Red (14 page)

“
But you obviously haven’t
given up hope of that, have you. I mean look at this new look
you’ve got going on. You’re making an
effort
to actually
look like a
girl
instead of a refugee.”

I gritted my teeth. I had no idea what she
was talking about. I was dressing exactly as I always dressed.
Low-key, neutral colors, no makeup. Nothing that said,
Notice
me.

Swish.

Amber moved directly into my path back to
the car, forcing me to face her. I didn’t look her in the face,
keeping my eyes on the tiny diamonds glinting in her butterfly
necklace. Submissive, though I felt as if I would burst from my
skin any moment.

“
Maybe you’re thinking that
saving his life means you can actually get somewhere with Rich. But
let me tell you something. A guy like Rich would never be
interested in a girl like you for real. All he and any other guy
wants from you is to get into your pants, just like your daddy did
with your mama. He just didn’t count on getting stuck with
you.”

All the suppressed and diverted emotions
from the last four years coalesced into a pure, boiling rage. Her
neck felt small and fragile in my hand, and her body made a
satisfying thump against the gas pump as I slammed her against it.
My lips curled in a snarl and a low growl rumbled in my throat.
Amber’s eyes bulged with shock. Her hands scrabbled frantically at
my wrist. I could feel her rabbit fast pulse beneath my fingers and
almost smiled. After all the terrorizing she’d done to me and to
others, the scent of her fear was incredibly gratifying. For once I
was the one in control.

“
Elodie, let her
go.”

The voice was calm and low. For a minute I
thought it might be the distant voice of my conscience, which had
taken a back seat to this show. Then a hand gripped my shoulder. I
growled in warning.

“
She’s not worth
it.”

What was he talking about? Of course it was
worth it. This bitch had made my life a living hell for the last
four years. I was going to sleep like a baby with the sounds of her
gasping panic in my ears.

“
Ellie. Look at
me.”

I cocked my head at the name. No one called
me Ellie except Dad. A trickle of
oh shit
bled into the
satisfaction of my power trip as I turned my head slowly.

Not Dad. Sawyer.

A little bit of sanity started limping
through my brain. I was assaulting Amber. In a public place. And I
was growling like an angry dog. No, like a wolf.

If Sawyer was alarmed at my behavior, he
didn’t show it. The hand he’d curled around my shoulder began to
rub rhythmically, his thumb making circles in the knot of my
shoulder muscles.

“
You’ve made your point.
She deserved it. Now let her go,” he said.

I looked back at Amber. She was whimpering.
Just a scared, weak thing at my mercy. Behind me, the gas pump
clicked off, my tank full. The sound was the last thing to snap me
back to reality.

“
You are a self-absorbed,
entitled bitch,” I told her. “You lift yourself up by tearing
everyone else down because that’s easier than turning yourself into
an example of a decent human being. I don’t know what I ever did to
get on your radar, but I swear to God, now you’re on mine. Stay the
hell away from me.”

Reluctantly, I uncurled my fingers from
around her throat.

She stumbled back, gasping. “I’ll . . . ”
Wheeze. “I’ll press charges!”

A cold wave of dread washed through me.

“
You and what witness?”
asked Sawyer, putting an arm around me.

Amber looked over toward the store. Slowly,
I followed her gaze. Mr. Hansen stood on the sidewalk in front of
the door, arms crossed, bushy eyebrows drawn down in a scowl.

There was no need to worry about the best
means of ending my own life to wipe out the curse. Dad was
absolutely going to kill me.

Mr. Hansen looked at me, then looked back at
Amber. “I didn’t see nothing.”

Amber gaped at him, sputtering in protest. I
gaped at him, too, in utter disbelief. He was willing to cover for
me?

“
I reckon you oughta start
shoppin’ at the Double Quick on the other side of town. I hear they
even got security cameras there.” He jerked a finger at the glowing
red eye pointing down from the awning. “Mine’re just for
show.”

I started muttering silent prayers of thanks
to every deity I could think of as Amber got into her Barbie Jeep
and drove away.

Sawyer used the arm around my shoulders to
maneuver me into a hug, and I let him. Because now that it was all
over, I was shaking like a leaf. All that adrenaline had dumped
into my system and no longer had anywhere else to go.

“
You okay?” he
asked.

A bark of laughter escaped before I could
stop it. The question was so ludicrous. I’d just accosted someone,
and he was asking if
I
was okay? But the patent truth of the
matter was that I was most definitely
not
okay. I’d just
broken every Rule my father had ever given me, including some that
hadn’t been covered because their eventuality was so outlandish, he
hadn’t felt the need to mention it. Well, every Rule but one.

I pushed away from Sawyer, letting my hand
linger on his chest before I dropped it and looked over to Mr.
Hansen. Time to face the music.

“
She likely
will
press charges,” I said. “I don’t want you getting into trouble for
protecting me.”

“
Anybody asks, she started
it,” he said. “Ain’t nobody gonna fault you for finishin’ it. It’s
about time you stood up for yourself. Now go on, get to work.
You’ll be late.”

“
I still need to pay for my
gas.”

“
On the house,” said Mr.
Hansen, his face breaking into a wrinkled grin. “That’s the best
entertainment I’ve had in months.” He made a shooing motion, then
went back inside.

I scrubbed both hands over my face.
Oh,
what have I done.
I wasn’t an aggressive person. I
wasn’t
. I’d never been in a fight in my life. Never
not
backed down from a confrontation. And yet for a few
fleeting moments, I had actually considered . . . killing her.

Whatever blood was left, drained out of my
face at the thought. I reached for the gas nozzle.

“
It isn’t true,” said
Sawyer.

“
What isn’t true?” I asked,
carefully replacing the nozzle and screwing on my gas cap. Anything
to keep from looking at him.

“
What she said about your
mother and about you.”

Well I just didn’t know what to do with
that, so I shoved it on some shelf in the back of my brain to think
about later. “Doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not. I shouldn’t
have let her get to me. I shouldn’t have done . . . that. Whether
she presses formal charges or not, she’ll find some way to
retaliate. It’s how she operates. And I just really didn’t need
that.”

“
Elodie . . . ” He snagged
my arm, turning me toward him, tipping my chin up so I had to meet
his eyes. He looked grave and intense and . . . I don’t know . . .
purposeful in a way that made my mouth go dry and my stomach drop
somewhere around my feet.

“
You are amazing,” he said
in a measured voice. “You’re smart, funny, beautiful, and any guy
would be lucky to have you in his life. You have no idea how lucky
I am to have you in mine.”

I swallowed. Where was he going with
this?

His hand shifted to cup my face, his thumb
tracing my cheekbone. I knew I should put a stop to this. Pull
away. Deflect.
Something.
But all I could do was stare up at
him and pray I wasn’t gaping like a fish.

“
Sawyer!”

I jolted back, guilty, as Dr. McGrath rolled
to a stop on the other side of my car. He looked pissed. Not in the
thundercloud hovering over his head furious way my dad was prone
to, but a definite expression of disapproval was etched on his
weathered face. There was probably a Rule against fraternizing with
your boss’s son. I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or
grateful that he’d saved me from . . . well, I didn’t know exactly
what he’d saved me from other than something that probably would
have headed toward breaking that last Rule.

Sawyer dropped his hands, disappointment and
annoyance warring in his eyes before resignation beat them both.
“Yes?”

“
Coffee, son. Let’s go.
We’ve got a lot to do today.”

“
Yes, sir,” Sawyer
muttered.

I reached blindly for my car door. “I’ll see
you at work,” I muttered.

“
Yeah. Okay,” he
said.

Dr. McGrath sat there, truck idling until
Sawyer trudged toward Hansen’s to make the morning coffee run.
Apparently it was his turn. When he turned his gaze on me, his
expression softened. “Good morning.”

Okay so maybe he wasn’t pissed at
me?
I mumbled something that I hoped was good morning, then gave a half
wave and escaped to my car.

Chapter 7

Sawyer

Elodie
was gone by the time I made it
out with the two cardboard trays of coffee.

Damn it, damn it, damn it
. I was
finally getting through her defenses. We were having a frigging
moment. Dad just
had
to show up
right then
. Not that
I knew exactly what I was going to say or do if he hadn’t. I was
too busy trying to keep my emotions, my reactions in check so as
not to scare her. Again.

Because now I knew for sure. I wasn’t crazy,
and I didn’t have to stay away from her. When she’d turned from the
bully girl to look at me, her eyes were gold.

Elodie was a wolf. Like me.

Or she would be very soon. I didn’t think
she’d shifted yet. She was late. Not unheard of, but not common
either. Maybe it was because she was half human. I wasn’t all
together sure if she truly knew what was happening to her. She
certainly didn’t seem to recognize me for what I was. But it fit
with her strange behavior. She was coming into her sharpened
senses. And the aggression . . . I didn’t want to think what she
might have done to that girl if I hadn’t shown up. No matter that
the bitch deserved it.

Elodie needed to be taught. Trained to
control the wolf. I couldn’t imagine facing the change without
having both parents to explain and support me. Up to now she’d had
no one.

Well now she had me. And I had to find a way
to talk to her about it. In private.

How was that conversation liable to go, I
wondered as I headed toward the research station.

I know you’re a werewolf. So am I. Let’s
talk.
Direct much? No.

Is there something you’ve been keeping
from me?
That could cover any number of things. Not specific
enough.

Have you been having headaches? Body
chills? Super sensitive hearing and smell? I know just the
diagnosis for you. Please dial 1-800-456-WOLF.
Infomercial
cheese. I think not.

Do I smell different to you?

After trying out and rejecting another dozen
possibilities by the time I made it to the lab, I concluded there
was no good way to broach this subject. I’d just have to wing it.
Grabbing the coffee trays, I headed for the door.

The trailer was empty but for my father, who
sat looking over some report or other.

“
Where’s Elodie,” I
asked.

“
Out in the field with
Patrick and the others,” said Dad. “They’re up near Tremont
today.”

I turned to go, coffee trays in hand,
already calculating how much lead time they had. “Okay. I’ll catch
up with them before the coffee gets cold.”

“
No.” He didn’t shout it.
That wasn’t Dad’s way, it was mine and—had been—Mom’s. But dad
didn’t have to. I felt the full force of an alpha behind the
command, so I stopped, facing the door and scrabbling for some kind
of hold on the instant roar of temper.

“
No?” I said, aiming for
casual. I missed by a mile and came somewhere closer to
belligerent.

“
No,” he repeated. “You’re
with me today. I need to talk to you.”

“
About?”

“
Elodie.”

My hands curled to fists before I could stop
them. “What about her?”

“
Son, what the hell are you
doing with that girl?”

I turned, wielding the comfortable shield of
sarcasm. “I believe the popular term for it is being her
friend.”

“
That’s not what it looked
like this morning.”

“
And what did it
look
like
, Dad?” I spat in exasperation.

“
Like she has feelings for
you. Like you were going to act on it.”

My brain circled around that.
Shy,
fantastic, funny Elodie Rose, who I can’t stop thinking about,
might actually be into me too?
I’d been so focused on
protection detail, on confirming whether she was or wasn’t a wolf,
that I hadn’t given much thought to how she felt about me other
than making sure she wasn’t afraid of me. Could it really be true?
I mean, maybe. She’d relaxed enough to flirt back some. And—I
really couldn’t think about this right now because here was Dad
staring me down and looking all grim and disappointed and shit.

“
Sawyer, you can’t play
with her. She’s a bright, talented girl, and I won’t stand for you
to use her as some kind of distraction or toy.”

The wolf pressed close to the surface,
offended at the accusation, furious at the order to stay away.
“What do you take me for?” I growled. “Do you honestly think I
would be so cruel to her?”