as his eyes studied me. She was back at the circulation desk now, and her potent sour smell filled my nose. It was stronger tonight, and it took every ounce of restraint I had not to crunch my nose up at the odor and bolt for the door.

  “Yes, we did. Thank you,” Kev replied for me as he walked over to her and extended his hand, an invitation for her to shake his. I stayed far away and hoped her smell wouldn’t attach itself to his skin.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m getting over a nasty cold. I don’t think I should touch you. I’d hate to spread it.” She held her hands close to her chest to protect them from his touch.

  “I understand,” Kev replied and trudged back to me while giving a slight wave to Milly. “Have a good night.”

  “You as well.”

  Once I cleared the outside door, I let my nose take a deep, cleansing breath. Even the dumpster behind the restaurant smelled clean compared to the room I’d left, and that was saying something. With the sunlight dying as the sun set, we crossed the street and headed for the trail to take me home.