“So,” I said, putting my hand back on the steering wheel. “You want to tell me what happened with the frying pan?”
He settled deeper in the leather seat and rested an elbow on his door’s armrest. Leather creaked as he stretched his long legs in front of him. “My father said he didn’t approve of me moving out. I told him I didn’t need his approval. When I tried to leave, he threw a crystal vase at the back of my head. It startled me, and I think it triggered my, uh…” He waved a hand in the air.
“Your wolf,” I said softly, shooting him another look.
“Yeah.” He licked his lips. “After that, I sort of lost track of myself. The next thing I knew, I’d grabbed my dad’s neck and lifted him off the ground. My mother retaliated by smacking me in the face with a silver frying pan.” He huffed. “It’s this stupidly expensive kind she bought at some party. My dad was pissed when she came home with it.”
But not about Caleb’s mother hitting her own son in the face with a frying pan. My anger wouldn’t do Caleb any good at the moment, so I stuffed it down. “Are you hurting now?” I stretched an arm across the center console and brushed my fingers down his cheek, feeling for blisters.
“I’m fine,” he said, more lust rolling off him. The smoky scent shot straight to my cock, and I pulled my hand from his face and adjusted myself as discreetly as I could. Unfortunately, my SUV’s interior didn’t lend itself to covert erection management, and Caleb sucked in a breath.
“I know,” I said. “There’s not much either of us can do about it.”
“My fault, right?” He looked at me, and his desire shivered along our connection. “Since I imprinted on you or whatever.”
A grin pulled at my lips. “If you’re going for a boner killer, I guess making yourself sound like a duckling or stray cat is pretty effective.”
He snorted and did a little adjusting of his own. “Yeah, well, it’s not working for me.”
“So we’re stuck like this.” I gave him a look as I made my tone light. “I guess I’ll just have to punish you for it later.”
His nostrils flared as he jerked his gaze back to the highway. “Jesus.”
I let my grin have its way. But my amusement faded as the weight of our previous conversation settled back over me. “Have things ever gotten physical with your parents in the past?”
“No,” he said quietly. “This was the first time. I’d like to say I can’t believe they called the cops, but I’d be lying. I wouldn’t put it past them to file a report.”
“If they do, I’ll take care of it.”
He swung his head toward me again. “You will? How?”
“I grew up in Hale Valley. It’s been a little while since I interacted with local law enforcement, but I know how to talk to upstaters.” I winked at him. “If that fails, I’ll just use my teacher voice.”
He nodded, but he didn’t look convinced as he returned his gaze to the road. He was anxious, and I couldn’t blame him.
But his anxiety was misplaced. He worried about the police coming for him. I wasn’t sure how to tell him we had bigger problems than the human authorities. After he’d left Welch’s office this afternoon, I’d visited the jogging trail behind campus.
Sure enough, I’d scented a rogue werewolf—the same one I’d been tracking for two weeks. And the scent matched the oneI’d picked up the night I found Caleb trying to gnaw through Welch’s leg. But the rogue’s scent signature was stronger this time, which meant he was returning again and again to the forest.
It was typical rogue behavior. They didn’t necessarily intend to turn humans. Most of the time, they attacked because they were too far gone to stop themselves. On rare occasions, their victims survived the bite and became infected with the lycanthropy virus.
Caleb was one of those rare occasions. And now that the rogue had turned him, it would search for him. All werewolves were driven to mentor the wolves they sired. Going rogue didn’t blunt that impulse—just misdirected it. Protective instincts twisted and warped, leading the rogue to view its offspring as a rival. The rogue would hunt Caleb, and it wouldn’t stop until it killed him.
The steering wheel creaked under my grip.
Caleb looked at me. “What’s wrong?”
The connection between us tugged hard in my chest, temporarily robbing me of breath. I had to be more careful around him. Otherwise, my emotions would leak across our bond and give him an insight into what I was thinking. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for bonded pairs with years of living together under their belts. But everything between Caleb and me was new.
I cleared my throat as I eased my grip on the wheel. “Tell me when you first started experiencing anger you couldn’t control. Was it immediately after the jogging trail?”
He tensed, wariness hovering around him. “Is this related to what happened with my parents tonight?”
“Do you mean am I asking because I think you were wrong to grab your father’s throat? No. I think he had it coming, and Iapplaud your restraint. My question has nothing to do with your parents and everything to do with figuring out who turned you.”
The wariness faded, and Caleb relaxed in his seat. He seemed thoughtful for a moment before he said, “The anger started right away. I mean, I was angry the second I opened my eyes after…everything.”
“On the trail?”
