“No, you don’t,” she said, firmer this time. “You gave that up when you turned your back on me all those years ago and then again when I came to you in Dallas asking for your help finding Hannah. In some ways, I suppose I could forgive you for the first time. I was a kid. Who would have believed any kid when she said a monster grabbed her sister and dragged her away? But then I come to Dallas, telling you I’ve seen Hannah, and you tell me I’m crazy. Now, I find out that you’ve known that supernatural creatures existed all along. And you want me to care what you think? Don’t make me laugh.”
Connor’s face had gone pale as his sister blasted him, but Jenna either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because it didn’t seem like she was planning to let up.
“I’m going to help find Hannah, no matter whatyou say, Connor,” she said bluntly. “Because I’m the one who never stopped looking for her while you’re the one who gave up and ran away. If you can’t handle that, feel free to get back on a plane and go home to Dallas. I’ll do it without you, just like I’ve been doing from the beginning.”
Wrapping up her burger, she slid that and the fries closer to where Trevor’s extra bag of food was sitting on the table. “You can have the rest of this,” she said. “I’ve lost my appetite.” Picking up her milkshake, she looked at Mike. “There’s only one guest bedroom, so you guys will have to stay at a hotel. There are some nice ones a few blocks south of here. When you come back in the morning, we can figure out what we’re going to do next.” She gave Trevor a small smile. “Come to bed when you’re ready. I’ll leave the bedside lamp on.”
The living room was deathly silent after Jenna left and disappeared down the hall toward the back of the apartment. A full minute passed before the shower started, and yet none of his pack mates said a word the entire time. Hale sat there eating while Mike kept glancing back and forth between Trevor and Connor, like he expected a fight to break out any second.
Which, considering the angry expression on Connor’s face, was probably a valid concern. He looked like he was ready to explode.
“You’re not staying here,” Connor growled, hiseyes flaring yellow gold. Even as Trevor watched, the tips of Connor’s fangs appeared over his lower lip.
“And you need to calm the hell down,” Mike warned. “We can’t have you losing control with your sister in the next room.”
Mike moved fast, but not fast enough. One minute, Connor was snarling, and the next, he was up and throwing himself in Trevor’s direction. Trevor barely made it to his feet before Connor’s fist collided with the left side of his jaw, dropping him back onto the couch and nearly throwing him over the back of the thing. He heard the sound of a bone breaking and for a fraction of a second wanted to think it was Connor’s hand. Then jarring pain raced through his head, and he realized he was definitely wrong about that. It wasn’t his pack mate’s hand. It was his own jaw.
Trevor ignored the pain and shoved himself upright, getting an arm raised just in time to block a second punch coming his way, glad it was a fist and not claws. His shove sent Connor sliding back across the floor and into Mike’s arms. But Connor merely shook him off and charged at Trevor again, claws whistling through the air this time.
Trevor froze, stunned that his pack mate—hisfriend—was coming at him like this and apparently willing to tear him apart. A few bruises he’d be able to explain to Jenna, but blood and bone-deep lacerations? There’d be no way to hide their secret after that.
He leaped back at the last second, cursing silently as the tips of Connor’s claws grazed the front of his shirt. Then Mike and Hale were both grabbing Connor’s arms, holding him back as his fangs extended even further, eyes blazing in fury.
“You stay away from my sister!” Connor snarled. “She doesn’t need you confusing her when she’s trying to deal with this ghoul crap. And she sure as hell doesn’t need you trying to sneak into her bed.”
“Trevor doesn’t have to sneak into my bed,” Jenna’s angry voice said from the hallway behind them. “Because I invited him in myself!”
Trevor gave a start, shocked he hadn’t noticed that the shower had turned off. But the rapid stomp of bare feet told him that not only was Jenna done in the bathroom but that she’d obviously heard them fighting, too. He’d been so wrapped up in the argument with Connor that he hadn’t been paying attention to anything else.
And standing there in shorts and a T-shirt, her hair piled loosely atop her head, face flushed, Jenna looked mad as hell.
Trevor glanced at Connor to see that he was still pissed off because his eyes were glowing like a pair of Christmas bulbs and his fangs were fully extended. And from the way he was struggling to get free of Mike and Hale, it would seem he didn’t care that his sister was standing right behind him.
Crap.
Trevor surged forward to grab Connor, latching his hands onto his friend’s shoulders, then taking a risk by putting his face close to his pack mate’s.
“Dammit, Connor,” he said in a loud whisper. “What the hell is wrong with you? Is this really how you want your sister to learn about werewolves, right after learning from Davina that monsters are real? She’ll be horrified, not to mention terrified of you, her brother.”
That seemed to finally get through Connor’s thick head, and when Jenna took hold of her brother’s arm and yanked him around to face her, the yellow-gold glow disappeared from his eyes and his fangs retracted. Barely in time.
“I already told you,” Jenna said, the words coming out in a low growl that would have made any werewolf proud. “You don’t get a say in how I live my life, whether it’s searching for Hannah or who I decide to spend my time with. You need to get over yourself. And if you can’t, you need to get out of my apartment and never come back.”
When Connor simply stood there stunned, Jenna brushed past him and looked at Trevor. She frowned at the bruise he had no doubt was already forming along his jaw where Connor had punched him. The discoloration would be gone within the hour, but she didn’t know that.
Then Jenna’s gaze dropped lower, and her eyes narrowed as she stared at his chest. He glanceddown to see four slashes across his T-shirt, thin lines of blood clearly visible through the torn material. The wounds weren’t a big deal, but again, she couldn’t know that.
“I’ll clean those up for you as soon as they leave,” she said, throwing a look at her brother that could melt steel. Then, without another word, she turned and went back to her bedroom, slamming the door loudly behind her.
“I better talk to her,” Connor said, moving to follow, only for Mike to grab hold of him again.
“I don’t think so,” Mike said firmly, spinning Connor around. “I’m pretty sure you’ve done more than enough talking for one night. We’re leaving and you’re coming with us, whether you want to or not. We still need to see that person STAT arranged for us to meet so we can pick up the weapons they promised us. Even if we don’t know how well they’ll work, I’d still feel better having a gun if we have to go up against these ghouls.”
For a moment, Trevor was sure Connor was going to resist, but then he nodded. Pulling out of Mike’s grip, he strode across the living room, not even looking back before walking out the door.
Mike shook his head, then looked at Trevor. “We’ll call before we come over in the morning so you can take a shower before we get here. If you don’t smell like his sister when we show up, maybe that will keep Connor from losing his mind again.”
“I doubt it,” Hale murmured before following Mike out of the apartment.
