His Wolf (Wolf of My Heart) (5 page)

Not my tracks, for sure. Not Erik's, either.

Someone else had trampled the snow and
after
last night's blizzard, as in that very morning. Erik watched as I tried to make sense of everything. His gaze followed mine as I visually trailed the tracks up the ravine. Who and why? The person who'd run me off the road, maybe? If so, he'd brought reinforcements with him.
Two from the look of the tracks.

Suddenly scared, I shivered from head to toe.

"We should go back now." Erik clearly thought I was cold.

And I was, but not necessarily because of the weather. The thought of strangers checking out a wreck no one could possibly see from the highway chilled me to the bone. They knew my truck had tipped into the ravine. They knew because one of them made it happen.

"Yeah.
Let's get out of here." I didn't waste any time heading back the way we'd come.

We walked in silence for a bit before Erik spoke again. "Someone must've seen where the truck went off the road and walked down here to check."

"Maybe."

"But you don't believe it."

"No." I gave him the details of the wreck. "I thought the other driver was drunk or maybe just plain crazy. Now I'm wondering if he ran me off the road on purpose."

"But why would anyone do that?"

"I'm clueless," I told him, though I really wasn't. I'd lived the last eighteen months in the presence of a heartless crime lord. And though I'd tried my best to stay in the dark and uninvolved, of necessity I'd learned details I wished I hadn't. But no one knew this except Yarbrough, the man too dumb to keep his own records, but too wily and proud to admit it to anyone.

And that's why the whole crook-runs-Bronte-off-the-road scenario didn't work for me. The gangsters who knew I existed had no idea how much I'd done for Steve Yarbrough. Heck, they didn't even know he was my Alpha. So they must've been after his truck. I suddenly wondered if he'd had drugs hidden in it. If so, they'd certainly found them this morning, which meant they'd never bother me again.

"Bronte? You okay?"

"Uh-huh.
Just cold and tired.
You are going to let me use your shower, aren't you?"

"Yeah, sure.
And I'll throw together some lunch while you're cleaning up."

"Something cooked?"

He flushed, no doubt remembering. "Sorry about that."

"You didn't know, and it probably wouldn't have hurt me. I've just never eaten as a wolf."

When we got to Erik's, he set my backpack on the floor. I immediately dug through it for
undies
, clean jeans, and a shirt, as well as my toothbrush and makeup bag. Then I headed toward the back of the cabin. When I stepped into the short hallway, I saw two closed doors.

"Bathroom's on the left."

"Thanks."

It felt so good to stand under a hot spray minutes later. My sore muscles began to feel better immediately. I borrowed some of his shampoo and his soap, which had a sporty guy smell. I also used his toothpaste. Though tempted to use his shave stuff, too, I didn't. Nothing irritated my dad more than me dulling his razor by shaving my legs.

I briskly rubbed my hair and body with a towel that I draped over the shower curtain rod and put on my bikini panties and matching bra. I looked in the mirror before I continued dressing, checking out the bruises. The seatbelt had caused a long red stripe that started at my neck and stretched down and across my body. I saw purple spots here and
there, with the worst being on my poor wrist. Since I'd removed the gauze bandage before we left the house, I could see it better. I decided I definitely needed some tape so I wouldn't have a huge scar there.

With a sigh, I scooped up my jeans. A sweatshirt that said
MSU
on it came next. I also put on some warm socks, the fuzzy
kind that were
more for warmth than wearing under shoes. I didn't know what to do about my hair, which hadn't been trimmed by anyone but me in over a year. Apparently I hadn't packed my pick or
detangler
in the rush of leaving Houston. Clean and wet, my curly copper locks were in a tangle that no comb, especially a guy comb with tiny teeth, could deal with. I decided to let it dry completely before I tackled it, saving myself some pain and lots of broken ends.

I stole a minute to check out the only room I hadn't seen yet--Erik's bedroom. I saw there were twin beds in there, plus a cedar dresser and matching side table. By the time I got back to the kitchen, I felt like a human again. Must've looked like one, too. At any rate, when Erik spotted me, his jaw dropped.
Wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
I deliberately sniffed the air.
"
Mmm
."

"Grilled cheese sandwiches."

"Can't beat the smell of melted butter and hot cheese."

He grinned, an expression that didn't match the vibe I was getting. Naturally I wondered what was wrong. "Have a seat. I'm almost done here."

I sat at the table, which now had two paper plates, a couple of empty glasses and a bag of potato chips on it. "Do you have a washing machine?"

"Yeah, but the pump's out. I bought a new one, but I'm not that good at stuff like that, so I've been taking everything to the Laundromat in town while I work up the nerve to try installing it." He gave me a sheepish grin.

Some bad memories instantly slammed me.

Erik's grin vanished. "What?"

"Nothing."
I faked a smile. "I'm actually pretty good with a wrench. In fact, I installed a garbage disposal all by myself last year."
Or the year before.
I'd lost some time, thanks to a sadistic Alpha.

"I might take you up on that." With an iron skillet in his hand, he moved to the table and transferred a toasty cheese sandwich to my plate with a spatula.

Savory steam tickled my nose and made my mouth water. "Thanks."

"My pleasure."
He gave himself one, too, got rid of the skillet, and sat down across from me. "Dig in."

I did. The first bite was pure heaven; the next was even better. I actually ate half the sandwich before I poured some chips on my plate to go with it.

"I forgot the drinks." Erik started to get up.

I waved to keep him in his seat. "I'll do it. In there?" At his nod, I walked to the fridge and opened it. "What do you want?"

"If there's still milk, I'll take that."

I reached for the carton, sniffing the contents out of habit. "It's bad." I stepped to the sink and poured it out.

"Figures.
Any sodas?"

"A root beer and a ginger ale," I told him.

"I'll take whatever you don't want."

Was the guy a jewel or what? I handed him the root beer since I didn't care for that particular flavor. Sitting, I popped the top of my can and sipped it. I quickly finished my lunch, only then realizing that Erik had stopped eating awhile back and was just sitting there, apparently hypnotized by me.

I squirmed a little. "Have I got crumbs on my face?"

He came to life.
"Oh, um, no."

"Then what are you looking at?" I raised my soda can to sip from it.

He winced. "Sorry for staring. It's just…I've never been this close to a goddess before."

Chapter Four

I spewed my drink. Cough. Cough. Choke. "Believe me, I'm no goddess." Grabbing a napkin, I mopped up the tabletop.

"You're descended from one."

I couldn't deny that. "Yeah, well, she's very distant kin, and we've never met, so…"

"Doesn't make you any less gorgeous."

He thought I was gorgeous? Wow. No guy had ever thought I was gorgeous, at least to my face. What was he seeing that no one else had seen, including me? Suddenly self-conscious, I changed the subject. "Did you build this cabin?"

"Nah.
Inherited it.
From my granddad.
He died last year."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "It's okay. Sometimes death is better than suffering through a disease that's going to get you anyway."

I nodded.
"Cancer?"

"Yeah."

"My mom, too.
Ovarian.
When I was nine."

"Do you miss her?"

"Every minute of every day."

"I know the feeling.  Pops died of lung cancer, but not the smoking kind. It was asbestos that got him."

I didn't know what to say. "Did he build the cabin?"

"Yeah.
He was in construction and did a dang good job on it, too. It'll be here long after I am."

"You said something about your Uncle
Greger
earlier. Did he think he was going to get it?"

Erik smirked a little.
"Yeah.
He and his sons were going to turn the land into a deer camp or something. But Pops had too much respect for the wild to shoot anything. He loved the deer around here.
Fed them, even.
Same for the squirrels, raccoons, and rabbits.
So he wasn't about to leave this place to hunters."

"Were they pissed?"

"Oh yeah."

"At you?"

"I think so. Must've thought I'd talked him into it, though I didn't. Anyway, things got a little uncomfortable between us, and since I was living with them at the time, it was a big relief to have somewhere else to go."

Though I wondered why Erik was staying with relatives he didn't like, I didn't ask and he didn't elaborate. "Are your parents living?"

"Yes. Mom and her second husband live in Santa Fe. Dad and his third wife have a place in Gulf Shores."

"Any brothers and sisters?"

"Two stepbrothers and three stepsisters."

"Do you get along with everyone?"

"
Now
I do."

So he hadn't always?  "My dad's in Lake Village near Springfield. He just remarried."

"So what do you think of your stepmom?"

"I haven't actually--" I caught myself. "I mean, I haven't spent that much time with her, but I'm thinking she fits right in." After all, she taught at
MSU
, just as Dad did. So that was a pretty safe guess.

"You were on your way to see them when you had the wreck?"

"Not exactly."
I drummed my fingers on the table. "See, this whole shapeshifting thing, well, it's pretty recent, and I think my dad might freak if I told him. So I haven't been home in quite a while."

Erik seemed a little surprised. "But you inherited the gene from him."

"Not true. I definitely got it from my mom. Dad's half German, half Scottish. Mom was the child of Eire."

"Ah." He sat in silence for a moment. "Guess that would be a shock. The whole shapeshifting thing has sure weirded me out, and I don't even know you that well.  Where do you call home?" His gaze dropped to my sweatshirt. 
"
MSU
?"

"I haven't been enrolled there in over a year.  I've actually been working in Texas for the past year and a half."  I didn't tell him why.

"Oh."  He suddenly seemed very thoughtful.  "And you're in Missouri because…?"