“Prefer she was loan sharking or something? Boosting cars? Come on, it could be worse.”
“I almost prefer her to be selling herself instead of ripping off the fucking mob. How are they still even around? I thought they’d all disappeared back in the 80s.”
I snorted. “As long as there’s something illegal to sell, mob’s always going to be around. That’s just the way things are in this world. Might not be the Italians, but there are always going to be groups. Armenians, Russians, Georgians, Colombian. They’re all just the mob from different countries.”
We lapsed into a comfortable silence for the rest of the drive to the cabin. I had to admit, it was nice having an attractive young woman riding shotgun back to my place. When I’d occasionally pick up a girl in town, we always went back to her cabin, apartment, or hotel room—not that I made a habit of picking up strange women in bars, or anything, but sometimes there was only one fix for the symptoms of loneliness. Especially when all the shifters around you were running off and finding their true mates.
I glanced over at Elise, watching her profile for a moment in the moonlight reflecting back from the snow-covered ground. She had a strong chin to go with those high cheekbones, and bright hazel eyes. And, God, that hair. I just wanted to run my fingers through it. Maybe while we were watching a movie late at night, glasses of wine in hand? She didn’t seem much like the wine drinking type, though. Beer for her. Something domestic. Or maybe liquor. Maybe she was a cocktail drinker. I mentally shook my head to clear these completely unwarranted thoughts. Why was I even thinking about a cozy night in with her? I had a case to solve.
I slowed the truck and turned into the little gravel road that led up to my cabin. I wove us through the trees, following the path as we crunched over the rutted ice and snow build-up.
“Is this it?” she asked as she peered ahead through the windshield at my little cabin. It was small, but more than enough for me. I don’t think I would even know what to do with more than three bedrooms. As it was, three was more than plenty for me. What were you supposed to do with that much space, anyways? Buy stuff you didn’t need to shove in there?
“This is it.”
“Never struck me as much of an out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere kind of guy. Thought you were from LA. A city boy.”
“Ever think that’s the reason why I live outside of town? I like the city for the night life and the action. Here, though, it’s quiet. Nothing to bother you.”
“Same thing with my dad. He grew up in DC and wanted to get away from everything. Said the city was great for finding a band you like, but not much for sleeping.”
“DC used to be pretty rough.”
“Guess that explains my dad.”
I raised an eyebrow at her.
She just smiled. “He wouldn’t have hurt a fly. Not unless it tried to come on his land without asking first. Or landed on me or Eve.”
Grinning back at her, I killed the engine and stomped in the emergency brake. “Come on. I’ll show you where you’re sleeping tonight.”
“Wait, what?” she asked as I closed my door behind me. “We’re not going tonight?” she yelled from inside the cab. She climbed out and slammed her door shut, and came rushing up with her duffel bag thrown over her shoulder. “I thought we were going to Yellow Rose tonight!”
I pulled out my keys and found the one to my cabin. “Look, Elise, it’s only an hour drive. You want a shower, I want a shower. I only have the one, so we’ll have to take turns. Unless you want to scrub my back, of course.”
She gave me a look like she was about to take me up on that offer, but just shook her head.
“By the time we’re done with that, it’ll be close to ten or later. Have you eaten? Because I haven’t eaten since noon and I’m starving. That’s another hour, at least. So we’re out in Yellow Rose by, what, midnight at best? Then what? Duck into some random noisy bar, trying to find someone that doesn’t even want to be found?”
She sighed with resignation, admitting defeat. “Fine. But I call dibs on the shower.”
My nose twitched. I still couldn’t get the faint smell of Kevin’s corpse off my clothes, or the fragrance of rotting meat and vegetables from his refrigerator. “Sure,” I said. “Just don’t take too long. The hot water heater’s about the size of a pint glass.”
Chapter Sixteen – Elise
Jake’s cabin was nicer than I thought it would be. Nothing second-hand, all brand new furniture. A few paintings hung on the wall, all originals. None of that Southwestern style stuff, either, with the wolves and trees and eagles. More modern, the kind of stuff you imagined to be hanging in galleries in LA.
“Got your own shampoo?” he asked as he showed me the small, tidy bathroom. I glanced around, not a single speck of beard stubble to be seen in the sink, no stray curly hairs on the toilet lid. Hell, he even had the lid down. Impressive.
I nodded as I slung my bag off and dropped it on the floor. “Yeah, I’m fine. Now get out. I will literally die if I go a minute longer with this stench on me.”
I know I took a little longer in the shower than was necessary. But if the day hadn’t already necessitated a long shower before meeting Mr. Trigger in my motel room, meeting that dark, menacing figure certainly had. I washed my long hair, trying to get the imagined stink of rot and death off my strands. I worked the conditioner in and combed it through.
My thoughts began to wander. Damn, it had been a while since I was with a guy. My last boyfriend, Tommy, had dropped off the face of the earth as soon as Pops got sick. No luck on the relationship front after that, either. What guy in a small town would want to hook up with the woman who was stuck having to take care of her invalid father? Could I really blame them for steering clear?
Then I began to consider Jake in the other room. Began to consider those broad shoulders of his, the way he wore the sleeves of his flannel folded up just above his elbows so you could see his defined forearms. I wondered how his callused hands would feel on my body as those strong arms of his held me close.
Then I remembered he was a cop. I shook my head under the spray of the showerhead and tried to push those thoughts from my mind. Developing some kind of an attraction to Jake, or letting it go any further, wouldn’t help me get Eve back. No, that’d just make me lose focus.
With plenty of hot water still left, I thought, I shut off the shower and grabbed one of the two fluffy towels he’d set out for me. I dried off and got dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a tank top, and wrapped my hair up in the other towel.
He looked up as I walked into the kitchen. I blushed a little as I practically felt his eyes caress my bare shoulders and the outline of my hips. This was the first time, I realized, he’d seen me without a thick sweater or my winter coat on. He looked away quickly, back to the thawed, raw steaks plated in front of him.
“Steak and potatoes okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, sounds amazing, actually. Want me to cook them, or you want to?”
“Know how to sear a steak?” he asked.
“You do?”
“I’m a bachelor. I eat about five things, and one of them happens to be a medium-rare steak. If I didn’t know how to cook this far out, I’d be half-starved all the time.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, go take your shower, I’ll get everything going.”
He gave me a quick run-down on everything in the kitchen and disappeared into the bathroom. The appliances might have been out of date and plain looking, but at least he kept them clean. The two thawed steaks sat plated on the counter, busily coming up to room temperature as the oven pumped out heat.
The shower came on as I grabbed the salt and pepper from the spice cabinet. I ducked my head into the fridge and wasn’t surprised by the lack of forage. A couple dozen eggs, a slab of bacon, some green onions and carrots for his daily veggies, and shredded cheese, besides the staples of milk and butter and beer. Oh, and a stack of steaks. Geez, how much beef did this guy eat?
I shook my head as
I pulled out a beer and set it on the counter before going back for the butter. I closed the door and got to work.
Jake was out faster than I would have imagined. He’d only spent five minutes in there, tops.
“That was fast,” I said as he walked past.
He came to a stop in the hallway, towel wrapped around his waist, droplets of water still sliding down his chiseled upper body.
Beer in hand, I tried to look away, but couldn’t. Instead, I watched a droplet of water fall from his trimmed beard and hit a defined pec, begin its slalom ride down his naked chest. Hoping the alcohol might dull my senses a little, I took a long swig of beer.
“I take fast showers. Besides, not enough hot water for two long ones.”
I winced as I took the bottle from my lips. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry, it’s my fault. Should have just taken one first, but didn’t want you to die.” He gave me a wink before disappearing back into the bedroom. I felt a bit warm, but I chalked it up to the alcohol, not wanting to consider the alternative cause.
He returned to the kitchen a few minutes later as I was searing the first steak, wearing jeans and a long sleeved Henley shirt that wrapped snug to his muscular body. He pulled a beer from the fridge and leaned against the counter, taking a long drink.
“Figure we’ll call it an early night and get up around five or five-thirty. We can head out first thing and try to hit the ground running in Yellow Rose. How’s that sound?”
I nodded as I pulled the oven door open and thrust the pan inside, setting the kitchen timer next to the oven. “Think we’ll find her out there?”
He took a swig of his beer. “She may have moved on already if she’s on the run from these Denver Mafia guys. But if Granny was right and she’s got friends in Yellow Rose, maybe we can find someone who gave her a lift.”
“It’s a long shot, isn’t it?”
He nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“Hey, Jake?”
“Yeah?”
I grabbed my beer like a security blanket, absentmindedly tearing the wet label from the glass. “I just—I wanted to thank you. For all you’ve done for me.”
He shrugged. “Just don’t go putting up a Yelp review that I work for free, huh? Hate for people to think they can get this deep of a discount.”
I took a step toward him without even realizing my feet were moving his direction. “I’m serious, though.”
“Look, Elise,” he said, looking down at me intently, “I don’t need your gratitude. This is just the right thing to do. It’s why I joined the service all those years ago, and why I became a cop after that. I like helping people with things they can’t handle on their own.”
“Are you saying you think I’m helpless?” I asked, looking up at him, my mass of turbaned hair pulling backwards on my neck.
He quirked a little smile, just a tiny one that turned up the corner of his lips. It looked sexy. Inviting. “Just saying you might not be equipped to handle these guys or the people we’re going to meet tomorrow, that’s all.”
Idly, I wondered how soft his beard was. Did he condition or oil it? Or was it naturally soft? Or just bristly? There was only one way to find out. I glanced up at his lips, touching the tip of my tongue to my own.
He glanced down at mine, that little knowing smile of his still there.
The kitchen timer went off, buzzing obnoxiously and bringing me back to reality with a jolt. What the hell was I doing? This guy was a cop, which made him totally not my type. Not in a million years. No good could come from hooking up with a man like him, especially when we were in the middle of trying to find my sister. I quickly stepped back to the oven and yanked it open, muttering under my breath as I grabbed the oven mitts from where I’d tossed them on the range. “Mind pulling down a plate and a saucer so I can rest this?”
I quickly placed the first steak on the inverted saucer, the blood and juices beginning to drain down the ceramic. “Could you take care of the next one?” I asked. “It’s been a long day, I think I might need to lie down for a minute.”
“Uh, yeah,” he said, a little note of confusion in his voice. “Couch in the living room is pretty comfy. Or there’s one in my back office. Take your pick.”
“Thanks,” I said, prying myself from the kitchen and retreating to the back office he’d mentioned.
No, this was best. I was just attracted to Jake. That’s all it was. Physical. But the last thing I needed was to get physically involved with this man. That would just complicate things.
No matter how much I wanted to.
Chapter Seventeen – Jake
The wolf inside me chomped at the bit, gnawing on my libido like it was going out of style. I wanted her. I needed her.
But, as I lay in my cold bed alone, it was clear I wouldn’t have her. Not tonight, at least.
I didn’t know what had happened. It was like that damn kitchen buzzer was some sort of alarm bell that just flipped a switch, sending her from hot to cold, like a bucket of ice dropped down the back of her shirt. She’d disappeared into the office and only came back out when I called her for dinner. She avoided my eyes as we ate, answering my few questions with simple yes’s and no’s.
I flipped over onto my side, growling as I beat my pillow with a fist and tucked it beneath my head. What was it? What had I done?
There was only one thing I knew would work in this situation. Well, two things. The first was a fifth of whiskey to drown my sorrow and sexual frustration. The other was to go run, to feel the snow beneath my paws as I sprinted over the ground. Burn off some of this extra energy that was clawing a pit in my soul.
Yeah, a run. That was the ticket. I’d go for a run.
Besides, what did I need to fool around with Elise for, anyway? What kind of cop, or ex-cop, would I be if I started fishing off the company dock? If I started having affairs with innocent women who were just looking for a little help with their problems? I might not be working for Frost Security on this one, or a police department for that matter, but I still had to have some sort of morals and scruples. Didn't I?
I climbed out of bed, shivering a little as my bare feet touched the floor’s ice-cold hardwood. Naked except for my underwear, I opened my bedroom door and crept into the hallway, headed for the front door. It was cold outside and I was practically naked, but why should I care? I was about to have a coat of fur bristling all over my body.
I opened the front door, the blast of cold hair sending me shriveling up into my body, setting an army of goosebumps marching across my legs and arms. Carefully, I closed the door behind me, stripped my underwear off and tossed it on the dry porch, then stepped out into the snow.
I sucked in a sharp breath as I sunk calf-deep into the icy slush. “Motherfucker,” I mumbled. A cold wind blew again, tracing icy lines over my skin. I started the change, finding that spot in my mind that began everything, and held back my guttural release as my body shifted. I sped the process, wanting both to get as much warm fur on my body as quickly as I could, and to make sure Elise didn’t come stumbling out while I had a naked tail sticking out of my backside.
The upside of all that pain? I completely forgot the cold, before my fur had even begun to cover my body. I dropped to my hands and knees, sinking deep into the snow, my back arching as my jaw lengthened and my spine reshaped its curve.
Moments later, I was off in the trees, the smell of a rabbit already hot in my nose.
Blood. Prey. That was what I needed. That was what would make me forget my frustrations.
Wait, no. That wasn't what I needed at all! I didn't need to clean blood from my face. I just needed to go for a light jog and rid myself of this nervous energy.
But, downwind from Mr. Cotton Tail, I bound through the mounds of snow, the ice and powder billowing up around me as I left a trail of giant paw prints from right at my front door. I sprinted hard, the ice freezing in thick layers on my fur as my instincts kicked in and I tracked my long-eared target. It was like
I was in a daze, somehow watching my body go through the motions while I just observed.
I found him soon enough, white in a field of ivory, perfectly blended. I couldn’t even see him. It was only his smell that told me he was there. My mouth began to water, forcing me to swallow.
There was a flash of green as he found some grassy forage and began to nibble away.
I lowered myself, tucking my tail close to my body. It was like the conscious part of my brain was shoved to the back. I tried to stop myself, but couldn't.
Just like we’d shown Mary the night before. Just like Peter had taught me when I first came to Enchanted Rock.
Cotton Tail stopped chewing, his ears perking and twisting to catch a stray sound. My stray sound.
I held my breath. Whoops, maybe I gave myself away? Could he have heard me coming up? I crouched low, not moving a muscle as I hunkered down in the snow. Without the rest of the pack to circle behind him and cut off his escape, I wouldn’t have a chance on the open snow. He was too fast, too light, and almost able to run right across the top.
He went back to chewing.
I crept closer, using my head as a plow shovel.
Still chewing.
Closer now. Closer. I began to salivate, my instincts kicking in. This was it. I could launch myself into the air, just like Mary had done, and come down without him even realizing I was diving for his throat.
He stopped.
I followed suit. I licked my chops, my tongue silent as it glided over my white fangs and my furry jaws.
One more bite of grass. One more.
If I couldn’t have her, I’d just take little Mr. Fluffy here. The snow burst around me in an explosion of white as my powerful hind legs launched me eight feet into the air. I arced through the air like a black cannon ball, barely making a sound.
Below me, Fluffy McCotton Tail froze, his black eyes wide with terror as he realized he had no chance, his mouth falling open, half-chewed grass dropping to the snow in front of him.
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