Behind the Eight Ball (11 page)

“I’m in one piece.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about Sam coming with her, but as he was her mate, I shouldn’t be surprised he was here. “Please tell me you weren’t like that the whole way here.” I waved at her fangs and eyes.

The fact she was showing the Vetala side of her nature without being attacked told me how scared she’d been for me.

“She managed to hold out until we were in your drive,” Sam said.

I was impressed. He didn’t seem frightened at all. He was her mate, true, but she looked intimidating.

“Now what the devil happened?” Janelle fixed Sam a cup of coffee, then got herself one. They both sat at the table. “All Marshell said was a werewolf showed up here and stalked you.”

“Well, that’s it in a nutshell.” I sat down at the kitchen table too. My legs were still shaking. “I was taking the trash out, and it came out of the darkness. It growled, lunged at me, and then backed off.”

“It
lunged
at you?” Janelle swore softly.

“Yeah, I wasn’t too happy with that either. I let it know I was aware it was a shifter and also told it about you two. I’m not sure what the point of the whole deal was except to scare the shit out of me. Which it succeeded at. In spades.”

“I’m so sorry, sweetie.” Janelle’s speech was all growly and slurred thanks to the fangs. “Just as soon as Marshell gets here, we’re going out there to take a look.”

“Are you sure there was only the one?” Sam asked.

“That’s all I saw.”

“It sounds like a lone wolf,” Sam said. “I mean, if this were a pack deal, there’d have been more than one wolf out there, a lot more social protocol would have taken place, and….” Sam frowned. “They wouldn’t approach a human
anyway
, so this makes no sense.”

“I don’t know any wolves, so I have no reason to think I’m on the bad side of one.” I sipped the coffee, finally noticing how cold I was. I shivered and then stood to turn the heat up a bit higher.

Sam narrowed his eyes at me then stood. “I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t go outside until Marshell gets here,” Janelle said. “I’d feel better if all three of us went out there together.”

“No problem. I’m just stepping into the den for a second,” Sam said.

Janelle glanced at me after Sam left. “If I find that wolf—”

“You’re assuming all that was directed at me. I hate to say it, Janelle, but I’m not the threat here.”

“That’s my point,” she hissed at me. “If this is aimed at me or Marshell, going after
you
is a sure bet. You don’t have claws or fangs or can shift or—”

“Hey! I’ve been with you guys for ten years. You’ve taught me how to defend myself against the baddies out there. Look, if I have to, I’ll start carrying the knife like I used to.”

“It might be for the best, for now.” Janelle cocked her head, and then seconds later the back door flew open.

“
Lawson!
”

“Marshell’s here.” Janelle winked at me.

“So I heard.”

“Dammit to hell and back, Lawson, a werewolf?” Marshell stomped over to the table, jerked me out of the chair, and hugged me tightly. Then I was subjected to a thorough going over.

“I’m fine. Stop checking for wounds or whatever you’re doing.” I poked Marshell in the ribs to get him to back up some.

“Stop that crap!” Marshell squeaked like a little girl. That certainly lightened my mood.

Sam rejoined us, we all sat back down, and I went through the whole thing again.

“So what did you get when you checked the area out?” Marshell asked Janelle.

“We haven’t gone out there yet. We were waiting on you.”

Marshell jumped up from the table. “
What?
Are you serious? Janelle, it’s misting outside, and from the looks of it, it has been for a while now.”

“Oh shit.” Janelle scrambled up too. “Oh no, Marshell. I thought it would be better if we waited on you. I had no idea it was misting. It wasn’t when we got here. Oh
no
. Your sense of smell is better than mine, so I thought—”

“Maybe we should take a look before the rain washes away any scent whatsoever,” Sam said.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit.” Marshell pointed at me, his eyes slowly changing as his fangs dropped. “We’ll be right back. Don’t you dare step foot out that door until we know for sure it’s safe.”

“I’m going to hit you between the eyes with this coffee mug if you don’t stop acting like I’m stupid. I expect the three of you to come back in one piece too.”

Marshell blew out a long breath. “I… man. I’m sorry, Lawson. I’m just a little stressed at the moment.”

“I got that. But that doesn’t give you a free pass to be an ass,” I said. “Now be careful out there.”

Heller

MY CELL
rang, startling me. I’d been sitting here trying to talk myself into calling Lawson. I’d driven by his shop but his vehicle was already gone. Wondering who could be calling me this late, I pulled it out of my jean pocket. I didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyhow. “Hello?”

“Is Heller there?”

“Yeah, you got him.”

“Oh, good. Heller, it’s Sam. I hope you don’t mind that I asked Dolf for your number, but, um…. well, Janelle and I are over at their house. Lawson called Janelle earlier and told her a werewolf showed up here and… it stalked him and—”

“Wait, wait…
what
?”
My heart stopped. Did Sam say “werewolf”?

“Hey, now. He’s fine,” Sam hurriedly reassured me. “It didn’t hurt him. Scared the crap out of him, yeah, but it
didn’t
hurt him.”

I grabbed the back of the couch to steady myself. What happened to all the oxygen in the room? “Are you sure? Absolutely sure?”

“Yeah, not a scratch on him. Look, I ducked out to call you while he and Janelle were talking, and I heard him tell Janelle he let the werewolf know he was aware of what it was too.”

“Just… wait a minute. Goddess.” I clutched the cell. “That doesn’t make sense. Paranormals don’t just randomly show their shifted selves off to humans. We don’t
do
stuff like that… jeez. Unless—”

“Unless we were challenging another paranormal. It’s the only reason I can think for a shifter to do this.”

“But Lawson’s human.”

“True, but he
does
live with two paranormals. Maybe it’s related to that. I don’t know exactly what prompted this, but something did, obviously,” Sam said. “It basically got in Lawson’s face and made a statement.”

“There’s no denying that. But that doesn’t make sense either.
If
it were challenging Lawson, then… for what reason? It can’t be for me. Only a few shifters know Lawson and I are mates. Certainly no wolves know, and I can’t think of a single good reason they’d care.”

“He said it barked and howled, even lunged at him, but never actually got close. Honestly it sounds more like intimidation than a challenge.”

I gritted my teeth, resisting the urge to hiss in anger. “Lunged? Fuck all, that does sound like intimidation. That’s my mate it threatened, and you better fucking believe I take that personally. You’re at their house, did you say?”

“Yeah, I am. And Heller? I think you should take it as a threat.” Sam quickly recited Lawson’s address. “Got it?”

“I do, thanks.” I grabbed my keys and a coat as I walked to the door, not bothering to tell Sam I already had Lawson’s address. “I’ll be there shortly. Thanks, Sam. I appreciate this.”

I locked up the house and walked out to my truck. The drive passed quickly, mostly because my mind was on why this happened. I debated calling Dolf, but what could the head beta do? I hadn’t mated Lawson yet, and I hadn’t gone through the joining ceremony. Lawson wasn’t part of our clowder, so there wasn’t much Dolf could do to help.

I’d just turned into the drive when it struck me Lawson might not know I was coming. Sam hadn’t said if he told Lawson he’d called me. It also brought home that I’d do whatever was needed for my mate. So Lawson was human, and I’d had an awful experience with one long ago.

“Awful” didn’t quite cover what happened, but that was something I’d have to tell Lawson when the time was right. Hopefully then Lawson would understand why I acted like an ass when we first met. It wouldn’t excuse my behavior, but maybe it would help explain it. Death of a loved one was never easy.

“Great.” There were two other vehicles in the driveway besides Lawson’s, one of which was a huge black SUV I knew belonged to Marshell.

I parked behind Marshell, got out, and locked my truck. As I hurried through the misting rain, I tested the air. Good, I wasn’t picking up any fresh werewolf scents. As I walked to the front door, I promised myself I wouldn’t let Marshell yank my chain.

I tried the door handle and was relieved to find it locked. At least they were taking basic precautions. I knocked and waited. Moments later I heard a heavy tread approaching the front door.
Of course it’s him, the bastard.
The door was unlocked and thrown open.

“What the hell are
you
doing here?” Marshell demanded, folding his arms across his chest.

I fought to keep a hiss from escaping.
Don’t let him yank your chain. Don’t let him yank your chain.
“My mate was threatened. Where else would I be?”

“Oh, you mean Lawson? The mate you rejected twice now? That mate?”

Don’t let him yank your chain… fuck that. I’d like to take that chain and wrap it around his throat.
“You sound like a broken record, man. Seriously you need to move on.”

Marshell just shrugged. “No, Lawson is the one who needs to move on.”

Damned if I was going to let some paranormal who couldn’t even shift bully me. “That’s not up to you.”

“You’re right. More’s the pity. But I can sure voice my opinion.”

I took a step closer. “You can sure get out of my way too.”

Marshell raised an eyebrow. “Naw, I’m good here, thanks.”

The hiss I’d been trying to keep inside finally wormed its way out.

“Ooooh.” Marshell smirked. “The kitty can hiss.”

“I’m about to do more than hiss, you overgrown, legless reptile.” I shoved right into Marshell’s personal space. “In fact why don’t I just show you—”

I heard a rush of footsteps.

Lawson appeared and pushed Marshell out of the doorway. “Dammit, Marshell, that’s enough.”

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind Marshell moved willingly. Lawson didn’t have the strength to move such a mountain of a man.

Lawson faced me, huffing out a breath. “Heller? What are you doing here?”

“You were threatened. Where else would I be?” I demanded.

“Really? You… you….
Really
? Well, thanks for letting
me
know.” Lawson waved both hands in front of him as if clearing the air. “Never mind that. How did you find out about what happened? For that matter, how did you know where here is?”

Seeing Lawson tremble, I put Marshell out of my mind. The need to take care of my mate rose up. “Why don’t we go inside? You’re shivering.” I stepped forward, and Lawson moved back. Okay, seeing Lawson step back from me smarted. “Please? Let’s get you settled, and I’ll answer your questions. Then you can tell me what happened.”

Lawson let me inside then led the way to the kitchen. “But how did you find out about this?”

“I called him,” Sam said.

Lawson dropped down in one of the kitchen chairs and looked at Sam. “When did you…? Oh, that’s right. You stepped out of the kitchen for a moment.”

Sam shrugged as he sat at the table too. “I probably overstepped my bounds, but Heller needed to be told. I’d want to know if this had happened to Janelle.”

I sat next to Lawson. “I’m glad he did call. As for knowing where you lived? Sam told me.” I didn’t tell Lawson I’d done a search on him. That might not go over very well. Humans got perturbed about the damnedest things. “So what did you guys find?”

Janelle sat in the other chair next to Sam. “Not a lot, unfortunately, and that’s my fault. We focused on getting information from Lawson, but what I should have done was gone straight out there and tried to pick up the shifter’s scent. Instead we waited for Marshell. His sense of smell is much better than mine.”

Since there wasn’t a spare chair, Marshell leaned against the counter as he refreshed his coffee. “The unfortunate part is they didn’t know it’d started misting. That dispersed its scent. We know from Lawson it was a werewolf, but that’s all we know.”

Lawson glanced at me. “We made a pot of coffee. Would you like some?”

“Sure,” I said. “Thank you.”

Lawson stood and walked over to the coffeemaker. “No problem. How do you want it?”

“Black, please.” I turned my attention back to Janelle. “I’m just going to ask this: you or Marshell done anything to piss the wolves off?”

Janelle shook her head. “We both thought of that, and the answer is no.”

I nodded at Marshell. “Not even Mr. Sparkling Personality over there?”

Marshell just bared his teeth at me.

“Nope,” Janelle answered. “Only you seem to be on the receiving end of his wit lately.”

“Lucky me,” I groaned.

Lawson held out the mug of coffee to me. “Here you go.”

Our fingers touched and Lawson gasped. I barely stopped my hand from shaking as a jolt of electricity raced up my arm. Holy cow, what a kick. I went from upset and worried over Lawson, to hot and horny so fast my head spun. I wanted to rub against him from head to toe so he smelled like me and only me.

Then I wanted to lick all that golden skin and maybe even take a little nibble to see if he tasted as good as he looked. Our gazes collided and I saw the shock in Lawson’s face. Guess he felt it too. The clean and salty scent of the ocean washed over me. Was Lawson aroused from just a touch? I certainly was.

Cautiously I took the mug. The last thing I wanted was to spill the hot liquid on my mate. “Thanks.”

“Um, yeah.” Lawson stared at me for a moment, confusion clear on his face. Finally he sat, running a hand through his curls. “I, ah…. We’ve talked about it, and none of us can figure out a reason for what happened.”