Hope(less) (17 page)

Any closer and he’d feel the pull.  I didn’t need to deal
with any more problems.

Across the street, a door opened and a voice called out,
“They okay, Mike?”

With the man distracted, I lifted my head from Clay.  “You
okay?” I whispered.  He turned his head and licked my cheek, reassuring me. 
“Next time I’ll just carry the leash,” I promised.  My eyes watered.  It had
been too close.  It would have only been a matter of time before the other wolf
would have pinned him because of it.

“We’re okay,” I said standing, keeping a hand on Clay’s head. 
“The dog was as big as Clay here, but had dark grey fur.”

“Doesn’t sound like any dog from this neighborhood, but I
know there are some big dogs a few blocks away.  Do you want me to call the
cops?”  He started walking toward us.

I picked up Clay’s loose leash and nudged him to turn toward
home.

“Nah.  If no one’s done it already, I think we’re fine,” I
said taking a step back getting ready to walk away.  Too late.  The man had gotten
close enough that the pull had him.  I could see the interest in his eyes.

After a few moments of reassuring him that neither of us
suffered injuries and that police involvement was no longer necessary, I
grudgingly gave him my phone number just in case any did show up.  Clay
remained quiet and unusually calm throughout the conversation.

Crisis averted, we hurried home attempting to beat the
rising sun.

I didn’t talk, but instead concentrated on scanning, pushing
to see further than ever before.  It drained me.  My legs grew heavier with
each step.  I tried not to let it show.  While I scanned, so did Clay.  His
eyes missed nothing and he constantly scented the air.

The sun cleared the surrounding rooftops, its bright rays lighting
the sidewalk.  My hurried walk degraded to a plodding step somewhere along the
way, taking us much longer to get home.  No further sign of that weird light reappeared
during the rest of the walk.

Watching my shuffling feet while retracing our steps to the
back door, I didn’t see Rachel standing on the porch.  Her abrupt, “There you
are!” startled me.  My hand flew to Clay’s thick mane at the same time my heart
skipped a beat.  The scare distracted me from my second sight, and it snapped
closed at my loss of focus.  I struggled to reopen it, but a sudden pain in my
head stopped my attempt.  I’d done too much.

“Nice morning for a walk,” she commented moving toward us to
pet Clay.

I unclenched my fingers from his fur not wanting her to
notice my death grip.  She fingered one of his ears, which he shook off, causing
her to laugh and bend to kiss the top of his head.  He endured the kiss, but
rolled his eyes at me.  Some of my tension melted at their antics.  He appeared
more relaxed too.

She tugged the leash from my loose grasp and said, “I made a
call this morning and can get him into the vet for his shots.  I figured after
the way he acted last night, we should have him current, just in case.”

It took a moment for what she said to click.  I dropped my stunned
gaze to Clay.  He calmly met my eyes not giving any indication what he thought
of her announcement.  I didn’t know what to say to Rachel.

She looked at me with concern and said, “You okay, Gabby?”

No.  Not okay.  What had started as a nice thank you
breakfast for Clay had turned into a dog fight.  And now, she wanted to take
him to the vet?  He didn’t deserve that.  After the attack, would he concede to
leaving me?  Wait.  Could a vet figure out he wasn’t really a dog?  I tried to
contain my panic.

“Uh, I didn’t budget for it,” I blurted hoping at the very least
to put the visit off until I talked to Sam about the risks.

“Don’t worry.”  Rachel untangled his leash and attempted lead
him toward the garage.  “I can cover it for now and you can pay me back.”

“Let’s all go,” popped out of my mouth before I thought
about it.  What good would that do?  Did I think I could block the vet
basketball style from touching Clay?  Rachel would definitely know something
was up then.

“No offense Gabby, but you look like hell.  I think you’d be
better off with some quiet time.  Don’t worry we’ll be fine.”  She tried
pulling him toward the garage again, but he didn’t move with her.  Instead, he
nudged me toward the back door almost knocking me off balance.

Rachel tugged on his leash scolding him, but he ignored her
staying focused on me.  “Would you mind giving him your standard pep talk?  I
don’t know why he just listens to you.  I’m the one that feeds him treats.” 
She handed the leash over to me.  I rubbed my forehead not knowing what he
wanted me to do.

Bending to give him a hug, I breathed, “Is it safe for
you?”  He snorted, which I took as a yes.  Did he want me to stay here then?  “I’m
so sorry about this.  I’ll need to call Sam and let him know what happened.”

I straightened, looking him in the eye while smoothing the
fur on his head.  “It’s your choice.”  I dropped the leash and stepped back.

He gave me a long look and then sighed as Rachel moved to
open the car door.  He followed her.

“The control you have over him is weird, but cool,” Rachel
commented holding the door while he jumped into the back seat.

Control?  I didn’t have any control over him.  He only
listened when I threatened to kick him out of my room or leave him behind.  “Yeah. 
Just don’t be gone too long.  He’ll get upset,” I warned her.

“The vet’s just a few minutes from here.  We should be back
soon.”

I couldn’t believe we were actually doing this.  She climbed
behind the wheel, rolling down her window before closing the door.  What did a
vet usually check for?  Shots… Age… Neuter…  Crap, crap, crap!

“Just don’t have him neutered!”  I panicked on his behalf. 
“Or anything that involves blood or blood work.  It’s expensive and I promised
him he’d keep his jewels.”  Oh how I wished those words back when he started
laughing hard.  I really needed to start filtering what I said.

The engine roared to life.  Rachel swiveled to check on Clay
then suggested, “Maybe we should have the vet check his lungs.  It sounds like
he’s coughing.”

“He’s fine.  Think cost,” I called from the deck as she backed
out of the driveway.

I went inside and immediately called Sam letting him know
about the attack.  He assured me of my safety, which I already knew.  Paul and
Henry long ago educated me regarding challenge etiquette.  A challenge
questioned Clay’s right to me.  If present, I needed to stay near him to show
my support of his right.  Fleeing rejected him.  Though rejecting him sounded
tempting on the surface, doing so would put me back into the eligible pool.  I
didn’t want that either.

Sam said he would let Elder Joshua know about the attack
too.  He went on to say he felt certain the challenger wouldn’t try again
anytime soon given the extent of his injuries.

A werewolf’s tough hide deflected many of the things that
could damage human skin.  What it couldn’t deflect, it reduced in severity.  A
knife could still cut them for example, but not lethally like it could me.  On
top of their nearly impenetrable skin, nature also threw in a phenomenally fast
healing process.  A shallow cut would knit together in less than an hour, with
no scar visible in less than a day.  However, injuries from another werewolf
tended to take twice as long to heal.  Still faster than a human’s though.

Talking to Sam helped settle my nerves.  Though the
werewolf’s odd light still bothered me, I couldn’t bring it up as I’d never
shared the details of my ability with Sam.  However, I did almost bring up the
vet visit.  Clay’s willingness to go had me keeping it to myself at the last
minute.  I felt guilty enough and didn’t need to add a lecture to it.

Before hanging up, he reminded me that challenges weren’t unheard
of and that I had no reason to worry yet.

I agreed, neither of us saying what I already knew. 
Challenges occurred when more than one werewolf became interested in the same
potential mate and the potential in question didn’t have a preference. 
Werewolves usually had a strong preference to just one potential mate.  So the
challenge was my fault.

*    *    *    *

An hour and a half later, I’d showered, scrubbed the kitchen
floor, and vacuumed every room in the house keeping myself awake for their
return.

At the sound of Rachel’s car in the driveway, I ran through
the house and out the back door.  I leaned over the porch railing trying to see
into the back of the car.

“How’d it go?” I asked from the deck attempting to sound indifferent.

Window still down, Rachel put the car in park in front of
the garage and smiled at me.  I had to wait for her to roll up the window and
open her door.  I spotted Clay lying on the back seat, head down.  He didn’t
look up at me.

“He took it like a champ,” Rachel said climbing out to open
the back car door for Clay.  He lifted his head and stood with obvious effort. 
Then he hopped down slowly, pathetically climbing the deck steps to my side.

“What’d they do to him?”  I looked down at him in concern. 
Rachel shook her head and closed the door.

“He wasn’t acting like this when we left.  I swear.  I think
he’s hamming it up for you.”  She patted Clay’s head with a laugh, which he
accepted with a defeated grunt.

He stopped hobbling and started walking with his usual
gait.  I heaved a relieved sigh.  He looked up at me and winked.  I quickly
checked to see if Rachel had noticed, but she already walked away from us into
the house.  I shook my head at him before following Rachel in.

“So what shots did he get?” I asked pouring some orange
juice from the refrigerator and taking a drink.  Clay followed us in as well
his eyes never leaving me.

“Just rabies.  The vet had a hard time determining his age
by his teeth, but thought him to be in his prime.”

I choked a bit on my juice.  “That’s great,” I managed to
gasp out, flicking glance at Clay.  A small smug smile curled his lips.  I
needed to find a way to tell him, nicely, that his wolfie smile looked creepy.

“Hey, while I was waiting for him, Peter called.  He said he
had a good time last night and hoped Scott hadn’t ruined his chance by coming
on too strong.  He’s never seen Scott be anything but smooth.  He naturally thinks
Scott’s falling for you hard.”

Both Clay and I gawked at her.  I know my jaw had dropped a
little and wondered if Clay’s had done the same.

“I’m just repeating,” she held up her hands with a laugh at
my expression.  “Anyway, Peter said Scott’s already been bugging him this
morning about getting your number to set up another date.  Given what you told
me, I said no, that last night was just a friendly get together and that you
were seeing someone else.”

Clay’s gusty sigh of relief competed with mine.  We’d been
through enough today.  Okay, fine, he’d had to go through all of it while I
just stood by.  But still, the stress of it, along with overuse of my sight,
wore me out.

Looking down at him, I realized I didn’t mind having him
around.  We’d at least become friends of sorts.  I worried I treated him
unfairly allowing him to hang around.  Did that mislead him into thinking our
relationship might grow to more than friendship?  I hoped not.  If he ever
thought I asked too much, he could always walk away.

“You know,” Rachel said shaking her head, “sometimes that
dog creeps me out with how human he acts.  Anyway, I’m going to meet up with
Peter for another try at a date.  We’re going to see a movie and this time I’m
not asking you to come with,” she said with a huge smile as she walked past us heading
to her room.

“Thank you!” I called to her retreating form.

The rest of the weekend passed in a blur of studying.  When
Rachel left to meet Peter, which she did both Saturday and Sunday, Clay and I
sprawled on the living room floor.  I read my books while he read his with me
turning the pages.  We didn’t talk much.  He seemed content just to lay by me.

We moved back into my room before Rachel came home Sunday
night.  When I heard the door, I commented to Clay, “I bet I’m looking for a
new roommate before the next semester starts.”  He didn’t have much to say one
way or the other.

The weekdays flew with classes and studying once again
claiming all my attention.

On Wednesday, I realized I hadn’t done my laundry in days.  My
small wardrobe lay in a mashed pile in the corner of my closet.  With a sigh, I
plucked out a semi-clean shirt and the jeans from the day before.  After
tugging on the clothes, I grabbed what I could from the remaining pile and ran
downstairs, cramming the washer full.  Clay watched me from the top of the
stairs.  If I didn’t leave now, I’d arrive late for class.  I threw in the
detergent and ran up the stairs nearly plowing over Clay on my way out the
door.

I pulled into the driveway near dinner glancing at the service
truck parked in front of the house.  Rachel’s car already sat in the garage.  Baffled,
I watched her glide out the back door, hurrying to stand next to the car.  She
wore a wide grin.

“You are brilliant!” she said as soon as I opened my car
door.

“What’d I do?”  I took my bag loaded with library books out of
the front seat and closed the door.

“There’s a hot repair man working on the washer in the
basement.  Thank you for breaking it.”  She linked her arm through mine and
walked me to the house.

“I didn’t do anything but throw in a load of laundry before
I left,” I said it quietly glancing at the open basement door.

Clay sat in the hallway next to the open basement door
staring down the stairs.  When he heard me, he looked over his shoulder
watching us.

“Hey,” Rachel said, “I’m not blaming… I’m just thanking.” 
She continued to grin.

“I thought you were into Peter,” I whispered.