“Fuck you, Leo,” I muttered into the darkness and wiped my cheeks with my hands.
“Is that an invitation?” He stood over me, leaves in his hair, and I could see from the look in his eyes that he had just come back inside.
I gasped and tried to crab-crawl up the stairs, which didn’t work with my injured wrist. After scrabbling for a moment, I curled up on the bottom step, my hand cradled against my chest.
“Don’t hurt me,” I said.
He sat beside me and gently helped me to a sitting position.
“Let me see,” he said.
I arched an eyebrow at him.
“I had just changed when I heard a crash in here. What did that poor umbrella stand do to you, anyway?”
“Probably not enough to deserve being kicked,” I said, but I gave my wrist and hand over to his gentle tug. He examined it, poking and prodding, and I couldn’t help but imagine his hands were investigating something else.
If he could sense—or heaven forbid—smell my change in mood, he didn’t say. “It’s just a nasty bruise, but you need to do a better job of keeping it still. I’ll get you some ice.”
“I’m fine,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows at me. “If you were, you wouldn’t be kicking umbrella stands and crying at the foot of the stairs.”
I sighed and pulled my wrist away from him. “I’m just tired of people trying to make me feel guilty for not having CLS and for it not taking away everything. So what if I have a manor and a fortune? My grandfather, the only person who cared for me, is gone.” I curled up with my knees to my chest.
He ran his hands through his hair, and a few leaves scattered around us like silver tears in the moonlight. “He’s not the only one,” he said.
I snorted and put my forehead on my knees. “Who else is there?” I let my pajama pants muffle my voice. “Lonna and I can’t stop fighting, and I barely know the rest of you.” I wasn’t going to mention the sparks of lust that occasionally flew between me and the werewolf men—especially him, I was coming to realize. That wasn’t the kind of caring I’d meant, anyway.
A large hand rubbed the back of my neck, and I looked up, startled.
“Just relax,” he said, and moved my shoulders so I faced away from him.
I tried to do as he said, and he massaged my neck and shoulders. I closed my eyes and pictured his hands as I felt his calloused fingertips through my shirt and on my skin. He found knot after knot, smoothing them with deep yet gentle touches until I was so relaxed I slumped against him.
“That’s even better than Gabriel’s pills,” I said.
“I don’t want to know,” he replied and picked me up.
That woke me. “I’m not a child,” I said and thumped him on the chest. “Put me down!”
He laughed, and I felt it against my shoulder and hip. “Just relax. I’m taking you to bed.”
“Oh. All right, then.” I snuggled against him and grinned at the thought of what would happen in the bedroom.
When he brought me to my room and put me on the bed, he cupped my cheek, and I turned my face to his. His dark eyes met mine. He traced my cheekbone with his thumb and leaned in until only a whisper of air separated our lips. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something.
“No words,” I told him. Although he was the werewolf, I was the one to inhale his smell deeply before closing the gap. It hit me at the same time his mouth crushed mine and sent a lightning bolt to my core. His lips and tongue combined with the freshness of forest air and the heaviness of the desire between us to make a thunderstorm, and I had to draw back before its power crushed me.
You always run from the storm.
Not this time. I took a deep breath and went in for more, but he placed his hands on my shoulders and held me away from him. We both panted, and I strained against his palms.
“I can’t stay,” he said and put his forehead to mine. “The wolf is just below the surface, and he’s hungry.”
“We’ll finish this later, Doctor Bowman,” I said.
He caressed my cheek again, and then he was gone. I didn’t think it would happen, but I was fast asleep within minutes and dreaming of running through the woods, the dirt and leaves like velvet under my paws.
Chapter Fourteen
I woke from some very naughty dreams, although I couldn’t see who the male partner in my early morning fantasies was. At different times, I thought it was Robert, then Leo, and maybe even Gabriel. Finally, when I woke in a sweat, I just gave up, got out of bed, and took a cold shower.
The enticing aroma of Gabriel’s homemade blackberry scones lured me out of my room, and I was the first one downstairs. I sat at the table and had just finished my second scone when Lonna walked in, Leo and Ron right behind her.
“Any luck?” I asked.
She looked like she’d been up late, the circles under her eyes dark. “I think so, but it’s hard to tell because we don’t have any charts for non-CLS patients.”
“Really?”
“The serial numbers and lot numbers of the Tdap vaccinations match. It looks like there were a couple of batches.”
“Do we know who the manufacturer was?”
“It’s a small company that I’ve never heard of, but I can call one of my colleagues who handles vaccination neglect cases for DFCS and see what they know.”
“That works.”
“Seriously, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I think I may have… I think I may have seen two.”
She rubbed her arms as though she felt a sudden chill. “What do you mean?”
“Galbraith said something about the Landover Curse and how it skips a generation. I think Andy had it, and I think it may have been CLS.”
“Your brother?”
“I can’t explain it right now, but stuff is fitting together differently this morning.”
Leo shot me a sympathetic glance, and I felt guilty about the lustful dreams I’d had after going to sleep, like I was planning to use him in his misfortune. Not that he would mind all that much. But still, even with all the changes I’d had, it was nothing compared to being transformed into something different.
I couldn’t handle their drama as well as my own. “I’m going to finish my coffee on the balcony,” I said and stood on wobbly legs.
“Do you want some company?” Lonna asked.
“No, but thank you.”
I walked out on the balcony, sat in one of the Adirondack chairs, and took a deep breath. The sun peeped through a thick layer of clouds, its light watered down by the atmosphere. Every leaf and pine needle seemed extra green in the forest beyond the lawn. No ghostly parties filled my imagination this morning. Instead, my mind strained to recall small things, clues that would confirm or disconfirm what I had just figured out about Andrew. And then there were the vaccinations, the serial and lot numbers pointing in one direction. Had Andrew gotten a bad vaccine? Had it been something that he ate? Or was it something that would have shown up anyway? Finding out that he had CLS was like losing him all over again.
My solitude lasted five minutes at the most. That’s when I knew from the prickling at the back of my neck that trouble had arrived.
A black convertible sports car stood in the driveway. The sporty car’s low-slung body had sleek, European lines, and the tan top was pulled back to reveal a plush leather interior, the dashboard mock-antique. Kyra Ellison stood in the door and argued with Gabriel.