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Patricia left my house with a bounce in her step just as my phone rang. I glanced at the screen and frowned. Think of the devil and he’ll call you—it was Dad.
Pack, my wolf whispered.
Not likely. Still, I tapped the accept button. “Dad?”
“Olivia.”
His voice was a growl. So...not a pleasure call.
“Have I taught you nothing?” my father continued without wading through further greetings. “I hear you’re buddy-buddy with our nation’s president. That you visited him three days ago. I looked like an idiot on the golf course when an acquaintance knew more about your whereabouts than I did.”
“I didn’t think...” That you’d want to come along and talk about werewolves, I almost finished. That was the honest truth. But there was no place for honesty in our relationship.
“You never think.” Barely repressed fury seethed down the phone line. “You ungrateful...”
His voice faded, allowing me to inhale for the first time in several seconds. My father was never physically abusive and I was no longer a child dependent upon his goodwill to function. Still, Dr. Hart’s anger was like a fist squeezing all of the air out of my lungs.
I wanted to end the call...but I couldn’t. My wolf wouldn’t let me. Pack, she repeated. Her fingers—my fingers—stroked the cell phone.
I’d starved her of contact with other werewolves, and now she was grasping at rotten straws. He isn’t worth it, I started. He....
Then Justine’s voice emerged from the troublesome hunk of metal and plastic. “Darling. What your father meant to say was—would you like to join us for dinner?”
“Dinner?” Before I could come up with further questions, my wolf grabbed the reins away from me. “Definitely. Yes.”
“Good. Tonight. Six o’clock. Don’t be late.”
My father’s girlfriend exuded more warmth in ten seconds than my father had during my entire childhood. No wonder my chest throbbed with the aftermath of his anger and my wolf’s neediness when Justine ended the call.
***
I SETTLED MY BRAIN by spending a few hours grading papers. Then I drove west, clean clothes on my back and Adena in the passenger seat.
My wolf was sound asleep in my belly, unenthused by our mission when we could have been ripping into the flesh of a deer in the forest. Which left only Adena to give me the evil eye as she rode shotgun.
“Not you too.” I didn’t know what the bird had to complain about.
“Caaw!”
Ah, yes. The lack of fresh meat since we hadn’t managed to hunt today. We were already halfway to my father’s house, where the refrigerator was bound to be stocked with microwave-ready snacks courtesy of his well-paid housekeeper. But Adena’s grumbling had turned into ear-splitting cawing. So I took the next exit, pulling into the lot of a McDonald’s and rolling down the window in case Adena needed a bathroom break.
“Don’t go far,” I warned as I opened my door, grabbing my phone and wallet. I glared at the raven once, not trusting the look in her beady eyes...then backed straight into the arms of a strange werewolf.
I was too close to see his features. Just smelled fur and gasoline. Noted hunger tightening his thin, hairy lips.
He pulled me upright, fingers biting into my waist and eyes full of a predator’s intensity. His hands were bands of iron pressing into my skin.
“Well, hello there.” His teeth grew into points as I stared at them. His wolf frolicked with excitement behind his eyes.
Maybe it hadn’t been so smart to take off on my own into what was, apparently, some unknown werewolf’s territory. Still, I was here now, so I might as well make the best of it.
“You really don’t want to do this,” I told the stranger, trying to infuse my voice with alpha dominance. But his hands clenched as I berated him. To my disgust, my final word came out as a squeak.
His laughter emerged deep and hungry. “This is my territory, sweetheart. You’re the one trespassing.”
My nose came to his collarbone. He canted his crotch forward until it touched my belly, the intervening denim insufficient to block the signs of his arousal.
Ew.
I shot a frantic glance toward Adena, who was busy tearing apart my dashboard rather than paying the slightest attention to my predicament. I’d parked at the edge of the lot to snag some shade for the raven, so there were no people around to aid me in my distress.
No people...but my wolf was wide awake and ready for action. For once she chose the verbal approach.
Due to lupine dominance, our words were garbled and snarly. Still, they were clear enough for the stranger to get the message. “Mess with me at your peril. I’m Claw Scordato’s mate.”
Fireworks exploded in my belly. Mate. The word packed a scary amount of power.
Externally as well as internally. The stranger let go so fast I barked my shin against the bumper. And when I hopped into the car and floored it out of the parking lot, I caught sight of him pulling out his phone.
***
ADRENALINE CARRIED me the rest of the way down the highway...then I ran out of steam. By the time I punched the code into my father’s automatic gate opener and pulled into his driveway, I was shaking so hard I could barely grasp the wheel.
Call Claw, my wolf suggested. She was on high alert, ears pricked as she assisted my human hearing. Together, we rolled down the window and sniffed at the air. No sign of werewolves.
“We’ll be fine,” I reassured both of us, eying the metal fence slats that were too close together for a human to squeeze through but that probably wouldn’t stop a determined shifter. “This is a private residence and nobody knows I’m coming,” I reassured both of us. “On the drive home, we simply won’t stop.”
I refused to consider what this meant for my future. How could I travel to distant archaeological sites if I couldn’t even grab lunch without being accosted by a strange shifter? Was I really going to be penned within a one-mile radius of Claw until I could transfer my wolf to Val?
Inside, my animal half growled something wordless and troublesome. Now wasn’t the time to discuss our upcoming separation. So I rolled down the passenger-side window for Adena—“I’ll bring you a snack in a few minutes,” I told her—then I walked up the flower-lined steps.
There were cars in the driveway; Dr. Hart liked variety and kept a stable of SUVs, sedans, and sports cars at the ready. But my wolf and I smelled the emptiness the instant I unlocked the door.
My father wasn’t home. So maybe I was early?
This is good. Dad’s absence would give me a few blissful minutes to get my thoughts in order before I presented the proposal that had been germinated by my recent vision. My forehead was hot and at the same time clammy. I swiped one hand across my brow even as I took the stairs two at a time.
Fear raced me to my childhood bedroom, but I won the contest. Inside, the space was just as lacking in personality as when I’d left it, but the air wasn’t as stale as I would have expected. Instead, a floral perfume spun around me, making me sneeze in protest. I couldn’t tell if the concoction really was vile or if my lupine senses were exaggerating the scent.
Either way, I pulled the neck of my sweater up over my nose as I headed for my destination, which—thankfully—wasn’t the stinky bedroom itself. Instead, I smiled against the shielding fabric as I ran mental fingers over the artifacts waiting for me inside the walk-in closet on the far side of the room.
My archaeological itch had started young, so I’d collected things not worth collecting. A triangular rock I’d been certain was an arrowhead (but now knew wasn’t). A couple of bones I could pretend were from ancient kills rather than from a raccoon squished on the side of the road.
Later, I’d added modern versions of prehistoric weapons. An atlatl used to throw spears (sticks) in the backyard when no one was looking. A sad-looking bow I’d crafted out of a sapling and string.
This collection, more than anything else from my childhood, was the home I returned to when I needed a mental pick-me-up. I’d spent hours hiding in this closet and dreaming of my future. Even as an adult, the cool, dim space was bound to bring my racing heart back into line.
I have a purpose. Students. Science. Archaeology.
I opened the door, glad when the scent of perfume faded in the face of the dark recesses. Flicking the light switch on the wall outside the closet...I blinked as I took in row after row of women’s shoes.