My Sister Is A Werewolf

CHAPTER 8

Brody loped behind Elizabeth, keeping a safe distance between them. Not that she’d have noticed him. She was too intent on racing away from the scene of her latest indiscretion. And, he had to admit, he no longer found this behavior of hers entertaining or a novelty.

He hadn’t thought much about Lizzie’s behavior since she left the pack. In fact, he hadn’t cared. But he did now, because he needed that proper, prudish girl back. He was counting on her to give him credibility, and if she continued to act like this, well, the pack wouldn’t believe he’d changed. They’d only see that Lizzie had changed. That wouldn’t work. He needed that regal, icy princess-proper and refined.

But something else still bothered him even more than her changed behavior. That scent. The scent that wafted through the forest air like a noxious, stifling stench. A very dangerous scent.

He’d wanted to believe that he’d been mistaken about what he’d smelled the other night. But now, there was no doing that. And she’d returned to that same man. She wanted something from that man, even if she didn’t know it.

No, there was no mistaking what was going on here.

He leapt over a fallen tree, his paws silent as he moved a little closer to Lizzie. She raced over the uneven terrain, not as graceful in her human form as he was as his wolf self. Maybe he should just kill her now. He could kill her out here, and who would even know who’d done it? Who would even find her for weeks?

He picked up speed, kicking up leaves as he gained on her. It would be so easy to bring her down. Go for the legs. Humans were clumsy, moving on just two long appendages.

She didn’t even sense him. That alone told him the state she was in. He could just kill her. Cheating bitch.

He got closer still, close enough to smell that strong scent. The nauseatingly spicy odor fired his anger. He snapped his jaws, his teeth clacking. Just bring her down. But just as he would have lunged, his jaws locking on her fragile calf, he veered away.

He came to a halt beside a large pine, watching Lizzie dash off toward her place.

The wolf in him still hungered for the attack, but he couldn’t kill her. Not before he got what he wanted from her. She was his access back into the pack. The pack wouldn’t turn him away if he came back with her. She was above all of them, and they knew it.

He hated to admit it, but he needed her. And once he got what he wanted, then he’d make her pay.

No one double-crossed him. Not his pack. And especially not his female.

Elizabeth collapsed on her sofa, pulling in deep breaths, her tired lungs and her pounding heart unhappy with her breakneck sprint home. A werewolf could run faster than a mortal in their human form-but ten miles at top speed through the forest was a bit much, even for her.

But she hadn’t been thinking about the effect on her body when she’d run out of Jensen’s. Not thinking about her body-that was novel as of late. But then, her body was satisfied. Just as it had been the last time she’d been with Jensen.

Of course, now her mind was racing. And she couldn’t stop thinking about what he said. He’d moved here about a month ago. August 15. And maybe she wasn’t remembering her own dates correctly. Heaven knew, she wasn’t herself. She was forgetting huge chunks of time. She could easily mix up a few dates.

But she didn’t think she had. She took a couple more calming breaths, then struggled off the sofa and headed to the kitchen. Hanging on the wall, near the phone, was a calendar. A calendar with puppies and kittens on it. An innocuous enough calendar, until you saw the days of the full moon highlighted in bright orange. High-alert days.

She flipped back a month and looked at August 15. Then her eyes skipped ahead. August 20 was highlighted in yellow, the color she used to mark the days when she gave herself an inoculation of the serum. She’d also made a small notation on August 18-something that hadn’t meant much to her at the time. Just a reminder that she had taken something to help her sleep. Valerian root. That’s why she’d waited until the 20th to give herself the serum. She didn’t want anything to interfere with her serum, so she’d made sure the herb was out of her system before she inoculated herself.

But that proved that her restlessness had started before the vaccination. In fact, she was certain it had started on the 15th. The day Jensen returned to town.

So it couldn’t be the serum making her act like a crazy woman-well, at least not in this case. Although it could be exacerbating what was happening inside her.

Still, what was happening? It made no sense. None.

So was it Jensen? Was he the trigger to all these feelings? Could she really become physically aware of him even before they met? That wasn’t possible.

A werewolf could be aware of other werewolves. Especially their mate. But she’d never heard of one of her kind being so in tune to a human.

She turned away from the calendar and dropped into a kitchen chair. Okay, she couldn’t keep obsessing about this and she couldn’t let it happen again. She needed to concentrate on her research. Maybe she had really been suffering from insomnia and stress because of her research, and somehow when she gave herself the serum, it had done… something that made her aware of Jensen.

“That makes no sense,” she stated aloud. But then, none of the things that happened in the past month had. She got up and checked the answering machine on the counter. No messages.

“Damn,” she muttered. Dr. Fowler had to call soon. She really needed his input on all of this.

She glanced over at the calendar-she still had several days before the next full moon, so she had to focus on her research. It was obviously her only hope. Maybe she could detect what in the cells’ mutation would cause this-it had to be the serum. Nothing else made sense.

She got up and walked to the door, then paused with her hand on the knob. Maybe she should put on some underwear before she went to work.

“I cannot believe you cut out on us like that,” Brian said, leaning on the counter of Jensen’s grandfather’s veterinary office.

Jensen paused at that thought. No, his office. This was his office now. One would think he’d remember that, since he’d lost so much to make this a reality.

Jensen managed the good grace to look embarrassed. “I just wasn’t feeling well and decided I needed to head home to bed.” With a little detour.

“Well, you should have let us know where you were going,” Brian said, then his usual easy smile returned. “Plus, you missed all the excitement. This woman and this man got into it, while you were in the bathroom. Or maybe you’d snuck out by then.”

“Really?” Jensen said, trying to sound interested as he went over the very few calls he’d received. Very few. Turns out that people were as unwilling to accept new vets as they were doctors.

“Yeah, this tall, thin woman hit this huge guy. Some of the people in the bar said it looked like she actually picked the guy right up and threw him. I didn’t see that, but I heard her growl. Just like a wild animal.”

Jensen’s head snapped up. Could that have been Elizabeth? And the hulk she’d been talking to?

He started to ask more, then stopped himself. He just had Elizabeth on the brain. Which was understandable, given their two encounters. She did tend to make quite an impact. Still, the odds of her assaulting a man… and growling… seemed low.

Yeah, like he knew enough about her to make any judgment.

And worse than that was the fact that she hadn’t returned on Sunday. He’d hated to admit it, but he’d waited for her to show up at his door. Even his grandfather had mentioned that he’d seemed distracted. He’d claimed that he was just overtired. Which was true enough-sleep had remained a distant aspiration since meeting Elizabeth.

It was best just not to think about her. Given her past behavior, the likelihood was that he’d never see her again. She’d probably moved on to another man who’d caught her fancy in another bar.

He paused. No, she’d said that she didn’t do that sort of thing. And even though he couldn’t imagine why, he believed her.

No, he did know why. He wanted to believe her.

But it didn’t much matter what he believed, because the fact was, he probably wouldn’t see her again.

And that was a good thing.

“… really enjoyed meeting you,” Brian was still talking, but Jensen realized he’d missed what was being said.

“What? I’m sorry.”

Brian gave him a look as if he thought Jensen was pretty much gone. Jensen had to admit he was feeling a little nutty.

“Melanie. She really enjoyed talking with you the other night. Before you pulled your little disappearing act.”

Jensen nodded, not sure exactly what to say. He didn’t want to give his friend the idea that he’d want to see Melanie again. He wasn’t interested in dating.

But hadn’t he asked Elizabeth out? Hadn’t he been disappointed when she wasn’t in the kitchen, and she’d never given him an answer? Although her disappearing act had pretty much said it all.

Apparently his own hadn’t made the same point to Melanie.

Unfortunately, his lack of reply hadn’t been the right one for Brian, either.

“She’d love to go out on a date with you,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Jensen shook his head and straightened away from the counter, wanting to stop this conversation now.

“I’m not interested, Brian.”

Brian straightened, too, and Jensen realized he hadn’t stopped it. Damn.

“You do know that you can’t stop living just because Katie died.”

Jensen ground his back teeth. Here we go again. The talk he’d received from dozens of people since Katie died. For the first time, however, he did feel maybe people were right. Even as he thought that, guilt tightened his chest. After all, this wasn’t just about Katie dying. This was about his role in her death. This was about his selfishness and what it had cost Katie.

“Melanie is a nice woman,” Brian was saying, and Jensen held up a hand to stop him.

“Brian, I know that. But I’m just not interested.”

Brian stared at him for a moment, obviously trying to decide if he should try to press his point. But finally he just nodded. “I know you’ve had a hard time of it.”

Jensen nodded, too. Brian had no idea. And frankly, his time wasn’t getting any easier. Thanks to a beautiful woman, a pair of peculiar pale eyes, and possible multiple personalities.

“So, have you heard there’ve been more sightings of a large wolf-like creature over near the Steadbetter Farm?”

Jensen knew that was Brian’s way of dropping the uncomfortable subject, and he appreciated it. “Really?”

Brian nodded. “I read in the Journal that old Mr. Steadbetter said the thing was huge. He said he’d never seen anything like it.” He widened his eyes and made a little howl, his very poor imitation of a wolf.

Jensen smiled, shaking his head. “I think the locals are desperate for news.”

Brian nodded. “It’s always pretty quiet here.”

Jensen would have liked to agree, but things had been pretty crazy for him recently.

“So tell me more about the woman shoving the guy in the bar,” he heard himself asking his friend.

“I didn’t really see it,” Brian said. “But I did see the aftermath. The huge guy was pissed.”

“What did the woman look like?” He tried to sound casual, asking himself why he was even going there. He needed to stop thinking about Elizabeth. For his own sanity. But his mouth kept on going. “I mean, you said she was pretty small?”

Brian smiled, seeming to warm up to the change of topic. “Tall, but thin. Definitely not the type you’d peg as being tough enough to take down a guy this size.”

Tall and thin could be Elizabeth, and she had been talking to a huge guy, but she’d hardly looked disheveled when he’d seen her in the parking lot. Nor had she looked shaken. She’d been pretty damn calm and determined.

“The only thing I recall about her was her eyes. I’ve never seen eyes like that. The lightest blue I think I’ve ever seen. They looked eerie, really.”

Jensen paused. That could be Elizabeth-not that he’d describe her eyes as eerie, but rather mesmerizing.

“Actually, that’s not true,” Brian said. “I noticed the bartender had the same eyes-eerily pale. He also came over to the woman after the scuffle. I wonder if they are related or something.”

Jensen considered that for a moment, then promptly told himself it wasn’t likely. So the bartender had light blue eyes. What were the chances he was Elizabeth’s relative?

Jensen paced back and forth, watching the building as if gun-toting gang members were going to burst outside and shoot him down.

Getting shot down? Maybe that was what he was worried about-figuratively, rather than literally. And it wasn’t by the bartender, who likely wouldn’t have any idea who Elizabeth was, anyway. It was definitely the possibility of Elizabeth shooting him down.

“Just go home,” he muttered to himself, but then, instead of heading back to his truck, he paced again, watching the bar.

The neon lights were a beacon, just not the beacon they were designed to be, luring revelers in for a cold beer or a drink. He stared at the Miller Lite sign.

No, what lured him was the far-fetched idea that the bartender was somehow related to Elizabeth, all based on Brian’s offhanded comment that the bartender also had light blue eyes. It wasn’t as if Brian was the most observant person. In high school, Jill was forever getting annoyed with him for not noticing a new hairstyle or a brand-new outfit.

Okay, this argument was actually backing up his far-fetched theory. If Brian noticed, then the guy must have the same unusually pale eyes.

Jensen hesitated a moment longer, then breathed a deep sigh. What could it hurt just to walk in and see if the bartender reminded him of Elizabeth? And even if he didn’t, it wouldn’t hurt to ask the guy if he knew her. Maybe Elizabeth was a regular here.

A wave of anticipation curled up his spine at the idea. Even if no one knew her, he could just hang out for a while and see if she showed.

Okay, he was apparently an official stalker. His determined march paused for just a second, then he continued on through the parking lot. He wasn’t stalking her, he was just looking for her. Because he wanted an explanation of her behavior. That was it.

He pushed open the bar door. Well, that and he did want to see her again.

The bar was relatively empty. A group of young men-obviously construction workers or laborers just off from work, given their rumpled t-shirts and dirt-layered jeans-played pool. Three other guys, clad in leather and jeans, sat at one of the round tables, not speaking, just sullenly drinking and watching the room as if they were waiting for something to happen. And at the bar was an old man, a cigarette dangling from his beard-surrounded lips.

A redhead puttered around behind the bar, wiping down glasses and occasionally saying something to the old man.

Jensen didn’t see this bartender with the pale eyes. Maybe it was the guy’s night off. Jensen considered just turning around, when a figure came out of the back room. The man was wearing an expensive gray shirt, obviously tailored to fit him, with an equally expensive pair of black pants. He didn’t look like he belonged here. Jensen could see that much, but from his angle by the door, he couldn’t see what his eyes looked like.

Slowly, as if he was casing the joint, Jensen walked around a few of the tables littering the floor, trying to get a look at the man’s eyes.

Okay, I’m now officially stalking a guy, too. This was pathetic.

But Jensen’s thoughts of pitiful behavior disappeared as the man turned to face the old man, also facing Jensen directly.

Jensen stopped. There was no doubt about it. This guy had to be related to Elizabeth. Same eyes. Their coloring, aside from that, wasn’t the same. Elizabeth had dark hair, while this guy was lighter. But there was still no denying they did look alike.

And it was his best shot at finding her. His only shot.

He started toward the bar, only to pause again. But how did he ask about Elizabeth without sounding like… well, a stalker?

He always came back to that, didn’t he?

Screw it. He had to find her. He was desperate. He still couldn’t say why she’d had this effect on him, except for maybe the fact that Elizabeth had made him think about something other than Katie. Even for a little while.

“Hi,” he said, taking a seat beside the old man.

The old man glanced at him and grunted a greeting around his nearly burnt-out cigarette.

“Hey,” the man with Elizabeth’s eyes said, placing a drink napkin in front of him. “What can I get you?”

“A club soda,” Jensen said, even though he realized that if he wanted information, he should probably buy an actual alcoholic beverage. Wasn’t that how these exchanges went down?

But the bartender didn’t seem fazed by his drink request.

The old man to his left, however, did seem to take exception.

“Who comes to a place like this to have a club soda?”

The redhead, who seemed to be taking inventory of the beer coolers, shot the old man a disapproving look.

“Ignore Jed,” she said, offering Jensen a wide, warm smile.

Jensen couldn’t help but smile back. “Well, I guess it is a little strange to come to a bar on a Monday night to drink club soda alone.”

The pale-eyed man returned, and Jensen noticed he stood close to the redhead. Very close. And there was a possessive glint in his unusual eyes.

“That is an interesting question,” he agreed. “What does bring you here tonight?”

Well, that was an open segue, if he’d ever heard one.

He reached for the drink, taking a sip, and trying to think of how to ask his question-in the least stalker-ish way possible.

“I’m actually looking for someone,” he finally said. “A woman I met here over the weekend.”

The pale-eyed guy studied Jensen for a moment, then his gaze seemed to flick past him, over his shoulder. Jensen realized he’d glanced to the men seated at the round table.

Jensen wondered if they were about to cause trouble-they seemed to be the type. But before he could look, the pale-eyed man looked back to him. His eyes held the same unnerving intensity as Elizabeth’s. Although it was definitely more pleasant to be studied by Elizabeth.

“Do you have a name?” the redhead asked, and Jensen noticed that the man at her side didn’t seem pleased that she was willing to help. Definitely the possessive type.

But then, his woman did work in a bar. He probably had to be pretty careful of the men. The redhead was a knockout. Not as striking to Jensen as Elizabeth, but then, no one ever had been.

He paused at that idea. No. Katie had been. She’d been perfect. She’d been his soul mate, and all he’d ever wanted. While Elizabeth was… an enigma. A strange obsession.

“I’m actually looking for a woman named Elizabeth.”

The pale-eyed man’s gaze sharpened. “Elizabeth?”

“Yes. Do you know her?”

He tilted his head, and for the first time, Jensen noticed something odd about his appearance. It was almost as if his face was too symmetrical, too perfect. His features didn’t look fake, but they were almost distractingly flawless.

Jensen blinked. He’d never really taken into account a guy’s looks before, but this guy was oddly disconcerting. He glanced at the redhead and realized she had the same look about her. Absolute perfection.

He blinked again, wondering why he was considering their appearance when he just wanted information about Elizabeth.

“Yeah. I do know Elizabeth. She’s my sister. I can tell her you stopped by.”

Jensen wasn’t surprised by the admission that he was her sibling, or by the fact that he wasn’t willing to give some random guy her address.

Jensen probably wasn’t the first guy to come in here looking for her. That idea really, really bothered him.

Jensen nodded. “I’d appreciate that.” It wasn’t as if he was going to get this guy to say anything that he didn’t want to. Coming here had been a long shot, anyway.

He took another swallow of his club soda, trying to act like he wasn’t dying to grill her brother for more information.

Elizabeth’s brother seemed satisfied that his few questions would be the end of it. The redhead gave Jensen a small, regretful smile, as if she’d like to help him more, but then she left to go tend the music.

Jensen sat there for a few moments, halfheartedly sipping his soda, and also half hoping Elizabeth would show up.

Pathetic.

He downed the remainder of his drink and rummaged in his jeans pocket for some cash.

“You know,” the old man next to him leaned forward and said in a hushed voice, “I heard there was a place for rent out on the Boyd Road.”

Jensen frowned at the man. “Is that so?”

The old man gave him a significant look, raising his bushy eyebrows until they nearly met his hairline.

“Oh,” Jensen said, understanding dawning on him. “Is that right?”

The old man nodded, his eyes twinkling. “Only house out on that road.”

Jensen paused at that. Was it really wise for this old guy to be cluing him in to where Elizabeth lived? After all, he could be a psycho-killer. At the very least, he could be the guy who had random booty calls with her. Of course, she had been the one to initiate those. But still.

Jensen eyed the old man. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I saw her watching you the other night.” He nodded his head like that was enough to clarify all, but then he added, “She likes you.”

Jensen mulled that over. He wasn’t sure Elizabeth liked him for more than an easy lay. But somehow the old man’s observation made him feel better, maybe a little less pathetic. Still, like and lust were often hard to tell apart.

Jensen’s doubt must have showed on his face, because the old man leaned a little closer, nudging him with his bony elbow.

“Trust me. I’m good with these types,” he said, his eyes twinkling wickedly. “They are actually easier to read than our kind.”

Jensen frowned at the old man. These types? Our kind? What the hell was he talking about? Okay, maybe the old man was just a crazy old drunk.

“They’d still be edging around their feelings if it weren’t for me.” The old man jerked his head in the direction of Elizabeth’s brother and the redhead.

The couple was locked in a brief embrace, but Jensen could easily see the adoration in their expressions.

Jensen took a deep sigh. Crazy old man seemed his only option here. Jensen tossed a few bills on the bar, and nodded to the old man, who nodded back in a way that said, Go get her.

Jensen left the bar, just hoping she wanted to be gotten. No, he just wanted her to answer a few questions. A relationship still seemed way too out of his reach.