by Lisa M Airey
“Do you think the two are one and the same?” Julie asked.
“What do you think?” countered Dan.
“Yeah,” said Julie. “When I first met Lync, he looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t place him. Perhaps Lync was Luke.”
“By the way, DNA results seem to confirm that the same person killed the tow truck driver and both women.”
“Ah. So if Lync’s a perfect match, you’ve got a conviction.”
“No. I won’t be able to convict Lync on DNA evidence,” said Dan.
“Why on earth not?” asked Julie.
“The lab results are inconclusive.”
“I thought you said that the lab results confirmed—”
“I said that the lab results seemed to confirm that the three murders were committed by the same person.”
“Why would these results be contested?”
“Because in each instance, the lab has reported animal DNA in the mix.”
Julie fell silent.
“Are you there?” asked Dan.
“Yeah,” Julie husked.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Julie said again. Her mouth had turned to cotton.
“The lab seemed to find animal DNA in every sample we’ve sent them lately, even Gray’s.”
If Dan was testing her, Julie didn’t bite.
“Time to change labs, Dan.”
“Yeah. In the meantime, as a member of the scientific community, do you have any ideas as to why the results would read as they do? I mean, how do mistakes like that happen?”
She was glad that Dan was not standing in front of her. He would have seen her pale. But, with his innate truth-detecting sonar, he probably had a good enough bead on her already.
“I haven’t a clue.” She paused. “But, if the mistake is consistent, it is probably due to one individual’s error.” She squeezed her eyes tightly, hoping she didn’t get someone fired. “A new lab technician? Did the same techie perform all tests?”
“Yes. Way ahead of you on that one. Just wanted to see if we tracked in the same direction.”
Julie responded with silence.
“I’ve put both your house and the veterinary office on a frequent police drive-by.”
“Thank you, Dan.”
“Sleep well, Julie. But please be sure to double-lock your doors.”
By Sunday evening, the idea of staying at home alone one more night was well beyond her tolerance level. She was sick from worrying about Gray and Lync out there in the woods, sick from worrying about her safety. She jumped at every noise. Her only saving grace was that each time she looked out the window, there seemed to be a police car cruising on by. It helped her feel a little more secure.
She called Dan on his cell phone and left a message. “Hey, I appreciate all the police protection. Just wanted you to know that I’m off to the movies.” She gave him the name of the theater and her estimated time of arrival back home. “Thanks, Dan,” she said, hoping he didn’t hear the emotion in her voice. “You are a very good cop.”
She treated herself to an ice cream cone after the show and drove home with the windows down. Elliott pulled her over for doing 45 in a 30 mph zone.
“Haven’t you got better things to do, Elliott?” she groused.
“Nope,” he drawled. “You’re on everyone’s radar as of late.”
“So, what are we going to do about this?”
“We are going to escort you safely home and come in for some coffee and cookies or whatever home-baked goodies you care to share.”
She squinted her eyes at him suspiciously. “I made a pineapple upside- down cake this morning.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
“Let’s race,” said Julie, peevishly.
“Let’s not,” said Elliott, “Or I’ll have to re-confiscate that confiscated car of yours.”
“Indian-giver.”
Elliott smiled, slow and lazy. “You keep that little pinto pony in a slow trot, hear? And I’ll follow you back to the home ranch.”
He tailed behind her. Nothing like a police escort. The streets were sleepy and vacant. Most of the houses had minimal lighting. The world was in bed. He pulled into her driveway behind her and killed the engine, the hot tick-tick of the engine filling the quiet night.
“Duty has such perks and bennies,” said Elliott, emerging from the car. Julie reached the kitchen door before he did then backed right into his arms.
“Get your gun, Elliott. Do you have your gun?”
He pulled his weapon so quickly that she barely heard it clear leather.
“My kitchen door is open,” said Julie, breathy and brittle.
Elliott looked at the door. The door frame was shredded. It looked as if something had simply eaten its way through the panel of wood.
“Elliott?”
“I’m calling for backup,” said Elliott “Get back into your car. Lock the doors and stay there until I say so. Okay?”
“Elliott?”
“Get in the goddamned car, Julie.”
She did as she was told. Her eyes searched the lawn shadows while she waited, and she listened with honed focus on the shrill pulse of the police sirens as they drew ever closer.
She called Gray on every number she had for him. Land, cell, and work. She left messages. She waited while policemen searched her yard and searched her house. She waited while the crime scene unit arrived and officially categorized the dust motes in her living quarters.
Then Dan showed up, rapped upon her window and walked on by. She was trying to be patient, but she’d had enough. She exited the car, and entered the house. Nothing seemed to have been stolen from what she could see. Everything was in order below. But then everyone was up top. She ascended the stairs to the second level and suddenly Elliott stepped in front of her, blocking her way.
“No, Julie,” he said, his face full of worry.
“This is my home,” she said, by way of response. “Please, Elliott. I’ve sat in the car long enough. I want to see what is going on!”
He was not happy about it, but he escorted her into the bedroom. Her eyes found Dan’s, then the destruction around him. Her bedroom had been shredded. And not just mattress and stuffing. The furniture had been broken and splintered. The carpet and all her clothing were in tatters. The room was knee-deep in particulates. Someone had turned her bedroom, her private life, into confetti.
Julie made a soft little sound then turned on her heel. Dan snagged her around the waist before she hit the last step on the stairs as she descended.
“Julie,” he said, turning her in his arms. “We need to have a very serious conversation about your safety.”
She started to shake her head no, but Dan stilled her with a squeeze. “Did you take a look at your kitchen door?”
She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise,” he said. “In the interim, we need to keep you safe.”
“I am not going to sleep at the station.”
“Fine, but how about if you stay with Elliott or myself – myself preferably – while we sort this out?”
“I can’t go home with either of you.”
“I have a guest bedroom, Julie.”
She made a soft sound, part-hum, part grunt. “I’d need a guarantee that I would get to sleep in it. Alone.”
“If you want,” he said slowly. “Have you called Gray?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He isn’t home.”
“You can’t reach him?”
“No.”
“Then come home with me.”
“No.”
Both Julie and Dan turned at the sound. Gray muscled his way through the tattered threshold with purpose and urgency. She’d never seen him so commanding. He walked into her home as if he owned it and her as well.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, looking at Julie. His eyes were wild. Julie watched Dan’s right hand drop to his gun.
; “No,” said Julie. “But my bedroom has been vandalized.”
“Can I see?” asked Gray, reining in his emotion. He looked to Dan. Dan shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
The two men locked eyes, and Gray drew a slow and deliberate breath, his pupils filling his irises with black. He turned to Julie and the look alone spoke volumes. “You need a place to stay.” It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway.
“What she needs is police protection,” said Dan.
“Wrong, Officer Keating. She is mine to protect,” said Gray, giving Dan a level stare.
“And since when is that?” asked Dan, his anger rising.
“Since she consented to be my wife.”
The only word Dan could say in response was ‘Julie’ and his voice broke as he called her name.
34
Julie and Gray drove back to his apartment in silence. He reached for her twice, trying to hold her hand, but she pulled free on both occasions.
“We tracked Lync through the surrounding woodlands,” said Gray. “He’s very good under brush, savvy and clever in a way that belies his years.” He sighed. “When I realized that he was tracking back to you, following my own path to your door, I was sick with worry.”
“I had gone to the movies.”
“Hayden and Finn will track him now. I am staying in town to watch over you.”
Julie just shook her head, turned from him and looked out the window.
“Julie.” His voice was deep. “You are angry with me.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“You were brutal with Dan.” Her voice choked. “You dropped an atomic bomb on him tonight, and all he was doing was trying to take care of me.”
“He had other intentions. I could smell his adrenaline and desire from twenty feet away.”
“Desire is not a crime.”
“It is if you act on it.”
“And who said that he would act on it? What on earth has gotten into you tonight?”
“Tonight? This is more than tonight. Dan fights dirty. He’s personally requested that I leave you alone and on more than one occasion. I’m tired of the police harassment and the parking tickets. No, Julie. Tonight, I had to draw a line in the sand.”
Julie felt her heart squeeze painfully. She was upset about what Gray had to say about Dan. She was upset with the way Gray had treated him. She folded her hands in her lap and studiously looked out the window trying very hard not to cry.
“I have committed myself to you,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. “And I am well aware of what that commitment means. You don’t need to be all Neanderthal about it. In public. With people I care about.”
Gray was quiet a moment. He debated whether he should try to justify himself again, but thought better of it. “Okay,” he said simply. “I am sorry.”
She turned to look at him.
“I am. I will do my best to see that it never happens again.”
She continued to stare at him, her breathing heavy and agitated.
“I’m new at this too, Julie. And I haven’t had much coaching. Now that we are bound, I’m doing the best that I can with what little I have to go on. My emotions are very strong where you are concerned.”
“Well, you just can’t be so possessive and territorial about things. We’ve bonded, right? There’s no escape, right? What are you worried about?”
“I don’t know, but I have a worry.”
“Your first worry was unfounded. You do not terrorize me. What’s the new concern? Let me dispel that too.”
“That you will be taken from me and that I will be unable to protect you.”
“Gray! Please stop! You are doing everything you can to protect me and so is the Fallston police force. If something goes wrong, you will find me. I have no doubt.”
“No doubt, Julie?”
“Not a one, Gray. Okay?”
“Do you mean it?”
“Heart and soul.”
“You would hang tough until I got there?”
“Of course!”
“I would get there.”
“I know. Enough already.”
Gray pulled into the parking lot of his condominium complex and Julie opened her door as Gray silenced the engine. She stepped into the night. He was by her side before she even had the car door closed.
They climbed the stairs to the fourth floor in silence. Gray opened his apartment and sniffed the air gingerly. Relieved, he ushered her into his home and bolted the door behind them.
“Bathroom?” he asked.
Julie nodded and moved off to take care of herself. Gray grabbed some candles and illuminated the bedroom in soft, flickering light. He was waiting for her when she entered. His chest and feet were bare. She was wrapped in nothing but a towel.
“No t-shirt for you tonight, Ms. Hastings,” he told her. “In fact, I’d like to repossess my towel right now, if that’s okay.”
Julie unwrapped the terry cloth from her body and handed him the dampened fabric. He took the towel then devoured her naked form with his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was deep. “I want you so badly, it hurts.” He swallowed painfully.
Julie took a deep breath and stepped toward him. “I’m not here to cause you pain, Gray. Just the opposite.” She reached out and placed a hand upon his shoulder. “I’m the corn maiden, remember? You don’t have to worry about taking me. I am already given.”
He looked up at her, his eyes dark. “What do you need?” she asked.
“Forgiveness,” he breathed.
“Okay.” She paused. “But, here’s the deal. No more cave man. I don’t like it.”
He nodded silently.
“I want your solemn promise.”
“Promise.”
Gray looked up at her quietly then opened his right hand. A black box sat in center of his palm.
“You weren’t kidding about the ring, were you?”
“No.”
Elliott stopped by the veterinary office at seven the next morning. Julie was just fixing herself a cup of coffee, so she fixed him one also. He squeaked when he moved, all that leather. There were so many attachments to his belt – cell phone, gun, nightstick, cuffs. She shook her head as she handed him a mug.
“You make a lot of noise for seven in the morning,” she teased.
He was about to give her a flip rejoinder, but caught sight of the ring on her finger. “You weren’t wearing that last night.”
“No,” she said, suddenly serious.
“Dan is devastated.”
“I’m very sorry that Gray told him like that. And I’m very sorry to have hurt Dan. But, Elliott, I’ve told Dan for months that I wasn’t right for him.”
“He still had hope.”
“I know.”
“Why, Julie?”
“Why, what?”
“Why are you marrying Gray?”
“I love him, Elliott.”
“But you love Dan, too.”
She didn’t deny it.
“So why are you marrying Gray?”
The silence stretched long between them. Julie didn’t know how to explain. How do you tell someone that Gray was a lycanthrope and she was a lycant? You don’t. That she didn’t have a choice in the matter? Mostly true, but not the whole truth. That she was going to be a trouble magnet and that Gray was best able to protect her? Not likely to soothe a cop.
“I told you already.”
Elliott gave her a sad smile. “Jules, I consider myself your friend. If you don’t want to talk about it, just say so, but don’t lie to me, okay?”
“I haven’t lied, Elliott.”
“But you’re not telling the whole truth either, are you?”
She shook her head slowly.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know where to begin, Elliott. I don’t. And, trust me, you wouldn’t believe half of it.” Her somber face brightened in the pause. Just thinking about explai
ning her situation to someone made the whole thing seem ridiculous, ludicrous, and fairytale.
“I’ll believe anything you tell me, Julie.”
She stared at him a while. “Okay,” she said. “I’m not sure I’m up to the telling of it just yet. It might take a while.”
“Will I get to hear it before the wedding?”
“Probably not.”
“Well, then, how can I change things?”
“I’m locked into the wedding, Elliott. Nothing can change that.”
“How so?”
“I’m promised.”
“Promises are broken all the time.”
“Not these kind, Elliott.”
“‘Break-up’, ‘separation’ and ‘divorce’ are real words, Julie.”
“See. I told you that you wouldn’t believe half of it.”
The doorbell jingled.
“Time to prep for surgery,” she said, standing. “And just for the record, I love you too, Elliott, my most fabulous Copper Pig. But I have a date with Gray Walker down at the courthouse this Friday.”
Cole and Rose were seeing a lot of Gray. He dropped Julie off to work each morning and picked her up each evening. He called at lunch. He was hyper-vigilant about her safety even if the police no longer were.
Julie knew that the constant parade of squad cars by her home and the veterinary office was bound to become more and more infrequent. It was a lot of effort to expend for a threat that was becoming less real. It only stood to reason. Lync had not resurfaced.
Still, a small part of her wondered if the Fallston police force had simply washed their hands of her since she had officially become Gray’s wife.
They didn’t know what she knew.
Hayden had called Gray two weeks back to say that he and Finn had tracked Lync into Canada. Although the two men hadn’t caught up with him, Julie took immense relief just in knowing that the man was no longer in the same country as she was. In fact, she took immense relief knowing that all three of them were no longer in the same country as she was.
She was safe, but the Fallston police force didn’t know this.
“Everything okay on your end?” asked Cole over morning coffee. Although his tone was casual, his eyes were hard.
“Yes,” Julie responded, giving him a firm and confident nod.