But until then, I had to fight the instinct to bury my face against his neck, inhaling over and over again his tasty smell, and possibly even licking him to see if he tasted as good as he smelled.
Oh, geez. Now I really wanted to lick him.
So, I fought my natural instincts, and I did my best to ignore his delicious smell as he carried me through the woods.
This was probably the single oddest experience of my life, except for the day I was bitten, maybe. And the most intense. I was busy trying not to run my fingers through his hair, which smelled fresh and clean, like shampoo, trying not to drag my hand over the muscles in his chest, trying not to lay my fingers over his heart. In all my focusing on what not to do, I also didn’t think to ask his name or how he’d been there in the woods just as I was.
He walked quickly and the ride ended soon. He dumped me at Esther’s back patio. Before I could thank him, he was gone. Not as if he disappeared. No, the fella just strolled away without a care. Quickly. And I watched him, because from the back, it was quite a sight. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t look away except…I didn’t want to.
Life was getting weirder and weirder by the moment.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
As soon as I hobbled to the patio door, Esther’s house cleaner was there to let me inside. I walked in, under my own power, albeit a bit slowly and awkwardly, to a sitting room where I settled in a chair at a small table. A few minutes went by in awkward silence, until the house cleaner brought me a glass of tea with lemon.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
She gave me a slight bow and before I could ask where Esther was, she rushed out of the room. Probably had other things to do. While I waited for Esther, I tried to work my ankle, rotating it left and right, then in a circle, and found no pain. I had no idea how that worked, but I was grateful. Must’ve been a shifter perk. That fall had been bad enough to take me out for a week at least.
Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to reevaluate and ground myself. Alright, so it had hurt. I’d embarrassed myself, but I’d healed quickly. Not bad all and all.
Especially when a hot lumberjack had saved me. I frowned at the thought. When had I changed my opinion of him, anyway? Nope, not a good idea. I would not spend any more time thinking about that weird encounter or that unsettling man. I wasn’t a young woman sighing and drawing hearts around his picture. What I’d seen of dating and love didn’t give me any reason to want any of that nonsense in my life.
“Now what?” I whispered to myself, tapping my fingers on my glass and looking around.
Waiting for Esther in this kind of luxury was no hardship, and I took a second to appreciate the art in her sitting room. It was New Age, obviously, but the use of color was kind of classic. They were various images of animals in different climates, which, duh, kind of made sense. I made a mental note to remember to ask where she got it, but by the time she showed up with Tabi, I forgot.
I was too busy watching them as they walked in, the worry lines at the corners of Esther’s mouth, the apprehension in Tabi’s gaze. Esther always looked a little bit like she just came from sucking a lemon dipped in pickle juice, but Tabi was one of those glass-half full sort of people. To remove her smile, there must’ve been something big going on.
Esther sighed and turned on a TV in the corner, hidden in a cabinet near some fine China that looked so expensive I was afraid to even walk on that side of the room. But she flicked on the set like it was no big deal.
The news flickered to life and a very serious news anchor read the headline. “A bear and a wolf walked into a bar…” I looked at Esther as the TV woman continued. “No this isn’t the beginning of a joke, it’s the beginning of tonight’s news. A wolf and a bear, along with a host of other woodland animals, are credited tonight, or blamed as it were, for the destruction of Johnny O’Leary’s Bar and Grille on the corner of Oak and Main in the downtown district of Long Hollow.” That was enough. Esther clicked the remote and muted the video.
Tabi laid her hand over mine and pointed her eyes into mine as she spoke. “We have to quiet this noise so the wrath of a thousand vampires doesn’t fall on us.” That was a bit dramatic. Wasn’t it? I thought so anyway. But Esther nodded at Tabi’s statement. She didn’t agree with my assessment.
“Absolutely,” Esther said. “If vamps get wind that this is a shifter haven, we’re going to have to start hibernating in the forest.” As an aside, she shook her head and added, “Again. And nobody wants that.”
Again? What?“Are you serious?”
They both nodded, but Esther spoke. “When I said we had enemies, I wasn’t kidding. And now, fortunately or maybe unfortunately from your perspective, you’re one of us. All the other packs saw the news and went into emergency mode. But with you new to everything, I wanted to tell you personally. It wouldn’t be good for anyone if a vampire tore you to pieces before you even experienced your second full moon.”
Uh, yeah, that didn’t sound so hot. “What do we do?”
“Come on. We have a plan.” Esther led us out to her garage, where three cars sat in their individual compartments. She opened the driver’s door to a convertible and climbed in. Tabi went to the back seat, so I took the front passenger side. And we peeled out of the garage.
To Johnny O’Leary’s, I guessed, which I would’ve thought would be the worst place for us right about now. But who knew? Not me, that was for sure. I stayed quiet for the ride, waiting on them to say something. I’d had a million questions to ask, but just now couldn’t think of a single darn one.
O’Leary’s was a quaint brick building that truly was on the corner of Oak and Main and had very limited parking. She pulled almost onto the sidewalk, and we rushed inside, ignoring the signs saying do not cross.
The interior was more brick with gold accents and a lot of smashed glass on the floor. Esther walked up to a guy in a striped referee’s shirt and a tall green hat—kind of a leprechaun with a whistle—and somehow worked magic on him, or at least that’s what it looked like. His eyes went blank, and he stared at her, head tilted, his expression unreadable but definitely not normal.
“It was a real bear that did this. That’s your story.” Esther said the words like they were an order, not a suggestion, not conversation, just a harsh order.
He nodded, face still creepily blank. “It must’ve been a grizzly come down looking for tonight’s dinner. We served fish. He must’ve smelled it.”
Esther nodded. “Yes. He must’ve smelled the fish.”
She motioned for Tabi and me to follow her to the office while Johnny O’Leary swept up the millions of shards of broken glass, seemingly unaware that we were even there. His face was blank, his gaze concentrated on the job at hand, and we left him behind as if we hadn’t spoken to him at all.
