He kissed her again, gently at first and then with increasing passion. She returned the kiss with equal ardour, burying her fingers in his thick, silky hair, relishing the feel of his stubbly skin gently abrading hers. It was only when a group of teens walked by, hooting encouragement that they pulled apart. Ryne glared at them through the windshield and the young hooligans immediately fell silent, backing away and then turning almost as one to run down the street.
Mel chuckled softly. “I wish I could do that.”
“I’ll teach you.” He brushed the hair from her face and then moved back to his own seat. They sat in companionable silence for a moment before Ryne looked at her regretfully. “So… what about your apartment?”
She pursed her lips and exhaled slowly, staring up at the window of her apartment unit. From what she’d been told, this was where Lucy had been… injured. Her mind shied away from using a more final term, as a faint hope fluttered within her. Perhaps…
Ryne cleared his throat and asked softly, “Do you want to go in, or should I just—?”
“No, I need to do this. Lucy’s my friend, too.” She drew a shuddering breath and squared her shoulders. “I’ll go in. I imagine the police will have started an investigation and there’ll be questions to answer. What should we tell them?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. As a werewolf, you get lots of practice creating plausible half-truths to cover things up.” Ryne gently squeezed her hand, and then opened the car door.
*****
The time in the apartment wasn’t pleasant. It was cordoned off and a police officer was on guard. Ryne did most of the talking, the lies rolling out of his mouth with no hesitation. By the time he was done, even Mel half-believed the tale. The police officer allowed them in so Mel could check if anything was missing; the police were operating under the assumption that Lucy had walked in during an attempted burglary.
A chalk line showed where Lucy had fallen, in case the blood stains on the floor hadn’t been sufficient indication. Mel’s breath hitched as she stared at the spot before forcing herself to look away and blink rapidly, holding back the tears that threatened to fall.
The apartment units surrounding hers were unusually quiet, almost as if everyone knew of the tragedy and where paying their respects. As she walked into the living room, her footsteps echoed in the silence. Bits of dust floated on a sunbeam that had managed to work its way through a crack in the curtains, its brightness a stark contrast to the general air of gloom that pervaded the space.
As she looked around at the shabby furnishings, Mel realized that there wasn’t much here that she would want to keep. A few personal papers, some photographs, a teddy bear from her childhood… but that was all. She forced herself to think dispassionately, making calm, logical plans. Call the phone company, contact the landlord… It wouldn’t take much time to box up her things and have them shipped to Stump River.
While Ryne talked to the officer, she walked around the rooms, trailing her fingers over the back of a chair, adjusting a crooked picture on the wall. This place represented her past; a person she no longer was. It hadn’t been much of a life, but it had been hers. She’d been free to come and go as she wished. There’d been no need to hide, no secrets to keep from friends. Sure, things had been tight but it had all been so normal. A part of her mourned the loss.
Eventually, she made her way back to the spot where Lucy had been struck down. A wave of grief and guilt washed over her. If she hadn’t offered to take Lucy to Chicago, the woman would still be here, possibly planning a future with Armand. For that matter, if she hadn’t taken the job interviewing Ryne, then Greyson would still be alive and that young girl wouldn’t be completely alone in the world. Even Aldrich—slime ball that he was—would still be around. Whoever would have thought that trying to interview a photographer could have led to such an end?
She said as much to Ryne after they left the apartment. He shushed her, claiming that if you wanted to lay blame, it was his fault.
“If I hadn’t taken that picture of Kane in his wolf form, Greyson wouldn’t have gone looking for me. Sometimes the simplest of things can cause a landslide. The main thing is that everything you did was done in all innocence. You had good intentions, that’s all that matters.”
“I suppose so… Ryne?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you give me a hug?”
“Sure.” He slipped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze as they exited the building.
“We’ll need to contact Lucy’s family… ”
“That would be me.”
“You? You’re her family? But you two—”
“No. I mean she didn’t really have any family. I’ll take care of things.”
“Oh.” Something Lucy had said on the flight to Chicago came to mind. “You might want to talk to Armand. Apparently, just before she left, he indicated he was interested in her.”
“Damn!” Ryne shook his head. “I always wondered about that, but the man was afraid to make his move.”
“Why?”
“Well… Lucy and I were casual so it didn’t matter that she wasn’t aware of my true self—that I was a werewolf, I mean. But Armand, he was always afraid to get close in case it did come to mean something.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I suppose I can tell you. Remember, now that you’re one of us, you’re bound by the Keeping. You can’t tell anyone.” Ryne waited until she nodded and even made a ‘cross your heart’ gesture.
“Armand is a bear.”
“A bear?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You mean… ? I know he’s big and has all that fuzzy hair, but… ”
“He’s a bear. A shifter or were-bear, though he hates the fact that it rhymes.”
Mel leaned back and stared at Ryne in disbelief. “A were-bear? Exactly how many other shifter creatures are out there?”
“Almost any creature you can think of, though it’s mostly larger predatory animals. Tigers, panthers, lions… I think the non-predators died out pretty early, not being able to defend themselves.” Ryne reached over and ruffled her hair. “So you won’t have to worry about were-rats in the sewers.”
She cast a dirty look his way before climbing into the car. “Hey, what are we going to do about Aldrich’s car? We can’t keep driving around in it.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. I’ve had experience with this type of situation.”
“Oh, really? Exactly what type of experience? Grand theft auto?”
Ryne merely smirked and started the car, leaving Mel to wonder exactly what else might be hidden in his background.
Chapter 41
A week later…
It had taken a week before the police wrapped up the investigation into what had transpired at the apartment. It was deemed a random act of violence, the perpetrator likely looking for something to steal and Lucy had unfortunately surprised him. It grated, that Aldrich would never be blamed for the crime, but involving him would result in too many questions and it wouldn’t change the end fact.
With that settled, they’d returned to Stump River with Lucy’s casket. Everyone mourned the loss of the friendly waitress, especially Armand. The twinkle was gone from his eye and he literally shuffled about the Broken Antler. After the memorial service, he disappeared for a week and she wondered if he had shifted into his bear form and was wandering the woods. Were his emotions any less intense when he was an animal? Or was he scratching trees and ripping open logs, trying to work the grief out of his system? Whatever the case, he eventually returned looking a bit haggard, but seeming to have found some inner peace.
Beth and Josh ran a long article in the paper, featuring quotes from the various citizens and random pictures of Lucy at several town functions as well as a full colour picture on the front page. It was nice to have the picture, giving them a last look at the young woman they were all fond of. The service had a closed casket, Ryne having s
tated that Lucy was always proud of her appearance and wouldn’t appreciate people gawking at her. Mel agreed it was best this way.
Ruth declared that Lucy was a hero who had been trying to protect Mel’s apartment and everyone else in town concurred. It wasn’t the complete truth, but Mel knew the hero part was correct. While she’d never know exactly what happened that fateful day, she suspected that Lucy had been trying to defend her.
Life in Stump River slowly fell back into its usual rhythm, though there were a few changes. Ruth’s seemed quieter, the Broken Antler a bit more subdued. On the positive side, the Loberos moved to town and that caused quite a stir of speculation. And Ryne had some business to finish off with regard to the Keeping…
*****
Ryne sat down with Bryan and talked to Kane. They were trying to tie up all the loose ends.
“We have to take care of Aldrich. He knows too much.” Kane’s voice was firm as it came over the speaker phone.
“Agreed.” Ryne rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I tried to get into the hospital several different times last week, but security around him was too tight. Greyson—the guy he shot—was a multi-millionaire and there’s a big investigation going on. Since the police already knew what I looked like from seeing me at Melody’s apartment, I didn’t dare get too close.” He growled in frustration. “Too bad the butler went looking for Greyson as soon as he did. If he’d waited just a bit longer, Aldrich might have been dead before the old man found him. At least the bastard won’t be saying anything right away. The report Daniel hacked from the hospital’s computer states that Aldrich has been unconscious for almost a week with severe damage to his windpipe and vocal chords.”
Bryan chuckled. “Too bad Mel couldn’t have held off a bit longer until you finished him off.” Ryne flashed him a dirty look and he quickly qualified his answer. “Not that it’s her fault in anyway, of course.”
“Right.” Ryne glared at Bryan once more before continuing. “He’ll probably keep the story to himself since without proof, people will think he’s crazy, but we can’t take any chances.”
Kane agreed. “I’ll contact a pack I know in the area. Maybe they can find a way to get someone through that security net. We’ll have to try to get them to burglarize the estate as well. I want the picture back before it can cause any more trouble.”
“And we’ll deal with the girl.” Ryne suggested.
“Sounds good to me.” Kane could be heard pacing in his office.
“A bit anxious, Kane?” Ryne teased.
His brother growled in response. “You know damned well I am. Elise is still away and I need her back here with me. The sooner we get Aldrich taken care of, the sooner I can allow the dispersal groups to return home. Until such time… Let’s just say, it’s best to give me a wide berth.”
Ryne chuckled. “You could always go visit her and ‘relieve’ some of that tension.”
The sound of pacing ceased. “You might be on to something, Ryne.”
Ryne and Bryan exchanged glances, but kept their laughter in check. Both were aware of how devoted Kane was to his mate and knew the forced separation was hard to deal with.
Once the conversation was over, Ryne sighed heavily and rubbed his hands with his face. “That young girl—Cassandra—she’s just a kid and likely scared spitless over seeing her uncle murdered, let alone watching me transform and attack Aldrich.”
“You said Greyson apparently raised the girl since she was an infant and knew all along she was a werewolf? I wonder where he found her and how he knew what she was?” Bryan got up and started to pace the room.
“I wondered that, too. He said he was looking for a pack for her to join.”
“But she doesn’t know any of this?” Bryan queried. “Hard to believe if she’s about seventeen, like you said.”
“I only got a glimpse of her, but I’d say she was around that age and from the look on her face, I’d say she was in shock. I think she must have been eavesdropping. You know, I thought I scented another werewolf, but I was too caught up in what was going down to have time to check it out.”
“But how could she not know she’s a shifter? She should have gone through her first change.”
“Greyson must have hid it from her somehow; maybe he drugged her each month.” Ryne shrugged. “Now that she’s out there on her own, who knows what might happen. We need to find her and bring her in before an outsider figures out what she is.”
Bryan had been staring out the window, but turned as Ryne stopped speaking. “Ryne, I’d like to go. I’ve always been a pretty good tracker.”
Ryne gave him a crooked grin. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to ask. You can go. Tomorrow. Mel’s going to have her first transformation tonight and it would be nice if her whole pack was here to support her.”
“Tonight? But it’s not a full moon.”
“Nadia said, given Mel’s recent genetic changes and several partial transformations, it would be best to try her first full one without the added stress of a full moon.”
“So… Have you told her everything?” Bryan had an evil glint in his eye.
“Well, not the clothing bit. I think she might be a bit pissed off when she realizes she’s the only one in the pack that won’t be able to magick her clothes on and off.”
“Oh, I’d love to hear that conversation.”
Ryne stood and headed towards his room, where Mel was rearranging the closets to hold her things. “Who knows? If she’s mad enough, you just might. Be listening for a loud scream of fury in about ten minutes.”
*****
Mel awoke slowly from one of the best sleeps she could ever recall having. Smiling contentedly, she stretched, pleased to realize that her muscles weren’t protesting. Last night she’d had her first real transformation into a wolf. It had been strange, but exhilarating at the same time.
She’d shifted with Ryne in the woods—just the two of them, even though it was tradition for the whole pack to be present. However, given her half-human background she’d been told she would probably lack some of the abilities the others possessed, specifically, she probably wouldn’t be able to magick her clothes back on. The news hadn’t sat well with her, and Ryne—with a little persuasion on her part—had made some readjustments to the usual ceremonies to accommodate her.
As they gathered in the woods that night, Bryan had teased her no end over the fact that she’d be naked.
“Aw, come on, Mel. Don’t be standoffish.” He pleaded.
“I’m sorry Bryan. I’m not being standoffish, but darn if I’ll waltz around in the woods buck naked in front of you and Daniel and the whole Lobero family.”
“We won’t mind.” Bryan had laughed before dodging the punch she aimed at him.
“It’s not just me. Our Alpha made the final decision.” She tried not to sound too smug about the fact. At first, Ryne hadn’t had a problem with the idea of her being naked in the woods with the rest of the pack. He’d even gleefully teased her about the fact for a while, but she’d skilfully turned the tables on him. Mentioning that Bryan and Daniel were both good looking, unattached males had been her starting point. After that, it had only a taken a few more carefully chosen words to have Ryne seething with jealousy.
“That’s right. It’s my decision as Alpha.” Ryne slid into place behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist while nuzzling her neck. “No one sees her naked except me.” He looked up and growled at Bryan who paled and backed away.
“Uh, sure Ryne. Whatever you say. We’ll just… uh… wait over there.” He gestured vaguely to the north.
“Make sure it’s really far ‘over there’ where you can’t ‘accidentally’ peek.” Mel warned.
Bryan winked, shot a nervous glance at Ryne, who was still growling lightly, and then walked away calling for the others to follow him.
The change had come amazingly easy to her, however the coordination needed to walk on all fours had been a bit difficult to master, let alone ru
nning and dealing with the amplified sensations coming at her from all sides. She did more than a few face plants before managing to walk far enough to greet her pack mates who had already transformed and were patiently waiting for her on the far side of the woods.
She’d soon adjusted however and enjoyed her first night running through the woods. In fact, she’d been reluctant to return home and Ryne eventually had to pull rank, nipping her heels so she’d follow him!
Now it was the morning. She lay in bed beside Ryne, still keyed up from the experience. He was sleeping peacefully, the blankets loosely wrapped around his waist. A thought came to mind and she grinned mischievously. Carefully sitting up, she slid the covers off him, revealing his naked body. Mmm… It was too yummy to resist.
Leaning forward she licked and nibbled at his ear, while her fingers traced patterns on his muscular thigh. Ryne just murmured and shifted slightly before settling into sleep again. Mel snickered to herself and kissed his jaw while her fingers walked up his hip to his belly button where she proceeded to trace circles around the interesting indent.
Again he stirred, his lashes fluttering, but still he didn’t wake up. Glancing down, she noticed that at least a certain part of him was paying attention to her. Feeling bold, she moved lower on the mattress, then recalled something he’d said to her once. Lowering her head, she brushed her hair over the sensitive flesh and planted kisses along his burgeoning arousal. That got his attention!
“Melody!” Ryne half sat up, his voice husky with sleep.
Smiling up at him, she planted a kiss on the flared tip. “I remembered what you told me about long hair and how you liked to feel it brushing against you.” She brushed her hair over him to demonstrate and he trembled in response, a hiss escaping his lips.
“Mmm… You’re right. Never cut your hair.”
“Never?” She gave it another swish and then swirled her tongue around his quivering flesh.
“Never. Just the bangs, so I can still your eyes while you… ah!” He stopped speaking abruptly as she took all of him in her mouth. After a moment, he forced a response passed his tightened jaw. “I didn’t know I was getting involved with such a lusty woman.”