“Oooh.” Freemont halted. “I sense some lady trouble.”
“You’re a real sensitive guy, aren’t you?”
“Don’t snarl at me. Is that what happened? The wolfie-girl snarled at you?”
“I’m not talking about it.”
“Your shirt’s open. Did you make a pass at her?”
Phineas snorted. He pressed a few snaps together to close his shirt and left the plaid material stained with blood.
“Your hands are bleeding, bro,” Freemont said quietly. “You should come inside and get cleaned up.”
“They’ll heal during my death-sleep.” But his heart might never be the same. Phineas retrieved a basketball from the large Rubbermaid bin, then dashed onto the court and levitated to do a slam dunk.
“Cool!” Freemont retrieved the ball and started some fancy dribbling around his legs.
Phineas grabbed for the ball, but his brother neatly passed it between his legs and out of his reach.
“Give me the ball,” Phineas growled.
Freemont dribbled down the court, heading for the other basket.
“Give me the damned ball!” Phineas zoomed past him at vampire speed and blocked him.
Freemont screeched to a halt. “Hey! No fair pulling your vampire tricks when I don’t have any.” He twisted when Phineas made a grab for the ball. “Is that what happened? You tried some vampire tricks on her, and she rejected you?”
“She didn’t reject me!” He lurched for the ball, but Freemont surprised him, throwing it at him hard.
It hit him in the stomach, knocking him back a few steps. “What the hell was that for?”
“You tell me!” Freemont scowled at him. “Why are you so pissed? Why are you attacking trees?”
“Because she wanted sex!” Phineas threw the ball all the way down court and it plopped neatly through the hoop.
Freemont’s mouth fell open. “Wow, you scored.”
“No, I didn’t. I turned her down.”
“You—you turned down sex?”
“Yes.” Phineas trudged down the court to retrieve the ball.
“How could you do that?” Freemont followed him. “You’re the Love Doctor.”
He shook his head. “Not anymore. I can’t do it anymore.”
Freemont gasped. “You can’t get it up?”
Phineas shot him an incredulous look.
“Don’t worry about it, bro.” Freemont smiled encouragingly. “There are doctors for that sort of thing. And drugs. We’ll get help for you.”
“I’m not impotent, dammit! I’m falling in love!”
Freemont’s eyes widened. “You are?” He grimaced. “With a wolf?”
“Werewolf. And I’m falling for the human part of her.”
“What about the wolf?”
“What about it?” Phineas yelled. “I love her just the way she is.”
“Okay, okay.” Freemont held up his hands. “So I guess she doesn’t return your feelings?”
“No, she doesn’t.” Phineas picked up the ball and tossed it back into the plastic bin.
“But she wanted to have sex?”
“Yes.” He slammed the lid down.
“Then why are you here?”
He glared at his bloody hands. “She wants to keep our relationship a secret. I want to shout it to the world. She wants to jump right into it. I want to take it slow and savor every moment. She wants to get it over with, and I want it to never end.”
Freemont was silent a moment, then said, “You’ve got it bad.”
Phineas sighed. “I’ve had one-night stands with women I can hardly remember. I’m not doing that with Brynley. It would be an insult to her and to the feelings I have for her.”
“Damn, you’re tough, bro. I don’t think I could have turned her down.”
He smiled sadly. “Believe me, I want to make love to her more than anything. But I want it to be love.”
Freemont nodded. “Let’s get your hands cleaned up.” He motioned toward the side entrance. “Don’t give up, bro. She could still fall in love with you.”
Phineas groaned inwardly. Even if his wish came true, and she somehow magically fell for him, there were still major obstacles in the way. She would never be happy if she were forced to live in the vampire world. And he would never be accepted in the Lycan world. Hell, her father would probably send his minions to kill him.
The next evening, Brynley paced nervously about her brother’s cabin. The sun was setting. Phineas would be waking soon. And when he teleported to the cabin, her mortification would be complete.
If he teleported to the cabin. She wasn’t sure he’d come. He might never want to see her again.
Early that morning, Trudy had arrived at the trailhead campsite with her trailer, and they’d transported the horses back to the stable at her brother’s cabin. After Trudy left, Brynley had dashed into the cabin to see if Phineas was all right. She shoved the sofa away from the trapdoor, then moved the ladder from the loft to climb down into the basement.
No Phineas. He hadn’t returned to the cabin.
After lunch, she fell asleep on the sofa, exhausted from a sleepless night at the campsite. She hadn’t been able to relax after Phineas had left. She’d felt too insulted. Too angry. Too frustrated. And eventually, too embarrassed. Mortified.
She’d practically forced herself on him! What had come over her? She’d never behaved like that before. Sure, the inner wolf was a lusty creature, but she’d always had control over it. Until last night.
Her inner wolf had never been so strong before. And she’d allowed it to overwhelm her. Hell, she’d welcomed it. The wolf had given her the wild boldness she’d craved. It had matched her desperate passion with its fierce power. Together, she’d never felt stronger. She’d felt invincible. Her prey was targeted, and he couldn’t escape.
But he had. He’d abandoned her without explanation. And it had hurt. It hurt so bad, she knew she could no longer deny what was happening. She was falling in love. And she’d chased him away!
What if he never came back?
What if he did? How could she ever face him? Mortified.
She strode outside to the porch and watched the last rays of the sun disappear over the horizon. If Phineas had spent the night at Romatech in New York, he was already awake.
The nearly full moon tugged at the wolf inside her, and it tensed in anticipation. Tomorrow night, it would be free. A surge of power shot through her, and she gasped. Why was the wolf so strong? Was it because she’d come home? Or because she’d fallen prey to such strong emotions?
A sound in the cabin made her heart lurch. She whirled around to peer in the window. Phineas was back! And he was loading bottled blood into the refrigerator. That meant he intended to stay. Yes!
Her sense of relief was short-lived. She still had to face him.
She opened the door and stepped inside.
He glanced at her and smiled. “You made it back.”
“Yes.” She inched forward. At least he was smiling. “So did you.”
“I brought some more blood from Romatech.” He shut the refrigerator door and motioned to a box on the island. “And I brought you a dessert from the cafeteria.”
“Really?” She eased toward the island. He didn’t seem to be angry about last night.
“Yeah. Chocolate cake. You like chocolate, right?”
“Yes.” She peeked inside the box and nearly drooled at the sight of a seven-layer double chocolate piece of heaven.
“We have a lot to cover tonight.” He retrieved a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. “I hope you got some rest.”
“Yes. I slept most of the afternoon.” She shifted her weight. “Maybe we should talk . . .”
“Sure.” He unfolded the paper. “I got an e-mail from Angus. After reading my report, he thought we should check all the local clinics and hospitals to see if any other people were admitted with a severe loss of blood. So I made a list here, and we’ll hit as many as possible tonight.”
“I thought we were going to the Carson ranch? To check out the cow mutilations?”
“We will, if we can fit it in. But Angus thinks, and I agree with him, that Corky will stick to human victims if at all possible.”
“Okay.” Brynley retrieved a fork from the cutlery drawer and tried a bite of the cake. It looked like Phineas didn’t want to talk about last night’s fiasco. Maybe he was as mortified as she was. The chocolate melted in her mouth, a warm, gooey comfort.
“Good?” He smiled, his eyes softening and looking as sweet as chocolate.
“Mmm.” She swallowed. “Yes, thank you. So, did you want to teleport?”
“Actually, I mapped the trip for us.” He handed her the paper. “If you don’t mind driving me around.”
“Oh.” Her heart swelled, grateful that she could help him. “Sure. Let me get my purse and a bottle of water, and we’ll hit the road.”
They were halfway to the town of Shell when Brynley finally worked up the nerve to talk.
She glanced at Phineas, who was sitting calmly beside her, sipping from a bottle of blood and looking out the window. “I owe you an apology.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh, I do. I . . . I practically attacked you last night.”
He shrugged. “No big deal.”
“But it is! I scared you away.”
His head turned slowly toward her. “Scared?”
“Yeah. I chased you away.”
“Bullshit.” He glowered at her. “I wasn’t scared. And I wasn’t chased. I chose to leave.”
“Because I attacked you. I’m really sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”
“You knew last night. You called it lust.”
She winced. “Yes. But I don’t usually lose control like that. My inner wolf seems to be unnaturally strong all of a sudden.”
“You can feel the wolf inside you? I always thought you were either human or wolf, not both at the same time.”
“The wolf is always with me.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “But I’ve never felt it so strongly before. It—it’s very strange.”
He regarded her silently for a while. “Maybe it’s because the moon is almost full.”
“I . . . I suppose.” Though she’d never experienced this before when the moon was waxing. “I thought it might also be because I’ve returned home. The wolf is very excited about that.”
“I guess you’ll have to turn tomorrow night?”
“Yes. I won’t have any choice. For ordinary werewolves like me, we have to turn on the first night of the full moon. The two nights after that, we can choose to shift or remain human. Alphas like my father or Phil can shift or even partially shift whenever they like.” She gave him an apologetic look. “I won’t be able to help you tomorrow. Sorry.”
He waved that aside. “Don’t apologize for what you are.”
She recalled the words he’d said the night before. He liked her just the way she was.
He took another sip from his bottle. “And don’t apologize for last night. I was . . . flattered.”
She glanced at him, then back at the road. “You were?”
“Of course. I hope someday we will make love.”
Her heart jumped up her throat. He did want her! She clenched the steering wheel as her heart pounded. Calm yourself. He could probably hear her heart racing.
A question popped into her mind. If he wanted to make love, why did he turn her down last night?
“Okay, here’s the town.” He motioned to the lights up ahead.
She parked in front of the emergency clinic and accompanied him inside. In a matter of seconds, he had the receptionist’s mind under his control and she gave them the news. No one had been admitted in the past two weeks with bite marks or a low level of blood. No unexplained deaths.
They went on to Greybull, Manderson, and Worland. No victims there. Brynley headed east to Ten Sleep.
Bingo.
The receptionist nodded, glassy-eyed. “Yes, we had a patient last night. Dead on arrival.”
“What can you tell me about it?” Phineas pressed.
The receptionist tilted her head. “It was very strange. No sign of trauma, but somehow he had bled out.”
“May we see his file?” Phineas asked.
Brynley leaned close to read the page detailing the victim’s personal information. Earl Giddons had worked as a cowhand on a nearby ranch. “See this?” She pointed at Nate Carson’s address.
Phineas nodded and closed the folder. “Looks like we’ll be visiting your old friend after all.”
Chapter Thirteen
“What can you tell me about Nate?” Phineas asked as Brynley drove toward the Carson ranch house.
“He’s a really nice guy. A mortal. Served in the army. He would never get involved with the Malcontents.”
She was quick to defend him, Phineas noted. “If Corky’s taken over his mind and his ranch, then it doesn’t matter how nice a guy he is.”
Brynley winced. “I hope he’s all right. He’s been through so much already, poor guy.”
Another twinge of jealousy pricked at Phineas. “If he’s a mortal, how did you meet him? At college?”
She shook her head. “Rodeo circuit. I used to do barrel racing.”
“You raced barrels?”
“No, my horse and I raced around them.” She gave him an incredulous look. “You’ve never been to a rodeo?”