The Werewolf Whisperer (The Werewolf Whisperer Series Book 1) (9 page)

"Bob."
Xochitl waved. "Excuse me," she said to Lucy and the groupies, scooted
out of the booth and walked toward her friend. She glanced back at Lucy and
felt bad about leaving her with the Kyon Knows cultists.

"So,
you made it." Xochitl wrapped her arms around Bob. "We had to book
out of there."

"Good
thing too. It got a little hairy," Bob replied. "But I wouldn't worry
about it."

"Okaaay..."
Xochitl said, immediately feeling worried. "We're over here." She
changed the subject and pointed the way toward the booth. "We already ate
though. But we can get you something."

Bob
waved off the suggestion. "I'm good." He surveyed the expansive
dining area decorated in streamers and balloons. "This place is larger
than I remember. Was there a party or something?"

"It's
the Under New Management Grand Re-Opening," Xochitl explained as they
weaved through the tables.

"But
I thought the Peters won this a while ago?"

"Yeah,
but they remodeled, brought it back to its golden days." Xochitl and Bob
approached the booth.

"See."
Xochitl heard Punk Girl Megan say as she turned Were Boy Troy's arm toward
Lucy. "That's you."

"Oh."
Lucy leaned forward over the table and inspected the boy's arm. "Looks...nice."

"What's
up?" Xochi asked as she and Bob walked around to the opposite side of the
booth.

"I
was just showing Lucy...She said I could call her Lucy. I'm so excited," Punk
Girl Megan chirped, "Troy's tattoo of her." She turned Troy's arm
toward Xochitl.

Xochitl
and Bob eyed the tattoo of a nondescript woman's face with spiky hair. It could
have been Lucy or it could have been Were Boy Troy's mother for all Xochitl
could make of it.

"It
really captures the essence of you, Luce." Xochitl smirked at Lucy.

"Doesn't
it?" Punk Girl Megan squealed.

"Really?"
Lucy shot back. "Because I was just thinking the same thing about Troy's
other tattoo."

On cue, Punk Girl Megan turned Were Boy Troy's arm over to
reveal another tattoo of an indignant looking woman with long hair.

"Does
that say 'Viva la Werewolf' underneath it?" Xochi asked, squinting to read
the text under the Were kid's tattoo.

"Sure
does." With a smug look plastered on her face, Lucy rested her chin on her
hand and looked up at Xochitl. "Remarkable likeness, isn't it?"

"Remarkable,"
Bob agreed.

"¡Das
asco!" Xochitl mumbled to Lucy and Bob. She slid into the booth between
her two friends who were trying to contain their laughter.

"
Pardon us, kids,"
Lucy said, still chuckling. "We've got some business to take of."

At first Punk Girl Megan and Were Boy Troy
didn't move, and Xochitl thought they
didn't get Lucy's polite way of saying "hit the road." But then the
Punk girl grabbed her boyfriend by the arm and commanded, "Come, Troy."
Before turning to leave, she proudly stated to Lucy, "I learned that from
your book."

Laconic
Were Boy Troy just smiled and stared sweetly at Punk Girl Megan.

"Great." Lucy genuinely looked pleased. "Keep
it up."

"Thanks,"
Punk Girl Megan said.

As
the two Punk kids walked away, Xochi heard the girl squealing on her phone. "...No,
she was super cool..."

"Looks
like you made a good impression," Bob said.

Tami
stopped by the table and set a menu and a glass of water in front of Bob. "Thanks,"
he said. "I don't need a menu."

Lucy
was still watching Were Boy Troy.

"So,
Hound?" Xochitl asked, drawing Lucy's attention back to the table.

"Not
sure." Lucy had a puzzled look on her face. "He's more
high-functioning than a normal Hound, but less wild than a Feral. Now I'm
wondering about Nicolette."

"Because
you told her she could love her Were, just not luuuvv her Were?" Xochi
asked.

Bob
choked on his ice water.

Lucy
ran her hands through her hair. "Hell, I don't know anymore."

"Well,
it's not like you're an expert or anything." Xochitl grabbed for one of
Lucy's fries. Lucy swatted her hand.

Xochitl
turned slightly in her seat to look at her old friend. "So Bob, how are
the guys? I didn't see them at Greystone."

"Yeah,
Mick and Prez are working on a couple of jobs right now. Business is booming.
Seems everyone needs a security detail in this town these days." Bob
chuckled.

"And
Lefty?" Xochitl asked. She hadn't heard from her friend in a while and was
a little worried.

"Lefty's
great," Bob said. "Just saw him and Miguel not too long ago."

"You
did?" Xochitl could hear the tension in her voice, and she saw in Lucy's
sympathetic smile that she'd heard it too.

"Now
don't get upset, kiddo." Bob rested his hand atop Xochi's. "Lefty's
been good for Miguel. And vice versa. The kid has real purpose now. He's even
training Miguel."

"Training?
Like dog training or..." Xochitl had a hard time pushing out the next
word. "Werefights?"

Bob
nodded.

Her
anger spiked, and her mouth felt as arid as the Mojave. She reached for her
glass of water and took a sip.

Werefighting
had become very popular in recent months. Lucy and Xochitl had had a few
run-ins with some pretty shady establishments. Lucy had told Xochi these fights
were reminiscent of some of the dogfighting rings she had taken down back in
her cop days. Xochitl remembered all too well what those days were like.

"It's
not what you think, Xochitl," Bob said. "These fight clubs are more
like what boxing or mixed martial arts was a few years ago. They're legit
amateur fights.
And
Miguel's good at it. Real good.
He's even won a
couple of tournaments."

"He's
already been fighting?" Lucy asked. "And he has to turn to do this,
right?"

Xochitl
could barely contain herself. "How is he supposed to stay human if he
keeps turning? Lefty should know better!"

"Xochitl."
Bob was beginning to match Xochitl's anger. "Don't you come down on Lefty.
He's been great for Miguel. Keeps him calm, focused. That's what these fights
do for your brother. They focus his energy. He's gonna turn...It's a given."

Bob
pulled his hand away from Xochitl, his eyes cast down.

Great.
Xoch. The man's obviously here for help, and all you can think of is yourself.

"Bob?"
Lucy used her signature calming voice, which Xochitl had come to know so well
over the past two years. "What can we do for you?"

Xochitl
looked over to Bob, waiting for his response. His hand shook as he reached for
his ice water again. Xochitl studied his palm, marred by a large gash matching
the one that ran from his hairline down the right side of his face. She
recognized the jagged wound, having suffered a similar one at the hands —
or rather, claws
— of her baby brother.

Bob
wiped away a droplet of water that ran down his chin with the sleeve of his
three thousand dollar suit.

"You
can put a soldier in Armani, but he's still a soldier." Xochitl passed Bob
a napkin.

"Remember
when I left Arrowhead?" Bob looked straight ahead at Lucy, but Xochitl
knew he was speaking to her.

"Yeah,"
Xochitl replied. "You left before I could say goodbye. Mick said you had
to get home."

"Yes.
Well, I wasn't completely honest with you or Vern."

"Go
on," Lucy prompted.

"I
mean," Bob continued, "I wanted to help you find Miguel. That part
was true. I owed it to Carlito...but I had other reasons." He pulled out
his BlackBerry and scrolled to a picture of a teenage boy with longish blond
hair, riding a skateboard. Bob passed his cell to Xochi and Lucy. "That's
Travis, my youngest...before...before..."

Bob
began to sob quietly. Xochitl put her arm around his shoulders.

"It's
okay. I got you, Bob. I got you," Xochitl whispered and rubbed his back.

She
looked at Lucy and mouthed, "We need to help him."

Lucy
nodded.

"Bob."
Lucy gazed back down at Bob's BlackBerry. "I need to know in detail what's
happening with Travis."

Xochitl
knew Lucy would take over from here, and she was grateful. It broke her heart
to know that Bob was suffering like she had suffered.

It's one thing to help random strangers
with their Were problems. It's an entirely different thing when it's one of
your own.

"Um..."
Bob cleared his throat, seeming to compose himself again. "Travis turned
not long after the initial outbreak."

"Sorry,
Bob," Lucy interrupted. "When you say turned, do you mean he turned
into a Werebeast?"

"Yes,"
Bob replied.

"Bob!"
Xochitl broke in, shocked. Lucy held up her hand. Xochi clammed up, knowing the
next bits of information would be crucial.

"And
what happened?" Lucy coaxed Bob to continue.

"We
were arguing in the garage about, I don't know something stupid probably, and I
was getting on him. Then, he started shaking and convulsing. Next thing I know,
this huge, seething tan Beast was standing in front of me. His eyes glowed with
rage...a bright poisonous green...I'll never forget how his eyes looked."
Bob took another sip of water. "I didn't know what to do. I reached for a
shovel and slammed it into his head as hard as I could. Knocked him out cold."

"What
did you do with him?" Lucy asked.

"Initially,
I called in a couple of my guys. We hid him out in a facility near Simi Valley
until I could figure out what to do. You have to understand, people were
gunning the Afflicted down without any hesitation."

Lucy
flinched.

"I
couldn't let my boy go out like that," Bob said. "I had to find a way
to help him."

Seeing
Lucy retreat into her own thoughts, Xochitl grabbed Bob's hand and gave it a
squeeze. "We understand...But you said initially. What did you do with him
afterward?"

"I've
got a lot of money. So I built a room for him on our estate in Calabasas,"
Bob explained.

Xochitl
was floored by this information but refrained from commenting.

"So,
he's been a Werebeast in a room in Calabasas this whole time?" Lucy asked
without one hint of judgment in her voice.

And she's back.

"Actually,
sometimes he was normal, like Miguel," Bob said. "Two months ago his
transformations started lasting longer."

"So,
he's permanently a Beast now?" Lucy asked.

"No,
but he's rarely human."

Xochitl's
body tensed with trepidation.

Could
Miguel stay a Beast too?

Bob
nodded and turned to Xochitl. "That's the other reason I helped you,
kiddo. I figured I could learn more about what was going on and how to help
Travis, just like you wanted to help your brother."

"Is
that why you took the data we recovered from Vern to your people?" Xochitl
had wondered about that information for some time. She'd never found out what,
if anything, had come of it.

"Well,
yes. But I did share my information with Vern not too long ago. Didn't he tell
you?" Bob asked. "I would never betray the team like that."

Xochi
shook her head. "I know. But I haven't spoken to Vern much lately. He's
been pretty busy on base. I guess they're helping more with the border patrol.
Coyote smuggling stuff."

"Yeah,
I've heard about that," Bob said.

"What
did you find out?" Lucy asked. "About the information you retrieved?"

"Oh,
well, my people don't think it's viral," Bob said.

Xochitl
glanced at Lucy, and she knew they were thinking the same thing.

Better keep up with Kyon Knows.

Xochitl
quickly took her phone out and bookmarked the site.

"They
think it's more to do with the DNA of an individual being changed, at the
molecular level. Some really heady stuff. I don't quite understand it myself,"
Bob continued. "I would've given our findings to you if the damn
government hadn't swooped in and shut down my lab."

"They
shut your lab down?" Xochitl asked. "How can they do that?"

"They
cited some shit about illegal experiments. There was nothing I could do."
Bob sighed. "I think Ames had something to do with it."

"Ames?"
Lucy asked.

"You
know that CIA guy I told you about," Xochitl said.

"Oh,
right. Do you think he's been watching you?" Lucy asked Bob.

"Oh,
I know he has," Bob replied. "Look, my lab was working on some things
not completely FDA approved. But it was strictly to help people like Travis. I
think Ames got a hold of proof and took it to the government."