Needing to talk to someone, she took out her cell phone again and pulled up the number for her go-to therapy girl, knowing her friend would be asleep at this late—early—hour but that Christine wouldn’t even think to complain.
“Aly, it’s almost four o’clock in the frigging morning.” Her friend’s voice was rough with sleep. “This had better be life or death or I’m hanging up.”
“Not exactly life or death,” she admitted. “Okay, maybe it might be. I’ve had a really crazy night, and I just needed to talk to someone. And you’re my dedicated someone for stuff like this.”
She heard movement on the other end of the line, like Christine had gotten out of bed and was heading to the bathroom to talk so she wouldn’t wake up her husband.
“Okay, what’s the situation?” Christine asked.
Alyssa knew she’d been right about her friend going into the bathroom because her voice echoed on the other end of the line.
“I got involved in a crazy kidnapping at a club downtown,” she said without preamble. “It won’t make the news or anything, but there was a ton of shooting and a lot of dead bodies.”
“Are you okay?” Christine asked urgently. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”
Alyssa could envision her friend sitting on the edge of the garden tub in the master bathroom, biting her perfect nails and completely freaking out.
A car drove past on Third, slowing a little as if whoever was in it wanted to look down the alley she was in. Alyssa had no idea why. The entire place was empty now and as dark and quiet as a cemetery.
“No, I didn’t get hurt,” she answered, pulling her thin coat a little tighter around her as a gust of wind swirled past, kicking up some street dust. “Zane pretty much saved my bacon, though.”
“Is that why you’re calling?” Christine asked. “Because you got a little shook up in the shoot-out? Or is it because Zane was the one to save you? You have a thing against big, sexy guys with British accents saving your bacon?”
Alyssa was silent for a moment. Damn, she wished she’d brought a heavier coat with her. She’d never expected it to be this cold down in LA. The temperature felt like it had dropped five degrees in the few minutes she’d been out here.
“No, it wasn’t the shoot-out that has me reeling. Or Zane rescuing me. It’s the fact that I think I’m falling for a man I’ve known for less than a week even though I just found out he’s been keeping a really big secret from me the whole time.”
Christine sighed. “This really big secret wouldn’t involve him being married, would it? Or that he’s only attracted to people who use the same bathroom as him? Or that he’s not a U.S. citizen and only wants to marry you for purposes of gaining citizenship?”
This was why she could always depend on Christine—the woman was guaranteed to make her lighten up no matter what was going on in her life.
“To answer those questions in order—no, no, and no.”
“Okay, now that we have the big issues out of the way, I guess the next thing I need to know is whether this secret you mentioned is something you can get over or whether it’s a deal killer?”
Alyssa thought about that for a moment, trying to decide if she would be okay being in a relationship with Zane now, knowing what she knew about him. The problem was, she was kind of worried this soul-mate-bond crap was messing up her perspective on the whole thing. She needed an unbiased opinion from someone she trusted.
“Christine, this is going to sound bizarre, but I’m going to come out and say it anyway.” She paused for a second, then blurted it all out as fast as she could. “Zane’s a werewolf and I think I’m in love with him.”
Alyssa supposed she should have mentioned the soul mate thing but decided at the last second to hold back that part. This conversation was pushing the boundaries of what she could expect her friend to deal with already.
The silence on the other end of the line lasted so long Alyssa pulled the phone away from her ear to look and make sure they still had a connection. After seeing they did, she put it back to her ear.
“Since you mentioned you were in a club, my first instinct is to ask whether you’re drunk. Or high,” Christine finally said. “But considering the mysterious nature of the work you do for the FBI, I’m going to make the leap and assume you aren’t speaking about werewolves in the metaphorical sense.”
“No, I’m not,” Alyssa said. “This is all real.”
More silence.
“Wow. Well, thanks for springing all this on me at once,” her friend eventually said. “But okay. Werewolves exist, and you have the hots for one. I’ve seen the man, so I know for a fact he’s definitely not hard to look at. And you just told me he saved your life. So what’s the problem?”
“What part ofhe’s a werewolfare you missing?” Alyssa said. “Don’t you think something like that might make a relationship kind of difficult?”
She wasn’t sure what she expected, but a long, amused laugh wasn’t on the list. “First, you slept with him, then, you’re falling for him, and now, you’re worried about the long-term relationship possibilities? I think the fact that he’s a werewolf is the least of your concerns. I’d be more worried about finding a place to hold the reception before the weekend.”
“I’m being serious, Christine!” Alyssa snapped. “He’s got frigging claws and fangs and can hear my heart beating from across the room. I’m freaking out and I don’t know what to do.”
“Yeah, you do,” her friend said calmly. “You’ve always had good instincts and you’re following them now. You’re simply looking for someone to tell you it’s the right thing to do. The answer is yes. If your heart is telling you to go after this guy, stop thinking so much and do it.”
