He could run home filthy. It wouldn’t be the first time, but he was hoping to delay their separation. Maybe if she got a little time to process things, he could talk to her after he was fully clean. After he looked and smelled like a man instead of a beast. Maybe.
“Uh, sure,” she said, her voice quiet. “Go on upstairs.”
“I won’t take long,” he said, easing around her. Maybe if he could catch her eye. Maybe if she would look at him, things would be okay. But she stepped away from him into her father’s office.
“Take as long as you like,” she said, keeping her back to him.
He waited a moment, hoping she would turn around. He wanted to grab her and force her to face him. He wanted to beg her to not shut him out. Everything would be okay if she just gave it a little time. If they talked it through like human beings.
Except he wasn’t a normal human being and even people who had been raised inside the shifter community didn’t want to date him. He was too volatile and too close to feral. Which meant he really ought to just go.
He didn’t.
He went upstairs and dove into the shower. He scrubbed himself three times, making sure to clean away anything and everything he could. He didn’t worry about her safety. There were scores of police handling the mess in the backyard. That meant he could linger a while in the bathroom just to give her a little more time to process what had happened. And while he scrubbed, he mentally went through a dozen different scenarios of how he might approach her.
Should he start with facts? Give her the history of shifters as they knew it? Or how about silence? He could sit and wait for her questions, then answer them as best he could. Maybe he should feed her? They hadn’t had breakfast and it was already lunchtime. He could handle her core needs, starting with a honey-cream latte at his house. He could make her another steak or order a pizza if that’s what she preferred. Whatever she wanted, he would be there for her.
Eventually, his skin was rubbed raw and he couldn’t lie to himself anymore. He was delaying facing Julie because he had no idea what to say to her. But he wouldn’t find any answers until they were face-to-face. So he stepped out of the cold shower and toweled off. He delayed a few seconds longer while he buried his nose in her towel. He gloried in her scent on the fabric and then he walked to her bed. The scent of sex was still thick here, and it nearly brought him to his knees thinking that it was all over so quickly.
Eventually, he dressed and went downstairs to find her. He tried to scent her, but she wasn’t in the den and with so many people tromping through the house, it was hard to isolate her. Maybe she was outside?
Five minutes later, the ME shook her head as she zipped a body into a bag. “Sorry, Mark. Julie drove off twenty minutes ago. Something about seeing her father in the hospital.”
CHAPTER 10
Julie was jumping out of her skin. She thought leaving Gladwin would settle her brain and her stomach. Not so much. Her mind had jumped around so much that she’d had trouble driving straight. Her stomach had rebelled at the first smell of coffee, and only a chamomile tea and a chocolate chip cookie had stayed down. The first because it truly was soothing. The second because, damn it, she was not going to throw up chocolate no matter what she’d seen this morning.
Eventually, she made it to the hospital, but far from helping, that only made everything worse. She could barely concentrate on what was going on. Her thoughts kept shoving their way in between her sister’s words.
“An infection…”
I had sex with a were-bear.
“Not uncommon.”
I had great sex with a creature that shouldn’t exist.
“A few more days.”
Mark is a grizzly bear.
“Nothing to worry about.”
Magical creatures existed and they gave really good head. Or at least Mark had.
Oh my God, I’m losing it.
Normally, when she was freaking out, she called her sister and received a good talking to. The girl was a science geek and deep into her PhD research into some miracle plant that destabilized cellular structure. Sounded lethal to her, but what did she know? She was just a legal secretary. Either way, her geek sis would spout all sorts of science facts with absolute authority, secure in the knowledge that she was the smartest person in the family. Whatever the topic, science and Ellen had the answer.
Except the woman obviously didn’t know about grizzly bear–shifters. Or werewolves. Or magic. And if Julie broke her promise to keep this secret, her sister would likely have her checked into the psych ward. So as soon as she got to the hospital, Julie kept her mouth shut by eating everything in sight.
Not the best choice, but for some reason, powdered vending machine doughnuts also managed to stay down.
“What the hell is wrong with you today?” her sister finally demanded. “I thought a day away would help you relax, but you’re not hearing anything. And would you please sit down?”
They were in the corridor outside of her father’s room. With all the medical equipment, there was only one seat inside at a time, right now being occupied by their mother. Which left Julie pacing while her sister leaned against the sliding glass partition and glared at her.
“I heard every word you said,” Julie lied. “Cell wall, blah blah blah. Telomeres, science stuff, science stuff.”
