I could almost see her shrug. “It’s an older sister thing. I’ll get over it.”
I chuckled obligingly.
Then she turned serious. “We lost three more animals last night, and one was a full grown javelina.”
“Da-amn.” A full grown wild boar is dangerous. Definitely not an animal to be taken lightly. And this new creature had not only attacked but killed the hog.
Maybe I was lucky to have survived the night.
“Jazzy, we’ve got to do something.”
We? I wanted to snap.
Maybe we could get you a fur coat and let you put your life on the line this time.
If I said that to her, without a doubt I’d regret it. If it were possible, she’d be out there with me, hunting this creature down. But I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about putting my life on the line again. “What do you suggest?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we need to bring Doc in on this.”
I knew the truth of what she said, but didn’t want to think of it. For a werewolf to have to take out another one was one thing, but for a werewolf hater to help in the kill was quite another.
Feeling as if sugar ants crawled over me, I kicked off my sheets and got out of bed. Why involve Doc? He’d only enjoy the killing, and use the neophyte as proof that his cause was justified.
My arms itched as the urge to smack something took over. Then the tingle climbed my neck to my face. Shoving my hair from my face, I glanced into the mirror, and saw why I’d been unable to open my eyes.
My face was red and swollen with welts. I glanced at my breasts, my belly, my thighs. Everything was covered with huge lumps that looked as if someone had shoved rocks under my skin.
I started chuckling into the phone at my predicament.
“What’s so funny?” Bella asked, her crankiness coming to the fore at my laughter.
“I had to hide in a rabbit run last night to escape the wolf. Trouble is, that run must have been in the middle of a clump of sumac. Poison sumac.”
She was quiet for a moment. “But we’re allergic to poison sumac.”
“You should see me.” I snorted as I watched my reflection in the mirror. “I look like the Michelin Tire Man after a hundred miles of bad road.”
“I’ll be right there.”
By the time she got to the apartment, the sugar ants had morphed to fire ants. My lips were big enough to make Angelina Jolie envious. My eyes were swollen so badly, I could barely see the door to walk out of it with her.
At the doctor’s office, I got a steroid shot, a prescription for heavy duty itch relief and one for pain. I took the max prescribed while Bella changed the sheets on my bed and put the dirty ones into the wash with hot water and bleach.
When we were sure my room was clear of all sumac residue, I went back to bed and slept like the dead.
This time I didn’t dream at all. Anytime I awoke, it was to take another pill and fall back into that deep sleep where no ants could reach me.
I didn’t come fully awake again until late the next day. After checking the mirror to be sure my skin was well, I wrapped up in my robe and went in search of Bella.
I found her, still in our kitchen, dressed for work with a cup of coffee in her hand. I poured myself a cup and sat down opposite her. She glanced at my face, my neck then my arms. Relief brightened her face when she saw my allergic reaction had cleared. “You’re looking better.”
“Thanks. I feel better.” Taking a long, hot drink, I leaned back in my chair to savor the bitter taste.
After a few moments of quiet, I remembered the waxing moon. And the
phyter
I should have stopped, but hadn’t. I couldn’t stand it that she wasn’t telling me. “So what happened last night?”
She stared into her cup for a long time before she answered. Wolf got your tongue? I wondered, but wisely kept silent.
“It’s not good,” she began.
Exasperated at the way she danced around the subject, I snapped, “
What’s
not good? Just tell me.”
“Tony’s in the hospital. The neophyte attacked him.”
I straightened in my chair as I tried to get my mind around what she said. “You’re kidding. An inexperienced werewolf attacked a man? That…that’s ludicrous.” Like all wild creatures, most werewolves were leery of men. Of what they could do.
And they should be.
“I’m not kidding, Jazzy.”
“Can you be sure it was the werewolf that attacked him?” I grilled. “Who found him?”
“Doc did. He was trying to get to the clinic and collapsed.”
“Was he torn up or just shaken up?”
“He was hurt, not just shaken up. But I’m not sure if he was badly bitten or not.”
For a man to get the Lycan infection, he had to be deeply bitten in a fleshy part of the core. A nip on the hand, foot or lower leg usually wouldn’t do it. “Where is he?”
“In St. Luke’s.” The hospital had been built decades ago in downtown Dallas.
I knew I had to do something, but just what, I wasn’t sure. Making a swift decision, I slammed my cup on the table. “I’ll be dressed in five minutes. Don’t leave without me.”
She glanced at her watch then nodded. “Hurry.”
I showered and threw on a casual jog suit. I didn’t have time to dry my hair, so I drew it in to a short, sassy style. I grabbed my purse, shoved my travel makeup bag inside and skidded into the kitchen at just under five minutes. Barely. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Shaking her head, Bella led the way out the door and to the garage.
We got into the car and buckled up. “You know, Jazzy, some people put their makeup on
before
leaving the house.”
I did a quick brush on with my eye shadow, shrugging as I smudged black eyeliner along my lash line. “But you’re supposed to put it on in the car. Why else would they put so many mirrors in here?”
When Bella chuckled at my old joke, I knew she was worried. Usually she just shook her head or threw something at me. “At least this time, you aren’t driving.”
“I can if you want me to.” I put away the liner and pulled out my mascara.
Now she shook her head, a half smile curving her lips. “No thanks.”
I smirked at her as I finished my lashes and opened my foundation. Without spilling a drop, I sponged it on, set it with powder then finished up with a lip stain. Who wanted to be concerned about lip color when we possibly had a new werewolf to be worried about?
“How’s that?” I asked. “I don’t look like I’ve seen a ghost.”
“You didn’t look like you’d seen one yesterday, either. You looked like you’d been smacked around by someone.”
“I felt as if I had been, too.”
Bella flipped on her XM radio, and we drove the rest of the way to the zoo listening to her favorite jazz station. Maybe listening to music helped her forget her problems, but it just gave me more time to concentrate on mine.
I had a lot to do while “assisting” Doc in his lab that day. I had to pump him for information about Tony while I looked for ways to sabotage his research.
It was going to be a full day.
As we walked into the clinic, Doc’s face brightened and a long, slow smile spread across his lips. “Hello, Jazzy.”
I barely found enough oxygen to answer him. “Hi, Doc.”
My face warmed as his gaze caressed each part of it. “I heard you had a bad bout with poison sumac, but you look…good.”
“Thanks.”
He looked at Bella then. “Good morning, Dr. B.”
“Morning.” Bella shrugged into her smock. “Anything going on this morning?”
“Just the usual.”
“Well, I’ll do recovery checkups this morning since I wasn’t here yesterday.”
Doc nodded. “And I’ll put Jazzy to work in the lab.”
It was all I could do not to grin triumphantly. Without even pushing, I got what I wanted.
I followed him into the adjacent room, where he handed me a clipboard and a pen. “I could use your help cataloguing some data, if you don’t mind.”
“After my last stint here, this will be a piece of cake,” I joked, referring to cleaning the recovery cages.
He moved past a table covered with small machines and glass tubes. After a moment, he booted up a computer. “Was the sumac rash very painful?”
“Not if you don’t find being pummeled by a street gang painful,” I joked, then needing to learn as much as possible about the wolf attack, I sobered. “I hear one of your helpers was injured last night.”
“Yeah. Tony had a run in with a crazy wolf. I’m thinking it’s the same one that’s been killing animals the two nights before that. I’m going to see Tony this evening at the hospital.”
“Really? I didn’t know you were good friends.”
“We’re not.” He glanced at me over the top of the computer screen then walked around the table to stand near me. “I’m glad you came in today. I was afraid I’d have to come get you to help me.”
I had no idea where he was going with the topic, so I didn’t answer, but my nerves tightened as if I waited for the floor of the gallows to drop.
He leveled his gaze, concentrating as if trying to speak to me mentally, the way Bella does. Of course I heard nothing. After a very long moment, he drew a breath. “Just between the two of us, I think this wolf that attacked him might be truly insane. A werewolf.”
I thought Bella and I had kept that idea just between us. Had my sister said something to tip him off? “What makes you think that?”
“The damage done to the buffalo calf first caught my attention. It didn’t make sense for an animal to do that kind of damage.
Most
creatures won’t kill except to eat. And nothing was eaten. So I knew we had some kind of predator killing for sport. The second night, when an animal of the same approximate weight with the same kind of tracks killed three animals for sport, especially one as dangerous as a full grown mama javelina, I was fairly sure.”
Hell, the guy was too observant. I couldn’t answer him. Couldn’t think of a single thing to say that might change the direction of his logical mind.
“But I witnessed the attack last night. Or at least the very end of it. The wolf looked normal in every way. But it attacked a man, walking across the compound just far enough behind two others for them not to hear what was happening at first. Only a rabid animal will do something as fool hardy as attack a man like that. And when one of the men grabbed a gun from his truck and shot at it, it just turned and ran into the night.” He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “He might not have hit a vital area, but I don’t believe Lawrence missed completely. Not at that range.”
My mouth went dry at his words. He knew a human couldn’t kill a werewolf while in his animal state, which is why it wasn’t affected by the shot. Practically proof it was a werewolf that had attacked Tony. I swallowed hard. “But why do you need me to go to the hospital with you?”
“Because I need to draw blood from Tony. It could be that he’ll need an injection a week until the next full moon to kill the Syzygia infection.”
“Veterinarians who practice medicine on humans are looking for trouble,” I murmured softly, then raised my voice a notch. “You didn’t answer my question. Why should I go with you?”
The long slow look returned. Maybe he weighed his words, but it honestly felt as if he’d read my mind. “I know, Jazzy.”
“You…” My mind froze. I didn’t know what to say. What to ask. How to lie.
“Yes. I finally added it all up.” His eyes grew darker, more intense. His fingers tightened around mine, and for the first time I realized he touched me. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I know you’re a werewolf.”
Chapter Nine
I fought to draw a breath. My face must have been a study in horror. I’m sure my alarm glowed like a grand opening spotlight on a moonless night. I finally gathered my thoughts enough to speak. “You think I’m a what?” I was even able to make a whispery laughing sound.
“I know.” He didn’t try to argue with me. Just went on talking as if making the statement made it true. “I need you to be with me when I go to the hospital to talk to him. I think I can cure him, but I want him to know that if I can’t, he can live a normal life. He’ll just have to learn to stay in control. The way you have.”
When my heart finally started beating again, it thudded against my chest wall so hard, it was painful. My knees grew weak as I realized what this meant. I pulled my hand away from his and crawled onto a nearby stool. “Would you get Bella? Please?”
Another pause. A stare. Then he went in search of Bella. Frantic, I tried to make my brain work. What could I do to change his mind? To make him think—no, force him to think—he was wrong?
I looked around at the data he’d collected. Rows of information, logged, duplicated, and backed up. Dammit, the man knew too much. Had too much knowledge for it to be easy to fool him.
Maybe I should just wipe him off the face of the earth. My heart beat a little easier at the thought, then Bella came in and I knew she’d never let me. And in just a moment, Doc followed her, and just one look at him reminded me.
I couldn’t do it, either.
My sister rushed to me as if she thought I was sick. Or breaking out in lumps again. “Are you okay?”
“No.” I tried to think of a way to tell her my secret was out.