I crept into the hallway, careful not to step on any of the creaky boards I remembered from my childhood, but a few new ones had appeared. The reawakened scientist in me couldn’t help but ask the questions:
But there was nothing, just a breeze outside chasing the first of the fallen leaves across the driveway and a chorus of crickets.
I put the umbrella stand back in the spot it had occupied for decades and swallowed the tears that came to my throat. This stupid four-sided brass bucket had had more stability than I ever would. I sat on the bottom step and sobbed as quietly into my hands as I could, not wanting to wake anyone. I couldn’t take Lonna’s pity or Gabriel’s questioning or Leo’s guilt trips. The day’s conversations came back to me, how others had lost so much more.
“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.
“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
